What Shall We Do?

What Shall We Do?
Encouraging lost but hopeful sinners 

“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” —Acts 2:37

Simon Peter, filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, preached a message that pricked the hearts of many Jews that heard his words. They were convicted by the Holy Spirit of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and they knew they were not saved. That is evident from their cry to the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

They asked about what they should do. Immediately, many of us will slam on the brakes, recognizing that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone; not of works that we do so that we may boast about what we have done (Ephesians 2:8, 9). Yet, for those who have heard a gospel message, when the Holy Spirit is moving upon their souls, He moves them to move.

We shouldn’t think it odd that someone can sit in church for a certain amount of time and not be saved, desiring to be saved by God’s grace and knowing that if they said they were saved they would be hypocrites. They are not saved and they know it.

I’ve got one soul in our congregation that I pray fervently and passionately for every day. He knows he’s not saved, but he says he believes he’s close. He’s opened up the scriptures in Sunday school and sat under expositional preaching through Romans for several months now. He comes every Sunday with only very few exceptions. He sits right up front and listens carefully and intently and checks it out by the Word of God. Sometimes his flesh is weak and some Saturdays he figures, “What’s the use?” Then he wakes up early Sunday morning and figures that since he’s up, he might as well go to church. “Who knows,” he thinks silently, “today may be the day that You save me, Lord.”

The particular Baptists in the days of the Puritans called this type of soul “hopeful.” He is hopeful for salvation though he hasn’t received it yet. During the First Great Awakening, in records and diaries of pastors such as Jonathan Edwards, were accounts of such souls who, aware of the truth that they were truly under the just condemnation of a holy God, sought “hopefully” for salvation if it might, by God’s grace come; and if not, would make every effort to lead a more upright life so as to have less sins to be accounted for in that Day of Judgment.

Recently, I received an email from a soul who confessed that he knew he wasn’t saved, but wondered what to do. Men and brethren, what shall we do? After fourteen years of trying and giving up, he wonders if he should just wait. Though modified a bit, for this article, I’m providing my response so that others might be benefited from this, Lord willing and by His grace.

My Response: 

I believe that every true believer must at least acknowledge that we cannot possibly save ourselves in order to actually grow in grace. As Jesus told Nicodemus that the “wind blows where it will,” speaking of the Holy Spirit, many believe that this means that, though God saves by use of means, i.e., preaching the gospel, prayer, the heard word from the Bible and the read word from the Bible, God is free to work above and beyond these means as He wills. Typically, we believe where the Word of God is available (the Bible in your understood language), that it is the usual means by which salvation comes, whether preached, proclaimed, read, or taught.

My testimony (back in 1984-85) took me on a journey of nine months of the Spirit of God’s work and when the Christians on board my ship began sharing Christ with me, I had no interest or desire in being saved. Slowly though, as I would sit in on their Bible studies and hear the Word or get glimpses of the gospel message, by the last month before my salvation I was under so much conviction that I almost literally said, “God, if you don’t change me so that I can repent, you may as well send me to hell right now.” They were words very close to that, if not exactly.

The Christian brothers that I was surrounded by were nothing more than babes in Christ themselves; and none of them knew how to really encourage me to read the Bible. In fact, I didn’t even get a Bible until after the Lord saved me.

Yet, I’d like to encourage you in some things. First, Biblical “waiting” isn’t a passive thing. Though the Bible speaks of the sovereignty of God and He rules and reigns over all things, the Bible never removes the responsibility of man to acknowledge and respond to God as Lord of all; nor does it remove man’s accountability to God as Creator; neither does it excuse man’s culpability for his sins against a holy God, who is all righteous and wholly good.

Since you acknowledge that you are not saved, that you are not “born again” (literally, born from above; or figuratively, born spiritually), that is a very good place to start.  You also acknowledge that somehow you sense this need for salvation; that, too, is a pretty good indication that perhaps the Spirit of God is doing a work in you.

That you had written to me concerning this is a very good indication that there may be a supernatural and heavenly work taking place in your life because there are many, many false conversions these days: “decisions for Christ” and trusting in something you did, like repeating a prayer that someone led you in, or trusting is someone else’s opinion (and wrong theology) when they tell you, “You’re saved; just believe.”

The content of your email seems to say that you understand that salvation comes from God alone by His grace alone; that it is a work of the Holy Spirit of God that changes you from within, not only to acknowledge certain facts concerning Christ and His atoning and sacrificial death, but that it produces a trust upon Him as the one resurrected because the price He paid to save souls was wholly sufficient to save them.

So what does one do until the Holy Spirit awakens a dead soul?

I encourage you to read the Bible. The Gospel of John in the New Testament is a good place to start. But if you’re unsaved, will it make sense to you?

Well, if it has been the subtle convicting of the Holy Spirit moving you to seek God, seek His salvation, and seek to live for Him, then you can most certainly pray and ask for guidance to have the words of the text illuminated to your understanding.

What should you be looking for specifically? or what should stand out in your understanding? When you come across a portion of scripture that deals with man’s sins, consider that even though you may not have committed that specific sin, every one of your sins is utter wickedness before a holy and just God.

Whenever you come across text that speaks of the judgment of God, consider that the sins you have committed against God are infinitely heinous and horrid, not because you’re infinite (you’re not), but because they are sins committed against an infinite God who is holy and just.

Whenever you come to a text that speaks of things holy, just, good, or righteous, consider that the least of your sins keep you from measuring up to the least of God’s standards recorded in the Bible; yet, at the same time consider that Jesus Christ, who is God in human flesh, is the epitome of all righteousness, sinlessness, and holiness, having lived a life that was not only perfect as a Man, but living that life in complete obedience to God the Father, and pleasing Him in every possible thought and deed.

Because it was God who required justice, God became a man in the Person of Jesus Christ to be that perfect, complete and holy Man. Since it was God the Son who was sacrificed, His sacrifice was infinitely pure, infinitely perfect, and infinitely valuable to God. Because Christ’s sacrifice on that Roman cross was accepted of God as perfect and satisfying in His justice, He raised Christ from the dead as a token of the certainty of Christ’s finished work.

Therefore, all who come to this knowledge of Christ, believe it, and trust in Christ alone for salvation receive the promise of salvation according to God’s Word. The assurance that it is so is a truth that is revealed only by the Holy Spirit with a peace in the soul that surpasses understanding.

Additionally, I would like to recommend reading All of Grace by Charles Spurgeon.  The link on the title is to a free pdf copy.

You may also be benefited from listening to this message I preached on Sunday, July 25, 2010, entitled “Divine Remission.”  You can listen to it without leaving this page by clicking on the arrow or you can go to SermonAudio.com through the title link to download it and listen to it later. [audio http://justificationbygrace.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/056-divine-remission.mp3]

Finally, a few years back I wrote a gospel tract on the cross of Christ (it was actually a little booklet). At the end of it I included a little section that might be of help:

WHAT MUST WE DO?

 “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”  —Acts 2:37

Salvation is by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, performed by Him with a greater miracle than the creation of the universe; that’s because God is creating a new life in you from a corrupt and wicked life, whereas, when He created the heavens and the earth, He created it from nothing.

Therefore, the Holy Spirit awakens to the dead soul the ability to respond to all the words of scripture that you’ve just read, as it is written in Romans 10:17,

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

According to Charles Spurgeon, faith is made up of three things: knowledge, belief, and trust.[1]

Now you have knowledge of certain truths that have come from the Bible, the Word of God. Yet, knowledge alone is not Biblical faith. These gospel truths have been presented to millions yet the response of many has been to reject these things as stuff and nonsense. They are armed with as much knowledge as you and I concerning the truth of Jesus Christ, but they will disregard this information as untrue. The Bible says this about them in Romans 1:21-22,

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Knowledge of this truth and belief in it does not constitute Biblical faith either. It is more than a mere mental ascent to this knowledge. The Bible says this in James 2:19,

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Satan and his angels are not only aware of the knowledge of God, they believe that He exists as the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet that knowledge and belief is not the Biblical faith that saves a soul by God’s grace. Biblical faith requires the third element: trust.

Trust is responding appropriately to the belief in that knowledge. This trust is accomplished supernaturally by the Holy Spirit to regenerate the soul and make him or her alive when once they were dead in sin. Ephesians 2:5 says,

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

In faith, therefore, the result of that life that has been saved by the free gift of a sovereign God through the cross of Jesus Christ (grace), is a life that lives righteously because of the reality of what God has done in that soul. It is written in 1 Peter 2:24,

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

This doesn’t mean that it is a life of sinless perfection. Nevertheless, the result of the saved life will be evidenced by, but not limited to these things: a growing resemblance to the life of Christ in sanctification (1 John 1:7), repentance of sins as the illumination of His light reveals them (1 John 1:8-10), a love for God’s Word (1 John 2:3-5), abiding in the Holy Spirit-led life (1 John 2:6), exhibiting a sacrificial love for fellow-believers (1 John 2:9-11), a hatred for the things of this world and hatred for the lusts of the flesh because those things are at enmity with the Father (1 John 2:13-17), and a love for and discernment of the truth (1 John 2:20-21).

Therefore,

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” —2 Corinthians 13:5

[1] C. H. Spurgeon, All of Grace, “Faith, What is It?”

Written by: Jon J. Cardwell on July 29, 2010.