The Shadow of Your Wings

We’ve all heard the “ABC’s of Salvation” -

This has been used as a handy, simple tool for helping people voice their belief in Christ for many years. But what is the scriptural basis for “requiring” someone to admit to being or confess themselves as sinners before believing in and receiving Jesus?

I can find no reference that Peter, James, Nathanael, Nicodemus, Paul, (keep naming the names) “admitted” or confessed their sins when they first came to Jesus. They just believed Him, in Him, and all that was said and written of Him, received Him in the light of their revelation of Who He was, and confessed (told others of) Him as such. Confessions of sinfulness came later, as with Peter in the boat - “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Lu 5:8), or Paul declaring himself to be “chief” among sinners.

There is a call to “repent (turn from our sins) and be baptized.” Perhaps that is the basis for the ABC’s. We are sinners - “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” and in the presence of His holiness and wonder we cannot help but become aware of that, but it is the Spirit’s job to convince and convict, not ours. So why do we think we must ask people in need of Jesus to say the “sinner’s prayer”? Is it not enough that they recognize their need of Him? Is there a more perfect prayer than “Jesus, I need You!”?

I’m not trying to dismiss the ABC method. It just seems to me that not every soul comes to know Christ because they recognize their need for a Savior. What about the lost lamb who desperately seeks a Shepherd, or the one enslaved who desires a new Master? Or the man, perhaps like Nicodemus, who has believed whole heartedly in the religious teachings of his youth only to find one day that it is not enough to know Jesus is Lord, he now longs to know Him as Lord.

Romans 10:9 tells us with utmost simplicity “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Verse 11 reads, “For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame,’” and verse 13, “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’” The book of Acts records the words of the jailer who asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” to which Paul and Silas replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Their response wasn’t, “Admit that you are a sinner then believe …” It was BELIEVE! Did Philip require the Ethiopian eunuch to enumerate his sins before being baptized? No. “What hinders me from being baptized?” asked the eunuch. “Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

Considering these things it seems that I am more aware of the hearts of the ones I pray for and talk with. It is changing the way I respond to those who don’t yet know the Lord by sharing with them God of their individual need - the Shepherd to the lost soul, the Master to the bound slave, the Savior to the sinner, the Beloved to the lonely ...

When you first came to Christ what made you know that He was the answer to your need? Were you lost, confused, scared? Did “the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want” touch your heart for Him? Or was your life so bound by habits and fears that you cried out for mercy and release - as a slave would to his master. Perhaps you, like me, had been convicted of sin (by the Spirit and the Word) and needed the peace and forgiveness that only Jesus as our Savior could provide.

Whatever our reason, whatever the need, there is ONE who is the answer, One who says, “Follow Me, I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” “… that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

It’s simple as abc, just BELIEVE!