With the souls of men hanging in the eternal balance, it is extremely important to give a clear presentation of the gospel. We have always marveled at how the Holy Spirit sorts through the maze of confusion regarding the various plans of salvation that have been developed over the years. Although all these plans contain an element of truth, they leave the door open to mislead the sinner.

Plan One:

1. Admit you are a sinner (Rom. 3:23).
2. Be willing to turn from your sins (repent) (Matt. 3:2).
3. Believe Jesus Christ died for you on the Cross (I Cor. 15:3).
4. Through prayer invite Jesus Christ to come in and control your life.

Plan Two:

1. Confess your sins (Mark 1:5).
2. Open the door of your heart so Christ can come in (Rev. 3:20).
3. Believe on Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).
4. Come forward publicly to receive Jesus as your personal Savior.

Plan Three:

1. Acknowledge you are a sinner (Rom. 3:23).
2. You must make Jesus Christ Lord of your life (Rom. 12:1).
3. Believe Christ died for you (I Cor. 15:3).
4. Accept Christ as your personal Savior by praying to God.

There are two serious flaws with the above plans. First, they confuse the terms of salvation under the kingdom gospel with the gospel of the grace of God. Second, the sinner could easily place his trust in what he has done, instead of the Savior. Therefore we suggest the following:

The Scriptural Terms of Salvation:

1. Acknowledge you are sinner, “for all have sinned and come
   short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
2. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that He died for your sins,
   was buried and rose again (Rom. 4:5; I Cor. 15:3,4).

If you have trusted Christ as your personal Savior, why not pray and thank God for your salvation.

Beloved, the unsaved are dangling over the lake of fire by one thin thread of human existence. The only thing that is standing between them and eternal judgment is the good news of Christ and Him crucified. May the Lord give us a burden for lost souls, for “now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

“It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles.”

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you’ll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.