Seeking Old Paths --- (V)
Seeking The Old Plan Of Salvation
God does not change; He needs no change. The plan of salvation that He gave through the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit in the first century was a perfect plan then and it is perfect now. Men have attempted to change the way of God for their own ways. During the great apostasy into Romanism and in the rise of Protestantism, the plan of salvation as God gave it was completely obscured by the doctrines of men. When the noble men of the past century began to urge upon the people the necessity of walking in the "old paths, where is the good way," they found the need of restoring God's plan of salvation. Brother Earl West in his Search for the Ancient Order describes the various "experiences" of salvation in the days of Barton W. Stone:
Conversion was quiet literally a convulsion. Converts went through a series of bodily agitations. There were about five general types of these physical contortions: (1) the falling exercise; this was the most common. The subject would cry out in a piercing scream, fall flat on the ground and lay for several minutes as though dead; (2) the jerks; in this exercise, various parts of the body would jerk violently to one side and then the other; (3) the dancing exercise; this would begin with the jerking and then pass on to dancing. Usually they would dance until they fell exhausted to the ground; (4) the barking exercise; this was really the jerks, but when a person's body jerked suddenly and violently, it caused a big grunt, which appeared to be barking to the observer; (5) the laughter and singing exercise was just what the terms signify. (Vol. I, p. 23)
Barton Stone, a Presbyterian preacher, had given serious consideration to the question of salvation. On one occasion at Millersburg, Ky., in a great revival meeting after working with the mourners, Stone said:
Brethren, something must be wrong; we have been laboring with these mourners earnestly, and they are deeply penitent; Why have they not found relief? We all know that God is willing to pardon them, and certainly they are anxious to receive it. The cause must be that we do not preach as the apostles did. On the day of Pentecost those who were "pierced to the heart," were promptly told what to do for the remission of sins. And "they gladly received the word and were baptized; and the same day about three thousand were added unto them." (Ibid., p. 30-31).
Thus, Stone realized that men must go back to the old paths for salvation. As time advanced, he began to preach the gospel plan of salvation as it is in the New Testament.
What is this gospel plan of salvation? This should be firmly implanted in the minds of all today. Denominationalism has many ways of "salvation." God has one way. What is the "old path" in being saved?
I. What Jesus Says
Certainly Jesus knows what man must do. He is the mediator of the New Testament. (Heb. 9:14-17) The voice from heaven on the holy mount said: "This is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased; hear ye him." We must listen to Jesus. He knows the truth and has revealed it unto men. (John 1:17) It is near blasphemy for man to presume to know more about the plan of salvation than does Jesus. The only way we can be sure of the "old paths" is by hearing Him. What does He say? What He says is recorded in the great commission by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Matthew records it as follows: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matt. 28:18-20).
Mark says: "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark 16:15-16).
Luke has it in this manner: "And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke 24:46-47).
II. The Commission Analyzed
What Jesus said is the truth. Let us consider the meaning of the commission thus recorded by these inspired men.
1) Man must be taught Observe the forceful entreaties of Jesus: "Go ye... teach all nations." "Go ... preach the gospel." "...should be preached." In order for any man to be saved, he must be taught the gospel. Why? "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation..." (Rom. 1:16)