Look with me, if you will, in John 14:3-6; "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (AV) Jesus had been showing them the way. He said, in effect, 'now you know the way,' and doubting Thomas said, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" Jesus plainly tells him the way. He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." Do you know what He was telling them? The way is through Him. Let me put this as simply as I know how, so that lost people will know the way. You cannot get saved without the Son. You need the Son. Jesus said, "Come untome all you that labor and are heavy laden." He also said to the Pharisees, "Search the scriptures. For in them ye think you have eternal life. For they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me that ye may have life." Do you know you are not saved until you have come to the Son? It is not in praying a prayer. It is in finding the Son. He is the way home. It is simply in the Person of Christ. You are saved when you know Christ. It is a new and living way. Hebrews 10:19 says, "Having, therefore, breth-ren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way." (AV) The old way was a dead way. The old way of coming to God was through the sacrificial system. That way could not take away sins, but the new and living way can. He is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Notice, it says in Hebrews, "by a new an living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil." Through the work of Christ we can come to God. "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." He says, "come unto me." Now you can come. "Let us draw near," means, come to God. Now that we know Christ has made the way available, "let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith . . . " Now notice here, the way you get saved; with a true heart. You must have a true heart. You must get honest. Remember the woman at the well? John 4:15-18 says, "The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly." (AV) The Lord was testing to see if she was going to be truthful about herself. She could have said, "What are you talking about? What sin? I have not done anything wrong." But, instead, she admitted that she did not have a husband. He said that she was speaking the truth. Sometimes we think that a true heart means that a person is perfect. No! Honest! God does not demand perfection to be saved! He would rather you be honest than a hypocrite. He would rather you come clean and admit you are a sinner. God will save sinners. He cannot save perfect people. Do you know why it was so hard for me to get saved? I could not be what I was 'a sinner.' I did not want to admit how wicked I was.
 
 

In order to meet with God and to go into the holy place and enjoy the presence of God, you do not have to be perfect, you have got to be honest. The blood of Christ can cleanse you from your sins. Honesty causes you to need the blood of Christ and dishonesty calls God a liar, because He has already said you are a sinner. You are not going to come to God calling Him a liar.

So the Word says, "with a true heart," with an honest heart draw near to God. The next thing is that you must come in full assurance of faith. You are going to have to be fully persuaded that God will take you, just as you are. "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." What is the way to get saved? Through Faith! It is not repeating a prayer. It is through believing. It is full assurance. That means, without any doubt. Before you got saved some of you wondered if God would save you? But the moment before you were saved, you knew God was wanting to save you. At that point you became fully persuaded that God wanted to and was able to save you.
 
 

You might ask, "What do you tell a person to do to get saved?" Tell them to believe! What if they ask, "How do you do that?" You cannot tell them how to believe, because this is a work of the Holy Spirit. All that we are required to tell is that man must believe. The how is up to God. It is not a magic formula or a prayer that you pray in order to believe. You must believe in order for your prayers to work. It is repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus.

I believe there are people who know they are lost and have known it for years, but do not know what to do about it. I really knew I was lost for years. I just did not want to tell anybody, because I did not know what to do about it if I did. My problem was not what I knew. And it was not that I did not want the things of God. And it was not that I did not know where I needed to be. It was just that I did not know the way. Why? Because, there had come a generation who perverted the way to get saved. You might say, "Can that happen?" Sure. Look in Isaiah 59:8; "The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace." (AV)

There were some preachers who came along and perverted the way to God, so that men could never know peace. How many times did I pray all those prayers and I never got any peace? How many times did preachers tell me, "If you will just repeat these words after me then you can know you are saved." But it never gave me peace. Let me tell you, when I met the Son of Peace, I got peace! There are people per-verting the way home.

So, there are sincere people, who know they are lost, who have a desire for the things of God, and who know where they ought to be, but do not know the way home. All they need to know is the way home. Jeremiah 6:16 says, "Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein." (AV) Notice what Jeremiah said about the way. He said the good way is one, not many, but there are many other roads, of which none lead to life. Could more than one way to be saved be presented to people? Yes. There are a million voices out there. Who is right? This is why he said to stand in the ways.

Get out there and look at all the ways that are presented by so-called preachers. See how many roads there are. Some will say, there are several of roads, all of which wind up at God. That is a lie. There is but one way to get saved. Some will say there is a way for the Catholics; there is a way for the Methodists; there is a way for the Baptists, and so on. However, the Word of God says there is only one way. The devil knows if people ever find out the way to get saved, they will get saved. So he is doing all he can to pervert the true way.

If you find yourself struggling to know which way is right, the Scriptures will help you find the good way. It says "Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way . . . " When you are struggling, ask how the old saints, such as Abraham were saved. Seek to understand what the old paths were. God has been saving everyone the same way since Abraham. God is One who never changes His methods. It has always been by faith.

You have got to know the way home or you cannot get home. All you will do is wander around and remain lost. Not only that, but you have to get up and go when you know the way. That is what the lost son did. Look in Luke 15 verse 20, "And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran,and fell on his neck, and kissed him." (AV) Once you know the way, you must act on it. You have got to go to God. If God says you have to repent, repent. The lost son got up and went home. He went the way he knew to go. He acted on what he knew. The problem with a lot of people in our churches is that they know a lot of things, but they do not act on what they know.

They are hearers but not doers. I am amazed at how much people know that they do not do anything with. The other thing that the lost son knew was that he was not worthy to be a son. Look at Luke 15:18-19; "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants." (AV) The lost son knew that he was not worthy to be a son. Anyone

who wants to be saved must realize that he is unworthy to be a child of God. In fact, he was willing to be a servant of his father's. Even this is not what we deserve as sinners. We are worthy of punishment. Nevertheless, his attitude was a willingness to be a servant, instead of a son. Show me someone that does not want to work for God, then I will show you somebody who is not saved and not ready to be saved. Some think they can get saved now and work for God later. No! You will want to work for God before you get saved. When you come with the attitude of Lordship - that he is Lord - all you want to be is just a servant. He came home with an unworthy attitude. There are some people who try to get saved with an attitude that says, "I deserve it." They feel that they have done good things all their life, and that God owes it to them. God does not owe salvation to anyone. Did this father owe his son anything? He had already given him his inheritance. He divided it between the two sons.

The son was coming home with nothing and for nothing. He had already squandered what he had been given. God does not owe us anything. I have heard some say, "I don't see how God could be a God of love and let the world be like it is." Let me tell you something about this world. This world is in the shape it is in because it does not want God. That is the way it started out. This world got in the shape it is in because Adam and Eve did not want what God had for them. They turned their backs on God and walked away from it. God is a Righteous Judge, who would be just if He casts everyone of us into hell. You will believe that before you get saved. God will convince you that you are a sinner worthy of judgement.

Mankind has already lost it all and God owes us nothing. The son came back after he spent all he had. It had already been divided up and he had lost it all. There was nothing left to receive. He was worthy of nothing, but he was begging for something.

That is where you are when you get saved, worthy of nothing but begging for something. Anything above hell would be good.

Look with me at Leviticus 26:40-42; "If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land." (AV) Here we see that God required Israel to confess their sin with a humble heart and be willing to accept the punishment of it.

Then the Lord would remember the covenant He made with Jacob. In our case, it would be the covenant He made with Jesus. He will remember that covenant when you accept the punishment for your sins. It did not say they would receive the punishment, but they must accept it as just. What is the acceptable punishment for sin? The scriptures say, "the wages of sin is death." We are worthy to die. It did not say that you must want to die, but know you are worthy to die. No man in his right mind wants to die. He is just worthy to be punished and if God were to cast him into hell, He would be righteous in doing so. At the great white throne judgement no man is going to stand before God and point his finger at anyone. He is going to say, "God, I am worthy to die and your judgments are righteous and true." By the time God gets through showing their life, they will know they are sinners. You can either go through the judgment seat now or later. This is Holy Ghost conviction. You can stand before the judge now, and accept the punishment and receive mercy. The lost son came to the father worthy to be a servant.

But, instead of getting what he deserved, he got the best. Now, that is amazing grace. That is when grace becomes amazing. I sang that song all my life, but one day grace became amazing to me. When I was unworthy, He said, "bring out the best robe and put it on him." The lost son prepared for the worst and got the best. What you do when you seek to get saved is prepare for the worst and get ready for the best. This brings me to my last point, which, I believe, everyone must understand. The lost son prepared for his meeting with his father. He got ready and knew the right words to say. He said, "I'm not worthy."

However, these words did not work until he was in the presence of his father. Some people think you can get saved without the presence of God. No! He had the words before he came into the presence of his father. Look back at the scriptures. Luke 15:18-19 says, "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants." (AV) He had the

words. He planned what he would say when he got to him. You can practice saying the word all you want, but they do not work until you get to God.

An example of this is that of a marriage ceremony. Usually, the night before the wedding the bride and groom have a rehearsal, where everyone gets clear on what to say and do. However, none of those words get you married until you come before the presence of the authority, who has the power to marry you at an appointed time. In salvation, no preacher has the authority to save, only God. Where preachers go wrong is when they put words in a person's mouth without the presence of God. We have all heard these invitations. Preachers get people up front and tell them all, "to repeat after me." There is only one problem. They do not tell them that they have got to be in the presence of God. And even if the words are right, it does not mean the heart is right. God is not just listening to your words but also the condition of the heart.

The father did not even answer his son's request. The father ignored the son's request to be a servant because he was so happy to see how his attitude had changed. He did not want him to be a servant. When the Holy Ghost comes after you, He will cause you to think God is going to put you in hell. But, God is not going to put you in hell. He is just wanting you to realize that you are worthy of hell. The Holy Ghost is not come to send you to hell. He is come to convict you so that you can get saved. He is coming to create an attitude whereby God can grant forgiveness. Lostness is a good thing, not a bad thing. Yet, we just hate that word. If God is dealing with you now, you have hope. He would not come after you if He did not want to save you. He would just leave you alone and let you die with the rest of the world. The father of the lost son had forgiveness on his mind, the whole time. His robe was waiting on him. And, the robe of righteousness is waiting on God's children when they come home.

The attitude of the son was unworthiness. But, the father's attitude was, I know you are not but I still love you. You are my son anyway. His father said unto the servant, "bring forth the best robe and put it on him. And put a ring upon his hand and shoes on his feet. Bring here the fatted calf and kill it. Let's eat and be merry."

Where is your party? It is at the end of yourself. It is at the end of repentance. Look at Luke 15:10, "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." (AV) This parable began with Jesus talking about repentance and this is where your party starts. The son's party started at the end of his repenting, and his repenting came to an end when he came unworthy before his father. That was when sonship was placed back on him; at the end of himself in unworthiness, accepting the punishment that he deserved. I came to the end of myself, one day, at an altar. Kneeling down and saying, "God, I am not worthy." God said, "That is what I wanted to hear, son." He said, "You are mine now." I am still not worth much, but one thing I know, I am a son. I have been adopted!

So, what do you have to know to be saved? A person must know that he is lost beyond doubt. He must know his need for God and His house. He must have a hunger for the things of God. He must know where to go to get help. He must know the way to God. He must know he is unworthy of sonship. He also must know that he must be in the presence of God to be saved, which will cause him to seek after God. A person does not have to know everything about God, but he does have to have this information.
 

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