Complete Gospel Tract Titles

Gospel Tract List
1. How I Received the Holy Ghost
2. Jesus Is Coming Again
3. You Must Be Born Again
4. Stir Up the Gift of God
5. The World's Most Dreaded Hour
6. What is Salvation?
7. Stand Still in Jordan
8. The Returned Father
9. Grieved Hearts
10. The Second Death
11. The Father and the Son
12. Suffering and the Saints
13. Cancer Conquered
14. The Church?
15. How Shall They Preach, Except They Be Sent?
16. Have You Received the Holy Ghost Since You Believed?
17. Patience
18. Alone With God
19. Tithes and Offerings
20. Prayer
21. The True Sabbath
22. The Besetting Sin
23. Saving Strength
24. What Will the Harvest Be?
25. Marriage and Divorce
26. Taking the Name of the Lord
27. Keys to the Kingdom
28. Works
29. Politics and Believers
30. Unequally Yoked in Marriage
31. Unequally Yoked in Worship
32. The Forgiven Woman
33. The New Earth
34. The Sin of Silence
35. Freedom
36. Gods of the Gentiles
37. Why Some Are Not Healed
38. The Seven Pillars
39. Life, More Abundantly
40. Fear
41. The Comforter’s Testimony
42. This is My Friend
43. Conversion
44. The Time Is Drawing Near?
45. Songs in the Night
46. The Master's Net
47. Trials are Opportunities
48. Receiving the Messenger
49. Seven Messages to the Seven Pastors
50. Keep Yourself Pure
51. Jezreel
52. The New Birth
53. Denying Jesus
54. Bruised Reeds
56. The Wise and the Foolish
57. Holiness
58. Is Jesus God?
59. Christ or Christianity
60. Have Faith In God
63. Four Kinds of Soil
64. Communion
66. Baptism
69. Crucified With Christ
70. Homosexuality and the Bible
71. The Kingdom of God
72. The Gospel of Christ
77. Sanctification
78. New Commandments
79. The Sacrifice of Christ
81. Speaking in Tongues
87. Antichrist
88. The Way of Grace
90. Relationships
93. Subdued
94. The Spirit of Christ
95. The Blood of Christ
96. Spirit of a Serpent, Spirit of a Dove
97. Gluttony
En español
Bautismo
El Nuevo Nacimiento
¿Cristo o Cristianismo?
¿Que Es Salvación?
El Sacrificio de Cristo

Gospel Tract #6

What is Salvation?

by John David Clark, Sr.

"And when he was gone forth in the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life?

And he said to him, If you would enter into life, keep the commandments." (Mk. 10:17; Mt. 19:17)

Our language is a "living language", and as such, it is constantly changing. Some words are becoming obsolete, while new words are continually being added. This is a normal process, but there are some unfortunate victims. For example, "gay" once meant "light-hearted and joyous"; now, however, gay is most often used as a synonym for "homosexual". This is a tragic loss to our language, for there is no single word which can adequately replace "gay" as it once was used.

A biblical word whose meaning has been recently changed is "saved". In the 20th century, Christians altered its meaning so that "saved" is most often used now to mean "converted". But it is not so used in the Scriptures.

When Jesus said, "He who endures to the end shall be saved", was he saying that he who endures to the end shall be converted? Of course not. Or when Paul wrote, "Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed", was he saying that our conversion is nearer than when we believed? Of course not. The clear meaning of both these statements is that salvation is the future reward for faithful saints and that God's children should strive to be found worthy to receive it (Lk. 13:24).

Who, then, first altered the definition of salvation to mean "conversion"? I do not know. But I do know that it is a definition foreign to the Scriptures and that it is non-biblical to claim that we are "saved" merely because we are converted to Christ.

So often, we tend to accept life as it is handed to us, and sometimes we are not harmed by doing so. But to receive without question religious doctrines handed to us is extremely dangerous to our spiritual health. Isn't it revealing, concerning our priorities, that none of us would tolerate a dirty dish in a restaurant, yet so few have diligently searched the Scriptures to ascertain the cleanliness of the doctrines they are taught?

Eating from a dirty spiritual dish is what happened in the early 20th century when believers blindly received Christianity's new definition for salvation. It is astonishing that so few seem to have noticed that this modern usage of the word "saved" differs significantly from its biblical usage. Biblically speaking, conversion is available now in Christ for all who repent of their sins; salvation, however, is the final reward promised to converts if they are faithful to Christ after their conversion (Heb. 5:8-9). Conversion and salvation are not the same experience! Conversion begins our earthly walk with Christ, and salvation ends it.

Most frequently, salvation is referred to in the New Testament as a future hope, not as a past or present experience. Sometimes, "saved" is used in the present tense with the meaning of "healed" or "rescued", but the notion among many modern Christians that a believer already has salvation simply because he believes in Jesus is foreign to the Bible. Salvation is glorification with Christ, and none of us has received that yet.

When the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus responded, "If you would enter into life, keep the commandments" (Mt. 19:17). Please notice that according to the Lord Jesus, the way to salvation is the way of obedience to the commandments of God! Why else would Jesus point the wealthy young man to the commandments of God as the answer to his question? My dear friends, as much as our carnal nature would love to have it so, there is no formula, no ceremony, no single event or confession that can save anyone.

Jesus warned us not to believe that a mere confession of faith in him will save us. He said, "Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Nor will merely knowing what is right save us, for "not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified" (Rom. 2:13). Nor should we think that the presence of spiritual gifts will save us, for the Lord said, "Many will say in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works?' And then I will profess to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.'"

There is no way around it - we must do the will of God if we hope to be saved in the end. Without a life of holiness, "no man will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). The truth is never more complicated than that.