What Is the Call to Salvation?

Summary

Grace in Focus Podcast

Episode Title: What Is the Call to Salvation?
Host: Bob Wilkin (B), with Sam Maher (C)
Date: May 21, 2026
Podcast: Grace Evangelical Society

Overview

This episode focuses on the clarity and accuracy of the salvation message presented by many churches. Bob Wilkin and Sam Maher respond to a listener’s question about the “call to salvation,” specifically addressing whether common evangelistic formulas go far enough—or, conversely, go too far—in communicating the biblical requirements for becoming a Christian. The hosts highlight the critical issue of assurance, the content of saving faith, and how adding requirements beyond faith in Christ for everlasting life distorts the gospel.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Evaluating Evangelistic Messages (00:49–02:41)

• A listener named Ronnie describes his church’s process for becoming a Christian:

  1. Believe in Jesus
  2. Repent and confess sins
  3. Surrender your life to Jesus

• The hosts point out a problem:

  • Step 1 is necessary and sufficient for salvation; steps 2 and 3 are good things for Christians to do but should not be conditions for salvation.
  • The issue: many churches present all three steps as required, leading to confusion.

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2. What Must One Believe to Be Saved? (02:41–06:49)

• Ronnie asks if "just believing in Jesus" is sufficient for salvation.
• Hosts clarify:
  • The message must say “believe in Jesus for everlasting life.”
  • Citing John 4:10, 14 and 1 Timothy 1:16, they clarify that biblical faith involves specific content: believing in the person and promise of Christ.
  • Quoting Scripture:

    "So if Jesus says the condition is to believe in him the giver for the gift of God, which is everlasting life, John 4:10, 14, well, then we need to believe what Jesus says we need to believe, not do what somebody else says we need to do." (C, 03:04)

  • “Believe in Jesus” without qualification is too vague, and can be misunderstood.
  • The Gospel of John repeatedly ties belief to everlasting life.

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3. Dangers of an Incomplete or Distorted Gospel (07:24–08:41)

• Adding steps (repentance, confession, surrender) can mislead unbelievers and detract from assurance:

  "If I'm talking to someone, especially an unbeliever, and I'm like, look, you know, 10 times in the Gospel of John, and Paul says it and Peter says it, and this guy's like, I don't know who those people are... So the point isn't having a long list of verses. It's... having a complete message that you're sharing with somebody." (B, 03:25)

• Adding requirements turns faith into a work and produces “false professors”—people who never simply believed in Christ for eternal life.

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4. The Biblical Model: The Simplicity and Assurance of Faith (08:41–10:39)

• Critique of messages like those by John MacArthur who say faith is “hard” or must be accompanied by works/commitment:

  "Once you say that, you've now created what Paul calls in Galatians 1:6–9, a false gospel. It's a message that's no longer a faith alone message." (C, 09:45)

• True saving faith is simply being convinced/persuaded of Christ’s promise:

  "And if someone says, okay, what does it mean to believe? You say, well, it means to be convinced, to be persuaded. And they say, but that sounds like intellectual assent. And you'd go, right, that's what it is." (C, 10:39)

• Assurance: The exclusivity of faith alone means a person can know they are saved.

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5. The Importance of Clarity for Assurance (10:50–12:28)

• When repentance, confession, and surrender are required, people doubt if they've “done enough.”
• Ambiguity undermines assurance and produces legalism.

  "If you think I have to turn from my sins and I have to submit and follow and obey, then you don't think it's simply by faith in Jesus. You think that's part of it." (C, 08:41)

• Counsel to Ronnie: Seek a church that proclaims faith alone in Christ for everlasting life. If none are found, consider starting a home church.

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6. Summary and Takeaways (12:28–End)

• Saving faith involves belief in the right person (Jesus Christ) for the right promise (the gift of everlasting life).

  "It's not belief plus, it's simply believe. And it's to believe in the right person, the Lord Jesus Christ, for the right thing, the gift of God, everlasting life." (C, 12:28)

• Additional “steps” (repent, confess, surrender) are valuable for Christian living but not conditions for salvation.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On insufficient gospel presentations:

  "If what you say is simply believe in Jesus, it's confusing." (C, 04:34)

• On assurance:

  "Those kinds of vague instructions are now qualifiers on something that should be very clear and easy to understand. And that is what leads to people never knowing if they're really saved or not." (B, 10:50)

• On “hard to believe” salvation:

  "I do agree it's hard to believe that simply by faith in Jesus a person has everlasting life and will never lose it. This very message, this three point message, makes believing impossible, essentially, unless you reject points two and three." (C, 08:11)

• Application for listeners seeking a church:

  "Ronnie, I would encourage you to find a different church. This church is confusing. If you can't find one, start a church, Meet in your home." (C, 11:20)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:49 – Listener’s question about the church’s steps to salvation
• 02:41 – Discussion of what is required to be saved; completeness of message
• 04:34 – Problem with “believe in Jesus” being too vague
• 08:11 – Dangers of adding steps to faith
• 10:39 – Nature of saving faith (“convinced,” “persuaded”)
• 12:08 – Advice regarding confusing churches
• 12:28 – Clear summary: Faith in the right person and promise

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Conclusion

Bob Wilkin and Sam Maher maintain that the true call to salvation is a simple yet profound invitation: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for everlasting life. Adding requirements—however well-intentioned—leads to confusion, loss of assurance, and a gospel based on works. The episode encourages clarity in evangelism and offers practical advice for Christians seeking to uphold the purity of the gospel message.

Transcript

[A]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. Why do so many churches present a confusing salvation message, even a false salvation message? What is a clear salvation message? Let's talk about this topic today here on Grace in Focus. Glad you've joined us for it. This is Grace in a Ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is grace faithalone.org Lots to learn about us there, including our events page which shows a regional conference if you live up in the northwest in Idaho, July 19th through the 23rd. Check it out on our website, faithalone.org and now with today's question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilken and Sam Maher.

[B]

All right, Bob, we've got a question from Ronnie about evangelism. And real quick, I've got a little gripe with Ronnie because he starts his email off saying, my question is this. And then a question mark does not appear in the email. He makes a lot of statements and we're gonna piece it together. But in general, it's helpful when posing a question to use a question.

[C]

And it helps if they're short and simple.

[B]

Short and simple.

[C]

So please send them to radioaithalone.org and let us know what your question is. And you're more likely to be answered if it's short and clear.

[B]

All right, so what he's saying is he is attending this church and they have this statement about becoming a Christian. It's three bullet points. One, believing in Jesus.

[C]

Two. Good. We like that first point. Okay.

[B]

Two, repenting and confessing sins. Three, surrendering your life to Jesus.

[C]

Oops.

[B]

There's a lot of problems here. The first would be, like you said, one, you could stop there. Technically, all three of these are good things. But you need to clarify that you're now a Christian after step one. And then step two and three are, here's what you should do as a Christian. But I'm assuming this church kind of lumps these all together like the ABCs. Admit, believe, confess. But so then let's get into what his question really is. He's been listening to the radio for a while and he understands that it's faith alone and believing in Jesus for everlasting life. Great. And so then he's saying, I'm not sure if the church I attend really goes far enough in their call to salvation. And what I think he means by that is he's not saying there should be four or five or six steps. He's saying that first step I don't think goes far enough. I assume that's what you mean? Ronnie is just saying, believing in Jesus, is that far enough of an evangelistic message?

[C]

Yeah, that's a good point. And he might mean, too, that when you tell people to turn from their sins and to submit to Christ and to follow Christ and to obey Christ, you're really giving a false message. And so in a sense, you could say that's not going far enough. Because to go far enough is to go where Jesus goes.

[B]

Right?

[C]

So if Jesus says the condition is to believe in him the giver for the gift of God, which is everlasting life, John 4, 10, 14, well, then we need to believe what Jesus says we need to believe, not do what somebody else says we need to do.

[B]

Right. The issue is complete message, not the length of a message. And this is something I was talking with Dan about in the office recently. I think a problem we as Christians have sometimes, and I've done it and everybody's done it, but we like to have a long list of verses that support what we're saying. So we'll make a point and then say like, boom, this verse, this verse, this verse, this verse. Ten books, you know, a thousand passages. But that's not helpful, especially not in evangelism. That's good for a paper. But if I'm talking to someone, especially an unbeliever, and I'm like, look, you know, 10 times in the Gospel of John, and Paul says it and Peter says it, and this guy's like, I don't know who those people are. I don't. Like, I've never read the Bible. I don't care what those things are. So the point isn't having a long list of verses. It's not having a lot of passages. It's about having a complete message that you're sharing with somebody. And the only place we find a complete message with all three elements of what we would identify believe in Jesus Christ for everlasting life would be the Gospel of John.

[C]

Absolutely. And the first point for this church was what? Believe in Jesus.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

See, the problem with that, and if that's what Ronnie's alluding to, of not going far enough, they don't mention for everlasting life. In 1 Timothy 1:16, Paul says, I'm an example of those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. And in the Gospel of John, you see that over and over and over again, that what we're believing Jesus for is, is the gift of God. John 4:10. If you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you, give me a drink. You would have asked him and he would have given you living water. And he went on to explain that the gift of God is everlasting life. 4:14 and he went on to explain that the one who's speaking to her is the Messiah. That's John 4, 25 and 26. And she believes it. She drinks the living water. She knows she has everlasting life. So yeah, I don't think they go far enough when they say believe in Jesus. It should be believe in Jesus for everlasting life. Or you could use some similar language like believe in Jesus for the new birth, or believe in Jesus to become a child of God, or believe in Jesus to be saved once and for all, to have everlasting salvation. But if what you say is simply believe in Jesus, it's confusing. I've read a number of things by some of the people from what are called the flexible free grace camp. And they will say there's a whole lot of different things you can believe about Jesus to be born again. Sometimes they will say you need to believe in the person of Jesus. I believe Jesus is the son of God. Okay, then you get it whether you believe you have anything or not. And. But some of the same people would say, but it's acceptable to believe that Jesus was sent from God. And if they believe that God sent Jesus, then that's enough to believe. Or they would say, if you believe in the provision of Christ, you believe he died on the cross for our sins and rose again, then you have eternal life whether you believe it or not.

[A]

You are invited to subscribe to the Grace Evangelical Society's YouTube channel. You will find our Monday, Wednesday and Friday videos there enlightening and encouraging and even probably humorous at times. If you like Bob Wilkins humor, indeed, you will get biblical truth about free grace themes like faith alone for eternal salvation and why the Grace evangelical society is zero point Calvinistic. We come your way three times a week at the Grace Evangelical YouTube channel. Check it out and tell a friend about the Grace Evangelical Society.

[C]

The problem with this is this belief in Jesus is very vague, right?

[B]

And the bigger problem, if I was evangelizing and I was going to use these three points and I say, look, you just believe in Jesus, repent, confess your sins and surrender your life to him. Then they're going to focus on the second two because there's more involved there, believing, sure, that's easy. But now you're telling me I have to repent and I have to confess. I don't Even know what repent means. And I have a lot of sins. Do I have to confess all of them and surrender my life? What does that mean? I have to. I got to give up everything? Do I have to quit my job? So it's like, what does believe mean? Who is Jesus? What am I believing him for? Like, those are the important things. So either way, you're going to get into specific instructions. It's about whether you put those on the belief part or what comes after.

[C]

Yeah, and saying that the believing is easy. You know, John MacArthur wrote a book called Hard to Believe, and actually I agree with the title. I don't agree with what he says in the book, but I do agree it's hard to believe that simply by faith in Jesus a person has everlasting life and will never lose it. This very message, this three point message, makes believing impossible, essentially, unless you reject points two and three.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Because if you think I have to turn from my sins and I have to submit and follow and obey, then you don't think it's simply by faith in Jesus. You think that's part of it. And the other thing, you know, a lot of people, as you mentioned, they don't even know what believing means. They would, of course, if they just went with what does the word believe mean? But because they've heard pastors and theologians say, oh no, saving faith is a special kind of faith. It's not like believing in a doctor or believing that George Washington was the first president. It's a special kind of faith that includes turning from your sins and submitting your life to Christ and following Christ and persevering. Once you say that, you've now created what Paul calls in Galatians 1:6:9, a false gospel. It's a message that's no longer a faith alone message. And so I would agree with Ronnie. The call to salvation is the call to believe in Jesus for everlasting life. And by the way, when I mentioned that believing in Jesus is too vague, a lot of people would say, well, wait a minute, doesn't John 3:16 say whoever believes in him? Isn't that vague? Well, no, because John 3:16 doesn't end there. He says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but has everlasting life. That's the guarantee. So the guarantee is, if I believe in Him, I'm believing in him for something which is never perishing, having everlasting life. And you see that all through John's gospel you mentioned earlier, we talk about the three elements. Believing Jesus, everlasting life, right?

[B]

Belief, the person, the promise. Those all should be present in a good evangelistic message because that's what needs to be believed.

[C]

And if someone says, okay, what does it mean to believe? You say, well, it means to be convinced, to be persuaded. And they say, but that sounds like intellectual assent. And you'd go, right, that's what it is.

[B]

If it's not, then what these people are saying is 2 and 3 are now qualifiers of 1. Belief is only belief if it's accompanied by repentance, confession and surrendering. And what that does is lead someone, okay, I believed, but did I really repent? Did I really confess? Have I really surrendered my life to Christ? Those kinds of vague instructions are now qualifiers on something that should be very clear and easy to understand. And that is what leads to people never knowing if they're really saved or not.

[C]

And it makes them false professors. You have a lot of people who've never believed that simply by faith in Jesus, they're secure forever, right? They have everlasting life and yet they go to a church, they say they believe in Jesus, they follow Jesus, they're turning from their sins, they're committing their life to Christ. But they've been a legalist from the beginning. That means that unless there's been some point in their life where they got it, that it was simply by faith in Jesus, they had everlasting life, they were saved forever, they've not yet been born again. And so a church like this. Ronnie, I would encourage you to find a different church. This church is confusing. If you can't find one, start a church, Meet in your home.

[B]

You have to clarify if it was one, believe in Jesus for everlasting life and then start a new line, 1, 2, then that'd be fine because you should repent and confess and you should surrender your life to Jesus. But it's when you make those things extra requirements on the belief that it's not the message.

[C]

Absolutely. It's not belief plus, it's simply believe. And it's to believe in the right person, the Lord Jesus Christ, for the right thing, the gift of God, everlasting life. Well, thanks so much. And Sam, let's keep grace in focus.

[A]

Be our guest and subscribe to our 48 page magazine, six issues per year, also called Grace in Focus. It's free by emailing your name and snail mail address to gesaithalone.org that's faithalone.org maybe you've got a question or comment or feedback. If so, please send us a message. Here's our email address. It's radioaithalone.org that's radioaithalone.org and when you do, please make sure your question is as succinct and clear as possible. That would be a great big help on our next episode are all who believe on Jesus as Savior born again. Please come back and join us again. And in the meantime, let's keep Grace in focus.

[B]

The proceeding has been a listener supported

[A]

ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.