Chapter VIII: An Erring Child of God

It is my purpose this morning to discuss the case of an erring child of God in contrast to that of an alien sinner. An alien sinner is one who has never been baptized into Jesus Christ, one who has never become a member of the Lord’s church, one who has never become a citizen of the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The plan of salvation for such an one is clearly revealed in the Bible. It has been proclaimed from this pulpit numbers and numbers of times. It needs to be repeated over and over again, and to be kept constantly before the minds of the people.

Not only should those who are not Christians know the plan of salvation in order to become Christians, but those who have already obeyed the gospel ought to know what an alien must do to be saved well enough to teach others effectively. The alien must know the gospel well enough to obey it. The Christian must have a working knowledge of the gospel in order to help save others.

The Bible clearly teaches that in order to become a child of God one must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God; that he must then repent of his sins (Acts 2:38 and 3:19); that he must confess with his mouth the faith which he has in his heart; and finally he must be baptized for remission of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16, and many other places which might be cited). These are the conditions of salvation for an alien sinner. Obedience to these commandments makes one a child of the Lord.