Salvation Examples
The whole point here is to show how there is no set way to get saved, no ABC to do, no certain procedure to follow, but that God calls each individual in his way, in his time and saves them the way that pleases him and in a way where he gets all the glory
Paul the apostle;
The apostle Paul is a good example because for one, he wasn't looking for Salvation, nor was he seeking it. Matter of fact he was out persecuting the church of God in the name of his Jewish Old Testament beliefs when God called him and turned him from trying to destroy the faith to being one of the most zealous christian brothers ever.
2 Saul asked from him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, so that if he found any being of the Way, both men and women, having bound them he might bring them to Jerusalem. 3 But in the going it happened! He drew near to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the heaven shone around him. 4 And falling on the earth he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute Me? 5 And he said, Sir, who are You? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute; it is hard for you to kick against the goads. 6 Both trembling and being astonished he said, Lord, what do You desire me to do? And the Lord said to him, Rise up and go into the city, and it will be told you what you must do. 7 But the men traveling with him had been standing speechless, indeed hearing the voice, but seeing no one. 8 And Saul was lifted up from the earth, but his eyes being opened he saw no one. And leading him by the hand they brought him to Damascus. 9 And he was three days not seeing, and did not eat or drink.10 And there was a certain disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias! And he said, Behold, Lord, I am here.11 And the Lord said to him, Rising up pass along on the street being called Straight and seek a Tarsian, Saul by name, in the house of Judas. For, behold, he is praying.12 And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting a hand on him, so that he may see again.13 And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how many bad things he did to Your saints in Jerusalem.14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all the ones calling on Your name.15 And the Lord said to him, Go, for this one is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My name before nations and kings and the sons of Israel.
16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of My name.17 And Ananias went away and entered into the house. And putting hands on him he said, Brother Saul, the Lord has sent me, Jesus, the One who appeared to you in the highway on which you came, that you may see and be filled of the Holy Spirit.18 And instantly it was as if scales fell away from his eyes. And rising up at the thing happening, he was baptized.19 And taking food he was strengthened. And Saul was with the disciples in Damascus some days. 20 And at once in the synagogues he proclaimed the Christ, that this One is the Son of God. Acts 9:2-20
Paul retelling his conversion in Acts 26;
1 And Agrippa said to Paul, It is allowed for you yourself to speak. Then Paul made a defense, stretching out the hand: 2 Concerning all of which I am accused by Jews, king Agrippa, I count myself happy being about to make defense before you today,3 you being most of all expert, knowing of all the customs and questions also among the Jews. Because of this, I beg you patiently to hear me. 4 Truly, then, all the Jews know my way of life from youth, which from the beginning had been in my nation in Jerusalem, 5 who before knew me from the first, if they will testify, that according to the most exact sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. 6 And now for the hope of the promise having been made by God to the fathers, I stand being judged;
7 to which our twelve tribes hope to arrive, worshiping in earnestness night and day, concerning which hope I am accused by the Jews, king Agrippa. 8 Why is it judged unbelievable by you if God raises the dead? 9 Indeed, I then thought to myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus the Nazarene,10 which I also did in Jerusalem, I also shut up many of the saints in prisons, receiving authority from the chief priests; and they being put to death, I cast a vote.
11 And often punishing them through all the synagogues, I compelled them to blaspheme. And being exceedingly furious against them, I even persecuted as far as the outside cities.12 In which also traveling to Damascus with authority and decision power from the chief priests,13 at midday along the highway, O king, I and those with me saw a light from heaven shining around me above the brightness of the sun.14 And all of us falling to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me, and saying in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the prods.15 And I said, Who are you, Sir? And He said, I am Jesus whom you persecute;
16 but rise up and stand on your feet, for it is for this reason I appeared to you, to appoint you a servant and a witness both of what you saw, and in what I shall appear to you, 17 having delivered you from the people and the nations, to whom I now send you, 18 to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to God, in order that they may receive remission of sins, and an inheritance among those being sanctified by faith in Me.
The 12 apostles;
While we don't have an account explaining how all 12 apostles where called, here are some;
Peter and Andrew his brother where fishing (they were fishermen) and Jesus Christ passed by and called them; telling them he would make them fishers of men. And they left everything and followed him. And he called James and John in the same way. Read Matthew 4: 18-22
Jesus called Matthew while he was collecting taxes and he followed him. Matthew 9:9-13
Jesus found Philip and said to him: follow me! John 1:43
Also remember Thomas, after Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he didn't belief unless he could see and put his fingers in Jesus' wounds. He was the doubting Thomas the whole world heard about. Peter denied Jesus 3 times, he sank in the water. They all fled when Jesus was arrested, most of them where nowhere to be found when Jesus was being crucified and they were all sort of hiding away in a house after Jesus burial. But Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them and taught them everything and at Pentecost they all received the Holy Spirit from God.
And God used those earthly vessels to spread the good news of the gospel everywhere.
10 of the eleven died a martyr's death, only John died a natural death. ( and we all know what Judas Iscariot did, he betrayed Jesus Christ and killed himself afterward when it dawned on him what he had done)
Barnabas was one of the early converts in Acts and a travelling companion of Paul.
Timothy was a follower since childhood, his mother and grandmother were both believers.
Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892
His Father was a preacher, his grand father was a preacher, his mother was a serious christian sister, but his conversion took a totally different path......
As a teenager, on his way to a church service in the winter, he sought refuge from the elements in a small church and there the preacher preached on that the Lord said look to me and you will be saved, and that's how God converted him.
The way of salvation;
Is you coming to Christ. But many say; “I am afraid I do not come the right way.” How unwise we are in the matter of salvation! We are more foolish than children are in everyday life. A mother says to her child, Come here, I will give you this apple. The first thought of the child is about the apple; the second thought of the child is about its mother; the very last thought is about the way of coming. His mother told him to come, and he does not say, but I do not know whether I will come rightly. He totters along as best he can, and he doesn’t think twice about it, the apple is all that occupies his mind. But when you say to a sinner, Come to Christ, and you shall have eternal life, he thinks about nothing but his coming. He will not think about eternal life, nor yet about Jesus Christ, to whom he is bidden to come, but only about coming, when he need not think of that at all, but just do it–do what Jesus bids him–simply trust him. What kind of coming is that which saves a soul? Any coming, if it does but come to Jesus Christ! Author; John Bunyan 1628-1688
Augustine of Hippo AD 354-430
In the late summer of 386 Augustine sat in a garden in Milan and heard a child’s sing-song voice: “Take it and read it; take it and read it.” He picked up what was nearby, Paul’s Letter to the Romans, and began reading Romans 13:13–14, “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.…”
This was his conversion. On Easter eve in 387, Ambrose baptized him. Augustine returned to his joyful mother and spent time in retreat and study.
John Bunyan 1628-1688
"One day as he was standing at a neighbor's window, cursing and swearing, and 'playing the madman after his wonted manner,' a woman of the town protested that he made her tremble, and that truly he was the ungodliest fellow for swearing that she ever heard in all her life, and quite enough to ruin the youth of the whole town. The woman was herself a notoriously worthless character, and so severe a reproof from so strange a quarter had a singular effect on Bunyan's mind. He was silenced in a moment. He blushed before the God of heaven; and as he there stood with hanging head, he wished with all his heart that he were a little child again, and that his father might teach him to speak without profanity; for he thought his bad habit so inveterate now, that reformation was out of the question."
From that day he ceased to swear, and his whole outward life was so reformed that his fellow-townsmen wondered greatly. He commenced to read the Bible, and became greatly interested in the historical parts of it. But this was only another attempt of Satan to deceive him—now by legalism, as at first by ritualism. He says, "I did set the commandments before me for my way to heaven; which commandments I did also strive to keep, and, as I thought, did keep them pretty well sometimes, and thus I should have comfort; yet now and then should break one, and so afflict my conscience; but then I should repent, and say I was sorry for it, and promised God to do better next time, and there get help again; for then I thought I pleased God as well as any man in England. Thus I continued about a year; all which time our neighbors did take me to be a very godly man, a new and religious man, and did marvel much to see such great and famous alteration in my life and manners; and, indeed, so it was, though I knew not Christ, nor grace, nor faith, nor hope."
But one day, after he had removed to Bedford, as he was passing down the street, he noticed a few poor women in conversation in a doorway. He drew near, and listened a while to their talk. They were speaking of the new birth, and the work of God's Spirit in their souls, and their personal experiences of the saving power of God's grace through Christ. He stood amazed, and realized that they possessed something of which he was entirely ignorant.
He then began to perceive that salvation is not from anything that comes from man, or that man can do, but that it is from God, and that to possess it he must have to do with God Himself—that it was something new he must possess in his soul which none but God can give, a forgiveness of sins which none but God can administer. These poor women were basking in the sunshine whilst he, with all his doings, was shivering in the cold.
But long, weary years of doubt and despondency yet passed before Bunyan learned to look away from self to find in Christ and His finished work the way to God and peace. The pride of heart which hinders men from seeing their truly lost condition was very strong in him, and it took long to break it up. Luther's "Commentary on Galatians" fell into his hands one day, and brought him a flood of light. "His happiness," one writes, "was now as intense as his misery had been. He wished he were fourscore years old, that he might die quickly, that he might go to be with Him who had made His soul an offering for his sins."
After this he was again assailed by temptations of Satan, and another season of agony was passed; but finally he was relieved by the text, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." He says, "I saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever."'
The conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-39)
26 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Rise up and go along south on the highway going down to Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a deserted place. 27 And rising up he went. And, behold, an Ethiopian man, a eunuch, a potentate with Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship! 28 And he was returning. And sitting on his chariot he read the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, Go near and join yourself to this chariot. 30 And running near Philip heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, Indeed, do you know what you are reading? 31 But he said, How should I be able except someone shall guide me? And he called Philip near, to come up to sit with him. 32 And the content of the Scripture which he was reading was this: "He was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb voiceless before the one shearing it, so He does not open His mouth. 33 In His humiliation His judgment was taken away. And who will recount His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth." (Isa. 53:7, 8)
34 And answering the eunuch said to Philip, I ask you, about whom does the prophet say this? About himself, or about some other one? 35 And opening his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, Philip announced the gospel to him, Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the highway they came on some water. And the eunuch said, Behold, water! What prevents me to be baptized?
37 And Philip said, If you believe from all the heart, it is lawful. And answering he said, I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. 38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. 39 But when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip. And the eunuch did not see him any more; for he went his way rejoicing.