Three Lost Men Walk into a Baptist Church

Three Lost Men from the street walk into a Baptist church. These men know they’re lost, know they’re sinners and don’t want to go to hell – that’s the state these three men are in when they walk into the Baptist church. 

The Three Lost Men tell the pastor, “We don’t want to go to hell. Would you tell us what the bible says about salvation?” The pastor was overjoyed to be asked such a question, and he replied, “Of course! Here’s what we’ll do for you; we’ll have three men from this church go with each of you privately and show you from the bible how to be saved.”

And so, the Three Lost Men each went with a different church member in a private room for a one-on-one discussion about salvation. After a short amount of time, everyone appeared before the church and it was proclaimed that the Three Lost Men are now saved, and everyone rejoiced.

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Afterward, the Three Men from the street got together privately to discuss their experience. The First Man said, “It’s good to be saved! I didn’t know salvation was that simple, or that it was the free gift of God. You just have to believe the gospel and trust only in Jesus Christ to be saved! Just like the man read to me from the bible, "…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..."

The Second Man said to the First Man, “It is good to be saved, and salvation is a free gift, but uh, you called upon the name of the Lord right?” The First Man said, “What are you talking about?” The Second Man said, “Well of course you have to believe, but you also have to confess with your mouth, and pray to God, and ask to be saved. Just like the man read to me from the bible, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

The First Man said, “I didn’t do that.” The Second Man replied, “Well then you’re not saved. You still have to ask God to save you!”

Then the Third Man said to the Second Man, “Hey uh, you repented of your sins right?” And the Second Man said, “What are you talking about?” The Third Man said, “Well of course you have to believe, and of course you have to confess with your mouth and call upon the Lord, but you also have to – dedicate your life to Christ, turn over a new leaf, make a commitment to stop sinning. Just like the man read to me from the bible, “godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of,” and “faith without works is dead.” So did you do that?” And the Second Man said, “I didn’t do that.” The Third Man said, “Then neither of you are saved. You still have to repent of your sins!”

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And so the First Man, who had believed on Christ and trusted in Him alone, is saved, but now he thinks he’s lost because the Second Man did more than he did and used scripture to justify his position. The Second Man, who is lost because he’s not trusting in Christ alone, but rather in the works of confession and prayer, thinks he’s saved because he did more than the First Man – that is until the Third Man spoke up. Now the Second Man doubts his salvation, even though he doesn’t have salvation, because the Third Man did more than he did and used scripture to justify his position.

And the Third Man, who is lost because he’s trusting in his works of confession, prayer and repentance of sins, thinks he’s a saved man because he’s done more than the other two, and also used scripture to justify his position.

All Three Men are confused as to why they were given different scripture passages and told three different plans of salvation. Only one of the Three Lost Men from the street got saved out the encounter, but now he stands in doubt of his salvation. 

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Because the gospel of grace, salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, has been compromised in our day, foolishness like this is going on in churches everywhere. Does everyone in your church preach the same gospel?