What Must I Do To Be Saved?
By Bro David Petersen
When asked whether they know if they are going to heaven or not, many people will respond by saying "Well, I'm trying to be good."
But according to the Word of God, we need to...
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Stop trying and start trusting! |
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If you should die right now, do you know for sure that you would go to Heaven?
If your answer is anything other than, "Yes I'm absolutely certain that my sins are forgiven and that heaven will be my home," then this important message is just for you.
The Apostle Paul and his assistant Silas were thrown in jail for preaching the gospel at Philippi. At about midnight an angel came and shook the earth and loosened their chains. The Philippian jailer approached the dark dungeon...
Acts 16:29-31
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
What does it really mean to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”?
1. Recognize the fact that you are lost.
The Bible says that we are all lost sinners:
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).
Sin is disobedience of God's law. We all fall short of the mark. God is angry at sin. His goodness and justice require him to judge sin. But God loves us and has provided the only means of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Salvation comes by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. A common misconception is that God weighs our good deeds against our bad to see if we deserve to go to heaven. That is not the case. You don't get to heaven by being good or by "being religious." Jesus wants to give you eternal life, not vain religion.
Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ also implies more than an intellectual belief that Jesus existed or even that he was God. Belief first means seeing your own personal need for a savior. The Bible says that we cannot become acceptable in God’s sight on our own merit:
"The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. [3] They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Psalm 14:2-3).
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away" (Isaiah 64:6).
We cannot save ourselves. The righteous acts that we do in our natural, sinful condition are like filthy rags to God. We cannot be pleasing to God in this condition. That is because sin is at the heart of everything we do, even the things that look good on the surface. We may think of others or ourselves as good, but when we see ourselves from the perspective of an infinitely holy God, we are proven exceedingly sinful. Even if you are the best person on earth, the moral difference between you and Adolf Hitler is miniscule compared to the difference between you and Jesus.
2. Know That Sin Causes Death
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Sin causes both physical and spiritual death. Physical death is separation from the body. Spiritual death is separation from God. You are already spiritually dead if you are not believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation. |
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For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23-7:1-23).
Notice above that you get paid “wages” for sin, that is, you earn or deserve it; but eternal life is a “free gift.” See the contrast. You don’t earn a gift. It is free.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12)
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God did not create mankind in a sinful state, but man fell. Sin “entered the world” through Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden. Starting with Adam, each person willfully chooses to sin and is accountable to God for his own sin. |
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. Heb 9:27 27
The death rate among humans is 100%. Then we will all face God on the Day of Judgment. Judgment is as certain as the fact that we are going to die. A fiery hell awaits those who die in their sins.
3. Repent Toward God With Genuine Sorrow for The Fact That You Are A Sinner
Repentance means a change of mind. It means recognizing that you are a sinner and turning away from sin and self-righteousness. Then turn to God for salvation and the righteousness that he provides through Christ.
Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, Acts 17:30-31 30
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 2 Cor 7:10 10
The final judgment day is solid motivation for repenting. But the judgment is a sentencing, not a trial. It is this life that determines our eternal destiny:
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36 36
Note above that he who believes in the Son HAS eternal life (right now). The one who does not have the Son already has the wrath of God abiding on him, which is not a good position to be in.
4. Recognize That Jesus Died As Your Substitute and Paid For All Your Sins
God has proven his love for us by providing a way for us to come to him:
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Rom 5:8 8
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor 5:21
And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so hat we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 1 Peter 2:24 4
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Since Jesus had no sin of his own, he was able to take our sins upon himself. He then shed his blood and died to pay for our sins. Jesus paid the full price to redeem us from the curse of death. When we receive him, we claim that payment in our behalf. Then the blood of Jesus covers us, and God sees the righteousness of Jesus when he looks at us. |
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There is nothing that we can do to add to that payment by our own good works, since as we have already seen, we are sinful and “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.”
You can't save yourself by trying to be good. If we could have earned our own salvation, Jesus needn’t have died. Since Jesus already paid for all of our sins, God offers us eternal life as a free gift.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2:8-9
Since Jesus paid it all and gives it to us as a gift, he deserves all the credit. No one will boast in heaven of how they worked to get themselves there. Instead they will praise the Lord for their salvation. He will get all the glory.
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Rom 3:21-22
We are not to rely on our own self-righteousness. Instead, we are to get a “righteousness that comes from God”, that is, the righteousness of Christ applied as a free gift in our behalf. So we earn death through sin, but in contrast we freely receive the gift of eternal life through believing in Christ.
5. Ask God To Forgive You Because of What Jesus Did and Trust His Word That He Will
8 But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart" -- that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." Rom 10:8-10
Note in Romans 10:8-9 above that we must:
- Trust what God’s Word of faith says.
- Make Jesus the “Lord” of our lives, that is, do what he says.
- Believe in his resurrection.
- Be willing to to tell others about our salvation.
The Promise:
Rom 10:13 " for WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."
Verse 13 says that the Lord will not reject anyone who calls on his name for salvation. This is a promise from God's word. The whole idea is to stop "trying to be good" on your own, and start trusting in the promises in God's word. Trust, don’t try.
What’s A Good Time To Be Saved?
Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME," behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION" -- 2 Cor 6:2
You can trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior right now wherever you are. You do not need to be in a church service in order to be saved.
Call upon the Lord for Salvation. Trust in his word that He has done it.
What To Pray:
The exact words that you use to call upon the Lord for salvation are not important. The important thing is that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are not sure what to pray, here is a suitable sample prayer.
‘Dear God, I am a sinner and need forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ shed his precious blood and died for my sin. I am willing to turn from sin. I now invite Christ to come into my heart and life as my Lord and personal Savior. Thank you for the free gift of salvation.’
Next Steps:
If you trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have begun a wonderful new life with Him. Now:
- Read your Bible every day to get to know Jesus better. This is God talking to you.
- Pray to God the Father every day. This is you talking to God.
- Be baptized, worship, fellowship and serve the Lord with other Christians in a scriptural New Testament church.
- Tell others about Jesus Christ.
If you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please click here to send us a secure email and tell us about it.
How can we pray for you?
How can I be sure that I'm really saved? Click here.
The New Birth
Salvation is also referred to in the Bible as “receiving Jesus.” When we receive Jesus as our personal savior we experience the new birth.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13
Verse 12 above says that we are not children of God until we “receive him”. Believing on his name means believing on the authority behind his name, his authority as savior and Lord. Notice the reference above to being “born of God.” Recall from 2. above that as sinners we are spiritually dead (separated from God).
When we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our only hope for salvation we experience a spiritual birth as Jesus explained to a man named Nicodemus:
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 "Do not be amazed that I said to you, "You must be born again.' 8 "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:1-8
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When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we experience a spiritual birth and begin a new spiritual life that we did not have before. Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born of water (a physical birth), and of spirit (a spiritual birth). |
In verse 8 above, you cannot see this spiritual birth happen any more than you can see the wind. But you can see the effects of the spiritual birth in the lives of those who experience it. Like newborn babes in Christ, they grow spiritually and you begin to see the evidence of this as their character becomes more like Christ’s. Then good works will follow salvation because we love the Lord and want to please him.
Next Steps:
You can know for sure that you will go to heaven when you die. Here's how:
- Recognize the fact that you are lost.
- Know That Sin Causes Death.
- Repent Toward God With Genuine Sorrow for The Fact That You Are A Sinner.
- Recognize That Jesus Died As Your Substitute and Paid For All Your Sins.
- Ask God To Forgive You Because of What Jesus Did and Trust His Word That He Will
If you trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have begun a wonderful new life with Him. Now:
- Read your Bible every day to get to know Jesus better. This is God talking to you.
- Pray to God the Father every day. This is you talking to God.
- Be baptized, worship, fellowship and serve the Lord with other Christians in a scriptural New Testament church.
- Tell others about Jesus Christ.
If you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please click here to send us a secure email and tell us about it.
How can we pray for you?
