If you aren't
saved, what good is anything else? All the teaching, all
the preaching, all the prayer in the World will amount
to nothing if you are not saved. Interestingly enough,
almost everyone in the entire world says they are "going
to heaven" yet their lives are full of corrupt and vile
things. What does it mean to be saved?
Have you really
ever stopped to ask yourself the prime question:
What Must I Do To Be Saved? There are some basic
steps that are clearly outlined in the Bible:
1. You Must
Understand That You Are Lost Without Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells
us that "all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Before you can be
saved, you must understand that you are lost and
that the only way to be saved is by obedience to the
gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:8). Jesus
said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there
is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
2. You Must
Have Faith In God.
You must have
faith in God because "without faith it is impossible
to please him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11:6) But
neither belief alone nor faith alone is sufficient
to save. (James 2:19; James 2:24; Matthew 7:21)
3. You Must
Repent of Your Sins.
You must repent
of your sins. (Acts 3:19) But repentance alone is
not enough. The so-called "Sinner's Prayer" that you
hear so much about today from denominational
preachers does not appear anywhere in the Bible.
Indeed, nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever told to
pray the "Sinner's Prayer" to be saved. By contrast,
there are numerous examples showing that prayer
alone does not save. Saul, for example, prayed
following his meeting with Jesus on the road to
Damascus (Acts 9:11), but Saul was still in his sins
when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16).
Cornelius prayed to God always, and yet there was
something else he needed to do to be saved (Acts
10:2, 6, 33, 48). If prayer alone did not save Saul
or Cornelius, it will not save you either. You must
obey the gospel.
4. You Must
Confess That Jesus Is The Son of God.
You must
confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Romans
10:9-10) Note that you do NOT need to make Jesus
"Lord of your life." Why? Because Jesus is already
Lord of your life whether or not you have obeyed his
gospel. Indeed, we obey him, not to make him Lord,
but because he already is Lord. (Acts 2:36) No
one in the Bible was ever told to just "accept Jesus
as your personal savior." The truth is that it
matters little whether you "personally accept" Jesus
as Lord. He is Lord regardless of your
acceptance of the fact. We must confess that Jesus
is the Son of God, but, as with faith and
repentance, confession alone does not save. (Matthew
7:21)
|
But
they have not all obeyed the gospel. For
Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed
our report? [Romans 10:16] |
5. You Must
Be Baptized For The Remission of Your Sins.
Having
believed, repented, and confessed that Jesus is the
Son of God, you must be baptized for the remission
of your sins. (Acts 2:38) It is at this point (and
not before) that your sins are forgiven. (Acts
22:16) It is impossible to proclaim the gospel of
Jesus Christ without teaching the absolute necessity
of baptism for salvation. (Acts 8:35-36; Romans
6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21) Anyone who responds to the
question in Acts 2:37 with an answer that
contradicts Acts 2:38 is NOT proclaiming the gospel
of Jesus Christ! Paul was baptized,
Cornelius was baptized, the Philippian jailer was
baptized, the Eunuch was baptized and the believers
in Acts 19 were baptized. In every case,
baptism was performed in every believer's life.
|
Saying, Go unto this people, and say,
Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not
understand; and seeing ye shall see, and
not perceive: For the heart of this
people is waxed gross, and their ears
are dull of hearing, and their eyes have
they closed; lest they should see with
their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart, and
should be converted, and I should heal
them. [Acts 28:26-27] |
6. You Must
Remain Faithful in Your Walk with the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Once you are
saved, The Lord Jesus adds you to his church and
writes your name in the Book of Life. (Acts 2:47;
Philippians 4:3) To continue in God's grace, you
must continue to serve The Lord Jesus Christ
faithfully until death. Unless they remain faithful,
those who are in God's grace will fall from grace,
and those whose names are in the Book of Life will
have their names blotted out of that book.
(Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:5; Galatians 5:4).
No matter what your personal belief is about this,
one fact remains: You can't have your name
blotted out of the Book of Life if it was never
written there to begin with.
