What Must I Do To Be Saved?
There’s a miraculous moment in the Bible in the book of Acts when Paul and Silas are locked up in prison for preaching the Gospel; and they prayed and sang praises unto God, and a great earthquake shook the foundations of the prison and “the keeper of the prison” came trembling out before them and said: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:30-31.
This life is fleeting away!
Job Chapter 8 verse 9 states:
(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)
We’ve been given but a short time on this earth and the single most important quest of this life is to determine where we will spend all of eternity. There is no single greater question that any of us can ask.
We hear from a lot of people today who believe that if they were to die today they would go to heaven based on the false notion that they are generally a good person.
Yet the Bible says that breaking even one of God’s Laws will earn you eternal damnation in the Lake of fire. Revelation 20:15 states:
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
The Bible says that we have all broken God’s commandments.
“For that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23).
Romans 3:10 also says: “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one”.
Because of our individual sin, the Bible tells us in Romans 6:23 that “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO BE SAVED?
Here is what the Bible teaches about salvation.
- First, admit that you are a sinner.
Calling out to a Savior implies the fact that you need saving from something. You’ve broken God’s perfect Law. Confess your sins to the Lord Jesus Christ and ask Him to forgive you. You don’t have to confess your sins to a priest or to anyone else, but Jesus Christ alone.
1 Timothy 2:5 states: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”
Only God knows your secret hidden sins! Don’t put your faith in any man, not your pastor, not me, not a priest, and definitely not a Pope, but in Jesus Christ alone!
- Next, understand the basics of the Gospel: that God became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, died on the cross, was buried, and rose again after the third day to take on Himself the punishment for all your sins.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 states: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
- Finally, simply put your faith in Him and simply call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ask Him save you!
Romans 10:9 states:
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.
Repent from unbelief and forsake all false religions.
Acts 4:12 says:
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
And remember … I can’t stress this enough … that you can’t save yourself by your own works! The Bible teaches us that we are saved not by works but by faith on Jesus Christ alone:
Ephesians 2:8-9 states:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Salvation is a one-time event that ensures our eternal security.
John 10:28-30 states:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
You may have heard the phrase among Bible believing Christians: “Once saved always saved”. Well, it’s true! God won’t let you go!
Why is this important? Because if you believe you can lose your salvation by sinning, then you are not really trusting in the Lord Jesus to save you, but instead in your own works!
Romans 8:38-39 speaks of our eternal security in Christ:
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here’s what you don’t have to do to be saved:
You don’t have to be baptized to be saved.
You don’t have to do “good works” to be saved.
You don’t have to take communion to be saved.
You don’t have to stop sinning to be saved!
You don’t have to keep the commandments to be saved!
Now the Bible does teach that you should follow God’s moral commandments and try to stop sinning after you’ve been saved, but that’s not what saves you.
Come to Jesus in your present condition!
Lastly, you don’t even have to go to church to be saved!
I do want you to do all those things after you get saved! After you get saved, get baptized right away, do good works (good works are often missing in our fast-paced self-centered modern age, so do good works!), join a good local church that preaches correct doctrine from the tried and true King James Bible, not from one of these new fake versions!
But if you try to come to Jesus on your own merits, He will turn you away!
Isaiah 64:6 states:
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags”.
The Bible says that we must be born again!
John 3:3 says: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Here’s a simple prayer that you can pray. And it doesn’t have to be these exact words. I invite you to pray them with me now:
“Lord Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner who deserves eternal punishment in Hell. I believe that you died on the cross, was buried, and rose again after three days to save me from my sins. Forgive me of all of my sins and be my only Lord and Savior!”
If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are born again! Welcome to the Family of God!