What Must I Do to Be Saved?
Posted by: biblenotes <biblenotes@...>
From: Martin M Overfield
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000
What Must I Do to Be Saved?
"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)
"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of
God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye
believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6:28, 29)
One moment the guard is about to commit suicide. The next moment he
falls down at the feet of two prisoners and asks what he should do to be
saved. Their answer was "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved".
These prisoners, Paul and Silas, gave this same message to everyone,
whether they were Jews or Gentiles. The most popular verse of the Bible
expresses the same concept: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
It is not some particular good work or any number of good works that
will cause us to be saved. Not one of our sins can be forgiven on the basis
of how much good we have done. There is no way to tip the balance in our
favor apart from the price that Jesus paid to redeem us. The only thing
that can save us is to believe in Jesus Christ.
But, we must realize what it means to truly believe in (or on) Him,
because James tells us that "the devils believe and tremble" (James 2:19).
Obviously the devils are not saved by whatever kind of faith it is that they
have. Satan himself knows "that he hath but a short time" (Revelation
12:12), and yet he continues in, and accelerates, his grand rebellion
against God.
It is evident that this faith must involve a proper concept of who Jesus
is. We must know in whom we are putting our faith. This also will include
what He has done, at least as it relates to His sacrificial death for our
sins and His resurrection from the dead. We can arrive at this point
through reading and/or hearing the Gospel, especially as found in Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. Through this, one may come to the place that he
believes that it is true. This is called mental ASSENT.
Next, the will and affections (the heart) must play a part in the proper
exercise of faith. "Whosoever will" may come (Revelation 22:17), and "with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness" (Romans 10:10). This involves
the idea of CONSENT. It is not enough to have a faith that is limited to
the knowledge of the facts. The heart and will of a person must respond to
the truth.
Consent includes COMMITMENT. There is no such thing as an uncommitted
Christian as I understand the Bible. The issue is not only whether you will
receive Christ, but also, whether HE will receive you. This involves Bible
repentance, which teaches we must have a "godly SORROW" for sin, make
CONFESSION of sin to God, make full RESTITUTION as far as possible for the
wrongs we have done, and completely FORSAKE SIN. (II Corinthians 7:10; I
John 1:9; Luke 19:8; Isaiah 55:7).
The climax of faith is represented by the word TRUST (Matthew 12:21).
For faith to be complete, the seeker after God MUST TRUST in, lean upon,
Jesus Christ and His blood alone for salvation. One who trusts in his own
works, or even in his own faith, falls short of true salvation; but, the one
who trusts Christ with all his heart will find Him to be all the salvation
he needs!
Yours In Christ,
Martin Overfield
Please send this Bible Note to everyone who may be interested or helped by
it. To subscribe to these FREE Bible Notes please send a blank e-mail to
bible_notes-subscribe@welovegod.org