| This is the most important
question you will ever or have ever asked yourself. To fully appreciate
the weight of the question, we should look briefly at its cause . . . .
Separation and God’s
Plan
God had a dilemma. Having
created man in His own image, being capable of the choice to live with
Him and be His children, or despise him and sin . . . they had willfully
separated themselves from His presence. God had established rules by which
the first man and woman were to live, and when those rules were broken,
He could not change them. To arbitrarily change His mind on a matter would
be to alter His nature, for He is a just God (Deuteronomy 32:4, 2 Thessalonians
1:5-7).
SIN separates man from God.
“Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save; Neither is
His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you,
so that He does not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).
The hearts of pagan men had
turned from God, despite the evidence in this world around them of His
existence. The Jews were imperfect in their observation of the Law of Moses,
and so locked up under sin (Romans, ch. 1-3). In short, “all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God . . .” (Romans 3:23). This is sad, indeed,
for “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
But if God is incapable of
changing Himself, how did He change His plan to accommodate for man’s indiscretions?
The answer is He didn’t! He had created a plan for mankind’s redemption
from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3-14). Before the
first man was created, He knew what kind of person He would elect for salvation,
and by whom He would redeem all of those people!
The Grace of God
"For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
And so, our salvation begins
with what has already been done for us. We are “justified as a gift by
His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).
“The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans
6:23).
How was salvation to be found
in Jesus Christ? “Having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved
from the wrath of God through Him” (Romans 5:9). Salvation is found in
Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice. How do we gain access to that sacrifice?
God’s Plan For Us
Having made available this
great mercy for the sake of all men, the task is before each and every
one of us to do God’s will and receive it. And so, we join that jailer
from Philippi in asking, “What must I do to be saved?” The Bible is clear
in its plan for the salvation of our souls, and even though the New Testament
is not arranged as an itemized “To Do” list, we can understand that when
it says something saves us, we ought to do it! But there are many things
that the New Testament describes as saving us . . . can we pick one or
another? Are only a few of them true? OR, must we logically conclude that
all of them are necessary? Clearly, let us examine and accept all these
things that God asks of us--
FAITH
The foundation of our salvation
is faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith
it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that
He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Faith is “the
assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews
11:1). This is the first necessary work required of mankind (John 6:29).
There are a few things that characterize saving faith. (1) It is received
by hearing the gospel. Jesus is the “author and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews
12:2). “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ”
(Romans 10:17). “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of
God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek” (Romans 1:16). (2) Faith works: “What use is it, my brethren,
if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and
one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet
you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself” (James 2:15-17;
notice also the works demonstrating faith throughout Hebrews ch. 11).
This faith saves
us.
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Acts 10:43
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"Of Him all the prophets
bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives
forgiveness of sins." |
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Acts 16:31
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“And they said, ‘Believe
in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.’” |
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Mark 16:16
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"He who has believed and
has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” |
REPENTANCE
Repentance is a change of
mind. “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things
of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set
on the Spirit is life and peace . . .” (Romans 8:5-6). It requires a complete
turning away from sin and devotion to God.
Repentance saves
us.
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Luke 13:3
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"I tell you, no, but unless
you repent, you will all likewise perish.” |
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Acts 2:38
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"Repent, and let each of
you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your
sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” |
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Acts 17:30
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"Therefore having overlooked
the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere
should repent . . .” |
CONFESSION
Confession is a public profession
of faith in Jesus Christ. Having just heard testimony that Jesus was the
Son of God, the Jews on the Day of Pentecost were pricked in their hearts
and asked, “What must we do?” (Acts 2:37). This was a public acknowledgement
of acceptance in what they had heard, and demonstrated a willingness to
follow Him, because a confession that He was Lord was a confession that
He was their King—by implication, to confess true belief in this is to
pledge obedience.
Confession saves
us.
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Matthew 10:32
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"Everyone therefore who
shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who
is in heaven.” |
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Acts 8:36-37
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And as they went along the
road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents
me from being baptized?" [And Philip said, "If you believe with all your
heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God.”] |
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Romans 10:9-10
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that if you confess with
your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him
from the dead, you shall be saved;
for with the heart man believes,
resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting
in salvation. |
BAPTISM
Baptism is an immersion
in water. It is a symbol of burial and rebirth. It is the act of obedience
through which we access the blood of Christ. “Therefore we have been buried
with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in
newness of life” (Romans 6:4). It is a command of God, and thus, a work
of God. To label baptism a work of man is as faulty as labeling faith a
work of man. Both are tied intimately to Christ. Faith is tied to His gospel.
Baptism, a part of His gospel, is tied to His death (Romans 6:4, Colossians
2:12). In the same way that there is a type of faith that saves (James
ch. 2), there is also a type of baptism that saves—the one done by faith,
for the purpose of forgiving sins (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38).
Baptism saves
us.
|
Mark 16:16
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"He who has believed and
has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” |
|
Acts 2:38
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"Repent, and let each of
you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your
sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” |
|
Colossians
2:10,
12-14
|
“. . . in Him you have been
made complete . . . having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you
were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised
Him from the dead. And when you were dead in your transgressions . . .
He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against
us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having
nailed it to the cross.” |
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1 Peter 3:21
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“And corresponding to that,
baptism now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an
appeal to God for a good conscience-- through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ . . . .” |
LIVING FAITHFULLY
Believing in Jesus, repenting
of your sins, confessing your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,
and being baptized for remission of your sins, is just the beginning of
a new life. Having proven yourself to possess the tools necessary to a
life of service and persecution, Christ expects us to run the race and
not waver from it. If we neglect the salvation we have been given, we will
lose it!
Living faithfully
insures our salvation.
|
Colossians
1:21-23
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“And although you were formerly
alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled
you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him
holy and blameless and beyond reproach--if indeed you continue in the faith
firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the
gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under
heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.” |
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Hebrews 6:1-6
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“Therefore leaving the elementary
teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again
a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of
instruction about washings, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection
of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we shall do, if God permits.
For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted
of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and
have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and
then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance,
since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open
shame.” |
|
Revelation
2:10
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“Do not fear what you are
about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison,
that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful
until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” |
CONSIDER THE CONTEXT!
Always when considering passages regarding
salvation, it is important that we recognize where in the progression of
New Testament books the information falls. Christ, in the gospels, was
setting up His kingdom. Acts records the founding and spread of His church.
The epistles and Revelation are written to bodies of saved believers, and
will thus refer to salvation issues as something they have already done,
and, in the case of living faithfully, are striving to keep doing, lest
they should fall away. With that progression in mind, we will find the
most about Christian conversion in the Book of Acts. What was expected
of these individuals? What were they lacking at the time that the apostles
came to them? Questions like these must be considered if we are to accurately
understand God’s plan of salvation. It is true that grace, faith, repentance,
confession, and baptism save us. These are ALL true, and so, we must do
ALL of these that are expected of us.
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