WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED ???

 

What 'Must' I Do to be Saved? ( Acts 16:30 )

Seven simple words that make up the world's most important question.

That is what we need to talk about now, in brief. I say brief because then we are going to look at each part in a lot more detail in a study of their own.

So to start out with, the answer to the above question is found in the very next verse, ( Acts 16:31 ). Where it says, "Believe". That's right. "Believe". But in order to believe in something, the Bible teaches that first you have to hear about it. ( Romans 10:13-17 ). Because how can you believe in something that you have never heard anything about?

As we read and study God's word, we learn that "Love" is also necessary. That's right, we "must" love, in order to be acceptable to God. In ( Matthew 22:35-40 & Mark 12:28-34 ), Jesus was asked which commandment was greater than any other commandment, of all the commandments. And He answered by stating that there were two commandments that was greater than any of the others, and BOTH of these were concerning LOVE. And in ( 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ), we see that the Bible tells us that if we don't have "charity" (LOVE), Nothing else matters. And why should we LOVE God? After all, Look at how much He loved us. ( John 3:16 )
And by the way, LOVE IS A COMMANDMENT!

So, let us see what else the Bible says, if anything, that we must do. Well, in ( Acts 17:30 , Mark 1:14-15 ) as well as many other passages. We are told to "Repent". So, what is repentance? In brief, it means to change direction. In other words, we are to change our way of living, from living in a sinful, self service type of life style, to one that is centered around serving God.

Then as we continue on our study, we see passages like ( Romans 10:9-10 & Matthew 10:32-33 ) where the Bible tells us that we must "confess" that Jesus is the son of God, that He died on the cross for our sins, and that He rose again. And "not deny" Him. That means publicly, in front of anyone, anytime, and anyplace.

Well, is this now all that is necessary? At this point a lot of 'people' would have you believe that it is, but if we are going to use the Bible as our "source of authority" and not other 'people' (now remember our Study #004 about "authority"). We find the answer is, "No".   Because in the Bible, there are several passages ( Mark 16:16 , Acts 2:41 , Acts 22:16 , & 1 Peter 3:21 ), just to name a few, where we are told to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins ( Acts 2:38 ).

So, are we done yet? Well, "yes & no." We see in passages like ( Acts 8:38 & 39 ) where we find that it was immediately after the eunuch was baptized that "he went on his way rejoicing." And in ( Acts 2:41 ) that it was after being baptized that they where 'added' to the church. So, I guess now we can say that, "Yes, we are done 'becoming' a christian."

But 'NO' we are not done. And that is the reason I worded this question the way I did. We are 'never' done being a christian. This is just the beginning. The Bible describes becoming a christian is like a new born baby ( 1 Peter 2:2 & Hebrews 5:13 ).   Remember when we 'repented', we resolved at that time to live for Christ and NOT ourselves, and to keep doing that from now on ( Revelation 2:10 ).

And what happens if we don't?   Well, Paul tells us that even after preaching to others, we ourselves can still become castaways ( 1 Corinthians 9:27 ).   And in ( 2 Peter 2:20-22 ) the Bible tells us that to return back to living a worldly life, we would be better off if we never had became a christian.   But, if we never become a christian to start with, then what hope would we have? Answer = NONE.

Remember this is just a quick, brief look at "The Way" God has provided for us to follow. And we are going to look at each of these steps in a lot more detail as we continue in our studies.

A SIDE NOTE:   Why did God do it this way?   I don't know, but He did, and who am I to question God? ( Isaiah 55:8-9 )

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