“What Must I Do To Be Saved?”

This is a question every person is responsible to stop and consider.  We find in Acts 16:31 a simple answer: “Believe on the Lord Y’shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), and thou shalt be saved.”   This is the answer to the most important question you will ever ask yourself.  This answer is the Gospel, or Good News. 

Your whole life is affected by your response to the Gospel.  You can decide to ignore it, or reject it.   You can also decide to embrace it with your whole heart.  But God does not allow you to stand somewhere in between.  The Bible makes absolutely clear that there are very serious and definite consequences for which ever choice you make.  You can reject the Gospel, but you can’t ignore the consequences of doing so.  It is your responsibility before God to make a decision.

As we shall see, God has made the Gospel easy to understand.  Even children are able to grasp its simplicity.  However, this doesn’t mean everyone chooses to receive its message.  Some people decide God’s demands are too great.  Indeed, He asks for our very lives.  Other people have sat in evangelical churches for many years and never taken to heart what it really means to believe.  Maybe it’s because saving faith has never been fully explained to them.  And sadly, there are still people who haven’t even heard the Gospel and had the opportunity to respond.  If any of these descriptions fit you, please continue to read.  Your response to the Gospel will affect you eternally.    

A sad fact is that there are many well-meaning church members who sincerely believe they are “saved” based only upon the words of a prayer they might have said.  Some walked down a church aisle after hearing a vague or incomplete presentation of the Gospel.  Others grew up in Christian homes, but never realized their personal salvation is not based on their parent’s experience.  Simply attending church or having a “Christian background” doesn’t mean a person has received a complete explanation of the Gospel, or made it a reality in their own life.  Since believing on the Lord Y'shua (Jesus) is the key to the answer in Acts 16:31, we must carefully define what the Bible means by believing, or faith. 

An understanding of the Gospel has several important parts.  You first must know why salvation is necessary.  Only then will it be Good News!  Then you need to know what the Bible says is faith that God finds acceptable.  Before you can exercise faith that brings salvation, you must have a change of mind called repentance.  A lifestyle called holiness will then follow as a testimony to this salvation.  Knowing that you do indeed have a need for the Gospel is the starting point that directs you towards repentance, saving faith, and holiness.

The verse immediately following verse 31 in Acts chapter 16 says, “And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.”  In other words, the man who was asking about salvation received a complete explanation. He understood well the decision set before him.  I pray you will too.

Saved From What?

First we need to look closely at two key words in Acts 16:31 saved and believed.  The unsaved man in Acts was asking what he needed to do to obtain salvation.  But what is salvation?  What does the Bible say that every person desperately needs to be saved from?  The answer is found in Matthew 1:21.  In referring to what the name of Y’shua (Jesus) means, it says, “for He shall save His people from their sins.”

Y’shua’s whole purpose is summed up in His name.  He was sent by God to save people from sin.  Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” This verse clearly states that because of sin, no one has any hope of measuring up to God’s standard.  We all miss the mark of His glory.  Our sins are very serious in God’s sight.  They separate us from Him.[1]

Salvation, or being saved, includes both forgiveness of sins and deliverance from sin’s power.  Y’shua lived a perfect life, died on a cross, and rose from the dead.  He did all of this to for your salvation.

Salvation—forgiveness and deliverance—from sin is what is needed.  The way provided by God for both is through believing in the Lord Y’shua.  This is salvation.  So what does it really mean to believe?  To take it one step further, what does it mean to “Believe on the Lord Y’shua?”  This is the foundational question.  If the foundation is shaky, the house cannot endure.[2]  Knowing what the Bible says on this subject is of life and death importance. 

What is Faith?

In the Bible the words belief and faith are used to describe the same thing.  A good definition of faith is to believe God’s promises.  Faith is a very definite belief that comes from the heart.[3]  Faith is having complete confidence in the Word of God.  Seeing what is unseen, believing, and receiving are all different ways to describe an active faith.  Without faith it is impossible to please God.[4] 

Hebrews 11:1 says, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence [conviction] of things not seen.”  The person who has faith is absolutely sure of his hope in God’s Word.  He believes all that God has promised will come to pass.  He knows that what he believes, but can’t see with his eyes, are promises he can trust in and touch with his heart.  God has given these promises in His Word and God cannot lie.[5]  

According to the Bible, true faith will produce an outward action called obedience.[6]  Biblically, faith and obedience cannot be separated. Noah believed God’s promise that a flood was coming.  So he built an ark.  Abraham believed God’s promise to lead him safely into a land he’d never seen.  So he left his father’s house.  In fact, those people considered faithful in the Bible always demonstrated their faith with actions.  This is why James 2:17 says, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”  

Obediently acting on what you believe is the proof that your faith is real.  In the same way, to not act on what your lips claim you believe proves that your “faith” is nothing more than words.  Faith is something that takes place within the heart.  Therefore, obedience to God is the only thing that can be seen on the outside that testifies to the faith within.  Obedient action is the outward sign of an inward faith.

Directed Faith

Having looked at what the Bible defines as true faith, we must now consider how this faith is to be directed in order for it to bring about God’s salvation.  Salvation is dependant upon where your faith is focused. 

James 2:19 says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils [demons] also believe, and tremble.”  This verse gives us a picture of a kind of faith that does not save.  Many people will say they believe that the God of the Bible is real—Satan and his demons believe this also.  In fact, they know this.  Yet Satan is not saved.  He and his demons will be judged at the end of the age along with the unbelievers.[7]  So we see that saving faith is not just a belief in facts about God or about His Son, Y’shua.  Saving faith is not just simply having knowledge about God, as some groups teach.  A person can know, and even believe, many truths from the Bible and still not have exercised faith unto salvation. 

Saving faith is not accepting the Gospel is true only with your mind.  You can believe Y’shua was perfect and sinless; that He was fully-man and fully-God; that He died on the cross for the sins of the world, and that He rose again on the third day.  These are facts found in the Bible.  However, believing these things alone is not what is required by God.  If the focus of your faith is off, there can be no salvation.   

Salvation comes by you placing your faith in Y’shua.  You must believe His work was on your behalf and that it is the only way God has provided for you to be forgiven and accepted as His child.  Y’shua said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.[8]  Your faith must be directed towards this fact. 

A Substitute

The Bible states that the punishment for any and all sin is death.[9]  This refers to physical and spiritual death.  Everyone will have to experience physical death, but not everyone will undergo spiritual death.  Spiritual death is separation from God’s presence forever.[10]  It is an existence of suffering away from God in the Lake of Fire that will never end.  Spiritual death does not mean the spirit of a man ceases to exist.  It does mean an end to any chance for fellowship with God for eternity.  But, here is the good news!  Y’shua took upon Himself this punishment of death for sin when He died on the cross.  This was the judgment we all deserve. 

Even though He was sinless, Y’shua died so that you would not have to be punished by eternal separation from the Father in Heaven.[11]  Y’shua is the substitute that God provided. He died in your place to receive your punishment.  Y’shua then rose from the grave in victory over death.  He died and rose again for all men so that all who believe in Him will have eternal life in fellowship with God.[12]  He is the substitute sacrifice for everyone who will believe.  You can receive God’s forgiveness because Y’shua received God’s judgment.

The account of the flood gives us a good picture of this.[13]  It was not enough that Noah believed a flood was coming, or even that he built an ark.  He and his family actually had to go inside of the ark in order to be saved from the flood’s judgment.  In the same way, you must believe into Y’shua alone for salvation.  The ark was the only escape from death for Noah.  Y’shua is the only escape from spiritual death for us.  

You Die Too!

God provided Y’shua as the substitute to die in your place for your sins.  Through Him, God made a way for you to be forgiven.  But God also did something else through Y’shua.  He made it possible for you to be delivered from the sin nature.  This nature is the root of all our sins.  It is the condition deep within each person from which our sins naturally flow.  Salvation is a matter of both forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from the power of this sin nature. 

If we were simply forgiven but not delivered, then we would have no ability to stop sinning.  God not only wants to forgive us, He wants us to know victory over the sin nature.  The problem of our sins lies in the fact that every one of us is descended from Adam, the first man.  Although Adam was created perfect and sinless, he chose to disobey God and therefore, received the penalty of death for his sin.  This meant physically, Adam began the process of dying.  But even worse, it meant Adam died spiritually.  He know longer could have fellowship with God.[14]

Adam lost his perfection and innocence.  His new nature was one of sin.  He was separated from God.  However, that separation and spiritual death did not end with Adam.  It was passed on to his children and eventually, to every person on earth down through the ages.[15]  It is this sin nature that we are each born with which lies at the heart of our sins.  Every time you sin, you choose to act upon this nature.  So not only did God provide a way of forgiveness, He also provided a way for the sin nature to be dealt with.  Like forgiveness, this deliverance was accomplished through Y’shua’s death and resurrection. 

Romans 6:6 says “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [Him], that the body of sin might be destroyed [made powerless], that henceforth we should not serve sin.”   When you believe in Y’shua, you take part in the death He died on the cross.  You die too!  Your death is as real as His was.  The sin nature has no more power over you because you are dead.  Y’shua’s death becomes your death to sin.  The Bible then says, “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.”[16]  His resurrection becomes your resurrection.  Your life becomes hidden in Him.[17]  Y’shua’s life becomes your life.  Sin has no more power over you than it does over the risen Y’shua.  This is truly deliverance. 

God provides a salvation that offers forgiveness and deliverance.  This doesn’t mean there are two separate salvations.  The Bible simply states that salvation accomplishes two things at once.  When you believe in Y’shua, His death and resurrection provide all you need for a full salvation of forgiveness and deliverance from sin.  

You must be convinced that you are helpless and hopeless before God without Y’shua.  You must understand that there is nothing you can do on your own to deliver yourself from sin and the judgment it deserves.  Then you must be willing to receive by faith what Y’shua accomplished for you through His death and resurrection.[18] 

John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him [Y’shua], to them gave He power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on His name.”  This verse states that believing in Y’shua is receiving Him.  That is, receiving by faith His death, His resurrection, and His life as your own.

The Leaning of Faith

In the 19^th century there was a missionary to cannibals in the South Pacific named John Paton.  Much of Paton’s time was spent learning the unwritten language of the people so he could translate the Bible for them to read.  During the translation process, he came to John 3:16 and began searching for a word in their language that would have the same meaning as believeth: “…whosoever believeth in Him [Y’shua] should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Paton did not want to invent a new word that would have no meaning or value to the people.  He finally decided on the word they used for lean or sit, as in a chair.  This is an excellent picture of faith.  “…whosoever leans in Him (Y’shua) will not perish…”  It gets across the point of needing to rely completely upon Y’shua for support, for salvation from sin. 

I have no problem sitting in a chair if I believe that it will hold me.  However, it is a different story if I’m unsure about the chair’s strength.  I might talk with you about what a good chair it is.  I might comment on how nice it looks.  But I won’t sit in it if I don’t have faith in its ability to support me.  The chair then does me no good if I don’t rest my body on it. 

In the same way, faith in Y’shua means you have taken the step of faith and found God to be true to His promise to save you.  You rely upon Y’shua by believing in His death and resurrection.  He died in your place.  He rose from the dead on your behalf.  “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”.[19]  Salvation is obtained by an act of faith in Y’shua alone.

Repentance

We have closely examined how your faith must be directed.  We have also considered what salvation accomplishes for him who will believe.  Now we need to look at what the Bible says must occur before salvation.  In Matthew 3:2, John the Baptist is telling the people of Israel, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”  John was a prophet.  His job was to prepare the way for Y’shua’s arrival and ministry.  John did this by proclaiming repentance.  Repentance prepares the heart for salvation. 

Repentance simply means to change your mind.   It refers to a change of mind concerning sin.  Before I was saved, I thought sin was not so bad.  I believed some sins were not a big deal.  I even enjoyed sinning.  But now, after having experienced repentance, I find sin to be something I hate.  I no longer want any part of.

Repentance is having the same mind towards sin as God does.  God cannot tolerate sin.  Sin cannot be in His presence.[20]  It is a stain on His holiness.  It is a flaw in His perfection.  A holy, perfect God hates sin.  We must too if we desire to receive God’s salvation. 

It is important to stress here that repentance by itself is not salvation.  No one can repent their way into salvation.  Salvation comes through faith.  Repentance is what comes before believing unto salvation.[21]  Repentance only means to have the change of mind that prepares the way for saving faith. This changed mind will be demonstrated by a person’s attitude and actions. 

If you haven’t changed your mind about sin; if you don’t hate sin as God does, then you are not ready to fall at the cross of Y’shua and cry out for salvation.  If you don’t comprehend sin’s control over your life, then you are not ready to deny it as your master.  Repentance brings you to the point of desiring Y’shua as the Lord of your life instead of sin.[22] 

Repentance is not only sorrow and confession.  No doubt, confessing our sins to God is necessary and good.  But almost anyone will occasionally admit that they have done something wrong. Confession doesn’t mean a person is willing to change.  To just have sorrow over your sins is also not repentance.  The Bible states in 2 Corinthians 7:10 that godly sorrow worketh, or produces repentance.  Repentance is a result of godly sorrow. Sorrow is the starting point, but sorrow by itself is not the change of mind repentance calls for.  Anyone can be sorry for their sins, and even confess them, and still not have experienced repentance.

Everybody has made mistakes and hurt others.  Most people even feel some degree of guilt when they do so.  Sometimes people even feel ashamed about things they have done and seek forgiveness from others.  Still, you must realize more than just how your actions affect other people.  You must see your sins as separating you from God.  You must repent from the sins you’ve done and are doing, or salvation can’t be received.  A lack of repentance shows that you are not willing to accept God’s terms of salvation.  Repentance is the first step to a salvation that brings a whole new life.  It is a change of mind that reaches all the way to the heart.

Holiness

Repentance must come before salvation.  Holiness must follow it.  Hebrews 12:14 says, “Follow [pursue]… holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”  Holiness means to be separated from sin unto God.  A holy life is the identity of a Christian. 

A person who has experienced true repentance and salvation from sin is born again of the Holy Spirit.[23]  The Holy Spirit brings new life and comes to dwell inside the Believer.  The Holy Spirit yearns for holiness within the Believer because God is holy. God desires that His children be holy as He Himself is.[24]  Holiness does not mean a person cannot sin or never will sin again.  But it does mean that one is daily in pursuit of a life free from sin. 

Remember, salvation is more than just forgiveness of sins.  It is also what God has provided for total deliverance from the power of sin.  A Believer is given everything needed to live a holy life.  Y’shua’s life through the Holy Spirit inside of a Believer makes holiness possible.  “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? ...for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are.”[25]  Because of the fact that Believers are made holy by the Holy Spirit, the Bible goes on to say …let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God”.[26]

All of the provision we need for a godly life is given through Y’shua.  This includes holiness.  In John 15:5 Y’shua says, “I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.”  A Believer receives spiritual life from Y’shua just as a branch receives its life from the vine. The result of Y’shua’s life being lived out in Believers is holiness.  Through Y’shua we can be separated from sin unto God in our thoughts, attitudes, and actions.  It is simply a matter of looking to Y’shua in faith.

Make no mistake—the good fruit of holiness will flow from a Believer.  The New Testament refers to Believers as holy ones (usually translated as “saint”).  Why?  Because God expects His children to be holy and provides for this holiness through His Son.  But if the fruit is bad, so obviously is the tree: “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit”.[27]

How Do I Know If I Am Saved?

If you are sensing sorrow for your sins, then the Holy Spirit is at work within your heart.  If you are longing for peace with God, then your conscience is trying to get your attention.  If you know your life is empty and you desire a life free of sin, God is speaking to you.  God desires that you seek Him until you find His salvation.  Too often preachers will assure people that if they only say a “sinner’s prayer” or follow “five easy steps to salvation”, then God has no choice but to save them.  However, the Bible never uses either of these phrases. Neither does the Bible teach the idea of repeating after another person a “sinner’s prayer” for salvation.  We must be careful to follow the Biblical command to “Believe on the Lord Y’shua the Messiah and you will be saved.”

Someone can easily be rushed into a “decision” without a proper understanding of faith or without having experienced true repentance.  If this happens, then God is not allowed to finish His work.  Instead, man convinces a person they are saved.  However, that person might not have arrived at the point of repentance and salvation.

The act of faith that obtains salvation is done from the heart.  There is no special prayer that can accomplish it.  Rather, if you understand what Y’shua has done for you, then your own prayer will spring from your heart.  Matthew 12:34 says, “For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.”

You will know when you become a child of God.  Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”  The Holy Spirit that comes to live inside of you will reveal God to you.  You will also know because your conscience will be free from the guilt of sin: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”[28]  And also, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.”[29]  Your conscience will be clear because your sins will be forgiven.  You will know you are saved because you are “a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”[30]

If you realize your need for salvation; if you desire for God to lead you into eternal life, then come to Him in faith. Seek God until He reveals His salvation to your heart.  Do not stop seeking until you know you have entered by faith into the salvation freely offered in His Son.   “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”[31]    

The offer of salvation is held out to you my friend.  God has provided the way through Y’shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ).

The choice is yours alone.  God will never force you to accept what He offers.  He wants you to make your own decision to love and serve Him.  Should you close your heart to the Holy Spirit’s voice, the consequences lie with you alone.  “To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts…”[32]

Conclusion

The Gospel message is simple: “Believe on the Lord Y’shua the Messiah, and thou shalt be saved”.  Yet it is not an “easy” decision.  If you are willing to completely turn away from your sins in an act of repentance, then the way to the small gate of salvation is clear.  The gate is small and the path from it is narrow.  Not many people choose it.  It is a path that demands you to depend only upon God and what He has done for you through Y’shua.[33] 

The Bible says salvation is “not [as a result] of works”.[34]  This means that none of your actions, words or thoughts can earn God’s favor or approval.*  Without faith it is impossible to please God.  God is only pleased with His Son and the life He lived.  Y’shua’s life must become your own if you are to be called a child of God.  This life will become yours if you leave behind the life you have been living apart from God and enter by faith into the life of God’s Son. True faith always results in obedience. The obedience God calls Believers to is a life in pursuit of holiness.

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