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What Must I Do to Be Saved?
If God has provided a wonderful
salvation through Christ as revealed in the Bible, how can anyone be sure that
he has received Christ and is the beneficiary of this marvelous grace of God?
The question of what one must do to
be saved was asked long ago by the Philippian jailor in Acts 16:30.
Paul and Silas had been beaten and thrown into prison in Philippi, with their
feet fastened in the stocks. In this painful condition they could not sleep, so
they sang praises to God. Scripture records that at midnight, as they were
praying, there was an earthquake that broke them loose from their bonds and
opened the prison doors. The jailor, rushing out and seeing the doors opened,
assumed that the prisoners had fled. Because the law demanded that a jailor who
lost prisoners should be put to death, he was about to commit suicide when Paul
called out to him to do himself no harm because they were still all there. In
response to this information, Scripture records that the jailor, after calling
for some lights, fell down before Paul, trembling and pleading, “Sirs, what
must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). Paul and Silas both immediately
responded as recorded in Acts 16:31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you
will be saved—you and your household.” As a result of the jailor’s conversion,
his entire house also believed and was saved, and he took Paul out of the jail,
washed his wounds and had fellowship with him. But how can one living today be
assured that he is saved?
In discussing God’s wonderful plan
of salvation in Ephesians 2:8-10, the apostle Paul sums it up in
three verses, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this
not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can
boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
By
Grace
The most important aspect of
salvation is mentioned in the first part of Ephesians 2:8 where it
states that we are saved “by grace.” The word grace has various
meanings, but as it relates to salvation it speaks of kindness bestowed on one
who does not deserve it. In other words, grace pours favor on those who do not
deserve favor. In grace, the question is not whether or not a person deserves
favor or blessing, but only whether he has been judged to qualify for such
favor.
An examination of scriptural texts
brings out how prominent this is in our Christian faith. In Romans 3:24
Paul says that Christians “are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” In other words, because Christ paid the
price and provided redemption, it is now possible for a Christian to receive
grace, or favor, that he does not deserve. In Ephesians 1:7-8 the apostle
speaks of the riches of grace in Christ when he says, “In him we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the
riches of God’s grace that he lavished upon us with all wisdom and understanding.”
In every instance where grace is mentioned, it is entirely due to God’s favor,
not human works.
Through
Faith
According to Ephesians 2:8,
grace is received by those who exercise faith in Jesus Christ. This introduces,
however, a very practical question as to what is meant by faith. It is rather
obvious for any careful observer of the church today that there are many who
have made some outward profession of faith in Christ who never have been born
again and show no evidence that they are saved. How then can one know whether
he has put his faith in Christ or not? According to James 2:19, “Even the
devils believe that-and shudder.” From these passages it is clear that there is
saving faith and faith that does not save.
Convicting
Work of the Holy Spirit
True faith in Christ is preceded by
the work of the Spirit as Jesus Himself described in John 16:7-11:
But I tell you the truth: It is for
your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come
to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the
world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to
sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am
going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment,
because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
Before a person can intelligently
believe in Christ, he has to be aware of the guilt of his sin. He also must
face the fact that God is righteous and that He judges sin. This is further
defined in verse 9, “in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me.” An
unsaved person needs to realize that while he is a sinner, as all men are
sinners, this constitutes only a part of his condemnation before God. The one
sin that prevents him from entering into grace and favor with God is the sin of
unbelief. Accordingly, he must realize that salvation is by faith alone. He
also needs instruction on the matter of righteousness. Scriptures reveal
various kinds of righteousness, for instance, the false righteousness of human
works. Scripture makes clear that any human works that we offer, even if they
are good, do not qualify us for salvation. Isaiah 64:6 says, “All of
us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like
filthy rags.” What the sinner needs to learn is that nothing short of the
righteousness of God will allow him to be saved.
Judgment is also defined as
referring to the fact that sin was judged when Christ died on the cross, and
Satan was condemned and now awaits the execution of God’s judgment. Obviously,
many who are saved do not completely understand this doctrine, but,
nevertheless, under compulsion of the Holy Spirit, turn to Christ in faith in
order to be saved. The three aspects of the Spirit’s convicting the unsaved are
(1) that a person seeking salvation must understand the nature of sin in
contrast to the righteousness of God, (2) that God provides a righteousness
which is by faith and is not earned or deserved, and (3) that God has judged
sin in Christ on the cross, including the condemnation of Satan. As we enter into
salvation through faith in Christ, Christ becomes our sin-bearer. As John the
Baptist expressed it, Jesus Christ is the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin
of the world!” (John 1:29).
Salvation
is from the Lord
When one considers all the facts
relating to salvation and the preparatory work of the Spirit before one can be
saved, it becomes obvious that simply assenting to the fact of the gospel and
believing mentally that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world does not
result in salvation and is not really what can be called “saving faith.”
In the nature of faith, it is also
important to realize that it must come from the whole man, that is, from his
intellect, sensibility, and will. There has to be some mental understanding of
what the gospel is in order to be saved, and the sinner coming to Christ should
enter into the fact that it requires more than assent—it requires an act of the
whole person. This may involve not only the mind but the feelings, or
sensibility, and, most of all, it involves the will, for faith is actually a
step authorized by our will. The English word belief comes somewhat
short of what is anticipated in the Bible, which is more accurately expressed
as trust, or committing oneself to faith in Christ.
This is illustrated by the use of an
elevator. A person may believe that the elevator is in good working order and
would take him to the top floor of the building if he chose to get on board; but
as long as he is outside the elevator, his belief that the elevator would take
him to the top floor does not do him any good. Faith would mean that he stepped
in the elevator and put his weight into it and committed himself to its
mechanical perfections. Likewise, there is more than mere assent in the matter
of believing in Christ. Saving faith involves the work of the Spirit as well as
the whole person—intellect, sensibility, and will. Because a person is dead
spiritually, it also requires a work of God to draw him to Christ. Christ
expressed it this way: “No one can come to me unless the Father has enabled
him” (John
6:65).
Accordingly, in Scripture faith in
Christ is an act of the whole person. It involves the work of the Spirit in the
conviction of sin and righteousness and judgment, and it involves God’s
providing special enablement to one who is spiritually dead to believe in
Christ. This is what the Bible defines as “saving faith.”
While in our limitations it is not
possible to understand completely what happens when a person trusts in Christ,
the Scriptures are clear that it requires not only our action, but an act of
God to bring it to consummation. Yet, the Scriptures make it plain that it is
not faith plus works but faith that produces works that results in the
salvation of an individual. The Father must draw the seeking sinner to Him for
Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and
I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). Accordingly, on
the divine side there must be an activity of God in drawing the sinner to
Himself; there must be the convicting work of the Spirit; and then the
individual, empowered by God, must respond by an act of his will to put his
trust in Christ as his Savior.
A church run by a controversial
multi-millionaire African preacher has been accused of ‘cynical exploitation’
after its British branch received £16.7 million in donations from followers who
were told that God would give them riches in return.