What must I do to be saved!?

This a question that has been asked for twenty-four (24) centuries.

Men asked the apostles of Jesus in Acts 2:37, “Brethren, what shall we do?” in response to Peter’s words concerning Jesus, who He was, what He had done, and what God had done for and to Him after His resurrection.

Men continue to ask today, “What must I do?”

There are lots of answers floating around most of them either wrong or only partially correct.

When one asks the question, “What must I do in order to be saved?” one frequently hears:

•          Call on the Name of the Lord;
•          Believe and You will be saved;
•          Accept Jesus into you heart and you will be saved;
•          Repent and you will be saved;
•          Confess and you will be saved;
•          Or, perhaps, be baptized and you will be saved?

All of these are good answers and all have a scriptural basis.

However, none are complete in and of, that is by themselves.

Romans 10:9 says, “… 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 …”

So based on that all one has to do in order to be saved is to “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord” and then “believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.”

But then, four verses later in Romans 10:13 we read, “WHOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

Which is it?  Do I confess Jesus as Lord; do I believe in my heart God raised Him from the dead?  Or do I have to call on the name of the LORD before I can be saved?

OR, MUST I DO ALL THREE!?

Then, as if there were not enough, Paul (the same person who “wrote” Romans) says in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace have your been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God …”

Then we have Peter in response to the question in Acts 2:37, responding, “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.” (Acts 2:38)

Later, Peter would be even more specific when he wrote in I Peter 3:21, “… baptism now saves you …”

The problem is that all these verses are inspired scripture.  Which one is more important than the others?  Which one is less important than the others or one of the others?

Below are several sections in which we seek to examine scripture to answer completely the question, "What must I do to be saved?" not based on any one single scripture but taking into account EVERYTHING God has said in answer to that question.

Please, if you have any questions for us concerning the question, “What must I do to be saved?’ email us at postoarkroadchurch@protonmail.com and we will get back to you promptly.

Only God can tell us what we need to do to be saved.

Let’s go back to the very beginning as we begin to consider what God says.

After God had created man and placed him in the Garden of Eden, He told man, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16 & 17)

God’s command seems very simple to us: “DO NOT EAT THE FRUIT FROM THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.”  How hard is that?  If you want to live eat anything you want except for the fruit of that one tree!

God them made woman to be with man and the two of them lived in the Garden.

Then along came the crafty serpent who asked the woman, “Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?” (Genesis 3:1)

The woman knew God’s command because in Genesis 3:2 & 3 she replied to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’”

The woman knew perfectly well what she had to do to continue to live, i.e. not die.

The serpent then presented the woman with temptation.  The serpent said, “You surely shall not die!  For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The woman then, acting against God’s command, ate of the forbidden fruit.  She then gave her husband some of the fruit and he also ate.

This resulted in God banishing the man and the woman from the Garden and from the Tree of Life that was in the Garden and all the consequences listed for the man and the woman in Genesis 3:15 to 24.

The point is, God provided the man and the woman with His Word – His Command – but they chose to listen to a different word.  A word not from God.  A word contrary to God’s word.  A word from a source other than God.  When they did that, they were punished and driven out of the Garden by God.

There are numerous examples of this same principle in the Bible.  When God gives man a command, He expects that command to be obeyed.  The question then becomes, “What has God told me I must do in order to be saved?”

How can I tell?  How can I be sure what God has commanded me to do in order to be saved?

The answer is actually quite simple.

Let us illustrate with a simple demonstration and question.

If I were to draw a line on a piece of paper:

___________________________________

I might then ask, "How long is the line?"

Someone might say, “Four inches.”

Someone else might say, “Three and a half inches.”

Even another might say, “Three and three quarters of an inch.”

The actual length is not important here in our discussion.

What is important is, “How do we tell how long the line is?"

Well, let’s get out a ruler – a standard of measure – and determine exactly how long it is.

Just as there is a standard for measuring the line, so there is a standard for determining what God has said, what God has commanded us to do in answer to our question, “What must I do to be saved.”

God said through Paul in Ephesian 5:17, “So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

That is just as simple as, “Do not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  “Understand what the will of the Lord is.”

Notice what the LORD said to His nation through Moses, Israel, just before they entered the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 4:1 & 2: And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, in order that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Just few verses later God further explained in Deuteronomy 4:23 to 26: So, watch yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the LORD your God has commanded you. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. When you become the father of children and children's children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you shall surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it but shall be utterly destroyed.

Notice the conditions God gave Israel: If you will keep my commandments you (Israel) may live, go in, and possess the land.  HOWEVER, IF you add to or take away from the word I am commanding you, “You shall not live long on it but shall be utterly destroyed.”

This same principle is reflected in the New Testament.

In John 8:31 Jesus says. "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.”

Later God wrote, through Paul, in Galatians 1:6 & 9, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.”

Also, in II Timothy 3:16 & 17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

Finally, Jude 3 says, “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

What all this means is that we have God’s word, full and complete in the inspired scriptures, the Bible, and we are not to add to or take away from that word or else we are promised we will be accursed.  The Bible then is our one and only, our sole authority when it come to all matters concerning what God teaches us.

Therefore, to answer the question, “What must I do to be saved?” we MUST go to the Bible and nowhere else for our answer.

Now that we have established the fact that in order to be saved, we must go to God’s word and only God’s word we have to consider the question, “Must I obey every command in the Bible in order to be saved?”

For example, the people of Israel were commanded by the LORD to keep three feasts each year in Jerusalem.  1) The Passover (Exodus 12:17, Leviticus 23:4-8); 2) Shavuot, also known as by its Greek name, Pentecost, and, at times, called the feast of the harvest and the feast of first fruits (Leviticus 23:9-14), and 3) Sukkot or the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Tabernacles (Exodus 34:22, Leviticus 23:15:22).

These were feasts which God commanded the people of Israel to observe in Jerusalem each year.

Does this mean that in order to be saved we must go to Jerusalem three time each year to observe the festivals commanded by God?

Additionally, the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy are filled with commands from God Israel was expected to keep if they wanted to continue to be His special, chosen people.  Must we keep all those commands?

Paul, by inspiration from God, wrote in II Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.”

There is a lot of quibbling over the words translated in the NASB “handling accurately.”  Various translations use “handling aright,” “rightly divide,” “straightly cutting,” “correctly handles,” or “rightly handling.”

Regardless, the idea is the same: to handle the word of God in such a way that when you are presented before God, you will be shown to be one who handled His word not only with respect, awe and reverence, but in a correct, perfect, and exact manner.

God said by inspiration through Paul in Ephesians 2:11 to 16, “Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called ‘Uncircumcision’ by the so-called ‘Circumcision,’ which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.”

Here God is explaining that Jesus ended (abolished) the Old Testament law of Commandments when He – Jesus – died on the cross.  He did that so that ALL MEN, both Jew and Gentile could be reconciled – SAVED.  Salvation then is through the cross because in His death, Jesus stripped away (put to death) the animosity (enmity) that had existed between the Jews and the Gentiles which was the old law given by Moses.

God further explains this in the book of Hebrews which begins, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”  (Hebrews 1:1 & 2)

Later in Hebrews God explains Jesus, “… obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. … When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.” (Hebrews 8:6, 7 & 13).

God has had several covenants since He created the world with man or with various men.  He had a covenant with Adam, with Noah, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel), and with the nation of Israel.  Today, He has a covenant with all mankind – Jesus.

Jesus did away with that old covenant, the Old Testament, and established His covenant in his death, His burial, and His resurrection.  Today, we need only concerning ourselves, specifically when considering what one must do in order to be saved, with Jesus and His word.

In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

In Acts 4:12 Peter by inspiration said, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”

So, in answer to our question, “What must I do to be saved?” the answer lies with Jesus and His word found in the New Testament.

In Genesis chapter 3 we read of the fall of man.  God had created the world, including man, and placed man in a garden with the command that man should not eat of the tree in the middle of the garden, often called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Also located in the Garden was the Tree of Life.

In Genesis 3:1 to 8 we read where the serpent tempted Eve, the woman, who ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree and then gave some of that fruit to her husband, Adam, who also ate.

Because of this God placed a curse on the serpent and drove the man and the woman out of the Garden.  He stationed a cherub and a flaming sword at the east of the garden thus denying the man and the woman access to the tree of life.

This was man’s problem – failing to obey God’s command.  God said in Isaiah 59:2, “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.”

God reemphasized this in Romans 3:23 when Paul wrote, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Notice God said, “ALL have sinned.”

This is man’s problem, sin and the result of sinning, death.

Because all men have sinned, all men suffer death, Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death ...”

Sin entered the world through one man but sin then spread to ALL men.

Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

Death is two pronged: there is a physical death that all men suffer when they physically die and then there is spiritual death that results when man sins and is, according to God in Isaiah, separated from God.

Jesus addressed this in Matthew 10:23, “And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Because ALL men sin, ALL men are separated from God.

This is the problem the Jews in Jerusalem on the first Pentecost after the death of Jesus faced and, as it was brought to their attention in that first gospel sermon proclaimed by the apostles, they cried out. “Brethren, what shall we do?” – Acts 2:37.

This is the same dilemma in which man finds himself across the ages including today: when man sins, and all men sin, he separates himself from God and the result is death: not just physical death but the death of his soul.

So, the question then is, “WHAT SHALL WE DO?”

The first thing we must realize when we ask the question, “What must I do in order to be saved?” is to understand I cannot save myself: there is absolutely NOTHING I can do to save myself.

Just as God gave Adam and Eve a command in the garden so God has given all men commands which must be kept.

However, man does not keep the commandments of God: never has, never will.  We saw this when we considered “Man’s Problem.”

When man sins, he separates himself from God and just as man could not gain access back to the garden in Genesis so man cannot gain access to God in and of himself.

We are, therefore, completely dependent upon, we are entirely at the mercy of God.

Paul wrote by inspiration in Ephesians 2:4 through 9: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

First notice Paul said, “God, being rich in mercy …”  This word mercy means, “the outward manifestation of pity; it assumes need on the part of him who receives it, and resources adequate to meet the need on the part of him who shows it.”  This is, of course, a perfect description of man and his relationship with God.

Man has a need – a way back to God from whom he has separated himself when he sins: there is nothing man can do own his own and of himself to save himself.

God explained by inspiration in John 1:17, “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

Since NO ONE can keep the law perfectly (see the section on Man’s Problem) the Law of Moses, in the ultimate sense, could not save anyone.

God then, recognizing the hopelessness and futility of man, sent His Son, Jesus, that man might receive “grace and truth.”

This is exactly what was meant in Ephesians 1:3 to 8, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us.”

Pay close attention to the phrase, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.”

Does this mean that God chose some to save while ignoring the needs of the others?  As Paul wrote, “May it never be!”

God has not predestined individuals: what He predestined was His plan to redeem man.  God chose – predestined – everyone to be redeemed “through His blood,” that is through the blood of Jesus which He shed on the cross when He was crucified.  This was Jesus’ mission on earth, to save man, I Timothy 1:15, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost.”

Additionally, in Luke 19:10 Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Notice neither of those two statements contain an exception.  Two specific scriptures bear this out:

John 1:12 & 13 – “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Romans 10:12 & 13 – “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for ‘WHOEVER WILL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’”

Notice, “as many as received Him,” and “Whoever will call …”

Salvation is open to anyone and everyone who receives Him and anyone and everyone who will call on His name.

Jesus submitted Himself to the Father – Philippians 2:8 – when He left heaven, came to earth, revealed the Father to us – John 14:9 – and died for our sins – Romans 5:8, 15.

NO ONE forced, coerced, demanded, or compelled Jesus: He did all of that of His own free will according to the God’s predetermined plan.

John 10:17 & 18 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.  No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

So, even while we were living in and practicing sin, just as in the days prior to the flood in Genesis, God in His wisdom, in His mercy, in His grace devised, designed, and carried out a plan of redemption for man.

Titus 3:3 to 7 – “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.  But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

We are saved by the blood of Jesus and that blood was a result of God’s grace toward man.

Jesus came to this world to save sinners, Luke 19:10 & I Timothy 1:15.

The coming and that sacrifice was done by and through the grace of God, without conditions as we have just seen in the above study “Saved by Grace.”

However, we must reconcile that with what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21 to 23:

“Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

Jesus died, sacrificed Himself, for everyone: HOWEVER not everyone will be saved as is evident from Jesus’ words in Matthew 7.

So, “What’s the deal?”

“Am I saved by grace or not?”

Of course we are saved by grace because NO ONE or NOTHING could force Jesus to offer Himself.  That was done of His own free will.

Jesus, however, commanded that to be saved certain things were required of those seeking forgiveness.

Again, in Acts 2 those Jews who were convicted of their sin cried out, “Brethren, what shall we do?”

Peter did not say, “Nothing!”  Neither did he say, “Accept Jesus as your lord and savior.”

Peter had already explained in verse 21 if Acts 2, quoting from Joel 2:32, “IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

Just as Jesus had said not everyone will enter the kingdom of heaven, so here in Acts 2 Peter indicates that there is some action required of those who would be saved – specifically in verse 21 we must call on the name of the Lord.

The question them becomes, “How do we do that?  How does one call on the name of the Lord?”  Do I simply holler out in a loud voice, “LORD!  I CALL ON YOUR NAME TO SAVE ME?”

That is not what Peter said.  When the apostles were asked, “Brethren, what shall we do?”  Peter responded, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”

The conditions, steps, or requirements for forgiveness of sins are actually quite simple.

We must HEAR:

Romans 10:13 & 14 – “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."  How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”

The entire New Testament is a record of men going about preaching Jesus, I Corinthians 2:2, so others could hear: Romans 16:25 & 26; II Timothy 4:17; and Titus 1:3.

Having heard we must BELIEVE:

John 20:30 & 31 – Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

Hebrews 11:6 – 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.

We could also include John 3:16 and John 3:36.

Hearing and believing we must CONFESS:

Romans 10:8, 9 & 10 – But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART" – that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Luke 12:8 – “And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God.”

We must REPENT:

Acts 2:37 & 38 – “Brethren, what shall we do? … Repent …”

Acts 17:30 – “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent …”

Once all those things are done, we must be BAPTIZED:

Acts 2:38 – “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins …”

Acts 22:16 – “Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.”

One should also consider Matthew 28:19 & 20, Mark 16:15 & 16, Romans 6:3 & 4; and I Peter 3:21.

Finally, once one has heard, believed, confessed, repented and been immersed - baptized - into Jesus for the remission of sins, that person must continue to lead a faithful life:

Romans 12:1 – Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Hebrews 13:15 & 16 – “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.  And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”

To sum this all up we ask the question or questions:

• “Which of these verses is most important?”
• “Which of these verses is more important that the others?”
• “Which of these verses is not important enough for us to obey?”

In Mathew 28:19 & 20 Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

“ALL THAT I COMMANDED YOU” includes all the verses we have looked at and considered.

Finally, in Revelation 22:18 & 19 we read, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”

ALL scripture, all verses and passages are equally important, essential, and required for one to be saved, to have forgiveness of their sins.