What must I do to be saved?

"The Question"
by: abugian

Wat will you do when you die and meet God face to face in the pearly gates of heaven? And what would you say when God asks you, “Why would I let you enter my heaven?” As you mull over this question, read on.

Is it because… (a) you never hurt anyone; (b) you are obedient to the Ten Commandments; (c) you go to church every Sunday; (d) you are basically a good person; (e) you know the lord and you love him; or, (f) all of the above.

• “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? And in your name have cast out devils? And in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I say to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you evil doers.” (Mat 7:21-23)

• “For ALL HAVE SINNED, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23)

• “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (Jam 2:10)
  

• "What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law says, it says to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and ALL THE WORLD MAY BECOME GUILTY before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Rom 3:9-20)

The Greatest Problem

Our God is a holy God, while we (mankind) are all sinners. Man in his entire lifetime cannot totally abstain from sin and we know that. Our conscience can testify that many times we have sinned against our God and against our fellowmen.

The Bible is the Word of God, therefore, God is telling us that right now, we have to know that we have sinned and that even one sin or the very first sin that we have committed can send us to hell. The Holy Bible is written in a language that everyone can easily understand (only if he is willing to). The Holy Bible also tells us if we break one of its commandments (of course these commandments can only be found in the Holy Bible, and ignorance of the law excuses no one) we are guilty of breaking it all.

Now, people always think, “Ah, God is merciful, He will understand. God is love, He will forgive,” and then they would go on with their lives gratifying their worldly desires. Yes, God is merciful and loving. But many are deceived in their understanding about God being just and righteous and that God hates sin. People delude themselves in trying to believe that there is a grave sin (which most people believe that this is the sin that God hates), and there is a petty sin that isn’t worth mentioning. A wrongdoing is still wrong no matter how petty it may seem. And God being just and righteous, not even a lightweight offense can be left unnoticed.

• “The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and THAT WILL BY NO MEANS CLEAR THE GUILTY; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” (Exo 34:6-7)

If you happen to be a judge, and a traffic offender is presented to you with overwhelming evidence of being guilty and the law dictates that he pay for his offense. You can’t simply accept even the most sincere apology from the offender because if you do, it would mean that it is okay for people to break the traffic rules as long as they will be sorry when they get caught and that no punishment will be meted out for them—this is not justice.

God, being the Righteous Judge would administer his justice to every offender as it is written,

• “For the WAGES OF SIN is death” (Rom 6:23a)

• "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but AFTER THIS THE JUDGMENT” (Heb 9:27)

The issue here is not whether you’ve been a good person or not but whether you have sinned or not. God designed man in the likeness of His image to be able to do good works (Gen. 1:26). This is the problem—we are all sinners, God did not design us to be sinners and there is no provision in God’s Law, as found in the Bible, that any religion, any philosophy, any good works can save mankind from the coming judgment. Unfortunately, there is nothing that we can do about it.


The Only Solution

There is only one way to solve this problem—God’s way. And Jesus is the only way. (Acts 4:12)

Repent. Repentance is an abrupt decision to turn away from what the Holy Bible calls sins. You simply decide to:

1. Repent from the belief that by your own good works you will be saved (Eph 2:8-9)
2. Repent from the belief that with the religion that you have you will be saved (Col 2:8)

Believe in Jesus of Nazareth as your only Lord and Savior. You might be saying, "But I believe already!" There are two kinds of belief. One is called mental assent. The Lord's brother gave an example, he once said in James 2:19 that even the devils believe. To give you an illustration. Imagine that your father is a carpenter. He made you a new wooden chair to sit on. Now believing that the chair can support your weight without it breaking down in to pieces is mental assent, however, when you sit on it, that's another story, which brings us to the kind of belief I am talking about. To believe in the Lord Jesus is to have a complete trust in Him.

If you have a complete trust in Him you will believe that:

1. He is the Son of God—100% God—worthy of all worship and all honor (John 20:28)
2. He lived a sinless life while He was on earth—100% man, tempted in every way (Phil 2:6-11)
3. By His death on the cross you are saved (Rom 10:9-10)
4. He rose again from the dead and ascended to God the Father to prepare a place for us in heaven. (John 14:2-3)

Know that salvation is a free gift from God:

• “For the wages of sin is death, but THE [FREE] GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6:23b)

Having all these three important things, all you need to do now is to receive it. Today, say this prayer aloud and alone in you room with all your heart and the Holy Spirit will do the rest for you:

Father in heaven, I, say your name, acknowledge that I have sinned in my words, in my thoughts, and in my deeds. I repent from all my sins and ask you to forgive me. I accept your only Son, Jesus Christ, as my personal Lord and Savior and I believe that He died in my place and that on the third day, He rose again to prepare a place for me in heaven. I invite the Lord Jesus Christ to come and take control of my life. I invite His Spirit to dwell in me and change me to the kind of person you want me to be.

Father in heaven, I thank you for forgiving me and for washing me of all my sins by the blood shed by Jesus Christ thousands of years ago and for allowing me to be born again. Amen.

Like I said, you simply decide; you simply believe; and you simply confess before God. He will do the rest.

What Next?

The third point should be easy now you are a child of God through Jesus. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will seal the decision you made before Him and follow you through.

1. Follow and obey him as your Lord. (1 John 2-6)
2. Read the Holy Bible, talk and listen to God daily.
3. Let other people know that you now have a new relationship with Jesus Christ.
4. Come to a fellowship of believers where Jesus is Lord and God, a fellowship of believers who regard the Holy Bible as 100% Word of God, where it is taught and practiced.

• "Verily, verily, I say to you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life." (John 5:24)

Remember the judge confronted with the decision to punish the traffic offender? If that judge happens to be the father of the traffic violator, wouldn’t he, after deciding the verdict, step down, remove his robe, pick up his wallet and pay for his son’s offense?

So will it be when you repent and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The law will be satisfied yet you will be forgiven.

Source: http://www.thebereans.net/sav-theq.shtml

• "Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." Acts 16:30-31 (ESV)