"What must I do to be saved?" This is the most important question any person can ask. As Jesus said, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" All the worldly success possible is no compensation for losing one's soul in eternal death. And all the miseries of this life can be counted as nothing compared with an eternal life of joy and peace in the presence of God our Creator. So it is good for us to ask the question, "What must I do to be saved?"
In fact, the question was asked a long time ago by a jailer in the city of Philippi. The Apostle Paul had been imprisoned, but God rescued Paul by sending an earthquake that broke open the doors of the prison. The jailer, fearing the retribution of his Roman rulers, was about to kill himself when Paul called out to him. In response the jailer asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Paul answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."
Paul's answer was a rephrasing of what Jesus had said: "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you . . ." His listeners then asked, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." The work which we must do to gain eternal life is to believe in Jesus Christ.
Salvation does not come from our efforts at moral self-improvement. It is a gift of God through Jesus Christ. We have been alienated from God by our evil. God has over come that alienation by sending his eternal Son in human flesh. As a man, the Son the God taught us the truth about God. He offered himself on the cross as a payment for our debt of sin. He satisfied God the Father's holy justice that evil must be punished and defeated. He overcame death by rising from the dead on the third day. He opened the kingdom of heaven by ascending into heaven clothed in our humanity.
Jesus alone is the eternal Son of God, who became a man, died for sinners, and arose bodily from the dead. Therefore, he is the only savior. There have been many great religious teachers. There have been many profound philosophers and inspired prophets. But only Jesus overcame sin and death for us by dying and rising again. Therefore, to be saved I must believe in the savior. The alternative is to disbelieve the savior. If I reject him who alone has conquered sin and death, what I am left with is sin and death. Salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ.
Faith in the savior necessarily implies that we want to be saved from sin and death. Therefore, true faith is always accompanied by repentance. Repentance means wanting to be free from sin. A person who says that he believes in Jesus but still wants to do the all the things that bring upon men the judgement of God is very confused. To believe in the savior is to want to be saved. If we truly believe, then there will also be a desire in us to turn away from our sins, and turn toward God. Paul summarized his preaching this way: I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
The way to salvation is the way of faith in the savior, and of repentance toward God. If we do not have repentance, then, in fact, we do not have a true and saving faith. It is absurd to claim that Jesus is my savior from sin, and at the same time pursue a life of sin.
Repentance, however, does not mean doing things to "work off" our guilt. It is rather a joyful effort to change our life in response to the mercy and kindness of God. Repentance is seeking to do what pleases the Lord because the Lord has been gracious to us. Repentance flows out of faith and rests upon faith. For Jesus "bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness."
Faith in Jesus Christ and repentance are the ways in which we escape the divine wrath for our sins and enter into eternal life with God. Faith and repentance, however, are not one time events, but continuing characteristics of the people of God. It will not do to say "I believed at one time." Rather we must live a life of faith and repentance if we are to be saved. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight -- if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard.
How then do we continue in faith and repentance? What must we do to be assured that having confessed faith in Christ, we will not lose that faith. God has provided for his people outward means by which their faith can be nourished and their repentance renewed. These means of grace are God's Word, God's signs, and prayer. It is through God's Word (written down in the Bible and preached by ministers of Christ) that we are strengthened in faith and repentance. Paul gave this exhortation to Timothy, a young Christian minister: Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. . . Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Only by regularly hearing the gospel preached and explained by those entrusted with this ministry can our faith be built up and nourished. We can assist in this by our own private reading of the Bible, but it is the public preaching of Christ's Word that is the essential means to strengthen our faith.
Along with his Word, God has also given us signs to confirm our faith. These signs, traditionally called sacraments, are baptism and the Lord's Supper. By these outward tangible signs God assures us of his inward and secret grace. And since God does not lie, what he promises us in the signs of water, bread and wine, he truly gives us inwardly by his Spirit (if we believe). Indeed, if we refuse to receive these signs, we refuse the grace signified.
In baptism we are assured that as our bodies are sprinkled with water, so we are sprinkled with the blood of Christ that washes away all our sins. We receive the pledge of the new birth by the Holy Spirit. And we are marked as those who are joined to Christ in his death and resurrection. In this way we learn to count his death as our death to sin, and his resurrection as our new life. Likewise, in the Lord's supper we eat bread that is called his body, and drink from the cup that is called his blood. We are assured that we are true partakers of Christ. We find our life, not in ourselves, but in Christ. When we receive the bread and wine in faith, Christ gives us his body and blood together with all the benefits of his redemption. As the Apostle says, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
Finally, God has given us the privilege of prayer. In prayer we express our needs and concern to our loving Heavenly Father who gladly hears us for the sake of his Son. When we think of prayer, we should think, first of all, of our corporate prayers as we gather together as a church on the Lord's Day. And the first and most essential of these prayers is the prayer Jesus taught us. It should be our practice to pray, and especially to pray as Jesus taught us. Let us pray as we arise in the morning and as we prepare for bed at night. Let us attend to the weekly preaching of the Word and the sharing in the Lord's supper. Let us attend to baptisms and in every baptism to remember our own washing with water through the Word. By these means our faith will be nourished and our repentance renewed. In this way we will be saved.
This is not to say that we must add repentance, preaching, sacraments, and prayer to our faith. It is rather that a true faith that receives and rests upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation will be accompanied by repentance, and will both desire and be nourished by preaching, baptism, the Lord's supper, and prayer. If you have no desire to turn away from sin, and if you have no interest in God's Word and prayer, it is doubtful that you have true faith. Come, therefore, to Jesus Christ is sincere faith, and seek your salvation from him alone.
What does God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin?
To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requires of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption.
Dr. Jack Kinneer