WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

This is a question that was asked by several people in Jesus day, what they got was a shortened but detailed enough answer. In Acts chapter 2 verses 37 to 39 Peter the Apostle said this: "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Certainly repentance must be involved and must be sincere. The word means to turn around from a certain way and going in a different direction.

It means turning away from a life lived to please yourself and turning to a life where you do everything you know that will please God, including walking in fellowship with Him day by day. If you are physically able it should involve good works like helping other people, but these works will not be in order to get saved but out of gratitude that you are saved. Many people have never heard the rest of the good news, the true gospel of Jesus Christ, so this study is for both those who are unsaved and those who are only recently saved.

In John chapter 10 verses 28 to 30 the Apostle John writes quoting Jesus: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." Here you can see that once you invite Jesus into your life with all sincerity it is then the responsibility of Jesus to complete the work of salvation in your life by the time the day of Christ Jesus comes ( in other words before Jesus comes to judge the world and everyone in it). For the people of the world they will have two judgements, first the works they have done will be fully considered, both the good and the bad.

Secondly they will be judged as to how they responded to the true gospel of Jesus Christ, if they received Him as their saviour, Messiah and Lord they will be rewarded for their good works and given eternal life in Heaven. Now look at what Jesus said about those who believed in their life time long before His coming and those who are found fit to escape the great tribulation and go up in the rapture.

John chapter 5 v 24 states quite clearly: "He who believes in me does not come up for judgement but has already passed from death to life." It could hardly be more plain, we will be judged on the basis of the works we have done out of gratitude for our salvation, not our works to obtain it, that would be unnecessary, since we already have it. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 to 10 make it clear: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Our contribution to our salvation in Christ Jesus is as close to nil as it is possible to get.

In John's gospel chapter 20 verses 28 to 30 we read Jesus last words: "He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit." If something is finished it has been completed, there is nothing that is left to do. When He died on the cross Jesus had completed the work His Father sent Him to do, create a way back so that mankind could once more walk in the kind of close fellowship that existed between man and God in the Garden of Eden.

All we need to do is believe the gospel and try to live a life worthy of God's calling by walking in fellowship with Himself day by day. When Jesus rose from the dead He proved to the world that He is who He claims to be, the Son of God and the author of life, the unique person who is both God and man. During His life on earth He only did what mankind was supposed to from the beginning.

This is not man trying to find God, but God seeking to be reconciled with man. He was the one who kept His covenant with man and made it possible not only for the sins of man to be forgiven, but eternally cast out of the mind of God with the promise that they would never be recalled again.

The covenant that God made with the people of Moses time was that a lamb without blemish should die in the place of sinful man so that mankind could be brought back into fellowship with God who hates all sin. Jesus was and is that Lamb of God who made it possible to be reconciled with God forever, by dying for their sins, past, present and future. Nobody, no angel, demon, principality or power can alter what Jesus has done for us.

When mankind was trapped in sin and alienated from God Jesus came to our rescue so that we could choose to follow Him and gain eternal life or continue in wickedness and receive eternal justice for our evil deeds. Jesus did not want Robots but people who would love Him of their own free will and spend eternity with Him. He is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, just as depicted in the carols, He has done what nobody else could ever do.

Here is a modern day illustration of what Jesus has done. Many years ago there was a major dispute among certain people, violence broke out and people were taken to court. The judge issued a court order to detain the ringleader unless he paid a hefty fine to the court. Someone other than the ring leader paid the fine for him and by law the judge was legally bound to accept the money on the ringleader's behalf, and the conviction was dropped.

Jesus stood in for us on His crucifixion and took the whole of our punishment upon Himself. We have a choice, either to accept this and escape eternal punishment or take the full consequences of our own sin upon ourselves. To be saved you must believe all that has just been written in this study, then rejoice, your salvation does not depend on you but entirely and eternally on Him, and He is faithful, the enemy cannot snatch you out of God's spiritual hands, you are safe in His hands forever, blessed be God eternally. Proof positive that Father has accepted Jesus offering on our behalf happened when He rose Jesus from the dead. This reconciliation will last for eternity.