How To Be Saved
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life
God indeed loves His creation. The gift of God is eternal life. It does not get any better than that. This is a free gift, meaning we do not earn it or merit the gift that comes via grace that is freely poured out upon us. But make no mistake, there are conditions on how we are to receive the gift and walk in the grace of God and specific warnings about missing, falling and receiving grace in vain. Man has applied worldly wisdom to deny and disown the conditions the creator set forth on receiving the gift. Jesus is our King, our Creator and is indeed the Lord. We must meet God’s conditions to receive the gift of eternal life and hold onto it all the way to the end of our life here in this body. We are eternally saved IF we stay walking with Jesus being led by the Holy Spirit and do not turn our hearts back into the world.
God Must Choose Us First
John 15:16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain
Romans 9:18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
It is by God’s election only that we are saved. He chooses us first, we do not choose Him. That is why it is all grace and no man can ever boast. But when that call of election comes, we must choose today and each day whom we shall serve. Take heart that that at some point the grace of God will appear to all men teaching us to deny ungodliness.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age
After God chooses us by bringing His grace to us, we then need to choose to follow Christ from the heart. If we do this one thing, God will do the rest but we must give up our life of selfishness and be led by God. That is true faith and true belief, it comes from deep within our heart.
The prerequisite to be saved is that we must continue in faith. Without faith nobody can please God. We must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by faith in the One who God has sent and this is Jesus. A true faith or belief will be acted upon and must be sincere. The Bible is full of warnings about deception on this issue. Real faith means that we believe from our heart. When you believe in someone, you follow them, you do what they say. Indeed the definition of the word “LORD” states that we do what the Lord says, otherwise the Lord is not the Lord. We cannot just say some words from our mouth, lord over our own life and expect to be saved. Who is your Lord right now? Are you following Jesus and what He commanded or are you following after your own desires and lusts? You know the true answer in your heart.
God is good. If you earnestly seek Him, He will be there for you. Here is summation on the key things we must understand and do to be saved. It starts and ends with the Holy Spirit.
1. Repent and Be Baptized
Peter, Jesus’ chosen Apostle to head the early church answered the question of many Jews as recorded in the Book of Acts. The question was “what must we do to be saved?”. Peter answered bluntly and correctly the very first choice we must make. We must repent.
Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Repentance is turning away from sin and the lusts of the flesh and turning to God. Without repentance Jesus told us we will perish. Faith without repentance is a phony faith and we remain Lord over our lives not Jesus. Repentance is not just an intellectual exercise or saying some words in a one time prayer. We must give our heart to God and surrender to His Lordship. The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God.
Without the Holy Spirit, the power and Spirit of God working inside of us, we will not be able to meet the conditions God spelled out. That is what is meant by the grace of God.
I believe we should be baptized with water when we are old enough to understand good versus evil and the consequences of choosing either. Then YOUR commitment (not your parents) to God carries real meaning and your repentance can be sincere from your heart. This is a hotly debated topic, I don’t see water baptism as essential for salvation but why do we wish to argue what Jesus commanded us to do and the early church did as can be seen in ACTS. The Ethiopian Enuch immediately was baptized by Stephen when he came to faith. Men need to quit arguing amongst themselves and obey the commandments of Jesus.
Mark 16:16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned
Matthew 28:18 - Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you
After true repentance of our hearts, God will send His Holy Spirit. This is the most essential baptism and is all the work of the LORD, given to those He choses.
2. Counting the Cost of Following Jesus
Before you decide you want to be saved understand you will have to pay a price. There is a real cost of following Jesus and the Lord told us to count those costs BEFORE we decide to follow Him. If we don’t understand these costs we will not be able to endure all the way to the end. Here is what Jesus said about these costs.
Luke 14:25-33 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
Many are not honestly told about these costs and when the trials inevitably come after they commit to Jesus, their commitment is exposed and they quickly fall away or the trials of life burn up their expressed faith. If you truly follow Jesus, you will be persecuted, it is a promise.
2 Timothy 3:12 Indeed, ALL who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted
3. Obey His Commandments
John 14:15 If you love me, you will obey what I command
If we believe we are saved while not obeying God’s commands, we are sorely deceived. These above words of Jesus, repeated throughout the gospels have no room for misunderstanding. We obey by the grace of God which is the power of God working IN us. This is the Holy Spirit leading, we don’t do it on our own power, we do it by the power of God but we must follow Him.
True repentance means turning away from sin and towards God. This is what God demands from us that we Love the Lord with ALL our heart. This is God’s foremost commandment as Jesus told us.
Luke 10:27 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’
He already is Lord, we don’t make Him Lord. You need to surrender your life to Him and ask Him to give you strength and guide you on the path that leads to salvation. This is what you must pray for and ask the Lord to send His Holy Spirit so you can be saved. If we love God with our whole heart, we will be suffering or paying the costs mentioned above. The Lord shares His glory with nothing. We cannot serve two Masters. You must choose who is your Lord. Is it Jesus or is it something else, your sin, money, reputation, looks or whatever. If you only give Jesus part of your heart, He is just an idol to you and He is not your Lord. In this case you will be worshipping Him with your lips and your heart will be far from Him. Jesus warned about this kind of vain worship.
Matthew 15:8-9 ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men
The road that leads to life is difficult but if we have truly given our heart to God then He will send us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth and lead you into all righteousness. When we follow God, we show our love for Him by obeying His commandments and following the guidance from the Holy Spirit.
Our faith will be tested by God. We will need to stay the course and resist temptation and not turn back to the ways of the world. If we turn back we show ourselves not worthy of God’s kingdom. Our repentance was either fake to begin with (we did not give God our whole heart) or we have fallen away from the truth and are being led by a different spirit. You can do it, not on your own strength but through God. Give God your heart for wherever your heart is there your treasure will also be.
1 John 5:2-4 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world
4. Do the Will of God: Be Sanctified
2 Thessalonians 4:3-4 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God
The will of God is that we be sanctified. This comes about by our obedience to the Holy Spirit who will remind us of Jesus commandments. Sanctification means purification, being cleansed from our innate sinfulness and molded into the image of Jesus. We must walk as Jesus walked, suffering and paying the costs we have previously counted. If we stay on the narrow path that leads to life, God promises to complete the good work He has started in us. It will not be a cakewalk, there will be bumps along the road. You will stumble, you will make mistakes but you must not wilfully practice sin
When we do stumble, IF Jesus is really Lord, you will get back up, confess your sin to Him and seek the strength and wisdom to overcome the issue and stay on the walk of holiness. If Jesus has your heart you will have a burning desire to please God. The Lord is coming back for a pure and spotless Bride. All who have the hope of eternal life and believe in Jesus as Lord will be striving to purify themselves.
1 John 3:3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
5. Endure to the End
We have an enemy of God’s children and that is the devil. The enemy will come to you and attempt to kill, steal or destroy your walk with God. You must overcome and not be deceived by the lies and be led astray from the truth. That is why God gave us the Holy Scriptures, His Word give us knowledge of Him and confidence to overcome evil. Trials and tribulations, even persecution are all part of a Christian walk that we are PROMISED we would endure. We must overcome and finish the race to receive the promise of eternal life. It is not enough to just begin the race, we must indeed finish the race to receive the gift of eternal life.
Matthew 10:22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.
We cannot just start out walking with Jesus, we must keep walking as Jesus Himself told us.
Luke 9:62 “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
We are warned not to be deceived about this. We cannot have it both ways. We either choose to follow Jesus or we do not and one can never rest on our laurels and take our salvation for granted. The Bible provides all kinds of exhortation to encourage us and here is one of my favorites.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
Start Walking Now
You walk by faith not by sight. So you have to believe deep in your heart the things God has promised us. If you do that, the Holy Spirit, also called the Comforter by Jesus will be your rod and your strength to get you through this life and into the promise of eternity in heaven. Seek God and God, not you, will do the rest. But you must seek Him and follow Him to say on the path that leads to life.
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.
Christian maturity and knowledge of God’s Word do not come all at once. God only reveals truth to us as we can bear it. As a babe in Christ you will not be able to bare it all but as you continue to seek God and give Him your whole heart and give up living for yourself; you will be truly amazed at what He, our Living God will do. He will show up big time in your life IF you truly love Him and give Him your whole heart.
Understanding the Word of God is essential for a walk with Jesus and our ability to endure to the end. You must seek knowledge of the Word and earnestly contend for your faith. There is no such thing as eternal security or Once Saved Always Saved. By studying the Scriptures and praying to God for wisdom, you will be fully equipped and wise unto salvation.
Pray always. There is no specific way to pray but we are told to pray often. If we obey God, He hears our prayers. If we are practicing sin, God will not hear our prayers. If you earnestly knock on the door, God says He will answer. Not always in the way or time frame you may desire, but God is faithful.
I believe you will find this site helpful but it is no substitute to reading your Bibles directly. The tab labelled INDEX at the top of this page will take you to a schedule of blog posts by topic that will dive much deeper into the topics discussed above. If I can help you or pray for you, please email me @ peter.wilson@cox.net
Just an advice continue to seek and understand God’s will. Do not follow the others mistake on establishing sect or church which doctrine is different from the doctrine of Jesus and his apostles.
By the way the term “study” is blasphemous but rather seek and fear God. The Greek terminology itself is blasphemous.
He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling-place and those who live in heaven. (Rev.13)
In our time different churches are figuratively as “water”.
Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. (Re. 17:15)
The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died. The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. (Re. 16:3-4)
The sea, rivers and spring of waters turned into blood. The sea represents the big christian denominations, rivers a smaller group and spring of waters which represents the small group of which they call themselves christians.
“So when you see standing in the holy place `the abomination that causes desolation’, spoken of through the prophet Daniel — let the reader understand —then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (Mt. 24:15-16)
When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfilment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. (Lk. 21:20-25)
I know you are aware of this what causes desolation, like you said it’s the sin. Jerusalem signifies as the church. It said flee to the mountain, get out of the city and do not enter the city. Get out of the city means get out of which church you belong or do not enter or join them in any church when you rebellion that causes desolation. Which are the false teachers, false doctrines and evil practices.
They will fall by the sword or making them a widow. But although they are widow they still boast to themselves that they are the true church.
How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave. (La. 1:1)
It became slave or exiled, slave of sin.
In her heart she boasts, `I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. (Re. 18:7-8)
If you ask today a member of any church, they will say ” we are the true church of Christ”.
In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to grief. I will make the lame a remnant, those driven away a strong nation. The LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and for ever.’ (Mi. 4:6-7)
The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. (De. 4:27)
Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember me. They and their children will survive, and they will return. (Zec. 10:9)
Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and ill-treated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterwards they will come out with great possessions. (Ge. 15:13-14)
God said to Abraham that his descendants will be strangers in a country not their own. This is said partly to us which who have faith in God and his son Jesus Christ, we are Abraham descendants by faith. For we are enslaved by sin but we are free by his son and our great possession will be the eternal life.
Brother, I was also baptized thrice but the truth was not there. Now seeking God will lead us to the knowledge of his will. In the past the pharisees and teachers of the Law are very zealous about the Law of Moses. But those regulations and ceremonies were cancelled by God through Christ.
having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. (Col. 2:14)
For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. (Je. 7:22-23)
Water baptism is symbolic for the remission of sins. Like in the time of Noah when God flooded the earth to wash the earth from wickedness. The apostles were commanded the to baptize the people but now they are not around and their testimonies about Christ were left that we read today. It became tradition of men which also a lot of hypocrisy.
For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body(1cor.12:13)
Emilio, Greetings my friend. I modified this post on the permament spot to reflect better my thoughts. Water Baptism is a controversial topic but I feel we should be baptized. Jesus did it, told us to do it and the Acts of the Apostles show them doing it. Whether is it essential for salvation is open for debate, I have studied it hard and am coming down on the side we should be baptized as an act of obedience to the LORD. That one act of obedience in and by itself is not going to save us as you say. So I will recommend all be baptized as an act of obedience. Here is a link to a site article that is well researched and may give you some things to think about.
http://www.water-baptism.org/
But I will never run around telling people they are doomed to destruction if they are not baptized but I can tell you at age 53, I was led by the Holy Spirit to be baptized by a brother. Was I saved before that? I beleive I was, I had the Holy Spirit deposited in me. But I did it because I was led to do it and also see that confirmed in the Scriptures. If I got wet for nothing, then no harm not foul, I believe our loving God who judges our hearts is not going to condemn me for getting water baptism wrong.
Water baptism is not necessary for our salvation, it is the truth in the gospel that Paul is preaching. Consider Abraham, he became righteous in God’s sight when he believed in God.
What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Gen. 15:6);
What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Gen. 15:6);
For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel. (1cor1:17)
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. (Mt. 23:25-27
John answered them all, “I baptise you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Lk. 3:16)
It’s simply like this as Paul said,
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. (Ga. 6:15)
A new creation what really counts and walking with the spirit.