What Must I Do To Be Saved?
Exploring this topic is at the top of the list when it comes to what someone needs to understand first from the Bible. Without knowing what being saved is or why it matters, it is very easy for the vast majority of people to live life for the moment because in their mind there is nothing beyond each opportunity for pleasure for them — even if it comes at a catastrophic cost.
In addition to correcting this false and jaded view of reality, coming to grips with the weight of eternity and where you are headed once this life ends is something believers are commanded to share with others around them by Jesus in Matthew 28:18–20.
This is lacking in many churches today, as the mainstream message has become nothing short of a seeker sensitive, vague love, clout chasing, hipster book club.
Not only does this environment not allow those who are saved to actually grow in their faith and development their gifts, callings, and overall spiritual growth, but it severely hinders the person wandering in wanting to know the truth.
The Tug-of-War Before A Comfortable Crash
Uncomfortable conversations happen all of the time — letting the people who need to hear the truth the most just get more and more confused about what the Jesus of the Bible actually teaches and what the Word of God says about how to receive eternal life does nobody justice.
Everybody loses in that scenario — does that not bother you?
To the left, the unsaved person sees affluent pastors like Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, and Steven Furtick tell them that not only does God love you but has a wonderful plan for your life with no mention of what happens if you were to die in their auditorium or on the way home without the free gift of salvation.
But of course, God’s plan wouldn’t be complete without at least a 10% tithe to their megachurch and counting — and they’ll gladly take CashApp or Venmo.
And if you really want to be blessed, just wait until the pastoral staff need a new private jet or million dollar house.
So you see these well-to-do guys all over the internet or television on one side of the aisle, but something feels off and you can sense that just beneath the surface there is something not sitting well with you.
Well done.
To the right, the unsaved person might see what they think is “hard preaching” but it is really just another works-based religion or even worse a Calvinist pastor or so-called church telling them that if they don’t get their life right before their last breath they are part of the Matthew 7 crowd that Jesus commands to depart from Him (despite clear scripture showing the Matthew 7 crowd are those who were never saved).
But — pause — that’s not the gospel, is it?
Beneath them, the unsaved person feels the tug of the charismatic movement and might laugh off the first demoniac episode disguised as the “tongues of angels” or a “movement of God” — but then they see a charlatan pull off what they claim to be is a miracle straight from heaven.
Not only that, but they will also hear from beneath them claims about how God wants us all to be able to walk down the street and heal every sickness and every disease without discretion or discrimination.
Key proponents of this type of teaching include Bethel Church (Redding, CA) and traveling so-called evangelist Todd White (see both below).
So, why were they never at a hospital during the pandemic?
Modern day apostles and miracles not enough for you?
Just wait until you hear about prophets, seers, and revelators who, despite practicing witchcraft and promoting a pedophile, claim to speak on behalf of the God of the Bible — even with the exact opposite Jesus.
Overcome with the friendliness of these deceivers, many fall prey to the notion that someday we can become like God — a doctrine taught in Mormon scripture, but not in the Bible.
Unless you count the exact same thing being relayed from Satan to Eve within the first few chapters of Genesis.
And the fact that attempting to do this by disobeying God’s clear rules about what to and what not to eat was met with extreme consequences.
But yeah, they’ll also claim to be Christian — and someone who is vulnerable won’t look past the name tag.
Three tugs in three directions, but we’re not done yet.
Above them, the unsaved person hears the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hebrew Israelites, Messianic Jews (so they are called), Seventh Day Adventists, and Muslims all promising them that Jesus was not divine, but rather just a good teacher.
If they end up as far as the Judaism camp, the unsaved person will hear the blasphemy that Jews claim as scripture where Jesus is described as still burning in hell in his own excrement.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses will say Jesus was actually just an angel (despite clear scripture refuting that).
The Hebrew Israelites and Messianic Jews will tell them that if they don’t keep the sabbath and at least the ten commandments then they are never going to be righteous in God’s eyes and therefore sent to hell for disobedience (despite clear scripture refuting that).
The Muslims will tell them that Jesus was a great teacher, even a highly honored prophet, but not divine — in this, they agree with the Jews in the sense that Jesus’ claims to be equal with God or to be God at any point is to them blasphemy.
This sends the message to the unsaved person that they should follow God not because they want to, but because they have to. But since they all deny who Jesus is, they do not and cannot have access to God the Father — therefore, making the person who eventually becomes self righteous, destined for hell despite even the best of intentions.
So now the unsaved person has exhausted all four directions that they are being pulled — they are probably wiped out. They have heard a verse or two in their life, but can’t seem to put all of the pieces together about what God actually wants us to respond with in our lives.
All they’d have to do is look straight ahead of them to the person or preacher giving them the gospel, but instead the mainstream megachurch model assemblies of today will take that same person and put them somewhere relaxing.
Usually, it’ll be a dark auditorium. You have your Bible on your phone or on the big screen after all anyways….right? Add to that the fog machine, colored lights, loud rock-style music, and a 20-minute sermon before brunch and that unsaved person will feel pretty good about themselves.
They won’t feel the pressure of the above and below crowds and they won’t feel like they aren’t good enough for the left and right crowds, but yet the entire time they could have been looking at the truth they were too busy snoozing in their sofa cushion in the back row.
But hey — they heard “Jesus loves you” at least five times before going to their car during the last song, so that counts — right?
No.
Eventually, this same comfortable unsaved person will be hit with the realities of life again in one way or another and they will be back at the beginning of the spiral we’ve been describing and doing so with no foundation.
And if you have the chance to get someone out of that spiral before it is too late for them, how could you live with never at least saying something once?
Consider it the same as letting them sleep behind the wheel — it is only a matter of time before the comfortable crash.
It Doesn’t Need To Be Fun
Sharing the actual gospel with the unsaved doesn’t need to always be an activity that you necessarily enjoy and falling too far on the side of comfort on this issue will only lead to inaction, not action.
The good news isn’t about making someone feel warm and welcome, but instead to confront them with the reality that God loves them so much that Jesus took the weight of their sin on the cross, died to pay for it, spent three days in hell where you deserved to go so that it was paid in full, and then resurrected in His physical body.
There is gravity to the gospel, but that doesn’t mean someone is always moved by hearing the truth. Using discernment is as important as ever and if someone is not interested, doesn’t care, or even begins to protest that you leave, the Bible is clear that it is not our job to force people to get saved — because God doesn’t do that to us either.
Considering the element of free will and choice that God freely gave to us like He did with Adam and Eve in the beginning of creation, we must also be mindful of the fact that at some point God sees a finish line with regards to the amount of time and/or opportunities He is willing to give someone to accept the free gift of salvation.
Since all they or anyone else has to do in order to receive eternal life is place in the finished work that Jesus already did and accept that it was a full and final payment for their salvation, it is so easy to receive that after enough times there is nothing that will convince a person who has gone too far to believe.
The Bible teaches that these types of people who go too far with rejecting God are given over to a reprobate (synonymous with rejected or reject) mind and then at that point God removes them from His mind as they have done to Him (Romans 1).
Knowing this, going out and spreading the gospel doesn’t always have to have fun tied to it — but rather should be looked at as necessary and fulfilling.
The Great Commission was not the Great Suggestion — or anything short of a command towards believers, for that matter.
What Someone Must Do To Be Saved
Given the emphasis of this message, you may wonder why this section comes in last to tie things together.
Well, since you asked — it is because the message was not geared toward the unbeliever, but to you, if you are a believer.
Hopefully now you have a clearer picture of the pulls and woes of the world that surround those who are not yet saved or have not yet had the chance to hear the good news.
With this though in mind, I want to remind you of the importance of Acts 8:37.
This is a verse that is removed in the New International Version (NIV), among other versions, but it is intentionally discarded from one of the more popular versions that the unsaved yet curious person might pick up.
Without this verse, the unsaved person would only see a skip from verse 36 to verse 38 with no clear explanation.
Acts 8:37 says clearly that baptism is not required for salvation and also that it is only to be done after someone receives salvation.
Without this clear teaching, the unsaved person will be confused about baptism, because without verse 37 it will imply to them that someone got baptized in the Bible and believing correctly about Jesus wasn’t a prerequisite.
But that’s not the case if you have verse 37.
Another essential passage in the book of Acts is in Acts 16:29–31.
In this section of scripture, Paul and Silas tell the jailer who was supposed to keep watch over them a direct answer to the question they were asked following an earthquake — “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Their immediate response is the response we should all be ready to give at a moment’s notice. Someone’s soul hangs in the balance when they are asking this particular question.
Paul and Silas said in unison that the answer to the question was “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
What will your answer be to those that have yet to hear the gospel and are waiting for you to knock on their door?
Don’t just tell them that God loves you and has a plan for your life.
Show them what Jesus already did so that they can be 100% sure where they will go after their time expires on earth.
