What Must I do to be saved? That is a question people have been asking since Adam and Eve got themselves evicted from the Garden of Eden, and it is a question I used to ask a lot, a question the kept me up at night, it is a question that a lot of people ask, and sadly many people get confused or led astray by the many incorrect and unbiblical things that are taught. The popular saying is “all roads lead to Rome” but not all roads lead to heaven. Jesus is the only way to heaven and salvation.

For as long as I can remember, I have been extremely interested in God and religion and even as a child I wanted to know what God’s will was for my life, and more importantly, what I must do to be saved, but it was not easy to get answers. When I was a child the internet was not really a thing so the only place I felt could turn for answers was my parents, and the occasional Chick Track I found in a truck stop or laundry mat. The Chick Tract on salvation is, by the way, spot on, but my father was upset when he caught me reading it and said that anything that did not come from him was from the Devil.

When I was growing up my father was a pastor, and as I eluded to, he thought he was the only pastor worth listening to. I tried to pay attention to my father’s sermons, I really did, but my father was more interested in proving how smart he was than in making sure that people could understand the message and came to Christ as a result of his sermon.

I rarely got anything out of my father’s sermons because not only did he not make any attempt at making it simple so that everyone could understand, he seemingly went out of his way to make sure it was as complicated and convoluted as possible, and despite all of that, he was always upset with me for not understanding his sermons.

There may have been a few times while growing up when my older sister got bored with the sermon since we could not understand a word of it and I said we had to use the restroom so we could leave the sanctuary and find some mischief to get into. There may have even been a time when my older sister convinced me to draw on the bathroom wall with crayons, and there may have been a time when she convinced that the air freshener in the bathroom taste like strawberry and that I should eat it.

 My father, by the way, is not alone in favoring sounding smart over being understood and a lot of pastors are far more interested in sounding intellectual and having adults swoon over them and tell them how great of a preacher they are than they are in making sure that everyone can understand.

If one person who would have accepted Christ had they understood not accepted Christ because they did not understand than that sermon was a complete and utter failure and the pastor has failed as a pastor. I am not suggesting that the average sermon should be aimed at children and the uneducated, but at least the most important part of the message should be simple enough so that a child could accurately say what the sermon was about and what the Bible has to say on the subject that was being taught, and every sermon, regardless of the topic, should lead to Jesus and the cross.

Sometimes at church services when I was a kid I wanted to go up to the front when there was an alter call, but I never did because my father had so confused me about what it meant to give your heart to God that I was not only unsure about how to do it but was afraid to try. I knew that if I ever walked to the front of the church during an alter call that instead of being proud of me, my father would have been upset that I did it without him telling me to do so.

Whenever I asked my father what a person had to do to be saved he made it overly complicated and basically told me that I could not give my heart to God and should just forget about it until he told me otherwise. Even though I knew I would not get a clear answer I often asked my father about what I had to do to be saved, and he never gave me a clear or completely Biblical answer and I felt like I was chasing a moving goal post. 

Looking back, I can say with absolute certainty that my father failed me both as a preacher and as my father. My father often said that a person could not give their heart to God until God called them to do so, which is true, but it was unclear to me how I would know I was called to give my heart to God. Let me make it simple, if you are wondering if you are being called to give your life to God than you certainly are.

I grew up thinking that there was only one specific time that a person could give his or her heart to God and that if they missed it they would never have a second chance, and I was so afraid of missing it I constantly prayed and told God that I wanted to give my life to him. I was afraid that since I was not sure what being called would be like I would not recognize the call and would not know that I had been called until I had missed it, and salvation with it. So long as you are still alive, regardless of how old you are, how many times you have turned your back on God or what you have done, you can turn your life over to God right now, and you absolutely should do it.

When I asked my father how I would know when I was called he told me that before I could give my heart to God I had to know, not just say it but actually know, that I was the most vile sinner and the worst person in the world. I knew, without a doubt, that I was not living up to God’s standard, but I logically knew that I was far from being the most vile of sinners and the worst person, and at this time I could easily pick a number of people from the news to prove that I was not the worst person. I knew that I had a lot of faults, but I also reasoned that there was no way I was a worse person than the infamous serial killer Jeffery Dahmer.

 I started to think that if I could not view myself as the most vile sinner in the world, as my father instructed, than I had no chance of salvation, and trying to view myself in that way helped to destroy my self-esteem. I want to be extremely clear on this, God wants us to admit our sins before him, but he does not require us to view ourselves as the most vile sinner and the worst person in the world and he certainly does not want us to view ourselves as such. God wants us to admit we are sinners and that we need his grace, but it is not some sort of self-defeating race to the bottom as my father had me believing. The point of admitting you are a sinner and confessing it to God is not to berate yourself but rather to come to the point where you know you are completely lost without God and turn your life over to him.

One of the many time I asked my father how to know when I was being called to repentance and how I would know if God had accepted me, my father told me a story of his conversion and how he knew he was accepted by God when he gave his heart to God, a story that I am convinced he made up, especially since many of the things I know about him now that I didn’t know then leads me to believe that he was never converted in the first place and that he never truly gave his heart to God. I don’t think it is good to judge other people and to determine whether or not they are saved, but no part of my father’s life showed the fruits of repentance or living the gospel. Still, some people may have been saved because of him, even if by accident. 

When I was around twelve we stopped at a Church rummage sale and the church was undergoing a remodel, so underneath the marquee sigh that said “Come and meet the Lord” there was a handwritten sign to protect the church and construction company from liability if anyone tripped over the construction supplies or otherwise hurt themselves. The sign read, “Not responsible for accidents.” I often think of that sign and know the sad fact that it is only by accident that some people accept Christ at some Churches. Actually I misspoke, it is never an accident when a person comes to Christ as God always leads the person to it intentionally, but sometimes the Church that should have had part in it did not contribute to it intentionally. 

Anyhow, back to by father’s story that was likely fabricated. Among the many things my father said happened to him when he was converted was that when his sins were forgiven he became so light that he was literally floating in the air above the alter at the Church. I asked for clarification and asked if he meant that he felt like he was floating and he scolded me for question him and affirmed that he was actually floating in the air and literally could not keep his feet on the ground.  I mean, that was a pretty high standard, and I never had any experience like that, though I have given my heart to God and know that I have been forgiven of my sins, and if I had been waiting for an experience like that I would live my entire life thinking God did not want me and that I would spend eternity in Hell. There is no place in the Bible where people float off the ground when they repent, nor is there any Biblical justification for it and you should not expect such an experience.

Not only are there a lot of preachers who care more about being praised than bringing people to Christ, there are also a lot of religious teachers or religious institutions who either misunderstand or intentionally pervert the gospel and say salvation must be earned and that faith plus baptism, faith plus following rules or faith plus something else equals salvation. Faith plus anything is heresy. Jesus doesn’t save us because we deserve it or earned it but because we trust in him and accept the grace that he freely offers.

I wish I had known this when I was younger, but being saved is not complicated and there are just a few simple elements that I will discuss in some detail, but briefly they are acknowledging you are a sinner and need God, confessing your sins to God and believing that he is not only able but willing to save you, and you have to accept Jesus as your Lord and savior, and then trying to live a life he would approve of.

NEED OF A SAVIOR

The first step of salvation is to feel our need for salvation and know that all is lost without God because no one would look for a savior if they did not know they needed one. As the Bible says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23) so in order for a person to come to God he or she must first be aware of the fact that they have fallen short of God’s standard and are therefore a sinner. Unlike what my father taught, you don’t have to feel that your sin surpasses the sin of all other people, you just have to know that you have fallen short of God’s standard and that you can’t make it without him and need him in your life.

Feeling the weight of your sins and knowing you need God to save you is called “Conviction” and it is being convicted of our sins that causes us to turn to God. Though he did a horrendous job of explaining it, being convicted is what my father was referring to when he talked about being called to repentance.

In Luke chapter 18 (verses 9-14) Jesus tells the story of two men who are praying to God, the first is quite comfortable with his salvation as he mistakenly thinks he has earned it and in his prayer he lists off all his righteous deeds, despite the fact that Isaiah says our good deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), and he even thanks God that he is not a sinful man like the tax collector. On the other hand, the tax collector was aware of his sin and was not willing to even lift his head toward heaven and cried out, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus said that the tax collector went away justified because he acknowledge his sin and his need for a savior while the Pharisee was not justified because he did not acknowledge his sins and did not see a need for a savior as he viewed his works as enough. It is quite impossible to accept being saved if you don’t feel the need of being saved, and despite what some people think or teach, we all need God to save us as no one can do it on their own.

Yes, God expects us to do good works, but we are not saved because of the good works, we do the good works because we have been saved and the process of being saved has changed us, as Paul says (2 Corinthians 5:17), into new creatures in Christ, and as such, we want to do the will of God. However, we can’t even take credit for the good works we do “For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So we are only able to do the good works because God prepared them in advance so we would have the opportunity to do them.

FAITH

We are saved by grace alone through faith alone and there are two parts to grace, not getting what we deserve, which is death and Hell, and getting what we don’t deserve, which is salvation and eternal life with God.

Faith is the sole requirement for salvation, but it must be a faith that leads to conversion. Believing that Jesus is real and that he is God is not enough to save as even the devils believe in God (James 2:19) but they do not follow God and actively fight against him and are quite obviously not saved. Believing that a life preserver is real and that it can save your life will not save you from drowning unless you take hold of the life preserver when it is thrown to you.

We are not saved merely by having faith that Jesus exists and that he is God as that kind of faith is dead faith, according to James 2:14-26, but we are saved by faith that transforms us and makes us more like Jesus. Jesus said, ‘You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again,” (John 3:7) because if our faith does not lead us to becoming born again than we are not saved, just like the person who believes the life preserver can save but refuses to take hold of it.

Saving faith also has to be based on Biblical truth, which does not mean that we have to know or understand the entire Bible, but it does mean that we have to have faith that Jesus is the God of the universe who came down in human form to die for our sins on the cross so that we can be saved through him.

Saving faith is changing faith, and when we truly have faith in God our sins pain us and we want to live a life that is pleasing to God.

CALL ON GOD

Once you have faith and know you need to be saved you have do do something with it and Paul the Apostle taught “If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” (Romans 10:9).

There are a lot of churches that have some type of formula to give your heart to God to make it simple, however, there are no specific words you have to say, you just have to acknowledge your sins before God (1 John 1:9), ask him to forgive you, accept him as your Savior and commit to live according to his will.

BEING BORN AGAIN AND ACCEPTING JESUS AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR

Once we call upon God we can’t just be offering lip service, we have to actually be willing to surrender our wills to God and to commit our lives to him. Jesus taught, “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven,” (Matthew 7:21).

The fear of Hell may be what initially leads a person to God, but to be saved we must be motivated by a love for God instead of a fear of Hell. God is the goal and the destination, not merely the way to escape Hell, and Heaven, by the way, is only heaven because Jesus is there.

In order to be saved we MUST accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and not just our savior, which means me MUST surrender our will to him. When we surrender our will and our life to God there is a change in us and we start to hate the sinful ways of the wold and love the ways of God, and when we love God we want to please him and there will be a change in us. Being born again will change people, and while we will always fall short of God’s will, a born-again person will not intentionally do things that are against the will of God. Striving to do the will of God and doing the good works he has prepared for us to do is considered “the fruits of the gospel” and Jesus said you will know a tree by its fruit (Matthew 7:17).

When a born-again person does inevitably sin there is no need to despair because their sins have already been paid for on the cross, but the sin will grieve them and they will be remorseful for sinning against God and will ask for his forgiveness and ask for his help in overcoming that sin.

PRAYER AND A COMMITMENT TO GOD

If you are ready to accept Jesus as your Lord and savior and receive the peace that only he can offer please pray to make that commitment, though it is not the prayer that saves you but your commitment to God and the surrender of your life to him and the sinner’s prayer, or any prayer, is not some magical incarnation that will save you regardless of what you do, but if you are sincere and truly want to accept Jesus as Lord and give your life to him than praying is a good place to start, and the habit of regularly talking to God will help us to have a relationship with him.

One of the reasons I encourage people to pray when they decide to give their life to God, despite the fact that it is not the prayer that saves them, is because praying to God is always good and it gives the person a tangible experience to associate with their decision to follow God, and it also gives him or her the opportunity to thank God for the gift of Jesus and to ask for strength to live his will when the world wants us to do otherwise. Praying every day, multiple times per day, is a good practice, but not doing so does not mean you are not saved.

BAPTISM

Baptism does not save you, and by that I mean that the act of baptism is not some magical ordinance that gives you a golden ticket into heaven, but it is something that Jesus asked us to do and is saying with our whole body, “Lord I trust you.”

Once you commit yourself to God it is good to be baptized to show your faith in God and your willingness to obey his will, and of course, true repentance or a turning of your life over to God has to proceed baptism or you are just getting wet. Baptism is basically an outward sign of an inward commitment, and if you are committed to living your life according to the will of God than you will want to be baptized.

Baptism in and of itself, does not save, but refusing to be baptized is a sign that a person is not willing to live their life according to the will of God since he said that we are to repent and be baptized. Baptism is one of the many good works that God prepared ahead of time for us to do and Peter taught that baptism is “an appeal to God for a good conscience,” (1 Peter 3:21).

CHURCH ATTENDANCE

Also, if you are sincere about giving your life to God it is important to get involved into a Bible teaching Church because, while it is not going to Church that saves us, there are many benefits to associating with fellow believers and regularly attending a church and home group Bible study, and I talked about that in great detail in an earlier post called “The Happy Little Family: The Importance of Church Attendance.”

Some of the benefits of regular church attendance are learning more about God’s word, having Godly friends who can strengthen you and help you in live, and you them, and going to church helps to grow our faith and to keep us accountable and living the way God wants us to.