What Must I Do To Be Saved?

Discipleship Training Ministries, Inc.
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Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting

Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. :

Today’s Date: October 15, 2006

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

by Dan Trygg

"’Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ ³¹ They said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’" Acts 17:30,31

"As He spoke... , many came to believe in Him. ³¹ So Jesus was saying to those... who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’" John 8:30-32

"After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God." Acts 14:21,22

"You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved." Matthew 10:22

What must I do to be saved? That is one of the most important questions we could ask. People have different answers. Even Bible scholars debate this issue. One of the problems about answering this question accurately is that people have different ideas of what "saved" means. Saved from what? Saved for what? Unless we understand what God’s perspective on this is, we will not grasp what is involved in "being saved". For many people, this just means, "What must I do to get my ticket to heaven? What must I do to be saved from the punishment of hell?" That perspective too narrowly defines the problem. If that is all we have in mind as we search through the scriptures, then we will come up with an answer that is too easy and simplistic. We will totally miss what the purpose of Jesus’ coming was all about, and our idea of what "being a Christian" is will be too shallow.

Jesus did not come just to purchase and give out "tickets". He came to purchase and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, …a people redeemed from every lawless deed, and zealous for good deeds (Tit. 2:14). According to this verse, Jesus came to save us from bondage to sin and lawlessness, and He came to save us for Himself, …to be a people who would live for Him, eager to do what is fitting and good.

Are you still interested in "being saved"? Are you willing to lay aside your agenda, or the American dream, in order to be devoted to God? Are you willing to stop living sinful and selfish lives, and become wholehearted servants of God? Are you willing to dedicate yourself to becoming eager and zealous to do God’s will by serving others? Really? Will you be eager to babysit kids? Will you be zealous to give rides? Will you jump at the opportunity to get involved in the lives of people no one else wants to get involved with? Will you readily rise up to address the need of the moment, whether that is to open your home for a meeting, or a guest, …or if it means leading a study group?

Do you still want to "be saved"? Really? Are you willing to eagerly give yourself to seeking God? Will you fast and pray to discern His will? Will you readily set aside time to study His word, so you can be equipped to serve Him (II Tim. 3:16,17)? Will you enthusiastically give yourself to work His plan? Will you devotedly gather with other believers to build them up to serve the King? Will you fervently stimulate, encourage and lead others? Will you put aside shyness, embarrassment, and discomfort to do the will of God in building His Kingdom? God wants to "save" you from that self-conscious fear and make you to be a bold warrior for His Kingdom.

Do you want to "be saved"? It will cost you a little discomfort, a little apprehension, but if you will "believe" and "trust" in Jesus, you will find new things happening in your life.

You will find God will make you into a new person. God will save you from yourself, if you will trust Him enough to eagerly do His will (Mk. 8:35). Do you want to be saved from selfishness? Then readily serve others.

God has a plan for those to whom He gives new life. He wants to form and shape them to become people who can do good works (Eph. 2:10). Why? Because as we do those good works, we demonstrate the loving heart of God. People will see it and recognize the presence of God in us. We don’t even have to think of what to do. God will bring the opportunities to us. We just have to walk out what He puts in us in those situations.

In I Peter 2:9, the aged fisherman refers to this same idea, "you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…" Again, we are saved, not so that God can be our servant, but so that we can be His. He has called us out of darkness to serve Him. We are saved to be a holy people, people who are dedicated to Him, ones who chose to "abstain from fleshly lusts" and choose to "live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God…"(I Pet. 2:12). Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Sounds like Peter’s idea of what it means to be saved closely corresponds with Paul’s and Jesus’ teachings (Tit. 2:14; Matt. 5:16,17). Oh, and Peter adds the notion that we are to talk about God’s wonderful character and deeds with others.

Is this what you want when you ask, "What must I do to be saved?" Do you want to be able to do those things? Do you want to stop living sinful, self-centered lives? Do you want to be able to live for God? Do you want to have lives that are full of good deeds, and be able to speak confidently about how wonderful it is to know God? If so, I have good news.

The scriptures are very clear: The righteous live by faith. Paul answered the Philippian jailer’s question, "What must I do to be saved?" with a simple answer, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." Very simple, right? Or, is it? What does it mean? Is it to just mentally agree with an idea, or is it to trust in Jesus enough to yield my will to Him? Clearly, it is not simply about knowing and believing the right information, because James tells us that even the demons believe (2:19), …and shudder! Faith without works is dead. Faith without action, without a tangible outworking in choices, is empty, profitless, meaningless. It will do no more for you, than you do with it. It is self-deception. That statement, "The righteous live by faith" means that faith is the guiding compass of their life choices. They live out their faith. Their trust in Jesus guides and empowers them to do what they otherwise would not attempt. When they trust in God in this way, He works in them, and on their behalf.

There is a fine line which biblical writers spent a great deal of time trying to clarify. It has to do with good works. On the one hand, we can’t purchase our salvation by good works or self-effort. Why?

First of all, we could never pay for, or off set the negative results of our sin by good deeds. There is no cosmic scale, where good deeds balance out evil acts. The outworking of sin (even for any single sin) is death (Rom. 6:23).

Secondly, we are selfish sinners at the core, and self-effort and self-discipline will only cause us to measure ourselves against others and take glory in our advancements toward self-righteousness. God hates such prideful striving. He condemned it all as sin, and rejected every human self-effort to be "good enough" as arrogant posturing. The truth is that, as sinners, we could never produce pure goodness or love from our sin-infested hearts.

God’s plan was put us into Jesus as our representative Sinbearer, put Him to death in our place (and put us to death in Him), and apply the payment for sin to anyone who will simply trust in Him for deliverance. This was a free gift to any and all who would ask for it.

More than that, however, to those who call on and take Jesus as their Deliverer and Master, God offers the privilege to become His children, ...to be radically transformed in our inner being, to be "born from above".

This new nature is like a good tree that can bear good fruit. In fact, this is where salvation leads, to bearing the fruit of good works. So, we can’t earn our own salvation by good works, but good works should be the outcome of a transformed life. The difference is that we know that the good fruit which comes from our lives is from the activity of God in us, and it humbles us and motivates us to honor Him, instead of filling us with pride as it did before we knew Jesus.

So, do you want to be saved? Accept the grace of God in Jesus. It is totally free, …but it will cost you everything. If you accept Him, He must be the Master, as well as your Savior. You must die to self-pride and selfish living, and give up all rights to a self-directed life. If you trust Him to cover you with grace to make you God’s child, then you must live by that same kind of trust as God’s child.

Notice that, in John 8, Jesus was not impressed by some Jews who had come to believe in Him. He could see that they had only become convinced mentally that He was the Messiah. They had not yet submitted to Him actively as their Messiah, their King. He told them, "If you continue in (live in, abide in) My word, then you are truly My disciples, and you will experientially-know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Notice that there is an ongoing process of learning, growth and development which Jesus alludes to.

Do you want to "be saved"? Jesus would say to you, "Are you willing to be My disciple? Will you trust Me enough to read and obey My word?" If you are not willing to do that, do you really "believe in Jesus"?

What about the "purifying process" referred to in Titus 2:14? Do you trust in Jesus enough to purify yourself from sin or destructive behaviors? If the Holy Spirit has shown you that God wants you to stop doing something, and you do not make that change, are you living by faith? Are you believing on Him? Are you continuing in His personal word to you? If you are not trusting in Him, who are you trusting in? What is stopping you from obeying Him?

Do you want to "be saved" from that sin or that habit? "Trust in the Lord Jesus." He never said it would be easy. In fact, He said just the opposite, …"the way is narrow (restrictive, pressing) that leads to life" (Matt. 7:14). Do you want the "easy way", or do you want "life"? They are incompatible. If you want life, then you must choose the more difficult path. The other path leads to self-destruction, and draws you away from God’s calling. The Jesus path leads to self-maturation in godliness. You choose.

Paul said we enter the Kingdom of God "through many hardships". Do you want to walk in God’s will, His Kingdom? Then you must go through difficulty to get there. It is not easy to follow Jesus. There is opposition and resistance from within our own selves, as well as from the world around us. Do you want to "be saved" from the way that leads to destruction? Then you must choose a different path, one that will set you in the face of this resistance, one that will challenge you to believe in Jesus for your moment by moment walk.

Do you think that growing into God’s will for your life will be easy? Have you been paying attention? No. It will be difficult. But Jesus will be empower you and will help you, …if you trust in Him.