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What Must I Do to be
Saved?
The Plan of Salvation
Made Plain to Sinners from the Word of
God
by
Evangelist John R.
Rice
What must I do to be saved? Here in
the simplest, shortest form is put the question to which every
man must learn the answer, or spend eternity lost, away from
God, suffering the torments of the damned! Thank God, this
question is asked and answered in the Word of God so simply
that every soul can understand it. There are other questions
in God's Word which affect the soul's welfare, and many places
in the Bible is the plan of salvation made plain, but only one
place is this question given word for word, and there, too, we
find the answer.
Paul and Silas were in jail in the city
of Philippi and at midnight they sang and prayed until God
broke down all the doors and broke the stocks which held their
feet, with a mighty earthquake. The poor jailer, frightened
and convicted of his sins, came to these two preachers and
asked this question. Read it in Acts
16:29-31:
"Then he called for a light and sprang
in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be
saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved, and thy
house."
"What must I do to be saved?" "Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved"! There is
God's plan of salvation, the only plan He has for every man,
woman and child who was ever born into the whole
world.
What Must I
Do?
Sinner, there is
something you must do if you would be saved. There was hope
for this jailer because he saw himself a lost sinner and came
trembling to inquire, "What must I do?"
Reader, you are a sinner. The Word of God from beginning to
end emphasizes that fact. In Isaiah 53:6 we
learn:
"ALL we like sheep have gone
astray; we have turned EVERY ONE to his own way; and the
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us
ALL."
We have all gone astray! The Lord is not
content for sinners to be left believing themselves good. In
Romans the third chapter, how positive, how certain is the
Word of God that every man, woman and child is a
sinner!
"What then? are we better than they? No,
in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and
Gentiles, that they are ALL under sin; As it is written,
There is NONE righteous, NO, NOT ONE: There is NONE that
understandeth, there is NONE that seeketh after God. They
are ALL gone out of the way, they are together become
unprofitable; there is NONE that doeth good, NO, NOT
ONE"!--Rom.
3:9-12.
In verses 22 and 23 it is stated again
that "there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come
short of the glory of God." That is the reason Jesus said to
Nicodemus in the third chapter of John, "Marvel not that I
said unto thee, YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN." And a little later in
the same chapter, verse 18, He said that the man who has not
believed in Jesus is already condemned.
Certainly these Scriptures must make it
clear to every man who believes the Word of God that he is a
sinner, and until he has believed in Christ and has been
saved, he is a lost sinner and needs saving. The heart is
wrong, and only God can make that right. Then if you want to
be saved, you must admit in your own heart, "I am a sinner. I
am lost and need to be saved." No one ever was saved without
coming for salvation as a
sinner.
Christ Died To Save
Sinners, Not Good Men
Oh, I beg you, see it today! You are a poor, lost sinner, a
Hell-bound sinner! Your heart is black. You have hardened your
heart, you have resisted the call of God, you have rejected
Christ. However good you are in man's sight, you are a
terrible sinner, and unless you turn to Christ you must spend
eternity in Hell. A SINNER! That is what you are. Admit it in
your own heart, confess it to God. You are a sinner and you
need saving worse than you need anything else in the
world.
If you have settled in your heart that
matter, then you are ready to learn God's answer to your
question, "What must I do to be saved?"
Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ
Here is God's simple way to be
saved. You are a sinner, your heart is wrong, you cannot save
yourself, you are already condemned. The thing you are to do
then, to be saved, is to simply trust the Lord Jesus with that
matter. When you do trust Him, then you have God's promise,
"Thou shalt be saved."
I do not mean that you are simply to
believe that there is a God or that there is a Saviour. Devils
believe that and tremble (James 2:19). You can believe that a
certain physician is a good doctor without calling him to be
your doctor when you are sick. You can believe that a certain
man is a good lawyer without taking him as your lawyer to
defend your case. You are not just to believe the truth about
Jesus; you are to believe on Him, that is, depend upon Him,
risk Him, trust Him; and when you do, you are
saved.
Not Saved By Good
Works
Of course, you do not deserve
salvation. There is nothing you can do that will make you
worthy of it. You cannot be saved by keeping the Ten
Commandments, for the Scripture clearly shows that you have
not kept them. Romans 3:20 says:
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified in his own sight: for by the law
is the knowledge of
sin."
The same thing is told in Galatians 3:11
which says:
"But that no man is justified by the law
in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live
by faith."
Many, many Scriptures repeat again and
again that there is no salvation through human goodness.
"Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of
the Holy Ghost."--Titus
3:5.
"FOR BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED
THROUGH FAITH; AND THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES; IT IS THE GIFT OF
GOD: NOT OF WORKS, LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST."--Eph.
2:8, 9.
We had as well admit, then, that no man
deserves saving and no man can save himself. Salvation must be
free or the sinner could never get it. In fact, it takes blood
to pay for sin, for the Scripture
says:
"Without Shedding of Blood Is No Remission"--Hebrews
9:22
"For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly."--Rom.
5:6.
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all."--Isa.
53:6.
Peter tells us that all of us are bought
by the blood of
Christ:
"Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as
silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot."--1 Peter 1:18,
19.
Every lamb, bullock,
heifer, goat, turtle dove and pigeon offered in the Old
Testament times on the altar pictured this: that man, a guilty
sinner, must have some innocent one to shed his blood to pay
for one man's sins. Jesus died for our sins, and, thank God,
salvation is bought for every man in the world, if he will
have it, as the free gift of God.
"For the wages of sin is
death; but the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord."--Rom.
6:23.
Dear sinner, remember that church
membership will not save you. If you have been baptized that
cannot save you. Baptism does not save, does not keep anybody
saved. It is only an act of duty for those who have already
found Christ as their Saviour. A moral life or lodge
membership or good citizenship--these must all fail to bring
salvation, for it is "not by works of righteousness which we
have done, but according to his mercy he saved us" (Titus
3:5). Don't depend, then, on what you do, but on what Jesus
did and promises to do for you.
What About
Repentance?
Does not the Bible say that we
must repent? Yes, the Bible plainly says that "God ...
commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30), and
again, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke
13:3, 5). This was the preaching of John the Baptist, of
Jesus, of Peter and of Paul, that men should repent. And
certainly repentance is God's plan of salvation. The trouble
here, however, is that men misunderstand what repentance
means, and there has grown up an idea that repentance means a
period of weeping and mourning over sin, or sorrow for sins.
This idea comes from the Douay Version of the Bible which
instead of "repent" says "do penance." So the place of
inquiry, where people should be taught the plan of salvation
from the Bible, in revival meetings, became "the mourner's
bench" and thousands of people have been taught that God would
not hear their prayer nor forgive their sins until they went
through a process of sorrow and mourning over their
sins!
Do not misunderstand me. God is anxious
for you to have a penitent, broken heart over your sins. You
have gone away from God. You have trampled under foot the
blood of Jesus Christ, wasted years of your life which you can
never live over again. You have served your father, the Devil.
There is plenty for you to weep over, and I am not surprised
if you feel deep shame and sorrow in your heart that you have
so mistreated the God who made you and the Saviour who died
for you. I am not surprised if you cannot keep back the tears!
But what I want you to know is that tears or no tears, however
much sorrow you may have in your heart, or not have, those
things do not save you.
You ought to be sorry for your sins and
ashamed of them. "Godly sorrow worketh repentance" (2 Cor.
7:10)--the right kind of sorrow leads to immediate repentance,
but mourning is not itself repentance.
"Could
my tears forever flow,
Could my zeal no respite
know,
These for sin cold not atone;
Thou must save,
and Thou
alone."
To repent literally means to
have a change of mind or spirit toward God and toward sin. It
means to turn from your sins, earnestly, with all your heart,
and trust in Jesus Christ to save you. You can see, then, how
the man who believes in Christ repents and the man who repents
believes in Christ. The jailer repented when he turned from
sin to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Instant
Salvation!
The jailer
did not go through a period of mourning. He was told to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; he did just that and was
saved, and his whole family was saved the same way,
immediately, the same hour of the night. Everywhere you look
through the New Testament you find that people were saved all
at once without any process, without any period of mourning.
Zacchaeus, up a tree, trusted Jesus and made haste and came
down, and received Him joyfully (Luke 19:6-9). Jesus said,
"This day is salvation come to this house." When Peter told
Cornelius and his assembled household that they could be saved
by believing, immediately "while Peter yet spake these words,"
the Scripture says, the Holy Spirit came on them and they were
happily saved (Acts 10:44-48). The thief on the cross, wicked
sinner that he was, who a few minutes before had been railing
at Jesus, was saved immediately when he inquired of Jesus
(Luke 23:42, 43). In the first chapter of John, verses 35 to
49, we see where Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael
were all converted, one by one, immediately by faith in
Christ. There is no record of any person in Bible times who
was ever told to wait, or mourn, or weep over his sins before
trusting Jesus and being saved! One who believes in Christ has
repented. Repentance and faith are the same thing put in
different words, and neither requires a long period of time,
nor a process of mourning and sorrow.
Salvation is instantaneous. All that
keeps you today from being saved is the wickedness of your
heart that holds on to sin and will not run to Jesus to trust
in Him for salvation. I beg you, turn in shame and sorrow from
your sins this minute, and trust in Christ and be
saved!
Can One Be Saved Without
Prayer?
In the Bible there are many cases
of sinners who prayed like the thief on the cross or the
publican in the temple. In fact, Romans 10:13 says:
"For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved."
Many people believe that a sinner cannot
be saved without a period of prayer, without consciously
calling on God. However, the Bible does not say that a sinner
must pray in order to be saved. In fact, immediately following
the verse in Romans 10:13 is an explanation which shows that
calling on God is an evidence of faith in the heart and that
it is really faith which settles the matter. Read it
again.
"For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed?"--Rom.
10:13, 14.
The Lord encourages the sinner to pray,
and the Lord hears and answers the sinner's prayer, if that
sinner trusts in Jesus Christ for salvation when he prays. He
heard the prayer of the thief on the cross, of the publican in
the temple, of blind Bartimaeus. But the Scripture says, "How
then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?"
Certainly every one who is to be saved must believe. Prayer is
evidence of faith. No matter how long one prays, if he does
not trust in Christ, he can never be saved. If he trusts in
Christ without conscious prayer, then he is saved already.
There is just one plan of salvation and just one step a sinner
must take to secure it. That step is to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ!
Some way we preachers have left the
impression on this poor world of sinners that God is
hardhearted and that it takes many tears and loud cries and
long periods of sorrow before He will hear and save the
sinner. We have left the impression that God does not care
whether sinners are saved or not, and that sinners must some
way touch the heart of God and get Him ready to forgive. What
a slander on a good and holy God who "so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life." Man's sins are
already paid for, God's wrath is already turned away from any
sinner who wants to be saved. Both the Father and the Son are
a million times more anxious to save every sinner than the
sinner can be to get saved! Thank God, I do not have to beg
God to forgive my sins. He will do it the minute I am willing
to trust it with Him.
How To Get the Change of
Heart
This simple way of being saved by
faith seems so easy, and it is. Some sinner may say, "But I
thought one must have a change of heart." So you must, dear
sinner, but that is God's part. Jesus was talking to Nicodemus
when He said, "Ye must be born again," and in the same chapter
He tells Nicodemus how to get the new birth.
"For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life."--John
3:16.
The change in your heart, sinner, is
God's part and you may be sure He will attend to that. Your
part is to simply believe in Him. Whatever else is necessary
in your eternal salvation, the Lord attends to when you trust
in Him, or believe in Him.
How Should I Feel?
Some people have an idea that the change of heart is a matter
of feeling. Some do not want to claim Christ as Saviour until
they have the mysterious feeling that they want. Do not let
the Devil deceive you here. I believe in heartfelt religion,
and thank God for the joy which He gives to me day by day. But
the Bible nowhere tells how one must feel before he is saved,
nor does it anywhere say how you feel after you are saved. In
fact, people do not feel the same. Feeling varies with the
person saved. Some cry when they are saved, some laugh, and a
few shout aloud the praises of God. One is no more saved than
the other. What you want, dear sinner, is salvation, and you
should be satisfied to feel any way that will please the Lord,
just so He forgives your sins.
Be sure you notice another fact, too,
and that is that you cannot feel right until you get right.
Rejoicing does not come before you trust the Lord. One does
not feel the result of medicine before he takes it. The
Children of Israel in the wilderness, bitten by fiery serpents
and at the point of death, were not healed and did not feel
healed until they looked to the brass serpent on the pole
(Num. 21:6-9). People are not saved by feeling; they are saved
by trusting in Christ. The prodigal son, away from home in the
hog pen, decided to arise and go to his father, but he did not
feel good. He was without shoes, clothed in rags, without the
ring of sonship, without any evidence of his father's
forgiveness, perishing with hunger! Yet he arose and came to
his father, not by feeling, but by faith in his father. Thank
God, his father received him, like God receives every sinner
who will come. And when the prodigal boy sat down at his
father's table, with shoes of the gospel of peace, clothed in
the garments of righteousness of Christ, with the ring of
sonship on his finger, eating the fatted calf at the right
hand of the father, happy in his love, then he has plenty of
feeling. Feeling comes after salvation. Leave the feeling with
the Lord and come to the Saviour by faith
today.
After you are saved, you will get peace
and joy out of following the Lord in baptism, reading His
Word, winning souls and otherwise pleasing Him. You need to go
to the Lord again and again day by day for the joy of a
Christian life. But thank God that salvation is settled once
and for all when you simply depend upon Christ as your
Saviour.
What About Public
Confession?
Every person who is saved ought
to publicly confess Christ. Matthew 10:32 and Romans 10:9
plainly teach that God will claim as His child any of us who
will claim Christ as our Saviour, but we simply confess with
the mouth what we have already trusted in our hearts.
Concerning that very matter Romans 10:10
says:
"For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession
is made unto
salvation."
To claim Christ as your Saviour simply
proves that you trust Him in the heart. Likewise with all
other promises in the Bible about how to be saved. "Him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," says John 6:37; and
salvation is promised in John 1:12 to as many as receive
Jesus. But you could not come to Christ without trusting Him,
and John 1:12 shows that receiving Jesus is the same as
believing on His name.
Dear sinner, do not make this a
difficult matter. There is one simple step between you and
Jesus. When you trust Him, everything else is settled, and you
have repented, you have come to Christ, you have received Him,
you have done everything necessary to be saved. Take the
answer in Acts 16:31 at face value: "BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST, AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED"! In dozens of Scriptures all
through the Bible salvation is promised to those that believe.
Read carefully the following Scriptures and see that again and
again, many, many times, God has promised all any poor sinner
would ever need when he believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ.
"But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that BELIEVE on his name."--John
1:12.
"And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be
lifted up: That whosoever BELIEVETH in him should not
perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVETH
in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life."--John
3:14-16.
"He that believeth on him is
not condemned: but he that BELIEVETH not is condemned
already, because he hath not BELIEVED in the name of the
only begotten Son of God."--John
3:18.
"He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life: and he that BELIEVETH not the Son
shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on
him."--John
3:36.
"Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that heareth my word, and BELIEVETH on him that sent
me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."--John
5:24.
"And this is the will of him
that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and
BELIEVETH on him, may have everlasting life: and I will
raise him up at the last day."--John
6:40.
"Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that BELIEVETH on me hath everlasting
life."--John
6:47.
"To him give all the prophets
witness, that through his name whosoever BELIEVETH in him
shall receive remission of sins."--Acts
10:43.
"And by him all that BELIEVE
are justified from all things, from which ye could not be
justified by the law of Moses."--Acts
13:39.
Read again the Scripture we started
with:
"What must I do to be
saved?"
"BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved."--Acts 16:30,
31.
Trust Jesus, the Great
Physician
If you
were sick and about to die, and there was some good doctor
whom you could trust, would you not risk him to take your
case, give you the necessary treatment, and with God's help
get you well? Then just like that, trust in Christ, depend on
Him for your salvation, and turn it over to Him today. With
the same kind of faith that will call in a doctor and risk him
for your body, you can call in the Lord Jesus Christ and risk
Him to forgive your sins and save your poor lost soul! He
said, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick" (Luke 5:31). He is the Great Physician and will heal
your soul instantly if you will trust Him. As you would trust
a doctor, submit to his treatment, depend on him for results,
so trust Jesus today about your soul. To be sure, human
doctors fail many times. Their results at best are gradual,
and so no doctor is a perfect picture of Jesus. The doctor can
work no miracles, but Jesus can, and the change that is needed
in that poor, wicked heart, He will make immediately,
instantly, without any further effort on your part, when you
trust Him!
Jesus is Our Lawyer
If you had committed a crime and were thrown in jail, probably
the first thing you would do would be to send for some lawyer
in whom you had confidence and trust him with the entire
matter of your defense. In God's sight you are a criminal,
condemned already and with the wrath of God upon you day by
day. But God has provided somebody to take the part of us poor
sinners, criminals before the bar of God's justice, and Jesus
is that lawyer, for the Scripture says:
"If any man sin, we have an
advocate [or lawyer] with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not
for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole
world."--1 John 2:1,
2.
Jesus will not only be your lawyer to
defend your case; He has already paid the penalty and you may
safely trust Him to have you immediately pardoned and
justified! Why not simply risk Jesus as you would risk a good
lawyer? Jesus is better than any lawyer, of course, and you do
not have to pay Him a fee, and He never
fails.
A Wedding
A young
man and young woman stand together, side by side, before the
preacher. The preacher says, "You will join right hands." Then
to the young man he says, "Do you take this young woman to be
your lawfully wedded wife, to love her and cherish her until
death do you part?" He answers, "I do." To the young woman the
preacher says: "Do you take this man to be your lawfully
wedded husband until death do you part?" She answers, "I do."
Then the preacher says: "I pronounce you man and wife," and
they are married in the sight of God and
man.
What a simple picture of salvation!
Jesus is the bridegroom and we who trust Him are to be His
bride. Already Jesus has loved you and has long urged you to
accept His love. Jesus invites you to accept His love. Jesus
invites you to believe in Him right now and be saved and so
become a part of His bride. Will you not right now with the
same simple faith of that young woman who takes a husband,
accept Jesus as your Saviour and say to Him, "I
do."?
Make It Sure -- Claim Him
Today!
The way is plain and you can be
saved this moment if you will.
Surely it has become plain, dear lost
sinner, that it is your own fault if you are lost! Do you hate
Jesus Christ? Will you hold on to your sin and go to Hell for
your stubbornness? Nothing in the world could show your
wickedness like postponing this matter. You can be saved right
now, this minute. I beg you, do it now. Turn your whole heart
from sin to trust in Christ. Choose for Heaven against Hell,
choose for Christ against Satan. Do not let Satan deceive you
any longer. If you delay, it may result in a hardened heart, a
wasted life and a tortured soul in Hell! And if you are not
saved, when God has made the way so plain and paid the price
for your sins, then you have no one to blame but yourself.
Will you trust Jesus Christ today and be
saved?
"Boast not thyself of
tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth."--Prov. 27:1.
"Behold, now is the accepted
time; behold, now is the day of salvation."--2 Cor.
6:2.
"Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your
hearts."--Heb. 3:7,
8.
God has given you this heartbeat, this
breath, this moment in order to trust Christ, but there is no
promise of another. I beg you do it right now, and then claim
Him as your Saviour.
One who trusts Jesus Christ as personal
Saviour should publicly claim Him before men. "For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:10).
After trusting Jesus Christ you should
join a church and be baptized. I hope you will find a good
Bible-believing church and attend
faithfully.
You have just read Dr. John R. Rice's famous
sermon, "What Must I Do to be Saved?" If you have
trusted Christ, today, as the only payment for your sin, and
accepted Him as your only Saviour, or if you would like more
information, then we would like to hear from you. Please
email us at Bible
Baptist Church |
