What Must I Do To Be Saved?
Tract
Authored By The Late Dr. John Rice,
Publisher
Of The Sword Of The Lord
Distributed
By:
Solid
Rock Baptist Church
14892
Goodman Road
Olive
Branch, MS 38654
Contact
Information:
Gordon
R. Scoggan, Pastor
E-Mail:
Preacher@solidrockbaptistchurch.org
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.
"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.
"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:10).
Pray
with all sincerity: “Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner,
I know I deserve eternity in hell. I want to be saved, I want to be forgiven. I
believe you paid the price for my sin with your blood. I confess you as my Lord,
my Saviour, and my God. I ask you to come into my heart, forgive my sin, and
save my soul. I place my faith in you, for my eternal security. AMEN.
Understanding Salvation (Post script by Pastor Gordon Scoggan)
1.
Your salvation is not based on what you can do, but upon what
Christ already did
2.
You are not saved because you stop sinning, (not humanly possible)
but because you confess (admit guilt) that you ARE a SINNER
3.
Salvation comes when one comes to a place of CONVICTION of his
condition (hopeless)
4.
Salvation comes when you accept the PARDON (forgiveness) offered by
Christ, who is the only one with the authority to forgive you and set you free
5.
True salvation (the new birth: John 3:3) is once and for all. If
you truly have it you can’t lose it and wouldn’t want to. Something that is
born cannot be unborn!
6.
True salvation and repentance will lead to a desire for true NT
baptism by immersion, which is the external testimony of an internal
transformation
One
who trusts Jesus Christ as personal Saviour should publicly claim Him before
men.
Please contact Solid Rock Baptist Church with further questions, your eternal destination is at stake.