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"What Must I Do to be Saved?" Acts 16:30
For a time now I have been considering some great questions of the gospel age. Today I want to
consider a question that is not only great, because of its subject matter, but which is also grave,
because it is fraught with eternal consequences. I refer to the question, "What must I do to be
saved?"
Man needs salvation. There is no doubt about that, because God has made it crystal clear. "For all
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). "For the wages of sin is death; but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).
Because of sin, natural death entered into the world. When Adam and Eve transgressed in the
Garden of Eden, the verdict of death was pronounced on every living thing. We are told also that
sin entered into the world by one man (Rom. 5:12). Sin is in the world and if we live long enough,
sooner or later we come in contact with sin, and we are defiled and contaminated by it. The Bible
says that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:20).
Therefore, we need salvation, Man left alone is lost. One cannot believe the Scriptures without
believing this. Christ is the center of the plan of human redemption. He is the Sun of Righteousness
who has arisen with healing in his wings. Christ, and Christ alone can provide the salvation we
need-the forgiveness, the release, the remission of sins.
"What must I do to be saved?" is a personal question. It deals with the person and his eternal
destiny. Since eternal stakes are under consideration here, we should answer the question with
care. We should not risk our eternal destinies upon some wild, speculative philosophy, or the
opinion of some mortal man. The answer must come from the Word of God.
Two Sides to Salvation
There are two sides to salvation -one is divine and the other is human. On the divine side is God,
the loving Father; Jesus, the Savior, the gift of God's love, who shed his blood for our atonement;
and the Scriptures, revealed by the Holy Spirit, which contain the instructions and the plan by which
man can be saved. Then there is the human side. This is what we are concerned with today. What
must man himself do to be saved? Not what must others do, or what did God do, but "What must I
do to be saved?"
The Answer Is in the New Covenant
As I pointed out in a previous lesson, we have two covenants, the old and the new. Today we are
under the new. The old covenant was nailed to the cross (Col. 2:14). The new covenant is now in
effect, and we are under that Therefore, we must go to the new covenant to find the answer to this
question.
Some say that there is no one certain plan of salvation in the New Testament, and point out the
Jesus demanded a variety of things: (1) To Matthew: "Follow me." (2) To Zacchaeus: "Come down,
for today I must abide at thy house." (3) To the rich, young ruler: "Sell all that thou hast, and
distribute unto the poor, and come follow me." (4) To the adulterous woman: "Go thy way; from
henceforth sin no more." (5) To the palsied man: "Son be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee."
(6) To the thief on the cross: "Today shall thou be with me in paradise."
Men point to these varied answers and reach the conclusion that there are no certain requirements
in the plan of God, and that such is not to be required or expected.