What Must I Do to Be Saved?
Acts 16:30 Romans 3:23 John 14:6 Ephesians 1:13-14, 2:8 James 4:6 1 Peter 3:15 Matthew 7:14,21-23, 25:15 Luke 9:23 1 Corinthians 15:42
We ministers and fellow Christians are often asked questions regarding our faith, so we must be prepared to give an informed answer. That is why St. Peter wrote in his first letter: “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, (1 Peter 3:15)
The one subject that I have been asked most about over the years is Heaven. People ask: “who gets to go to heaven, and what must I do to go to heaven, and how will I know if I am saved and going to heaven”? The only one who can positively answer the question regarding a person’s salvation is God Himself. He is the one who created us and knows us better than we know ourselves. The answers regarding the other questions are found within God’s Word.
To start with we’ve all had conversations with those who believe that all good people go Heaven. Others have said: “God would never send a good and loving person to hell”, not realizing that God does not send anyone to hell.
So, how do we as ministers and followers of Christ, respond to those uninformed individuals? The answer is, with love and God’s Word. The scriptures make it clear that not one of us is good enough for entrance into heaven; as St. Paul indicated in his letter to the Romans: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:23)
The only way to heaven is indicated in St. John’s gospel when he wrote: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6). Meaning, there cannot be a relationship between sinful mankind and a Holy God, without Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.
The Bible is very clear, good works or being nice will not get anyone into heaven. St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8) What Paul is saying is that our salvation is a result of God’s grace, received through faith, and offered as a precious gift to us.
John the Baptist referred to Jesus as “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”, (Matthew 3:11) St Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13) This is Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound!
To be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and received into the body of Christ we must believe in our heart that Jesus Christ died for our sins, shed His blood on the cross and on the third day rose from the dead. We must confess Him as Lord, and give ourselves to Him, allowing Jesus to control everything for us. We also need to make time for Jesus and the reading of His Word a priority in our lives.
No follower of Christ ever wants to hear these words: ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:23) The word “knew” referred to in Matthew’s Gospel is not merely intellectual knowledge, like knowing a fact. Rather, it is specific knowledge about a relationship. The Greek word ginóskó, (gee no sko) means: to come to know, recognize, perceive, become aware. Jesus was speaking about those who claim to know Him but do not truly have an intimate relationship with Him. How can you truly know someone without ever speaking to them?
Some of Jesus’ followers will claim that their good deeds in His name has earned them a place in Christ’s kingdom. To those people, Christ will simply say He never knew them, dismiss their supposedly great deeds as works of lawlessness, and command them to depart. They weren’t willing to surrender their lives to Him. They did not know Him at the deep spiritual level of salvation—and Jesus knew this. Rather than living for God and His will, they had actually been living for themselves and their own selfish desires.
God, through the Prophet Isaiah, described those hypocrites this way: “The Lord says, ‘These people come near to me with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught” (Isaiah 29:13). Does this sound familiar?
Doing God’s will is not merely external compliance with rules and regulations. It’s internal—a matter of our heart relationship with Him. From God’s perspective, it is the heart that determines our destiny, not appearance or activity.“It is the heart that God sees,”
Also, many Christians think that
Heaven is where they will spend eternity in God’s Spiritual Kingdom. Most theologians on the topic of heaven would beg to differ with that opinion.
The Bible clearly indicates we will spend eternity with God on the new heaven and the new earth, with our resurrected, imperishable bodies. St. Paul wrote this in his first letter to the Corinthians: “So, it is with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:42)
This is what is recorded in Peter’s second letter: “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells”. (2 Peter 3:13). St. John wrote in the book of Revelation: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Rev. 21:1-2).
Jesus warned in Matthew’s Gospel that His return is imminent, (about to happen) when He said: “Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:13)
Jesus could come at any time, but a series of events will take place before the new heavens and the new earth come to fruition; but that is a topic for another day.
So, we now know that our salvation is based on our genuine faith in death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And our personal relationship with Him. This is what makes us righteous in the eyes of God.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
The Most Rev. Dr. Rick Aaron Reid, Presiding Bishop Traditional Anglican Church of America Rector, St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Newton, North Carolina 28658