What Must I Do to Be Saved
In Acts 16:30, a jailor asked the most important question than can be asked:
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
THE WAGES OF SIN
Why Do I Need to Be Saved? Am I Lost?
Obviously a person who doesn't know he is lost will not realize the point of such a question. Let's look at a few passages in the Bible that discuss the condition of man.
Psalm 53:2-3 "God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God. Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one."
Isaiah 59:1-2 "Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save; neither is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear."
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
These and more verses establish that every person that has ever lived (except Jesus Christ) has sinned against God in some way. It doesn't matter if it was a "little white lie" or murder, because all sins are equal in God's sight. Every person who has the ability to distinguish good from evil is capable of, and guilty of, sin.
I haven't sinned. What is sin?
1 John 1:8,10 "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us...If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."
1 John 3:4,8 "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness...the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning."
1 John 5:17 "All unrighteousness is sin..."
What is the result of sin?
"So I've made a few mistakes in my life. So what?"
Romans 5:12 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-"
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death..."
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
Galatians 5:19-21 "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkeness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
James 1:14-15 "But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death."
Until a person commits sin, he is an unconditional heir to eternal life in heaven with God. But sin separates you from God and disqualifies you from that inheritance. These passages show that the result, or wages, of sin is death. Sin is a slave driver...you make yourself a slave to sin when you commit sin (Romans 6:16). But sin always pays you for your work. The wages of your sins are death. This is a two-fold death. In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve sinned. Prior to their sin, they enjoyed immortal physical life and eternal spiritual life. But because of their sin, God cast them out of the garden of Eden (verse 22), separating them from the Tree of Life (that gave them immortality), and they suffered spiritual death, which is separation from God. God does not tolerate the presence of sin. As Romans 5:12 shows, every person now suffers physical and spiritual death, just like Adam, because every person sins. You will some day die physically, and even though you may be alive in the flesh today, you are still dead spiritually until you are saved. Fortunately, you do not have to die spiritually unless you choose to.
What Will Happen if I Don't Obtain Salvation?
Matthew 13:41-42 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Matthew 16:26 "For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Romans 14:12 "So then each of us shall give account of himself to God."
2 Corinthians 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."
2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 "...the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power."
Hebrews 12:25 "See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven."
2 Peter 2:4-7 "...God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgement; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought the flood upon the world of the ungodly; and...He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter..."
Jude 6-7 "And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judge of the great day. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire."
Revelation 20:14-15 "And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the fire."
Revelation 21:8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
That sounds pretty scary. I thought God was a God of love? Would He do that to me?
Fortunately for us, God has not abandoned and disdained us because of our sinfulness. It is true that God does not want anyone to suffer eternal punishment. Because of His great love for us, He provided the solution, which you can read about in the next section, THE FREE GIFT OF GOD.