What must man do to be saved?

Obeying God’s plan for becoming a Christian is a five step process. We discussed hearing the word of God in the previous lesson. Now let’s look at our need to believe.

Belief

After hearing the word of God, we are faced with some choices. We can choose to believe it, or we can choose to ignore it. To ignore it is to commit spiritual suicide. The words belief and faith are synonyms (Webster).

In John 8:24, Jesus said, “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” Jesus commanded His disciples to teach the gospel to the world (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, 16).  In John’s account, He said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned.”

In Hebrews 11:1 we learn: “Now faith [belief] is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In Hebrews 11:6, we are told, “But without faith [belief] it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

Jesus said in Mark 1:15: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom [church] of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

In Acts 8, Philip joins the Ethiopian eunuch in his chariot to teach him about Christ.  In verse 36, the eunuch asks Philip, “See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?” Philip responds in verse 37, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.”

We have used only a few of the many passages regarding belief.  So, to this point, we have seen that in order to be saved, we must hear and believe the word of God. In our next lesson, we will examine repentance as a necessary part of obedience to God in order to be saved.