Articles
That Which One Needs to Know to Be Saved
The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Therefore, all are in need of conversion. Each individual is in need of the deliverance, blessings, privilege, hope and joy that the Gospel holds out to man. Since Jesus said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), we must conclude that there are certain things that one must know in order to be saved.
One must know that he is a sinner. Everyone who has lived long enough to reach an age of accountability has sinned (the only exception being Jesus). You must know that you are a sinner before you will be motivated to desire salvation from your sins. Not only must one know that he is a sinner, but one must also know that sin results in spiritual death: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). The death which results from sin is that of spiritual death; separation from God, while one lives here on earth, and eternal separation, without hope and without God in the world to come.
One must know that Christ died for our sins. Once you understand that you are a sinner, separated from God, you need to know of God’s provision for your salvation. Through God’s love for man, and in His grace, He made provision for man’s salvation through Jesus’ death on the cross. By the grace of God, Jesus tasted of death for every man! (Hebrews 2:9). On man’s part there must be faith in Jesus as the Son of God. Man must believe that Christ died for his sins. We do not refer to “faith only”, which is dead (James 2:20,26), but to an obedient faith.
One must know what to do. Jesus Himself tells us what we must do to be saved, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16). If one is to be saved, he must know what Jesus said to do. Man cannot be saved, without doing what Jesus, the Author of salvation (Hebrews 12:2), said to do to be saved.
When one is aware of his helpless and hopeless condition, and believes in Christ, and through godly sorrow repents of sin (Acts 2:38), acknowledges his faith in Christ (Romans 10:9-10), and is baptized, he then has remission of every past sin, and access to all spiritual in Christ. May we be of assistance to you?
