From the moment that Adam and Eve sinned in the beginning, God began to reveal His plan to save man from his sins. His plan centered around the sending of His Son to pay the ultimate price, by sacrificing Himself on the cross in our place and bearing all of our sins upon Himself (John 3:16; Eph. 5:2; 1 Pet. 2:24). God wants you to be saved, and He has told you in His Word exactly what He expects of you in order to be saved.
First, the Bible teaches that we must believe in order to be saved. When the jailer in Philippi asked—“What must I do to be saved?”—he was told, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). That faith is produced in man’s heart today by hearing God’s Word (Rom. 10:17). We must learn from the Bible what Jesus did for us and why He did it, in order to have a “faith” that can “please Him” and save us (Heb. 11:6).
Second, the Bible teaches what we must believe in order to be saved. “…These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31). To be saved, one must believe that Jesus came down from heaven (John 6:38), that He performed many miracles (John 3:2), that He lived a sinless life (Heb. 4:15), that He died on the cross with all of our sins laid upon Him (Isa. 53:6), that His lifeless body was buried (1 Cor. 15:3), that He was raised from the dead on the third day (Acts 2:24-32), and that He is now back in heaven at the right hand of God (Acts 2:33-36). The evidence for His deity is overwhelming!
Third, the Bible teaches what will happen if we do not believe that Jesus is God’s Son. Since the Bible makes it clear that we must believe in order to be saved, what will happen to those who do not believe? Jesus said, “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). Your sins will not be forgiven and you will continue to be separated from God. In fact, Jesus later said, “He who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16).
Fourth, the Bible teaches that faith alone is not all that is needed for salvation. So, if a person believes in Jesus, does that mean that they are saved right then, and that nothing else is needed in order to be saved? The Bible answers that emphatically when it states, “Faith by itself…is dead…You see then that a man is justified…not by faith only” (Jas. 2:17, 24). Faith alone does not save, otherwise “the demons,” who “believe and tremble,” would be saved (Jas. 2:19).
The Bible says “those who believe” in Jesus have been given “the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). To exercise that right, they must look to God’s Word to find all that is required in order to be saved. What a wonderful gift that God has given us in salvation! We don’t deserve it, but He offers it anyway! Is there any reason you should not believe right now?