For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
from the New American Standard Bible
I. Introduction
Just as basics are important to sports, even so there are certain 'basics" that are essential to our faith! Therefore the question I raise is: "What must I do to be saved?"
God provides our salvation! Having said that, salvation must still be accepted! The Scriptures teach that there are eight things we are not saved without! They are:
- Prayer
- Love
- Forgiveness
- Faithfulness
- Belief
- Repentance
- Confession
- Baptism
II. Prayer
1 Thessalonians 5:17 -- Pray without ceasing;
James 5:13-16 -- Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Communication with our Lord is essential to salvation! How can anyone feel they are saved without at least being on speaking terms with God?
III. Love
John 15:17 -- This I command you, that you love one another.
Romans 13:8 -- Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
1 Corinthians 2:9 -- but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND HEAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND WHICH HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."
1 John 4:7-8, 20-21 -- Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not loves does not know God, for God is love. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
Love for God and love for fellow humans is absolutely essential to salvation! We cannot be saved without it!
III. Forgiveness
Matthew 6:14-15 -- For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Bit if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
Matthew 18:35 -- My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.
Mark 11:25-26 -- Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is heaven forgive your transgressions.
Jesus leaves no doubt whatsoever that if you expect to be forgiven by God then you must forgive your brothers and sisters!
IV. Faithfulness
Hebrews 10:23-31 -- Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all them ore as you see the day drawing near. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY." And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE." It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 11:6 -- And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Luke 11:48,50 -- So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation.
Romans 1:17 -- For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
Romans 3:28 -- For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
Galatians 2:16 -- nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
Ephesians 2:8 -- For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Philippians 3:9 -- and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
2 Timothy 3:15 -- and that from childhood you have known the sacred writing which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 10:38 -- BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.
Revelation 2:10 -- Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Faithful living is an absolute requirement to salvation!
V. Belief
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 -- For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
John 3:16-17 -- For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
Acts 16:32-34 -- And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.
Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely essential to our salvation!
VI. Repentance
If a person is saved the moment they say the "sinners prayer" then why repent? Turning away from a life of sin to a life of obedience to Christ is essential to salvation!
Luke 13:3 -- I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Luke 5:32 -- I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
2 Corinthians 7:10 -- For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Romans 2:4-8 -- Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.
Acts 2:38 -- Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Turning away from self and from sin to Jesus Christ is absolutely essential for salvation!
VII. Confession
"...but confession of what?"
Matthew 16:15-17 -- He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."
Matthew 10:32-33 -- Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
Romans 10:8-13 -- But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART" - that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be save; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."
We must all confess Christ by the words of our mouths and by the lives that we live, for confession is absolutely essential to salvation!
VIII. Baptism
There are always those who try to bring up hypothetical situations to try to disprove the need to be baptized! All of that aside, Jesus still commanded it!
Mark 16:16 -- He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
Acts 2:38 -- Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Acts 22:16 -- Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.
Galatians 3:26-27 -- For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
1 Peter 3:18-21 -- For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you - not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience - through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Baptism was absolutely essential for Jesus Christ, the son of God!
James 4:17 -- Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Matthew 3:13-15 -- Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to Me?" But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted Him.
Christ not only set the example for us, but commanded us to baptize.
Matthew 28:18-20 -- And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
It is not optional to obey commands.
IX. Conclusion
I've identified eight essentials to salvation. Will you stand with me upon the authority of God's Word?
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LeRoy Christian Church