What must I do to be saved?

This simple question is the most important question that can be asked. "How can I be saved?" deals with where we will spend eternity after our lives in this world are over. There is no more important issue than our eternal destiny. Thankfully, the Bible is clear on how a person can be saved.

The Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).  Paul and Silas responded, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Why do I need to be saved?

We are all infected with sin (Romans 3:23). We are born with sin (Psalm 51:5), and we all personally choose to sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20; 1 John 1:8). Sin is what makes us unsaved. Sin is what separates us from God. Sin is what has mankind on the path to eternal destruction.

Because of our sin, we all deserve death (Romans 6:23). While the physical consequence of sin is physical death, that is not the only kind of death that results from sin. All sin is ultimately committed against an eternal and infinite God (Psalm 51:4). Because of that, the just penalty for our sin is also eternal and infinite. What we need to be saved from is eternal destruction (Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:15).

How did God provide salvation?

Because the just penalty for sin is infinite and eternal, only God could pay the penalty, because only He is infinite and eternal. But God, in His divine nature, could not die. So God became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ. God took on human flesh, lived among us, like us in every way - yet without sin. When the people rejected Him, and sought to kill Him, He willingly sacrificed Himself for us, allowing Himself to be crucified (John 10:15). Because Jesus Christ was human, He could die; and because Jesus Christ was God, His death had an eternal and infinite value. Jesus’ death on the cross was the perfect and complete payment for our sin (1 John 2:2). He took the consequences we deserved. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead demonstrated that His death was indeed the perfectly sufficient sacrifice for sin.

What do I need to do?

Salvation is not earned by good deeds, church membership, giving money - in fact our very best efforts to be righteous and good in God's sight fall so far short God declares -
"But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.  (Isa 64:6)

Salvation is not earned by what we do - but rather is received as a free gift - 
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

​God has already done all of the work. All you must do is receive, in faith, the salvation God offers (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Fully trust in Jesus alone as the payment for your sins. Believe in Him, and you will not perish (John 3:16). God offers you salvation as a gift. All you have to do is accept it. Jesus is the way of salvation (John 14:6).

“Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

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