What must I do to be saved?

[paul1149]

Well I do believe that it is impossible for me to save myself and that the only way to Heaven is through what Christ did on the cross of Calvary. I believe that I am a sinner by birth and In need of a Savior. I do trust that He is the only way.

Ok, good. That dealt with my first paragraph. How about the next three? Be as specific as you can please.

 

[NJA]

... I guess I am just kinda in a rut and not feeling much . Maybe I am saved but I'm just in a slow part of my faith.

Jesus gave his life (Calvary) so that mankind could receive it (Pentecost) - please see my previous post for details - they didn't need to guess, neither will you! ?

 

[Countryangel707]

Ok, good. That dealt with my first paragraph. How about the next three? Be as specific as you can please.

I'm not really sure what else to say.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

Don't base your salvation on feelings. We are justified by grace through faith. If you truly put your faith in Jesus Christ then you are saved.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

Also I recommend you read the bible as much as you can and attend a good church.

 

[paul1149]

I'm not really sure what else to say.

I laid out the next step, and gave you a basic prayer as an emblem of it. That step involves going from, yes, Jesus died on the cross and then rose, etc, to a personal component of faith that says, and because of the love that voluntarily drove Him to the cross, I believe that He will accept me as I am, right now, warts and all, and work with me to change me. Would you reread what I wrote and respond to it please?

 

[Countryangel707]

I laid out the next step, and gave you a basic prayer as an emblem of it. That step involves going from, yes, Jesus died on the cross and then rose, etc, to a personal component of faith that says, and because of the love that voluntarily drove Him to the cross, I believe that He will accept me as I am, right now, warts and all, and work with me to change me. Would you reread what I wrote and respond to it please?

yes I do believe that paragraph.

 

[paul1149]

I'm not sure which you're referring to. Would you please quote the original text and comment on how you feel about it? Thank you.

 

[Countryangel707]

Can you do that? Can you say to Him, "Lord, I cannot save myself. I ask You to save me. I ask You to come in and guide me the way You want me to go. I am going to believe in Your goodness (Heb 11.6), that You want to save me, just as the Bible says. I am going to begin to trust You, day by day, moment by moment."

yes I do believe that paragraph.

 

[paul1149]

CA, if I may, I request that you rewrite what I wrote in your own words, and add any further personal reflections you might have on it. It's very important that you search your soul and put this into your own words, as if you were speaking face to face with the Lord Jesus. Reread my post, even quote back sections of it, and then reflect on it here in your own words, at length. Thank you.

 

[bling]

Ok. I am so confused by all the different websites I read online. So I am asking here.
1. What must I do to be saved and spend an eternity in Heaven with Jesus Christ?
2. What is saving faith?
3. How do you get or have saving faith?

All mature adults have the faith they need for salvation, but must direct that trust (faith) toward God.

Look at the prodigal son in (Luke 15), all he did for really selfish reasons (wanting to continuing to live and have some kind of a life) was to turn to the father with just being willing to accept the father’s charity.

It is not that you take some huge leap of faith for no reason, but you just have to come to your senses and realize you are in a pigsty. You deserve to be in that pigsty and if you’re a macho man you will take the punishment you deserve and die there.

If you are just willing to humbly accept God’s charity, He will shower you with gifts, so wimp out/give up /surrender.

 

[Countryangel707]

you said "Can you do that? Can you say to Him, "Lord, I cannot save myself. I ask You to save me. I ask You to come in and guide me the way You want me to go. I am going to believe in Your goodness (Heb 11.6), that You want to save me, just as the Bible says. I am going to begin to trust You, day by day, moment by moment."

In my words:We have to ask God to save us because we can not save ourselvs. We have to trust in Him ALONE day by day and moment by moment in every single thing that we do . We are not on this earth to bring glory to ourselves but rather to Him.

 

[paul1149]

Ok, CA. Very good. Thank you.

Now I would like to take it a step further if I may. If I'm a pain, I'm sorry, I am trying to help and I hope you can see that.

I would like to to rewrite that, again in your own words, but this time as if you are speaking directly to Jesus. Do not say what "we" must do, speak of how you directly relate to Him. It is crucial that you are speaking directly to Him. Take your time and search in your heart for the right words that accurately convey how you perceive your relationship to Him and how you feel about it. Do it in a word processor or text editor so you can save it and change it as you work on it. Again, take your time, the important thing is that your words are heartfelt.

If it's too intimate you don't need to post it here, or you can redact the most personal parts before posting it here.

Please give this careful consideration. It is extremely important that you focus on how you personally relate to the Lord.

Thanks and God bless.

 

[Countryangel707]

Ok, CA. Very good. Thank you.

Now I would like to take it a step further if I may. If I'm a pain, I'm sorry, I am trying to help and I hope you can see that.

I would like to to rewrite that, again in your own words, but this time as if you are speaking directly to Jesus. Do not say what "we" must do, speak of how you directly relate to Him. It is crucial that you are speaking directly to Him. Take your time and search in your heart for the right words that accurately convey how you perceive your relationship to Him and how you feel about it. Do it in a word processor or text editor so you can save it and change it as you work on it. Again, take your time, the important thing is that your words are heartfelt.

If it's too intimate you don't need to post it here, or you can redact the most personal parts before posting it here.

Please give this careful consideration. It is extremely important that you focus on how you personally relate to the Lord.

Thanks and God bless.

Lord, I can't save myself but because You came and died on Calvary that means that I can have eternal life and Lord I just ask that You will help me to just trust in You and in You alone for that salvation. It is only threw You that i can have eternal life, none of this worlds "gods" can save me only You Jesus only You. So Lord my prayer is just that You will help me to trust in You alone so that I may have eternal life in You.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

Lord, I can't save myself but because You came and died on Calvary that means that I can have eternal life and Lord I just ask that You will help me to just trust in You and in You alone for that salvation. It is only threw You that i can have eternal life, none of this worlds "gods" can save me only You Jesus only You. So Lord my prayer is just that You will help me to trust in You alone so that I may have eternal life in You.

Amen! Jesus has died and rose again. Through faith in him you are saved.

 

[hedrick]

What’s interesting is that Jesus was asked the question from the OP, but no one seems to be quoting his answer. It was “keep the commandments.”

Given Jesus’ emphasis on forgiveness and repentance, it’s clear he didn’t mean that we have to be perfect to be saved. But still, following Jesus seemed to be mostly about a commitment to loving God and our neighbor.

Protestants worry that giving an answer like this will somehow suggests that we earn God’s love. I’m pretty sure Jesus would say that nothing like that is possible. God loves us and accepts us because we’re his children. But in all of Jesus’ teaching about judgement, it was always based on how we live, which in light of his other teachings, is about caring about others and repenting when we fail.

Does this contradict Paul? I don’t think so. Many scholars claim that a summary of his position is justified by faith and judged by works. This is exactly the same pattern as Jesus, where God’s loves us because we’re his children, and forgives us when we ask, but judgement is based on how we live.

 

[paul1149]

Lord, I can't save myself but because You came and died on Calvary that means that I can have eternal life and Lord I just ask that You will help me to just trust in You and in You alone for that salvation. It is only threw You that i can have eternal life, none of this worlds "gods" can save me only You Jesus only You. So Lord my prayer is just that You will help me to trust in You alone so that I may have eternal life in You.

CA, that is beautiful. That is a perfect prayer. May I suggest that you persevere in praying like that? The scriptures teach that sometimes we must be persistent in order to see tangible results. See the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18 for one example.

I think the process of praying out what's in your heart before the Lord is crucial to getting in touch with your inner man and coming to the fulness of faith. That's where your salvation becomes a reality, including emotionally. It's not always an easy process. It can be grueling for a time, but when we get to our root issues in prayer they are finally aired out and begin to be healed. Jesus likened the process to digging down to solid rock in order to lay a firm foundation. He wants us to come to Him for intimate communion. It's so much more than head knowledge or the mere words of a prayer. But this can only happen with "knee time" in the prayer closet. Don't be afraid to add personal issues that need resolution to the "big" issues of faith. Bless you.

Please continue in this vein. If I can be of any further help let me know. And I will be praying for you.


@hedrick, that's an interesting answer, and I certainly believe it has its place, but I don't think it's the normative Christian answer to this question. The instance I'm thinking of where Jesus answered as you said was in response to the Rich Young Ruler, and it can be argued that Jesus' answer there was intended to reflect RYR's reliance on his own righteousness back on himself in order to bring him to the end of himself. This using the law to bring us to the end of the law was one of the dynamics Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount, as I'm sure you know. Perhaps there are other cases where this answer was given that aren't coming to me immediately that would argue against this interpretation, but in any case I believe the normative Christian answer to the question posed is "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved".


Blessings.

 

[NJA]

What’s interesting is that Jesus was asked the question from the OP, but no one seems to be quoting his answer. It was “keep the commandments.” ...

Jesus was speaking to people living under the old covenant. The New couldn't begin until He, the testator, had died, risen, and shed forth his Life.
That's why he told Peter that he would be given the keys of the kingdom of heaven - he knew Peter would be the first to give people the answer that brings new testament salvation.

What's interesting to me is that many people won't "hear" that point!

 

[hedrick]

Jesus was speaking to people living under the old covenant. The New couldn't begin until He, the testator, had died, risen, and shed forth his Life.
That's why he told Peter that he would be given the keys of the kingdom of heaven - he knew Peter would be the first to give people the answer that brings new testament salvation.

What's interesting to me is that many people won't "hear" that point!

I see no reason to think that this was aimed just at people in the old covenant, or that Jesus even made this distinction between old and new covenant. Jesus' parables about judgement show the people who are condemned as being condemned because of how they treat others. One of the answers I was referring to is Luke 10:25. Are we going to say that Jesus' idea that loving God and neighbor is keeping the law was not aimed at Christians? I don't think you can make this distinction using any consistent exegetical principle.

Jesus certainly interpreted the Law in a new way. In Mat 5 he rejected the letter of the law in favor of its intent, consistent with Luke 10:25. But that doesn't mean that passages about judgement by actions aren't meant for us.

This isn't even a Jesus vs Paul issue, since Paul also spoke of judgement based on actions. (I avoid using the term "works" because for Paul works refers to things like circumcision.)

Again, I do not suggest a legalistic kind of score-keeping. Jesus emphasized love for others, and portrayed God as forgiving almost anything. I think he was looking for something that's more like a basic orientation of our lives. His most characteristic term was being his followers. Unless we want to isolate Paul from Jesus, I think we have to understand Paul's faith as being equivalent to Jesus' idea of being his follower.

 

[NJA]

I see no reason to think that this was aimed just at people in the old covenant, or that Jesus even made this distinction between old and new covenant.... Are we going to say that Jesus' idea that loving God and neighbor is keeping the law was not aimed at Christians? I don't think you can make this distinction using any consistent exegetical principle ...

No man can keep the commandments, we all fall at the first one to love God with all our heart soul etc, it is "the ministry of death and condemnation" (2 Cor. 3:7, 9).
The law is there to show man that there is something missing in him, he needs a new heart.

Jesus' giving his life made a difference, a huge difference, anyone that doesn't see it (by receiving the Life that all the disciples got at Pentecost, and living it) is either not regenerated themselves or they, like the Galatians are turning back to the weak and beggardly elements. So, Hedrick, have you received what Peter said was promised to all who he is now calling? - see Acts 2:4, 33 for details.