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WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

Mercy Shown

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The answer: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31.

“Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12.

“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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:9, 10.

It's not you who does the saving. If you could save yourself, that would show you were not lost. "It is God that worketh." Ephesians 2:13. Your part is to receive Him by faith. "But I don’t feel saved." If you have never been saved, how do you know how you should feel? You don’t understand how a saved man feels. If you depend on your feelings, you will never know whether you are saved, for you will never be sure you have the right feeling. You may think you are saved all right and then have your feelings give way and leave you more uncertain than ever. Our feelings are constantly changing.

How can you feel something you don’t take hold of it? Feeling requires touching. If you want to feel that you are saved, the most sensible thing to do is lay hold on salvation, which is done only by faith. "Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold on eternal life." 1 Timothy 6:12.

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Romans 10:17. The Word of God gives life to the dead, and life is salvation. But a dead man cannot feel anything. The Word awakens him, but even then a living man does not always have consistent feelings. So accept the living Word of God by faith, and you will find life. Then, no matter what your feelings may be, you will know that you are saved.

Jesus saves! That is what His name means. "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside Me there is no Saviour." Isaiah 43:11. "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else." Isaiah 45:22. Thank God for salvation that depends not on our fitful feeling but on His eternal, almighty power! "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Do it, then, do it!
 

HTacianas

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If we take these one at a time you'll see there is more to it than that. Your first quote regarding the jailor of Acts is an example. Step one was belief, but then the jailor went through a catechism and was baptized. We have to read the entire thing to get to the truth.
 
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d taylor

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Actually it is not believing Jesus is Lord, but believing Jesus is The Son of God/The Messiah, the resurrection and the life.
Notice in Acts 16 the verses go on to state Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
What is the word of the Lord. It is that Jesus is The Son of God/The Messiah, the resurrection and the life
 
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Mercy Shown

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Are you being serious?
 
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David Lamb

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Yes, the jailer went on, having been saved, to hearing more of the word of God, and being baptized, but those things didn't save Him. He'd been told "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."
 
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Mercy Shown

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Yes, the jailer went on, having been saved, to hearing more of the word of God, and being baptized, but those things didn't save Him. He'd been told "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."
Yes, they did hear the word of the Lord, but I don't think it was from a catechism. But even baptism is not always necessary, as witnessed by the repentant thief on the cross.

I would posit that salvation occurs first, followed by repentance and baptism, or perhaps repentance and salvation are part of the same process. Baptism is an outward testimony that we have been buried with Christ and thus resurrected with Him.
 
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Neostarwcc

We are saved purely by the work and grace of God.
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Actually you're right that faith alone saves. But there's a saving faith and there's an empty faith. There are people out there who claim Jesus as their Savior who are not even remotely saved. You can tell by their outward actions that they do not belong to Christ at all. Jesus said that these people have no root.

So yes, faith alone saves but a faith that saves is NEVER alone.
 
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HTacianas

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Yes, the jailer went on, having been saved, to hearing more of the word of God, and being baptized, but those things didn't save Him. He'd been told "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."
He went through all of those things because all of those things were necessary.
 
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Mercy Shown

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He went through all of those things because all of those things were necessary.
Yet the demoniac did not go through any of those things. When he wanted to go with Jesus and be taught by him, Jesus said no, stay here and simply tell everyone what I’ve done for you.
 
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Mercy Shown

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There is no mention in the text of the catechism. Secondly, we don’t know at what point he became saved. Was it right away immediately? was it after he went through listening to Paul’s preaching? was it when he was baptized?
 
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godisagardener

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"...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:8

There are no ifs or buts attached. Why try to add them?
 
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HTacianas

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There is no mention in the text of the catechism. Secondly, we don’t know at what point he became saved. Was it right away immediately? was it after he went through listening to Paul’s preaching? was it when he was baptized?
According to the bible it is when a person is baptized and then chrismated.
 
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Mercy Shown

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According to the bible it is when a person is baptized and then chrismated.
How do you account for the repentant thief or the demoniac that Christ healed? If one can, they will be baptized per the Bible's injunction. If they do not want to, then have they really been converted? Yet there will be those who did not have a chance to be baptized or were unable to who will be saved.

Even though faith without works is dead, you can't resurrect a dead faith by works.
 
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Mercy Shown

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Act 16:32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

That's called a catechism.
Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages
cat·e·chism
/ˈkadəˌkiz(ə)m/
noun
A summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers, used for the instruction of Christians.
 
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Mercy Shown

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"...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:8

There are no ifs or buts attached. Why try to add them?
Uh, when I read the text I see an "if" as plain as day.
 
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HTacianas

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The repentant thief had his sins forgiven by Christ so died sinless. After the resurrection we receive that same forgiveness through baptism, just as Peter said:

Act 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

That has been the Christian faith from the beginning.
 
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