What Must I Do to be Saved?

Below is an adaptation into paragraph form of the GRACE Evangelism Tract from Southern Seminary's Billy Graham School of Evangelism. If you don't know Jesus or want to know more about the Good News, this is a good place to start. They have done a great job of putting this thing together. I have added comments here and there, but the meat of the content is theirs. You can find the original here...I suggest you download it and use it as a model for your evangelism if you are a Christian. I have found it to be a great tool. Enjoy!

What must I do to be saved? If you are asking this question, God is tugging at your heart. The best way to answer it is to explain the gospel to you. We will use the acronym G.R.A.C.E. in order to explain the main points of the gospel message. These points provide a good summary of what the Bible says about salvation. I encourage you to take the time to look up the scripture references and ask God to expand your heart and your understanding of these truths.

G – God
R – Rebellion
A – Atonement
C – Conversion
E – Eternal Life

God
God is the creator, sustainer, and ruler of everything in existence (Gen. 1:1). All creation reflects His majestic power and glory (Psalm 19:1). This means that God is the only being in the entire universe worthy of praise and worship (Revelation 4:11). God is also holy (Revelation 4:8), which means He is completely unique and separate from His creation. He is majestic, glorious, and perfect in every way. The slightest sin and imperfection cannot dwell in His holy presence (1 Timothy 6:15-16). In addition, God’s love is as great as His holiness and might (Titus 3:4). It is out of His boundless love that He created humanity as the pinnacle of His creation to be a reflection of His power and glory (Psalm 8:4-6). This is especially seen in the fact that we were the only ones to be created in His image (Genesis 1:27). Because God is our Creator and Ruler, and we are in His image, we are responsible to love, worship, and obey Him alone. As our creator, He has an exclusive claim on our lives (Matthew 4:10; 22:37-38).

Rebellion
These facts about God should give us pause to think about some things. If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we do not “love, worship, and obey Him alone.” This is a shot to our pride, because we would like to think of ourselves as good people. Charlie Manson and his gang, those are the bad people, right? But God’s standards apply across the board, and while the best human may be better than a host of other sinners, he falls way short of God (Romans 3:23).

The fact of our sinfulness has been a reality from the get go, as Adam and Eve (the first man and woman) willfully chose to rebel against God (Genesis 3:1-7). The fruit of this rebellion was the downfall of the human race through the impartation of sin to every generation to follow (Genesis 3:8-19; Romans 5:12). This means that every human being after Adam and Eve has continued to rebel against their Creator, miserably failing to reflect His glory. We are sinners by nature (Romans 5:12) and by choice (1 John 1:8). Due to God’s holy and perfect nature, our sinfulness has secured for us only one thing: complete alienation from God (Isaiah 59:2). Even if we try to live good lives, we fall short of God’s demands to reflect His perfection (Leviticus 19:2). God will never judge us based on how we compare to other human beings, but on how we compare to Him! The consequences of our separation from God are death (Romans 6:23) and judgment (Matthew 25:31, 46).

Atonement
At once we see a dilemma forming. For God is holy and perfect, and we are not…yet He is also loving, and desires for us to be in a relationship with Him. So how do we reconcile these two immovable facts? As always, God provides the solution. It is found in the idea of atonement, which means “to repair a broken relationship.” Whereas God was once at war with us on account of our sinfulness, He has provided a way for us to be at peace with Him! He did this by sending His one and only Son, Jesus, into the world so that we sinners might be reconciled to Him (John 3:16; Romans 5:1). How did Jesus repair this broken relationship? It can be seen in His life, death, and resurrection.

In His life, Jesus reflected God’s glory perfectly (John 1:14) by living a perfect, sinless life (Hebrews 4:15). By doing so He accomplished what we ourselves could not, namely the requirement of a life completely devoted to God and without sin.

In His death, Jesus died as a substitute in the place of sinners (Romans 5:8; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 2:24). It was at the cross that an amazing exchange took place: our sins were credited to Jesus, and His righteousness as accomplished by His sinless and God glorifying life was credited to those who follow Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). In other words, He took the punishment for our sins while we received the benefits of His sinlessness!

In His resurrection, Jesus secured eternal life for those who follow Him. His death was not the end of the story, for He defeated it by virtue of His perfect life, as He was raised on the third day to proclaim victory over sin and its consequences. It is because of the resurrection that believers are able to share in that victory and have eternal life (Acts 17:31; Romans 6:1-7)!

To summarize what Jesus did: By His life, He attained righteousness on sinners’ behalf. By His death, He paid the penalty that sinners owed. By His resurrection, He defeated death for all who will follow Him.

Conversion
We have seen that God, by His very nature, must reject anything short of His perfection, and that man woefully falls short of that perfection, which means he stands condemned to hell. We have also seen that God, out of His great love for us, has made provision for our sinfulness in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But how are we to attain the benefits of what Jesus accomplished for us? Is it enough to simply acknowledge what He did, or is there some kind of action we need to take?

According to the Bible, what Christ accomplished applies only to those who will follow Him as Savior and Lord. God offers us salvation as a free gift of grace (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9), meaning that we have done nothing to earn it…in fact we have done everything to be disqualified from it (Ephesians 2:1-3)! We lay hold of this grace through faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord (John 1:12; Romans 10:9,13; Acts 16:31; Romans 1:16). Having faith means that we receive Jesus as Savior and Lord by a voluntary and intentional act of the will, trusting in His atoning life, death, and resurrection and turning from sin to obey Him in all things. We must trust Him alone for our salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). We must also turn from our sins (repent) and turn to Him in love and obedience (Acts 17:30; Luke 13:3; John 14:15). These acts of trust and repentance are two sides of the same coin known as faith. With J.I. Packer, we affirm that “True faith acknowledges Christ as what He really is, our God appointed king as well as our God given priest, and true trust in him as Savior will express itself in submission to him as Lord also.”

Eternal Life
For those who place their faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, God gives the promise of eternal life (John 5:24; 1 John 5:12). In this life, Jesus brings new life to those who place their trust in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17; John 10:10). This does not mean that believers will be free from trouble. We will still struggle with sin, disease, tragedy, and all the infirmities that come with living in a fallen world. We are guaranteed to face trials and tribulations of differing degrees (John 16:33), as well as persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). In spite of these difficulties, Jesus promises peace beyond understanding for those who follow Him (John 14:27), and we take comfort in the fact that God uses our trials and tribulations to the greater end of conforming our character to His (Romans 5:1-5; James 1:2-4). Still another great comfort comes from knowing that no matter what happens, nothing will separate us from the Love of Christ (Romans 8:35, 37-8)! And finally, when Jesus returns in power and glory at His second coming (Mark 13:24-27), those who have trusted Him for salvation will live forever in His glorious presence (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). And so we are promised peace in this life, and eternal glory in the life to come. These promises are rooted in the work of Jesus. If He had not been perfect, died on the cross, and raised from the dead, we might have cause to doubt them. But His great and perfect work make our peace in this life and our future in heaven a reality that we can take to the bank.

The Most Important Question
We now need to ask ourselves where we stand with God. The Bible says, “the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,” (2 Thessalonians 1:7b-9; see also John 3:36).

On the cross, Jesus suffered the justice and wrath of God on behalf of all those who trust Him as Savior and Lord. But those who do not trust Him as Savior and Lord will suffer the Judgment of God themselves. If we do not have someone to take the blame for our sins, then we will take the blame ourselves. Many people think that when they die and go before God, they will be able to talk their way out of Hell by citing their good deeds. But our guilt is a settled issue with a just and holy God. Thus there is no middle ground with Jesus (Matthew 12:30). He did not undergo the humiliation of being scoffed at and mocked by the very sinners He came to die for, or endure a horrifying death (Luke 22:42), just so we can live our lives outside of His lordship. We must take seriously the decision we are faced with…either reject Him out of hand, or bow the knee in humble worship.

So the question remains, where do you stand with God? Are you on His side or your own side? Are you living for God through Jesus or are you living for yourself? If Jesus returned today, would you experience the everlasting joy of Heaven with Him, or would you suffer the just wrath of God?

If you are ready to follow Jesus as your Savior and Lord, then you must repent of your sins and place your faith in Jesus alone for salvation. You must believe that He lived, died, and rose again for your salvation. You must commit your life to Him as your living Savior and Lord. If you are ready to have your sins forgiven and to receive the gift of eternal life, then trust in Jesus right now.

Pray to God, admitting your sinfulness and consequent need of a Savior. Ask Him for mercy and the forgiveness of your sins. Thank Him for sending Jesus, whose life, death, and resurrection secured salvation for all who will follow Him. Commit your life to Jesus. Tell Him you repent of your sins and that you trust Him as Savior and Lord. Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit – to empower you to live a life that will bring glory to His name.

The Bible says that “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:12-13). If you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ, you can take comfort in the rock solid fact that your eternal destiny is secured. Welcome to the family! You can comment or ask further questions by clicking on "comment" below.