“What Must I Do To Be Saved?”
Categories: Sermon Outlines, Topical Sermon OutlinesSUBJECT: Salvation
TITLE: “What Must I Do To Be Saved?”
PROPOSITION: In this lesson we will study the question, “What must I do to be saved?” In the scriptures this question was asked three times and we will study each of these circumstances and the answer to the question in each of these circumstances understanding this: that if the same question is asked today, it should be answered in the same way.
OBJECTIVES: The hearer should be able to know where these passages are and be able to use them to answer the same question for those who ask in the world today.
AIM: I want to empower each individual Christian to be able to answer this most critical question.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Read: Romans 10:9-13
2. About the Text:
1) The text we have just read is a “proof” text for those in the denominational world.
2) However, one cannot handle the scriptures as if there is only one verse or one section of verses in the Bible.
3) One must understand the totality of scriptural teaching on the subject.
4) The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:160, the NKJV reads, “The entirety of your word is truth.” The ASV reads, “The sum of thy word is truth.”
5) In Matthew 4:4 Jesus says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
6) Peter writes that there are some who mishandle the scriptures and thus wrest them to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16).
7) Paul told Timothy that we must “handle aright” the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
8) The context in which we find Romans 10:9-13 is one in which Paul is speaking regarding the salvation of the Jew under Christ’s law.
9) The contrast that he is drawing is between the “righteousness of their own” that they had established for themselves versus the way of faith.
10)In contrast to establishing a righteousness of our own, a system of works, we must accept God’s plan for man’s righteousness which is a system of faith.
11)In contrast to the works of the law which the Jews said made a man righteous & saved, Paul says that it is through faith that we are saved.
12)In verse 13 he says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
13)Paul knew precisely what this phrase meant because he learned it from Ananias in Acts 22:16.
14)Ananias knew what it meant because He learned it from Peter and the other apostles, Acts 2:21.
15)The apostles understood the phrase “calling upon the name of the Lord” to be referring to the act of faith which is baptism.
16)Saul’s conversion is one of those cases of conversion in the New Testament in which the question was asked, “What shall I do to be saved.”
3. Ref. To S, T, P, O, and A.
DISCUSSION: The question “What must I do to be saved” was asked in the case of …
I. THOSE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST (Acts 2:37).
1. The context of the question.
1) Read Acts 2:14-36.
2) The apostles had just been baptized with the Holy Spirit.
3) There were many who were wondering what was going on.
4) Peter preaches the first gospel sermon. His points are
a. There are SIGNS of salvation are here (14-21).
b. There is a SAVIOR himself has been coronated (22-36).
c. The SUBJECTS must now obey His will to be part of His kingdom (38-40).
5) The gathering had been convicted of their sins.
6) They knew they were responsible for crucifying the Lord.
7) They were pricked in their heart.
8) So they cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
9) This was a request for forgiveness from the sin of murdering the Son of God.
10)This was a request to be restored to the favor of the Lord.
11)This was a request to have the guilt of sin removed from their life.
2. The answer to the question.
1) Peter answers their question in verse 38-40.
2) Notice what Peter does not say.
a. He does not say “Hear the gospel.” They had already heard.
b. He does not say, “Believe in Jesus.” They believed based upon Peter’s earlier statements. They are now acting based upon that belief.
c. Peter does not say to pray a prayer of forgiveness and everything would be OK.
3) Peter tells them to “Repent.”
a. They had crucified the Lord and were guilty just as if they had driven the nails themselves.
b. Romans 5:8 says that it is the sin of mankind that put Jesus on the cross.
c. We are just as guilty as they.
d. They needed to repent of rebelling against God.
e. They needed to repent of their sins that had separated them from God. (Isaiah 59:2).
4) Peter, however, does not stop with repentance in answering their question. He gives additional instruction.
a. They were to be baptized. This was the point of pardon. The point at which their question was fully and completely answered.
b. The record says that with many other words he exhorted them saying ‘save yourselves from this crooked and perverse generation.?
5) Notice the response of those gathered in verse 41. They took Peter up on the offer.
6) They were baptized because they knew this was the thing that needed to be done for the amelioration of their sins.
7) They were baptized because they understood that this was the point at which they were calling upon the name of the Lord as Peter had indicated in verse 21.
3. Who do we answer this question today?
1) Why should it be any different from Peter’s answer?
2) We are just as guilty of putting Jesus on the cross as were they.
3) Why should we have a different method of salvation other than the one that Peter preached?
4) Why should we have any different method of calling upon the name of the Lord today?
5) We should not!
6) If we do what they did, we will get the same results that they got.
II. SAUL OF TARSUS (Acts 9:6; 22:10)
1. The context of the question.
1) Read Acts 9:1-6.
2) Saul was on the road to Damascus to persecute Christians.
3) Jesus appears to him on that road and confronts Saul about his practices.
4) Saul asks, “Who art thou Lord?” He recognized it was the Lord, but wanted to know WHO was confronting him regarding his actions.
5) Jesus says, “Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest.”
6) Saul was a conscientious person. He did all things in good conscience.
7) The guilt must have been tremendous knowing that all this time he thought he was doing God’s will when in actuality he was fighting AGAINST God.
8) Just like those in Acts 2 wanted to know what to do to remove and alleviate the guilt of obvious sin in their life, Saul wanted to know what to do as well.
9) He says, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do.”
10)Was this not a question of what Saul needed to do to be saved? It WAS!
11)The Lord understood this question to mean this as well for He told Saul to go into Damascus and it would be “Told him” what he needed to do.
2. The answer to the question.
1) What was NOT said.
a. Jesus did not say to Saul, “You are already saved, don’t worry about it anymore.”
b. Jesus did not say to Saul, “Pray a prayer of forgiveness and you will be saved.”
2) What WAS said.
a. Saul was told exactly what he needed to hear to answer his question.
b. Jesus told Saul to go into the city and it would be told him what he needed to do.
c. Jesus sent a preacher to come and talk to Saul about what he needed to do.
d. The preacher gave him very specific instruction on what he needed to do.
e. Read Acts 22:16.
f. This was the point where Saul’s sins were washed away.
g. This was the point where his guilt was alleviated and his sin ameliorated.
h. This was the point at which Saul “called upon the name of the Lord.”
i. Paul later wrote about his conversion to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:13. He said, “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”
3. Should we answer Saul’s question any differently today?
1) Why should we IGNORE THE LORD’s ANSWER? “It shall be told thee what thou MUST do!”
2) Ananias told Saul exactly what the Lord wanted him to tell Saul Acts 22:16?
3) Was Saul’s sin so great that he had to have a special plan just for him? Saul later wrote, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” (1 Timothy 1:15, 16).
4) The world today can be saved in exactly the same way that Saul was saved! Paul says that his salvation is a pattern for our salvation.
5) Why should our answer be any different from the Lord’s and from Ananias??
6) We should not!
7) If we do what he did, we will get the same results that he got!
III. THE PHILIPPIAN JAILER (Acts 16:30)
1. The context of the question.
1) Read Acts 16:16-30
2) Paul and Silas had been preaching to the city of Philippi.
3) There was a damsel who was possessed by a demon.
4) Her masters were using her to gain money.
5) But because she was testifying of Paul’s works and hindering the gospel, he drove the demon out.
6) This upset many of the citizens of Philippi.
7) They had Paul and Silas beaten and thrown into prison.
8) But God did not want them to stay in prison. An earthquake came and loosed the locks.
9) The guard, assuming that all prisoners had escaped, took a sword and was going to commit suicide.
10)Paul tells him not to do this due to the fact that all the prisoners were still present.
11)The jailer then asks the question, “What must I do to be saved?”
2. The answer to the question.
1) What Paul did not say.
a. Pray a prayer of forgiveness and you will be saved.
b. ONLY believe in Jesus and you will be saved.
2) Paul told the Jailer exactly what he needed to hear.
3) He was a gentile who most likely had no knowledge of Judaism.
4) He was told to believe on the Lord Jesus and as a result both he and his house would be saved.
5) Did that mean that all he had to do was believe only and both he and his house would be saved? I know of no one who would say that.
6) Paul was using the word “believe” in a general sense to mean accept the teaching about Jesus and act upon it in your life. (James 2:24 “Ye see then how by works a man is justified and not by faith only”).
7) Notice the response of the jailer and his house.
a. He took them the save hour of the night and washed their stripes. This indicates a few things.
a) That he believed them!
b) That he repented of his abuse of them!
b. He was baptized in the same hour of the night!
c. He was baptized, straightway!
d. But not only was HE baptized, but “he and ALL HIS!” but why would they need to be baptized if all that needed to be done was believe?
e. Why not wait until the morning when they could have had an opportunity to be an example to others in the same town?
f. Notice verse 34’s beautiful description of what occurred in his life.
a) It says he rejoiced.
b) It says that he and all his house were “believing in God.”
c) The things that they did that night were the actions of faith – the actions of belief.
d) Baptism is an action of faith in the operation of god. Colossians 2:12.
3. Should we answer the jailer’s question any differently today?
1) Would we insert the word “only” before Paul’s response to the jailer?
2) Would we ignore the actions that they performed to indicate faith in their life?
3) Would we tell the family that they didn’t need to baptized in answer to the jailer’s question?
4) Can we say that the jailer did NOT call upon the name of the Lord just as those at Pentecost and Saul did?
5) Would we say that Paul and Silas were hasty in taking them the same hour of the night to be baptized, straightway?
6) We should not!
7) Again, if we do the same things they did, we will get what they got!
CONCLUSION:
1. Are there more examples of conversion in the book of Acts? Yes.
2. Should we study all of them? Yes.
3. Why these three?
1) These are the three in which the question was asked, “What shall I do to be saved?”
2) The same question asked today can be answered in the same way today.
4. Invitation
1) If you are a Christian but not living faithfully, have you forgotten the day of your salvation?
a. Have you forgotten the joy that the jailer had?
b. Have you forgotten the relief of guilt that you had?
c. Have you forgotten that you put Jesus on the cross?
d. Repent today.
2) If you are not a Christian this morning . . .
a. Perhaps you are asking this very question this morning.
b. You can be saved exactly like those on Pentecost were saved.
c. You can be saved exactly like Saul of Tarsus was saved.
d. You can be saved just like that jailer and his family were saved.
e. It is this simple scriptural plan.
a) Hear the word; Romans 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing . . .”
b) Believe with all your heart: Hebrews 11:6 “For without faith it is impossible . . .”
c) Repent of your sins (Acts 17:30).
d) Confess Jesus as the Son of God (Matthew 16:16).
e) Be baptized for the remission of your sins (Mark 16:15, 16).