What must I do to be saved?

This was the question the Phillipian jailer asked the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts, Chapter 16 verse 30. Sadly enough, it is a question many today either do not have an answer for or they have an incorrect answer for. Notice what the Apostle Paul told the Phillipian jailer, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Paul did not tell him to "turn from his sin" or to go join the local church, or to give to the poor. He told him to believe. The greek word translated believe in this instance is the word "pisteuo" which means to trust in, rest your weight upon, put your reliance on. It does not mean simply mental ascent to a fact. Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world... that is a fact.. Christ died for me, that is salvation.

Ephesians 2:8,9 are classic verses on salvation ... We are saved by grace, through faith, and not of ourselves, it is the gift of God.

So if salvation is by belief (trust) what are we trusting in? Let's look first about what we are NOT to be trusting in.. We are not to trust in our good works (the Bible says God sees our works as filthy rags in Isaiah 64:6), we are not to trust in church membership and faithful attendance, we are not to trust in simply studying the Bible, and we are not even to trust on living a good, clean, moral life. We are to trust on Jesus' death, burial and resurrection as full payment for our sin and to make us righteous before a Holy God. The true Gospel message is given by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-4

3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures

Teaching the Gospel to be anything else, is a false Gospel or what Paul calls in Galatians 1:6 "Another Gospel"... that person is to be accursed.(verse 8)

So I ask those of you who may not be sure if you are saved or not... are you putting all your trust and confidence in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the sufficient payment for your sins? If you have, you can be sure that you are saved and saved forever. (My next posting will be on this topic of "once saved always saved".)