Jesus, God in the flesh, came to earth and died for my sins. His death took care of our SIN problem! He did not stay in the tomb dead, but rose on the third day! Through His resurrection, Jesus took care of our GRAVE problem! But we need to know how to get in on this Gospel! We now return to some of those LIFE and DEATH statements we find in the Scriptures. As you read Romans 10:9, notice what we need to do to be saved:
if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
The apostle Paul, who wrote the book of Romans tells us that we must do two things:
- Confess Jesus as Lord
- Believe that God raised Jesus from the dead
So in these LIFE and DEATH statements we learn that if we want to be saved we must confess and we must believe the Gospel.
The Bible also tells us that we MUST change our lifestyles. There are many Scriptures that teach this, but let’s read a few to see what kind of changes we need to make. Read I Corinthians 6:9-10 and notice lifestyle changes we must make:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
Other Scriptures that could be studied are Ephesians 4:17-5:7; Galatians 5:19-26; Romans 1:28-32. In order to inherit the kingdom of God, to be saved, there are changes we must make. The Bible calls this repentance. But what happens if we chose to not change? What if we chose not to repent? Then what happens. Read what Jesus says if we chose not to repent in Luke 13:3, 5:
“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Notice that Jesus uses LIFE and DEATH statements! If we chose not to change, we will perish. So if we want to get in on the saving grace of our God, what must we do? How can a person get in on the Gospel? Read the apostle Paul’s words in II Thessalonians 1:7-9:
to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when 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.
How can I escape the judgment of God – flaming fire, retribution, eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord? According to the Scripture we must obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. But how does one obey the Gospel? Read the following passages and see if you can see the Gospel portrayed there. Do you remember what the Gospel is? The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Here is Romans 6:3-6:
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.
How do we get into Jesus’ death? The text says we are baptized (immersed) into His death. A person is buried with Christ, and raised up to walk in newness of life. Then read Romans 6:17-18:
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
But why would God want us to get into Jesus’ death? Maybe this picture can help portray a person who is obeying the Gospel and answer that question.
So where does one actually become a Christian? When does one put on Christ? Galatians 3:26-27 answers that question:
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.
Copyright by The Lockman Foundation”