What Must I Do To Be Saved?

What is the gospel? The word itself simply means “good news”. But what exactly IS the good news? Is the gospel made up of simply good news? How should one go about presenting the gospel? What exactly is involved in someone hearing the gospel and receiving salvation? My goal is to eventually address all  of these questions and more dealing with the gospel. Today I am going to deal with a small part of the last question. Is submission to Jesus Christ a necessary element in saving faith?


What is Faith?
The first thing I would like to point out is that faith, in the Bible, is always accompanied by action. Faith and action go hand-in-hand. Faith is never separate from action. I am sure you will recognize Hebrews 11 as the “Hebrews Hall of Faith”. If you take a look at every one of the people listed as faithful you will notice their faith is displayed by action. For example:
“By faith Noah… constructed an ark” (Heb 11:7)
“By faith Abraham obeyed… and went out” (Heb 11:8)
“By faith Abraham… offered up Isaac” (Heb 11:17)
“By faith Moses… left Egypt” (Heb 11:24-27)

Jesus’ Words on Salvation
Some Bible teachers and theologians contend that merely believing a few simple facts about the events surrounding Jesus’ life and death will grant one eternal life. I think there is no better way to find the answer to the question, “What must I do to receive eternal life”, than to see how Jesus answered that very same question.  The passage I am speaking of is found in Mark 10:17-27.

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  (18)  And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.  (19)  You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”  (20)  And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”  (21)  And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  (22)  Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  (23)  And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”  (24)  And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!  (25)  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”  (26)  And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?”  (27)  Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

It is important to note that the fact that this young man called Jesus “Good Teacher” indicates his belief that Jesus was deity. It was not a mere compliment on Jesus’ teaching style or effectiveness. The word translated “good” is agathos and it means “good in character or nature”. Jesus makes things as clear as they can be when He says “No one is good except God alone.” By making this statement Jesus is claiming that He Himself is God and also affirms the man’s belief that Jesus is God.

This young man came to Jesus asking the perfect question that any evangelist would love to be asked. Most would quickly rush through the gospel and get them straight to the “sinners prayer”. But what did Jesus do? Jesus was the greatest teacher to ever live because He knew the heart of the one He was teaching. He knew just what this man needed to hear. His response is quite shocking. He gives him six of the Ten Commandments! Now, it is important to clarify that Jesus is not teaching a works based salvation. Jesus is not saying, “If you keep these six commandments you have inherited eternal life.” This is evidenced when the young man responds by saying he had done these things and Jesus responds in verse 21 with, “You lack one thing”. From that statement it is clear that Jesus is saying that keeping the commandments is not enough.
But what is the one thing that the young man lacked? He wanted to be saved, he believed Jesus was God, and he lived a decent life. Jesus says, “go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Jesus was testing this man’s willingness to forsake all he had and all he cared about in devoted submission to Jesus Christ.  This man’s response was sorrow because he desperately wanted eternal life but he was not willing to forsake everything to gain it.

Q: “But that is so hard to do! Isn’t the gospel supposed to be easy?”
A: NO.

The Bible never says it is easy. In fact, in Mark 10:24 Jesus says that it is difficult to enter the kingdom of God! In Matthew 7:14 Jesus said that the way is HARD that leads to life.

When people ask the question, “what is necessary for salvation”, they often turn to Romans 10:9

That seems easy. Some interpret the word “Lord” (Greek kurios) to simply mean believing Jesus is deity.

Q: “So all you have to do is simply believe the facts that Jesus is God and that He died on the cross and rose from the dead, right?”
A: WRONG. 

Kurios (Lord) literally means “master”. The idea of confessing Jesus as master carries with it the strong idea of submission. In verse 12, only three verses away from verse 9, it refers to Jesus as Lord of all when it says, “the same Lord [Jesus] is Lord of all”.

Some say that a person can accept Jesus as Savior without accepting Him as Master or Lord. You cannot separate Jesus into distinct segments. If you trust Jesus you have to trust who He is completely. If someone denies Jesus is God they will not gain eternal life because they do not have a proper understanding of who Jesus is. In the same way, if someone denies Jesus as Master or Lord of all, they will not gain eternal life because they do not have a proper understanding of who He is. In order to receive eternal life one must completely forsake all and follow Jesus. He must confess Jesus as his Master, as Lord over all.

Submission is a Work of God
This teaching at times has been accused of being “works based salvation”. However, in Mark 10 after Jesus dealt with the rich young ruler Jesus began teaching on the difficulty of entering the kingdom of God. The reason it is so difficult is because it is necessary that one forsake all in submission to Christ. He then followed this teaching by saying “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Submission certainly is not a human work. It is given by God. It happens when the Spirit of God opens a persons eyes to the truths of His word.

Submission is a necessary element in the Gospel. A person cannot accept Christ as Savior and not as his Master or Lord. In order to receive eternal life he must confess Jesus as Lord of all. Merely believing a few biblical historical facts cannot save anyone. Unless one submissively bows before Jesus in humble repentance he will not inherit eternal life. This submission is not man’s own doing but it is done by God and through God so all glory will be unto His name.

Testifying to the gospel of the grace of God,
Robbie
Acts 20:24