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What Must a Man Believe to be Saved by the Gospel of Christ?
That the gospel of Christ must be believed (as well as obeyed) in order to receive Christiansalvation is made abundantly clear by the apostle Paul in one of the best known passages foundin the Bible ² Rom. 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God forsalvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Rom. 1:16 NAS) Itthus becomes essential that we learn what it is that man is to believe in order to be saved if weseek the salvation of our souls. What is included in the gospel that must be believed?Paul helps us out and gives us a good start in defining the gospel in 1 Cor. 15:1-4: "Now I makeknown to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in whichalso you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you,unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he wasraised on the third day according to the Scriptures." (NAS)We learn from this passage two things found in the gospel and thus things that must bebelieved. (1) Christ died for our sins. (2) He was resurrected from the dead. We will discusseach. We will not discuss his burial for it has never been an issue about which men havedoubted.One must believe that Christ died for a purpose, to accomplish a goal ² he died for our sins. Hedied as a propitiation for our sins. "He himself is the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 2:2 NAS)Jesus was "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29 NAS) He was God'ssacrificial lamb who died to make atonement for the sins of man. God cannot be a just God norcan he maintain his honor if he allows man to violate his law and run amok withoutconsequence. No one respects a law or its maker if the law can be broken without a penaltybeing imposed for doing so. "Sin is the transgression of the law" of God. (1 John 3:4 KJV)God cannot be glorified by men who show disrespect by violating his laws at will. When menviolate God's law by sin it shows disrespect for God and dishonors him. God will not allow thatto happen. "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will alsoreap." (Gal. 6:7 NAS) "The wages of sin is death." (Rom. 6:23 NAS) One could almost say God,by definition of what it means to be God, has to punish sin. His nature demands it and justicecalls for it.God will uphold his honor and his glory but the Bible teaches us that God also loves man, "forGod so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16 NKJV), and does notdesire that any man perish for he is "not willing that any should perish but that all should cometo repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV) As far back as Ezekiel we read the words of God, "'I have nopleasure in the death of one who dies,' says the Lord God. 'Therefore turn and live.'" (Ezek.18:32 NKJV) "God is love." (1 John 4:8 NAS) God's desire for man is man's salvation but "allhave sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:23 NAS) The question then became oneof how God could save man and at the same time be just? Sin had to be punished if justice wasdone.The answer was to punish sin through his son's death on the cross. "He himself bore our sins inhis body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by his wounds youwere healed." (1 Peter 2:24 NAS) Christ took man's place and took man's punishment for sin.Thus one thing man must believe that is absolutely essential to salvation is that Christ died forour sins just as it is stated in 1 Cor. 15:3 and obtained atonement for them in his death.A second thing Paul says we must believe is that Christ was raised from the dead. He says inRom. 1:4 in speaking of Jesus that he was, "declared with power to be the Son of God by the
 
resurrection from the dead." (Rom. 1:4 NAS) Jesus' resurrection proved he was who he claimedto be, proved him to be God's son, meaning he had the power to forgive sins and save man. Hisresurrection was essential. Paul goes so far as to say, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith isworthless." (1 Cor. 15:17 NAS) Why would that be true? Because without the resurrection itwould have shown Jesus to be an imposter.Think about it as follows. If Jesus was lying all the while he was on earth about who he was andwhat he was doing that would make him a liar and a deceitful man. Would a righteous Godresurrect such a man and join in the deception? Not if God is good and just. If Jesus is notresurrected it shows God wants no part of him. However, Jesus was resurrected which showedthat God placed his stamp of approval on Jesus' life and teaching and his sacrificial death, toprovide a means for the forgiveness of sins, by raising Jesus from the dead.In believing Jesus was resurrected one is thus accepting the fact that Jesus was and is the Lordand Savior of man and the son of God. Jesus predicted his own death and resurrection (seeMatt. 16:21, 17:22-23, 20:18-19 and other similar scriptures throughout the other gospels) andtaught the necessity of his own sacrificial death (John 3:14-15) in order for man to be saved. Hisresurrection provided the proof his word is good in all that he taught and that man can havefaith in him.What else must one believe to be saved by the gospel of Christ? One good way to find out is toexamine the preaching of the apostles and evangelists as recorded in Acts as they went out intothe world attempting to convert people to Christ. First a couple of premises need to be laiddown for if you do not accept the premises you will not accept the apostle's and evangelist'sinspired teaching on the subject. Premise one is that they preached the gospel. Premise two isthat what one taught by inspiration as essential all taught by inspiration as essential whether thething is mentioned or not. If this be not the case then you have multiple gospels beingpreached with one apostle preaching one thing and another something different.In Peter's gospel sermon in Acts 2, the first such sermon ever preached after Christ's ascensionand the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, Peter preached repentance and baptism forthe remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Was one required to believe him? Was this something aperson had to believe in order to be saved? Was what he preached a part of the gospel? Did hepreach by inspiration that day? Is a man required to believe he must repent of sins? Is a manrequired to believe he must be baptized for the remission of sins? If a man is not required tobelieve it why preach it to people who are not Christians? Why preach it to people who need thegospel if it is not a part of the gospel?Sadly, most of the world is not willing to accept Peter's gospel preaching in Acts 2 but 3,000 of the people there that day did. "So then, those who had received (does the word "received" meanbelieved? - DS) his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousandsouls." (Acts 2:41 NAS) The truth is deep down people know Peter preached by inspiration, theyknow he preached the gospel, but their religious tradition will not allow them to accept it.Philip in Samaria (Acts 8:12), Philip also in preaching to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:35-38),Ananias in preaching to Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:17-18 and Acts 22:16), Peter in preaching toCornelius and his household (Acts 10:48), Paul in preaching to Lydia (Acts 16:14-15) and to thePhilippian jailer (Acts 16:31-33), Paul again in Corinth (Acts 18:8) and then later to the 12 atEphesus (Acts 19:1-5) all preached baptism in preaching the gospel. How do we know? Weknow because in each account at the end of the preaching we find those who were receptive tothe preaching being baptized. Hard to be baptized if you know nothing about baptism which isthe case if it is not being preached as a part of the gospel in these conversion accounts. Thuswe see one must believe there is a need to be baptized after repentance and then do it.
 
Well, what else? Well, a man must believe he needs to confess Christ and then do that as well."If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Himfrom the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness,and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." (Rom. 10:9-10 NAS)The only scripturally qualified candidate for baptism is a person who believes and has repentedof his sins. One can only know a person is a believer if they tell you thus a confession by themouth of the Lord Jesus. The fact that some religious groups sprinkle those too young to knowor believe anything and call it baptism does not make it so. You can call a bull a puppy dog if you want to but it will not change the facts and so it is with Bible baptism. They can do whatthey want and call it what they want but it will not change what the Bible teaches on the subject.Scriptural Bible baptism requires a penitent believer in Jesus Christ.One must believe he must confess Jesus to be saved or else get some scissors and cut out of hisBible Rom. 10:9-10. Those who only baptize believers will get that confession prior to baptizinga person. You can read a commonly made confession in Acts 8:37 in the KJ or NKJV Bibles.Is there anything else one must believe to be saved by the gospel of Christ or to put it anotherway to become a Christian and be saved? One must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Thismeans of course that Jesus is himself God, man's king, and one whose will and teachings mustbe followed. Faith that is unwilling to accept the necessary implications of faith is not faith thatsaves but rebellion against that faith.In John 3:16 we are told that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, thatwhoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." (NAS) Who is this person onemust believe in? The text teaches it is the only begotten son of God. It is "he who believes inthe son has eternal life" (John 3:36 NAS) and not he who believes Jesus was just another manamong men. John near the end of his gospel speaking of things that had been written says,"These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and thatbelieving you may have life in his name." (John 20:31 NAS) Jesus said, "Unless you believe that Iam he, you shall die in your sins." (John 8:24 NAS)When Jesus asked his disciples in Matt. 16 who men said he was they told him but then he askeda more specific question, "But who do you say that I am?" (Matt. 16:15 NKJV) Peter responded,"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matt. 16:16 NKJV) Upon this fact Jesus built thechurch (Matt. 16:18) of which he is the Savior (Eph. 5:23). This foundational truth that Jesus isthe Christ, the son of the living God, is the confession men need to make out of believing heartsin order to obtain salvation. Men must believe Jesus was/is the son of God and be willing toconfess the same.The faith we hold must lead to an "obedience of faith" (Rom. 1:5, 16:26) which is to say it is notjust a conceptual faith held inactive in the mind but one which leads a man to act according tothat which he has come to believe. As James says, "faith without works (obedience ² DS) isdead" (James 2:26 NAS) and dead things do not bring life (salvation). If one's faith stops at thepoint of intellectual faith alone, leaves out repentance, confession of Jesus, and baptism then itis dead. It is dead for two reasons. One, it stopped short of the full faith of and in the entiregospel message which required these things and two, it was never "obedient to the faith" (seeActs 6:7 NAS).The last thing that must be believed is that God is a rewarder of those who seek him. "Andwithout faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is,and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." (Heb. 11:6 NAS) When one believes andobeys the gospel he has been a seeker after God. We must then believe, having done that, that
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