What Must I Do To Be Saved?
This question has been asked practically three times in the New Testament and each time it received a different answer. The first time the question was asked according to the record, was in Acts 2:37. After hearing Peter's sermon on the life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ, the multitude asked, "Men and brethren what shall we do?" Then Peter said unto them, "Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
The second time our question was asked was in Acts 9:6 and retold in Acts 22:10. TM's time it was in connection with the conversion of Saul. Saul heard the Lord saying, "Why persecutest thou me?" Upon learning that it was the voice of the Lord, Saul, trembling and astonished said, "Lord what thou have me to do?" He was told to go into the city and there he would be told what he must do. The conclusion to this was Ananias' coming to him and saying, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Acts 22:16.
The third time the question was asked is in Acts 6:30, when the keeper of the prison in the city of Philippi brought Paul and Silas out of the prison and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They answered, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house."
Thus we see three different answers being given to the same question. Before declaring our lack of confidence in answers that vary, let us see if we can learn why the answers differed. Let us suppose, as an example, that a stranded motorist walking down the highway meets a local resident and asks, 'How far is it to the nearest service station?" The resident answers, "Three miles." The motorist walks a mile and asks another resident, "How far is it to the nearest service station?" He answers, "Two miles." The motorist replies, "Well that's strange. A man back down the road told me it was three miles, and you say it is two. I asked both of you the same question and you have given me two different answers. I am suspicious of answers that vary." Then the motorist walks another mile and asks another citizen "How far is it to the nearest service station?" He says, "One mile." With this the motorist, agitated and disgusted, gives up and declares that it is impossible to learn how far it is to the nearest service station, because he asked the same question three times and each time. he received a different answer! What is the common sense of it all? Why? just this: Each time an answer was given, it was given according to where the motorist was standing at the time the question was asked. If all the answers had been the same, some one would have been wrong, because the motorist was, not in the same place each time he asked the questions.
Now, get the application: Each time our question. "What must I do?" was propounded in the Bible, the answer was given according to where the inquirer stood when the question was asked, in relationship to his salvation. Look at the Philippian Jailor. He was a heathen in a heathen land, influenced by the many gods of Rome, and had never taken one single step in the direction of his salvation. Therefore, he was told the distance he must travel with emphasis upon the first step to be taken in order that he might be saved. Hence, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." But look at the rest of the story, "They spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house." Why that? So he would have something to believe. Faith comes by hearing the word of the Lord. Rom. 10:17. Upon hearing and believing, the jailor took them the same hour of the night and "washed their stripes." Having formerly inflicted punishment upon Paul and Silas, the jailor now attempts to alleviate their suffering, evidencing his penitence. As a penitent believer, the jailor was taken the same hour of the night and baptized. So, looking at the whole picture, the jailor heard the word of the Lord, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, repented of his sins, and was baptized. This is what happened in answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved?"
Next, let us consider the question as was asked in Acts 2 by the multitude on Pentecost. When they asked, "Men and brethren, what must we do?" Peter did not tell them to "believe on the Lord Jesus" as Paul told the jailor. Why? They were like the man who had walked the first mile, and Peter told them how far it was from salvation according to where they stood when they asked the question. He didn't tell them to believe, because they were already believers. He had formerly told them to "know assuredly" that Jesus was the Lord and Christ. To know a thing assuredly is to believe it beyond a doubt, and they evidenced their faith in Christ in the question which they asked. As believers, Peter told them how much farther they needed to travel in order to be saved M these words: "Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." While this answer differed from the one given the jailor, the overall picture is the same. They both heard, believed, repented, and were baptized for remission of sins in the name of Christ.
Finally, let us look at the question as was asked by Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9 and Acts 22 . He was not told to believe as was the jailor, neither was he told to repent as were the multitude in Acts 2. Why? Like the man who had walked two miles toward his destination, he was told how far he needed to travel at the time he asked the question, in order that he might be saved. Saul became a believer on the Damascus road when he saw and talked to the Lord. For three days he did neither eat nor drink but prayed. This demonstrated his penitent attitude.
Therefore, when Ananias came to him to tell him how far he was from salvation, he did so in these words, "And now why tarriest thou? arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." (Acts 22:16) This was a different answer to that given the jailor and also different from the one given the multitude. Paul was not told to believe, for he was already a believer when Ananias came to him. He was not told to repent, for he had done that and for three days had expressed his penitence, so he was told to be baptized and wash away his sins; yet when the entire story is seen in each case, they all did the same things in order to be saved. They each heard the gospel preached; they believed it; they repented of their sins; and they were all baptized for remission of sins.
This is not only what they did in order to be saved, but it is also that which must be done by men today in order to be saved from past sins. This is as much God's plan for saving the alien sinner today as it was then and apart from it, there can be no salvation.