If you ever hear a preacher or anyone else say you have to believe on Jesus AND this, that, or the other to be saved that is a false teacher that is sending people to hell. Putting all your faith in Jesus ALONE is ALL that is necessary to be saved. There is nothing more additionally needed. There is no "and do other things" after believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in Acts 16:31b: ....Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Jesus paid it all and he is enough. If you think you have to add anything to that to be saved, you are saying Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was insufficient to purchase our salvation, but it was sufficient. Jesus lived a perfect sinless life that none of us could ever live so that he could be a perfect sacrifice to die in our place to pay for our sins so he could save us from the penalty of our sins, which is to spend an eternity in the horrible place of hell. Galatians 2:21: I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ be dead in vain. That means if we had to do any kind of work whatsoever to get saved, then Jesus died for nothing. But he didn't die for nothing. He paid for our salvation in full. It is all by grace through faith.
Here are some examples of what false teachers say you have to believe on Jesus AND do this, that, or the other:
1. You have to believe on Jesus and be baptized in order to be saved.
Baptism is for people who are already saved in order to confess Jesus before men and to be a testimony of their salvation. It is not part of salvation. Many people who have never been baptized will be in Heaven because even though they were not baptized they were saved by putting their trust in Jesus alone to save them. The thief on the cross who got saved was never baptized, but he is in heaven today. Luke 23:42: And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43: And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. He just looked to Christ and was saved instantly. You SHOULD be baptized because the bible says we are to get baptized AFTER we get saved, but it is not necessary in order to get saved. The only thing you MUST do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 16:30: And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31: And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. It doesn't say you must be baptized; it just says you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. You have to believe on Jesus and repent of all your sins, or forsake your sins, to be saved.
That would be like turning over a new leaf. Salvation is not by turning over a new leaf, it is being saved and forgiven of all our sins and washed in the blood of Jesus, and made a born again child of God purely by God’s mercy and grace. It is by receiving the free gift of eternal life. It is when you look to Jesus and say “I know I’m a sinner and I deserve to go to hell, but I believe you paid for my sins and rose again the third day, and I am now putting all my faith and trust in you to save me and take me to heaven when I die.” That is how you get saved, not by turning over a new leaf or trying to forsake your sins, which is impossible anyway because no one can stop sinning. That is why we need a savior in the first place. Jesus bore our sins in his own body on the cross. I Peter 2:24: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. You only need to acknowledge you're a sinner and trust Christ. If we had to forsake our sins to be saved, no one would be saved. We don’t even know what our sins are when we get saved, much less forsake them, and we will never know all of our sins. We just know we are a sinner and need God’s mercy. If anyone claims they know they are saved because they have forsaken their sins or sinful lifestyle, they are proud and boastful and are unsaved because they are trusting in what they do instead of putting full trust in what Jesus has done for them.
Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Luke 18:13: And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner.
3. You have to believe on Jesus and make him Lord of your life and surrender everything you have to him and make a commitment to follow him and serve him for the rest of your life.
That would be like you have to earn your salvation by serving and following. That would make heaven a reward instead of a gift. Heaven is a gift that was paid for by Jesus. A gift is something you didn't earn or work for, it is free and entirely paid for by the giver, not the receiver. We are not saved by making a commitment to Jesus, but rather he made a commitment to us to save and keep for all eternity anyone who would trust him. John 10:28: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29: My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. The moment you put your trust in Christ to save you, you are eternally secure and nothing can ever pluck you out of the Father's hand. You can never lose your salvation because it is God keeping ahold of us, not us striving to cling to him to keep our salvation. That is what the bible says and God cannot lie. It is not about us and what we do; it is all about Jesus and what he did for us.
4. You have to believe on Jesus and persevere to the end.
Salvation is not obtained by running a race and enduring to the end. If that were the case, you would never know if you were saved or not because you don't yet know if you will finish the race. No, salvation is a one time instantaneous event the moment someone puts all their trust in Jesus. Once you receive salvation it is a done deal, your eternal destiny is forever sealed and you can rest assure that you are saved forever no matter what, no matter if you sin a little or sin greatly, it doesn't matter. Some of the best saved people in the bible did some pretty bad things, but they still went to heaven because they trusted Christ so their sins were forgiven.
5. You have to believe on Jesus and also have a sincere willingness to radically change your behavior.
No where in the Bible does it say you have to change your behavior to be saved. On the contrary, the bible says when we trust Jesus he washes our sins away in his own blood. God is the one who changes our heart when we put our trust in Jesus. Revelation 1:5: And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. The only thing a sinner can do is just to come to Jesus as he is, admit he is a sinner, and let him save you. He changes our heart when we trust him. It has nothing to do with our behavior. That would be like saying if you're good then you get to go to heaven. The bible says no one is good. Romans 3:10: As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. Romans 3:23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Some will say, but if you really got saved, there would be a change in your behavior, but that is false too. Just because a saved person has a new heart, doesn't mean they still can't have some bad behavior.
6. You have to believe on Jesus and do good works.
People like to think they need to help God to save them and do good works, so this is the question they asked Jesus. John 6:28: Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God: 29: Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. So the only work that can save you is to BELIEVE on Jesus, not doing good deeds. John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
In conclusion, the bottom line is this: Jesus does all the saving. Jesus paid our sin debt when he shed his blood on the cross. Jesus is not part of the plan of salvation, he is all of the plan salvation; he is enough. It is not partly him and partly what we do ourselves to be saved and keep our salvation. No, it is all Jesus period. As one hymn goes: Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.
If you have never put your full trust in Jesus alone to save you please listen to the video below.
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