KBM Salvation And Study

Today, we are going to begin a journey through the bible that asks the question, “What must one do to be saved?” There is no doubt that a growing number of people, around the world, how no idea what God requires to be saved. So the first step one must do to become saved and found justified before God the Father is to study God’s word. After all, how can one, as Paul wrote in Philippians 2:12, “work out their own salvation” if they have no idea how to become saved in the first place. Now to be certain we have covered this before, but it has been a while and it is always good to be reminded of such things as Peter declared in 2 Peter 1:12 so as to make certain we “are established in the truth.” So with that in mind let’s look at the very first thing that is needed to “become saved,” the need to study. In Romans 10:17 we read…

Romans 10:17 NKJV

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

As the great apostle Paul, inspired of God, writes this, it is in the context of helping people obey the gospel. Notice what he wrote in some of the previous passages.

Romans 10:9–10 (NKJV)

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:13–14 (NKJV)

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

The point is we cannot begin to expect salvation from God without ever getting to know him and thus trust him. Now, why do I bring up such an obvious point here?

It is because those in denominationalism do not teach this. The majority, if not the entirety of denominationalism believes that one simply needs to hear or study that fact that Jesus “can save” them without having any actual knowledge of God in reality. Let me illustrate this point.

I heard of an instance wherein a man got into a very serious car crash. It was so series that when the paramedics arrived and the man asked how bad it was, one of the paramedics asked if the man was a Christian or not. The man answered he never had been religious. So the paramedic informed him that it didn’t look good and if he wanted to go to heaven he needed to accept Christ into his heart and be saved.

Naturally this man, who was dying, said those words, was told he was saved, but unfortunately he passed away. Now, the bible is clear here on this matter. This man did not obey God’s plan of salvation but that paramedics and because of such that man’s soul was lost, not saved.

This is why it is so important to “know God’s word” on this matter. As the apostle Paul points out in Romans 10:17 no one can even have faith in God without taking the time to “learn about him.” Faith by definition is trust and no one can honestly trust someone without them earning that trust, which takes both awareness and time. it doesn’t have to be a lot of time, but it certain requires “many words” (Acts 2:40).

So, salvation requires studying who God is, what he has done, and what he can do for us, so that we can develop a trust in him and become a disciple of his (Matthew 28:19) before we even reach the point of having our sins removed.

William Gurnall most accurately once stated…

…study the word of God diligently. The Christian is bred by the word, and he must be fed by it.