What Must I Do
The truth of the Bible has been demonstrated in many ways. It is God's Word, and it contains God's plan for a New World Order. This New Order is to be established by the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes again, and the Scriptures abound with references to His Second Coming, not this time in humility as the ‘Lamb of God’ to die upon the cross for our salvation, but as ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’, to administer judgment and justice in the earth.
Under the rule of Jesus Christ, peace will extend over the world, ‘nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more’ (Isa. 2: 4); mankind will be blessed with abundance, prosperity and happiness, and at last ‘the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea’ (Hab. 2 : 14).
It is surely our desire to see that glorious New Order set up and to participate in its blessings, but certain qualifications are necessary for those who would realise this aspiration. Therefore, as individuals, we must inquire what those qualifications are, and examine ourselves to see if we possess them; to each of us comes the question, What must I do? The answer is that we must be personally in alignment with the will of God, and the will of God for the individual is his salvation; the Scripture speaks of ‘God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth’ (I Tim. 2: 3, 4). Therefore our salvation is of primary importance not only for our own spiritual benefit but also for the sake of the nation to which we belong; for only through the conversion of the individuals composing a nation can the nation itself be converted. Like the Philippian jailor, therefore, we inquire, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ To which the reply given by Paul [over]1900 years ago is still the only true answer, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved’ (Acts 16: 31).
Many people are puzzled by this simple statement and they say, ‘What does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; I have always believed in Him and yet I don’t feel any different?’ To believe on any person means more than an intellectual assent to the fact that that person exists; it means that we accept him for what he claims to be. Thus, if we are ill and we believe on, or have faith in, a doctor who claims to be able to cure our malady, it means that we shall place our case unreservedly in his hands and obey his instructions implicitly.
It is precisely the same when we who are affected by the fatal spiritual malady of sin go to the Great Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. We accept Him as our Saviour, not only from the penalty but also from the power of sin, place ourselves unreservedly in His hands and obey His instructions.
‘Well’, say some, ‘I do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and accept Him as my Saviour but I don’t feel any better.’ The trouble with such people is that although they have accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour they do not really believe what the Bible says. God’s Word does not say, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt feel better,’ but ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’ Feelings have nothing whatever to do with it at all, and we must refuse any reliance upon them, for they are as uncertain as the weather. Then how may we know that our sins are forgiven and that we are saved? If we have really come to the Lord Jesus Christ, confessing that we are sinners and asking Him to pardon and receive us and become our Saviour, then we have a right to know that He has received us., Jesus Himself declared, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out’ (John 6 : 37). Therefore, when we came to Him, He received us. How do we know He did? Because He said He would, and we receive assurance of the fact by believing what the written Word of God says, ‘Must I not experience some strange sensation however, which will assure me that I have been forgiven?’ asks someone. No, certainly not, because He never promised that we should. Are we prepared to trust a sensation rather than the Word of God? Supposing we were to receive a letter from a reputable lawyer informing us that we have inherited a great fortune, how should we prove the truth of our claim? Should we be so stupid as to say, ‘I feel as though the money were mine?’ Of course not, we should produce the letter and say ‘There it is in black and white.’ In precisely the same way, we have the promise of Jesus Christ in black and white, ‘ Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.'
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