One of the most important and controversial questions in the religious world today is "What must I do to be saved?" Is there any way to really know the answer to this question? What has God said about salvation in His word? To find out what God has said on any subject we must gather all of the information that pertains to that subject from the Bible. If we want to know how to be saved then we must look at every verse in Bible that makes reference to what a person must do to become a saved child of God. There are many verses, especially in the New Testament - God's will for man today (Hebrews 8:6-13), about salvation. It would take much more space than this newspaper column to simply list all of these scriptures.

Let me make a point to those of you reading this article - do not put your trust in me or what I write. The only person to trust is the Lord Jesus Christ. The only writings to trust are the Holy Scriptures we call the Bible. We all need to be like the noble Bereans of Acts 17:11, who did "search the scriptures daily" to see whether the things that Paul and Silas were telling them were so. Psalms 118:8 says, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man" (KJV). Always check what is written in this article with the Bible, because the Bible is the authority in all matters religious.

Today's article is a foundation for the next several articles to come. Today we will look at five verses on the subject of salvation. Each of these verses was spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ while on earth. Over the next several weeks, I intend to elaborate on each point. God has done His part, now let us find out, according to scripture, what man's response to God's love, grace, and mercy should be.

John 8:24 - Jesus said, "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins."

Luke 13:3 - Jesus said, "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

Matthew 10:32, 33 - Jesus said, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."

Mark 16:16 - Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

Matthew 10:22 - Jesus said, "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."

Once again, these are not all of the scriptures on this subject. I would encourage you to find more verses on each point. It would do us all good to "study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

Let us show our love for God by studying His word.