What must I do to be saved according to Jesus?

"'Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he has sent' (John 6:29). To believe in the Son of God is all that you or I have to do to get saved."

Will you believe in Him? I ask you, Will you believe in the Son of Man? I think you will feel an awful fool by-and-by, when the Lord has to say of you — There is a man who would not trust Me, there is a man who would not believe in Me. Note that Gods says that "whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Mark, it is an absolute present possession, the possession of faith. Eternal life is the gift of God. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Oh, that is a beautiful verse, the 16th verse of John 3. Look at it. It begins with God, and ends with life. You cannot get life save from God, but "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but HAVE everlasting life." You may have it. I have it. You have in this verse God's side of the action, and man's side also. God's side, loving and giving; and on man's side — my, and your side — believing and having. Really, my dear fellows, the gospel is wonderfully simple. God, loving, and giving; and man, believing, and having. I believe His love, I believe His grace, I believe what He says, I believe on His Son, and what is the result? I get eternal life as His own free gift.

Nor does this apply only to Israel. “For God so loved the world.” This love is so marvelous that the beloved, only begotten Son of the Father was given by Him as a sacrifice for the sake of the whole world. Yet its value cannot be known by anyone who does not believe in Him: this applies only to “whoever believes on Him.” No-one (Jew or Gentile) is excluded except by his own unbelief. This is true as regards the kingdom of God: either one will be blessed in it by having eternal life, or he will perish in the tribulation, and for eternity. Of course it is also true as regards those who now have opportunity to receive Christ. Either they believe Him and have eternal life, or they shall perish eternally.

And now He announced, in a fuller way than He had done to Nicodemus, the blessed result of believing the testimony of God: "He that hears My word, and believes Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is passed from death to life" (John 5:24). Here let it be remarked, that life and everlasting life are viewed again as the same. To the teacher the Lord had described the class of people who enjoy this life — believers. Here, having just declared that He quickens whom He will, He speaks of all such as hearing His word, and believing God that sent Him. Hearing His word — for He speaks to the soul, and so quickens the individual.

And what is the result of hearing the Son of God? "They that hear shall live." What kind of life? It is life eternal! Not life in this world! Not life in this scene! You have that already, but it is forfeited. You cannot tell how long you may have it. Thank God, the believer has eternal life. In that 24th verse our Lord Jesus Christ brings before us the present, the past, and the future. About the present, He says, "He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life;" then as regards the past, He says the believer "is passed from death to life;" and if he look at the future, "shall not come into condemnation." The whole horizon of the soul is filled up by that one verse. How beautiful! How simple! "He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me." Do I hear His voice? Do I hear His word? Do I believe the Father sent Him? I do, from the bottom of my heart, and I confess that He is what He says He is. I confess Him Son of God, and Son of Man. I confess my need of Him, and my faith in Him. And who sent Him? The Father sent the Son. What a wonderful thing that the Father, the Eternal Father, should have sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world. Yes, Scripture says, "The Saviour of the world." Wonderful and amazing truth! Yes, the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world, and that Son went into death to take you and me out of it. He died on the cross, and presented His own precious blood as an atonement for sin, so that man might be washed in that precious blood, and be presented to God, in all its cleansing efficacy, the recipient of eternal life.

One must therefore believe on the Son: there is no knowing the Father apart from this, and in believing he has eternal life. This is a vital, personal belief in the Son personally. On the other hand, one who is not subject to the Son shall not see life. Therefore, one has either eternal life, or no life at all. The awful alternative to life is the wrath of God abiding on the unbeliever. This certainly shows us what God thinks of His Son, and on the other hand, what are His thoughts toward those who refuse His Son.

In Nicodemus we find a want that is something more than that. The moment a want is thus felt, there is a consciousness that the world will be against you; and so he goes by night. There is a real want in his soul. He goes to Christ and follows up the impression. What the Holy Ghost produces is always a want, though the want is met. Nicodemus owns Christ to be a teacher that comes from God; but he did not know that the old nature was good for nothing, and that he must be born again. Thus it is the Lord meets him: "I am not going to teach flesh: you must have a new nature; the old cannot be taught at all, except outwardly, and this is worthless." The special case for a Jew is that he could not enter the earthly kingdom, except he were born again. Therefore the Lord says, "Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye must be born again."

The Lord met him at once with that great and emphatic pronouncement concerning the absolute necessity of the new birth. Without it no one even sees the kingdom of God. He may see the miracles and signs, but he does not see the kingdom. Nicodemus needed the new birth and not teaching for at once he showed himself quite incapable of understanding the Lord's words, and thereby he illustrated their truth. He could not see anything in them but a mystifying reference to natural birth. This called forth a second emphatic pronouncement in which the matter is carried a step further. The kingdom is not only to be seen but entered, and the birth for this must be of water and of Spirit.

This is the first precious note of His ministry. And it is exceedingly interesting, too, in this way, because He says, "The time is at hand." There was no more need for any delay; He does not bring in the law, John came in the way of righteousness to call attention to Him, but you could not have any one calling attention to Him when He appears on the scene Himself. Jesus bears witness to John: Jesus is "the truth." You will never find any one else said to be the truth except Jesus. God is true, but you will not find in scripture God spoken of as the truth. Jesus is "the truth;" that is, He is the declaration and display in His own Person of everything that was according to God. John was not that, and no man was that; but Jesus is that, and therefore Jesus does bear testimony to John, but John is not said to have borne testimony to Christ; he called attention to Christ, and his ministry was preparatory to Christ's coming, being that of the messenger before His face, and also because of the moral condition in which Israel was. But Jesus is the One who bore testimony. "I receive not testimony from man," He says, but He bare testimony to the truth. He is the truth, He is the One who displays things as they really are. Now He says, "The time is come," there is no question of law now, there is no reason for delay. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel" — literally, "cast yourselves on the gospel."

Taking salvation is not a mere mental assent to the doctrines of the Gospel, but the heart-felt acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord of your life. It is clear that till men and women feel the burden of their sins, they will not desire forgiveness. Our Lord surely had this in mind when He affirmed in plain language, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3 and 5).