1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, And lay up my commandments with thee;
2 So as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thy heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if thou cry after discernment, And lift up thy voice for understanding;
4 If thou seek her as silver, And search for her as for hid treasures:
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.
6 For Jehovah giveth wisdom; Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding:
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to them that walk in integrity;
8 That he may guard the paths of justice, And preserve the way of his saints.
9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness and justice, And equity, yea, every good path.
10 For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, And knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul;
11 Discretion shall watch over thee; Understanding shall keep thee:
12 To deliver thee from the way of evil, From the men that speak perverse things;
13 Who forsake the paths of uprightness, To walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;
15 Who are crooked in their ways, And wayward in their paths:
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;
17 That forsaketh the friend of her youth, And forgetteth the covenant of her God:
18 For her house inclineth unto death, And her paths unto the dead;
19 None that go unto her return again, Neither do they attain unto the paths of life:
20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, And keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, And the perfect shall remain in it.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, And the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.
You Must Hear the Gospel
Romans 10:17
You must hear the gospel and then understand and recognize that you are lost without Jesus Christ no matter who you are and no matter what your background is. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Before you can be saved, you must understand that you are lost and that the only way to be saved is by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:8) Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)
You Must Believe
Hebrews 11:6
You must believe and have faith in God because “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) But neither belief alone nor faith alone is sufficient to save. (James 2:19; James 2:24; Matthew 7:21)
You Must Repent
Acts 3:19
You must repent of your sins. (Acts 3:19) But repentance alone is not enough. The so-called “Sinner’s Prayer” that you hear so much about today from denominational preachers does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever told to pray the “Sinner’s Prayer” to be saved. By contrast, there are numerous examples showing that prayer alone does not save. Saul, for example, prayed following his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), but Saul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always, and yet there was something else he needed to do to be saved (Acts 10:2, 6, 33, 48). If prayer alone did not save Saul or Cornelius, prayer alone will not save you. You must obey the gospel. (2 Thess. 1:8)
You Must Confess
Romans 10:9
You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Romans 10:9-10) Note that you do NOT need to make Jesus “Lord of your life.” Why? Because Jesus is already Lord of your life whether or not you have obeyed his gospel. Indeed, we obey him, not to make him Lord, but because he already is Lord. (Acts 2:36) Also, no one in the Bible was ever told to just “accept Jesus as your personal savior.” We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but, as with faith and repentance, confession alone does not save. (Matthew 7:21)
You Must Be Baptized
Acts 2:38
Having believed, repented, and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, you must be baptized for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38) It is at this point (and not before) that your sins are forgiven. (Acts 22:16) It is impossible to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without teaching the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation. (Acts 8:35-36; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21) Anyone who responds to the question in Acts 2:37 with an answer that contradicts Acts 2:38 is NOT proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ!
You Must Be Faithful Unto Death
Revelation 2:10
Once you are saved, God adds you to his church and writes your name in the Book of Life. (Acts 2:47; Philippians 4:3) To continue in God’s grace, you must continue to serve God faithfully until death. Unless they remain faithful, those who are in God’s grace will fall from grace, and those whose names are in the Book of Life will have their names blotted out of that book. (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:5; Galatians 5:4)