What Is Required to Be Saved? Live Q&A for September 19, 2024

What Is Required to Be Saved?

I am a seminary student and in efforts to research pastors that I follow, I was hoping to get Pastor Guzik’s opinion/stance on the question, “What is required to be saved?” Does an unbeliever have to be a disciple (surrender all to Jesus) to be saved? Or can they just simply repent about sin/Jesus and believe the Gospel of Jesus?

Quick Answer:

Faith and repentance are the entry path into the Christian life. “Repent and believe” is the consistent call of the Christian life.

Mark 1:14-15

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

• Repent: to turn, to have a change of mind and action.
• Believe: to trust in, rely on, and cling to (not mere mental agreement).

That is the beginning of the walk of a disciple of Jesus Christ – but just the beginning. That same repentance and faith will be lived out in life as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Luke 14:25-27

Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Christianity is an evangelistic faith. We want people to come to Jesus. We invite all to come to Jesus. We speak to them all – rich and poor, young and old, people of all kinds in all places – you can repent and believe upon Jesus Christ.

With that in mind, isn’t it strange when it seems that Jesus is pushing people away from Him? When Jesus might say to someone who followed Him – or at least went with Him – “You – you cannot be My disciple.”

[26] He cannot be My disciple: Jesus clearly spoke about the kind of person who could not be His disciple. The word disciple simply means “learner.” A disciple is someone who is a student, a learner of Jesus.

Previously, Jesus said that coming to God was like accepting an invitation (Luke 14:16-24). Jesus was careful to add that there is more to being His follower than simply accepting an invitation.

[26] If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple: Jesus boldly said that the true disciple comes to Him without reservation, setting Jesus first. Other relationships are definitely of lower priority than faithfulness and obedience to Jesus. Without apology, Jesus demanded to have top place in our life. This was an audacious demand.

1. [26] And does not hate: Repeatedly in the Bible we see that Jesus founded a way of love, not hate. Yet Jesus used the strong word hate to show how great the difference must be between our allegiance to Jesus and our allegiance to everyone and everything else.
2. “It is only in a comparative sense, and not literally, that the term can possibly be used; and to make this very clear, Christ said that we are to hate our own life.” (Spurgeon)
3. Normally, being a follower of Jesus makes someone a better and more beloved family member; being a follower of Jesus doesn’t automatically divide families. Yet it certainly sometimes divides, and more so among non-Christian or anti-Christian cultures.

iii. The greatest danger of idolatry comes not from what is bad, but from what is good – such as love in family relationships. The greatest threat to the best often comes from second best.

1. [27] Bear his cross and come after Me: Here Jesus said to the great multitudes something very similar to what He said privately to all His disciples in Luke 9:23 – that being a follower of Jesus is something like bearing a cross.
2. This probably horrified His listeners. In the Roman world, before a man died on a cross, he had to carry his cross (or at least the horizontal beam of the cross) to the place of execution. When the Romans crucified a criminal, they didn’t just hang them on a cross. They first hung a cross on him.
3. Carrying a cross always led to death on a cross. No one carried a cross for fun. The first hearers of Jesus didn’t need an explanation of the cross; they knew it was an unrelenting instrument of torture, death, and humiliation. If someone took up his cross, he never came back. It was a one-way journey.
4. [27] Cannot be My disciple: Jesus made it clear that only cross-bearers can be His disciples. Therefore we sometimes may understate the demands of Jesus when we present the gospel. We can give them the impression that coming to Jesus is only to believe some facts instead of to yield a life.

We don’t “add” discipleship to our initial repentance and faith. Discipleship is simply the living out of that initial repentance and faith.

3. (28-33) Carefully measuring the cost of following Jesus.

[28] “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it; [29] lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, [30] saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ [31] Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? [32] Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. [33] So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”

1. [28] Sit down first and count the cost: In the parable of the tower Jesus said, “Sit down and see if you can afford to follow Me.”
2. God is looking for a logical, reasonable decision. He says, “Come now, let us reason together.”
3. [31] Sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand: In the parable of the king Jesus said, “Sit down and see if you can afford to refuse My demands.”
4. Jesus perhaps alluded to the idea that the work of His kingdom was like building and battle. Each of these are usually more costly than one thinks before beginning.
5. [33] Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple: We have a difficult challenge in understanding and communicating the gospel here; there are two extremes to avoid.
6. We can never give people the impression that they have to clean up their lives before the come to Jesus; that is like washing up before you take a bath.
7. Yet likewise we can never give people the impression that Jesus won’t want to clean up their lives with their cooperation after they come to Him.

iii. It is important for every potential disciple – those of the great multitudes that followed and heard Jesus (Luke 14:25) – to consider the cost of being a disciple of Jesus. Yet those who choose to reject and resist God should count that cost as well. What possible good can come from opposing God? It costs something to be the disciple of Jesus; it costs more to reject Him.

1. [33] Forsake all that he has: This ancient Greek phrase had the idea, “To say goodbye to.” Jesus told us to say goodbye to everything we have, entrusting it to Jesus.
2. (34-35) Given the demands of discipleship, don’t be a lukewarm follower of Jesus.

“Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

1. [34] If the salt has lost its flavor: Salt that loses its “saltiness” is of no use. A professed believer who through corruption or assimilation loses distinctiveness, flavor, or preservative value is of no use as a follower of Jesus.
2. [35] It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill: Salt is only useful when it has the nature of salt. A Christian is only useful when he or she has the nature of Christ.
3. (15:1) The reaction of the multitude to the strong call of allegiance to Jesus.

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.

1. [15:1] Then all the tax collectors and the sinners: Among the great multitude described in Luke 14:25, the most notoriously sinful drew near to Jesus in response to His strong words about discipleship.
2. The strong call to discipleship was consistent with the love of Jesus; it was the result of His love.
3. [1] Drew near to Him to hear Him: They did not necessarily give Jesus their trusting love and allegiance immediately; but they did want to hear more. Sinners and outcasts saw the love prompting the bold call to discipleship, and they responded.
4. People respond to a challenging gospel if the truth is spoken in love. We do a great disservice when we appear to soften the demands of the gospel, either for others or for ourselves.

We want something big to live for, something important.

Many years ago, a famous Arctic explorer put an advertisement in a London newspaper. This is what it said:

“Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”

Thousands of men responded to the ad. They were willing to give their lives to a big mission if a great leader called them.