The Bible provides a clear answer to the question, “What must I do to be saved?”
First, you need to recognize that you need saving.
Romans 3:23 reminds us that, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We have all done things that go against God’s standard. The problem is what Romans 6:23 says, “for the wages of sin is death.” What we deserve for sinning against God’s standard is spiritual death which is separation from God forever. So unless we want to be separated from God forever, we all need saving. In fact, God’s system requires that we find someone who never sinned to die for us to take our punishment. Luckily for us, there is someone who did that – Jesus Christ.
So what do we do about this sin problem? Romans 10:9 says that if “you confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Clearly you must actually allow Jesus to be Lord of your life and believe that God has power over death.
Most of the world wants to believe that, if we just do enough good things, God will love us and we will get to heaven on our own merit. Ephesians 2:8-9 clears up any doubt about us earning our way to heaven when it says, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourself, it is a gift from God not by works, so that no one can boast.”
And as for God loving us more if we do good things, listen to Romans 5:8. “For God demonstrated His love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus sacrificed His own life for us while we were still rejecting Him and still sinning. How much more can He love us than that!