1 My son, attend unto my wisdom; Incline thine ear to my understanding:
2 That thou mayest preserve discretion, And that thy lips may keep knowledge.
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; Her steps take hold on Sheol;
6 So that she findeth not the level path of life: Her ways are unstable, and she knoweth it not.
7 Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me, And depart not from the words of my mouth.
8 Remove thy way far from her, And come not nigh the door of her house;
9 Lest thou give thine honor unto others, And thy years unto the cruel;
10 Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, And thy labors be in the house of an alien,
11 And thou mourn at thy latter end, When thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
12 And say, How have I hated instruction, And my heart despised reproof;
13 Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
14 I was well-nigh in all evil In the midst of the assembly and congregation.
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, And running waters out of thine own well.
16 Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, And streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for thyself alone, And not for strangers with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed; And rejoice in the wife of thy youth.
19 As a loving hind and a pleasant doe, Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love.
20 For why shouldest thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, And embrace the bosom of a foreigner?
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah; And he maketh level all his paths.
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked, And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction; And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
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)