For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. (Matthew 16:27)

In the scripture just before this one, Jesus and the disciples withdrew to Caesarea Philippi after many in Galilee rejected the gospel they had proclaimed. There, Jesus asked who the people said he was, and then who the disciples said he was. When Peter answered that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus told him that this knowledge could only be revealed by God. This is the confession that saves.

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

However, Jesus says that simply calling him “Lord” does not save us.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21)

These scriptures show three factors that must agree for us to be saved.

The first is the public outward confession that Jesus is Lord (or Christ or Messiah).

According to Jesus, this confession comes from God. It cannot remain only in our hearts. If someone knows in their heart that Jesus is Lord but refuses to confess him to avoid rejection by family or community, that is not a saving confession.

The second is a correct understanding of what it means for Jesus to be the Lord.

This understanding comes through the gospel, which comes from Christ himself. If we confess that Jesus is Lord but do not know what that means, our confession is not a saving confession.

At Caesarea, Peter got the first factor right but the second wrong.

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Matthew 16:21-23)

Peter rightly confessed that Jesus is the Christ, but his understanding of what that meant came from human thinking and was ultimately twisted by Satan.

By explaining that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and be raised on the third day, Jesus was preaching the gospel. When Peter said, “Never, Lord!” he was rejecting that gospel.

Jesus does not suffer and die in spite of being the Christ. He must suffer and die because he is the Christ. To be saved, we must understand what it truly means for him to be the Christ.

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25–27)

Like Peter, many people say, “Jesus died for my sins,” without understanding what that means. For the confession “Jesus is Lord” to be saving, our understanding of it must be according to Scripture.

Jesus teaches the gospel clearly in Matthew 16:21–27. In verse 21, he speaks of his death and resurrection; in verse 27, he speaks of his return.

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. (Matthew 16:27)

The third is our deeds. Christ teaches this in Matthew 16:27, and every New Testament writer is clear that Christ will judge us by our deeds.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. (Revelation 20:12–13)

Many pastors dismiss this by quoting John 6:28–29, saying that God judges only the beliefs in our hearts, not our deeds.

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:28–29)

But this is not a tricky riddle requiring additional theological explanation. It means our confession, beliefs, and actions must align for salvation. God judges our confession, our heart, and our actions. But when people base their understanding of God’s judgment on human thinking rather than Christ’s teaching, they misunderstand his judgment.

This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. (Romans 2:16)

Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:32–33)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? (Matthew 16:24–26)

At the judgment, Christ will ask: “Were your deeds in agreement with what you confessed about me and understood in your heart about me?” These deeds are a life of denying ourselves rather than denying him. Just as we confess or deny Christ with our mouths, we also confess or deny him with our deeds. Salvation cannot be separated from following Jesus. For Jesus, to be saved, we must deny ourselves.

This does not mean Christ is calling us to an ascetic lifestyle. He is calling us to stop serving ourselves and the things we think will satisfy us, and instead to serve Christ, who meets all our needs. He says this whenever he speaks about salvation: whoever seeks to save their life will lose it.

Anyone who comes to Jesus for their own benefit will lose their life, and their deeds will be judged as evil. Coming to Jesus to save yourself is like Peter confessing that Jesus is the Christ while denying what it means for Jesus to be the Christ.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Living for God does not mean accomplishing things for God. It means depending completely on Christ for all things. Your actions are no longer focused on your own interests but on serving Christ. It means saying no to your own goals, values, and plans—and to the goals, values, and plans the world has for you. It means binding yourself to Christ alone. This is not advanced Christianity; it is basic Christianity, and it is the meaning of baptism.

Christians depend on Christ for all things. The deeds that save are not things we do for God but complete reliance on God in all things. He does not judge us by how well or perfectly we do them, how eloquently we confess him in public, or how impressive and deep our theology is. Christ knows the intentions of our hearts and is sympathetic to our weaknesses.

When our actions deny him, he convicts us through the Holy Spirit. When we confess our sins, he forgives and restores us. In the kingdom, confession and repentance are received as deeds of righteousness. This is why we affirm that salvation is by grace, not works.

The deeds Jesus is looking for are deeds of complete reliance on him as we serve him alone. He is looking for our trust that he is who he says he is, and for actions that show we know he will shepherd, teach, and provide for us just as he promised.

These are the three witnesses that must agree: we confess with our mouths, believe in our hearts, and reveal through our actions that Jesus is the all-powerful Lord on whom we depend for everything. Scripture is clear that when Jesus returns, he will judge us by the agreement of these witnesses. Those who sought to save their own lives will be punished, and those who lost their lives for Christ will receive the reward of eternal life—God’s own life—as their inheritance.