SALVATION
How do I become a Christian?
It's the most important question you've ever asked. If you're not a Christian, this might be the most important answer you ever received.
The first thing you know is that God created us with a desire to love God and a desire to be with God. But we people don't really follow God, as a general rule. The Bible, God's message to all of us, tells us that people fall short of the ideal that God is. Look at what the Bible says:
Romans 3:10 As the Scriptures say,“No one is good—not even one.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard
There's a consequence to not meeting up to God's standard:
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord
So what are we to do? We have missed the mark that God set for us and we deserve death for it? That's God's standard. He can't look at our sin. But He provided a way for you and I to be saved. You and I don't have the power to make that happen. We can't be good enough or holy enough. Here's how God did it:
Romans 6:6-8 6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Jesus Christ, who lived on earth as a perfect man, completely without sin, died in our place. We can receive his rightness before God when we accept Him as our Savior. But how does that happen?
1. You have to have faith that Jesus really was sent by God and really did die in our place.
You can read all about that in the Bible if you find the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. Faith involves belief in what happened to Jesus and you responding to that belief. That's what faith is. Look at what the Bible says:
Romans 3:21 But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight—not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. 22 We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.
2. You have to repent of your sin.
That's good old church talk for saying you're going to recognize that you are not up to God's standard in one or more areas of your life and you're going to make EVERY EFFORT to turn around completely and live as God has said. Here's what the Bible says:
Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord
3. You need to take your new found faith and tell others.
I know that when I found Jesus I just wanted to tell everybody I knew. You can do that in front of the church, or to all your friends at school or even just in your small group. The Bible calls this confession. Here's what Jesus said about this very subject:
Matthew 10:32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven."
4. You need to be baptized, or immersed, in water.
Baptism is part of God's saving process and is done for the forgiveness of your sins. But it doesn't mean a thing if you haven't already found Jesus. It's something believers do because Jesus commanded it, because it's part of becoming a Christian and the Bible says it ties you in with Jesus in a special way:
Romans 6:3 Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was.
Oh yeah. I didn't tell you Jesus was raised back to life By God, did I? It really happened. In fact, over 500 people saw him at one at one point.
Here's a verse or two that really sums up the saving process that God laid out for us. This is a statement made to a bunch of people who have just started to believe that Jesus really died for their not meeting God's standards and they have just found out that God raised Jesus from the dead. Check out what happens:
Acts 2:
36 So let it be clearly known by everyone in Israel that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified to be both Lord and Messiah!”
37 Peter’s words convicted them deeply, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” 40 Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this generation that has gone astray!”
41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church—about three thousand in all. 42 They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s Supper and in prayer.
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