Accepting Jesus
Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
How to Become a Christian
1. Recognize that you are a sinner.
Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.
1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
2. Recognize that sin separates us from God
Isaiah 59:2 Your sins have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you.
Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death.
Don’t panic, this death is not a physical death but a spiritual death. When we die, our souls will live on forever. This death is an eternal separation from God. The question is whether your soul will live with God or in hell with Satan? As Christians, we will live eternity with God.
3. Recognize that God has a plan to restore us back to Him
The bad news is that we are sinners and separated from God but the good news is that He loves us despite our sinful nature and wants to have a relationship with us.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
4. Understand God’s gift to us
Salvation then, is a gift from God. He offers the gift through Jesus, his Son. By laying down his life on the cross, Christ took our place and paid the ultimate price, the penalty for our sin — death. Jesus is our only way to God.
Romans 4:25 He died for our sins and rose again to make us right with God.
It is in the death of Christ that we really see God’s love for the world, or what is known to Christians as “grace.” The Bible tells us that God gives us the gift of grace for free, and it is His grace that allows us to find salvation. It is our faith in Jesus that guides us into accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. There is nothing that we can do to save ourselves.
Romans 5:8 God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
5. Accept God’s gift of Salvation
a. Admit you are a sinner and turn away from your sin.
1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
b. Confess and Repent of your sins
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.”
Confess means to:
A: Admit that your sin is wrong and that it is not pleasing to God.
Repent means to:
A. Turn away from your sin.
B. To be sorry for what you have done.
C. To promise not to do it again.
C. Believe Jesus Christ died on the cross to save you from your sins and to give you eternal life.
Romans 10:9-10 “So you will be saved, if you honestly say, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe with all your heart that God raised him from death. God will accept you and save you, if you truly believe this and tell it to others” The word ‘believe’ means to trust, to hold a firm conviction about. When God’s says believe with all of your heart, He is saying that it is our heart that needs to change when we accept Jesus as Savior. Our heart’s desire is to please follow and please God.
Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
D. Make Jesus Lord over your life.
The word Lord means one who has absolute power, absolute authority; the one who is the owner and master. When we surrender, we are no longer in control of our lives. We must remember that we are crucified with Christ. And the life that we live is not ours to live anymore. Walking with God is not a hard walk; you just have to let go and let Him lead you. Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit each day and walk in the reality that He will lead you, He will sustain you, and He will be there with and for you when all other fail. Take His hand and let go of this world (Matthew 6:24) and live your life for Him each day (Romans 12:1) Stop living for the flesh. Stop living for this world and start living for His glory. It is then and only then can we truly call Jesus Christ our Lord and Master. He is either Lord of all or not Lord at all.
Matthew 7:22-23 On the Day of Judgment many will call me their Lord. They will say, “We preached in your name, and in your name we forced out demons and worked many miracles.” But I will tell them, “I will have nothing to do with you! Get out of my sight, you evil people!”
Many times we look to a certain event or specifications that we go through as evidence that we are saved. We use church membership, water baptism, and other activities as reason for our being saved. Many people have been tricked into the fact that just saying a prayer is all that they need to be saved when the real evidence lies in your heart.
We can go through the motions and still not be saved. It is when we truly repent of our sins and accept Jesus as Savior into our hearts and lives and we turn from our past sinful ways and head in the direction that the Lord leads us in.
1 Timothy 4:12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.
John 10:27-30 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
So as you see, obtaining eternal life is more than just saying that you believe but actually turning your life over to God and doing His will.
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