Becoming A True Christian
INTRODUCTION
What do I mean when I say, “Christian”? Is it judgmental to make a distinction between true Christians and all who are not? No, we are dealing with TRUTH. You need to be sure that you are a true Christian (regenerated, born again, having placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive his/her sins and to save you for all eternity.)
THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST.
Simply stated the Gospel is that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, and He was buried, and He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you shall be saved. You have the absolute promise that whoever will call upon the name of the name of Lord will be saved (Romans 10:9, 13).
God created human beings, male and female. At the time God created humans there was no sin in the world and those first humans were themselves sinless. God gave them work to do and he gave them the freedom of choice. God clearly stated to them a very specific prohibition. Those first humans had a choice to either obey God or disobey God, but the disobeyed and with that disobedience sin entered into humans and into the world. Sin is any thought, attitude, word or action that is contrary to God’s character, will, commands or instructions. When our ancient forefather sinned, the immediate effects were separation from God, spiritual death and imminent physical death. (Romans 5:12; 6:23; and John 8:34). The human race was left without spiritual life and the fellowship with God was severed. Because of such spiritual death of the parents, they had no spiritual life to pass on to their children. All people thereafter have been born spiritually dead. Once physical life ends the person remains spiritually dead and he or she is also physically dead. God’s punishment for sin is death and eternal torment in hell (2 Thessalonians 1:9; Matthew 10:28; 13:42,50; 25:41, 46). God’s declared punishment is absolutely required by the just God unless that sin is paid for and covered according to God’s revealed requirements.
The omniscient God provided that there must be a sufficient blood sacrifice to cover sins (Hebrews 9:22). Since God declared that the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23) and that there will be no covering of sins without the shedding of blood, then in order to pay for and cover sins there would need to be an object of sacrifice to receive such death penalty and to shed its blood. Such object of sacrifice would need to be totally sinless and perfect in order to provide the payment of the death penalty and such blood covering for sins of others (1 Peter 1:18-19; 2:22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 1 John 3:5).
This left the human race with a terrible predicament. Because all people have sinned and come short of God’s glory, all people were already spiritually dead and they were headed for physical death. Moreover there was no human being who was ever born who could serve as the sufficient sacrifice to pay the death penalty for the sins of anyone else. All humans were therefore separated from God and there was absolutely nothing by way of human effort that any person could do in order to receive spiritual life or to avoid the death penalty for sin. Human efforts through goodness, kindness, beauty, strength, education, intelligence, power, position, philosophy or science could not and cannot achieve spiritual life or remove the death penalty for sin. God would never diminish His character of perfect holiness and righteous by allowing a person with sin to even be present in His heaven. Furthermore God’s perfect righteousness and justice could never allow any sin to go unpunished (Ezra 9:15; Psalm 19:9; 116:5; Revelation 16:5; John 19:30).
The all-wise and all-knowing God determined His perfect standards, and He determined forever the penalty for sin. God decided exactly how much and what He would reveal to humans, which is what is contained in the Bible. (Psalm 119:105; John 14:6; John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; John 16:12-13; 1 Corinthians 2:12-13; Psalm 12:6; 119: 37,50,93,100, 142; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 6:18). Everything God revealed in the Bible is true regardless of whether humans can fully understand it due to limited brain power and capacity (Ephesians 4:21). In other words, many things about God, God’s ways and God’s thoughts remain a mystery to us because God chose not to reveal them or explain them. Even part of what God did reveal we find difficult to understand. This is part of the results of receiving Christ by faith. You then have the capacity to exercise faith that the Bible is absolutely true. (Luke 24:45; 1 Corinthians 2:10-15).
This brings us back to the desperate need of the human race without spiritual life and without any sufficient sacrifice to pay the death penalty for sin. The perfection, righteousness and justice of God requires that He punish sin as He promised He would (Ecclesiastes 3:17; Psalm 89:14; Colossians 3:25; 1 Peter 1:17; Hebrews 13:8). None of the spiritually lifeless humans could provide payment of that penalty for anyone else. God’s infinite love was displayed as God Himself amazingly chose to give Himself in full payment for the death penalty required by God Himself.
As an act of amazing grace and infinite love, God the Father sent God the Son to be the Savior of the world (John 3:16). The method chosen by God is mysterious and wonderful. When God the Son took the form of humanity Jesus, in pre-birth human form was placed into the womb of a young virgin named Mary (Luke 1:35). That little baby had no cells of either Joseph or Mary. That little Person in the womb of Mary was Jesus Christ in the form of a living unborn baby. This was truly the first in vitro conception. In this case God the Father transferred a complete embryo (zygote or blastocyst) into Mary’s womb and attached it to the wall of Mary’s uterus. Thus the virgin Mary was indeed pregnant (Luke 2:5-6). In the normal course Mary gave birth to Jesus as a human baby (Luke 2:7; Matthew 1:18, 22-24). Joseph and Mary raised Jesus as their son even though Jesus was not actually the biological child of either parent. Jesus grew up just like other children (Luke 2:40, 51-52) with one important distinction – Jesus never sinned in any way. Jesus never sinned in his thoughts, words, attitudes or actions (1 Peter 2:22; Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21). While Jesus learned obedience, encountered temptations, pains and struggles, He remained without blemish. By the time Jesus was twelve years old the scholars, teachers and leaders were amazed at His understanding (Luke 2:47). Jesus grew and became strong and wise (Luke 2:40, 52). Jesus grew up the son of a craftsman who worked with his hands (Matthew 13:55). In that culture most certainly He learned the trade from His father and became a tradesman and businessman himself in his teens and twenties and until his public ministry started when He was in His early 30’s (Matthew 4:12-25).
At the right time Jesus left his business as a tradesman to begin His ministry as a prophet, teacher and perfect example for humans . BUT those were not the ultimate purposes for which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had come. Jesus came to this world for these purposes: to reveal God’s love for sinners (John 3:16) … and to call sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17) … ) …. and to bear witness to the truth (Ephesians 4:21; John 18:37) … and to preach the Good News (Luke 4:18-19, 42) … and to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:5, 9-10) … and to die to take the punishment for sins in our place (John 12:24-27) … and to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45; Titus 2:13-14) … and to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15; Hebrews 9:26) … and to give eternal life to Christians (John 6:51) … and to bring joy to the world (Luke 2:10) … … and to bring light to a dark world (John 12:46; 15:22) … and to bring judgment (John 9:39-41 … and to destroy Satan and his works (Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8) … and to reveal God’s glory (John 1:14). The reason Jesus came was to shed his blood and to suffer death to pay the death penalty for the sins of the world (Romans 15:8-9. Jesus Christ was in fact the Messiah (i.e. the Christ) which God had promised to the Jews many, many years before (Matthew 16:15-17; Mark 8:29; Luke 4:18-21; John 4:25-26). The Jews did not understand God’s teaching in the written Word which they possessed (what is now the Old Testament of the Bible). The Jews were looking for a Messiah who would be a powerful king of a human government and who would release the Jews from the bondage of foreign governments. The Jews had ignored or could not understand what the Old Testament plainly taught about the Christ coming to suffer and die and thereby to save his people (Matthew 13:13; John 3:10; John 8:43; 1 Corinthians 2:14).
It was only a period of about three and one-half years from the time Jesus began his ministry with the selection of His disciples until the date of His awful death on the cross. During much of that time Jesus was extremely popular. More and more people flocked to Jesus as He performed many miracles and healed many people (Matthew 4:12; Luke 4:14-15). The Jewish leaders hated Jesus Christ because he declared his deity. They considered Jesus’ statements of His equality with God to be blasphemy which was punishable by death. Even though the Jewish leaders could not deny that Jesus was performing miracles, such miracles did not lead them to believe in Jesus. Those Jewish leaders had hard and selfish hearts and they were filled with envy and a passion to kill Jesus Christ (John 7:1, 11, 30; 8:40; 11:53; Acts 3:14-15).
A small fraction of the activities and teachings of Jesus Christ during that three and one-half years is recorded in the New Testament of the Bible (John 21:25). Every account and record in the Bible is historically correct. Part of the recorded history of the God-man, Jesus Christ, is the record of the actual words of Jesus Himself. During His time on earth Jesus declared and acknowledged that He was the Messiah (Matthew 16:15-17; Mark 8:29; Luke 4:18-21; John 4:25-26), the way, the truth, the life (John 14:6), the light of the world (John 8:12), the bread of life (John 6:35), the Son of God (Acts 13:33; Matthew 16:17, 17:5; Luke 1:35 (John 5:25), the Son of Man (Matthew 18:11), I AM (John 18:58), the true vine (John 15:1), the good/great shepherd (John 10:11; Hebrews 13:20), the resurrection and the life (John 11:25), and the exclusive way for anyone to come to God (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). Jesus declared that if anyone would see Jesus they would see God the Father (John 14:9) and if anyone knew Jesus they would know God the Father also (John 14:7). Jesus warned clearly that anyone who does not believe in Jesus is already judged, shall never see life, and will perish with the wrath of God abiding on him. (John 3:18). In contrast is the GOOD NEWS : Jesus promised that whoever would believe in Jesus would have eternal life (John 3:16; Romans 10:9-10; Hebrews 7:25).
Returning to the historical record, the hatred of the Jewish leaders grew while the support from the masses diminished. While Jewish leaders were plotting to kill Jesus (John 11:45-57; Matthew 12:14, 26:1-5), one of Jesus own disciples, Judas Iscariot, was treacherous. He had fooled everyone except for Jesus. Of course, Jesus knew that Judas was not a true believer and that Judas would betray Him (John 13:2, 11; 18:4). Judas entered into a conspiracy with the Jewish leaders to identify Jesus so He could be arrested (Luke 22:2-6). That devilish plan (John 13:2) was in the works while Jesus was meeting with His disciples for the Last Supper (Luke 22:7-20). After Judas left Jesus gave very special teaching to His eleven disciples and led them in prayer. From there Jesus and the disciples went out to the garden (Luke 22:39).
As foretold by Jesus, Judas Iscariot arrived with an army (John 18:3). Jesus could not have been captured if He had not voluntarily allowed it (Matthew 26:53). Just before Jesus’ arrest the mob said that they were looking for Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus demonstrated that He remained in total power and control of the events when He said, “I am He,” and those very words from God the Son knocked to the ground that detachment of soldiers, along with the officials and Pharisees (John 18:6). Jesus instructed His own disciples not to fight (John 18:11). All of the disciples fled and Jesus was led away (Mark 14:46) to be mocked and ridiculed (Mark 15:7, 20), spat upon (Mark 15:19), Scourged (Mark 15:15), and beaten (Mark 15:19). There were a series of illegal sham “trials” of Jesus (John 18:12-19:12) Even though the Roman authorities could find no guilt in Jesus (John 18:38, 19:4, 6,12), they bowed to the demands of the Jews that Jesus be crucified. Pontius Pilate approved the crucifixion (John 19:16) of the One who was indeed the King of the Jews (Mark 15:2) and Savior of mankind (Matthew 1:20-21; John 1:28-29; Philippians 3:20).
The Romans laid Jesus’ body on a wooden cross (John 19:17), and drove spikes through His hands and feet (Mark 15:24-26; John 20:25-27; Luke 24:39-40 Psalm 22:1-2, 7-8, 16-18). The Roman soldiers then raised Jesus on that cross. There at Calvary Jesus suffered the most painful and agonizing form of execution. The arrest, the mistreatment, the mocking, the crucifixion, and ultimately the death of Jesus Christ were all in fulfillment of prophesy that had been recorded hundreds of years previously (Isaiah 53:3, 7; Psalm 41:9; Zechariah 11:12). Those events were also exactly as Jesus has prophesied and promised (Luke 13:33; Matthew 16:21, 17:22; Mark 8:31). That pain, torment and death was actually the fulfillment of the purpose for Jesus coming to this world. Jesus would not do anything to avoid the coming punishment and death even though He was sinless, perfect, and there was no crime or sin for which He should be required to shed His blood or suffer death (Matthew 16:23; Colossians 3:2; Mark 1:12-13; Romans 5:10; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 4:10). Greater than the physical agony was the horror and pain of the punishment for all sins being laid upon Jesus and the crushing reality of being separated from God the Father (Mark 15:34; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2; 2 Corinthians 5:21). On that cross God the Son shed His blood to be the covering for sins (Romans 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:7). Because Jesus had never sinned. He did not need to pay that penalty or shed that blood for His own sins. Jesus Christ was therefore the perfect substitute to take the death penalty for sins in the place of others (including you) (Romans 3:24-25).
Jesus voluntarily gave up His spirit (John 19:30). Jesus died (John 19:33; Luke 23:46). He was buried in a tomb (John 19:38-42; Matthew 27:57-60). On the third day Jesus Christ arose from death just as He had promised. That was the first Easter. Jesus was alive (2 Timothy 2:8; Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Jesus is alive today and seated at the right hand of God the Father (Acts 7:55-56; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3). After Jesus rose from the dead He showed Himself to His disciples and followers (John 20:11-18; Luke 24:34; Mark 16:12; John 20:19-29; John 21:1-13). There were hundreds of people who saw Jesus Christ alive again (1 Corinthians 15:6; Acts 1:2-3. With so many witnesses there could be no believable denial that Jesus Christ has risen in victory over death. Jesus had completely fulfilled the will of God and the very purposes for His coming to earth.
The resurrected Jesus Christ remained on earth for forty days after he was raised from the dead (Acts 1:2-3). Then Jesus Christ ascended up in the sky and out of sight as a crowd of witnesses watched in amazement Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:6-12.
Summarizing, Jesus had provided a way for people who were without spiritual life to obtain such spiritual life. By His death Jesus had fully paid the price for the sins of the world. By His death and resurrection Jesus Christ made the only way for people to be saved. By His death and resurrection Jesus established the exclusive and narrow way for people to come into fellowship with the perfect and righteous God Almighty. The death of Jesus Christ removed the barrier of sin between the Holy God and anyone who will place his or her faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ sacrificial death was the payment in full of the price of sin whereby Jesus Christ purchased believers out of the slave market of sin. Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death provided the means for spiritual life and a spiritual nature to every person who receives Jesus Christ. The work of Jesus Christ at Calvary was sufficient for God to credit the perfect righteousness of Christ to the account of any person who places his/her faith and trust in Jesus Christ. God created the only way for the sins of man to be forgiven and covered. The justice of God was satisfied. Jesus Christ committed to his band of followers His truth and the ministry and obligation to reach out to the entire world with the Good News that there is salvation and spiritual life available because of the completed work of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. Since that day Jesus Christ has been building His Church, which includes all true Christians down through the ages. Every person who has chosen to believe and trust in Jesus has been saved for eternity. Remember, it was Jesus Himself who promised that whoever would believe in Jesus Christ would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. True believers in Old Testament days looked forward to the coming Christ and were saved by placing their faith in Him. Since the resurrection of Jesus Christ there has still been only one way for a human being to obtain spiritual life. That exclusive way to escape the death penalty for sin is to receive Jesus Christ as Savior. The only way to have sins covered and forgiven is to come under that shed blood of Jesus Christ by placing your faith in Him.
To all who receive Jesus Christ, i.e. to those who believe in the name of Jesus Christ, God gave the right to become children of God. No one can see the kingdom of God unless he or she is born again. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ shall not perish but have eternal life. Whoever rejects Jesus Christ will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him. If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. Now is the acceptable time to receive Jesus Christ. Behold, now is the day of salvation. You do not know what your life will be tomorrow. If you put off receiving Jesus Christ today, you may not have the chance tomorrow. If you die without receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior, you will be separated eternally from God – you will go to hell forever.
QUESTION: How do I do that? You receive Jesus Christ by accepting the free gift of salvation He provides. You cannot work to earn it. You cannot be good enough to deserve it. God will never lie – God cannot lie.. God revealed His truth to us in the Bible. God has revealed to us the truth about Jesus Christ, including His reasons for coming to this world and His reasons for dying on the cross. God has revealed to us that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Jesus did it all. Jesus paid it all. Will you will believe and trust in Jesus Christ I challenge you to put God to His Word. If this is true, then surely God is great and loving enough to help you to understand. The invitation to accept Jesus Christ and thereby obtain spiritual life forever, cleansed from sin, and to enter into the family of God, is available to you for the taking. But God will not force you to do so.
Will you CHOOSE to accept and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior?
When a person receives Jesus Christ, it is the beginning of his or her spiritual life. Becoming a Christian is the beginning of a life of growing in the relationship with the Lord. The instant a person receives Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit takes up residence in him or her and for the first time in the life of that new believer, the Holy Spirit will be comforting, guiding, teaching and leading.
Jesus is standing at the door of your heart and knocking. He has promised that if you will open up the door to your heart and life and receive Him in, then He will come in. You do not need to clean up your life or get your act together before receiving Jesus Christ. Without the Lord you do not even have the power to avoid sin. Jesus is calling you to come to Him just as you are and to enter into a new life with Him. I beg you, on behalf of God, to be reconciled to God Almighty by receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior. Will you receive the Lord right now, right where you are?
Here is a simple prayer you could use as a guide in receiving Jesus Christ. It all comes down to your genuine exercise of faith. You believe in Jesus. I invite you to rely on God to help you, and now in the best way you know how, to pray a simple prayer like this from your heart to God. I beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God by placing your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior!
Dear God, I believe that the Bible is true in what it says about You and Your perfect justice and holiness. I believe that everyone has sinned and fallen short of Your glory. I admit that I have sinned. I believe that the punishment for sin is death. I realize that I have no spiritual life yet. I also know that I cannot save myself from the death penalty that I deserve for sin. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus Christ stepped out of Heaven and took the form of man in order to be the perfect substitute to take upon Himself the death penalty for the sins of the world, including my sins. I believe that Jesus Christ was crucified and that He died. I believe that Jesus Christ was buried and that on the third day He arose from the dead. I believe that Jesus Christ is alive today as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, seated at the right hand of God the Father. I take You at Your Word, Lord, that when I now call upon Your name You will save me and cleanse me from my sins. Therefore, Lord Jesus, in the best way I know how, I invite You to come to me. I receive You, Lord Jesus, as my Savior. I give my life to You. Thank You for saving me. This I pray in Your Name, Lord. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer sincerely from your heart to God, you ARE SAVED ! I recommend that you read again John 5:24; 6:35; 10:14; Ephesians 1:13; Philippians 4:19; 2 Timothy 1:12; 1 John 4:17 and 5:11-13. WELCOME TO THE FAMILY OF GOD !
If you prayed to receive Christ I recommend that you write down today’s date as the day that you were born again. I urge you to immediately find a Bible-believing church where you can receive instruction, support and Christian fellowship. Tell some people that you are saved and how you prayed to receive Christ as your Savior. Study your Bible and pray to God daily, and strive to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18)