How Do I Become A Christian?

This question has been asked over and over for many years. To answer this question, we must also ask, why do we need to receive Jesus? Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death.... This means that everyone has sinned in their life at one time or another and the payment (wages) for any sin is death. How will we ever get away from the death that is the result of sin? Romans 6:23 continues and says, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God has a gift that erases the payment of death for sin and that is “eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The gift of eternal life is tied to Christ Jesus.

Acts 16 tells us the story of how Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in jail for preaching the Gospel and casting out demons in Philippi. At midnight, the Lord sent an earthquake that broke off the chains on the prisoners and opened the cell doors of the prison. When the jailer came in and saw the doors were wide open, he assumed the prisoners had escaped and pulled out his sword to end his own life. He was responsible for every prisoner’s incarceration and he knew he would be severely punished and killed if all of the prisoners had escaped. From within the dungeon, Paul called out to the jailer not to harm himself because all of the prisoners were still in their jail cells. The jailer was trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and asked the question, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” In Acts 16:31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved— you and your household.”

When a person has an experience like the jailer, they become more eternally minded than they were in the everyday routines of their life. The jailer was made aware of his own mortality with his near death experience and wanted to know about eternal things from Paul and Silas. The answer he received was simple. “Believe on the Lord Jesus!” There was nothing else added to that statement to receive salvation; no great feat to accomplish, no attendance to church meetings, no special words to be spoken, not even being baptized in water. Being “saved” was all about believing in Jesus.

Romans 10:9-10 tells us “:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. :10 For :with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” The salvation and Lordship of Jesus in our lives is tied to believing in Jesus and that He was raised from the dead. Then we are told to speak that (confess) with our mouths. What takes place then is written in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.”

We receive the Spirit of God by faith and we are joined to Him to become a new spiritual creation. Eph. 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the messageof truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession— to the praise of His glory. John 3:16 sums it up by saying “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3 that to see the kingdom of God, Nicodemus would have to be born again. That is the spiritual transaction that takes place when the Spirit of God joins to our spirits and makes us “new creations in Christ.” This happens when we “believe in the Lord Jesus” as Paul told the Philippian jailer.

Receiving Jesus and the Holy Spirit is on the foundation of our faith in Him. Luke 12:32... it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 11:13 If you then, though you are evil,know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Receiving Jesus is a matter of believing in Him and asking the Lord for forgiveness of the sins you have committed in your life. Next ask for the Father to give you the Holy Spirit that you may be born again and become a new creation in Christ. Speak these things to Him as a confession of your faith and God will answer your prayer in the affirmative! Once you have done this, I encourage you to find a church or group of christians that you may learn more about Jesus and how He has plans for you as a new believer!