It is clear that no one can save itself. We don’t know how. However, we have a savior who we can count on, no matter how horrible our sins have been. He paid it all with His sacrifice and at the end He said: “It is finished!” There is no better example than the one provided by Jesus himself when He was on the cross between two others: “Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying: ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us’. The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply: ‘Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal’. Then he added: ‘Remember me when you come into Your kingdom’. And Jesus replied to him: ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise’”.

 

This simple confession by a hardened criminal sufficed to obtain salvation. For your salvation pray with all your heart something like this:

 

“Jesus, I am a sinner and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead to show us that everlasting life is in You. Jesus, I invite You in my life to be my Lord and Savior. Thank You for loving me and forgiving me.  Guide my life from now on and help me do Your will. In Your name I pray. Amen”

 

Admit you are guilty - it is no one else's fault. You are responsible, and you deserve death for your sins. But Jesus suffered and died for your sins, so now that you admit it, realize the penalty, even though you do not deserve it, has been paid in full.

 

Ask for forgiveness - by admitting you are guilty and realizing that Jesus, although guiltless, went through a horrible torture to pay for all your sins, this automatically brings you to tears and ready to ask for forgiveness.

 

Ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior - you arrived at this point because you had to admit to yourself that you cannot make it on your own. You tried it all this time and it was as if you made it worse, it was like being stuck in quicksand.

 

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you with your sinful nature - you asked God to pull you out of your sinful predicament and you have faith that He can, but life is full of temptations. You need God, through the Holy Spirit, to keep you strong and to give you wisdom to vanquish sin, day after day, continuously.

 

Thank God for loving you - in this process your eyes have been opened. You were blind, but now you can see. Everything becomes clear now that the scales you had over your eyes have fallen. With this new perspective, there is nothing you can do but thank God for His amazing Grace! Welcome to the Christian family.

 

 

What Next?

You will feel a need to tell everyone how you feel and what you understand. But remember, everyone else has still their scales over their eyes. They are just as you were not long ago. Be patient with everyone, especially with yourself. This is the time to learn the word of God.

 

People will ask you questions, and you need to provide truthful answers. Read the Bible and memorize key passages that, in your mind, explain those things that you did not understand before. Join a Bible-teaching church, so that you get the support and prayers you need to deal with the unbelieving world around you.

 

You will be compelled to give. You realize that what you are and what you have is really not yours, it's God's. However, your duty is to give to organizations that will make good use of your donations. Before you decide on an organization, investigate how much of the funds actually end up for the intended recipients. Ten percent of your net income is a good measure to give.

 

Produce good fruits. Your conversion is a good fruit. Helping others understand the truth of God is also being fruitful. But remember, some sow, some water, and some harvest. You may not get to always experience all three, but all these actions are fruitful in God's eyes.

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Important Concepts

Catholic in Greek means “universal” and represents all Christians, that is, all those that believe that Christ is God, that He was born in the flesh, that He died for our sins, and resurrected on the third day, that He is seated on the right side of God the father interceding for believers, and that He will come again to establish His everlasting reign on Earth at the appointed time.

 

Evangelical means the Bible is the Word of God. As a result, evangelical Christians make up His church.

 

Reformed Theology - is based on the concept of justification by faith.

 

The Bible announces the good news because God views us as “justified” while we are all still sinners.

 

What does “justification” mean? It depends who you ask:

To the Roman Church - justification was based on tradition, that is justification is through baptism, or the infusion of grace. This introduced the concept of "mortal sin" which could only be forgiven by penance (confession, absolution, and works of satisfaction). This gave way to the infamous concept of the church "selling" penance for salvation. 

 

Reformed Church - is based on the study of the Bible, that is justification is through imputation, which is the transfer of grace from Christ to sinners through atonement, also known as substitutionary atonement, that is Christ voluntarily died for all our sins or substituted his physical life for our eternal life. Atonement means to amend, to make good. Grace is an undeserved gift. To receive such a gift, we only have to ask for it with remorse (repentance) for what we have done, but also with faith, believing that what was promised by God is definitely true.

 

Repentance is the change of mind, both intellectually and sentimentally. There is remorse and sorrow with true repentance. There are two types of "repentance":

• Ritualistic: associated with the religious life of a community

• Prophetic: which is the judgement of ritualistic repentance when it is not genuine 

Repentance must be characterized by a "turning point in life", a turning to God.

If we repent, we turn from something we know is not good to something that is great.

 

To receive grace, four things must be fulfilled in us:

• we must believe the Bible is the word of God

• we must agree with what is said in the Bible

• we must have personal trust in what is said in the Bible

• we must put into practice what is said in the Bible

 

The first two items do not save us because even the devil agrees with these statements. The last two are unique to real believers. The last two items do not happen overnight, it is a slow, tedious, frustrating, and sometimes demoralizing process. This is what Jesus may have referred to: "every day, pick up your cross and follow Me".