How to become a Christian
To become a Christian means to become a friend of Jesus. It means becoming a son of God. There is no greater privilege that any human being can have. The Almighty God who created the great universe is willing to become our best Friend; to take your life in charge and to make sure that everything that you do from now on, is good and perfect. He will take you and make you into a new person, one who is upright, honest, clean, dependable, and full of the joy of life.
How can you become a Christian? It may be that your life is full of evil. It may be that you are a thief, a drunkard, a fornicator, a deep and desperate sinner - perhaps even a murderer! Or perhaps you are not what people would consider to be a great sinner. Perhaps all you do is tell a little lie sometimes, or talk a little foolishness, or perhaps get angry and lose your temper sometimes. But the truth still remains that you are separated from God. You are still the tool of Satan. If you do not allow God to control your life, then your master is Satan, and you are a slave. You need to be set free from the bondage of sin. Only Jesus can do that. You have only one hope, and that is to give your life completely to God. That is, to become a Christian.
THE FIRST STEP
The first thing which you need to do is to recognize your true condition. You must learn that you are a SINNER! That your life, as it is now is displeasing to God. Even if you live a life which seems to be good in the sight of people, yet the truth is that you are only deceiving yourself, and others. Deep in your heart, the well of pollution remains and it will keep on springing up, because there is no real good in any person, apart from God. You must realize that you are in danger of the judgment. The Almighty God, who is your Friend and who is pleading with you today to come to Him that you might have life, must be your judge one day soon. You, and every other human being must stand before the great white throne to hear His awful judgment on sin and sinners.
THE SECOND STEP
The next thing you must do is REPENT. To repent means to be genuinely sorry for your sins and to turn away from them. Now, you might ask, ‘‘How can I feel sorry for my sins? Can I make myself feel sorry?’’ Well, you must find somewhere where you can think, and talk to God. Somewhere quiet where you will not be disturbed. Perhaps you may find some quiet spot in the bushes, or perhaps you might have to lock yourself in the bathroom. But it is important that you make the time to think and to pray. Do not run away from it. Face it.
THE THIRD STEP
The third thing you must do is CONSECRATE yourself to God. Get down on your knees. Humble yourself before God, the One who created you, the One who keeps your heart beating day by day. Get down on your knees and ask Him to forgive your sins and to take FULL and COMPLETE control of your life. Ask Him to take over your heart, soul, mind and body, and make up your mind that from now on and forever, the only purpose which you will have in this world, is to serve the living God. CHOOSE! CHOOSE THIS DAY, AND CHOOSE FOREVER! For, my dear friend, why do you want to die? Why should you live in sin and separation from God anymore? If you will pray with a true and sincere heart, then you can be sure that God will never disappoint you. All your life He has been waiting for this moment, drawing you to Himself and pleading with you. You will find that He will fill your life with peace and power. You will find the strength to do all the things which you could not do before. You will find the power to give up all your bad habits, because He who created you in the beginning will recreate you, a new creature. You will find that you have the power to resist your old friends when they invite you to join them in the old wrong deeds. POWER will be in your life. Yes! The power of the Almighty God. You do not need to worry about turning back to the old ways, for the One who calls you is able to save you to the uttermost. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will finish the work in you and make you into a new person. Pure, loving, upright and true. A true son of the Ruler of the Universe.
DECIDE NOW
My dear friend, choose now. At this moment while the conviction is strong upon you, make up your mind. The devil is present to snatch the conviction away from you as soon as he is able. Make up your mind now! Do not allow these feelings to pass away from you as you go back to the old dirty ways of sin. Act now! NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION!
(Source: Restoration Ministry)
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Surrender and live the new life of faith
Many are inquiring, "How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?"
You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can CHOOSE to serve Him. You can GIVE HIM YOUR WILL; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him.
Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding the will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians.
Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in your life. By yielding up your will to Christ, you ally yourself with the power that is above all principalities and powers. You will have strength from above to hold you steadfast, and thus through constant surrender to God you will be enabled to live the new life, even the life of faith. SC47-48
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Ye must be born again
In all who will submit themselves to the Holy Spirit a new principle of life is to be implanted; the lost image of God is to be restored in humanity.
But man cannot transform himself by the exercise of his will. He possesses no power by which this change can be effected. The leaven--something wholly from without--must be put into the meal before the desired change can be wrought in it. So the grace of God must be received by the sinner before he can be fitted for the kingdom of glory. All the culture and education which the world can give will fail of making a degraded child of sin a child of heaven. The renewing energy must come from God. The change can be made only by the Holy Spirit. All who would be saved, high or low, rich or poor, must submit to the working of this power.
As the leaven, when mingled with the meal, works from within outward, so it is by the renewing of the heart that the grace of God works to transform the life. No mere external change is sufficient to bring us into harmony with God. There are many who try to reform by correcting this or that bad habit, and they hope in this way to become Christians, but they are beginning in the wrong place. OUR FIRST WORK IS WITH THE HEART.
A profession of faith and the possession of truth in the soul are two different things. The mere knowledge of truth is not enough. We may possess this, but the tenor of our thoughts may not be changed. The heart must be converted and sanctified.
The man who attempts to keep the commandments of God from a sense of obligation merely--because he is required to do so--will never enter into the joy of obedience. He does not obey. When the requirements of God are accounted a burden because they cut across human inclination, we may know that the life is not a Christian life. True obedience is the outworking of a principle within. It springs from the love of righteousness, the love of the law of God. The essence of all righteousness is loyalty to our Redeemer. This will lead us to do right because it is right--because right doing is pleasing to God.
The great truth of the conversion of the heart by the Holy Spirit is presented in Christ's words to Nicodemus: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born from above, he can not see the kingdom of God. . . . That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit." John 3:3-8. COL 96-98
(Source: Restoration Ministry)
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The way of Salvation Simplified
Whatever we receive in the plan of salvation, it had to be something that Jesus first experienced. If he didn’t experience it, then we cannot have it.
God’s way of operating is the law of consequence. He placed Adam in charge of this world and whatever Adam did, the consequences would come upon all his descendants. So we are sinners, we are carnal, we are helpless BY INHERITANCE. Adam sinned and we all, by consequence, became sinners. Everything we are and have is what we received from Adam.
The plan to save man works on the same principle. Jesus became the second Adam. Whatever he obtained, we obtain by being joined to his life. So Jesus died to sin, so we can die to sin in him. Jesus rose from the dead, so there will be a resurrection from the dead. Jesus lives a life of victory and power today, so in him, we possess the same life.
Before Jesus came and lived and died as a man, God could, and did give his holy spirit to men. Elijah, Moses, Daniel, were all examples of men who had the spirit of God. But it was not the spirit of one who had overcome sin. In that spirit which they received, there was not a life which could SAVE. They could be empowered, but not saved. What we obtain today is the SAVING LIFE of Christ, the life that contains all the elements which we need for salvation, for victory over sin.
This is why the life of God alone cannot save us, it had to be the life of Christ, who became one of us and overcame on our behalf. When he was glorified, this saving spirit came, first at Pentecost and ever since, to all who will receive him.
(Source: Restoration Ministry)