I love in Paul’s letter to the Romans where he says that ‘If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved’[1].
Same thing as the apostle Peter preaches in Acts: ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’[2] And that’s talking in the present tense. He’s talking about something that is happening. Are you calling on the name of the Lord? Not, have you called upon the name of the Lord? Are you doing it? Is it something you’re doing now? Christians are Christians because of what’s happening in their lives right now.
And a Christian is someone who believes the gospel. The gospel message is about the Lord Jesus Christ coming to die on the cross. He dies on the cross because we’ve sinned, and God is angry with us for our sins. He wants to give us hell for our sins because he’s righteous, and that he also wants to save us. And he gives an option for everyone who trusts in Jesus, repenting of their sins, to have their sins forgiven so that Jesus is punished instead of you.
So, a Christian is someone who trusts Jesus, how Paul puts it at the beginning of Romans: ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ His faith is trusting. His faith is from first to last process. So, someone is a Christian is trusting Jesus. Looking to Jesus, following Jesus. ‘Come and follow me,’ Jesus says.
No one’s ever been put in hell crying out the name of Jesus. You’re crying out the name of Jesus. If you love Jesus, if you want to live for him, if you look into him, if he’s your hope, then you’re a Christian, that is what a Christian is.
And that can be confirmed to them in the church because the church is where Christians exist. That’s how the Lord Jesus speaks when he talks about the sheep and the goats. Those who are righteous sheep are those who are in the church. So, you’ll have confirmation that you’re a Christian when you’re baptised. So, talk to your pastor about getting baptised. When you’re baptised, you become part of the church. And it’s in the church that Christians dwell. And that will help you to be sure that you’re a Christian.
Follow Jesus, but don’t wait for a magical moment. Don’t wait for the fuzzy feeling. Don’t wait for a mysterious light to appear. Keep on following Jesus every day.
Repent of your sins every day. That’s the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian. The Christian and the non-Christian, they both sin. But a non-Christian doesn’t repent of his or her sin. A Christian does. So, keep repenting of sin every day. And not just repenting, but trusting in Jesus, looking to Jesus, going to him, making it all about him, loving him.
[1] Romans 10:9
[2] Acts 2:21
