THE GREATEST DECISION you will ever make in your life is to receive eternal salvation of your soul by sincerely repenting toward God and truly believing in Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior so that you can become truly and eternally saved. Unavoidably, life is a journey of decision making through this space-time terrain. Whether you are great or small, young or old, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, religious or irreligious: your life is made up of a series of decisions you make as you go through this God-given space in a God-appointed length of time. As times goes by, seconds ticking away, minutes racing by, hours rolling on, each day, every week, every month, year in and year out—you are bound to make decisions as you encounter various circumstances and situations in your life. Some decisions are easy to make while others are difficult to make. Some decisions seem small and insignificant while others are obviously great and important. Some decisions you ought to quickly make them while others you should take your time before making them. Consequently, it is the quality and not the quantity of the decisions that you make which shall either make you or break you. Furthermore, of all the decisions you will ever make in your life, the single most important decision of them all is the one that determines your everlasting destiny. This is because, through this single most important decision in your life, God will help you to choose your everlasting destiny by convicting you and convincing you to once and for all renounce Satan’s kingdom of eternal death and darkness and there and then enter into God’s Kingdom of eternal life and light by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. Henceforth you shall be converted into a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved; be totally forgiven of all your sins; receive eternal life and forever and ever avoid eternal death in hell; be declared righteous or right with God by God Himself; and once and forever be adopted into the family of God as a child of God who is destined to spend eternity in heaven, the eternal dwelling place of YAHWEH or JEHOVAH God of the Bible—the one and the only true and the living God there is! It is for this reason that you ought to make this greatest decision you will ever make in your life today, precisely right now, if you have not done it already. Therefore, if that is what you sincerely want to do, then this is what the Bible teaches that you must do in order to make the greatest decision you will ever make in your life so that you can receive eternal salvation of your soul and henceforth become truly and eternally saved:

1. You must have true saving repentance toward God.
2. You must have true saving faith in Jesus Christ.
3. You must make true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God.

Strictly guided and directed by the holy Bible, let us closely examine each one of the above three things you must do in order for you to receive eternal salvation of your soul and henceforth become truly and eternally saved. To get us started, allow me to ask you this question, what must you do to be saved?? With all what Jesus Christ did to make your salvation possible as we have seen in details on THE GREATEST DISCOVERY webpage and on THE GREATEST GIFT webpage right here on this website, is there anything left for you to do in order to be saved? He willingly and gladly took your place and died on the cross paying in full for all your past, present and future sins. Then on the third day, He bodily rose from the dead once and for all proving that He had completely and eternally defeated Satan, sin and death for you. So, with all these unmatched, unparalleled and unsearchable exploits that Jesus Christ did to make your salvation possible, is there anything left for you to do in order to be saved? Or is the knowledge of what Jesus Christ did to make your salvation possible enough to save you? Answers to these questions form the backbone of this discourse in which I intend to share with you what the Bible teaches regarding what you must do to receive your salvation so that you can be truly and eternally saved.

Starting with the latter question on whether just knowing what Jesus Christ did to make your salvation possible is enough to save you, the answer is an emphatic no! This is simply because it is not what you know that matters but rather it is what you do with what you know that counts. Knowing all what Jesus Christ did to make your salvation possible cannot save you the same way seeing and knowing about delicious food cannot stop your hunger. If you are hungry, it is not enough to see and know that delicious food can stop your hunger. You must eat that food if you are going to stop your hunger and nourish your body. Similarly, knowing that you are a sinner in urgent need of salvation and knowing that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead paying in full for all your sins is not enough to save you. You must choose without force or coercion to receive salvation that Yahweh God is freely offering you by sincerely repenting toward God and truly believing in Jesus Christ who died and rose from the dead paying in full for all your past, present and future sins. Thankfully, this is the only thing that is left for you to do in order to be truly and eternally saved.

Remember as we saw on THE GREATEST DISCOVERY webpage right here on this website, God created all human beings with freewill which neither He nor Satan can violate. And even after Adam and Eve sinned against God and died spiritually, they still retained their freewill as is clearly seen in Genesis 3:7-13, where we see that Adam and Eve were totally free and fully responsible to exercise their freedom of choice and make their own decisions, although they made bad ones. Though each of their freewill was wounded, impaired and thus limited by the fall, it was however not erased nor rendered inoperative. And so it is with all human beings. We all have freewill, even though, each one of our freewill is impaired and thus limited because of the sin nature we all inherited from Adam. This therefore means that, you like all other human beings have freewill. And even though your freewill is impaired and thus limited by the sin nature you inherited from Adam, it is still capable of choosing what to do or what not to do. Unlike robots which are programmed to do what they do so that they cannot freely choose what to do or what not to do, you are totally free and fully responsible to choose what to do or what not to do. Now, one area where your freedom of choice comes in handy is in choosing whether or not you will receive free gift of salvation that God is freely offering you. In fact, this is the single most important use of your freedom of choice because through it you get to choose your everlasting destiny. Therefore, in order for you to be truly saved, you must exercise your freedom of choice and choose without force or coercion to receive the free gift of salvation that God is graciously offering you.

In a nutshell, God is the initiator of your salvation and you are the responder. Consequently, God is drawing you to Jesus Christ to be saved (John 6:44) but you are totally free and fully responsible to come to Jesus Christ to be saved (John 6:37). Also, God is freely offering you the gift of eternal life so that you can be saved (Romans 6:23) but you are totally free and fully responsible to receive God’s free gift of eternal life so that you can be saved (John 1:11-13). Moreover, God commands you to repent so that you can be saved (Acts 17:30) but you are totally free and fully responsible to obey that commandment of God and sincerely repent so that you can be saved (Acts 2:37-41). And to crown it all, God is calling you to believe and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of all your sins and eternal salvation of your soul (John 3:16) but you are totally free and fully responsible to believe and trust in Jesus Christ so that you can be forgiven of all your sins and thus be truly and eternally saved (Romans 10:9-10). In short, God as the initiator of your salvation has perfectly played His part. Now, it is your turn as the responder to play your part. As it were, the ball of your salvation is squarely in your own court. It is therefore your turn to play!

With that in mind, join with me as we carefully examine the following one and the only thing that you must do in order for you to be truly and eternally saved from the jaws of spiritual and eternal deaths which are threatening to confine your life to everlasting pain and suffering in hell:

YOU MUST CHOOSE TO RECEIVE GOD’S FREE GIFT OF YOUR SALVATION BY SINCERELY REPENTING TOWARD GOD AND TRULY BELIEVING IN JESUS CHRIST

While this is obviously easy to understand, it is nevertheless misunderstood and misapplied leading unfortunately to confusion on what really causes true biblical salvation as well as the means by which it is actually received by a sinner. However that should not be the case because the Bible does not leave room for doubt or confusion or even speculation on such an important subject as to what causes true biblical salvation and the means by which it is actually received by a sinner. In fact, a careful systematic study of the subject of salvation throughout the whole Bible makes it abundantly clear that the cause of true biblical salvation is THE GRACE OF GOD while the only means by which sinners can receive it is through their FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. There are hundreds of scriptures both in the Old and in the New Testament books of the Bible which state this fact in one form or another. In the interest of space and time, I will only share with you two of these scriptures which clearly state the cause of true biblical salvation and the means by which all repentant sinners receive it.

Let us begin with the scripture which expounds on the cause of true biblical salvation. While scores of scriptures qualify to play this role, in my opinion Ephesians 2:8-9 excel them all, for in one sweeping statement it states both the cause and the means of receiving true biblical salvation as follows, “8For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, less any man should boast.” With unparalleled clarity, this scripture starts by categorically stating that true biblical salvation is caused or made possible by the grace of God alone. In other words, true biblical salvation is the free gift of God which God freely gives to all repentant sinners out of His unconditional love, His amazing grace and His immeasurable tender mercies. This therefore means that it can never ever be earned, merited or deserved by any person no matter how hard or sincere they might try to earn, merit or deserve it. It is simply God’s favor to undeserving sinners. The second thing that this scripture clarifies is the fact that faith is the only means by which all repentant sinners receive true biblical salvation. And of course, that faith must be truly placed in Jesus Christ and Him alone as we are going to see later on. Some other scriptures you may want to study on your own which confirm that grace of God is the only cause of true biblical salvation include: Romans 3:19-28, Titus 3:4-7, Acts 15:5-11 and Romans 5:15-21. Therefore in summary, grace of God is the only thing that makes it possible for true biblical salvation to be freely given to all repentant sinners. It is thus an undeniable biblical fact that true biblical salvation is caused by the grace of God alone!

Let us now turn to the scripture which states the means by which all repentant sinners receive true biblical salvation. Of all the scriptures I could share with you, I have opted for Galatians 2:16 for it makes it plain and clear that faith in Jesus Christ is the only necessary and sufficient means through which you or any other person must receive God’s free gift of salvation in order to be truly and eternally saved. Here is how it states that truth in NKJV, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Inspired by God the Holy Spirit, Apostle Paul wrote to the churches in the region of Galatia reminding them that the only means by which all repentant sinners receive true biblical salvation, is through their faith in Jesus Christ. He reiterates the obvious irrefutable fact that no one can be saved by their good works no matter how sincere and pious they might be. Furthermore, he makes it clear that in order for one to receive forgiveness of all their sins and thus be truly justified (that is, to be declared right with God) he or she must have faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, the means by which repentant sinners receive true biblical salvation is by having faith in the true Jesus Christ of the Bible because He is the only one who took their place and died on the cross paying in full for all their past, present and future sins. And then on the third day, He bodily rose from the dead once and for all proving that He had completely and eternally defeated Satan, sin and death for them. Some other scriptures you may want to study on your own which confirm that faith in Jesus Christ is the only means by which all repentant sinners receive true biblical salvation include: John 6:28-40, Romans 5:1-2, John 3:14-18, Acts 16:25-34 and John 20:30-31. Therefore in summary, faith in the true Jesus Christ of the Bible is the only means by which all repentant sinners can and must receive their salvation. It is thus an undeniable biblical fact that true biblical salvation is received by faith in Jesus Christ alone!

To summarize what we have learnt about the cause and the means of receiving true biblical salvation, here is a quick and a memorable analogy for you. Grace of God is the “hand” by which true biblical salvation is freely offered to all sinners while faith in Jesus Christ is the “hand” through which all repentant sinners receive it and are therefore truly and eternally saved. As it were, God’s hand of saving grace is always stretched out to hold any sinner’s hand of saving faith to bestow on it the free gift of true biblical salvation. Admirably, this means that God does not discriminate against any sinner because His hand of saving grace is always stretched out to all sinners regardless of how much sin they have, how long they have had those sins or how grave and gross their sins are. However, it is incumbent upon all sinners to stretch out their hands of saving faith so as to hold God’s hand of saving grace in order to receive their salvation. This therefore means that saving grace of God is readily available to all sinners but it can only be received by a sinner with saving faith! Note that I am purposefully referring to this faith as the “saving faith” to differentiate it from all other kinds of faiths which have nothing to do with receiving of salvation.

That being the case, then the next question you might ask is, what does it take a sinner to have saving faith? Or putting it differently, where does saving faith come from? For the answer to this question, let us turn to Romans chapter ten and hear what the word of God has to say about it, “9That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. 10For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. … 13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15And how shall they preach, except they be sent? … 17So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:9-10, 13-15, 17). Courtesy of this scripture, we do not have to wonder or guess where saving faith comes from. It tells us clearly that saving faith comes from hearing the word of God. In fact, it goes on to clarify that God initiates the process of salvation by sending His word which a sinner must hear so that they can believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and as a result call upon His name to be saved. Therefore from this scripture we notice that in order for a sinner to receive God’s free gift of salvation, he or she must first of all hear and understand what the word of God says about salvation. Then he or she must make up their mind to obey what the word of God commands them to do in order to receive their salvation. To sum it up: a sinner must hear, understand and believe what the word of God says about salvation in order to have “saving faith” by which they must receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation of their soul and thus be truly and eternally saved. This truth is also reiterated in James 1:18 and 1st Peter 1:23, both of which declare that we are born again (that is, we are saved) by the word of God.

While every single word of God in the Bible is useful to generate saving faith, it is rather obvious that the word of God that a sinner must hear in order to have saving faith must at least include the following subjects: sin, righteousness, judgment, repentance and most important of all, Jesus Christ—the only true savior of sinful mankind. Once a sinner hears and understands what the word of God has to say about the aforementioned subjects, he will have two choices to make. He will either choose to believe it or he will unfortunately choose to reject it. If he chooses to believe what the word of God says about the aforementioned subjects, his faith, if indeed it is true saving faith, will begin with genuine repentance toward God (Acts 20:21 and 11:18) followed by genuine living and lasting faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 16:30-31 and 20:21) which shall then be expressed outwardly by a genuine confession that Jesus Christ is the LORD his God (Romans 10:8-13). This therefore means that saving faith has the following three inseparable facets. The first facet is genuine repentance toward God which marks the starting point of having saving faith as is revealed in Acts 3:19; 11:18; 17:30; 20:21 and 2nd Peter 3:9. The second facet is genuine living and lasting faith in Jesus Christ which is the backbone of having saving faith as is revealed in Galatians 2:16 and John 3:16. And the third facet is genuine confession that Jesus Christ is the LORD God, which is the outward expression of saving faith according to Romans 10:9-13 and Matthew 10:32-33. Notably, these three facets of saving faith are inseparably linked together in the following chronological order. Right at the beginning is genuine repentance toward God which prepares the heart of a person to have genuine living and lasting faith in Jesus Christ which is then expressed outwardly by a genuine confession that Jesus Christ is the LORD their God.

From the above observation, it is my humble opinion that the best way to understand saving faith is to examine those three important facets of saving faith as one inseparable unit in the chronological order they occur rather than as separate unrelated subjects. Using that approach, it therefore follows that saving faith can be described in terms of primary, secondary and tertiary dimensions as I am going to explain in detail throughout this chapter.

The primary dimension of saving faith which I will henceforth refer to as “TRUE SAVING REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD” is characterized by a sinner changing their mind about sin, self and savior. This happens when a sinner willingly chooses to change his or her mind about clinging to sin and fallen “self” and instead he or she chooses to turn to the true Jesus Christ of the Bible to be saved. This is what must come first before one can truly receive their salvation hence the name primary dimension of saving faith. The secondary dimension of saving faith which I will henceforth refer to as “TRUE SAVING FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST” is characterized by a truly repentant sinner having genuine living and lasting faith in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of all their sins and eternal salvation of their soul. This is what naturally follows true saving repentance toward God hence the name secondary dimension of saving faith. Finally, the tertiary dimension of saving faith which I will henceforth refer to as "TRUE SAVING CONFESSION THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD GOD" is characterized by a sinner calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. This is the outward expression of saving faith when a truly repentant sinner confesses Jesus Christ as the LORD their God and is thus truly and eternally saved! It comes last as the crowning proof that a truly repentant sinner has truly received their salvation hence the name tertiary dimension of saving faith. These three dimensions of saving faith are so important that no sinner can receive true biblical salvation without having each one of them.

Now, for the ease of understanding these three dimensions of saving faith, kindly picture them as the three main parts of a fruit tree. The first part of a fruit tree is its roots. Though they are invisible buried deep under the soil, they nevertheless play an important role of providing necessary support and nutrients to the rest of the tree. And so is true saving repentance toward God, the primary dimension of saving faith. It is initially invisible, buried deep inside the heart of a truly repentant sinner. But it plays a very important role of providing necessary support or foundation where the rest of saving faith is rooted and founded. This it does by stirring a sinner to change their mind about sin, self and savior thereby turning to Jesus Christ to be saved as follows. First, it stirs a sinner to change their mind about sin recognizing that sin is not his friend to love, enjoy and practice but is his greatest enemy to hate, forsake and avoid. Second, it stirs a sinner to change their mind about self: 1) recognizing that their good works cannot save them hence they must forsake their self-righteous attitude; 2) recognizing that their many grave and gross sins cannot make them impossible to be saved so long as they sincerely repent all their sins hence they must forsake their self-condemning attitude; and 3) recognizing that their sinful lifestyle is not inevitable or acceptable before God hence they must forsake their self-destroying attitude. Third, it stirs a sinner to change their mind about savior recognizing that the true Jesus Christ of the Bible is the only true savior he or she must believe in, in order to be truly and eternally saved.

Continuing on, the second and the largest part of a fruit tree is its stem, branches and leaves. It is the most visible part of a fruit tree which majestically stands above the soil clearly identifying what that tree is, what it is made up of and what its purpose is. And so is true saving faith in Jesus Christ, the secondary dimension of saving faith. It is the largest and the most visible dimension of saving faith which clearly identifies what saving faith is; what it is made up of and what its purpose is. It plays this role by stirring the heart and the mind of a truly repentant sinner to have genuine living and lasting faith in Jesus Christ alone for eternal salvation of their soul after he or she is fully convinced of the following two facts. First, that Jesus Christ is Yahweh God who came into this world in the human flesh as fully God and fully a perfect Man all in one person—the second person of the holy trinity—to seek and save sinners. And second, that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead paying in full for all their sins thereby defeating Satan, sin and death for them. Moving on, the third and the most rewarding part of a fruit tree is its fruits. Though they might be few in numbers, they nevertheless do display the product that comes out of that fruit tree for all to see, smell and taste. And so is true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD God, the tertiary dimension of saving faith. It is the most rewarding dimension of saving faith for it clearly displays the results of having saving faith: which is to genuinely receive true biblical salvation and thus be truly and eternally saved. It does this by prompting a truly repentant sinner to confess Jesus Christ as the LORD their God thereby receiving their salvation and henceforth becoming a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved. Together, these three dimensions of saving faith constitute the whole “tree of saving faith” without which there cannot be any true biblical salvation as is clearly shown in the figure below!

In summary, therefore, each one of these three dimensions of saving faith has to do with “faith” in Jesus Christ—the only faith that one must have in order to be truly saved according to Galatians 2:16. To begin with, true saving repentance toward God has to do with “faith” in Jesus Christ because it awakens a sinner to change his or her mind about clinging to sin and self so that they can turn to Jesus Christ who is the only true savior of sinful mankind and believe in Him in order to be saved. Likewise, true saving faith in Jesus Christ has to do with “faith” in Jesus Christ because it persuades and propels a repentant sinner to have genuine living and lasting faith in Jesus Christ alone for total forgiveness of all their sins and eternal salvation of their soul. In the same vein, true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD God has to do with “faith” in Jesus Christ because it prompts a repentant sinner to express outwardly his or her genuine living and lasting faith in Jesus Christ by confessing Jesus Christ as the LORD their God and there and then becoming a born again believer in Jesus Christ. This therefore means that these three dimensions of saving faith are intricately entwined together as one inseparable unit of saving faith such that you cannot have one without having the other two. In other words, if you have true saving repentance toward God, it will lead you to have true saving faith in Jesus Christ, which will in turn prompt you to make true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God and there and then receive your salvation and become a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved!

It is therefore self evident that these three dimensions of saving faith collectively constitute faith in Jesus Christ which (as Galatians 2:16 declares) is the only NECESSARY and SUFFICIENT means through which you or any other person must receive God’s free gift of salvation in order to be truly and eternally saved. No doubt, this answers the question I asked you at the start of this chapter on what you must do to be saved. And as you can clearly see from the foregoing discussion, the answer to this question is that you must have each one of the following three dimensions of saving faith in order for you to be truly and eternally saved:

• You must have true saving repentance toward God.
• You must have true saving faith in Jesus Christ.
• You must make true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God.

So let us closely examine each one of these three dimensions of saving faith with a view of helping you to know and understand how you can have each one of them in order to be saved. Let us start with the first one.

1) You Must Have True Saving Repentance Toward God in Order to Receive Your Salvation and Be Truly Saved

Before we get to what true saving repentance toward God is and how you can have it, it is very important that we first of all understand the meaning of the word repentance as is used in the Bible. The English noun “repentance” which appears twenty-four times in the New Testament is translated from the Greek word “metanoia” and it simply means to change one’s mind about something or someone. Repentance therefore means the change of mind about what a person has always believed about something or someone resulting in a new understanding and belief based on the truth or information which that person has now come to know, understand and therefore believe regarding that particular issue or that particular person. This change of mind is characterized by inward change that is ultimately accompanied by outward change which significantly affects that person’s attitudes and actions. Therefore, a person is said to have repented if they have changed their mind about something or someone resulting in a notable significant change in their attitudes, actions, and beliefs regarding that particular issue or that particular person.

Now, from the above meaning of the word repentance, we notice that repentance is broad in its scope for it includes any change of mind that a person might have about anything or anyone. This therefore means that whenever we talk about repentance, we must first of all specify what a person has changed their mind about and secondly what changes (if any) have occurred in that person’s life as a result of their change of mind. Considering these two crucial aspects of repentance, it is my humble opinion that repentance can be broadly grouped into two major categories namely true saving repentance toward God and self-serving repentance. For the sake of our discussion on what you must do to receive God’s free gift of your salvation, it is of utmost importance that you clearly understand the difference between true saving repentance toward God and self-serving repentance to avoid mistaking self-serving repentance for true saving repentance toward God as many people do. With that caution, let us first of all examine briefly what self-serving repentance is, before we can embark on a detailed study of what true saving repentance toward God is and how you can experience it.

Self-Serving Repentance

Self-serving repentance as its name suggests is that kind of repentance in which a person changes their mind about something or someone for the sake of protecting, providing, and prospering self but not for the sake of turning to God and the savior for the forgiveness of all their sins and eternal salvation of their soul. It primarily involves all those instances whereby a person changes their mind about certain sinful attitudes and actions and then he or she determines by their own might and power (sometimes assisted by the so-called counselors or psychologists) to stop engaging in those sinful attitudes and actions with the sole aim of having a better life, avoiding addiction to alcohol and illicit drugs, avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, having a good peaceful marriage, gaining great education, having a healthy body and mind, making more money, relating well with other people, gaining respectful social status among many other self-serving goals. Consequently, self-serving repentance leads to sober sinners, physically and emotionally healed sinners, educated sinners, financially-stable sinners, and morally upright sinners among many other kinds of sinners. But it never ever leads to forgiven sinners simply because while these sinners truly turn away from their sins (which is commendable), they nevertheless do not truly turn to God and the savior for the forgiveness of all their sins and eternal salvation of their souls as Acts 20:18-21 exhorts! As a result, self-serving repentance is a self-deceiving trap which causes a person to erroneously believe that they have been successfully transformed—to never again indulge in certain sinful attitudes and actions—while in actual fact their sinful nature remains intact and active so much so that it will continue to generate more sinful attitudes and actions day in and day out. This is what the word of God warned about in Jeremiah 13:23 saying, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard its spot? Then may you also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” In short, self-serving repentance is a hopeless and a helpless attempt to change the outward actions of a person without first of all disarming the inner sinful nature of that person which is the root cause of all those sinful attitudes and actions!

Since you now know what self-serving repentance is and why it can never ever lead you to salvation, it is high time we studied together what true saving repentance toward God is and how you can have it in order to be truly and eternally saved. As its name suggests, true saving repentance toward God is the only kind of repentance that can lead you to true biblical salvation. This is because true saving repentance toward God is irrevocably experienced when a person is convicted and assisted by God the Holy Spirit to change their mind about sin, self, and the savior with the sole aim of turning away from sin and self in order to turn to God and the savior for the forgiveness of all their sins and eternal salvation of their soul. It is therefore not a self-hyped repentance but a Spirit-led repentance in which God the Holy Spirit convicts and assists a person to turn away from sin and self so that he or she can turn to Jesus Christ to be saved and as a result produce God-glorifying life-long inner and outer changes.

Consequently, true saving repentance toward God leads to forgiven sinners. Yes, indeed, it leads to sinners who sincerely acknowledge that they are sinners both by nature and by choice in urgent need of salvation. It leads to sinners who are sincerely sorry and broken for sinning against God and against other people. It leads to sinners who acknowledge that sin is not their friend to be loved, enjoyed, and practiced but is their greatest enemy to be hated, forsaken, and avoided. It leads to sinners who acknowledge that their good works cannot save them neither can their many grave and gross sins make them impossible to be saved so long as they sincerely repent all those sins nor is their sinful lifestyle inevitable and acceptable before a holy and a righteous God. It leads to sinners who truly believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again paying for all their past, present, and future sins hence He is the only one who can save them from the penalty, the power, and the presence of all their sins. Finally, it leads to sinners who truly turn to Jesus Christ believing and trusting in Him alone for the forgiveness of all their sins and eternal salvation of their souls in order to become true worshippers of God the Father. Therefore, the ultimate goal of true saving repentance toward God is to turn a sinner into a true worshipper of God the Father just as it happened to the sexually immoral Samaritan woman recorded in John 4:1-42 who was instantly changed from a condemned sinner to a true worshipper of God the Father!

Due to the foundational role that true saving repentance toward God plays in the process of receiving true biblical salvation, it is very important to see for yourself what the Bible teaches and commands about it. Generally, there are three main truths which the Bible reveals about true saving repentance toward God. The first truth is that true saving repentance toward God is a mandatory inseparable component of saving faith. The second truth is that true saving repentance toward God is started and sustained by God the Holy Spirit. And the third truth is that true saving repentance toward God has three main elements. And these three main elements of true saving repentance toward God are 1) the change of mind about sin, 2) the change of mind about self, and 3) the change of mind about the savior. So I invite you to carefully examine with me these three truths about true saving repentance toward God so that you can understand each one of them. Let’s turn to the first one.

It is unquestionable fact that true saving repentance toward God is a mandatory inseparable component of saving faith. A detailed study of the subject of salvation throughout the whole Bible reveals that true saving repentance toward God is not an option but it is a mandatory inseparable component of saving faith commanded by God. Beginning with the Old Testament scriptures, we notice numerous examples of scriptures where true saving repentance toward God is clearly commanded by God in the context of receiving true biblical salvation. One of the scriptures which comes up head and shoulder above all the others is Ezekiel 33:11 which says, “Say to them, as I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn you, turn you from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?” In this verse, true saving repentance toward God is clearly commanded by Yahweh God who commands the Children of Israel to turn from their wicked ways so that they can have eternal life and not face eternal death. Another Old Testament scripture where a similar injunction is given is in Isaiah 55:6-7 which implores, “6Seek you the LORD while He may be found, call you upon Him while He is near. 7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” In addition, Old Testament scriptures give us many examples of people who experienced true saving repentance toward God and were therefore truly saved. For example, we have a record-breaking incident in the book of Jonah where everyone in the whole pagan city of Nineveh experienced true saving repentance toward God and were thus truly and eternally saved. So amazing was this repentance that Jesus Christ said, “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here” (Matthew 12:41).

Now when we turn to the New Testament scriptures, (which provide the fullest, clearest and the final revelation of all the subjects in the Bible), we realize that true saving repentance toward God is a mandatory inseparable component of saving faith. No any other New Testament scripture confirms this fact better than Acts 17:30 which clearly states that, “And the times of this ignorance God has winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to repent.” In the clearest and the strongest terms possible, this scripture makes it crystal clear that Yahweh God has issued a universal command requiring all people in all places and throughout all generations to repent so that they can receive true biblical salvation. Another New Testament scripture which gives a similar command is 2nd Peter 3:9 which warns, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” This scripture warns that a person must repent in order to be saved otherwise they will perish, which means that they will face everlasting punishment in hell. This implies that repentance is mandatory and not optional if a person is to be truly and eternally saved. And to take it another notch higher, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught and preached true saving repentance toward God as a mandatory inseparable component of saving faith by which true biblical salvation is received. At the onset of His three and half years of public ministry, Jesus made this call, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent you, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). And in the course of His public ministry, Jesus repeatedly declared that He came into the world to call sinners to repentance as is seen in Matthew 9:13, Mark 2:17 and Luke 13:1-5. And finally just before He ascended back to heaven, Jesus in Luke 24:44-48 commissioned all His disciples to always preach repentance along with the gospel to all people in all places and throughout all generations. It is therefore not surprising that all disciples of Jesus Christ wholeheartedly obeyed this commandment of Jesus Christ and faithfully preached repentance along with the gospel wherever they went. Peter preached it, see Acts 2:38, 3:19; Paul preached it, see Acts 20:21, 26:19-20; all the apostles preached it, see Acts 5:29-32; hence all true and faithful preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ must preach it. In summary, therefore, true saving repentance toward God is clearly taught and repeatedly preached throughout the whole Bible: not as a suggestion to be considered or a proposal to be discussed, but as a command of God to be obeyed if a person is to receive true biblical salvation!

The second truth that the Bible reveals about true saving repentance toward God is that it is started and sustained by God the Holy Spirit. This is because the process of disarming inner sinful nature of any unsaved person can only be done by God Himself. For, it is only God the Holy Spirit who can bring spiritual awakening to the people who are not saved through convicting them of sin, righteousness and judgment so that they can be saved. Jesus Christ Himself underscored this truth when He gave the following facts regarding the role that God the Holy Spirit plays in drawing unsaved people to salvation, “7Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on Me; 10Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you see Me no more; 11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:7-11). Referring to God the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, Jesus Christ revealed the exclusive work that God the Holy Spirit does of convicting unsaved people of sin, righteousness and judgment in order to be saved. This therefore means that no person can be convicted either of sin or of righteousness or even of judgment unless God the Holy Spirit does it. Consequently, no person can truly repent and thus be truly saved unless God the Holy Spirit convicts and assists them to do so. That’s why the Bible makes a statement like this one, “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1st Corinthians 12:3). But the good news is that God the Holy Spirit is always at work to convict unsaved people of sin, righteousness and judgment so that they can truly repent and thus be truly saved.

Generally speaking there are five major ways by which God the Holy Spirit does this exclusive work of convicting unsaved people of sin, righteousness and judgment so that they can truly repent and thus be truly saved. The first way is through softening their hardened hearts (Acts 7:51) so that they can be willing and able to find out what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about (Acts 17:11). The second way is through illuminating their darkened minds (2nd Corinthians 4:3-6) to believe biblical truths and historical facts about the gospel of Jesus Christ (Luke 24:32, 45). The third way is through opening their blind spiritual “eyes” (Acts 26:18) to “see” that they are sinners in urgent need of salvation (Psalm 51:1-12). The fourth way is through opening their deaf spiritual “ears” (2nd Timothy 4:3-4) to “hear” the still small voice of Jesus Christ calling them to repent and believe in Him so that they can be saved (Revelation 3:20). And the fifth one is through bringing into their lives many true born again believers in Jesus Christ to share the true gospel of Jesus Christ with them (Matthew 9:35-38 and 28:18-20) so that they can repent all their sins, believe and receive Jesus Christ into their lives to become their personal lord and savior (Romans 10:9-10). No doubt, it is through these five major ways that God the Holy Spirit generates spiritual awakening in the hearts and the minds of all unsaved people so that they can truly repent and thus be truly saved. In other words, it is the work of God the Holy Spirit and Him alone to start and sustain true saving repentance toward God in the lives of all unsaved people so that they can receive true biblical salvation and thus be truly and eternally saved.

Finally, the third truth that the Bible reveals about true saving repentance toward God is the fact that it has three main elements. These elements are the change of mind about sin, the change of mind about self and the change of mind about the savior. It therefore means that when a person changes their mind about sin, self and savior, he or she experiences true saving repentance toward God which prepares his or her heart to have genuine living and lasting faith in Jesus Christ. This profound truth is revealed to us in Acts 20:21 where Apostle Paul reminded the elders of the church of Ephesus that for more than two years, he had been, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Therefore, these three main elements of true saving repentance toward God comprising of the change of mind about sin, self and savior underscores the three main areas or subjects that a person must be convicted and assisted by God the Holy Spirit to change their mind about in order to experience true saving repentance toward God.

Regarding sin, a person must be convicted and assisted by God the Holy Spirit to change their mind about sin from a person who loves, enjoys and practices sin to a person who hates, forsakes and avoids sin (Isaiah 59:1-2, Acts 3:19 and Psalm 51:1-12). Regarding self, a person must be convicted and assisted by God the Holy Spirit to change their mind about self: 1) from a person who is self-righteous thinking that their good works can save them to a person who knows and accepts that their good works cannot save them; 2) from a person who is self-condemning thinking that their many grave and gross sins can make them impossible to be saved to a person who knows and accepts that their many grave and gross sins cannot make them impossible to be saved so long as they sincerely repent all those sins; and 3) from a person who is self-destroying thinking that their sinful lifestyle is both inevitable and acceptable to a person who knows and accepts that their sinful lifestyle is not inevitable or acceptable before a holy and a righteous God (Isaiah 64:6, 1st Timothy 1:12-15 and 1st Corinthians 6:9-11). And regarding the savior, a person must be convicted and assisted by God the Holy Spirit to change their mind about the savior from a person who trusts in a false savior(s) who can never ever save him or her to a person who trusts only in the true Jesus Christ of the Bible, the only true savior of sinful mankind (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4, John 14:6 and Acts 4:10-12). It therefore means that in order for you to experience true saving repentance toward God which will eventually lead you to receive true biblical salvation, you must irrevocably experience each one of the following three elements of true saving repentance toward God:

I. You must repent, that is, change your mind about sin.

II. You must repent, that is, change your mind about self.

III. You must repent, that is, change your mind about the savior.

Since this third truth of true saving repentance toward God is loaded with many details of each of the above three elements, let us take a closer look at each one of these elements, one at a time.

I. You must repent, that is, change your mind about sin

Sin blinds. It hides the reality of its destructive power to all the people who partake of it. It blurs the immensity of its immeasurable danger to all the people who indulge in it. It seeks to downplay the high cost it ruthlessly charges all the people who practice it. It conceals the unbearable physical and emotional pain it inflicts on all the people who indulge in it. It continuously belittles spiritual death which abides on all the people who love it to such a degree that they refuse to repent of it in order to be saved. And worst of all, sin tries its level best to hide as well as to deny eternal death which awaits all those people who stubbornly cling to it so much so that they unfortunately die in their sins having rejected salvation that Jesus Christ freely offers them thereby occasioning their own everlasting punishment in hell. And as if that is not enough, sin does not stop there. In addition to hiding all these heinous crimes it commits against unsuspecting sinners, sin endlessly promotes itself as the most pleasurable, refreshing, fulfilling, rewarding, and progressive thing there is for all people to partake of. Yes indeed! Sin presents itself as the greatest and the grandest thing there is for all people in all places to indulge in without any shame or any degree of measure.

And mark you, this is just but a sneak preview of the double-blinding effect that sin has on all the people who partake of it. It bites you while whispering to you that all is well. It steals from you while telling you that you haven’t lost a thing. It destroys your life while lying to you that your life is getting better and better. And to make the matter worse, sin slowly but surely kills you while lying to you that your life is beaming with vigor and vitality. This is the sad story of sin that is rarely told. But even when it is told like I have just done, the unsaved people whom it should benefit the most are unfortunately the first ones to reject it, ignore it and brush it aside as a none-issue. While this reaction by unsaved people is unfortunate, it is nevertheless not surprising. This is because all the people who are not saved find themselves in a catch-22 situation completely unable to untangle themselves from it. On one hand, sin has blinded them such that they cannot “see” all these adverse effects that sin has brought, is bringing and shall ultimately bring into their lives. And on the other hand, sin has lured and enticed them to believe that it is the most pleasurable, fulfilling and rewarding thing that they must indulge in and they cannot live without it. Sadly, this hopeless and helpless catch-22 situation as a result of double-blinding effect of sin affects all unsaved people without exceptions. All are affected by it albeit to some varying degree. Some to a high degree while others to a low degree. However, there is not even one unsaved person who is not affected by the double-blinding effect of sin to one degree or another just as Romans 3:10-18 confirms.

This presents us with an intractable problem to solve. To begin with, all unsaved people have a vicious enemy in sin. Yet they do not even consider sin to be their enemy just as Isaiah 59:1-2 laments saying, “1Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.” Second, all unsaved people have urgent need to be saved so that they can be reconciled to God and become true worshippers of God the Father. Yet they do not even see the need or the urgency to be saved just as 1st Corinthians 2:14 reveals declaring that, “But the natural man [unsaved person] receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (bracketed mine). Third, Satan has taken advantage of this unfortunate situation to blind the minds of all unsaved people against the good news of salvation. And yet some of them do not even believe that Satan exists. And those who do, they do not believe that Satan has blinded their minds against the good news of salvation just as 2nd Corinthians 4:3-4 declares saying, “3But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, less the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them.” No doubt, this is an intractable problem that cannot be solved by any human wisdom or any human effort. However, the good news is that this intractable problem is effortlessly solved by God the Holy Spirit who generates spiritual awakening in the hearts and the minds of all unsaved people thereby enabling them to truly repent so that they can be truly saved. For, as we have just seen in John 16:7-11 above, God the Holy Spirit is always at work to generate spiritual awakening in the hearts and the minds of all the unsaved people by continuously convicting them of sin, righteousness and judgment so that they can repent and thus be saved. And by so doing, God the Holy Spirit makes it possible for any unsaved person to truly repent so that they can be truly saved, if indeed he or she is willing.

This therefore means that the ball of salvation is squarely in the court of each unsaved person. For, every unsaved person is free to either yield to the conviction of God the Holy Spirit so that he or she can truly repent and thus be truly saved as it happened to 3,000 people on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2:36-41. Or tragically he or she can resist the conviction of God the Holy Spirit and thus remain unsaved as it also happened to the people who stoned Stephen to death recorded in Acts 7:51-60. That’s why I am pleading with you to kindly yield to the conviction of God the Holy Spirit who is right now convicting you in the following five ways so that you can sincerely repent and thus be truly saved. First, He is softening your heart so that you can be willing and able to find out what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. Do not resist Him but be willing to examine what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about, for if you do, you will believe in it (Acts 17:11). Second, He is illuminating your mind to believe biblical truths and historical facts about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do not resist Him but carefully examine the biblical truths and historical facts about the gospel of Jesus Christ, for if you do, you will understand and believe in each one of them (Luke 24:32, 45). Third, He is opening your spiritual “eyes” to “see” that you are a sinner in urgent need of salvation. Do not resist Him but humbly accept that you are a sinner in urgent need of salvation (Psalm 51:1-12). Fourth, He is opening your spiritual “ears” to “hear” the still small voice of Jesus Christ calling you to repent and believe in Him so that you can be saved. Do not resist Him but do as Jesus Christ is asking you to do right now and you will be saved (Revelation 3:20). Fifth and finally, He has brought into your life many true born again believers in Jesus Christ to share the true gospel of Jesus Christ with you so that you can repent all your sins, believe and receive Jesus Christ into your life to become your personal lord and savior. Do not resist Him but choose right now to believe and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ which all these true born again believers in Jesus Christ have been sharing with you and you will be truly and eternally saved (Romans 10:9-10).

Therefore, right now, right where you are, kindly respond to God the Holy Spirit who has been convicting you of sin, righteousness, and judgment so that you can repent and thus be saved. Remember, God the Holy Spirit can never ever force you to yield to His conviction. You are totally free to either yield to His conviction or reject it. However, be warned that God the Holy Spirit shall not always strive with you to yield to His conviction as is clearly stated in this scripture, “And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man” (Genesis 6:3). For, there is a day, an hour, and a minute down to the very second which is unbeknown to you when God the Holy Spirit in His sovereign divine wisdom shall forthwith cease to convict you of sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jeremiah 7:16-18; 11:11-14; 14:10-12 and Hosea 4:17). So be warned that you do not resist God the Holy Spirit one time too many! For if you continue to resist the conviction of God the Holy Spirit, there will come a time (like in the case of Judas Iscariot recorded in John 13:21-30) when you shall forfeit your last chance to yield to His conviction and commit unpardonable sin known as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit spoken of in Matthew 12:30-32. And having blasphemed God the Holy Spirit, then you shall be unwilling and unable to repent toward God and to believe in Jesus Christ so that you can be saved. From that moment, it will become totally impossible for you to repent and thus be saved. Hence you will have lost your chance of ever getting saved from the jaws of spiritual and eternal deaths which are threatening to confine your life to everlasting pain and suffering in hell! Tragically, if that happens to you, then you will die in your sins and face eternal death in the lake of fire known as hell for willfully rejecting salvation which Jesus Christ freely offers you. Now, as you can agree with me, there can never be any greater tragedy in your life than to knowingly plunge yourself into everlasting pain and suffering in hell while you can freely avoid it. That is why I am begging you right now, right where you are to sincerely yield to this conviction which God the Holy Spirit is right now pouring into your heart and mind regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment so that you can repent and be saved.

For, if you would right now yield to this conviction of God the Holy Spirit, then God the Holy Spirit would here and now help you to see sin for what sin really is—a raw toxic sewage—where you are unwittingly wallowing in day in day out even though it is slowly but surely killing you. As a matter of fact, God the Holy Spirit would immediately convict and assist you to realize that indulging in sin unhindered and unrepentant, is equivalent to wallowing hopelessly and helplessly in raw toxic sewage that is slowly but surely drowning you to death. This is because, if you would happen to accidentally fall into a sewage disposal pond, say, the size of a football field that is filled to the brim with raw toxic sewage, you wouldn’t be comfortable there at all. The sickening sight of human dung covering your body from head to toe; the suffocating smell of toxic gases; the deafening sound produced by this raw sewage as it repeatedly splashes all over your body; the unbearable poking and scratching of your body by all kinds of debris floating on this sewage; and the unpalatable stream of raw toxic sewage rushing into your mouth as you try to gasp for breath; these and many more other predicaments would definitely prompt you to immediately try as best as you can to swim out of this raw toxic sewage before it drowns you to death. No doubt, everything in this sewage disposal pond would be repulsive, nauseating, disgusting, and sickening so much so that you would not want to smell, touch, see, hear, or worst of all taste any of that raw toxic sewage ever again!

Similarly, if you would right now, right where you are sincerely yield to the conviction and the assistance of God the Holy Spirit to repent all your sins, then every one of all your sins of commission and omission which you have been enjoying and practicing unhindered and unrepentant for all these years would become repulsive, nauseating, disgusting, and sickening so much so that you would not want to engage in any of them ever again! Just as you would not want to smell, touch, see, hear, or taste that raw toxic sewage ever again; likewise (as it were) you would not want to smell, touch, see, hear, or taste any of your sins ever again. Consequently, you would be fully persuaded to hate, forsake, and avoid all your sins for it would dawn on you that your sins have not only separated you from God which is bad enough (Isaiah 59:1-2) but also they have made you an enemy of God which is eternally fatal for you (James 4:4 and Romans 5:10; 6:23a). Hence you would there and then become sincerely sorry for sinning against God and against other people. Yes indeed, godly sorrow which produces repentance that leads to salvation would unrelentingly grip your heart and mind just as the Bible teaches in 2nd Corinthians 7:10. As a result, this godly sorrow would right away lead you to repent, that is, to irrevocably change your mind about all your sins from a person who used to love, enjoy, and practice all those sins to a person who now hates, forsakes, and avoids all those sins. Notably, your change of mind about all your sins would be so firm and so final such that you would irrevocably acknowledge that sin (and any sin for that matter) is not your friend to be loved, enjoyed, and practiced but is your greatest enemy to be hated, forsaken, and avoided. As a result, you would right there and then admit that you are a sinner both by nature and by choice in urgent need of salvation from the penalty, the power, and the presence of all your sins as matter of great, great urgency!

And once God the Holy Spirit has convicted and assisted you to see sin for what sin really is, then you would be totally convinced that sin is painful, costly, destructive, and above all eternally fatal even though on the surface and for the moment it looks attractive, sounds irresistible, and feels enjoyable. As a result, you would once and forever make up your mind to deal with sin in the following three ways. First, to always hate sin for what sin really is: a raw toxic sewage which is slowly but surely killing you. Second, to always forsake sin for what sin blocks: eternal life which God the Father freely offers you. And third, to always avoid sin for what sin brings: eternal death which is the everlasting pain and suffering in hell for rejecting salvation which God freely offers you. As it were, you would right away accept that you are sick of an eternally fatal disease known as sin. And unlike all your previous encounters with sin when you did not see anything wrong or destructive about engaging in any sin, this time round you would be convinced that sin is an eternal fatal disease which you must receive its right treatment and permanent cure without further delay. Hence you won’t hesitate to rush to the holy Bible seeking treatment and cure for this eternal fatal disease of sin. Moreover, while you are there in the holy Bible which is the only “hospital” that treats and cures all sins, you will be eager and ready to be thoroughly examined, undergo all the tests, pay all the cost, and take any “medicine” which will be prescribed to you there. And the end result will be that for the very first time in your life, you will be treated by God the Holy Spirit—a “doctor” like no other who would diagnose your eternally fatal disease as sin. And then He would prescribe Jesus Christ as the only “perfect cure” of this disease of sin because He took your place on the cross where He died and then rose from the dead paying in full for all your sins thereby making your salvation possible, if only you would repent all your sins and believe in Him!

Is this what has happened to you? I hope so. I hope that by now you must have truly and irrevocably repented, that is, changed your mind about all your sins thereby acknowledging that sin (and any sin for that matter) is not your friend to be loved, enjoyed, and practiced but is your greatest enemy to be hated, forsaken, and avoided. If that is the case, let us now examine the following second element of true saving repentance toward God which you must also truly and irrevocably experience in order for you to receive true biblical salvation:

II. You Must Repent, That Is, Change Your Mind About Self

Self is your own being, nature, and personality that is usually and simply expressed by the pronouns I, me, and myself. Due to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, every “self” is tainted by the sin nature that a person inherits from Adam. Consequently, self seeks its own independence; its own advantage; its own destiny; and most important of all, self seeks absolute control over your life. It is because of this last pursuit of seeking absolute control over your life that self finds itself on a head-on collision with the plan of God for your life. This is because self seeks to sit on the throne of your life: ruling and reigning, guiding and directing, dominating and controlling your life contrary to the will of God. However, the throne of your life belongs to Yahweh God and Him alone due to the fact that He is the one who created you in addition to the fact that He is the one who sustains you alive all the days of your life. It therefore goes without saying that Yahweh God—the only true and the living God there is—is the only one who deserves to sit on the throne of your life ruling and reigning, guiding and directing, leading and controlling your life. Ignoring that fact, however, self openly and regularly usurps God’s power and authority over your life adopting a slogan of life that goes something like this: “I am the master of my own destiny, the captain of the ship of my own life, the pilot of the plane of my own life and the driver of the vehicle of my own life. Therefore I always pursue self-esteem and self-love so that I can attain self-actualization by always living to please ‘I, me and myself’ all the days of my life!” It is this selfish independent attitude that makes self a dangerous rival “god” to Yahweh God because of attempting to govern your life independent of Yahweh God who should. That’s why, with these clear and firm words regarding self, Jesus Christ categorically stated that one must deny self in order to become His disciple, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). In other words, self must be denied its usurped rule and reign over your life if indeed you are to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, when it comes to receiving true biblical salvation, you must repent or rather change your mind about self. This is because self has a tendency to act as a rival “god” to Yahweh God unless it is totally submitted to Yahweh God so that God can have absolute rule and reign over who you are (body, soul, and spirit), what you have (material and immaterial possessions), and what you do (occupation, vocation, or vacation). So in order for you to receive true biblical salvation and thus be truly and eternally saved, self must submit to Yahweh God so that God the Holy Spirit can have absolute access, rule, and reign over your dead spirit so that He can infuse it with everlasting life, seal it, and then permanently indwell it in order for you to be born again and become a child of God. In short, you cannot be saved unless self has totally surrendered your dead spirit to Yahweh God for regeneration as is clearly taught in Ephesians 1:13-14, Romans 8:9-11, John 1:12-13; 3:3-8; 4:23-24 cf. Ezekiel 36:26-27 among other scriptures. This is the reason why it is mandatory for you to change your mind about self in the process of receiving true biblical salvation. Moreover, once you have truly experienced the first element of true saving repentance toward God and have changed your mind about all your sins, then you will realize that self is the next obstacle that can delay or altogether stop you from receiving true biblical salvation.

In fact, there are three ways by which self can delay or worst of all stop you from receiving true biblical salvation. The first way is through self-righteous attitude by which self deceives you to think that your good works can save you. In this case, self deceives you to believe that you have done too much good works to earn as well as merit eternal salvation of your soul. The second way is through self-condemning attitude by which self deceives you to think that your many grave and gross sins have made you impossible to be saved. In other words, self deceives you to believe that you have committed too many grave and gross sins to such an extent that even Yahweh God with all His love, grace, and mercy cannot save you. Sadly, this eventuates in you believing that you have gone too far away from God to be saved. And the third way is through self-destroying attitude by which self deceives you to believe that your sinful lifestyle is both inevitable and acceptable. In this case, self deceives you to think and believe that some of your sins are inevitable and must therefore be accepted as an alternative lifestyle that you are to be proud of but not as evil and wickedness which you must repent of so that you can be saved.

Of these three selfish independent attitudes, it will surprise you to learn that self-righteous attitude is the greatest obstacle to receiving true biblical salvation. Unlike a person with self-condemning attitude or even self-destroying attitude, a person with self-righteous attitude does not see or sense the need to be saved. He or she feels and believes that they have done too much good works to earn them eternal salvation of their soul. Consequently, they abhor and shun the grace of God. That is, they hate the fact that salvation is a free gift of God that can only be received through faith that is placed in Jesus Christ and Him alone! Hence they despise and reject God’s free gift of salvation because in their own estimation they believe that they have done enough good works to earn, merit, and deserve them eternal salvation of their soul.

Whether or not you have this self-righteous attitude, I do not know. But if you have it, you will mentally harbor or even verbally express sentiments like these ones. What do you mean that I am not good enough to be saved? Compared to other people I am a good person. Surely, you cannot equate me with other people especially those shameless horrible sinners. I lead an honest transparent life. I try my level best to keep all the Ten Commandments. I am a teetotaler. I am not an immoral person but a sexually pure person. I live my life guided by the golden rule whereby I do to others what I would like them to do to me. And by the way, I am a philanthropist; hence I do regularly and generously give lots of my monies to charities. To that end, I give financial help to widows, orphans, homeless, and poor people. And as for religious matters, I am number one. I do observe all religious ordinances: for I am baptized in water and I do regularly partake of Holy Communion, etc. I rest from work for one whole day after every six days of work. I strictly follow the dietary rules prescribed in the Bible. I promptly and dutifully pay my tithe in support of the work of God. And on daily basis, I spend long hours reading the Bible as well as praying to God. Surely, all these good works and many more that I have done must have earned me eternal salvation of my soul. In fact, I believe that these good works must have procured for me not just a place in heaven but a front seat before the throne of God in heaven! So then, how can you dare say that I am not good enough to be saved by my good works? Surely, God cannot ignore all these good works that I have done. Can He? I sure believe He can’t!

Now, even if you have this kind of self-righteous attitude, the moment you truly yield to the conviction of God the Holy Spirit, then God the Holy Spirit would convict and assist you to see self-righteousness for what it really is—a well-crafted lie of Satan, the enemy of your soul—to keep you religious but not saved. Indeed, God the Holy Spirit would immediately convict and assist you to clearly see the blinding effect that self-righteousness has had on your life for all these years. For, immediately you would realize that in the eyes of a holy and righteous God, you are a hopeless and helpless sinner just like any other sinner. Though you might not be indulging in grave and gross sins like other sinners, you nevertheless do sin by your own thoughts, words, and deeds, in addition to the undeniable fact that you have a sin nature which you inherited from Adam.

To understand it, compare and contrast yourself with another sinner in a large “ocean” of sins. Though as a self-righteous sinner you are at the very edge of this ocean where “waters” of sins are barely touching your ankles, while the other sinner is sunk in the middle of this ocean covered from head to toe by these “waters” of sins, the fact of the matter is that both of you are touching these same “waters” of sins and are therefore sinners in need of salvation. And to crown it all, God the Holy Spirit would use the following two scriptures to completely dash any hopes you might have of ever being saved by your good works. The first scripture is Romans 3:10-12, 23 which says, “10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. 12They are all gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one. … 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Through this scripture, God the Holy Spirit would show you that even though you have done good works, they are not good enough to save you simply because you are still tainted by your own sins as well as the sin nature, both of which render your good works helpless to save you.

And the second scripture is Isaiah 64:6 which says, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” As the final nail in the coffin of your own self-righteousness, God the Holy Spirit would use this scripture to once and for all convince you that before a holy and righteous God: all your self-righteousnesses are nothing more than filthy maggot-ridden rags which are worthless and helpless to save you!

And once God the Holy Spirit convicts and assists you to see self-righteousness in that light, then you would truly and irrevocably change your mind about self-righteousness and accept the undeniable fact that there is no amount of good work that you have done, are doing, or will ever do which can earn, merit, or deserve you eternal salvation of your soul. As a result, you will henceforth make up your mind to abandon once and forever your own self-righteousness as a means to be saved so that you can receive the righteousness of God which Jesus Christ is freely offering you according to Isaiah 61:10 read together with Romans 3:21-26. Is this what has happened to you? I hope so. For by now, I hope that God the Holy Spirit has convicted and assisted you to irrevocably change your mind about self-righteousness from a person who used to think that your good works could have saved you to a person who now knows and accepts that your good works can never save you.

Next, let us see the self-condemning attitude which is another obstacle that can stop you from receiving true biblical salvation. A person with a self-condemning attitude believes and feels that he or she cannot be saved. He or she believes that they have committed too many grave and gross sins to such an extent that even Yahweh God with all His love, grace, and mercy cannot save them. Hence they erroneously believe that they have gone too far away from God to be saved. Sadly, people with a self-condemning attitude pierce their souls with a double-edged sword which cuts them in two ways. On one hand, this self-condemning attitude drives them deeper and deeper into graver and grosser sins as they continue to lose hope of ever getting saved. And on the other hand, this same self-condemning attitude drives them farther and farther away from God, fearing to draw close to Him. The end result is that most of these people attempt or end up committing suicide hoping to end all these frustrations of guilt and condemnation they are having because of all their sins. But by committing suicide, they unfortunately jump unsaved from a frying pan of troubles here on earth into the everlasting fire in hell itself.

As for whether or not you have this self-condemning attitude, I do not know. But if you have it, you will no doubt be asking yourself questions like these: Can such a horrible sinner like me be saved? Can God forgive me, a serial killer, a mass murderer, a terrorist who has knowingly and brutally killed countless innocent people? Can God forgive a horrible sinner like me who knowingly aborted—not once, but several times, killing innocent babies in my womb? Can a prostitute like me be forgiven of all my sins after I have ruined so many marriages? Can God forgive an adulterer or adulteress like me who has been unfaithful to my spouse to the extent of infecting him or her with incurable STDs? Can a violent robber-cum-rapist like me be forgiven of all my sins considering all the pain and suffering I have inflicted on so many people? Can God forgive a person like me who is involved in unnatural, deviant, grave, and gross sin such as homosexuality, lesbianism, or even bestiality? And of all sinners, can a holy and just God forgive me after I have planned and participated in astrology, divination, extra spiritual projection, fortune-telling, magic, necromancy, sorcery, witchcraft, wizardry, and satanic worship? Surely, God can never forgive me for all these grave and gross sins I have committed openly and some of them secretly! Can He? I sure believe He can’t!

Regardless of how strongly entrenched your self-condemning attitude is, the moment you truly yield to the conviction of God the Holy Spirit, then God the Holy Spirit would immediately convict and assist you to realize that self-condemning attitude is nothing but—another well crafted lie of Satan the enemy of your soul—to haunt you with guilt and condemnation because of all your grave and gross sins so that you can give up on salvation erroneously believing that God can never forgive and save a sinner like you. As a matter of fact, God the Holy Spirit would immediately convict and assist you to understand and believe that when Jesus Christ died and rose again, He paid in full for all your past, present and future sins regardless of how many sins they were or how grave and gross those sins were. Among the scores of scriptures which would finally nail this truth home in your heart is 1st John 2:1-2 which says, “1My little children, these things write I to you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” As the propitiation for all our sins, Jesus Christ completely satisfied the full wrath of God for all our sins because He took our place and died for each one of them on the cross paying all our sin debt in full. This therefore means that no matter who you are: whether you are an inventor of grave and gross sins, or a promoter of grave and gross sins or even a consumer of grave and gross sins; if you sincerely repent all your sins and truly believe in Jesus Christ, there and then you will be truly and eternally saved just like all other repentant sinners are saved. That’s why Yahweh God gives this unbreakable blessed assurance of total forgiveness of all sins to any and every repentant sinner who comes to Him regardless of how grave or gross his or her sins are, “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). And to permanently imprint this truth on your heart, consider this testimony of Apostle Paul, “12And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; 13Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief” (1st Timothy 1:12-13). If Jesus Christ readily forgave Saul of Tarsus who viciously persecuted His church and went on to make him one of His most faithful and fruitful disciple, how much more is He willing to forgive you (regardless of how grave and gross your sins are) if only you would sincerely repent all your sins and truly believe in Him!

And once you are convicted and assisted by God the Holy Spirit to understand that self-condemning attitude is a tactic of Satan to stop you from seeking God’s forgiveness for all your sins, then you would truly and irrevocably change your mind about self-condemning attitude and accept the fact that no matter what you have done or not done, you too can be saved if you would sincerely repent all your sins and truly believe in Jesus Christ. As a result, you would make up your mind to once and for all abandon self-condemning attitude and instead receive grace of God graciously knowing full well that eternal salvation of your soul is a free gift from God that you can never ever deserve or merit to be given. Is this what has happened to you? I hope so. For by now, I hope that God the Holy Spirit has convicted and assisted you to irrevocably change your mind about self-condemning attitude from a person who used to think that your many grave and gross sins had made you impossible to be saved to a person who now knows and accepts that your many grave and gross sins cannot make you impossible to be saved so long as you sincerely repent all your sins and truly believe in Jesus Christ.

Finally, let us now turn to self-destroying attitude which is also another obstacle that can stop you from receiving true biblical salvation. A person with self-destroying attitude believes that their sinful lifestyle is both inevitable and acceptable. He or she erroneously believes that there are some attitudes and actions which the Bible declares explicitly that they are sins but which they consider to be perfect normal behavior that ought to be accepted as an alternative lifestyle. Persons with self-destroying attitude appeal to the following two claims to support their misguided belief that their sinful lifestyle is both inevitable and acceptable. On one hand, they appeal to their biological make-up making baseless unsubstantiated claims that they behave the way they do because of their genes. Hence they claim that their sinful lifestyle is inevitable. And on the other hand, they appeal to the progressive departure of the society from Bible-based piety to the new-age of the 21st Century post-modernism which they believe and claim that it has finally freed humanity from shackles of God and godliness. Hence they claim that their sinful lifestyle is acceptable. Consequently, they vehemently campaign for their sinful lifestyle to be accepted by all people all over the world.

Whether or not you have this self-destroying attitude, I do not know. But if you have it, you will find yourself raising arguments and questions like these ones. Why do you insist on calling my alternative lifestyle sinful? It is in my genes to behave the way I do. Furthermore, gone are the days when the Bible used to dictate what one can or cannot do. Therefore there is nothing wrong or sinful about either homosexuality or lesbianism or even bestiality which you narrow-minded and bigoted Christians call deviant unnatural sexual sins. These are just but new alternative lifestyles which people like us who are open-minded and have made significant progress in our evolutionary journey find acceptable and pleasurable. So changing my gender through medication or through a surgical procedure is neither playing God nor faulting God but just doing what feels good to me. Also abortion cannot be sin. It is not killing a human being but just getting rid of unwanted tissue that is growing in my womb. And in any case, shouldn’t I be able to do with my body whatever I please? As a modern liberated woman, I cannot allow God or Government to have control over my body! And why can’t you see that alcoholism is a disease and not the sin of drunkenness; engaging in witchcraft is pursuing the science of parapsychology; lying is being wise; adultery is having an affair and fornication is just making love? Surely, most of these habits declared as sin in the Bible are alternative lifestyles which are both inevitable and acceptable. Are they not? I sure believe they are!

Notwithstanding how deeply ingrained your self-destroying attitude is, the moment you truly yield to the conviction of God the Holy Spirit, then God the Holy Spirit would there and then convict and assist you to realize that self-destroying attitude is just but—another well crafted lie of Satan the enemy of your soul—to keep you habitually loving, enjoying and practicing any sin you want without any guilt or condemnation so that you can die in your sins and go to hell. Indeed, God the Holy Spirit would right away convict and assist you to accept and believe the following three undeniable facts about sins and sinners. The first fact is that what God calls sin is sin whether you believe it or not. The second fact is that God shall ultimately judge all sinners who died unsaved whether you believe it or not. And the third fact is that renaming of sins or sugarcoating sins with acceptable phrases so that they can sound less offensive and thus become more acceptable cannot change how God views ALL sins as nothing but vile abominations which a sinner must repent of if he or she is to have a good relationship with a holy and a righteous God. And to remove all the ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ which you might have regarding these three facts, the following scripture would prove to you that these three facts are solid biblical truths to be accepted, believed and received exactly as they are, “9Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1st Corinthians 6:9-11—NKJV). On one hand, this scripture would make it abundantly clear to you that engaging in any sinful lifestyle is neither inevitable nor acceptable but rather it is the quickest and the easiest way to reject God’s free gift of salvation while unwittingly embracing Satan’s offer of eternal death in hell. But on the other hand and on a promising note, this scripture offers you unbreakable assurance that if you sincerely repent all your sins and truly believe in Jesus Christ, then you will immediately be washed, sanctified and justified in the name of Jesus Christ and by God the Holy Spirit just as it happened to Corinthians Christians who sincerely repented of all those sins listed above.

Therefore, the moment you are convicted and assisted by God the Holy Spirit to admit that self-destroying attitude is a strategy of Satan to stop you from getting saved, then you would truly and irrevocably change your mind about self-destroying attitude and accept the fact that none of your sinful attitudes or your sinful actions are inevitable or acceptable before the eyes of a holy and a righteous God. Consequently, you would henceforth make up your mind to once and forever abandon your self-destroying attitude so that you can receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation of your soul. Is this what has happened to you? I hope so. For by now, I hope that God the Holy Spirit has convicted and assisted you to irrevocably change your mind about self-destroying attitude from a person who used to think that your sinful lifestyle was inevitable and acceptable to a person who now knows and accepts that your sinful lifestyle is neither inevitable nor acceptable but it is sin which you must hate, forsake and avoid so that you can be truly and eternally saved.

In conclusion, it is my hope and prayer that by now you must have truly and irrevocably change your mind about self-righteous attitude, self-condemning attitude and self-destroying attitude knowing and accepting that your good works cannot save you neither can your many grave and gross sins make you impossible to be saved nor is your sinful lifestyle inevitable and acceptable. If that is the case, let us now examine the following third element of true saving repentance toward God which you must also truly and irrevocably experience in order for you to receive true biblical salvation:

III. You must repent, that is, change your mind about the savior

As I emphasized on THE GREATEST GIFT webpage right here on this website, salvation is as good as the savior who offers it. Only the true savior can offer you true salvation while all false saviors can only offer you false salvation which is worthless because it cannot save you. Therefore as I share with you the reasons why you must repent or rather change your mind about the savior, I must first of all make it crystal clear to you what it is that you must be saved from so that you can be in a position to identify the essential and necessary credentials which the true savior must have in order for Him to be willing and able to save you from that which you must be saved from and saved for.[1]

So to begin with, what is it that you must be saved from? Without becoming unnecessarily repetitive, the Bible in Romans 3:23 read together with Romans 6:23 makes it plain and clear that you are a sinner and therefore you have urgent need to be saved from the wages of sin which is death. And this death stands for the following three kinds of deaths. The first death you must be saved from is spiritual death which is the separation of your spirit from God because your spirit is dead due to the sin nature you were born with according to Ephesians 2:1-5. The second death you must be saved from is eternal death also known as the second death which is the everlasting separation from God of your spirit, soul and body if you die unsaved and thus must be cast into hell to face everlasting punishment for all your sins according to Revelation 20:11-15. And the third death you must be saved from is physical death which is the separation of your body from your soul and spirit as the body dies and decays back to dust according to James 2:26. This therefore means that you need a savior who must be able to save you from each one of these three jaws of death. First of all, you need a savior who is able to save you from spiritual death by infusing eternal life into your dead spirit making it alive forevermore so that you can be born again. Second, you need a savior who is able to save you from eternal death in hell enabling you to avoid it forever and ever. And lastly, you need a savior who is able to save you from physical death by having its sting plucked off so that physical death stops being a dreadful gateway to eternity in hell for you; but instead, it becomes a harmless gateway to eternity in heaven for you!

Still continuing to delve further into what you must be saved from, I draw your attention to two other closely related consequences of sin which you must also be saved from. They are the curse of the law and the failure to lead a perfect sinless life. Starting with the curse of the law, the Bible in James 2:10 and Deuteronomy 27:26 among many other scriptures teach that failure by all human beings to keep perfectly the whole law of God has brought the curse of the law upon all human beings. That being the case and you not being an exception, there exist a curse of the law upon your life that you must be saved from or more precisely be redeemed from. Now, according to Deuteronomy 21:22-23 which is clearly explained in Galatians 3:10-13, the only way you can be redeemed from this curse of the law is by having a savior who is willing to take your place and be hanged on a tree for you because it is written, “Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree”. In other words, your savior from the curse of the law must be killed in your place by hanging on a tree, which is another way of saying that He must be crucified on the cross. Shifting gear to the next consequence of sin which you must also be saved from, we turn to the awful failure to lead a perfect sinless life. Insofar as leading a perfect sinless life is concerned, the Bible in Leviticus 11:44-45 read together with 1st Peter 1:15-16 reveals a universal command of God to all people throughout all generations to be holy and perfect just as God is holy and perfect. However, no human being is able to attain this high standard of being holy and perfect just as Yahweh God is holy and perfect because, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But thank God that this dilemma is solved. For, according to Isaiah 53:1-12 and 2nd Corinthians 5:20-21 inter alia, God in His mercy and grace has provided one and the only way that you can attain this perfect sinless standard which He demands of you. And that is through availing to you a willing Perfect Substitute who led a perfect sinless life vicariously for you. Therefore, in order for you to attain perfect sinless standard which God demands of you, you must have a savior who becomes for you what God demands of you not only by dying and rising again from the dead to pay for all your sins but also by leading a perfect sinless life so that He can impute this perfect sinless life to you!

From the foregoing discussion on what you must be saved from, we notice that you need a savior who must have the following five essential credentials necessary to save you. He must be able to save you from (1) physical death, (2) spiritual death, (3) eternal death, (4) the curse of the law, and (5) failure to lead a perfect sinless life. Of necessity, such a savior must first of all be a real human being who is also perfect and sinless so that as your Perfect Substitute (i.e. a perfect sinless human being), then He can be able to take your place and lead a perfect sinless life vicariously for you and after that die for all your sins hanging on the cross to redeem you from the curse of the law. Second, out of necessity, such a savior must also be Yahweh God Himself so that as God, then He can impute to you the righteousness of God thereby enabling you to fulfill the perfect sinless standard which God demands of you that you should be holy and perfect just as Yahweh God Himself is holy and perfect. This therefore means that such a savior must be both God and Man: so that as God, then He can impute to you the righteousness of God; and as a Man, then He can take your place and lead a perfect sinless life vicariously for you and after that die on the cross paying for all your sins. It therefore goes without saying that such a savior must be fully God and fully a perfect Man all in one person. In other words, such a savior must be the God-Man! And as we saw on THE GREATEST GIFT webpage on this website, only Jesus Christ—the true Jesus Christ of the Bible—is able to meet this requirement of being the God-Man. Consequently, it is only the true Jesus Christ of the Bible who is able to save you from (1) physical death, (2) spiritual death, (3) eternal death, (4) the curse of the law, and (5) failure to lead a perfect sinless life. I therefore welcome you to see briefly how He did it so that you can be fully persuaded to abandon, forsake and avoid all false saviors and instead believe and trust in the true Jesus Christ of the Bible and Him alone to save you.

First, as the God-Man, the true Jesus Christ of the Bible once and for all conquered all the three jaws of physical, spiritual, and eternal deaths for you. About 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ gladly took your place as your Perfect Substitute and your Perfect Sacrifice whereupon He willingly suffered untold physical and emotional pain and agony on your behalf thereby conquering physical, spiritual, and eternal deaths for you. This process commenced in the Garden of Gethsemane after the last supper which Jesus Christ had with His disciples (Mark 14:18-21) and came to an end at 3 pm the next day on the feast of Passover when He physically died on the cross paying in full for all your sins (Mark 15:25-34 and Colossians 2:13-15). During this time, Jesus Christ was tortured, pained, and agonized in His body, soul, and spirit to such unfathomable limits so much so that He said to three of His closest disciples, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even to death: tarry you here, and watch with Me” (Matthew 26:38). So intense was this physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering that Dr. Luke records, “And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). Indeed, having received the full wrath of God because of all your sins, Jesus Christ cried with a loud voice just before He died at 3 pm saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lamasabachthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34). Even though Jesus Christ did not have any sin, He willingly endured the full wrath of God for all your sins as He was betrayed, arrested, tried, condemned to death, beaten and scourged, scorned and mocked, and worst of all as He was crucified on the cross where He died paying fully and eternally for all your sins (Mark 14-15 and Isaiah 53:3-12). And on the third day, Jesus Christ irrefutably proved that He had truly conquered physical death for you by bodily and physically rising from the dead. Moreover, through His physical death and bodily resurrection, Jesus Christ completely and eternally defeated Satan, sin, and all the three jaws of physical, spiritual, and eternal deaths for you. What no any other person could do for you, Jesus Christ did it for you. He conquered all the three jaws of physical, spiritual, and eternal deaths for you. No one else could do this for you. It is only Jesus Christ—the true Jesus Christ of the Bible—who did it for you. What a true savior you have in Jesus Christ!

Second, as the God-Man, the true Jesus Christ of the Bible redeemed you from the curse of the law. Once again about 2,000 years ago in year 32 A.D., Jesus Christ gladly took your place as your Perfect Substitute and He was killed by means of being crucified on the cross, which made it possible for Him to redeem you from the curse of the law. Regarding what the curse of the law is, the Bible says, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10). It therefore means that if you fail to keep perfectly the whole law of God all the days of your life, then you are due to receive the full weight of God’s punishment for breaking His law which translates to being under the curse of the law. Further, the Bible in Deuteronomy 21:22-23 teaches that, “cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree,” implying that your redeemer from the curse of the law must be killed by hanging on a tree on your behalf. Therefore when Jesus Christ was killed by the means of being crucified on the cross which is synonymous to ‘hanging on a tree’ (Acts 5:30; 10:39), He was in actual fact being made a curse for you so that as your Perfect Substitute, He received the full wrath of God for all your sins thereby redeeming you from the curse of the law. This is how the Bible clearly explains that profound truth, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). Therefore, it wasn’t a coincidence that Jesus Christ was killed by the means of being crucified on the cross. It was by the design of Sovereign Yahweh God Almighty that Jesus Christ was not stoned to death (which was Jews’ mode of administering capital punishment as per Deuteronomy 17:2-7) nor was He beheaded nor was He killed by any other means, but He was uniquely and purposefully crucified on the cross in order to redeem you from the curse of the law. No one else took your place and was killed on the cross to redeem you from the curse of the law. It is only Jesus Christ—the true Jesus Christ of the Bible—who did it for you. What a true savior you have in Jesus Christ!

Third, as the God-Man, the true Jesus Christ of the Bible led a perfect sinless life vicariously for you. Two millennia ago around year 2 B.C. at the point of His incarnation,[2] Jesus Christ took your place as your Perfect Substitute. Then He led a perfect sinless life: first, because it was inevitable for Him to do so as God come in the human flesh; and second, because it was inevitable for Him to impute His perfect sinless life to you and therefore enable you to fulfill God’s commandment of leading a perfect sinless life which you couldn’t fulfill on your own. Remember there is a universal commandment of God to all human beings to be holy and perfect just as Yahweh God Himself is holy and perfect (Leviticus 11:44-45). Unfortunately, no one is able to keep this commandment. However, the fact that no human being is able to keep this commandment does not abrogate it nor absolve any human being from keeping it. This commandment still stands. So in order to solve this dilemma of attaining the unattainable perfect sinless standard which God demands of you, Jesus Christ your Perfect Substitute led a perfect sinless life on your behalf. Here is how the Bible records it, “14Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:14-15). And as for how this perfect sinless life of Jesus Christ is imputed to you, the Bible gives us this explanation, “For He [God the Father] has made Him [Jesus Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2nd Corinthians 5:21—bracketed mine). This explains why the true savior could not just show up from heaven as an adult and go straight to the cross to die for your sins. As a matter of necessity, He had to lead a perfect sinless life in order to impute this perfect sinless life to you. And that is exactly what Jesus Christ did for you 2,000 years ago. As God come in the human flesh, Jesus Christ led a perfect sinless life to impute it to you. No one else could do this for you. It is only Jesus Christ—the true Jesus Christ of the Bible—who did it for you. What a true savior you have in Jesus Christ!

And to crown it all, Jesus Christ made the following statement to underscore the fact that He is the only true savior of sinful mankind, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). Moreover, Jesus Christ did not just make this claim to be ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ but He substantiated His claim with the following three irrefutable proofs. First, Jesus Christ proved that He is “the only way” one can reach God the Father in heaven because He alone is the God-Man. For, as God, Jesus Christ is the only one who is able to offer righteousness of God to sinful mankind without which no one can enter into the presence of God the Father in heaven. And as the perfect sinless Man, Jesus Christ is the only one who was able to take the place of sinful mankind on the cross where He died and then rose from the dead paying in full for all the sins of mankind thereby making their salvation possible. Second, Jesus Christ proved that He is “the only truth” by which one can reach God the Father in heaven because He alone is truth-incarnate. For, Jesus Christ is the only person who is truth by His very nature hence He is the only one who led a perfect sinless life fulfilling perfectly the whole law of God on behalf of all sinful mankind in order to redeem sinful mankind from the curse of the law and make their salvation possible. And third, Jesus Christ proved that He is “the only giver of eternal life” to sinful mankind because He alone is eternal-God who came in the human flesh. For, as the eternal-God in the human flesh, Jesus Christ is the only one who can give eternal life to all repentant sinners who put their faith in Him because He died and rose from the dead conquering Satan, sin and death for them. No one else in the heavens above or in the earth beneath is able to provide such irrefutable proof of being: 1) the God-Man to provide access to God the Father in heaven for all repentant sinners who believe in Him; 2) truth-incarnate to lead perfect sinless life on behalf of all sinful mankind to redeem them from the curse of the law; and 3) eternal-God who came in the human flesh to give eternal life to all repentant sinners who believe in Him. Only Jesus Christ is able to do that. That’s why it goes without saying that Jesus Christ—the true Jesus Christ of the Bible—is the only tried and tested savior who has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that He is the only true savior of sinful mankind who alone must be trusted to offer true salvation!

Once you know that the true Jesus Christ of the Bible is the only true savior of sinful mankind who alone is able to offer you true salvation, then that should lead you to repent: that is, to change your mind about the savior. So that, in case you have been misled to believe and trust in any other savior, then you would resolve to once and forever abandon, forsake and avoid that false savior so that you can henceforth believe and trust in the true Jesus Christ of the Bible and Him alone to save you. Hoping that is what you are intending to do, I strongly urge you not to spare any false savior you might have been misled to believe in regardless of the persecution you might face from the adherents of that religious system which promotes that false savior. Moreover, resolve not to spare all those false saviors who have cunningly taken the name “Jesus Christ” hoping to deceive people to trust in them for salvation instead of the true Jesus Christ of the Bible. In fact, nowadays there are so many counterfeit “Jesus Christs” whom Satan is cunningly offering to many people to supposedly save them. Addressing this issue of counterfeit “Jesus Christs”, this is what Apostle Paul had to say, “3But I fear, less by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him” (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4). Warned by the inerrant, infallible and inspired Word of God not to believe “Another Jesus” or receive “Another Spirit” or even accept “Another Gospel,” you should not delay or hesitate to once and forever abandon, forsake and avoid all counterfeit “Jesus Christs” you might have been misled to believe in. To give you a flavor of what I am talking about, I will point out to you some of the counterfeit “Jesus Christs” whom you must abandon, forsake and avoid if you have been trusting in them to save you.

The first counterfeit “Jesus Christ” you must forsake and avoid is the one who is said to be a good man and an excellent moral teacher but who is not Yahweh God come in the human flesh. For obvious reasons, this is a “false Jesus Christ” who cannot save you because he lacks the crucial credential of being the true savior of sinful mankind which is to be the God-Man: that is, Yahweh God who has come in the human flesh (John 1:1, 14). The second counterfeit “Jesus Christ” you must forsake and avoid is the one who is said to be one of the many faithful prophets of God. He too is a “false Jesus Christ” who cannot save you because he is just another human being and not the God-Man. Hence he is not able to offer you the righteousness of God without which you cannot enter into the presence of God the Father in heaven. The third counterfeit “Jesus Christ” you must forsake and avoid is the one who is said to be the physical manifestation of Michael the Archangel and an inferior god to Jehovah God. He too is a “false Jesus Christ” who cannot save you because as an inferior god to Jehovah God, he is not and cannot be Yahweh or Jehovah God the only true and the living God there is. It therefore means that: 1) he is not able to conquer Satan, sin and death for you; 2) he is not able to lead a perfect sinless life on your behalf; and 3) he is not able to offer you the righteousness of the true God without which you cannot enter into the presence of God the Father in heaven. The fourth counterfeit “Jesus Christ” you must forsake and avoid is the one who is said to be the spirit brother of Lucifer. Obviously, he too is a “false Jesus Christ” who cannot save you because he is not the God-Man hence he is not able to conquer Satan, sin and death for you. The same can be said about (1) a “false Jesus” who is said to be a man who presents to the rest of humanity a true idea of God, (2) a “false Jesus” who is said to be a great teacher who finally realized that he was God, and (3) a “false Jesus” who is said to be the enlightened perfect man with all the perfect qualities that a man can possess. Since none of them is the God-Man, then it means that none of them can save you hence you must abandon, forsake and avoid them just as you should do to all other false saviors.

Lastly, there is yet another counterfeit “Jesus Christ” that I would like to draw your attention to so that you can also forsake and avoid him in case you are trusting in him to save you. I am talking about the counterfeit “Jesus Christ” commonly known as “Eucharistic Jesus” who is said to be literally present in a wafer of bread that once it is consecrated by a priest, it is said (not to symbolize the body of Jesus Christ as it should) but to mysteriously change into the real body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ so that, that particular “wafer of bread” which is also called “Communion Host” is never again treated as bread but as Jesus Christ Himself and is thus adored and worshipped as God. It is obvious that this must be “Another Jesus” a counterfeit “Jesus Christ” because of the following six reasons. First, the true Jesus Christ of the Bible in His perfect human nature has one and only one real physical resurrected glorified body (Luke 24:36-43 and John 20:24-29) that is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven (Mark 16:19 and Colossians 3:1) and is not being made here on earth as consecrated wafers of bread. Second, the true Jesus Christ of the Bible can never be re-sacrificed endlessly as a consecrated wafer of bread because He died on the cross once and for all atoning completely for all the sins of mankind hence there is no need to re-sacrifice Him (1st Peter 3:18 and Hebrews 10:10-14) and besides that He rose from the dead never ever to die again making any re-sacrifice impossible (Romans 6:9). Third, adoration and worship of a consecrated wafer of bread based on the false claim that it has truly become the real body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ without any biblical or scientific evidence is tantamount to practicing idolatry (Exodus 20:4-6 and 34:14) which is condemned by the Second Commandment of God which condemns adoration and worship of anything or anyone other than Yahweh God of the Bible.

Fourth, the claim that one cannot be saved unless he or she literally eats the real physical body of Jesus Christ and literally drinks the real physical blood of Jesus Christ (both of which are supposedly present in a consecrated wafer of bread) is proven to be false because the Bible clearly teaches that salvation is a free gift of God that is received by faith in Jesus Christ and not by eating Jesus’ body and drinking Jesus’ blood (Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:1-18, Romans 10:9-13 and Galatians 2:16). Fifth, misinterpreting John 6:51-58 where Jesus Christ said ‘one must eat His flesh and drink His blood to receive eternal life’ so that one ends up practicing “cannibalism” by regularly ingesting a consecrated wafer of bread believing (without any evidence) that it contains the real physical body and blood of Jesus Christ is first of all unbiblical according to Genesis 9:4 and Acts 15: 20, 29 which forbid eating of blood; and secondly, it contradicts what Jesus Christ further declared in John 6:63 that ‘flesh profits nothing’ by which He clarified that He wasn’t advocating cannibalism but He was speaking figuratively that one must receive Him into his or her life to be saved similar to how food is ingested and assimilated into the body in order to nourish the body. And sixth, the claim that consecrated wafer of bread mysteriously changes into real body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ is proven to be false because that wafer of bread does not undergo any accidental changes (outer changes) for it still looks, smells and tastes like bread and it also does not undergo any substantial changes (inner changes) for it can and does indeed decay something that can never ever happen to the real physical resurrected glorified body of Jesus Christ who rose from the dead never ever to die again according to Romans 6:9-10 and Revelation 1:17-18.

In summary: First, to the degree that belief in Eucharistic Jesus denies the clear teaching of the Bible that the true Jesus Christ of the Bible has one and only one real physical resurrected glorified body that is not being made here on earth but is seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. Second, to the degree that belief in Eucharistic Jesus contradicts clear teaching of the Bible that Jesus Christ can never be re-sacrificed because He died on the cross once and for all atoning completely for all the sins of mankind hence there is no need to re-sacrifice Him and besides that He rose from the dead never ever to die again hence it is impossible to re-sacrifice Him. Third, to the degree that belief in Eucharistic Jesus promotes idolatry in form of worship of a wafer of bread which is made by human hands contradicting the Second Commandment of God which forbids all forms of idolatry. Fourth, to the degree that belief in Eucharistic Jesus asserts that one cannot be saved unless he or she literally eats the real physical body of Jesus and literally drinks the real physical blood of Jesus contradicting the clear teaching of the Bible that salvation is a free gift of God that is received by faith in Jesus Christ and not by eating Jesus’ body and drinking Jesus’ blood. Fifth, to the degree that belief in Eucharistic Jesus promotes cannibalism by deliberately misinterpreting John 6:51-58 where Jesus Christ said ‘one must eat His flesh and drink His blood to receive eternal life’ completely ignoring what Jesus Christ further declared in John 6:63 that ‘flesh profits nothing’ by which He clarified that He wasn’t advocating cannibalism but He was speaking figuratively that one must receive Him into his or her life to be saved similar to how food is ingested and assimilated into a person’s body in order to nourish the body. And sixth, to the degree that belief in Eucharistic Jesus denies irrefutable biblical and scientific fact that the consecrated wafer of bread does not change into real body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ for it still looks, smells and tastes like bread in addition to the fact that it can and does indeed decay something that can never ever happen to the real physical resurrected glorified body of Jesus Christ who rose from the dead never ever to die again. Therefore, to the degree that belief in Eucharistic Jesus denies or contradicts any of the clear teachings of the written, inerrant, infallible, inspired and unchangeable Word of God from any of the 66 books of holy Bible is to the same degree and even much more that you must abandon, forsake and avoid this “false Jesus Christ” known as “Eucharistic Jesus” so that you can once and forever believe and trust in the true Jesus Christ of the Bible and Him alone to save you.

In conclusion, it is my hope and prayer that by now God the Holy Spirit has convicted and assisted you to irrevocably repent, that is, change your mind about the savior from a person who used to trust in a false savior(s) who could not save you to a person who now believes and trusts only in the true Jesus Christ of the Bible who is the only true savior of sinful mankind, who can and is willing to save you.

So in summary, you are now conversant with the three elements of true saving repentance toward God which you must truly and irrevocably experience in order for you to receive true biblical salvation. It is therefore my earnest hope and prayer that by now you must have truly and irrevocably changed your mind about all your sins thereby acknowledging that sin (and any sin for that matter) is not your friend to be loved, enjoyed and practiced but is your greatest enemy to be hated, forsaken and avoided. Second, it is also my earnest hope and prayer that by now you must have truly and irrevocably changed your mind about self thereby acknowledging that your good works cannot save you neither can your many grave and gross sins make you impossible to be saved so long as you sincerely repent nor is your sinful lifestyle inevitable and acceptable. And third, it is also my earnest hope and prayer that by now you must have truly and irrevocably changed your mind about savior thereby abandoning, forsaking and avoiding all false saviors you might have been trusting in to save you so that you can believe in the true Jesus Christ of the Bible who is the only true savior of sinful mankind, who can and is willing to save you. So if that is what has happened to you, then it means that you have truly and irrevocably experienced true saving repentance toward God—the primary dimension of saving faith.

Now, true saving repentance toward God which is characterized by the change of mind about sin, self and savior is what prepares your heart to have genuine living and lasting faith in Jesus Christ. That’s why Apostle Paul put repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ side by side as he described his three years of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in the city of Ephesus reiterating the fact that he had been, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). Consequently, this brings us to what I noted earlier on in this webpage that the three dimensions of saving faith comprising of (1) true saving repentance toward God (the primary dimension of saving faith), (2) true saving faith in Jesus Christ (the secondary dimension of saving faith), and (3) true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD God (the tertiary dimension of saving faith) are intricately entwined together as one inseparable unit of saving faith such that you cannot have one without having the other two. Therefore if you have truly indeed experienced true saving repentance toward God, it will lead you to have true saving faith in Jesus Christ, which will in turn prompt you to make true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God and thus receive your salvation and be truly and eternally saved! In other words, if God the Holy Spirit has convicted and assisted you to have true saving repentance toward God (the primary dimension of saving faith), He will not stop there but He will continue to convict and assist you to have true saving faith in Jesus Christ (the secondary dimension of saving faith) so that you can finally make true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God (the tertiary dimension of saving faith) and be truly and eternally saved. So, let us see how God the Holy Spirit is right now convicting and assisting you to have true saving faith in Jesus Christ so that you can eventually receive your salvation and be truly and eternally saved.

True saving faith in Jesus Christ is the key which opens your heart to receive true biblical salvation. Scriptures resoundingly declare it while transformed lives of genuine born again believers in Jesus Christ convincingly prove it. Hence without it you cannot be truly saved, and with it you are assured of being truly and eternally saved. Basically, it has two sides. The first side of true saving faith in Jesus Christ deals with believing in “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is. That is, believing that Jesus Christ is Yahweh God of the Bible who came in the human flesh as fully God and fully Man all in one person—the second person of the holy trinity—to seek and save sinners. This is what the Bible calls believing in the “name” of Jesus Christ. The second side of true saving faith in Jesus Christ deals with believing in “what” Jesus Christ did to make your salvation possible. That is, believing that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead defeating Satan, sin and death for you so that you can be saved, if you sincerely repent all your sins and truly believe in Him. In short, in order for you to have true saving faith in Jesus Christ, you must believe both in “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is and in “what” He did to make your salvation possible.

In addition to its two sides, true saving faith in Jesus Christ involves believing in Jesus Christ with all your heart whereby all the three faculties of your soul (i.e. mind, emotions and will) are intensively and extensively involved. First, the faculty of your mind must be fully involved so that with knowledge and understanding you can believe in “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is and in “what” He did to make your salvation possible (See John 20:30-31 for an example). Second, the faculty of your emotions must be fully involved so that you can have heart-felt believe in “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is and in “what” He did to make your salvation possible (See Galatians 2:20 for an example). And third, the faculty of your will must be fully involved so that you can freely exercise your freedom of choice and make an irrevocable decision to believe in “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is and in “what” He did to make your salvation possible (See Romans 10:9-10 for an example). Therefore, believing in Jesus Christ with all your heart whereby your mind, your emotions and your will are all intensively and extensively involved gives true saving faith in Jesus Christ an indelible mark which differentiates it from the non-committal mere believing of facts about Jesus Christ and His work of salvation which cannot lead you or anybody else to true biblical salvation.

Now, just as true saving repentance toward God is started and sustained by God the Holy Spirit, so is true saving faith in Jesus Christ. It is started and sustained by God the Holy Spirit. That’s why the Bible says that, “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1st Corinthians 12:3). As a matter of fact, true saving faith in Jesus Christ is started and sustained by God the Holy Spirit upon the foundation of true saving repentance toward God. For, once God the Holy Spirit convicts and assists you to truly and irrevocably change your mind about sin, self and savior: He does not stop there but He proceeds on to testify to you of (1) “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is and (2) of “what” He did to make your salvation possible. Speaking about this latter work of God the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ said the following to His disciples on the night He was betrayed and arrested, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me” (John 15:26). In other words, in addition to convicting you of sin, righteousness and judgment according to John 16:7-11, God the Holy Spirit does also testify to you of Jesus Christ specifically of His true identity (i.e. who He really is) and of His work of salvation (i.e. what He has done to make your salvation possible). It therefore means that you cannot know “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is and “what” He did to make your salvation possible unless God the Holy Spirit testifies and reveals these truths in your heart and mind (see 1st Corinthians 2:14). But thank God that God the Holy Spirit is right now at work in your heart and mind testifying and revealing to you “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is and “what” He did to make your salvation possible so that you can have true saving faith in Jesus Christ and as a result receive your salvation and be truly saved.

Therefore, all you need to do right now is to yield to the conviction and the assistance of God the Holy Spirit as He starts and sustains in your heart and mind true saving faith in Jesus Christ so that you can believe in “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is and in “what” He did to make your salvation possible. So, let us briefly see how God the Holy Spirit is right now planting in your heart and mind these two sides of true saving faith in Jesus Christ so that you can receive your salvation and be truly saved.

I. God the Holy Spirit is right now convicting and assisting you to believe in “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is so that you can receive your salvation and be truly saved

Without a doubt, God the Holy Spirit is right now illuminating your mind to understand as well as convincing your will to believe in the true Jesus Christ of the Bible so that you can receive your salvation and be truly saved. To accomplish that goal, God the Holy Spirit is helping you to believe in “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is by showing you His true nature, His true character and His true personality exactly as is clearly revealed in the Bible. In other words, God the Holy Spirit is clearly and unmistakably showing you from the Bible that Jesus Christ is Yahweh God of the Bible who came in the human flesh as fully God and fully Man all in one person—the second person of holy trinity—to seek and save sinners. This is what the Bible calls believing in the “name” of Jesus Christ.

By the way, believing in the “name” of Jesus Christ is not a side issue but it is part and parcel of what you must do in order to receive your salvation and be truly saved. This truth is underlined by these words that Jesus Christ Himself spoke to Nicodemus saying,

“He that believes on Him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).

Moreover, to show how important believing in the “name” of Jesus Christ is, Holy Spirit inspired Apostle John to write,

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12—NKJV).

Also in his first epistle, Apostle John wrote,

“And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ” (1st John 3:23),

and then later on he added,

“these things have I written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1st John 5:13).

And as a way to demystify what believing in the “name” of Jesus Christ really means, Apostle John summarized the fourth gospel which is named after him with these words,

“30And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: 31But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through His name” (John 20:30-31).

Now, all these scriptures emphasize the fact that in order for you to be truly and eternally saved, you must believe in the “name” of Jesus Christ, which is another way of saying that you must believe in the true nature, true character and true personality of Jesus Christ exactly as is clearly revealed in the Bible. In other words, you must believe in the true Jesus Christ of the Bible who is fully God and fully Man all in one person, the second person of holy trinity, and not in a false or counterfeit Jesus Christ! Therefore be of good cheer for that is what God the Holy Spirit is helping you to do right now, if you haven’t done it already. Based on the authority of the word of God in 2nd Corinthians 6:2 which says,

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,”

I am sure that God the Holy Spirit is right now convicting and assisting you to believe in every aspect of “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is. In that regard, God the Holy Spirit is here and now illuminating your mind to understand as well as convincing your will to believe and receive every single truth about the true nature, the true character and the true personality of Jesus Christ exactly as is clearly revealed in the Bible so that you can believe in Him and thus receive your salvation and be truly saved.

First of all, God the Holy Spirit is right now convicting and assisting you to believe that the true Jesus Christ of the Bible is Yahweh God, the true and the living God Himself. For, when you compare and contrast the following six sets of Old and New Testament scriptures we examined in details on THE GREATEST GIFT webpage on this website, you will clearly see that each set of these six scriptures use Yahweh God and Jesus Christ interchangeably such that what Old Testament scripture ascribe to Yahweh God and Him alone, New Testament scripture ascribe it to Jesus Christ and Him alone proving that Jesus Christ is Yahweh God Himself. Here are those six sets of Old and New Testament scriptures we examined in details on THE GREATEST GIFT webpage: (1) Isaiah 43:11 cf. Acts 4:10-12, (2) Jeremiah 10:10 cf. 1st John 5:20, (3) Joel 2:32 cf. Romans 10:9-13, (4) Isaiah 45:23 cf. Philippians 2:10-11, (5) Genesis 2:4 cf. John 1:1-3, and (6) Psalm 23:1 cf. John 10:11, 14. Also you are led to believe that Jesus Christ is Yahweh God Himself because He is directly called God in the Bible. God the Father called Him God in Hebrews 1:8; Apostle John called Him God in John 1:1, 14; Apostle Peter called Him God in 2nd Peter 1:1; and Apostle Thomas called Him God in John 20:28. Moreover He is called the true God in 1st John 5:20, the great God in Titus 2:13, the mighty God in Isaiah 9:6, God with us in Matthew 1:23, and God over all in Romans 9:5.

• Isaiah 43:11 cf. Acts 4:10-12
• Jeremiah 10:10 cf. 1st John 5:20
• Joel 2:32 cf. Romans 10:9-13
• Isaiah 45:23 cf. Philippians 2:10-11
• Genesis 2:4 cf. John 1:1-3
• Psalm 23:1 cf. John 10:11, 14

Also you are led to believe that Jesus Christ is Yahweh God Himself because He is directly called God in the Bible. God the Father called Him God in Hebrews 1:8; Apostle John called Him God in John 1:1, 14; Apostle Peter called Him God in 2nd Peter 1:1; and Apostle Thomas called Him God in John 20:28. Moreover He is called the true God in 1st John 5:20, the great God in Titus 2:13, the mighty God in Isaiah 9:6, God with us in Matthew 1:23, and God over all in Romans 9:5.

Furthermore, you are led to believe that Jesus Christ is Yahweh God Himself because He boldly claimed to be God in the Bible. For, whenever Jesus Christ claimed to be:

• The Son of God
• The I AM in John 8:58, etc.
• Co-equal with God the Father in John 5:18-27
• One with God the Father in John 10:30
• To be in God the Father and God the Father to be in Him in John 14:9-11
• To have shared the same glory with God the Father in John 17:5

He was in actual fact claiming to be Yahweh God Himself. And when you consider that Jesus Christ is addressed in the Bible with titles that are used to address Yahweh God exclusively, you are therefore led to believe that He is Yahweh God Himself. For example, He is addressed as the “King of Kings and Lord of lords” in Revelation 19:16 and as “The First and the Last” in Revelation 1:17-18 with this latter title being rendered elsewhere in the New Testament as “The beginning and the end” or as “Alpha and Omega” its Greek rendition. And when you realize that Jesus Christ possesses all the attributes of Yahweh God, you are left with no option but to believe that He is Yahweh God Himself. For, He is all-powerful (Matthew 28:18), all knowing (John 16:30), ever-present (Matthew 28:20), eternal (Hebrews 13:8), self-existing (John 8:58), unchanging (Hebrews 13:8) and lastly He is holy (Hebrews 4:14-15). And to crown it all, when you realize that Jesus Christ does what only Yahweh God can do, then you are led to believe that He is Yahweh God Himself. For, He is the Creator God (John 1:1-3), giver of life (John 5:21), the only Savior (Acts 4:10-12), giver of eternal life (John 10:27-28), He receives worship from Angels (Hebrews 1:6) and finally He receives worship from human beings (John 9:38). O the mountain of evidence that convincingly leads you to believe that Jesus Christ is Yahweh God Himself so that you can have true saving faith in Him and receive your salvation and be truly saved!

Second, God the Holy Spirit is right now convicting and assisting you to believe that the true Jesus Christ of the Bible is fully God and fully Man all in one person. So that as God, He can offer you the righteousness of God. And as the perfect sinless Man, He took your place on the cross and then He died and rose from the dead defeating Satan, sin and death for you. For, all the evidence we have seen throughout the Bible compels you to believe that Jesus Christ is Yahweh God Himself who added perfect human nature to His divine nature about 2,000 years ago and henceforth He became fully God and fully a perfect Man forever. Moreover, when Jesus Christ added His perfect human nature to His divine nature, He did it in such a way that these two natures are perfectly complete and distinct from each other: never mixed or confused together, never separated from each other and never changing or transferring their attributes one to another, yet they are harmoniously united together into one person who is fully God and fully a perfect Man forever! Therefore, you are led to believe that the true Jesus Christ of the Bible is Yahweh God Himself, who came in the human flesh as fully God and fully a perfect Man all in one person—the second person of the holy trinity. For, it is an undeniable biblical fact that Jesus Christ has two natures, one divine and the other one human. Hence He is the God-Man. That is why as the God-Man: Jesus Christ is all-powerful as God and yet He is limited in power as a man; He is all-knowing as God and yet He does not know all-things as a man; He is everywhere present as God and yet He can only be in one place at a time as a man; He is eternal having neither a beginning nor an end as God and yet He had a beginning as a man; He does not change as God and yet He changed as He was growing up as a man; He is immortal as God and yet He is mortal as a man; He is infinite as God and yet He is finite as a man; and so it is with all His divine and human attributes—they are clearly distinct from each other and yet they work together in unity as one person—the second person of the holy trinity. And there standing majestically tall is yet another mountain of evidence that convincingly compels you to believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully Man all in one person so that you can have true saving faith in Him and therefore receive your salvation and be truly saved!

And third, God the Holy Spirit is right now convicting and assisting you to believe that the true Jesus of the Bible is the Promised Messiah or Christ, the only true savior who can save you. All the evidence we have explored together from the Bible compels you to believe that the true Jesus of the Bible is the only one who qualifies to be trusted and received as the true Messiah who was sent by God the Father to seek and save sinners! For, it is true indeed that Jesus is the Christ or the Messiah both of which means the “Anointed One”. First, He was anointed by God the Father to be the King to establish the kingdom of God here on earth (John 18:37). Second, He was anointed by God the Father to be the Prophet to reveal and proclaim the truth of God to the whole of humanity (Deuteronomy 18:18 and John 14:6). And third, He was anointed by God the Father to be the Priest in order to act as the only mediator who can reconcile sinful mankind to a holy God through His death, burial and resurrection by which He once and for all defeated Satan, sin and death for sinful mankind so that whoever repents his or her sins and truly believes in Him can be truly and eternally saved (1st Timothy 2:5-6 and Luke 19:10). And there again, is yet another tall mountain of evidence that convincingly compels you to believe that the true Jesus of the Bible is the Promised Messiah or Christ so that you can have true saving faith in Him and therefore receive your salvation and be truly saved!

No doubt, as God the Holy Spirit has been shining His bright light on these tall mountains of evidence of the true identity of Jesus Christ, it is my hope and prayer that you have truly believed in “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is. If that is the case, let us see how God the Holy Spirit is right now convicting and assisting you to believe in “what” Jesus Christ did to make your salvation possible.

II. God the Holy Spirit is right now convicting and assisting you to believe in “what” Jesus Christ did to make your salvation possible so that you can receive your salvation and be truly saved

Inevitably, God the Holy Spirit is continuing to illuminate your mind to understand as well as convince your will to believe in “what” Jesus Christ did to make your salvation possible. Once again, based on the authority of the word of God in 2nd Corinthians 6:2 which says, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” I am sure that God the Holy Spirit is right now, right where you are convicting and assisting you to believe in these two biblical and historical facts regarding what Jesus Christ did to make your salvation possible:

• Jesus Christ died on the cross paying in full for all your sins
• Jesus Christ rose from the dead three days later defeating Satan, sin and death for you

First of all, God the Holy Spirit is right now convicting and assisting you to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross paying in full for all your past, present and future sins. For, when the full implication of what the Bible teaches that you are a sinner both by nature and by choice grips your heart and mind, then you will no doubt realize that you have incurred a debt of sin that you cannot pay. As it were, you have sunk into the sea of sin that is too deep, too wide and too toxic for you to save yourself. Consequently, you are in danger of receiving the full wrath of God because of all your sins by facing spiritual death now and then later on eternal death forever and ever in hell, the lake of everlasting fire that burns with fire and brimstone. But the good news is that you do not have to! This is because, Jesus Christ, God the Son who became the God-Man willingly took your place on the cross as your Perfect Substitute and your Perfect Sacrifice where He received the full wrath of God for all your sins and died six hours later paying in full for all your past, present and future sins. By so doing, Jesus Christ once and forever conquered physical, spiritual and eternal deaths for you thereby making your salvation possible, if only you would sincerely repent all your sins and truly believe in Him. For, it is an undeniable fact that, first of all, Jesus Christ died on the cross for all your sins out of His immeasurable unconditional love for you (Romans 5:8). Second, Jesus Christ died on the cross so that He can redeem you from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). Third, Jesus Christ suffered for all your sins on the cross once and for all so that He can bring you to God (1st Peter 3:18). Fourth, Jesus Christ died for all your sins defeating Satan, sin and death for you so that you can be forgiven of all your sins (Colossians 2:13-15). Fifth, Jesus Christ died on the cross paying in full for all your sins so that you can have eternal life (John 3:16). Sixth, Jesus Christ died for all your sins so that He can reconcile you to God and end enmity between you and God (Romans 5:10). And seventh, Jesus Christ bore all your sins on the cross where He died for each one of them so that He can impute to you the righteousness of God thereby enabling you to access and dwell with God the Father in heaven forever and ever (2nd Corinthians 5:21). It therefore follows that death of Jesus Christ on the cross for all your sins convincingly compels you to have true saving faith in Him so that you can receive your salvation and be truly saved!

Second, God the Holy Spirit is right now convicting and assisting you to believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead three days and three nights after His death proving that He had completely and eternally defeated Satan, sin and death for you. While it is a well established biblical fact that when Jesus Christ died on the cross He there and then completely and eternally defeated Satan, sin and death for you (John 19:30, Colossians 2:13-15 and 2nd Timothy 1:10), the visible and tangible proof, however, came three days and three nights later when He bodily rose from the dead. That was when Jesus Christ once and for all demonstrated in a visible, tangible and a verifiable way that He had completely and eternally defeated Satan, sin and death for you. This is because, when Jesus Christ bodily rose from the dead in the same physical body He had died in three days and three nights before, He ably proved that He had conquered His own death (Romans 6:9 and Revelation 1:18) hence you can trust Him to conquer the following three jaws of death for you. First, you can trust Him to conquer for you spiritual death once and forever. Second, you can trust Him to conquer for you eternal death in hell enabling you to avoid it forever and ever. And lastly, you can trust Him to conquer for you physical death by having its sting plucked off so that physical death stops being a dreadful gateway to eternity in hell for you; but instead, it becomes a harmless gateway to eternity in heaven for you! Moreover, by conquering these three jaws of death, Jesus Christ proved that He had conquered sin which brought death (Romans 5:12 and 1st Peter 2:21-24). And by conquering sin which brought death, Jesus Christ proved that He had conquered Satan who brought sin which brought death (Hebrews 2:14-15). Therefore bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is a visible, tangible and a verifiable proof that Jesus Christ completely and eternally conquered Satan, sin and death for you. No doubt, since bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is both a biblical truth and a historical fact[3], it therefore compels you to have true saving faith in Jesus Christ so that you can receive your salvation and be truly saved!

Therefore, by now I hope and believe that God the Holy Spirit has convicted and assisted you to believe in “who” the true Jesus Christ of the Bible really is and in “what” He did to make your salvation possible. So if that is what has happened to you, then it means that you have truly and irrevocably experienced true saving faith in Jesus Christ (the secondary dimension of saving faith). So once again, this brings us to what I noted earlier on that the three dimensions of saving faith comprising of (1) true saving repentance toward God (the primary dimension of saving faith), (2) true saving faith in Jesus Christ (the secondary dimension of saving faith) and (3) true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD God (the tertiary dimension of saving faith) are intricately entwined together as one inseparable unit of saving faith such that you cannot have one without having the other two. Therefore if you have truly indeed experienced true saving repentance toward God which has led you to have true saving faith in Jesus Christ, then that true saving faith in Jesus Christ will as matter of necessity prompt you to make true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God so that you can receive your salvation and be truly saved! In other words, if God the Holy Spirit has convicted and assisted you to have true saving repentance toward God (the primary dimension of saving faith) and true saving faith in Jesus Christ (the secondary dimension of saving faith), He will right away convict and assist you to make true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God (the tertiary dimension of saving faith) so that you can be converted and become a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved! So join with me as we see how God the Holy Spirit is right now convicting and assisting you to make true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God so that you can be converted into a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved.

3. YOU MUST MAKE TRUE SAVING CONFESSION THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD YOUR GOD IN ORDER TO RECEIVE YOUR SALVATION AND BE TRULY SAVED

True saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God is the third and the last dimension of saving faith by which you get to outwardly express your genuine living and lasting faith in Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. This is naturally what must happen if indeed you do have a genuine living and lasting faith in Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. Apostle Paul underlining this fact wrote, “9That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. 10For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. …13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:9-10, 13). Now, just as true saving repentance toward God and true saving faith in Jesus Christ are each started and sustained by God the Holy Spirit, so is true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God. It is started and sustained by God the Holy Spirit as is clearly shown by this scripture which explains how a believer is sealed and indwelt by God the Holy Spirit immediately he or she accepts the gospel of Jesus Christ and put his or her saving faith in Jesus Christ, “13In whom [Jesus Christ] you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, 14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14—bracketed mine). This fact is also confirmed by this scripture which states that a truly saved person must be permanently indwelt by God the Holy Spirit saying, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Romans 8:9—NKJV).

Consequently, it is the duty of God the Holy Spirit to convict you to believe in Jesus Christ; and once you believe in Jesus Christ, He there and then converts you into a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved by sealing and permanently indwelling you. It therefore means that once God the Holy Spirit has truly indeed convicted and assisted you: first of all, to have true saving repentance toward God; and secondly, to have true saving faith in Jesus Christ; then at that very moment of having true saving faith in Jesus Christ, He will convict and assist you to make true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God so that He can right away convert you into a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved by sealing and permanently indwelling you. However, even though it is the duty of God the Holy Spirit to convict you and convert you into a born again believer in Jesus Christ, He cannot do it against your will. It is your own inescapable personal responsibility to yield to the conviction of God the Holy Spirit so that He can seal and permanently indwell you and thus convert you into a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved. Therefore you need to remember that God the Holy Spirit as the initiator of your salvation convicts you to be saved but you as the responder must yield to His conviction so that He can convert you and you become saved. It therefore means that you are not a spectator in the process of your salvation but an active participant who must respond to God’s call for your salvation by yielding to the conviction of God the Holy Spirit. For, this is the only way that God the Holy Spirit can convert you from a condemned sinner to a declared saint; from a child of wrath to a child of God; and from a person who is destined to spend eternity in hell to a person who is destined to spend eternity in heaven.

In short, this spiritual conversion which God the Holy Spirit wants to accomplish in your life involves transformation of your whole being from inside-out whereby your dead spirit is converted into a regenerated spirit, your wounded soul is converted into a healing soul, while your natural body remains largely unchanged waiting to be clothed with a glorified body in heaven. This transformation of your dead spirit into a regenerated spirit and your wounded soul into a healing soul is what Jesus Christ referred to as being born again in John 3:1-18. Inevitably, this born again experience shall become real in your life immediately you shall sincerely repent toward God and truly believe in Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. For as we have seen throughout this chapter, God commands you to, “Repent you therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). Then the Bible goes on to guide you on how you can truly believe and willingly receive Jesus Christ into your life to become your personal lord and savior saying, “9That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. 10For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

No doubt, this scripture in Romans 10:9-10 hits the nail on its head regarding what you need to do to receive your salvation and become a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved. It clearly states that you must confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is LORD and believe in your heart that God the Father raised Him from the dead. Notice that I have deliberately capitalized all the letters of the name “LORD” to emphasize the fact that this scripture in Romans 10:9 states that you must confess that Jesus Christ is the LORD: that is, He is Yahweh God Himself, whom you believe and trust in to save you. And here is the reason why. As you read Romans 10:9-13 in context, you will realize that Apostle Paul inspired by God the Holy Spirit clearly declared that in order for you to be saved, you must confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is the LORD, that is, He is Yahweh God of the Bible—the one true and the living God Himself. This is because, as Paul the Apostle goes on to explain why you must confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, he cites in Romans 10:13 the Old Testament scripture in Joel 2:32 and renders it as follows, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). But when you turn to Joel 2:32, this is how it reads, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered.” Therefore, you can clearly see that Joel 2:32 which Paul was citing in Romans 10:13 uses LORD all in capital letters to underscore the fact that he is referring to the covenant name of God of the Bible “YHWH” which is rendered either as YAHWEH or JEHOVAH, the one and the only true and the living God there is. It therefore follows that, what Apostle Paul inspired by God the Holy Spirit was affirming in Romans 10:13 is the biblical fact that in order for you to be saved, you must call upon the name of YAHWEH or JEHOVAH God of the Bible. Consequently, Romans 10:9 read together with Romans 10:13 clearly reveals that in order for you to receive your salvation and be truly saved, you must confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is the LORD, that is, He is YAHWEH or JEHOVAH your God, whom alone you believe and trust in to truly and eternally save you!

Moreover, this truth of confessing Jesus Christ is the LORD or YAHWEH your God in order to receive your salvation is so important that Jesus Christ warned His critics that they would die unsaved because of refusing to acknowledge Him as YAHWEH or JEHOVAH their God. Here is that strong warning, “I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you believe not that I am [He], you shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). To appreciate the gravity of what Jesus Christ was saying in this verse, it is worthwhile noting that the pronoun ‘He’ that I have put in parenthesis is actually italicized in the King James version of the Bible to indicate that it was not in the original autograph but was inserted there by the translators. So if you bear that in mind, then you will clearly see that Jesus Christ was warning His critics that they would die in their sins (i.e. die unsaved) because of refusing to believe that He is “I AM”. Now, “I AM” (as you can remember from THE GREATEST DECISION GIFT webpage) is the name of Yahweh God of the Bible which was revealed to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14-15. So what Jesus Christ was personally and categorically emphasizing in John 8:24 is the fact that you cannot be truly saved unless you believe that He is YAHWEH or JEHOVAH God of the Bible, the one true and the living God Himself. And this truth perfectly agrees with this scripture which states that Yahweh God is the only true savior of sinful mankind and there is no any other savior that can save but Him, “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). It therefore means that Jesus Christ must be Yahweh God Himself because only Yahweh God can save. This fact is ably proven in Titus 1:3-4 where in verse 3 it clearly refers to God as our savior saying, “God our savior”. And then in verse 4, it also clearly refers to Jesus Christ as our savior saying, “The Lord Jesus Christ our savior,” confirming that Jesus Christ is Yahweh God Himself because only Yahweh God can save. That’s why the third and the last dimension of saving faith underscores this undeniable biblical fact that you must make true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God so that God the Holy Spirit can seal and permanently indwell you thereby converting you into a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved.

Therefore rest assured that immediately you shall confess Jesus Christ as the LORD your God, then God the Holy Spirit shall come “in” to your life to convert you into a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved. First of all, God the Holy Spirit shall come “in” to your dead spirit and immediately infuse it with eternal life thereby converting your dead spirit into a living or regenerated spirit that is forever and ever endued with everlasting life (John 1:12-13; 3:3-8; 4:23-24 cf. Ezekiel 36:26-27). Secondly, God the Holy Spirit shall permanently indwell your regenerated spirit signifying that you are now a child of God who is forever and ever adopted into the family of God (John 14:16-17, Romans 8:9-17 and Galatians 4:6-7). Finally, God the Father shall seal you with God the Holy Spirit as an unbreakable mark of God that you are a child of God who is forever and ever owned by God and as such your salvation is eternally secure in the hands of God (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30, 2nd Corinthians 1:21-22; 5:5). Explaining how this spiritual conversion happens, Yahweh our God declared that, “26A new heart also will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Then Jesus Christ promised all His disciples that they would be permanently indwelt by God the Holy Spirit saying, “16And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; 17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him; for He dwells with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:16-17). Moreover, Apostle Paul explains when and why God the Holy Spirit seals and permanently indwells a believer saying, “13In whom [Jesus Christ] you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, 14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” ( Ephesians 1:13-14—bracketed mine). And to crown it all, Jesus Christ stressed the importance of being born again with this warning, “Verily, verily, I say to you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3), and then He moved this warning one notch higher when He stated that being born again is mandatory not optional saying, “Marvel not that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:7).

In summary, you were born the first time physically by your biological parents but you shall be born the second time or rather “born again” spiritually by Yahweh God Himself when God the Holy Spirit shall infuse everlasting life into your dead spirit making it alive forevermore and then permanently indwell it. This is exactly what Jesus Christ meant with these words He spoke to Nicodemus saying, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).

Now, this truth about being born again is summarized by this scripture, “12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13—NKJV).

In short, this spiritual conversion which God the Holy Spirit wants to accomplish in your life, transforms your whole being from inside-out as follows. First, your dead spirit which is unwilling and unable to know God intimately, to love God supremely, to serve God faithfully and to glorify God exclusively; He converts it into a living or regenerated spirit which is willing and able to know God intimately, to love God supremely, to serve God faithfully and to glorify God exclusively. Second, your wounded soul which comprises of your self-deceived mind that is prone to think evil ungodly thoughts, your self-consumed emotional centre that is prone to have evil ungodly feelings, and your unsurrendered self-destructive will that is prone to make evil ungodly decisions; He converts it into a healing soul which comprises of your mind that is being transformed to think good godly thoughts, your emotional centre that is being transformed to have good godly feelings, and your will that is being transformed to make good godly decisions. Of course, your natural body will remain largely unchanged though it shall continue to house your regenerated spirit and your healing soul till that God-appointed time in the future when you shall depart into eternity in heaven and be clothed with a glorified body. In short, God the Holy Spirit converts you from a condemned sinner to a declared saint; from a child of wrath to a child of God; and from a person who is destined to spend eternity in hell to a person who is now destined to spend eternity in heaven. And this is precisely what it means to be born again or simply to be truly and eternally saved!

The following two figures show you what shall happen to your whole being when you shall confess Jesus Christ as the LORD your God paving the way for God the Holy Spirit to seal you and permanently indwell you there and then converting you into a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved.

While it is true that the Bible in Romans 10:9 clearly states that the mouth is the instrument through which you shall confess Jesus Christ as the LORD your God to be saved, where it is not possible to confess with your mouth because of disability or inability, rest assured that all that God is looking for is a genuine heart-felt acknowledgement that Jesus Christ is the LORD your God, whom alone you believe and trust in to save you. That is why people who are dumb and deaf, including all those who are in extremely restrictive situations such as in ICU, can also receive their salvation so long as the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is clearly delivered to them in a way that they can understand it, believe it and finally repent and believe in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

Now at this juncture, it is your turn to sincerely yield to God the Holy Spirit so that He can seal you and permanently indwell you thereby converting you into a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved. To help you do that, here below is once again the “tree of saving faith” which clearly shows you the three dimensions of saving faith that you must have in order to be saved.

So in order for you to receive your salvation and become a true born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved, you must truly and irrevocably experience each one of the above three dimensions of saving faith. First, you must truly and irrevocably experience true saving repentance toward God (the primary dimension of saving faith) which on that “tree of saving faith” is equivalent to strong healthy roots where your saving faith is supposed to be rooted and founded. Second, you must truly and irrevocably experience true saving faith in Jesus Christ (the secondary dimension of saving faith) which on that “tree of saving faith” is equivalent to stem, branches, and leaves which show in detail what your saving faith in Jesus Christ is supposed to look like. Third, you must truly and irrevocably experience true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God (the tertiary dimension of saving faith) which on that “tree of saving faith” is equivalent to the fruit of your saving faith in Jesus Christ which is supposed to be that destiny-defining moment when you confess Jesus Christ as the LORD your God and you are there and then converted by God the Holy Spirit into a true born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved.

Therefore, just as this “tree of saving faith” must have roots at its base for support, so you too must have true saving repentance toward God (the primary dimension of saving faith) as the firm foundation to support your salvation. And just as this “tree of saving faith” must have stem, branches, and leaves as its main parts, so you too must have true saving faith in Jesus Christ (the secondary dimension of saving faith) as the backbone of your salvation. And lastly, just as this “tree of saving faith” must have fruits as its produce for consumption, so you too must make true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God (the tertiary dimension of saving faith) as your destiny-defining moment when you actually receive your salvation and henceforth become a true born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved!

Therefore, to be truly saved, there is no part of this “tree of saving faith” which should be missing. True saving repentance toward God cannot be missing the same way a healthy tree cannot grow without having roots. Likewise, true saving faith in Jesus Christ cannot be missing the same way a healthy tree cannot be missing stem, branches, and leaves. Similarly, true saving confession that Jesus Christ is LORD your God cannot be missing the same way a healthy fruit tree cannot grow year in and year out without ever producing any fruits. In other words, you must truly and irrevocably experience each one of the above three dimensions of saving faith in order for you to receive your salvation and become a true born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved.

One last caution on this subject: just as you cannot have ripe fruits floating in mid-air without being attached to any tree, so it is that you cannot just confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is LORD your God and expect to be saved without having true saving repentance toward God coupled inextricably with true saving faith in Jesus Christ. This is because, as you can clearly see from the “tree of saving faith” above, confessing Jesus Christ as the LORD your God is “the fruit” that can only be available for you to pick if you truly have true saving repentance toward God “the roots” joined together with true saving faith in Jesus Christ “the stem, branches, and leaves”. I say this because nowadays there are so many people who are told to just say or repeat a prayer confessing Jesus Christ as their LORD to be saved, without having true saving repentance toward God and true saving faith in Jesus Christ as they should. Unfortunately, these people become mere “professors” of faith in Jesus Christ without actually being real “possessors” of true saving faith in Jesus Christ. Sadly, this habit continues to add thousands of people to this group of self-deceived “false Christians” which Jesus Christ warned about in Matthew 7:21 saying that, “Not every one that says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven.” Therefore, just as you cannot expect to find and pick ripe fruits floating in mid-air completely detached from any tree, likewise you should not just confess Jesus Christ as the LORD your God and expect to be saved without having true saving repentance toward God and true saving faith in Jesus Christ as you should. Otherwise, you will end up joining that ill-fated group of self-deceived “false Christians” in Matthew 7:21-23 which is religious but sadly not saved!

This brings us to the climax of THE GREATEST DECISION webpage, where as an active participant in the process of your salvation, you have a golden opportunity to respond to God’s call for your salvation and be saved right now, right where you are. For, what good will it do to you to know that you are a sinner in urgent need of salvation if you do not sincerely repent of all your sins so that God can forgive you and you become saved? Also, what good will it do to you to know that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead paying in full for all your past, present, and future sins if you do not believe and receive Him into your life to become your personal Lord and Savior? It is equivalent to being in a plane that is about to crash, and all you do is to just believe in a parachute that it can save your life but sadly you do not fasten it on your body so that you can jump with it out of that ill-fated plane into safety. It is also equivalent to having medicine that can cure you of a fatal disease that you have, and all you do is to just believe in that medicine that it can cure you of that fatal disease but sadly you do not take that medicine hence you end up dying while holding in your hands the very medicine which could have cured you of that fatal disease.

Similarly, knowing that you are a sinner in urgent need of salvation and knowing that Jesus Christ died and rose again paying for all your sins will not do you any good unless you sincerely repent of all your sins and then truly believe and willingly receive Jesus Christ into your life to become your personal Lord and Savior. For, it is an undeniable biblical fact that God has been drawing you to Jesus Christ to be saved, therefore now is the time for you to come to Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Also, it is an undeniable biblical fact that God has been offering you His free gift of eternal life so that you can be saved, therefore now is the time for you to receive God’s free gift of eternal life and you will be saved. Moreover, it is an undeniable biblical fact that God has been commanding you to repent all your sins so that you can be saved, therefore now is the time for you to obey that commandment of God and sincerely repent all your sins so that you can be saved. And to crown it all, it is an undeniable biblical fact that God has been calling you to believe and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of all your sins and eternal salvation of your soul, therefore now is the time for you to believe and trust in Jesus Christ so that you can be forgiven of all your sins and receive eternal salvation of your soul and thus be truly and eternally saved!

So I beseech you to take this golden opportunity, right now, right where you are to make an irrevocable decision to sincerely repent toward God and truly believe in Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. If that is what you sincerely want to do, then you can receive your salvation right now, right where you are based on this promise of the word of God in 2nd Corinthians 6:2 which says that, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” read together with Romans 10:9 which says, “That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” Therefore all you need to do is to pray this prayer as a way of confessing with your mouth what you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is LORD or YAHWEH your God, whom alone you believe and trust in to save you and you shall be truly and eternally saved: