Life's Most Important Decision
25 Aug 2008
Pontus Pilate’s question to the crowd in Matthew 27:22—“What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?”—is the most important question in all of life. Not only will your answer to this most important question have the greatest bearing upon your life in the here-and-now, but it will also determine the eternal destiny of your immortal soul in the here-after. Obviously, when it comes to your personal decision about Jesus Christ you need to choose carefully, since both this life and the life to come will be determined by the choice you make.
Nowhere in all of Scripture is the way to become a Christian stated more simply and succinctly than in Romans 10:9-10, 13. Here, the Apostle Paul writes, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation...For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
1. Committing yourself to the Lord
The first thing one must do to become a Christian is believe. When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved,” the Apostle Paul answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”(Acts 16:30-31).
Faith always involves commitment. For instance, no one who is unwilling to board an airplane really believes in the safety of air travel.
You may confess to believe in a particular chair’s strength and sturdiness. Still, in spite of your confession of faith, you lack faith in the chair as long as you’re unwilling to sit down in it. Your faith is not faith until you sit down, or until you commit yourself to the chair. Likewise, you don’t really believe in Jesus Christ until you have committed yourself, your life and your all to Him!
Many today profess to believe in Jesus Christ who neither do His will nor obey His Word. By refusing to submit to His will and to obey His Word these people belie their own profession. They may profess Christ, but they don’t possess Christ. They may have a synthetic faith, but they don’t have a saving faith. They are like those that our Lord condemned for honoring Him with their lips while their hearts were far from Him (Matthew 15:8).
There is more to believing in Jesus than just trusting Him to get you to Heaven. Believing in Jesus also means entrusting Him with yourself, your life and your all. It is a matter of having such confidence in Christ that you are willing to take Him at His Word and obey Him without question.
2. Confessing Jesus as your Lord
Lord means boss. To become a Christian you must be willing to make Jesus the Lord (Boss) of your life. You must surrender control of your life to Him. You must slide out from under the wheel of your life and let Christ in the driver’s seat. From here on out your life will no longer be about what you want to be and what you want to do, but about what Christ wants you to be and what Christ wants you to do. No longer will you live your life the way you want to, but the way Christ wants you to.
There are two words that are impossible to say: “No Lord.” The minute you say “No,” Jesus ceases to be your Lord. You’ve usurped Christ’s Lordship over your life and put yourself back in the driver’s seat. To be a Christian means having no more decisions to make, only commands to obey. You no longer plot your own path, but simply go in whatever direction the Lord points you.
3. Calling upon the name of the Lord
Why does the Bible instruct us to “call upon the name of the Lord” for salvation. Why are we not instructed to just call upon the Lord?
The Lord’s name is Jesus—the “name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9-11). According to the Apostle Paul, the name Jesus will ultimately be universally bowed to and confessed by “things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth.” The only question is: “When will men bow to Jesus Christ and confess Him as Lord?” They can freely do so now for salvation or wait till later when they are forced to do so in condemnation.
The name “Jesus” means “the salvation of Jehovah.” Jesus alone is mankind’s hope of salvation. Apart from Him “there is no [other] Savior”(Isaiah 43:11). As Acts 4:12 teaches, “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” No other name can save us. “Allah” won’t do, neither will “Mohammed,” “Buddha,” “Brahma,” or “Krishna.” Only Jesus can save us from our sins!
To become a Christian you must trust Christ and Christ alone to save you from your sin. You must give up any notion of being saved upon the basis of what you do for God and call upon the Lord to save you on the basis of what Christ has done for you.
All true Christians believe that other religions are spiritual dead-ends, leading only to destruction (Proverbs 14:12). No matter how sincere their adherents, false religions can no more save us from our sins than a sincere belief that strychnine is milk can save us if we drink it. There is simply no way that a false faith can lead anybody to the one and only true God.
It is only by calling upon the name of the Lord and believing that Jesus alone is the salvation of Jehovah that we can be saved from our sin. Anyone who believes that salvation is available apart from faith in Christ cannot possibly be a Christian, since such a belief belies one’s believing in and calling upon the name of the Lord
If you're not a Christian, I implore you to call upon the name of the Lord today. Right now, bow your head and pray to Christ to do for you what you can never do for yourself; namely, save you from your sin. If you'll pray this prayer in sincerity, God promises to answer, to save you from your sin and to give you eternal life.
Don Walton
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