I’m Not Sure I’m A Christian

How do you know if you’re a Christian or not? What must you do if you’re not sure if you are a Christian? What do you need to know about how a person becomes a Christian?
In order to answer these questions we must look at what a Christian is not – or the common myths or misconceptions about what it means to be a Christian.

1. It’s Not About The Religion of Your Family
You do not become a Christian just because you have Christian parents or because you were born in a church-going family. For example, it is possible that many children who have Christian parents can eventually decide to become atheists or to follow a completely different religion or belief system, even though they may have been born in a family with Christian values.
Alternatively it is also possible that a person can be born into a non-Christian family that follows a different religion. However a child born in a non-Christian family can eventually become a Christian even though his/her parents and family are not Christians.
Therefore becoming a Christian is a personal decision that an individual makes in response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Your identity of whether you’re a Christian or not does not depend on your family background or your current family beliefs.
You become a Christian by making a personal decision to receive Jesus Christ into your life through faith.
John 1:12-13 says: But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 3:5-6 – Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

2. It’s Not About Your Denomination or What You Do For Your Church
Your identity of whether you’re a Christian or not does not depend on your denomination, nor the title or position you have in your church, nor what activities you perform for your church.
It is possible to have influence, position and recognition in a church or religious group but not be a Christian. It is possible to be religious and perform many religious activities but not actually be saved.
A classic example were the Pharisees who though they had religious influence, position and authority – they were viewed by Christ as being hypocritical.
Therefore Christianity is a personal relationship with God that does not depend on social class, financial status, religious titles or even education.
God ultimately looks at the heart of a person. He is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). He also does not look at outward appearances – but He looks into our heart. He alone ultimately knows those who belong to Him and those who do not.

2 Timothy 2:19 says: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus said the following: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

Matthew 15:7-9 – You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when He said: 8 “‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; 9 in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'”

3. It’s Not About Your Own Works of Righteousness Or Your Own Effort To Enter Heaven
We are not saved by our own effort to be righteous. We are not saved by keeping the law or by attempting to obey the 10 commandments. We are not saved because we think that we are better than other people or because we think that we have sinned less than others (Luke 18:9-14).
To God, our works of righteousness are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Our personal effort to be good is not good enough for God.
While it is certainly encouraged to do good works and to do acts of righteousness, the Bible says that we are not saved by keeping the law nor are we saved by our own effort to be good. Instead, we are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Salvation is a gift of God. It is not something you earn through trying to keep the law.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

We become Christians not because of our own works of righteousness, but we become Christians because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ and the finished work that He did on the cross by dying for our sins in our place (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The law cannot save us. Instead the law and the 10 commandments reflect that we are indeed sinners who have missed the mark (Romans 3:23). We are all guilty of disobeying God’s laws and that makes us sinners. We inherited our sinful nature from Adam, the first man to sin against God (Genesis 3:1-24).
Therefore no matter what we try to do with our own effort, we cannot perfectly obey all of God’s laws. The purpose of the law is to lead us to Christ and the cross and the fact that we need Christ Himself (Galatians 3:24-26). According to Galatians 3:26 our salvation is through faith alone in Jesus Christ and not by works.
The only Person to have perfectly obeyed all of God’s laws on our behalf is Jesus Christ. It is only through Christ and because of His righteousness that we become Christians and receive salvation.

Romans 5:12 – Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Romans 5:15 – But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

Romans 5:18-19 – Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Again it is important to notice from Romans 5:15 (as with several other scriptures on the issue of salvation) that eternal life is a free gift. Salvation is a free gift made possible and available through Jesus Christ alone.
Therefore we do not need to work for our salvation. Instead to become a Christian, we must receive Christ as Lord through placing our faith in Him because He paid for our sins on the cross.
God offers us redemption and forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ.

Titus 3:5 says the following about Christ: He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Conclusion
We are all sinners who have sinned before a just and holy God. The penalty for sin is death or eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23).
Sin spiritually separates us from God and therefore we are unable to be reconciled to God because of it.
Our own personal works of righteousness or effort are not enough to save us from the wrath of God and the consequences of sin.
Therefore what we need is a perfect Saviour who can save us from sin and its consequences. We need a Saviour who can reconcile us back to God and pay the debt for sin that we cannot pay.

Jesus Christ said the following in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”.

Acts 4:12 says: And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Therefore it is only through Jesus Christ and receiving Him in our life that we become born again Christians. It is Christ who is the foundation of our Christian life. It is through seeking a personal relationship with Christ that we become Christians and we are reconciled to God because of the debt that Christ paid for our sins.
Therefore when God see us as Christians, He no longer looks at our sins but He looks at Christ who paid for our sins on the cross. Our salvation is not by our righteousness, but it is because of the righteousness of Christ through whom we have been saved. So all glory for our salvation goes to God and not us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 – For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Our identity as Christians is in Jesus Christ alone. It is only because of the love, grace and mercy of God that we have the privilege of being united or reconciled back to God through Christ. God demonstrates His love for us in that whilst we were sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

DO YOU WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN or A FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST???

1. ACKNOWLEDGE: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
This means that we have all broken God’s laws and God’s 10 Commandments like those mentioned in Exodus 20:1-17. For example, if you have told a lie; if you have stolen something; if you have lusted after somebody or if you have coveted. This means you are guilty of breaking at least one or more of God’s 10 Commandments. Breaking God’s commandments makes us sinners. The fact that we are sinners who have broken God’s law means that we are accountable to God who is the Lawgiver. Romans 6:23 says that “the wages of sin is death BUT the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
You must acknowledge that you are a sinner who has broken God’s commandments and that you therefore need Jesus in your life.

2. REPENT: “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3), “Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19)
Repenting means: to change your mind; a sincere turning away, in heart, mind and action;
Therefore God wants you to repent of sinful values and of sinful living. God wants you to decide to
follow Him and to make Jesus the Lord of your life.

3. CONFESSION: “If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9)
God is a forgiving God. God will forgive any sin that you have done because Jesus died for ALL your sins and to set you free from the bondage of all types of sin in your life.

4. BELIEVE: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
You must believe that ONLY Jesus can save you and restore your relationship with God. You must believe that Jesus is the ONLY way by which you can have everlasting life and escape from eternal separation from God. You must believe that Jesus died on the cross for you and resurrected from the grave.
“He came to His own, and His own did not receive him, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:11-12)
By faith, You must receive Jesus as Your Lord & Savior and therefore; you become a child of God; you become born again; you become a Christian; you restore your broken relationship with God

Why Not Make Your Eternal Decision NOW?

We become born again Christians by GRACE through FAITH or TOTAL TRUST in Jesus Christ as our Lord & Savior (Galatians 3:26) & (Ephesians 2:8,9). Salvation is a FREE gift received through FAITH in Christ.

PLEASE NOTE: You can choose to pray in your own words. This prayer is a sample prayer and it is only an EXPRESSION of your faith, belief & trust in Jesus. Salvation is by GRACE through FAITH or BELIEVING in Christ Jesus as your Lord & Saviour.

“Lord Jesus, I thank You for Your love. I thank You that You died on the cross for me and resurrected so that I may have life through You.
I confess Lord that I have sinned against You and today I ask You to forgive me of all of my sins, past present and future.
Today I repent and have decided to follow you. Thank you for forgiving all my sins.
From this moment, come into my life Lord Jesus & take full control of my life. I want to follow You Jesus and I want to follow Your ways. Save me and from today, make me the person You want me to be.
I receive You Lord Jesus right now by faith. I trust You as my Lord and Savior – Amen”

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