In many religions, there is a process of finding one’s faith and becoming a part of the religion. For Christianity, this sequence is called “The 7 Steps to Being Saved.” Although each step may vary slightly depending on who you talk to and how they interpret the Bible, every Christian should be able to follow these steps.
- Find out that you are a sinner by nature and by choice.
- Realize that your sin requires punishment, which will be executed by God on the Day of Judgment.
- Be willing to turn away from all sin.
- Be willing to put your trust completely in Jesus Christ as the only One who can save you from God’s wrath on the Day of Judgment.
- Confess your faith in Christ with your lips.
- Be baptized, which is an outward sign of your inward faith in Christ and the process of cleansing yourself from sin.
- Live for Jesus Christ daily.
— Timothy J. Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
None of us like to think we’re sinners. We all like to imagine we’ve got this whole sinning thing under control; that we can handle it and stop when we want. But the truth is, we are not as great as we seem to think we are. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23, NLT).
Are you a sinner? Are you a Christian? If so, did you know there was a certain set of steps to becoming a Christian? If this information is new or surprising to you, you should have a look at the 7 steps to being saved.
1. Find out that you are a sinner by nature and by choice.
Everyone, no matter who they may be, is a sinner by nature and by choice. No one wants to think of themselves as a sinner, but everyone is in fact a sinner. We are all born into this world as sinners because every human being has inherited sin from Adam and Eve (Romans 5:12, NLT).
Think about that for a minute! Every person you know, everyone on the planet Earth is a sinner by nature and by choice. Not only that, but we also continue to sin as we grow up, and that’s what gets us into trouble.
2. Realize that your sin requires punishment, which will be executed by God on the Day of Judgment.
We deserve to be punished for our sins because they are against God (Romans 6:23). On the Day of Judgment, we will all stand before God and give account for the things we have done in this life (Romans 14:12). There are no exceptions. Everyone will be held accountable for their actions, even if they were committed when a person was drunk or under peer pressure.
You see, our sins do not go unnoticed by God; many times He has to step in to keep us from making bad decisions. If you think your good outweighs your bad, you are only fooling yourself because all our sins have been recorded in God’s books (Psalm 56:8, NLT).
3. Be willing to turn away from all sin.
The kind of faith that saves is a faith that leads to action. The Bible says, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17) and that “faith without works is useless” (James 2:20). You can’t truly have faith in Jesus unless you are willing to stop sinning. We must turn away from all sin in order to follow Jesus and please Him (Acts 3:19).
4. Be willing to put your trust completely in Jesus Christ as the only One who can save you from God’s wrath on the Day of Judgment.
Salvation is not just a matter of telling God that you are sorry for what you have done wrong; it also means acknowledging that you cannot save yourself. It is only through God’s grace that anyone can be saved (Ephesians 2:8).
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23, NLT), but Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8, NASB) so that we might be saved (1 Timothy 1:15). Since Jesus is God (John 1:1), He alone was qualified to pay the price for our sins. All we can do is come humbly before Him and ask for His help.
5. Confess your faith in Christ with your lips.
The Bible says, “with the heart one believe and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:10). God looks at the beliefs residing in your heart.
As a result, it’s not enough to mentally assent to Jesus being your Savior; you must also own up to Him publicly. You have to open up your life to Christ, allowing Him access to every part of your life.
6. Be baptized in water as commanded by Jesus Christ.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Part of the 7 steps to being saved, being baptized is a public declaration that Jesus Christ has saved you and set you free from sin (Acts 2:38, NLT) because, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been born into God’s family (John 3:5-6).
7. Continue to follow Jesus daily by obeying His Word as it is found in the Bible.
The Bible says that once you are saved, “you will be saved from the guilt of sin; yes, then you will know that I am Yahweh” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). Your faith in Christ must continue to grow if your salvation is going to last. We must rely on God’s Holy Spirit to help us obey and know God’s Word (1 Corinthians 3:16). Therefore, the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will stay with us forever as a guarantee that we will live with God forever.
Furthermore, it says that if anyone turns away from following Jesus after being saved, then their “true faith” is not genuine (1 John 2:19). We must never grow weary of doing good (Galatians 6:9), but continually “work at producing lasting faith, hope, and love in those who have trusted God for their salvation” (1 Timothy 1:5, NLT).
Those are the 7 steps to being saved!
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