(1) I must acknowledge myself to be in God's sight a helpless sinner. In Romans 3:22,23 this unequivocal statement is made:
"There is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
(2) I must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to be the very Savior I have just admitted I need. 1 Peter 3:18 reminds us that 'in order to bring me back to God, Christ, the innocent One, suffered for the sins which I, the guilty one, had committed.'
(3) I must come to Christ and claim my personal share in what He did for everybody.
He died to be the Savior of the world; I must ask Him to be my Savior. He bore the sins of all men; I must ask Him to take my sins away. He suffered to bring everybody back to God. I must ask Him to bring me.
Exactly what I must do is explained by Christ in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him."
The house is a picture of my life. Christ stands outside the front door. He will not put His shoulder to it. He does not use a battering ram. He waits patiently until I open the door. Then He will come in, and on entering He will have become to me the Savior I have acknowledged I need, and I shall find myself reconciled to God, enjoying that fellowship with Him for which I was created.
-- From Becoming a Christian by John Stott
And this is how we take the leap of faith - from darkness into God's unapproachable light! We simply answer the door - welcome Him into our life!
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