Help! Love, MOM

When it comes to the Christian faith, the journey to knowing Jesus can sometimes feel overwhelming.

While the truth of the Gospel is at once a vast ocean of revelation in the love, mind and will of the omniscient, eternal God Most High, it is, at the same time, accessible and near to us so that, even children can love Jesus, profess true faith in Him and joyfully serve Him for the rest of their lives.

One helpful approach to understand how to come to Christ is the ABC method which breaks down the process into three clear steps: Admit, Believe, and Confess.

Whether you are

~searching for a fresh way to articulate your faith and lead others to Christ,

~seeking to know more about Christ, or you are

~you are new Christian,

the ABC method offers a straightforward and effective way to embrace the message of salvation.

In this blog post, we’ll explore how each step can assist you in beginning your relationship with Christ or offer help in guiding another on that same journey.

A – Admit / Acknowledge your sins and that you are a sinner;

Admit or acknowledge and agree with God that you (and I) have done wrong things, another way to say that is, we have committed sins. Indeed, you (and I) LOVE to commit sins, that is, we do, say, or think things that we know are wrong. We also fail to do, say or think things that are right.

The journey to salvation involves understanding the seriousness of sin. Sin which, in it’s essence, is rebellion against God, earns death and separation from God.

You may be pushing back mentally on this point.

Let’s talk about it.

Oh, you may not habitually commit, hmmmm, murder, except in your mind, whenever another driver makes a sudden, unexpected move.

Mean comments on the posts of others, hypocritical thoughts about your spouse, knowing that you are not living up to your full potential and being jealous of those who do, overeating and overspending are all understandable, right?

No.

These are modern ways of sinning against the Holy God. Serial murder they are not. Worthy of eternal death? In God’s economy? Yes.

This is not to trivialize sin, this is to bring sin into your and my everyday existence. We all sin – A LOT. All sin grieves and offends God.

This is to also include those sins that obviously appear to be very seriously sinful.

Recently, the young niece of a dear family in our church was kidnapped and found murdered and mutilated in another country. That little girl’s homicide is an egregious example of sin.

It’s a hard step for prideful people like us to grasp that, without the same methods or immediate outcomes of , but, I too, am a sinner just like the murderer. God help us!

It can be difficult to comprehend that we offend God every day in our thoughts, words, and actions. Often we think about our family, neighbors, friends, co-workers, enemies, celebrities and think, “I’m not so bad. But (insert name here) is AWFUL!”

Repentance involves turning away from sin and turning toward God. It is an active choice to change direction, to embrace God’s forgiveness, and to seek His renewal.

If we will admit our sins and that we have no power on our own to not sin, and ask Him for forgiveness, God will forgive us. Further, He will help us to live a life that brings Him glory, brings us joy and that spreads the gospel light in the world.

Romans 3:23 …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” 

B – Believe in your heart and mind that God raised Jesus from the dead;

Romans 10: 9  Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

I was raised with a tradition of regular — “regular” meaning EVERY Sunday as opposed to, say , every Christmas, btw — Sunday church attendance no matter what you did on Saturday night. That genial, good man who was my father and a church Deacon morphed into a loud Army sergeant on the Lord’s day.

It was disrespectful, but my Daddy didn’t care. If you lived in his house you were getting up to go to the house of worship for Sunday School no less.

Disrespectful!! I wince at the auditory memory of his awful banging on our bedroom doors at about 6 am announcing, “Time for church! It’s time to get up for church!” I confess, I sinned in my heart and under my breath in those mornings.

But somehow, at times, under threat of not being able to go out the next weekend, I got up, washed up and dressed up and managed to choke down some of Mommy’s delicious, hot breakfast. I can smell the sausages and bacon now.

The places in the Bible that reference Jesus’s resurrection are familiar “portions of scripture,” as church jargon goes. However, this same familiarity may be a hindrance to genuine belief.

Whatever your current religious background, if you feel the Holy Spirit drawing you to become a Christian, belief in Jesus’s bodily resurrection from the dead is essential. But why?

First, the scriptures, in many texts, support this belief. Romans 10:9 quoted previously does so. Here in 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4 the speaker is the Apostle Paul:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,  and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

Continuing in his presentation of the resurrection of Jesus as the cornerstone of Christian hope Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”

The resurrection, then, validates Jesus’s divine identity and confirms that His sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of sins.

Without the resurrection, Christianity would be just another moral philosophy, not a life-transforming faith rooted in the power of God’s victory, in Jesus Christ, over death.

This truth may underscore why the veracity of Christ’s resurrection has been attacked since the earliest days of Christianity.

On the importance of the resurrection, here’s a quote from a sermon preached by John Piper founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. Dr. Piper says,

“Therefore, believing in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead is much more than accepting a fact.

It means being confident that God is for you, that he has closed ranks with you, that he is transforming your life, and that he will save you for eternal joy.

Believing in the resurrection means trusting in all the promises of life and hope and righteousness for which it stands.

It means being so confident of God’s power and love that no fear of worldly loss nor greed for worldly gain will lure us to disobey his will… O might God circumcise all our hearts to love him and to rest in the resurrection of his Son.“

Lastly, this is the Apostle again in Romans 5:8, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

What a price God paid so that you (and I) can live with Him eternally!

C- Confess, that is, verbally say that Jesus, the Christ is LORD

Romans 10: 9  Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

In Romans 10:9, this confession is not just about reciting mere words, but, rather it is a profound declaration that Jesus is the sovereign Lord of your life.

It is a recognition of His divine authority and the acknowledgment that His resurrection from the dead brings the gift of salvation.

However, this act of confessing Jesus as Lord is more than a mere verbal assertion. In 1 Corinthians 12:3, Paul highlights an essential truth: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.”

Let’s flesh this out a little.

Paul is saying that the ability to truly declare Jesus as Lord, yes, with your mouth, but, first in your heart and mind, comes through the transformative work of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to recognize and confess the truth of who Jesus is, not merely intellectually, — for the devils believe and tremble at the Person of Christ but but do not admit their sins and turn to Him for salvation — but spiritually and rationally and in our experiences.

The Holy Spirit plays a integral role in helping us understand the significance of Jesus’s lordship. It is through His empowerment that we are able to profess our faith authentically and with the heart of a transformed believer. Hallelujah!

The Holy Spirit enables one to authentically recognize the divinity of Christ AND confess Him as Lord. Through the power of the Holy Spirit believers not only speak “right” words but live out the reality of Jesus’s lordship in their daily lives.

Thus, confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in His resurrection is the heart of Christian faith, and, it is only made possible through the Holy Spirit’s work within us. This Spirit breathed confession is the path to salvation, and, the opening salvo in the good fight of faith.

What is also note worthy about the ABC method is that, like a scalable structure, we can also build on it.

Certainly any of these points is a vast subject in and of themselves. Much more can and should be said, studied and shared about these points. Here we have just barely touched them.

Truly, as we continue on in the faith, for certainly, I pray that you (and I) will “press on to know the LORD” the Lord will help us to be, more and more, by His Holy Spirit, transformed into His image.

Then, “As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.” Hosea 6:3

In the ABC method of coming to Christ we have a simple yet powerful framework for embracing the gospel. By Admitting our need for a Savior, Believing in Jesus Christ and His resurrection, and Confessing that He is Lord, we are graciously invited into a relationship with God that transforms us from the inside out.

If you have Admitted your sinfulness and need for a Saviour,

If you Believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, and,

If you now Confess Jesus as Lord-

Welcome to the Family of God!

~Kimberly