Receive The Gift

So you finally understand the problem caused by your own sin.  You see God’s solution to the problem.  You know that you cannot earn this solution.  You get that it is offered as a free gift.  Now you want to receive, unwrap, and enjoy the benefits of that gift.  What should you do?

But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED." (Romans 10:8-13 NASB)

You have already “done” the first thing.  You believed that Jesus is the solution to your problems caused by sin.  Saying it, then, should be easy.  “I believe that Jesus is the Christ.  I receive Jesus as my Savior.”  Moving forward, however, you will not want to keep living the kind of life that caused all these problems in the first place.  You will want to change things both for God and for yourself.  Jesus can lead you in that life-change as well.  You confess that out loud when you say, “Jesus is my Lord.”

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21 NIV)

Some places will stop right there when teaching you how to receive God’s gift of grace.  The problem is that Jesus himself said that there was more to it than that.  You may have received the gift, but you certainly haven’t unwrapped it and started receiving the benefits.  Keep reading, then, to find out what is left to do.

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:37-39 NIV)

“Repent” simply means “turn around.”  You said you were going to do that when you confessed Jesus as your Lord.  Only you and God know if you really want to turn away from your sin and turn back to God.  But you can know.

Baptism is from the Greek word βαπτίζω (baptizo) which simply means, “to dip” or “make fully wet.”  Baptism was the visible picture of what was happeing to the person.  They went down into the waters, clothed themselves with Christ (Galatians 3:27), died with Christ to their old lives (Romans 6:3), were buried with Christ (Romans 6:4a, Colossians 2:12a), washed their sins away (Acts 22:16), received the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13), were raised from the dead with Christ (Romans 6:4b, Colossians 2:12b) to begin a new life.

Believe. Confess. Repent. Be Baptized.  You will receive the forgiveness of your sins and the Gift of the Holy Spirit.  This promise is for you, too, because you are being called.

"Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:12-15 NIV)

How about you?  Have you joined God?  Will you?