• Admit that you are a sinner. Sin is anything that contradicts God's law and character in our thoughts, words, emotions, and deeds. Romans 3:23 says "all have sinned," and Romans 6:23 says that "the wages of sin is death." Sin makes us "enemies of God" (Romans 5:10), and we are all "slaves to sin" (John 8:34). This means that you are separated from the God who created you to image him and have within you an impulsively sinful nature that offends his holiness. You lack the capacity to pay God back for your sin, and without any way to make amends, when you die, you will suffer in hell for all eternity. This is the bad news. Now for the good!
   

• Believe that God loves you anyway. The Bible says that God demonstrated his love for you in that while you were still a sinner and an enemy, Christ died for you (Romans 5:8). Because Jesus was perfect, he is qualified to pay for your sins (1 Peter 2:22), and that is what he did. His death satisfied God's justice so that you can be forgiven (Romans 3:25-26). He took your punishment, and after that, he physically rose again. So how does it all work?
   

• Trust in Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4; John 14:6). This means that only God's grace makes it possible for you have salvation and only faith in Christ connects you to that grace. No one else and nothing else can do that. You must do your own believing — and you must believe in the right thing! True faith consists of the right facts and understands those facts. That would include belief that Jesus is fully God and fully man and that he physically rose from the dead. After confessing your sin to God, you then commit your life to live under the Lordship of Christ. No one who is truly saved fails to elevate Jesus as the Lord of their thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds — their entire lives. Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." So what began with condemnation above (all have sinned and the wages of sin is death) can end with salvation!
   

• What's Next? If you understand these things, feel true remorse for your sin, and desire both forgiveness and fellowship with Jesus, all you have to do is simply ask God for salvation. Romans 10:9 says, "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." Please contact our church at 615-941-2293 to let us know of this wonderful news and allow us to follow up with you and help you connect with us! Your first act of obedience to Jesus' Lordship will be to follow him in public baptism, and we would love to help you follow through on that!
   

All Scripture is taken from The English Standard Version published by Crossway.