Let me ask you; would you consider yourself a good person? Do you think you have kept the ten commandments without fail? On judgement day, if God judges you by the ten commandments will you be innocent or guilty?

In order to become a Christ Follower, one must come to grips with the truth about who they are by the mere fact of being born into this world.

First, Romans 3:10-12 says, “…There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.” (Psalm 14:1-3; 53:1-3).

Second, Romans 3:23 is clear that all our perceived goodness falls short of meeting God’s standard of perfection; “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Third, we see that the result of falling short of God’s holiness, we have earned the death or spiritual separation (Isaiah 59:2) from God. Romans 6:23 proclaims this truth, “For the wages of sin is death (spiritual separation), but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Fourth, the ‘gracious gift’ mentioned in Romans 6:23 is the death of Jesus Christ. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

So if my perceived goodness, is not good enough to meet God’s perfect standard, and I have earned his judgement, how can I correct my situation? You can’t! Only Jesus Christ can. He lived a perfect life. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “ He (God) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” This is why John says in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.”

Finally, “if you confess with , your mouth Jesus as LORD, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be save; for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation. For the Scripture says, Whoever believes upon Him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:9-11).

This confession is not just a verbal acknowledgement about Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Ultimately if the confession was genuine there will be life change evidenced by a desire to walk in obedience. This will be discussed in “How to know if I’m a follower of Jesus Christ.”