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“Will you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior?”

“Won’t you accept Jesus into your heart and life?”

These are just a few questions that Christians have used for years to invite people to enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Maybe you have been asked one of these before, maybe not. Maybe you even responded to such an invitation and made a decision to “accept Christ” but never really followed through. Either way, the premise of questions like these is wrong. You see, the spiritual reality is not whether you will accept Christ or not—the question you should really be asking yourself is, “Will Christ accept me?”

“Depart from me, I never knew you.”

Jesus gave a sobering warning in the Gospel of Matthew:

“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23).

The sad truth is that in spite of all the grandiose claims and decisions some have made or the lives lived in apparent religious duty, there are those who claim to know and follow Christ whom Christ will one day reject.

If Jesus were to speak this verse today, He might say something like this: “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did I not accept you? Did I not pray and ask You into my heart when I was a child? Did I not attend church and give money? Did I not preach, teach, and serve? Was I not baptized in Your name?’ And I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

On the Day of Judgment, Jesus will not accept everyone, even many of those who claim to have known and served Him so faithfully. So, how do you know He will accept you? How do you know that you will not hear those eternally condemning words, “Depart from Me; I never knew you?”

“Examine yourselves!”

When writing to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul implored them to:

“ Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Look at your own life, your own heart, and see what the Scriptures implore you to see. Do not base your confidence in a prayer or profession, but look at the reality of who you are in light of Scripture:

1. You are a sinner.

No matter your religion, nationality, color or gender—you have violated the moral standards, the law of God.

“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” (1 John 3:4).

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7:23—“depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” Sin is violating God’s law—His moral standards. Sin is “lawlessness”: living in disobedience and rebellion to the Law of God. The eternal principles of God’s Moral Law were summarized for the Hebrews in the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20:

• Have no other gods.
• Do not create graven images.
• Do not use God’s name in vain [as profanity].
• Honor the Sabbath.
• Honor your parents.
• Don’t murder.
• Don’t commit adultery.
• Don’t steal.
• Don’t lie.
• Don’t covet [desire what you do not possess].

The perfect expression of that law, however— indeed the very embodiment of the Law—is Jesus Christ. It is Christ who said:

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).

Therefore, sin goes beyond simple conformity to the code; sin is a matter of the heart. Lust is adultery, hatred is murder—all of which violate the character of Christ and God’s moral law.

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:10-11).

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:10-12).

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

2. Jesus Christ is your sin-bearer.

Your violations of God’s righteous standard will be punished. “For the wages [deserved or earned payment] of sin is death…” Romans 6:23a tells us. It was that death Christ took upon Himself when He died upon the cross:

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).

“Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

Even though you are guilty, Jesus Christ took your sins upon Himself—He bore the penalty for your lawlessness, so that you might yield your life in faith to Him.

3. Jesus Christ demands that you repent, turning to Him for new life.

“Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15).

“And when He had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up His cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:34-37).

The reason so many people are deceived about their standing before God is that they think all they need to do is add Jesus into their life—a little prayer here, some good deeds there, and everything will turn out great. However, Jesus did not come to merely improve our lives or make them better. He came because we were all “dead in trespasses and sins … having no hope, and without God” (Ephesians 2:1,12).

Jesus came to give us life—new life, abundant life (John 10:10). But if you want to continue to live your life as you please—in continued denial and disobedience to Christ—you will lose everything, even if you “gain the whole world.” It is you, the lawless, unrepentant and unbelieving, that Jesus will deny and cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 21:8). However, if you turn to Jesus Christ as a lost and guilty sinner, putting your complete trust in Him for salvation, He will give you a brand new life to live for Him.

“In whom [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

Leaving your old life behind and surrendering your new life to His Lordship will result in radical changes as you are molded more and more into His image. Your life will bear the marks and produce the fruit of your faith in Jesus Christ, for you will have Christ and Christ will have you.

Will Christ accept you? That depends entirely on what you’re expecting Him to accept. If you think you can “do your best” to clean up your life and make it acceptable to Him, you will surely fail and be lost forever. However, the moment you abandon all thoughts of your own merit or goodness and simply cast yourself upon God’s grace through Jesus Christ, you will be accepted immediately: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

If we can be of any further help to you in trusting, knowing or following Jesus Christ, please contact us at:

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