God is reaching out to you because He wants you to be part of His family. It does not matter what you have done in your life, whether you think you have lived a good life or you have done things you regret, everyone, including you, needs the Savior. Why? Because God's standard to be in His family is perfect righteousness all the time. Even though this is unreachable on your own, Jesus Christ has restored everything that was wrong with humankind's relationship with God. All you have to do is to accept and believe what Christ has done for you. It is truly that simple.
Note: Throughout this website "heart," "spirit," and "nature" all mean the same thing and are used interchangeably.
Here is what Jesus did for you: He defeated sin forever on His Cross and He conquered death by His resurrection. Because of the Cross, God forgave all of your sins - every one of them, for all time - even if you are not a believer. God did this because He wants you to know His Son, Jesus. Knowing Jesus is not at all about religion; rather, it is about new life.
This is what "new life" means: when you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, God completely removes your old inner spirit, with all of its faults and unrighteous tendencies, and replaces it with a brand new heart. You become an entirely new person on the inside! Your new nature is perfectly righteous because Jesus Christ comes to live in you, joining His life eternally to yours.
(Note: Jesus Christ living in you or the Holy Spirit living in you both mean exactly the same thing.)
Your new righteousness is what qualifies you to be in the family of God. The forgiveness of sins was essential but that alone does not save you. It is Christ joining His eternal life to you that makes you one of God's children. So, the difference between believers and unbelievers is that both are forgiven but believers have God's Spirit living in them; this is eternal life.
Note: God makes you literally righteous in your new heart; He does not merely impute, or credit, you with Christ's righteousness; your new heart is without sin (1 John 3:9) and forever righteous because Christ lives in you!
Your outer self, which includes your physical body and mortal soul, is not directly changed when you believe in Jesus Christ; it is your inner nature, your inner spirit, that is changed and redeemed. This is why it does not look and feel like Christ defeated sin forever. But He did defeat sin forever in your "born again" heart; it is your "flesh" that is not and cannot be righteous enough to meet God's standards.
In fact the "mortal" part of you does not have the capacity to be righteous. Even though your new inner spirit is sinless, you can still sin in your outer mortal body and soul. This is the reason believers live by faith. Faith is Christ living His righteous life through you instead of you living life by your own human strength. Life is an everyday decision: walk by faith or live life by your own human power. God wants you to live by the faith of Christ in you.
(Read more about this in "The Gospel in Even Greater Detail" below. Also, to understand why believers often do not experience this new righteous life, click here.)
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