How Jesse became a Christian

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” – Romans 5:6

This is one of the most succinct statements of the “good news” (gospel) in scripture.

I understood the gospel.

By God’s grace I was made aware of this “good news” (gospel) from birth.  I was born to Christian parents.  In fact, I was born while my parents were serving as missionaries in Brazil.  When we moved back to the U.S., my father became the pastor of a church in NJ.  My heritage includes being both a missionary kid (MK) and a pastor’s kid (PK).  Through God’s grace, I was surrounded by the gospel.  The gospel was read and explained at home.  I heard my father preach in church.  Missionaries regularly stayed in our home and told me of the gospel in action throughout the world.  My uncles, aunts and cousins are missionary and pastor families. My grandparents are believers.  I have a treasured family bible that shows a record of believers in my family since at least the mid 1800′s.  The “good news” that Christ died for the ungodly has been well understood by me since my earliest days.

What took me longer to understand, was that I was ungodly.

At the age of 8, my best friend (age 10) had responded in faith to the gospel and had become a Christian.  He was to be baptized in our church by my father.  I wanted to be baptized with my friend.  I went to my dad and asked him to baptize me along with my friend.  My dad simply replied by telling me baptism is an act of obedience by one who has come to Christ by faith.  I didn’t reply.  In a very tender and loving way, I had just been confronted once more by the truth.  For the first time, I realized that I was not a believer.  I had not come to Christ and confessed my sin.  I had not viewed myself as the “ungodly”.  I had counted my Christian heritage as my own righteousness.

“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?” – 1 Corinthians 6:9a

Yes, I knew that the wicked (sinners) would not go to heaven (inherit the kingdom of God).

“Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were.” – 1 Corinthians 6:9b-11a

What I failed to realize was that I was included in the list of the “wicked”.  I thought that the “wicked” only included some of the terrible sins (idolatry, adultery, prostitution, homosexual sins, etc.) listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, or something that would surely keep anyone out of heaven…murder (Exodus 20:13).  I was just an 8 year old kid, with a pretty good reputation, growing up in a Christian home.  How was it possible that I would not go to heaven?

 ”There is no one righteous, not even one;
 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” – Romans 3:10-11

How is it possible that no one is righteous?

Although from a distance, I may have looked like a “good kid”, and I certainly hadn’t committed any terrible sins such as adultery or murder, it turns out that while my behavior up to this point may have been acceptable to me and to many others, I had already fallen far short of God’s standards, and was in fact, under His wrath!

If this is true, how is God defining sin?

Sin is falling short of God’s perfect standard of holiness and the condition to which all men are born.

“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.” – Ecclesiastes 7:20

“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” – 1 John 3:4

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,” – Romans 1:18

Wait a minute, when did I become a sinner?

Actually, I was born a sinner.  All men born after Adam are born sinful.

“Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” – Romans 5:12

If I am born a sinner, how can I be made right with God?

I was made right with God, not by the kind of righteousness that I thought I could achieve (i.e. avoiding big sins, or even by living as best I could to please God).  Instead, I needed to accept the righteousness that comes through Christ.

“But now righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” – Romans 3:21-26

It took me over a year of struggling with these truths before I humbled myself, freely confessed to God my sin, asked God to forgive me of my sins and put my trust in what Christ had done on the cross for me.  I was afraid of what people would think of me if I admitted that I wasn’t already a Christian.  I knew people assumed that because of my family background I was already a Christian.

What a weight was lifted, as I had been under such conviction for so long!  I soon was baptized as an outward sign – a testimony to all that I was a sinner, but now I no longer strived to please God with my own righteousness, I had accepted the righteousness of His son, and in so doing had been made right with God!

I could now identify with 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 as a wicked, ungodly sinner, but more importantly, I could also identify with the conclusion of verse 11:

“But I was washed, I was sanctified, I was justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” – 1 Corinthians 6:9-11