It is a personal faith in a personal Christ before you can have a personal salvation. As food must be eaten in order to take away hunger, and medicine must be taken in order to take away disease, even so you must lay hold on Christ by your faith in order for Him to take away your guilt and condemnation. He alone must save or not at all. The moment you accept Him as Savior, God will forgive you and cleanse you and make you a child of His. Believe God's Word that He will do as He has promised.
Death is in the pot.
It boils down to this. The Lord Jesus Christ, who was God in the flesh, came into this world to die in the place and stead of sinners. His was a substitutionary death. You must believe this includes you, that He did it for you, in your behalf. You are now saved with an everlasting salvation.