But God has made a way for us by accepting Jesus' death as a substitute for the penalty we would receive. God is willing to take all of your sins and mine, and allow the punishment Jesus experienced to qualify as a payment for what you and I owe. And, because He was raised from the dead on the third day after his death, we can be assured that He has the power to raise us to eternal life when we pass from this physical life. While it is only by the generous grace of God and the loving sacrifice of Jesus that the penalty for our sins has been paid, we must respond to that gift and accept it in God's way. A sinner, then, must come to the realization that he is a sinner and believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for his sins.
Faith is much broader than the intellectual acceptance of the gospel.
A commitment to the lordship of Jesus must be made. God has made . . . This is a conscious decision to change one's life, values, and attitudes, and to begin serving a new master. One cannot be a Christian and continue to live to please himself. He must make a continuing effort to please Jesus.