Where It All Begins
4 – How a Person Actually Responds
If what was covered in Part Three is true — that Jesus already paid the full price for the separation caused by sin — the natural question is: what does a person actually do with that? Not what do they do to earn it, because it cannot be earned. What do they do to receive it?
The answer has two parts, and they belong together. Not one instead of the other — both, together.
Repentance
Repentance means an honest change of direction — recognizing that living independently of God, on one’s own terms, was wrong, and turning away from that direction toward Him instead. It is not primarily about feeling sorry, though sorrow is often part of it. It is about a genuine decision to stop living as though God is optional, and to start living in relationship with Him instead.
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.” (Acts 3:19)
Faith
Faith means trusting what God has said is actually true, and acting on that trust — not just agreeing with it as an idea. This is an important distinction. A person can intellectually agree that Jesus died and rose again and still not have the kind of faith the Bible is describing, because real faith is not just believing a fact. It is placing your actual confidence in what Jesus did as the thing that reconciles you to God, instead of continuing to trust in your own effort, your own goodness, or anything else.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9)
That word "grace," used there, means God’s unearned favor — receiving something good that was never deserved and could never be worked for. This is the heart of the difference between this and every other approach a person might try: it is not a transaction where good behavior purchases a good outcome. It is a gift, offered freely, received by trusting it and turning toward the One who gave it.
What This Looks Like
There is no required formula of exact words. What matters is the honesty and reality of what is happening inside a person as they do this: acknowledging to God that they have been living separated from Him because of sin, believing that Jesus died and rose again to pay for that separation, and turning — genuinely, not just verbally — to trust Him instead of themselves. Many people find it helpful to say this to God directly, in their own words, in prayer — which simply means talking to God honestly, out loud or silently. Something like this, said honestly, reflects what is being described here:
God, I know I have been living separated from You because of sin. I believe Jesus died for that and rose again. I am turning away from trying to fix this myself, and I am trusting Him instead. Thank You for what You have already done. I receive it now.
If that is genuinely true of you — if that is what you actually mean, not just words repeated — then what happens next is the subject of Part Five.