Our responsibility in this matter is to acknowledge our sins, turn from them and submit our lives to Jesus Christ. When we do, two wonderful things happen. First, we receive forgiveness and are accepted into full fellowship with God, as if we had never sinned in the first place.
The second, and equally important part of the process, is that the third Person in the divine Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, comes to live within our human bodies. This experience is described in the New Testament as being "born of...the Spirit" (Jn. 3:5 
), crossing over "from death to life" (Jn. 5:24) and being "made...alive with Christ" (Eph. 2:5 ), or being "raised...up with Christ" (Eph. 2:6 ).
A true believer is spoken of as one who already "has everlasting life" (Jn. 6:47 ) and already has been "raised with Christ" (Col. 1:1 ).
Conversion primarily involves faith in God, repentance of sin, acknowledgement of falling far short of God's glory and holiness and confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the all-sufficient and only means by whom one's sin can be atoned for and therefore the only route to salvation (Jn. 16:6 ).
True repentance consists of three main constituents:
*A genuine regret for past sin (2 Cor. 7: 10a).
*A realization of the nature of sin (i.e., that it is bad), leading to a hatred of it (Mk. 2:17).
*A sincere commitment to leave the ways of this world and follow the way of Christ (Acts 3:19 ).
True faith similarly consists of three main constituents:
*An understanding or knowledge of the basic truth of Jesus and His saving work (Rom. 10: 14b).
*An approval and acceptance of this basic truth (James 2:19 ).
*An application of the knowledge of this truth in personal and sincere trust (Acts 3:19 ).
Christians responded not so much of a sense of guilt, but from their awe, reverence and holy fear of God's presence. God takes the initiative in our life. Then, we respond by acknowledging and confessing our sinfulness, and then accept the call to holiness.
Conversion involves receiving the life of God Himself into our innermost being through the presence of the Holy Spirit. We are in a totally new relationship with the living God, a relationship which physical death cannot affect.
Once converted to Christ, the act of repentance and the personal trust must continue for the rest of life. We will struggle with sin until we reach Heaven and so we must continuously acknowledge and ask forgiveness for sins, must know that sin is wrong and to be turn away from it, and must be striving to live God's way.
Likewise, the act of trusting Christ as Savior must be continuous: knowing the truth of Christ's saving work, believing and approving of this saving wokr as the right way, and evidencing this belief with personal trust in Jesus for salvation.
