I've heard people say to sinners who want to give their hearts to Christ, "Confess all your sins, and pray to God to forgive you, and then you'll be saved." That's not scriptural. Most people say this, using 1 John 1:9 as a basis. That verse doesn't address the non-Christian, but the Christian. It says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The Christian is the very offspring of God. He has the life and nature of God; therefore, he always has the tendency to do right. That's the reason as a Christian, you're pricked in your heart whenever you do something wrong. It's at that point that the Word says to repent and confess your sins. To repent is to change your mind, change your way of thinking, and turnaround from the wrong way. Only the Christian has the power to do that. The natural man (the man who's not born again), no matter how morally upright or "religious" he may be, is still a sinner. Therefore, what he needs is a rebirth; not repentance or a "turnaround" from the wrong way of life; he needs a new life altogether. A sinner isn't someone who has committed a sin, for sin is not just an act; it's a nature! Everyone born into this world is born with that sin nature. However, the sin nature is completely supplanted by the life and nature of God when you're born again. The true altar call to the sinner isn't to forgiveness, but to a new life. It's pointless to tell the sinner to confess his sins in order to be saved; he'll never be saved that way. What he needs is to confess the Lordship of Jesus; that's the confession that saves: "…if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9). That pronouncement immediately severs him from damnation. Jesus then becomes the Lord of his life and reigns in him. That way, he can be sure of a great life with Christ, both now and all eternity.