Ephesians 2:8,9
"For by Grace are ye saved through Faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the Gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
In religion today, people like to ask, "When were you saved?" Those who have been regenerated know the answer to that: It was when Christ paid the debt. That is it. It is not about walking an aisle or saying a prayer. They may say, "Yeah, but you know what I mean." "No, I don't know what you mean!" Those people think it is some sort of act that they decide to do that saves them, like repeating a so-called "sinner's prayer."
The truth is that only the Gift of God's grace through Christ can save chosen sinners: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6). God saved every one of His elect when the LORD Jesus shed His blood unto death on the cross at Calvary. The Gospel (Good News) declares the work is DONE, FINISHED, ACCOMPLISHED, FULFILLED: "And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the LORD by the prophet" (Matthew 21:22). "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished" (Luke 18:31). "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished" (John 19:30).
Any true confession of Christ is Spirit-born and is the result of the LORD Jesus Christ having already paid the debt as the Representative Head, having reconciled that sinner to God in Himself by His death on the cross. And when the Spirit reveals Christ in the chosen sinner, they look to Him alone as all their salvation. Their eyes are opened to the Crucified One. The experience of every child of God is that the LORD Jesus paid their sin debt long before they ever knew Him, and that the Spirit of Christ opened their eyes to see Him having paid their complete sin debt when He died on the cross. Many will make a profession because they are told that they must say a prayer or invite Jesus into their heart. They are told that God will save and pardon them when He sees their decision to accept Jesus and ask Him to forgive their sins, based on their profession. However, the testimony of Scripture is that when it pleases God to reveal Christ in you, that's when you trust in and rest in the LORD Jesus, Who finished the work already. Any whose eyes are opened by the Spirit know that it isn't anything in them, but only the LORD who has opened and turned their heart to Christ. "...turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God" (Jeremiah 31:18). The Spirit will show you that everything in you is nothing but filth and dung. It is the Spirit of God that opens blinded eyes and turns you to look to Christ and Him crucified alone. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:18).
This is the only message that sinners must hear: Christ and Him crucified. People ask, "Don't you preach anything else?" NO! Someone once said, "When you are playing a guitar and it has only one string, it is tough to miss because you only have one string." Our one string is Christ and Him crucified, and that is the one message of Scripture. The apostle Paul declared, "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). The revelation of Christ and Him crucified is the exclusive Gift of God for the complete salvation of the sinner.
If you think that you've contributed anything to your salvation beside your sin, then either you have a very defective view of your salvation or else you've never known what real salvation is.