The definition of believe from the
dictionary is: to be persuaded of the
truth or existence of; to have faith in the reliability, honesty, benevolence,
etc., of; to accept the truth of something.
Even the demons believe.
To
believe means to have faith. The Bible
tells us in James 2:19, “You believe that there is one God. Good!
Even the demons believe that – and shudder.” Demons believe in
the existence of God and that He has prepared a place called hell for Satan and
his angels. They shutter because they
know they are going there. They were the
first to recognize that Jesus was the Son of God, but they did not submit to
Him. They believe as much or more that
you do about Christ. Their faith is
purely intellectual. It does not change
their lives. We humans can believe in
the existence of God, too. We can
believe in the Bible, but still we could go to hell for eternity just like the
demons.
The
Bible tells us in John 4:16-53 about
a nobleman who had faith. He had
historical faith, intellectual faith and trusting faith. When he had trusting faith, he was
saved. Heb. 11:6 tells us “And without faith it
is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that
he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
What is the gospel?
We need to
believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. What
is the gospel? It’s the story of
Jesus: That He is the Son of God; He
came to earth in human form; He lived a sinless life; He was crucified on the
cross as a substitution for you and I; He was buried; God raised to life three
days later, which is called the resurrection; He ascended into heaven and is preparing
a place for us forever.
Before He
ascended into heaven He appeared to Peter, John, the 12 disciples, to Thomas
and then even to as many as 500 people at once.
His brother James did not believe He was who He said he was, but after
His resurrection James was convinced. He
wrote the book of James. Later, Jesus
even made a special appearance to Paul on the road to Damascus. These are just some of the appearances the
Bible tells us about. There may have
been many others.
We believe a
lot of things. We believe in magic, even
we know it is not true. We believe the
car will start when we turn the key. We
believe the electricity will come on when we flip the switch. We don’t know how, but we believe it. So if we believe without seeing, we are more
blessed. We trust everything based on
creditable witnesses. We have never seen
Abe Lincoln, but we know he existed. The
resurrection proves that everything
Jesus said is true. It’s the proof that
everything about Jesus is true. See John 20 and 21 for the full account of the
resurrection of Jesus.
Without the
gospel there is no hope. You will not be
saved if you do not believe.
Are you one of thousands of people who believe in Jesus, but don’t trust
Him as Lord? Believing
in Jesus means you acknowledge God as Creator, admit you are a sinner, confess
your sins and repent (turn away from) of them.
It means trusting Him as Lord. It
means accepting His teachings. It means
obeying His laws. It means believing His
Word. It means being baptized. Baptism does not save you, but it is an
outward symbol of a person’s new life based on turning from breaking God’s laws
to obeying God’s laws.
If you are a
child of God then there are things to practice for spiritual growth: unite with a Bible-believing church, pray
daily in all circumstances, read your Bible daily, and witness for Him.
Remember you
are not perfect. Only God is
perfect. You will mess up from time to
time. But God is always with you and He
always forgives.
God is waiting
for you to come to Him. He doesn’t want
you to go to hell. That’s why He’s
waiting and waiting before He returns again.
He wants to give everyone a chance to believe and trust in Him.
“If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is
Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved.” — Romans
10:9
“To all who received Him, to those who
believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” — John 1:12
“He asked, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ They
replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.’” — Acts 16:30-31
