Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 2:9-14

It is not being sincere in what you believe that will get you saved; it is believing in the right thing, the truth, that will accomplish the goal.

I once read an illustration about a man who went deer hunting but didn’t get anything. Later when he was watching a big-game show on television, a big deer came across the screen, the first deer he had seen all year. He picked up his gun, sincerely thinking that he had unloaded it. He sincerely aimed it at his television set. Sincerely he believed he could pull the trigger and nothing would happen. But he sincerely blew the guts out of his television set!

You can be sincere and good all you want, but you are only going to get to Heaven one way: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.”

To believe on the Son simply means to trust Him, to rely on Him, to depend on Him. Here are four things about believing on Jesus:

1. You accept as fact what the Bible states, that you “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
2. You also believe the Bible when it says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and so, as a sinner, you’ve earned those wages, in other words, a penalty.
3. You believe the Bible truth about how God “gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
4. You not only believe that Jesus died for you on the cross to pay your debt for sin, but you accept as fact that it is “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works” (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is depending on that which will get you to Heaven.

These four things are what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

I can give mental assent that a certain chair will support me; but I’ll never enjoy the benefits of the chair holding me up until I sit on it and lift both feet off the floor. Only then do I prove that I have trust in that chair and depend on it to hold me up. Another example of faith in action would be entering a darkened room and believing that by flipping a wall switch, light will flood the room. I won’t experience that light until I flip that switch. I won’t experience Heaven until I trust totally in Jesus Christ.

You can say in your head, “There is a Christ. I believe He did die for me on the cross,” but you must go a step beyond that by putting actions to that belief and determine to absolutely, totally and unreservedly trust, depend on and rely on what Jesus did at the cross to get you to Heaven. Just like turning on a light takes action to put that belief into what you desire (a lighted room) so you must give action to what you sincerely believe concerning Christ. You must trust Him totally.

That’s as simple as I can make it, but those instructions come from one Book: the Bible. “From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
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