“Jesus / God… But I believed in You…”

This phase will be spoken by many people on the day of judgement.  It isn’t enough to simply believe that God exists. We have to make Him the Lord of our life.

In this post, I want to look at what it truly means to be a Christian. This is not meant to scare you. God wants each and everyone of us to be part of His family. For those who have called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are all a part of God’s loving family. 

Spoilers

For those of you who like to skip to the end of a book and read it first, this section is for you.  

1. God IS all powerful, but He limited himself by giving mankind their own will.
2. God will not violate our own will because He loves us.  
   1. In other words, if we choose to reject Jesus (and God) then God will send us to a place where He isn’t present…hell.
3. Jesus is the only way to God.
4. Salvation comes through believing Jesus paid the price for our own sin (death and hell) and confessing Jesus as our Lord.  
5. Proof of our Salvation is our Love for people.
   1. If you have no love for people, then God’s love isn’t in you.

Don’t let these things scare you.  If you are a Christian, sometimes the devil likes to get in and plant doubt about our salvation.  Trust me Jesus paid too high of a price to not want a relationship with you.

God is ALL POWERFUL (…almost)

Now some of you might already be saying, “WHAT!?!?”  God IS all powerful there is no “almost” about it.  But the truth is that God was all powerful until He used that power to limit Himself by creating us with our own free will.  

That means that God cannot do any more or less for us than our will will let Him.

Backstory Time

Let’s get one thing straight.  God was lonely.  He wanted children.  He wanted a family, but what is a family without free will? God didn’t want mindless robots to be controlled by Him like some puppet master.  

Instead, He wanted free-willed people – like you and I – who would willingly choose to spend time with Him.

That is why we were created!  To have a relationship with God!

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 1:26-28 KJV

NOTICE: No one said we were God. That’s just foolishness, but God gave us the same attributes (free will, three part being, etc.) that He has.

Jesus the Only Way

People say, “Well if God is all powerful and wants a relationship with me, then I should just go to heaven automatically.”  That isn’t true!

God has given us a way to heaven and a relationship with Him – His name is JESUS.

Jesus came down from heaven to earth.  He came as our substitute to take the punishment for our sins.  

But again God won’t force us to go to heaven.  If we choose through our will to go to hell, then God will HAVE to accept it.

Why do you want another way?

No, the truth is that the way to heaven is only found through Jesus.  Our problem is that we don’t want to change from living like hell.  We want to call it “unlogical”, “implausible” or whatever else to try to convince ourselves that we don’t need Jesus. 

Why? Because we are rebelling against God.  

It isn’t good enough to believe that God exists. We have to make Him our LORD.

19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

James 2:19 KJV

Lots of people headed straight to hell believe that God exists and that Jesus exists too.

Believe in your Heart | Confess with your Mouth Jesus is your Lord

It isn’t good enough to simply believe that Jesus was a man who came to the earth about 2,000 years ago.  There are plenty of  historians and archaeologists who believe that!

No, the way to true salvation is to believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and then confess Him as your Lord with your mouth.

Knowing your Saved and Jesus is Lord

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 7:21 KJV

Jesus said those who do the will of God get to heaven.  What is the will of God??

LOVE

LOVING PEOPLE IS THE KEY TO KNOWING THAT YOU ARE BORN AGAIN.

8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

James 2:8 KJV

Salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ.  We know that we have passed from death into life (salvation) when we do the will of our Father God which is to love our neighbour as ourselves.  

9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

1 John 2:9 KJV

If you think you are “in the light” and yet you hate a brother, then the light isn’t in you.  Love is the key indicator that you are a Christian.  

Not of Works…

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV

Just a small side note before we end this post. When salvation comes, then good works follow, but salvation doesn’t come by works.  

Are you part of the family?

In Christians circles, we often ask people, “Are you saved?”  In fact, as I was writing the header above I almost asked that very question, but the truth is that Jesus isn’t about “salvation”.  

Jesus and the work that He did on the cross is about restoration.  He restored our relationship with God.  

The importance of Jesus’ sacrifice is that when accepted it means we enter into the family of God. 

God takes care of His family.  That doesn’t means you’ll never have problems, but it does mean that you’ll have an answer to those problems when you do face them.

So no believing God exists doesn’t equal salvation from sin, but when you make Jesus your Lord, there is nothing like it.

Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that you came to earth to pay the price for my sin.  You were my substitute.  I confess you as my Lord.  Come have control of my life.  In Jesus Name, Amen. 

Prayer of Salvation

Our previous post here.