Believing means receiving Him. Receiving Him (Jesus) as Lord, means believing what He has said about Himself.
John 5:24 says,
John 6:40-47 says,
C.S. Lewis writes in his book, Mere Christianity,
Which do you believe?
Believing He is Lord is only the first step. The next step would be believing ALL that the Bible (God's Word) says about Him. Verses like...
John 3:16 says,
John 1:12 says,
Romans 10:9,10 says,
There was no trumpet sound, no gust of wind, no angels, or anything like that (at least not visible in this realm). I left his house convinced that this man was Born Again, for I believed all that I shared with him from the Bible. Either Romans 10:9,10 was TRUE and God is God, or I'm a fool and there is no God. I believe though that there is a God, but more than this - He is MY GOD. I not only believe in Him, but I've received Him as well.
In the passing weeks there was evidence of a changed man, for the caretakers and the man's daughter told me that this man seemed more serene. Sometimes he would lift up his arms and close his eyes even. This man passed away about a week later, and I believe is in Heaven today because he believed in and received the Lord Jesus Christ as his own.
John 5:24 says,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.Is believing in God enough to save you? James 2:19 tells us that even the demons believe in God, so obviously something more is needed than just believing in Him. There has to be not only BELIEVING, but there has to be a RECEIVING that takes place. Simply put, I can believe that God exists, but unless I receive Him, He is still not MY GOD.
John 6:40-47 says,
40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.Many people when you ask them about Jesus will say things like, "He was a GOOD MAN" or something like, "He was a GOOD MORAL TEACHER."
C.S. Lewis writes in his book, Mere Christianity,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”So what Lewis is saying is, based on what Jesus has claimed about Himself, we have 3 choices opened to us.
- Jesus is a Lunatic
- Jesus is a Demon
- Jesus is Lord (As He claimed to be)
Which do you believe?
Believing He is Lord is only the first step. The next step would be believing ALL that the Bible (God's Word) says about Him. Verses like...
John 3:16 says,
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.We Believe in Him, then we receive Him as OUR LORD....
John 1:12 says,
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:I once had the blessing of speaking to a man who was only days, and maybe for all we knew minutes away from dying. Knowing there wasn't much time I turned to Romans and read this following passage to him...
Romans 10:9,10 says,
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.After I briefly explained this passage to the man, I asked him if He believed in his heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead, and that Jesus is Lord. The man replied Yes. I then asked him to say it if he believed it. The man replied, "Jesus is Lord." I then shared some more passages and the man repented of his sins, admitting he was a sinner and needed Jesus to save him.
There was no trumpet sound, no gust of wind, no angels, or anything like that (at least not visible in this realm). I left his house convinced that this man was Born Again, for I believed all that I shared with him from the Bible. Either Romans 10:9,10 was TRUE and God is God, or I'm a fool and there is no God. I believe though that there is a God, but more than this - He is MY GOD. I not only believe in Him, but I've received Him as well.
In the passing weeks there was evidence of a changed man, for the caretakers and the man's daughter told me that this man seemed more serene. Sometimes he would lift up his arms and close his eyes even. This man passed away about a week later, and I believe is in Heaven today because he believed in and received the Lord Jesus Christ as his own.
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS?
