Just Believe

What does it mean to believe in Jesus and the gospel? The Bible says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

“John 3:16, perhaps the best-known verse in the Bible, is also perhaps both the first verse we learn and the last one we forget. This one verse has brought multitudes to Christ. Herschel Hobbs called it “the Gospel in superlatives.” Martin Luther called it “the Bible in miniature.” A. T. Robertson referred to it as “the Little Gospel.” Others have called it “the Mount Everest of Scripture.” Still others have called it “the most exquisite flower in the Garden of Scripture.” I like to call it “the Gospel in a nutshell.” (Whosoever Will, Jerry Vines.)

What does it mean to believe? Does it mean to believe Jesus existed and for a time lived on the earth? It does, but it is much more. Does it mean to believe the intellectual facts about his death and resurrection? Yes, it certainly means this, but it is so immensely more. The Bible says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19)

To believe in the Holy Trinity, who is one in essence, is to believe in the glorious, mysterious truth of God. It is to believe that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are God and one in essence. This is the most profound truth about God as revealed in scripture and life. Yet the demons believe in the truth without acting upon it. They believe the facts, but they have not personally responded to the truth. They have acted in rebellion against the truth and continue to act in rebellion.

Jesus Christ is God, as stated in scripture and the long-expected Messiah as prophesied in the Old Testament. The Messiah who came to deliver us from sin. (Matthew 6:13; Galatians 1:4; Matthew 1:21; Luke 24:27; etc.) Deliver us from the penalty of sin and the power of sin. If you don’t want a Saviour to deliver you from sin, you will not enter into a saving relationship with the living God.

To want to be delivered from sin you must have some remorse for offending a holy, loving God. In a human courtroom, a judge passes a sentence based on the true remorse of the accused, not on the acting remorse of the offender. God has a love so great that God himself in Jesus gave his back to sinners who whipped him close to death and then hung him on a cross. (Isaiah 50:6) Despite man’s revealed sinfulness at the cross, God’s plan was to take our place and remove the sin barrier from our relationship to us and to redeem us from sin and give us abundant and eternal life. He did this by satisfying divine justice and making a way for us to recover from spiritual death and emptiness and from an eternal death.

If you don’t want to be redeemed from sin, you don’t want a Savior. God has immense love for you but he will not force his love in a relationship upon you. You must consent and believe the whole gospel and receive him as Savior and Lord by receiving his grace in repentance of sin and faith in who Jesus is and what he did for us on the cross. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Believe! Believe the gospel and respond to him in love and truth. Receive him as you Savior. Believe in him instead of primarily believing in yourself and setting yourself up as your own God. Turn from sin to truth and love.

The Bible says that Jesus came preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2) The kingdom of God is at hand. In other words, the kingdom of God is open to entrance now available to all people, if you will repent of sin and believe. If Jesus came preaching repentance, should we not be declaring repentance in the gospel message? This is how you enter the kingdom of God. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) When this verse states “cannot see” it means to experience or enter in. You can be born again, and this can occur only when there is true repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

God’s love is so much more vast than human love and we can enter into that love. F. M. Lehman likewise expresses this sentiment in his hymn, “The Love of God”: “Could we with ink the ocean fill And were the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill And every man a scribe by trade, To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Tho’ stretched from sky to sky.” (Whosoever Will, Jerry Vines.)

How will you respond to the love of God? Will you receive it or spurn it? Will you try to make God your servant and only use him? Do you believe in Jesus? Jesus said, “ But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Enter into his kingdom now by repentance and faith and live with him as you grow in Christlikeness, which is inner transformation by the power of God within. Become his disciple and learn from him.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28=30). The yoke is easy because it is a yoke of immense love—God’s love.