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What it means to believe in the gospel You can memorize the Bible, understand hard sayings, know all the history behind it but if you have not put your trust in the savior who is the Lord, the one who died for your sin and was resurrected from the dead, it becomes meaningless. There are so many under the umbrella of Christianity, who think are right with God, in the clear, and have not made the decision by faith to trust in what He, Jesus says, that he will save. They have been convinced if they go to this church or do this work, say this prayer or contribute to a certain ministry God approves of them, they will enter into his presence in the afterlife. When Jesus was among the people, they asked in John 6:28-29, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Believe in him who He has sent. This profound statement has not changed in nearly 2,000 years. Who sent Jesus, the Son? The Father did from heaven: Jn.3:13, John 6:44, 62, Jn.8:23, John 16:17-18, 27-29, Jn.8:42; I Jn. 4:14. Who is the Son that was sent? John the apostle writes, “we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.’(1 John 4:14-16.) Only God is called the savior in Scripture. The Son who came from heaven is not just a man, nor an angel, nor a spirit being. He God, just as the Father is God. Luke 10:22 “no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Jesus came to reveal to us in a personal way who God is. In Matt. 16:15-17 Jesus asked the disciples “But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter blurts out, " You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” The 'Son of the living God' means he has the same nature, being` the everlasting God. The fact that John takes his time in expressing this fact, that God became man throughout his gospel and letters to the church. John 1:14: “The word (who is God v.1) became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father.” Jn.1:18 “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” He showed us what God is like being a man among his people. Paul repeats the same as John, that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh (I Tim. 3:16) As Jesus said in John 17:5: “Glorify me with the glory that I had with You before the world began.” One’s heart must be willing and be open to the truth to receive the revelation of the Son from the Scripture. Unfortunately, there are many misleading those who desire to know this, having them follow manmade teachings, from those who are reinterpreting the Scripture. Works and faith All the world’s philosophical systems and religions teach that God accepts us by our doing good. The Bible defines what good is, and tells us no one does good that we can be accepted by God by our deeds. The prophet Isaiah said to the people who had God’s standard “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). After the gospel was given Paul writes, “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16). The law gave us the standard of what is good and what is sin. Paul makes it clear you cannot be made right with God by your works. So many are teaching about being good instead of allowing the Spirit of God (who is in the believer) to control their actions. You can work more, and harder than everyone in the world and it still will not count unless Christ is in you by the accepting the gospel. It is not possible for man to save himself by doing any righteous deeds, even obeying the commandments? Otherwise, Christ dying for our sins would be meaningless? Eph. 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” We are NOT saved by WORKS, even those we are commanded to do. Titus 3:4-8: “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.”“And being found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law (by works) but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith ”(Phil.3:9). Rom. 4:4 “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for Righteousness.” This is the faith God is looking for, a trust on and reliance on what Jesus did for us. To wrap this up, all of these points are connected to the gospel for salvation, it is to be understood, not only did Christ Jesus die for our sins but we must understand who the he is that died. 1 John 3:8 states, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” He came to forgive sin and stop death being a permanent outcome because of our sin. This is the Jesus we are to accept to receive the salvation that he freely offers to all.
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