What Does it mean to Believe in Christ?

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Sharing the Good News. I'm your host, Dominic. Today I want to talk about. [00:00:07] I want to go further into some of the things we spoke about in our last episode in a vein of that, which is I want to talk about what does it mean to believe? [00:00:16] Because a lot of times I hear people say as I. As I talk with different ones about the Bible, and they'll say, I believe in Christ. You know, all I have to do is believe to be saved, right? John 3:16, you know, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. [00:00:34] And so one of the things that I want to cover today is, well, what exactly does it mean to believe in Christ? Okay, and when I say that I believe in Christ, does that mean that I just believe that he existed? [00:00:46] And is that what God means when he says in John 3:16, if I believe in Christ that I should not perish but have everlasting life? [00:00:54] These are really important questions because as we spoke about previously, God is the definer of truth. So what does God mean when he says believe? Okay, believe in Christ. [00:01:07] And as we go ahead and just give an overview today of what exactly belief means. And this is what's really important too, as we, when you read a scripture, really try to do your best to actually read that chapter and kind of have an understanding of what's going on. Because if you read the third chapter of John, it's an excellent chapter. [00:01:29] And what's actually happening is that if you start from the beginning, Christ is having a conversation with a man named Nicodemus. In John, chapter three, Nicodemus is hearing some of the things that Christ is saying in verse nine. He's not believing what's being taught. Okay? He. He's. He's questioning Christ. How is this possible? The things that you're telling me, how are these things possible? [00:01:53] And so what Christ is doing is he's explaining to them, to him the need to believe. Okay? And so when we, when we talk about believing in Christ, one thing that we have to first understand is that if you say you believe in Christ, that means that you believe what Christ taught. [00:02:13] So when people say, I believe in Christ, but then they don't believe in what Christ taught, that's not true. [00:02:19] You can't believe in Christ but not believe what he said, okay? Because those two are one and the same. For me to say that I believe in Christ is me saying that I believe the Things that Christ taught. [00:02:34] So I want to briefly go over and get us to think a little bit about the topic of belief. [00:02:41] Okay? [00:02:42] So we've read John 3:16, and we know that God has told us that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. Okay? Now what's interesting is that some, some people have changed that to say, shall not perish. But that's not what. That's not what it actually says. It says that they should not perish. [00:03:00] And that's true. Anybody who believes in Christ shouldn't perish because of what belief actually means. [00:03:09] So let's dive in this a little bit, okay? So first of all, just to understand what, if you open up a dictionary, right, what it's going to tell you about the word believe. Now, remember, God is the definer of truth, okay? Webster is not the definer of truth. [00:03:25] Google Wikipedia. This is not the definer of truth. They can tell us about what words mean, and that's obviously very helpful. But we have to make sure that. That we understand what God meant when he said it. Because a lot of times words also have various meanings, right? If you go look up a word, a lot of times there, there could be, you know, 1, 2, 3, 10 different definitions, right? Multiple definitions of what this word could mean. [00:03:50] And it kind of depends on the context as well. So we want to get our heads wrapped around just what does the word believe mean? [00:03:57] So to believe is to be persuaded that something is true, all right? [00:04:03] Whether that's because of the evidence that's been presented to you or whether that's because of the person who told it to you, you are persuaded that what you've heard is indeed true. Okay? [00:04:16] So you're placing your confidence in something. [00:04:19] So if I say that I believe in Christ, what I'm saying is that, yes, I believe that Christ came to the earth. I believe what he claimed about himself, that. That he is the Son of God, that he came down from heaven, that he was born of a virgin, right? He wasn't just a normal man that walked the earth. And I believe the message that he preached. [00:04:41] So when we say I believe, well, let's really know what that means, okay? So that means that I believe who Christ is. I believe what Christ taught. [00:04:54] I can't say that I believe in Christ while rejecting what he taught, because that would be a contradiction, right? [00:05:00] So what's interesting is that you will find in different places here in John 3 is one of them the response of Christ to people who are not believing the words that he's Speaking. [00:05:12] So what's really interesting about John chapter three is. [00:05:17] And I'm not gonna. I'm gonna do a deep dive into this a little bit later, but when Nicodemus comes to Christ, okay? This is what sets the stage for the third chapter of John. [00:05:28] It starts off in John chapter three, and verse one, it says, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. So the Pharisees were, you know, they were a sect of believers of the Jew of the Jewish religion. They were. They were very staunch in a lot of things, okay? They had a reputation. [00:05:46] And if you read the Scriptures, you're going to hear about the Pharisees, right? And they, as a whole, the Pharisees rejected Christ. Now, there were some Pharisees who believed, which we do find in Scripture. So here, this man is of this group, right, these Pharisees, and they were religious leaders of the time. [00:06:06] And it says that he came to him by night, and he's like, you know, Rabbi, he says to Christ, this is John 3, 2. [00:06:14] We know that you're a teacher. Come, come from God. Because nobody can do these miracles except God be with them. So we know that you have to come from God because of what you're doing, right? You're doing supernatural things. You're. You're doing things that is not humanly possible. So we know that God is with you. [00:06:31] So Christ answers him, and Christ responds in verse three. And he says, verily, verily, which is a way of saying, truly, truly, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. [00:06:43] And Nicodemus, what does this mean, born again? He only knows of one birth, right? Physical birth. So he's like, how, in verse four, you know, how can a man, when he is, you know, be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? So he's. He's hearing something going, this makes no sense. [00:07:03] What's interesting is that this is often our reaction when we don't understand what the Bible is actually talking about, right? So we hear things and it's like, wait, that. That doesn't make any sense. [00:07:16] Born a second time. I mean, I'm. Look at how big I am. Like, how am I supposed to go back into my mom's stomach, right, and be born a second time? [00:07:23] And then Christ has explained him, no, that's. That's not what born again is. This is something spiritual that I'm talking about, right? So he says, except a Man be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. [00:07:36] So this sets the stage for what? Nicodemus is not believing. Okay? Nicodemus is not understanding, and he's asking Christ in verse 9, how can this be? Okay, this isn't making sense to me. As he's hearing Christ say, you have to be born of water and spirit if you want to enter into the spiritual kingdom, you have to be baptized. And Nicodemus is going. [00:08:04] I don't even. He doesn't. He doesn't. He's only picturing one birth, right? So this is not making sense to him. He's not really believing. So then what Christ is going to do is Christ is going to go in and explain to him that he needs to believe. Okay? [00:08:19] And so if you have that in context, you realize that as you go on down that John 3:16 is a continuation of Christ telling this man, you need to believe what I'm saying. If you believe, you should not perish, right? [00:08:38] Why is that true? [00:08:40] Why is it true that if you believe, you should not perish? [00:08:44] Well, I need to really understand what belief is. Okay? [00:08:50] Couple chapters later, John, chapter six, right? [00:08:55] In John chapter six, as Christ has. He's performing miracles, right? He's. He's teaching the Gospel. [00:09:03] He. He has a group of people that are following him. But he says in John 6, in verse 26, he says, look it, you're following after me. I'm paraphrasing right now, but you can read it. John 6, 26. [00:09:18] I'll just read it verbatim actually, and I'll kind of. We'll talk about it. So verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because you did. Because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. Now this group of people is following Christ, but he's saying, you're not following me because you're believing what I'm teaching. You're not following me because you know that I'm the power of God, come down to earth. [00:09:44] You're following me because I'm giving you free food, okay? Because he had just performed a miracle and fed all these people, right? [00:09:51] And so he's trying to explain to them that that's not why I came. Okay? So he says in verse 27, labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you. Okay? I. [00:10:11] I'm not here to provide for you, just physical food. That's going to sustain your body for a few hours, okay? I came to give everlasting life. [00:10:20] So you need to take the meat that I'm trying to give you, which is not physical, okay? It's spiritual. I came to give you, to give you spiritual meat, spiritual truth that I want you to ingest and I want you to receive spiritually. [00:10:34] So he says in verse 28 that they respond to Christ and they said unto him, what shall we do? That we might work the works of God. [00:10:45] So he's saying, look at. You're following me, but for the wrong reasons. You need to be thinking about the right things. Like, okay, well, what do we need to do? Right? And look at what he answers them and says in verse 29. [00:10:57] This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent. This is really interesting because as you start to dive into what belief is, he says, the work that you need to do and the work that God wants for you and I to do is to believe the things that I've told you. [00:11:16] Because something happens when you believe, okay? And this is as we, as we start to ponder, well, what is belief, right? And what. What does God mean when he talks about belief? [00:11:28] So here, these people in John chapter six, they've heard the words of Christ, but they really weren't paying attention and receiving the words of Christ like they needed to. [00:11:39] So here's something I want to ask you for consideration, okay? What if somebody believes but they refuse to confess? [00:11:49] Does that mean that they're saved? [00:11:52] So let's look at this. This is real. Okay? This happened. [00:11:56] So I want to read you a little bit further. In John, okay? John chapter, he says in John 12, let's read John 12:42 and 43. John 12:42. [00:12:10] Nevertheless, among the chief rulers, also many believed on him. [00:12:16] But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. [00:12:29] So you had these people who, they heard what Christ was saying. [00:12:34] They could see that it was true. They believed it was true. [00:12:38] But they refused to confess that Christ was the Son of God because they valued something more than what Christ was teaching. So what you start to see is that there's people who believed, but they didn't obey. [00:12:55] And if Christ tells us that you have to confess me if you want to be saved, what you start to piece together as you begin to look at the Scriptures, and we're going to go into some of them, is the belief that God is talking about is a belief that moves you to obedience, okay? [00:13:16] If you believe on Christ, okay? So if you go back to John 3:16 and you read what's happening in that context in that chapter, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. [00:13:32] The reason why you should not perish is because of what belief is supposed to do inside of you. All right? [00:13:40] And what belief does to those that. That actually take the next step is belief is the precursor. It's what comes before obedience, right? Because you don't ever obey something if you don't first believe something. [00:14:00] So the design of God is you hear the gospel, you believe the gospel, but then after you believe the gospel, there's a step after that, right? There's more steps after that. [00:14:14] Well, then you obey the things that you're believing. [00:14:19] So if you look at what the scriptures talk about, they talk about there is a belief that doesn't save. Okay? [00:14:26] And I want to read to you what. [00:14:30] What God, as God talks about faith, what faith is supposed to look like. All right? [00:14:39] So in James chapter two, this is a chapter, that excellent chapter. Obviously, every. Every book of the Bible is amazing. [00:14:47] So he goes on here, though, and he says, let's start in James chapter 2 and verse 14. [00:14:55] He says, what does it profit my brethren? Though a man say, he hath faith and have not works, can faith save him? So he poses this question, what does it profit you? [00:15:08] If you say that you have faith, but you don't act on that faith, right? So works is the result of believing something, that you believe it to the point of doing it, right? [00:15:21] So he says, what. What is the prophet? [00:15:24] If I say that I believe, but I don't do, all right, can faith save him? So he here, the question is posed, can faith alone save him? [00:15:37] See what he says? [00:15:39] So he starts off by giving an analogy. Like a little, you know. He says, if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, okay? So you've got somebody who. They have no food, they're starving. They don't even have the basic clothing to stay warm. [00:15:55] This is the condition that they're in, right? So if somebody is starving, they're dying. [00:16:02] And one of you comes to him in verse 16, and you say, oh, you know, go in peace. [00:16:08] I hope that you're warm and you're filled. [00:16:11] He says, notwithstanding you give not those things which are needful to the body, what does it profit. So look at the analogy that he's giving. He says, can faith without works save you? What profit is it to have faith without works? And then he compares it to the profit of somebody's on the street, they're starving, they have no food. And I say to them, oh, you know, I hope you're. You do better. You know, be warm, be filled with food. And then I walk away, never giving them food or clothing again. The question is posed, what does it profit? [00:16:51] There's no profit there, okay? To believe but not to obey does not profit. This is what the scriptures are teaching. This is not my opinion. This is the gospel, right? This is what God is telling us. Let's let God define the truth. [00:17:06] So he goes on, in verse 17, he says, even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone in the sight of God. If you believe but you don't obey and do the things that he tells you in the sight of God, that is dead, okay? He says, a man may say, you have works or you have faith and I have works. [00:17:30] He says, show me your faith without your works. [00:17:35] I will show you my faith by my works. Okay? So what I believe in is manifested by what I do. [00:17:45] He says in verse 19, Thou believest that there is one God. Well, that's good. There's. That's good that you believe that you believe in God. He says, but the devils believe. [00:17:56] The devils believe that God exists, but they don't obey, right? They rejected God. [00:18:02] He says, the devils believe and they tremble. [00:18:06] He says, but will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? I mean, this is crystal clear. [00:18:16] You can't misunderstand the point that he's making. [00:18:19] If you believe but you don't obey, that is dead in the sight of God. It means nothing. [00:18:26] It's nothing. It is of no substance, of no value. He says, was not Abraham our Father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works? And by works was faith made perfect? Okay? So when God talks about faith or belief that is saving, what he's referring to is faith that produces obedience. [00:18:55] Those two things combined, he says, and the scripture was fulfilled, which said Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. [00:19:06] Then he goes on, in verse 24, he says, you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. [00:19:16] This is the only place in the entire Bible where the words faith and only are used together. [00:19:22] And he says, you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. [00:19:32] And he goes on down and he says in verse 26, for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. [00:19:41] So look at the analogies that God is giving here for us to understand that somebody's starving, somebody's freezing on the street. And you're like, hey, I hope you get warm. I hope you get the food you need, but we don't give it to them. There's no profit in those words. He says, if you have faith, but you don't do the works, that's dead. Just like the body without the spirit is dead, okay? [00:20:06] What makes my body have life is the spirit that dwells inside of it. And what makes my faith acceptable and right in the sight of God is the obedience that comes with it. [00:20:18] God is not accepting me, saying that I believe, but refusing to obey. That's not acceptable to God. [00:20:27] So let's understand what God means when he talks about believing, okay? That God is expecting, that belief brings you to obedience. [00:20:42] So a really good chapter to read is. Is the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews. [00:20:48] And the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews is a. Is a chapter that's all about faith, and it's all about what faith produced, okay, in these faithful men and women. [00:21:01] So if you start In Hebrews chapter 10, he says in verse 9, or, excuse me, Hebrews 10:39 is the last. The last verse of the 10th chapter, he says, but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, okay? Perdition, damnation, right? Being destroyed. We're not of those that draw back unto perdition, no, no, he says, but we are of them that believe to the saving of the soul. [00:21:29] And then he's going to go in for the next chapter, all the next 40 verses, and explain what faith looks like. Okay? [00:21:40] So for example, let's go to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 7. Okay? So he gives the example of Noah. He says, by faith, Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet. [00:21:58] So God told Noah, hey, a flood is coming. [00:22:01] If you want to be saved from the flood, you need to build a. You need to build this ark, right? So he warned him, right? God. God wanted Noah to be saved. So God in his love and his kindness told Noah, hey, here's what's going to happen and here's what you need to do. [00:22:17] So imagine if Noah sat there and was like, wow, that's crazy. There's a flood coming. [00:22:23] And God wants me to build this boat. Like, yeah, I mean, I 100% believe a flood is coming. 100%. [00:22:30] And then he sits there for the rest of his life and never builds a boat. [00:22:35] What's going to happen when the floods come? [00:22:38] The love of God was that God told Noah the flood is coming and you need to build a boat. [00:22:46] And then the mercy of God was that God gave Noah the time to build the boat. Right? [00:22:53] So he explains here that by faith, Noah, when he was warned by God of things that he couldn't see, they weren't happening, it says he moved with fear. [00:23:05] He prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. [00:23:19] The righteousness which is by faith is doing what you believe. It would have been of no value for Noah to sit there and believe with all of his heart that what God said is going to come to pass, but then not do what God told him to do to be ready for it. [00:23:38] See, that's not saving faith. Saving faith was, I believe it. God told me, I need to build a boat. [00:23:46] I'm going to move with fear. I am building this boat. Okay? And he spent many years building a boat. [00:23:53] Why? Because he believed. [00:23:56] And because he believed he didn't perish because that belief prompted him to obey. So this is just a brief overview of really what it means to believe because that word is thrown out there a lot. But we want to make sure we understand what does it actually mean to believe. [00:24:17] So let's, let's, let's be clear on one thing, that when God talks about saving faith, he's not talking about somebody who believes and doesn't obey. [00:24:28] That's not what he's talking about. What God is talking about is somebody who believes. [00:24:33] And that belief moves them to do the thing that they've been taught to do. So when Christ brought the gospel to the world, he said, look it, the wrath of God is going to come. There's going to be an end, okay, you're going to die, the earth is going to be destroyed and there's going to be a judgment. And here's what you have to do to be prepared for the judgment. So everybody who believes Christ, they believe all those things that Christ said. And then what they do because of their belief is they obey what Christ said you need to do to be ready for the last day, just like Noah. So Please reach out sharingthegoodnews34mail.com we'd love to connect with you personally. [00:25:22] And we're going to continue to go into these topics and these truths that are written in the word of God so that we can establish really what it means to believe. What does it mean to be a Christian. Okay. And make sure that we're doing the right things. Thank you for your time and have a great day.