What It Means to Believe in Jesus

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, November 7th. The Bible says that salvation comes through believing in Jesus. But could you explain what it actually means to believe?

Today's podcast helps clear this up. What does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? All through the Bible you now find these verses that talk about believing in Him.

But what does that mean? It's very evident in the Scripture that in order for a person to have their sins forgiven, in order to be saved, as we would say, in order to go to heaven, a person must place their faith in, must believe, must place their trust in Jesus Christ. But what does it mean to believe in Jesus? Well, that's what I want to talk about in this message because there are so many people who think they believe in Jesus Christ, but who do not really and truly understand what that means. So I want you to turn, if you will, to John chapter three and that verse of Scripture in John that's the most familiar of all, John three sixteen.

You say, well, I know that one by heart. Well, I'm sure that most of you probably do, but I want you to turn there, if you will, for a moment. I want us to read this verse. Jesus was talking to a very knowledgeable man, Nicodemus, about his relationship with God. And he said to him, except a man be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. And so in the course of that discussion, Jesus comes down to say in verse fifteen that whosoever believes may in him have eternal life. And then he says in verse sixteen, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life or everlasting life.

But what does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? Well, I think there are a lot of people out there who are very deceived. Who really and truly believe that somewhere along the way they have believed in Jesus Christ and therefore they are safe. They are comfortable.

They're safe. So what I'd like to do is to think for just a moment with you about what these people are thinking and how they think when they say, yes, I do believe. Well, I think there's some people who genuinely would say to you, yes, I believe the Bible. I believe in God. I believe in Jesus Christ.

And therefore they think that they're safe. What they're saying is I believe the facts. That is, this is the Bible. This is God's word.

I believe the Bible does teach about God and the Bible does teach about Jesus. I believe all those things. They're talking about believing facts.

Now, I'm simply saying this. Many people believe that they believe, according to the scripture, in God, in Jesus, enough to have their sins forgiven or to go to heaven. And they genuinely believe that. But what they're doing is they're making a mistake. And here's the mistake.

The mistake is this. Just because you assent, that is that you concur with something that, yes, I do believe that's true. And yes, I consent to the fact that, yes, God said that and and the Bible is true. That does not mean that you have New Testament faith. There's a difference in believing according to the scripture and having intellectually being willing to affirm or concur with someone.

Yes, I do believe those facts are true. And so oftentimes what they're believing is they're believing facts. They'll believe in truth. And they may say, yes, I do believe that Jesus Christ, Son of God, fact. I do believe that the Bible was inspired by God, fact. I do believe that God is a good God and He sent His only begotten Son, fact.

But now believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of their soul is an entirely different thing. And so I say to you, my friend, and I said in a in a loving sort of way, you can believe all that and be just as sincere as you can possibly be and be lost and separated from God. You mean to tell me that if I believe that that Jesus Christ was He was a good man and that that He was a preacher and a teacher and a prophet and came from God? You mean to tell me that I'm not safe? No.

If that's all you've got? No, you're not. Because, you see, believing in the fact of something is not New Testament belief. And I think a lot of people who are very deceived, you say, but listen, you mean to tell me that if I sincerely believe that I'm still lost? My friend, being sincere is fine, but being sincerely wrong will not get you to heaven. There is a difference in intellectually affirming the truthfulness of a fact or intellectually affirming the truth of what you say and placing your trust, your faith in Jesus Christ as your savior.

All the difference in the world. Now, the question comes, that is, what's the cause of this kind of deception that people live in? Well, I think some people genuinely do not understand. They misunderstand the scripture when it says believe. They just put that on the level of daily belief. Yes, I believe that piano is sitting there. Yes, I believe I'll be able to get up and go to work tomorrow morning.

Yes, I believe my car will start when I put a key in the ignition. And so they just put all that kind of belief in the same category, my friend. That's not what we're talking about. And so they genuinely misunderstand.

A second reason is this. I believe that people purposely, deliberately limit, listen, limit what their faith encompasses. And so here's what they decide. Here's what I believe. I believe there's a God. I believe he's a good God. I believe one of these days when I die, I'm going to heaven just as like anybody else because I think I'm just as good as anybody else is.

And therefore I believe in God. And so what do they do? They don't want to get into the scriptures. They don't want to get into this thing about Jesus Christ and being born again. They deliberately limit the quality and the degree. And listen, they limit the stretch of their faith.

They only got to limit it to what? To their lifestyle. If I am expected to believe something that interrupts my lifestyle, if I'm expected to believe something that limits the way I want to live, then my faith is limited to believing in God and in Jesus, the kind of person I think he was and the kind of person I think God is. And therefore they misunderstand. It is a deliberate misunderstanding. And my friend, listen, you'll never get to heaven if that's your idea of belief in Jesus Christ.

Then there are those people, of course, who've been misled. They go to church. And I think this is so very important. This is why I'm spending this time today in this message, because, for example, oftentimes children go to Sunday school, to Bible school, to vacation Bible school, oftentimes in their Bibles. And things get all hopped up and heaped up in the precious home, just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me. And somebody is calling him to come on to Jesus, come on to Jesus, believe in Jesus. And oftentimes the invitation is so nebulous.

The invitation is so far removed from a scriptural invitation that people walk down the aisle. They're not sure what they're supposed to believe. Just believe in Jesus. Well, you know, if I was sitting out there and somebody said, if you'll just believe in Jesus and come on down here and tell us you believe in Jesus, you'll go to heaven, you die.

I'd run down here if I was lost. If that's all it took, because you see, most of the time the idea is you believe in him as a fact. That is, believe in the fact that he was and he is and so forth.

That will not do it. Oftentimes people being misled. Now, I'm not saying that somebody would deliberately mislead him.

I'm simply saying this. We have to be very careful when a child, for example, says, I want to be saved, that we help that child understand what is meant by being saved and what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. Because any child is going to grow up with parents who love the Lord and bring their children to church, say, do you believe in Jesus? Sure, I believe in Jesus. My mother believes in Jesus. My father believes in Jesus. My pastor believes in Jesus. I believe in Jesus. What does it mean to believe in him according to scripture? So oftentimes a person is misled.

And so they don't really and truly understand what they believe now. So we have to ask ourselves the question, then what does it mean to place your trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin? And have the Holy Spirit come to live inside of you and live in your life.

What does it mean to know in your heart that you are right related to him in such a way that when you die, you can die singing Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved the wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found was blind.

But now I see with absolute total perfect assurance. I want you to jot three things down. I want to give you three words. This is not the ultimate definition I want to give you, but it's a very important part. What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Well, first of all, if I'm going to believe in something, I've got to have some knowledge. First word is knowledge. If I'm going to believe in something, believe in what? What is this? Why is this? Where did it come from?

What's the origin of it? What am I to believe? First of all, if I'm going to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my personal savior, I've got to believe something. What is it that I am to believe? So first of all, there's got to be knowledge. There are some very basic things that are absolutely essential for me to believe if I am going to be saved, if I'm going to trust Christ as my savior, if I'm going to heaven when I die.

Number one is this. I must believe that Jesus Christ is deity, that he's God. If you do not believe that, here's what happens.

Now watch this. If Jesus Christ is not God, he is not sitting upon the throne with the heavenly father. You know what he was? He was no more than a man who is here on the same level with all the rest of us men who have our naturalness and who have our sinfulness and who walk at times in the flesh. That is, if he is not deity, then what could he do for me?

But if he were just a man. So I must believe that Jesus Christ is God. Second thing I must believe is this, that I am a sinner and my sinfulness has separated me from God and my only hope of salvation must come through God. That is, I must believe and recognize that I am a sinner. I must believe that Jesus Christ is deity, that he's God. I must believe that my sinfulness has separated me from God.

The Bible says our sins have separated us from God. I must believe that. The third thing I must believe is this. I must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sin and that when he died, he paid for my sin in his death.

Now you say, but how much of this was I supposed to know? And I say, I'm coming to that. Just hold that. First of all, I must believe. I must believe without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ is God. Secondly, I must believe that my sinfulness has separated me from him and that I need to be saved by something he's going to do for me I can't do for myself. Number three, I must believe that Jesus Christ went to the cross and died for my sin. The fourth thing I must believe is that Jesus Christ not died for my sin, but he was resurrected from the grave. Because you see, if Jesus only died, he can't do anything for me today.

Listen, he died for my sins and he's resurrected and his resurrection validates every single thing he claimed to be and everything he did. Therefore, when we talk about what we believe, we must first of all have knowledge. So what is the first word? The first word is what?

Knowledge. I must believe something, that he is deity, my sins have separated me from him, he died on the cross for me and that he rose from the grave. Listen, he can't be the Lord of my life if he's a dead man. Thou shall confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord. And how did he become Lord? He died on the cross for my sins, resurrected, seated to Father's right hand to do what?

To be Lord and Master of our life. So the first word, first thing that's necessary for true New Testament belief is knowledge. Second word is conviction. The second word is conviction.

I want you to notice something here now. That means to simply be truly, listen, fully convinced of something. To be convicted of something is to be fully convinced of its truthfulness. So therefore, when we talk about believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, what I believe, I am fully convinced and persuaded that what the Bible says about him is true. I am fully convinced and persuaded that he is who he says he is.

I am convinced and fully persuaded that he will do what he says, convicted. Therefore, first of all, there must be knowledge. What's the second word? Conviction. So give me the first two words. First word is what? Knowledge.

Second word is what? Conviction. Well, you say, okay, now, I do have the knowledge and I'm convicted, so therefore I must be saved. No, you're not. Having a knowledge about salvation, having knowledge about Jesus and knowledge about what the Bible says about the judgment, being convicted of it, does that make you safe?

No, it does not. What's the third word? Third word is trust. Third word is trust. Now, here's what's happening. Now watch this. Now we have moved from factual knowledge to an inner conviction, a full persuasion that something needs to change.

Something needs to happen in my life. Here's where trust comes in. When I trust, here's what I do. I move from the facts and conviction. I move, listen, from being an interested observer that will affirm that all these things are true. I move from being an interested observer to becoming involved in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And so what have I done? I've moved from just knowing the facts, knowing that I ought to do something, knowing that God is trying to do something in my life.

Now I have moved into a personal relationship. I have moved into a personal involvement with the person, Jesus Christ. You see, it's always believe in Him, believe in His name, not just believe the gospel only, but believe in the person of the gospel. You see, in all these verses, verse after verse after verse, what do we find? We find Him talking about placing our trust in Him. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him, not just believe in what He said, believes in Him as a person. And so therefore it's not enough for me just to believe in what He said as being true, but I must place my trust in Him.

Now, I want to give you a simple definition. I want you to write it down. I want to encourage you to put it in the back of your Bible. If you put on a piece of paper on a bulletin, you go home, lay it down somewhere and nobody will be able to find it. I want to encourage you to say, well, now, should you write in the Bible? Absolutely.

Mark words, color them up, whatever you want to. Listen, that's what makes it precious. We're talking about now what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. To believe in Jesus Christ is to have a confident conviction that He is who the Bible says He is. He will do what He promises. And upon placing my trust in Him, I enter into a personal, eternal relationship with the Son of God.

All right, you ready? To believe in Jesus is to have a confident conviction that He is who the Bible says He is. He will keep His promises. That is, He will do what He says He'll do, and upon placing my trust in Him, I am entering into a personal, eternal relationship with Him. To believe in Jesus is to have a confident conviction that is a compelling conviction within me. I must believe this, that He is who the Bible says He is. He will keep His promises that He will do exactly what He says He'll do. And upon placing my trust in Him, committing myself to Him, I'm entering into a personal, eternal relationship with the Son of God. Now, I could say a lot about forgiveness of sin and going to heaven. All that is the result of believing in Him. To say I placed my trust in Him, that means I'm affirming that what He says is true and I'm willing to risk my whole eternal future on that.

All right, there are three things that are absolutely necessary for me to believe. What's the first word? Knowledge. Second word? Conviction.

And the third word is what? Trust. Now, how many of you can look back in your life and say, I know that when I joined the church, I had enough knowledge that I do believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and that I understood what it meant to place my trust in Him and to accept Him, receive Him as my Savior. But as many as received Him, not facts, as many as received Him to them gave He the right to become the sons of God.

Are you certain that you've ever placed your trust in Him? Now, as I said, I'm not being critical, I'm just simply saying this, you may believe a lot of things as facts, but have you ever moved from being an observer, a distant kind of believer, to entering into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by placing your trust in Him as your personal Savior? Have you ever said to Him, yes, I do believe the testimony of Scripture. I do believe that you're the Son of God. I do believe my sins have separated me from you. I do believe you died on the cross.

I do believe that you rose from the dead. I'm asking you to forgive me of my sins and I'm placing my trust in you that you'll do what you said. You'll forgive me and you'll make me one of your own the moment you do it, that quickly you become living child of God, saved forever and ever and ever. Remember the definition, entering into a personal, eternal relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening to what it means to believe in Jesus. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.