I Believe… in Jesus.

John 14:6 says, “Jesus explained, “I am the Way, I am the Truth, and I am the Life. No one comes next to the Father except through union with [or faith in] me. To know me is to know my Father too.”” (The words in [brackets] are taken from the footnotes).

So many people want to go to heaven without having a relationship with Jesus. I find that to be the strangest thing! There is only one way to heaven and that is Jesus. Believing in Jesus to be exact. Many people know about Him but not many people believe in Him. See if you look at Jesus like He was just a nice guy or something else but don’t put your faith in Him, that won’t buy you a ticket to heaven. It truly matters what you believe when it comes to your eternal destiny.

In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus said, ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the realm of heaven’s kingdom. It is only those who persist in doing the will of my heavenly Father. On the day of judgment many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, don’t you remember us? Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we cast out demons and do many miracles for the sake of your name?’ But I will have to say to them, ‘Go away from me, you lawless rebels! I’ve never been joined to you!’”

The people in the above verse are not what we would call “unsaved people”. These are people who are in the church. People who are serving in the house of God, prophesying and casting out demons in Jesus Name. I think this verse is a challenge to all of us to check our hearts and to check our motivations in doing what we do. To check whether we truly believe in Jesus or if we are just going through the motions and hoping we do enough to get us into heaven.

The people in the verse are those who outwardly look like they have got it together but inwardly they are trying to buy their way into heaven by their performance. Performance won’t get you into heaven. Being a good person won’t do it either. Sitting in church week in and week out is not going to help you if you do not believe in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 puts it this way, “For it was only through this wonderful grace that we believed in him. Nothing we did could ever earn this salvation, for it was the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ!  So no one will ever be able to boast, for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving.” We can’t work or donate or give to charity or earn our way into heaven. There is one way in and it is through believing in Jesus.

How do you know if you believe in Jesus? The verse tells us, “It is only those who persist in doing the will of my heavenly Father” who will enter into heaven. Lawless rebels will not make it in. How do we know when we are being lawless rebels? When we are not joined to Him. How do we know when we are joined with Him? Romans 10:9 says, “And what is God’s “living message”? It is the revelation of faith for salvation, which is the message that we preach. For if you publicly declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will experience salvation.” You can’t get away from the “believing” aspect of it. It all takes faith in Jesus.

When you believe in Jesus unto salvation, there is a witness of the Holy Spirit in you that tells you that you have become a child of God. That same witness of the Holy Spirit will let you know when you are in rebellion. The word of God is our mirror. When God brings conviction in our hearts, we ought to act on it, quickly.

Last week we talked about how we are children of God. Some have trouble seeing God as a Father for many different reasons. One reason I would like to offer up today is that maybe you think you believe in Jesus but you really don’t. Jesus explained it in our verse that the only way to get to the Father was through union or faith in Him. If we haven’t brought ourselves to a place where we have union with or faith in Jesus in our hearts, how then can we expect to make our way to the Father?

Our heart condition and what we believe about Jesus truly matters if we want to move from hearing about God as a Father to experiencing Him as a Father and if we want to experience eternity in the heavenly realms with Him. The title of this post is not just about me. It is for you. I hope it is true for you today.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.