Believing in Jesus

Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.  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.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.  To Jesus give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;  To declare, I say, at this time His Righteousness: that God might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Now, what is it to believe in Jesus?  It is simply this:  to wholly trust your soul and your sins with Him.

Believing in Jesus is, first, to give your firm and cordial assent to Scriptural Gospel Truth, that God did send His Son, born of a Jewish virgin, to suffer and die in the place of guilty men, and that God did lay on Him all your iniquities; and that Christ Jesus bore the punishment due to your transgressions on the Cross of Calvary, and was made a Curse for you. Jesus was condemned and damned in your place, so you could be justified and blessed in God's sight.

Sin is a spiritual disease which belongs to all men and is only curable by the Blood of Christ. The stripes and wounds, the blood and sacrifice of the Lamb of God is the only remedy for human sin. With His stripes our souls are healed. Jesus bore your sins in His own body, He was wounded and bruised for them, He endured the blows of divine wrath, and then suffered death itself for your sins.  Your own sins are personally offensive to God Himself; transgressions of the divine Law are deliberate acts of disrespect and intentional slight and insult to your Creator.

Jesus was absolutely innocent, He was God as well as man, He died to pay the price for your sins with His own innocent blood. The price for your sins was paid to God's divine justice when Jesus died for you.  Jesus declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.  All the founders of all religions have died and stayed dead except for one Person - the Lord Jesus Christ died for sinners, and then He rose from the grave victorious over death, sin, and Satan. Grace is anything you get from the hand of God that you do not deserve.

You must heartily believe the Scripture which says, — “the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.”  You must assent to the scriptural doctrine of Substitution, which is the heart of the Gospel. The penalty due to your sins was inflicted on the Lamb of God. Reconciliation with God was made by Jesus. In wrath, God the Father took vengeance on your sins when they were laid on Jesus. Only in Christ Jesus is divine wrath appeased, justice answered, and peace made with God. God the Holy Spirit must lead you to give your cordial assent to Christ's Atoning Blood which can cleanse you from all your sins.  Believe the great fact that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing your trespasses unto you.  Jesus loves to have mercy and save the sinful. The blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us from all sin.

This blessed fact is revealed in the Holy Bible by God Himself. Believe that the Substitution of the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, is certain; doubt not this plan of Salvation from God's heart, do not question its validity. God has ordained to save sinful man by a sinless substitutionary bloody Sacrifice.  You must agree to God's method, and trust and adore Jesus Christ, the Author of free Salvation for the ungodly.

As you trust a bridge while you cross a river, as you trust a ladder as you climb into your attic, as you trust a doctor to conduct surgery on your body, as you trust a cook you've never seen to prepare your food, as you trust an airline pilot you've never seen with your safety during a flight, as you trust a doctor and pharmacist to give you the right prescription for your sickness, even so trust the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to save your soul for time and Eternity.

The justice of God is vindicated through Jesus' sufferings and blood, and His mercy is now offered to you freely. Your Sins have been punished in the person of the Christ, and now mercy is extended to your guilty soul.  Divine justice is satisfied by Christ's act of Mercy. The Cross is the very center of God's infinite Wisdom and Love. This is the main focus of Faith — to give your hearty assent to the giving of Jesus to suffer in your place, and to agree with all our soul and mind to God's way of Salvation.

The second part of Believing in Jesus is that you by faith accept these Scriptural truths for yourself. In Adam’s sin, you did not sin personally, for you were not in existence then; yet you fell; but you have willingly committed personal transgressions and injured and affronted God's divine justice. By nature you are in a state of slavery and bondage to your sins, Satan, and the Law.  Only Christ's Blood can deliver you from your sinful state. You are now condemned and the wrath of God abides on you for you have committed personal and actual sins and neglected Christ. You must be saved by the works and Righteousness of Another, which you must accept and appropriate personally through Faith in Jesus' Atoning Blood. Jesus has offered an Atonement, and that Atonement becomes yours when you accept it by putting your trust in Christ's most Precious Blood. This is the act which brings Salvation to your soul.

Thirdly, one more thing is needful; and that is personable trust in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. First comes assent to the truth, secondly acceptance of that truth for yourself, and then finally a simple personable trusting of yourself wholly to Christ Jesus the Lord, as your own Sin-Bearer and Substitute.  The taking hold of Christ Himself by Faith and receiving Him into your soul and casting yourself on His mercy. The essence of Bible Faith is trust, reliance, dependence on the Son of God Himself. Faith is to cast away every other confidence of every sort, and to put your unmixed reliance in Jesus. Reject anything you can do, or anything that you can be.  Simply look alone to Jesus whom God has set forth to be the Atonement for human sin. Put your personable trust in Jesus this very moment.

The love of God in the Gospel is so plain and easy to understand. Despairing and needy sinners are always welcome at the Cross. A wise man understands his limitations, and you need to understand you cannot save yourself.  You cannot work for the forgiveness of your sins, but you can simply believe in Jesus who is merciful, faithful and true.

Sinners by nature go astray from God, they are alienated from the life of God, they deviate from the rule of God's word, err from the right way, and go into crooked paths, which lead to destruction; and never return to God by themselves, or by their own power, until they are lead by God's Spirit and grace unto the great Savior of the soul.

Every man turns to his own way; and that is an evil one, a dark and slippery one, a crooked one, and the end of it is damnation and ruin.  This is the way of a lost man's own choosing and approving, and the worldly way in which he delights. Man strays into a particular way of sinning that is peculiar to each man; some men are addicted to one sin, and some to another, and have their own way of committing the same sin.  Men turn their faces from God, and their backs upon Him, they look to their own way, and set their faces towards their favorite sins, and their hearts on them; and which seems right and pleasing to them, yet the end of it are the ways of death; and so men are bent on these destructive and suicidal ways,  and nothing but God's grace can turn them out of them, and to the Lord Jesus Christ.

God the Father laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all; that is, God the Father, against whom we have sinned, from whom we have turned, and whose justice must be satisfied; He has laid on Christ Jesus, His own Son, the sins of the whole world; which are as it were collected together, and made one huge bundle and burden of, and then laid on Christ, and were bore by Him.  This was a heavy burden which none but the mighty God could bear for us.  Our sins, like a large and mighty army, beset Jesus around, and fell upon Him in a hostile manner, and were the cause of His death.

If you are sighing because of your sins, come on to Jesus now.  He will give you rest from your sins, change your heart within, and give you a nature that loves God and hates sins. Simply trust in Jesus and you are saved from divine justice and the love of sin. Whosoever believes on Jesus is justified from all things.   Whosoever believes in Jesus has everlasting life.  Look to the crucified, buried, and risen Creator Savior God. The very instant you trust to Jesus' Atoning Blood, you are a saved soul, and all your sins are forgiven immediately and forever.