BELIEVE ON

So I was discussing with a brother on Sunday & we got talking about what it means to "believe on" the name of Jesus. Really, it seems it's only the King James Version of the Bible that uses the preposition "on" in verses like Acts 16:33 & 1 John 5:13; so it can be said to be archaic English.

Still, those words communicate something that we rarely pay close attention to. The Amplified version consistently describes faith as the "leaning of the entire human personality on God". Believing on Jesus, then, means I rest my faith entirely on Him as the only way to the Father, my only hope of salvation, the only Saviour.

Increasingly, some Christians want to capitulate, avoid conflict, sound less bigoted & more progressive by saying that there are many ways to God or that a good Moslem or a "good" person may enter heaven or be recognised by God. My question to them is: do you even believe the Bible to be true?

Jesus claimed to be THE WAY in John 14:6 and went so far as to say that no man can approach the Father except by Him. Either He lied or such people are deluded. Let God be true & every man a liar. If we even begin to think otherwise, then there's no point sharing the gospel, no point begging men to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). They can just believe anything they want as long as they are "good". No! Jesus, Jesus, Jesus only!

There's another category of Christians who believe that the ticket to heaven is a combination of Jesus & good works. The Bible does say that those of us who believe should be careful to maintain good works (Titus 3:8&14), but nowhere did the Holy Spirit indicate them as a condition for eternal salvation or damnation. In fact, Jesus said clearly that the one who believes on Him does not come into condemnation & the reason the unbeliever is condemned is because he has not believed (not his works) (John 3:18).

This is the gospel to preach to the unbeliever, not good works! Some of them have good works, God sees them as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), but then we preach repentance from sin rather than Jesus the life-giver, the sanctifier; we can't reach them. They see no need for Jesus. On the other hand, for those that are deep in the actions of sin, they feel too dirty to come to Jesus. What satanic deceit! Oh, but when we tell them the good news: Jesus the life-giver, Jesus the arms-wide-open Saviour, they see Him, they come!

Someone may ask: what about the sinning saint? Indeed, walking in sin has many dangers listed all through the new testament, but the only sin that puts men in hell today is NOT BELIEVING on Jesus (John 3:18, John 16:9, Hebrews 3:12). Can a Christian stop believing in Jesus? Evidently so. That's why 1 John 5:13, Hebrews 3:12&13 and a host of other letters were written to Christians in different places at different times. That is why I have written this to you: "that you may continue to believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:13 AMP). In other words, you believe on His name alone, BELIEVE ON (keep believing)!

On Christ the solid rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

ALL other ground is sinking sand!