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Jesus
says in John 8:24, "For
if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."
In order to do the will of the Father, we must believe in God and in
Christ, otherwise we will die in our sins and be lost. If we don't believe
in God and in Christ, we will certainly not do what They tell us. If
God is to be believed at all, He must be believed fully. Hebrews
11:6 says, "But without faith
it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe
that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
We must diligently seek to know
all that God wants us to do and then gladly do it.
Do
you believe in God and Christ with all your heart? Do you believe in
Them to the point that you have all the confidence in the world in Them
and that you will do anything and everything They tell you to do? Not
what we choose to do, but what God tells us to do. If we will not, then
we are no different than those people that we read about in John
12:42-43, "Nevertheless even
among the rulers many believed in Him (that is on Jesus), 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."
Many
people believe that redemptive faith is merely a willing disposition
to trust in Christ as their personal savior, independent of any further
acts of obedience. This notion is completely alien from the truth found
in the Bible. A belief that will not accept and do all that God tells
us to do is not enough. If this is the case, then we are no better than
the demons in James 2:19, "You
believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe
and tremble!"
Our
belief is a work of God that God requires of us. John
6:29, "Jesus answered and said
unto them, this is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He
sent." Our belief must be an obedient belief in all the
things that God tells us to do. We cannot have selective obedience and
be pleasing to God. Our obedience is how we show our love to God and
Christ. John 14:21, "He
that has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And
he who loves Me will be loved of My Father, and I will love him and
manifest Myself to him."
Just
before Jesus ascended back into heaven, He commanded His apostles in
Matthew 28:19-20 to "Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all things that I have commanded you." Our faith
in Him must lead us to observe all things the Lord has commanded us
to do in order to be pleasing to Him. We cannot select just certain
commands of God to obey. We cannot ignore or rationalize away any of
His commands that we don't like and expect to be saved. To believe in Him is to obey Him fully.
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