What It Is to Believe the Lord
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February 14, 2016 |
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 Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
Believing the Lord is directly related to salvation, but today many people do not know what it means 'to believe the Lord'. God's children should understand why Jesus is our only Savior and what it is to believe Jesus as the Savior. By understanding this, we can possess perfect faith in the Lord and experience the power of God.
1. The way of salvation had been prepared for mankind from before the beginning
Some people think of Jesus as just one of the four saints of the world, but He was not of equal status with man. So then, who is Jesus?
In Matthew 16, there were several different reactions to this question. Some said He was John the Baptist, others said He was Elijah, and still others thought Him one of the prophets such as Jeremiah. But Peter professed to Him, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied with words of praise saying, "…because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Witnessing many powerful works performed by Jesus, Peter realized He was the Son of God the Creator and the Christ who would save all mankind.
Then, why did Jesus, who is the One with God the Creator, put on the form of man and come down to the earth? The reason and the answer are contained in God's deep love and His amazing providence.
In the beginning, God created the first man Adam and He told him, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." But he did not keep God's word in his heart and by the serpent's temptation he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As a result, sin came into him. Since then all mankind have inherited his sinful nature and due to this sin they were all condemned to eternal death.
For all human beings, however, God prepared the way of salvation before the beginning of time and hid it. The way is Jesus Christ. He foreknew that the first man Adam would commit sins and go the way of death, so He prepared the way of salvation for all mankind before the Creation of man (1 Corinthians 2:6-8).
2. The four qualifications to become the Savior
Why do we have to believe Jesus Christ the Lord to attain salvation?
Acts 4:12 reads, "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." We need to understand what this verse means from our hearts. Every country has its own laws, and by the law the order of the country can be maintained. In this same manner the spiritual world also has its law. According to the law, men can be saved only when their problem of sin is solved. Then, who can solve the problem? Let's look into the qualifications to become the Savior who can solve the problem of sin.
First, the Savior must be a man.
Leviticus 25:25 says, "If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold." In order to recover the authority that Adam handed over to Satan by sinning, the redeemer of the property must be man who is Adam's kinsman. 1 Corinthians 15:21 states, "For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead." It means that death came by a man referring to Adam, and only by a man also our dead spirits can be revived. Jesus put on the form of man and came to the earth, so He met the first qualification (John 1:14).
Second, He must not be Adam's descendant.
To redeem man from sins, He must not be a sinner. But from Adam's transgression, his descendants all became sinners. Thus, Adam's descendants do not meet the second qualification. However, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, not through the combination of a sperm and an egg. The womb of Virgin Mary was "borrowed" (Matthew 1:18). So, Jesus is not the descendant of Adam and He had no sin at all.
Third, He must have strength.
If a man wants to recover the land that his brother had sold because he had become poor, the redeeming relative must be rich and have strength to recover it (Leviticus 25:26-27). No matter how earnestly the man wanted to recover the land for his brother, if he had no strength to get it back, he would not be able to pay the debt. In the spiritual world, sinlessness is the power and strength. Jesus is not the descendant of Adam so He had no original sin inherited from parents, and He did not commit sins at all. Thus, He could defeat the authority of evil forces, overcome death, and be resurrected.
Fourth, He must have love.
Although a man meets the previous three qualifications, he cannot redeem men from sins if he has no love for mankind. A man would not help his brother who was in debt if he had no love for his brother even though he was very rich. If Jesus had had no love, He would not have received the suffering of the crucifixion. However, He loved us so much that He could give His own life to us. And it was His love for us that is the reason why He could accept crucifixion, shed His blood, and died for us.
Galatians 3:13 says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'" Jesus died on the wooden cross to redeem us from the curse of the law which is death.
Leviticus 17:11 reads, "…for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement." Hebrews 9:22 says, "And according to the law, one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." By shedding His precious blood which was spotless and blameless, He let us receive the forgiveness of sins and gain eternal life.
3. To believe the Lord is to change by the truth
If a person knows this providence of the cross and believes it from the heart, he can cast off sins, live by the will of God, and there receive God's love and blessings (John 14:23). However, some people do not receive answers and live in trials and problems although they say they believe the Lord. Why is that?
This is because their belief is not true in God's sight. They do not throw away sins and do not change by the truth even though they know the Word of God. Some of them do not keep the Ten Commandments, which is the basis of faith. They attend only Sunday Morning Service and have fun in their own ways, or even skip Sunday Services. They are stingy about tithes so they give only part of the tithe or they do not give the tithe at all. This is to rob God (Malachi 3:8), so how can they expect blessings from God! Some of them even complain and grudge against God, which are not different from unbelievers.
If we truly believe the Lord, we should practice the will of God, cast away every form of evil, and try to resemble the Lord who gave us His life. We should forgive and love others although they hate us. We must not become hot-tempered but should be kind. The lips with evil words should change into the lips with good words. We should change from complaining to giving thanks in everything. We should become beautiful people who can make others happy. To cast away evil and change by the truth, is the shortcut to receiving God's answers and blessings in faith.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, any of you can receive answers to whatever you pray for if you achieve the heart of the Lord. I pray in the name of the Lord that by believing the Lord and living by the Word of God, you will experience the power of the Holy Spirit and receive answers and blessings all the time.
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