The (single) MOST IMPORTANT thing Christians NEED to know!!
February 1974. A really important day. Although I can’t remember the exact date, I do remember that it was a Sunday morning at about 9 or 10 am. I was seated in the auditorium (some people incorrectly call it a sanctuary) of Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina, Minnesota waiting for the worship service to start. Big church. Several thousand members. Beautiful building. Lots of parking, all paved. I was born a second time. I acknowledged and confessed my sins and asked God to forgive me and told Him I wanted to receive Jesus Christ as my personal savior. I told Him I believed that Jesus died for my sins and that Jesus was buried and that three days later Jesus was raised from the dead just like the scriptures tell it. He had been waiting for me. My wife (the little sweetheart) led me to that point of belief. Thank you sweetheart for not giving up on me. PRAISE THE LORD.
The book of James tells us that when a person is truly born again, we will see a change in that person. Those who knew me then did notice something different about me. I got a new vocabulary. My language changed from a very (and I mean very) foul mouthed, swear-word-in-every-sentence person to absolutely no bad language ever again. There have been other changes over the years as I have headed another direction in my life but the language thing is where it started. Please don’t misunderstand. The change is the result of the salvation, not a requirement for it. I was saved when I believed the gospel.
As important as I am, I think that’s enough about me. But, what about you? Do you remember your second birth? Some people do. Some people don’t remember the exact moment. I’m not sure it makes any difference. What does make a difference is the “process”. Three things took place when you and I were born again. As we explore a proper perspective on the Christian life, it seems to me we must ask: “How does one become a Christian?” Although this is just one question and although there is just one answer, there are at least three things that actually happen. See if you can figure it out from the following passages. This is the MOST IMPORTANT thing a Christian NEEDS to know…..that he/she is actually/truly a Christian.
Our rebirth depends solely on one thing and one thing only. It depends on whether or not we BELIEVE the gospel. That is whether or not we believe that Christ died for our sins, was buried and was raised from the dead on the third day like the Bible teaches. There are on the order of 200 scripture passages that document this fact.
Now, you could lie to me and say you believe it. I could lie to myself and say I agree with and believe the gospel. How can we tell if we aren’t lying?
Read the sections of Scripture suggested below to determine for yourself that you are actually/truly a Christian. I’d like to suggest that you get yourself a little notebook and jot down your thoughts and responses to the suggested scripture passages that explain how you became a Christian.
1. Eph1:3-8 ______________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Rom 10:9-10, John 3:16, John 1:12, John 5:24, Eph 2:8-9
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3. 1 Cor 6:17-20, 1 Cor 7:23-24, 1 Pet 1:18-19, 2 Pet 2:1
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So, do you believe the gospel? What does it mean to believe the gospel? What does it mean to believe anything?
Here’s what it means to BELIEVE.
Niagara Falls has lured daredevils dating back to at least the mid 1800s. Some tumbled over the falls in barrels or other devices. Some attempted to swim across the rapids. And of course, some have walked the wire from one end to the other. Many, but not all, survived their intrepid feats.
One of the most daring of these risk-takers was a wire walker named Clifford Calverley.
On October 12, 1892, twenty-two-year-old Calverley attached a ¾” steel cable across the Niagara River gorge, two hundred feet above the rushing rapids. After just a few months of training while living in Toronto, Calverley performed several successful stunts before an amazed crowd, including a walk across the wire in just over six minutes.
But walking across Niagara River was nothing new. Calverley was the eighth person to do it. However, his time was the fastest. And after an initial crossing, he went back out to flirt with danger and dazzle the crowd a little more. He lay on the wire, sat on a chair, unfolded a newspaper to read, and even swung himself over the rope, dangling from his toes as his head pointed straight downward.
The Dundee Courier and The Dundee Weekly News described the reaction to the latter stunt: “At this stage many of the spectators, thinking probably of the dreadful consequences of the slightest slip, turned away shuddering from the sight, but the bold gymnast pulled himself up again and safely reached terra firma.”
Now, you see in this picture of Clifford pushing a wheelbarrow. You see the crowd in the background. The media was there too. They were circulating through the crowd asking if people BELIEVED he could make it safely across pushing the wheelbarrow. When they came to a person who expressed confidence in Clifford’s ability to make it across with the wheelbarrow, they said “you are just the person we are looking for, we’d like you to ride in the wheelbarrow”.
Do you BELIEVE the gospel? How does one get in the gospel “wheelbarrow”? And, what is the gospel “wheelbarrow” anyway? I’d like to suggest that the gospel “wheelbarrow” is the Bible. How you get in is to start reading it. You believe what you read. You accept that it is the word(s) of GOD (creator of the universe) and that every word is true. You act on what you read without question. You start talking to GOD. You start listening for His answers. You change the direction of your life. You stop and start doing a lot of stuff as you are convicted by the Holy Spirit.
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Ephesians 1:3-8 (NASB)3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before [a]Him. In love 5 [b]He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the [c]kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In [d]Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He [e]lavished on [f]us. In all wisdom and insight
Romans 10:9-10 (NASB)9 [a]that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, [b]resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, [c]resulting in salvation.
John 3:16 (NASB)16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His [a]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 1:12 (NASB)12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
John 5:24 (NASB)24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [a]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
1 Corinthians 6:17-20 (NASB)17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the [a]immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a [b]temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from [c]God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 7:23-24 (NASB)23 You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 Brethren, each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called
1 Peter 1:18-19 (NASB)18 knowing that you were not [a]redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
2 Peter 2:1 (NASB)2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.