Perhaps you grew up in a household that held to christian values. Go with the family to church on a holiday, briefly pray in moments of anxiety, listen to some k-love on a Sunday and think of yourself as a decent human being.
This was me for all my years into my young adult life. I claimed christianity, sometimes even Catholicism...admittedly I never knew the difference. I'd pray every once in awhile, considered christian values to be my own, despite never living out those values. I lived a life that was contrary to how God would want me to live, yet I thought I was a follower of Him. I mean, I believed he's there and that he's real. You didn't have to sit me through an apologetics course to convince me. Yet, due to my ignorance of the gospel, I was not a true follower of God. How could I be? I knew not the significance of Jesus, though I may have respected his name.
Before we dive into the substance of our subject, lets diagnose this person ( me ) who believed in God, yet did not follow God.
TRAITS
A. Belief in Gods existence.
B. Universal understanding of Gods love for me.
C. Respect towards God.
Recognizing these traits, maybe you're resonating with who I once was because it might be the traits you currently hold today .
My goal then is to guide you to whats next...
I'll raise this question.
Is that enough to get me into Heaven?
Lets pivot into the scriptures,
The context for what we will be looking at is Paul explaining how the children of Israel fell short of keeping the law perfectly. Illustrating that the law was a stumbling block so that they can see that they can't be perfect on their own.
Romans 10:1 - “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.”
Stay with me, Israel has a belief in God. They are the jews, whom God has revealed himself since the days of Abraham. Yet, Paul still states that he desires for them to be saved. It seems even God's chosen people needed something more than a belief for salvation. Lets keep reading!
Romans 10:2 - “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.”
Romans 10:3 - “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”
I was extremely similar to the children of Israel whom Paul is talking about. They too believed in God, they would hearken unto him at times and yet they still needed to be saved. This brings me to my first point...
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Belief of God is not suffice for salvation.
Romans 10: 1-3 explains that Israel still needed to be saved, despite their knowledge of the one true God.
Let's see an illustration on why belief of God alone isn't suffice to please God.
Dueteronomy 12: 31 - "Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods."
Belief doesn't mean it's true, it means you've been convinced. Historically, mankind was convinced there is God, but false gods are worshipped because of the lack of knowledge in who the true God is, while desiring to please him.
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Even today we see there are many religions that believe in a god.
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Mankind has always bowed down to something, somewhere.
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The one true God has a specific way he wants us to serve him.
If belief of God was all it took to receive salvation then all people would be saved.
-Even Atheist hold a belief in a god, their god just so happens to be themselves and their religion is evolution.
Belief of God becomes subjective if it is belief and belief alone.
You can see that just believing in god is insufficient because there is still more digging that needs to be done. Even being someone like me, I believed in the one true God of the bible however,
James 2:9 states “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."
Not to say believing in God is not important, it absolutely is AND is entirely necessary for salvation but not limited to just belief. Which brings me to my second point.
2. God's infallible truth
Romans 10: 2
"They had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge."
I created a god in my mind that was okay with my lifestyle, how he understood me and how I'm not perfect. I had a " God knows my heart" type of approach. Don't get me wrong, God did know these things about me. However, an honest servant of God seeks to know Him, rather than use his grace and mercy to justify their sinful lifestyle.
Which is a perfect example of my zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
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There is a standard in which God wants us to worship him.
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God has a blue-print for our conduct while living life on this side of eternity.
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Zeal is good but knowledge is required.
How do we find truth in the midst of a world that is polluted with false ideologies, religions and vast amounts of information.
The bible is a collection of books that is unlike any other book in history. It's miraculous in many ways, it holds prophecy that is being fulfilled to this very day. We've seen prophecies already fulfilled in recent centuries, we can also read prophecies foretold and fulfilled within the bible. It'll be a whole series to state the evidence of the scriptures being reliable as the word of God. The prophetic witness alone makes it extremely credible! However, I assume you as the reader respects the bible enough to take its precepts very seriously. I'd encourage you to trust it as the only infallible and objective source of truth.
Now, while recognizing the bible as the word of God, let's read some verses on truth.
John 4:24 - "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
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Worship is not limited to singing, it's your whole life. Servitude, praise, testimony, it's your reverent response to God's revelation.
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We must live for him according to spirit AND truth.
John 17:17 - "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."
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Truth sanctifies us, sets us apart, purifies.
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Gods word is truth, the bible is truth.
Psalms 145:18 - "The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth."
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God is near all who call upon him in truth.
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Those who are honestly seeking the one true God, he will reveal himself.
These bible verses reveal at least three things.
A. God wants us to live according to truth.
B. There is a source of objective truth.
C. God makes himself available to all who truthfully seek Him.
This makes it clear that it's important to believe correctly. Believe in God, yes...But do so, according to how the bible says to believe in God because the bible is Gods word.
When basing your belief of God through the word of God, you're able to have zeal AND knowledge. Now we can learn how to follow Him.
3. Seeking God leads to Christ
Romans 10: 3
"For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
Remember, the context of this passage is Israel not fulfilling the necessary requirements to follow the law, they always fell short, they always did wrong. The law was made a stumbling block so that they could see they'll never be good enough to make it to heaven, THAT'S THE POINT! Our righteousness isn't good enough, we all fall short. They were ignorant of Gods righteousness, which is believing the gospel of Jesus Christ and confessing Him as Lord. Which we will see as we keep reading.
Let's read verse 4,
Verses 5-8 discuss there is the righteousness of the law( our own righteousness) but the righteousness of faith is concerning Jesus who came down from heaven and rose from the grave. Which is what Paul is preaching, it's the point he's making!
VERY TELLING VERSES, believing on Christ removes the need to keep the law! Because Jesus came, died and rose again
Lets go further...to verses 9-10
" That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the MOUTH confession is made unto salvation"
Believing on this gospel of Jesus Christ and confessing that he is Lord is the way of salvation for all. This is submitting to Gods righteousness verses 12-13 state,
"For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him."
Can you see how we are able to start putting together the zeal and knowledge?
By placing our belief of God, into obedience to the word of God, which teaches us to believe on the gospel of Jesus Christ, confessing Him as lord and Saviour.
Believing in God is inevitable...However the truth of the bible says believing on God is only sufficient for salvation, when you place that belief on his son Jesus who died and rose again for you and I, confessing him as Lord.
Here are some reference verses to show that the love of God and believing in God is always demonstrated through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
John 3:16 - "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."
1John 5:13 - "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
John 14:6 - "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me"
Romans 3:23 states " That all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
I'll put it like this. Jesus dying on the cross, was charged for all the sins that you committed. However, when you believe on him and confess him as Lord, God looks at you and sees the righteousness of his Son. Why? Because the price of your sin, was paid for by Jesus.
In conclusion, we see through the verses of the bible that in order to be a true follower of God, you must first place your faith on his Son.
"No man cometh unto the Father but by me" - Jesus.
Perhaps, you are like I once was. Somebody who believes in God...I encourage you to take the next step, believe the gospel and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.