Spiritual Thoughts
Just the other day I was talking to someone about God and the bible. And I asked him, “Do you know that the bible says you must do to be saved?” And his answer was, “Believe in Jesus”. That’s by far the most common answer that people will give to that question. And the bible affirms, you MUST believe in Jesus. Jesus Himself said in John 8:24, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
That’s pretty plain, isn’t it? But unfortunately, not everyone will BE saved, because not everyone BELIEVES that Jesus is the Christ. Some don’t even believe in God at all.
But Jesus went a step further than to just require belief. Jesus said in Mat 7:21, “Not everyone who says to Me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, (you see, those people appealing to Jesus, and calling him Lord, Lord, already believe in Him) but he that DOES the will of My Father who is in heaven.” So now Jesus has made it perfectly clear, that you not only must BELIEVE that He is the Christ, but you must also DO the will of His Father, who is IN heaven.
So now what are you going to do? You believe in God, and you believe in Christ, but Jesus says that’s NOT enough. Now He says you must also DO the will of God. Now we have BELIEVE, and we also have DO, as requirements to get into heaven. “Not everyone who says to Me lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who DOES the will of My Father, who is in heaven.” It can’t GET any plainer than that!
There’s lots of people out there who have already told you that all you need to do is believe. But here comes Jesus, and He says, NO, there’s more to it then that, you must DO the will of God. So one thing is very clear; You can’t simply listen to what people say on the subject, can you? You obviously have to go directly to God’s word, to find out the truth of the matter. You have to go to God’s word, and see for yourself, exactly what God has actually said, about what’s required to go to heaven. Man says believe ONLY. God says believe and DO His will.
You only have two choices at this point. You can either believe what man has told you, and face God at the judgment, with your faith alone, (and with the nose on your face) and be denied entrance into heaven because you didn’t DO God’s will. Or you can read what the bible says, and study what the bible says, and LEARN the will of God, and then DO God’s will, and be welcomed INTO heaven.
That sound fairly simple to me, but yet people struggle with the decision. Will you believe man? Or will you believe God, and DO His will? Joshua answered the question well in Joshua 24:15, “And if it is disagreeable in your sight to SERVE the Lord (that means DO His will), Choose for yourself today, who you will serve… But as for me and my house, WE will SERVE the Lord.”
I pray that you’ll join me for the next “Spiritual Thoughts”, when we will examine exactly WHAT God’s word tells us we MUST DO, to be saved, and to gain entrance into heaven.
Until then, may God bless you in your search for the truth, found only in His word.
I Love reading the Bible and talking to others about God! Your website is wonderful and I will be stopping back to read More! This is a great testimony to God!
Thank you for this post and if I may add another thing you must do to get to heaven. John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So, you must believe in Jesus, you must do God’s will and you must ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins.
People have said to me they cannot understand the Bible. What advice would you give to people that say they cannot understand the Bible? Which bible version do you read and Why?
May God bless you richly,
Melissa
Hi Melissa. Thanks so much for your kind words. You’re absolutely correct about the need to be born again. You might enjoy the article titled “What Must We Do – If We Expect to Get to heaven”. As far as advice for people who say they can’t understand the bible; First I would ask this question.. Do you really believe that the God who created man, would also create a book telling man how to be saved, and do it such a way that man can’t understand it? No, that would be a foolish assumption. I would ask everyone to read the two articles here on the site, titled “How To Understand The bible”, part 1 and part 2. We not only CAN understand the bible, but we can ALL understand it ALIKE! And we not only can understand it alike, but we MUST understand God’s plan of salvation, and obey that plan, or we’ll miss out on the glory of heaven, which is the very purpose for which we’ve been created. Please do look around the site some more, and read all the articles as you have time. And please pass along this information to all you know and come in contact with. May God bless you too.