Apostles Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.
Every Sunday of reciting this and it took a while for it to hit me.
Same with Psalm 23, most of us knew it since we were kids but some Christians are yet to understand fully what we are saying when we read these things
Today, if you ask me to introduce myself, I will most likely mention I'm a believer..
This will be part of my description of me. I believe most Christians will also
"Oh! My name is Olúrèmí, I'm 19 and the most beautiful person you know. I'm a believer in Christ Jesus"
Sounds so sweet and cliché
I've come to realize most people don't exactly know what they are saying when they tag themselves believers.
Tonight, we will be talking on I BELIEVE.
What exactly does it mean to be a believer, in Christ Jesus?
Our opening scripture is John 3:16.
This is one of our earliest study of believing growing up as Christians.
John 3:16 "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.
John.3.16 - For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
The AMPC
Trust, cling, rely on.
To cling is to hold on to something strongly
To have a strong dependence on something/someone
Every Christian is familiar with this particular scripture.
Most tend to read or translate this verse as :
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that everyone who recognises and believe He is saviour will never perish but have life everlasting. The word believe used here means more than simply agreeing that Jesus, is truly saviour.
I believe that Donald trump is the president of the US, does that mean I believe in Him?
I believe and accept Paul Biya is the president of Cameroon, does that mean I believe in Him or accept him as my own president? No.
If we go by this analogy, even the devil believes
Let's read Mark 1:24 - “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
Here is what demons had to say.
I know who you are
You are the Holy one of God!
If the devil knows and accepts that truly Christ is the son of God and this doesn't equal salvation to him, then it doesn't for us.
Knowledge and acceptance that Christ is the son of God is not all that our belief entails
This is where it begins though
Another instance is in the miraculous feeding of 5000 (John 6:5-13)
After the people saw the sign, the verse 14 says :
"After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, 'Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.'"
This is in reference to the old testament's foretelling of the coming of Christ
These people even planned to crown him king (that's how much they recognized who he was) but Jesus left quietly.
The next day, they sought christ out.
They had to cross to the other side of the lake sef to find Jesus
They found him and a conversation ensued between them (we can read the full chapter for understanding)
This came up in their conversation:
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
John 6:28-29 NIV
They already believed Christ was sent from God.
Christ's reply here shows that though the statement above is true, it is not what is required.
They had to believe IN the one that was sent
After all the explanations, long story short, this happened:
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
John 6:66 NIV
They believed Christ was the Messiah sent from God but they did not believe or accept fully His words. Don't know if the picture is getting clearer
For many people, the concept of their belief is like accepting an applications terms and condition (without reading or knowing it). Just scroll down straight and click the I accept part. All I care about is my need for the software. For most, all they care about is to sha be counted as those who are saved. So let's just head over to the I agree part of the contract
Doesn't work this way.
Suppose a person of weight, let's say 100kg, sees people walking on a bridge made of tiny ropes.
Even some other people of weight are passing through. And this person believes that he can pass and the tiny ropes won't break or give way. He even goes ahead to tell other people of weight to pass.
How do we know he truly believes he can pass and nothing will happen?.
When he actually walks across it! When he walks his talks!
Another instance,
I believe Seun can finish 10kg of rice at once. I make mouth to everybody on Word Alive
"Ehn? Seun? I trust him die. E go chop am finish. Person wey fit chop dead body. Forget. Na my guy. I know wetin u dey talk. E sure me dieeeeee"
I'm not merely bluffing, i do truly believe Seun can finish the food
Usually, what goes on next is action.
Not action to make me believe
Action produced from my believe
I will put money down for the rice or bet sef
If Bimbo says
"ah! Remi you are lying. How can Seun finish 10kg rice? Oya buy the rice let's see"
And my reply is refusal to buy the rice. Everyone on Word Alive automatically assumes I don't believe what I'm saying myself
Do we get what I'm trying to point at?
I'm trying to use as much relatable terms as possible
Believing IN someone brings a special kind of stanning.
Look at those that believe in the ministry of Pastor Chris, most actually model his dress style.
Look at Kim Kardashian stans, they are getting surgeries to look like her.
We tend to model the lives of those we truly Stan and believe in. We tend to obey such people (Bey hive as example here)
Take note of these words, Follow, model, obey
Let's open to Acts 16:30-31
Acts 16:30-31 New International Version (NIV)
30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
This is the jailer asking Paul, what must I do to be saved.
Believe IN the LORD JESUS Christ
It is really this simple.
Believe IN Christ (Saviour), who is also Lord (Master) and you are saved.
A lot of us like Christ as Savior but not as Lord. There is a problem here
Trust that Jesus is truly saviour makes us rely on His death as the full payment for the debt of sin
This further translates into us depending on His own resurrection as the guarantee, that we would also be raised
And because we totally depend on Him up till life eternal, we follow His every lead as our Lord and Master
This is a brief sum up of I believe
The direct implication of I believe is that my believe is trust and dependence in what He has already done. To depend is to let Him lead
Christ is saviour - Fact!
I believe that Christ is my Saviour is me embracing the fact of Christ being saviour and all that it entails
Seeing Christ for who He really is. Embracing all that we see and allowing Him lead us in His path.
If we say we believe:
1. First, we truly know that Christ is Saviour
2. We accept Him as our own saviour and Lord
3. We accept His words and obey
4. We appropriate His works and rely on it completely.
5. We follow His lead
All of these produces the very character of Christ in us. Apostle Paul defines Faith, the one that saves as a decision to not trust in ones own works but rather in Christ who justifies us.
Our dear brother James, explains this (Saving Faith) further:
My brothers and sisters, if a person claims to have faith but does nothing, that faith is worth nothing. Faith like that cannot save anyone. It is the same with faith. If it is just faith and nothing more—if it doesn’t do anything—it is dead.
James 2:14, 17 ERV
But someone might object and say, “One person has faith and another person has works.” Go ahead then and prove to me that you have faith without works and I will show you faith by my works as proof that I believe.
James (Jacob) 2:18 TPT
The author of Hebrews also had this to say:
And after being proven perfect in this way he has now become the source of eternal salvation to all those who listen to him and obey.
Hebrews 5:9 TPT
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
Luke 6:46 NIV
Christ explaining what it meant to say He is Lord
Let's note that this doesn't mean we have to do to be saved
Rather that, our faith in Christ, that truly He saves us, produces these things, naturally.
If I want to know the man that believes in Jesus, how? It's in His obedience to Jesus. I don't know this by His words but by what his belief produces.
Do you believe?
If your answer is yes, then this is what it means for you:
You believe in who Jesus is (Saviour and Lord)
You trust in all what Jesus has done and rely on it completely
You obey Jesus and follow His lead
For it was only through this wonderful grace that we believed in him. Nothing we did could ever earn this salvation, for it was the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ! So no one will ever be able to boast, for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving.
Ephesians 2:8-9 TPT
I will end with this reminder, that it is only Christ who saves. not how good we are or the good works that we do.
But our belief in Him and all He has done for us
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