SALVATION REQUIRES BELIEVING IN JESUS

The Gospel of John might well have been entitled "Believe."  Of the 131 verses in the Bible which contain the word "believe," John's Gospel contains 46 of them!  There are only two other Bible writers whose books employ the word in double figures:  Mark with 11, and Acts with 10!  According to John, when one believes in Jesus, something happens:

     *  He will become a child of God (1:12)!
     *  He will receive the Holy Spirit (7:39)!
     *  He will see the glory of God (11:40)!
     *  He will be a child of the Light (12:36)!
     *  He will know Jesus came from the Father (16:30)!
     *  He will be a witness to others (17:20)!
     *  He will have life (20:21)!

In fact, John stated his purpose in writing his Gospel:  "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book:  but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name (Jn. 20:20-21).

John was consistent in his epistles as well; he wrote:  "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" (1 Jn. 5:13).

Salvation is a gift; it cannot be earned (Eph. 2:8-9).  But in order for us to be saved, we have to believe God is offering it to us.  Like the two travelers on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-31), we must believe God sent His Son to die for our sins, to be buried, and to rise again, according to the prophetic Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:1-4)!  That is called the Gospel, and it is the power of God which produces salvation (Rom. 1:16)!  In Romans 10:9-10, the Apostle Paul wrote:

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt 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."