Like so many of the unscriptural songs being played on the radio this month, most are talking about Jesus of Bethlehem, or the boy who grew up in the Galilean village of Nazareth. But many of those churches, are not talking about the eternal Son of God, who had been born of a virgin. Jesus of Nazareth was the toddler who spent his first few months in Egypt, but then grew up in Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth was the teenager and young man who was raised in that community. But Paul had been preaching “the LORD Jesus Christ.”
The subject of our faith must be that young man from Nazareth, but with the realization that He was and is the eternal Son of God. He is the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ, the promised King, the Saviour, the Lamb of God. He is not a good buddy, one of the boys, or even a good man and moral example. Jesus Christ is the LORD – the Jehovah Whom we see in the Old Testament. He is the covenant-keeping God; the Saviour of men. And all judgment has been committed unto Him. He will sit upon the Great White Throne at the final disposition of the will of God. He is not to be taken lightly; He is not to be spoken of flippantly. He is to be worshiped and given the highest possible respect and reverence.
And why? Because in the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Paul has proven that the Law cannot provide anyone with true righteousness. And if only Christ is “the end of righteousness,” but only to them that believe in Him, then we need to know what that is.
But there are at least three different kinds of believing people. Some believe Christ; some believe IN Christ; and others believe ON Christ. What you and I need to do is ask ourselves is: “what kind of faith do I have?” Do I know what Paul was talking about here, and is mine the right kind of faith?
There are millions, if not actually billions of people who believe IN Jesus. By that I mean they have heard that 2,000 years ago, there was a man in Israel whose name was Jesus. Just as they have heard that there was a man named Aristotle and another named Sophocles, they have heard that there was a religious philosopher whose name was Jesus. They have no reason not to believe that such a man existed – they believe IN a man named Jesus. There is perhaps not a more useless bit of information and a more useless faith than this.
As Jesus taught the people about Himself and His relation to the Heavenly Father, some people trusted Him, and others only simplistically didn’t deny what He said. Some people believed him and others only gave the appearance of believing him, hoping for more miracles and not wanting to offend Him. Then Jesus, knowing their hearts, said, “If you really believe me, that faith will last, and it will pass through the tests which are coming up. If you continue in my teaching then are you really my disciples. But if you turn backs on me, any time, it proves your faith false.”
There is a difference between believing Christ and believing on Christ. There is a difference between believing what Christ says and trusting Christ and what He says. We have two different groups of people in John 8 with two different kinds of faith. Simplistic faith can lead to genuine saving faith, but it’s inferior, eternally inferior, to true faith.
Of course, we are expected to believe what God and the Bible says. Before the cancer patient will accept some sort of dangerous treatment, he must believe his doctor. To believe the words of the Lord Jesus and to believe the Bible is very important. Jesus communicated divine truth. Although much, much more, at the very least He was a special Rabbi, a teacher of God’s Word. Before we can depend on what He said, we must believe that it is the truth. No sir, Christ did not accommodate Himself to the foibles of the Jews, when He spoke of “demons.” He didn’t agree with their ignorance, in order to please them. What He said was absolutely true. When he spoke of NOAH and the flood, He spoke the truth – believe it. And yes, even when he said that JONAH was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, He said it, because it is the truth. Christ didn’t exaggerate, prevaricate, or hallucinate. “Believe me,” he says, “believe me,” and we must. Oh, but how few of us really do believe everything that He said.
Jesus told people, “You believe what I am saying, and that is good, but don’t stop there. Continue in the Word – “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Unfortunately, the majority of the people to whom He was speaking didn’t continue in His word. They believed Christ one minute and then came John 8:59, “They took up stones to cast at him.” Nothing more clearly proves that othodoxy doesn’t equal Christianity. You say that you’ve never denied the Bible – fine, but that doesn’t make you Christian. Nothing is more useless that creeds and doctrines laying dormant in the brain. What shall we say about the professed “disciple” who neither trembles, thrills, hopes or dreads? That man is not a true disciple.
But Christ Jesus doesn’t stop here.
Have you ever had the privilege to walk along a rocky ocean shoreline? Have you ever caught a starfish? “Catch” perhaps is not really the most appropriate word. Those creatures are pretty dumb; they can’t speak, they can’t write, they can’t leap tall buildings; and they can’t run away very well But what they do do they do very well – they know how to cling to rocks.
That is perhaps a nice simple illustration of faith – to cling. To believe on Christ for salvation from sin, is to cling to Him for salvation. When you pray in faith, believing that Christ hears you, that is a “prayer of faith.” When you trust God to protect your family that is “family protection faith.” When you believe on Christ to save you from the penalty of sin, that is “saving faith.” “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, and he that believeth not Son shall not see life.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
The Bible uses the words “believe ON Christ,” because it means far more than to “believe IN Christ.” To “believe ON Christ” means that we are clinging to Him, like a starfish to a rock. To “believe IN Christ” often only means that we agree that He is telling us the truth, or that there once was a man named Jesus. If you are not “believing ON Christ” then you may not have “saving faith.” And without saving faith you shall die under the penalty of your sin. And that penalty will mean your eternal damnation in Hell.
That is the third kind of faith – saving faith. It is different from believing in Christ or simply believing Christ. And it is a terrible mistake to confuse these three kinds of faith. Someone says, “I believe in Jesus; I always have and I always will. I believe that He is the eternal Son; that he was virgin born. I believe that he lived a sinless life, I believe that he is a miracle worker; the Saviour of world. I believe in Jesus that He is God.” But don’t the demons of Hell believe all these things? James 2:19 says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well.” But be aware, “the devils also believe, and tremble.” And obviously that kind of faith does nothing to convert those devils into saints or angels of God.
“Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believeth.” But this righteousness isn’t given to those who believe only that there was a man named Jesus. It isn’t given to those who believe that He was born of a virgin or that He is the Son of God. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to those who believe and trust Him to meet the demands of the law for their salvation.