Believe in Jesus - Part 2

I recently began reading the epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans. I have been reading Paul’s epistles in the order he wrote them, so I had no plans or agenda other than to read it and be edified by it. But right from the beginning I noticed something, which I then followed as I read on. That something is faith. We all talk about being saved by faith in Christ, but what does it mean to believe in Jesus? to have faith in Jesus? Specifically, What is it I must believe?

Yesterday I went through the first three chapters. That was Part 1. "What does it mean to believe in Jesus? It means we believe he is the Christ, the Son of God, who died on the cross for our sins, was raised again, and is Lord. When I believe in Jesus God justifies me or declares me righteous."

Today I will look at chapters 4 and 10. That makes this Part 2!

In chapter 4 Paul uses Abraham to explain and illustrate faith. Actually, the entire chapter is about Abraham, faith, and justification. This is a great chapter! But since my point is simply what it is we are to believe in order to be justified and what this looks like I will only look at the part of the chapter that speaks to that.

4:3  For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Abraham believed God. Faith is always a response. God makes a promise and we believe. The chapter is about God’s promise of a son to Abraham. Abraham believed that promise and his faith was counted unto him for righteousness.

4:16  Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
And here is the vital point, of the faith of Abraham. Abraham was justified by believing God, and we are justified when we are of the faith of Abraham. And just what does that look like? Paul tells us in 17-22:

4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Abraham believed God. But what did he believe? The promise.

4:18  Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
God promised him he would become the father of many nations, and for that to happen he would have to have a son. God promised him a son and he believed God. 

against hope believed in hope – he was so old he had lost hope, but by believing the promise of God, hope was reborn. But this hope sprang from a faith which was completely in God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 

4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:
Abraham knew it was impossible for him and Sarah to have a child. He had to choose to believe what he could see (can’t happen) or what God had said (you will have a son). He chose what God said. He believed God to do what he was unable to do on his own.

4:20   He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
staggered not at the promise – God had promised him something unbelievable, this just didn’t happen, but he had faith in God and what He could do.

at the promise of God – once again we are brought to the promise. Abraham did not initiate this. Faith is not me telling God what I think He should do, it is always me responding to what God has said. Has God spoken to me? Yes. Where? In the Word. The gospel tells me God sent his only begotten Son to die on the cross for me, that he rose again, and that he offers to save me (forgive my sins, give me eternal life, restore me to God). When I believe that he saves me!

4:21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
Against hope believed in hope; being not weak in faith; staggered not at the promise. I would say he was fully persuaded! And of what was he persuaded? That what he had promised, he was able also to perform. That is faith.

4:22  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
therefore - because he believed, he was justified.

4:23  Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
4:24  But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
4:25  Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
This is what it means to be of the faith of Abraham. We are also asked to believe some incredible things, things which in the natural don’t happen everyday, such as raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; and, righteousness will be imputed to us if we believe on Jesus. See, we are in the same boat as Abraham. You can see the slight shift here - we not only believe things about Jesus (he is the Christ, the Son of God, who died for us, rose again, is Lord), but we believe God’s promise through Jesus (justify us, forgive us, restore us, accept us).

When I look back to when I first believed in Jesus, I must admit, I didn’t understand much. I couldn’t have explained or defended anything, but you know what, I believed Jesus was Christ, the Son of God, that he was risen from the dead, and I believed his promise to take me to the true God. Yep, I was of the faith of Abraham!

Finally,
10:8  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
10:9  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.
10:10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
10:11  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
10:12  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.
10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
This is awesome!

believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead - He only mentions raised, but it’s all here: Jesus Christ, Son of God, crucified, raised from the dead.

confess with your mouth Lord Jesus – once again it’s all here: spoken to him, Lord Jesus, owning him as Lord; spoken to others, confessing my faith, Jesus is Christ, Son of God, who died and was raised, and is now Lord.

whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved – Paul now provides the full picture of what it means to believe or have faith in Jesus: I hear the message that Jesus (who is the Christ, the Son of God, died for me on the cross, was raised from the dead, and is now Lord) promises to forgive my sins and restore me to God. I believe this and call on him to save me. Throughout the Bible, calling on the name of the Lord is the essence of true religion. It might look something like this: Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God, that you died for me and rose again from the dead. I ask you to save me.

It was exciting to see this as I was reading through Romans! I began with, What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Specifically, What is it I must believe? Well, this is what it means to believe in Jesus! Have you believed in Jesus?

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved