Believe in your heart that God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, who died for us who were still sinners. (Romans 5:8; Romans 10:9-10)
Who?
It is the responsibility of each individual to believe in Jesus for themselves. Children are not born into it just because their parents or grandparents may believe.
Anyone can believe regardless of age, race, financial status, gender, religious background, etc.
God wants everyone to believe and go to Heaven, but it is first up to the individual to make this choice, not God. Read 2 Peter 3:9.
What?
Believe that the Lord is Jesus / Jesus is the Lord (Romans 10:9).
Believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 10:9).
Believe the testimony of the Father, that Jesus is His son (Matthew 3:16).
More specifically, Jesus is the only begotten son of God; in a sense, His biological son (John 3:16,18).
Believe that you have sinned before, and that "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
Believe that Jesus died on the cross, in your place, in order to pay for those consequences for your sins if you call upon His name to save you from the consequences of your sin (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Romans 10:13).
Believe also that Jesus never sinned, otherwise His death would have paid for His own sin instead of yours (2 Corinthians 5:21,17-21).
The death that He will save you from is not necessarily the death of your mortal body, but the death of both body and soul forever if caste into the lake of fire, which is called the second death, spoken of in The Revelation 20:13-15.
"Therefore any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." -2 Corinthians 5:17
When?
Typically, I'd say a person can believe as young as they can understand complete sentences, allowing
them to hear the truth about Christ, which could be as young as two or three years old; or they can be as old as Moses.
John the baptist may have believed in Jesus while he was still in his mother's womb (Luke 1:41).
Once a person dies, it is then too late for them to be saved by believing in Jesus, and none of us know when our
time will arrive and whether we will die slow or fast.
It is said in the scriptures, "Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts" (Hebrews 3:7-8 and 4:7).
It says "Today." Not tomorrow. Tomorrow is not promised.
It is best to believe as soon as possible, not only because tomorrow is not promised, but because there is no
telling what may happen later
in your life that may prevent you from believing or make it harder for you to believe. There are scriptures that suggest that
it is possible for God to prevent you from being able to believe once you have chosen not to believe.
So it is not wise to delay.
Believing does not require you to first know everything there is to know about Jesus.
In Matthew 18:2-3, Jesus says we must be converted and become as little children. Children don't know everything. They are not
scholars and intellectuals, and have not had time to thoroughly study anything. They get
basic information from a trusted source (someone they know loves them) and they believe.
They may ask a few questions to get more clarity, but that's all it takes. In Matthew 18:2, notice that
when Jesus called the little child, the child came.
Where?
You may come to believe in Jesus anywhere.
It is not required for you to be inside of a church house, synagogue, or during a church meeting, or Sunday school, or any other similar event or place, although those are great places for
people to come to believe.
It is also not required for you to join or be a member of a local church in order to get saved and become a member of the body of Christ (a Christian).
Why?
Jesus said "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John 11:25-26).
Acts 4:12 says "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Verse 10 specifies that it's speaking of the name, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Jesus said "ye believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1).
God saw that we needed a savior, so He gave us His son to die for us. We must not reject God's gift and offend God by telling Him
that He is wrong.
When we (mankind) were created, we were with God, but were separated from God by sin committed in the garden of Eden by Adam. We needed to be reconciled to God, not only for what Adam did, but for
what each of us have done too, because we have all sinned. Jesus Christ is the means by which we can each be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ is not physically walking the earth right now, but His believers
are enabled and called to be His ambassadors, to help draw others near to Him so that people can be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). So not only is our belief in Christ necessary for our own reconciliation,
our own reconciliation is necessary to reach others after us to help them believe and be reconciled also.
How?
As a man tries hard to get to know a woman, seek and try to know Jesus, realizing that He is not a blessing tool, but is a real live person with feelings, who has gone through much of the same things you are going through.
Seek God with all of your heart, and with all of your mind, and with all of your soul (Jeremiah 29:13). Do not give a half-hearted effort just so you can claim that you tried.
Seek God like the person who goes to school daily for 13-20 years or more just to try to one day get a job and earn money to make a living, which most of us have done.
Seek God like sports players seek a championship trophy, who devote a great deal of time and effort to practicing, studying the sport, learning plays, receiving constructive criticism, pushing their
bodies to the limit, and more, just to win.
Romans 10:9 says to believe in your heart. This means that you must really actually believe, not try to believe or pretend or claim to believe, but to really
believe it in your heart.
Seek out believers, and When you meet them, ask them how or why they came to believe.
Read and search the Bible often, and pray to understand it. God is able to reveal to you who Jesus is,
so that you may believe, but you must first be willing to seek and listen to Him. This may require you to distance yourself from
distractions (including people who may distract or discourage you).
THIS PAGE IS INCOMPLETE, AND IS STILL BEING WRITTEN AND REVISED.
