faith for what?

In order to become a born-again Christian you must be willing to believe.  But what are we to believe?  Thank God He didn’t leave us to our own devices, He revealed to us exactly what we must believe.
 
Hebrews 12:2 Look unto Jesus, the beginner and finisher of our faith.
 
Jesus is the author of our faith and it is He who brings us to the place where faith secures us for all eternity.  Anybody can believe Jesus was born in Bethlehem about two thousand years ago and they can believe He was crucified, the Jews believed this but they are not saved!  There is an event after the cross that we must accept, then Jesus will be the author of our faith.
 
Romans 10:9 If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved.
 
Whatever a person believes about Jesus, it means nothing if they don’t believe the Father raised Him from the dead.  If any church going person does not believe Jesus was raised from the dead, then their religion is in vain.  The Jews ordered the apostles to stop using the Name of Jesus because they had Him crucified and they did not believe He was resurrected.  Scripture tells us that Jesus is the finisher of our faith.  When does He finish our faith?  When we are raised from the dead and receive our glorified bodies.  When you believe God raised Jesus from the dead, then you know you serve the God of the supernatural. 
 
Sadducees do not believe in the Spirit or angels.  They do not believe in the resurrection nor future punishment or reward.
 
The doctrine of “greasy grace” is nothing new, it began with the Sadducees at least two thousand years ago.  The Scribes and Pharisees had their own interpretations and traditions.  But if a man can believe God raised Jesus from the dead, then he can believe everything Jesus said.  Jesus referred to the Jews as a stiff necked people, they would not accept the truth even when there was a demonstration of miracles.  Their lack of faith and their doctrine has filtered into the present day church.  If you have a choice between believing what God says or what man says, you would be doing something good to choose God.
 
Isaiah 53:4 Surely He has carried our sickness and disease and carried our pains, But we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
 
The Jews accepted Jesus as a prophet that got out of the will of God by claiming to be one with the Father.  They credited God for having Jesus the heretic crucified for His blasphemy.  They were so hard hearted they would not consider what He said nor any of the miracles He performed.  Faith comes from hearing and hearing the Word of God, so it is the Lord that helps us to believe in what we cannot see or touch.  If we are willing, then God can do so much for us that we cannot do for ourselves.  Stir yourselves up, remind your faith that Jesus has risen from the dead and nothing will be impossible for you to believe.    

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