The Desires of Christ

Believe in Me

God earnestly wants to have an eternal, personal, intimate relationship with you. Jesus Christ's desire to provide this relationship for you is expressed in the Bible in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 3 and 4:
1 Timothy 2:3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior [Jesus Christ],
1 Timothy 2:4 who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. ESV

Verse 4 expresses Jesus Christ’s 2 overall desires or objectives for the human race. I have paraphrased Christ's 2 desires as Believe in Me - Think Like Me. If you haven't already and are interested, read the page The Desires of Christ for details on how I arrived at this.
Here we are going to focus on the eternal part of the relationship God wants to have with you. This is expressed in Jesus Christ's first desire, all people to be saved - Believe in Me. Let’s begin with a brief explanation of this.

To be saved means to have an eternal relationship with God; i.e. to live with God forever in heaven. To live with God forever requires 2 things: to be as good as God is and to have God’s life, which is eternal life. Mankind’s problem is that no one is born with these 2 things and because of sin, no one can obtain them on their own.

So, God had to do something Himself to solve the sin problem and provide these 2 things for mankind. God the Father designed a plan – the cross. He loved the world so much that He sent His Son to take upon Himself the penalty of sin that rightfully belonged to every member of the human race.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God the Son executed the plan. As sovereign and eternal God, God the Son is not subject to judgment or death on the cross. To provide salvation for mankind, the Creator humbled Himself, came to earth and became a true member of the human race conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin (Luke 1:31, 34-35).
Luke 1:31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus."

Luke 1:34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
Luke 1:35 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God."

The virgin pregnancy resulted in the birth of the unique person of the universe; Jesus Christ is God and man in one person forever (Luke 2:11).
Luke 2:11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Different from humanity, Jesus Christ is undiminished deity - Christ the Lord. Different from God, Jesus Christ is true humanity - born for you a Savior. Because of the virgin pregnancy, the humanity of Jesus Christ was born perfect, without a sinful nature.

The Son came primarily to reveal the love of God (1 John 4:9-10).
1 John 4:9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The eternal relationship God so earnestly wants to have with you wasn’t motivated by your love for Him but by His own love. The supreme proof of that love was the cross.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died [as a substitute] for us.

The penalty God had declared for sin was spiritual death, separation from God under condemnation. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ executed the will of the Father (John 8:29; Heb. 10:9). In His humanity He was tempted far beyond anything we can imagine, yet He remained sinless. As the only perfect member of the human race, He was qualified to pay the penalty for the sins of all mankind.

To pay that penalty, Christ, as our substitute, had to bear the sins of the world in His humanity and be judged by the Father (Matthew 27:46; 1 Peter 2:24).
Matthew 27:46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"

1 Peter 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

After God the Father had judged every sin of every human being – past, present and future – Jesus said while He was still on the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Jesus Christ had suffered spiritual death for all. The work of salvation was completed. Then, by an act of His own volition, Jesus gave up His physical life. After 3 days He was resurrected. 40 days after His resurrection He departed from this earth and entered into heaven. There Christ presented Himself and was accepted by the Father as the perfect and only sacrifice for sinful humanity (Hebrews 9:24-26).
Hebrews 9:24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
Hebrews 9:25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.
Hebrews 9:26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Motivated by love, He offered Himself as a willing sacrifice to take care of the sin problem.
Galatians 2:20b and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

All of the work that needed to be done for all people to be saved was accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross. As a result, there is no work left to be done. Jesus Christ did it all. There is no work that you need to do to be saved.

All of your life, you may have worked hard for everything you’ve ever achieved. Nothing was ever given to you. Your success is because of your hard work. That’s the way of the world.
Many people carry this attitude over to God. If work is how I get things in life, then work is how I get something from God. Many people believe that they get to heaven by being good, by their good works. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Your works and good deeds are not an issue to God. He offers salvation by grace through faith, not by works. The key to your salvation then, to you being saved, is faith. Faith is the nonmeritorious decision to believe in Christ.

Christmas is the time that Christ’s birth is celebrated. Jesus Christ is God’s Christmas gift that He gave to the human race. We can do nothing to work for that gift, it’s free. You unwrap that gift by simply believing in Him.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Salvation is a grace gift from God. Grace is God’s free gift of unmerited favor. We can do nothing to earn or deserve God’s grace.
God’s policy is salvation by grace through faith. Your salvation is provided by Jesus Christ. It is faith in Him that is the means by which you receive God’s grace, not your works or good deeds.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Ephesians 2:9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Titus 3:5a He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy,

Because of grace, the only thing that is now required of any human being to take advantage of Christ’s completed work on the cross, to be saved, is to believe in Him.

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31b)

When we believe in Jesus Christ, we receive the 2 things necessary to live with God forever:

God’s life, eternal life

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

and God’s righteousness.

2 Corinthians 5:21 He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Romans 3:22a even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe;

Jesus Christ has done everything necessary so that you can have the eternal relationship with God that He so earnestly wants to have with you. Jesus's first desire for the human race, all people to be saved, can be fulfilled by you. His intimate appeal to you to fulfill His desire for you is the same appeal He made to Martha in John 11:25-26:
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
John 11:26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"

Will you respond in the same way that Martha did?

John 11:27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."

Right now, in the privacy of your own soul, you can fulfill Jesus Christ's desire for you to be saved. All that is required of you is one simple act of faith. In thought only, you don’t have to say it out loud, you can tell God the Father that you are believing in His Son Jesus Christ. You might say something like “Father, I accept the work that your Son Jesus Christ did on my behalf, I trust in Him as my Savior, I believe in Him.” That will be the moment of eternal life for you.

Hopefully, if you have read this far, you have believed in Jesus Christ, accepted Him as your Savior. If you are not sure and would like more information about Jesus Christ's desire for you to be saved, please visit my web site Jesus Saves.

If you have believed in Jesus Christ, then you have established an eternal relationship with God that can never be cancelled or taken away. In His Good Shepherd metaphor in the Gospel of John, Jesus makes this promise to everyone who believes in Him:
John 10:28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

At the moment you believe in Jesus Christ, God wraps His loving arms around you and He will never let go. This is also beautifully stated in Romans 8:38-39:

Romans 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

Romans 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You have entered into a new life as a new believer; you have taken your first step toward an intimate, personal relationship with God. All of the resources necessary to live the Christian way of life were provided for you at the moment you believed. The Bible, God's Word, which is called "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16), is God's guide for your new life. By learning God’s Word from a pastor-teacher, you can understand God’s plan for your life. Pastors are provided by God to clearly and accurately communicate His Word to you—if you have the desire to learn.
If you are not fortunate enough to have a church near you that focuses on the teaching of the Word of God, there are many around the country that do and make their teaching available free of charge. A partial list is provided under Suggested links on the left side of this web site.
You should be able to find a pastor who teaches in a manner pleasing to you. The most important thing is listening regularly and concentrating on what the Bible has to say. After you are saved, the only way you will grow spiritually in your new life and serve the Lord in a manner pleasing to Him is by continuing to learn, think, and apply God’s Word.

If you persist in learning God's Word as a believer in Jesus Christ, a life of tremendous love, joy, blessing and service for the Lord awaits you. This is why Jesus Christ's next desire for you is Think Like Me.

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