There’s been something on my mind this week so I decided to write about it. When I heard someone say recently that they hoped they would make it to heaven, it reminded me of an evangelist I knew. This guy traveled the road for over fifty years and held tent revivals. Not with little hundred-seat tents set up on the side of the road. He had a tent that seated five-thousand people. Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. I said 5,000 seats. And it was filled everywhere he went.
When a man once asked him, “Brother, how do I know if I am saved?” My friend answered him, “You ain’t.” That may sound a bit arrogant, but I think it was the perfect answer. In other words, a person who is saved and has a relationship with Jesus, won’t have to ask someone if he is saved or not. He/she will know it.
Have you ever heard someone assure a person of their salvation by asking them if they believe in Jesus? They say, “If you believe that Jesus died on the cross for you, then you are going to heaven.” I tell you beloved, that is an extremely dangerous and scary thing to say without further explaining. James 2:19 says that the demons believe and they tremble. We know demons can’t be saved or go to heaven, so there must be more to it. Much more.
Let’s start with the basics, John 3:16. If you go to a baseball, basketball, or football game you are likely to see a banner with John 3:16 on it. When Tim Tebow played in a National Championship game in college, he put John beneath one eye, and 3:16 beneath the other. During that three-hour game, 90 million people Googled John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The original Greek for the word believes in that particular passage is pisteou. There are many definitions for the word but bottom line, it means “to commit (to trust)”. Sometimes in prisons I tell the story about a tightwire walker. He stretched a wire across a canyon that was thousands of feet deep. A huge crowd with reporters and television cameras gathered to watch him take this daring walk. Speaking to the thousands of onlookers over a sound system he asked, “How many of you believe I can cross this canyon on the tightwire?” Everyone shouted, “Yes!”
So, he walked across the canyon, turned around, and walked back. The cheering crowd went wild. He got a wheelbarrow and said, “How many of you believe I can walk back and forth on the wire, pushing this wheelbarrow?” The crowd screamed, “Yes!” He pushed it over and back as the crowd cheered their approval. He then took the microphone and said, “How many of you believe I can push this wheelbarrow with someone in it across the tightwire?” All the people screamed, “Yes, we believe you can!” The highwire performer answered, “Then please, someone come get in my wheelbarrow.”
That’s the difference between believing in, committing, entrusting, and having faith in—and not. Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your hearts that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Have you committed your life to Him? If you haven’t, I urge you to do it today. The Bible says, Today is the day of salvation. Don’t put it off. Every heart has an expiration date and only God knows when that is. I want you to know the peace that I know, and that can only come through a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus. If you have questions about it, please reach out to me. bill@billcorum.com
In HIS grip,
Bill Corum
