Several years ago Luaine and I went to a King Tutankhamun exhibit. King Tut was a puppet figure on the throne—a relatively minor pharaoh in Egyptian history. He was very young and religious leaders were pulling the strings.
It was fascinating to see how much religion was a part of the culture. The amount of ‘religious’ artifacts in the exhibit were staggering—stuff they put in the tomb with him for his use in his afterlife. You see, they were looking for God, but in all the wrong places.
Blaise Pascal said, “God created every person with a God-shaped vacancy in the heart and that vacancy will not be filled apart from knowing Christ.” The natural longing of every heart, whether they know it or admit it, is to know God.
But the only way to know God is to know the God of the Bible, and to know Him is to know Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in Romans 10:13-14. 13Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
When Paul wrote this many in Rome had heard about Jesus Christ, but they did not know Him. There is a big difference in knowing about Jesus Christ and actually knowing Him.
The Bible uses a Greek word, “ginosco,” which means to know by experience rather than just by head knowledge.
Most people in the world have heard about and know about Jesus Christ. There are millions of people who think that Christ was a great man, a great teacher, and the founder of the Christian religion.
But they have never experienced Him. This may be you. You may know the facts about Jesus, but as long as you think of Him only as a great man and teacher, you will never truly know Him.
To really know Him you must not only know about Him, you must then believe what He taught about himself—that He was truly God in the flesh who came to die for your sins; and you must give your life to Him.
Faith is not just believing He exists, but doing what He says because you know He will keep His promises. Our world needs to know this.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of people right here in New Mexico who have heard about Jesus—maybe they have some religious acquaintance with the facts of His life—but they don’t know Him.
It is important that we understand what it means to know Jesus Christ. The first thing, to know Jesus . . .
Romans 10:13. “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
We live in a time of universalistic kind of thinking—the belief that everyone will be saved, that everyone is going to heaven, and that every religion is the right religion as long as we are sincere.
In other words, all people will be saved in the end regardless of any personal commitment to Jesus Christ. Well, Christianity is universal in that it is freely offered to every person. But it is exclusively limited to those who trust only in Jesus for salvation. The Bible says in Acts 4:12.
Acts 4:12. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. This is pretty plain talk, isn’t it? Christianity is exclusive. The world doesn’t like it. It goes directly against the grain of our pluralistic society.
But consider with me for just a moment. If every religion leads to God and it really doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere, then why was it necessary for Jesus to die on the cross?
Without the cross the sin problem remains. Sin and God do not mix. Sin will not be in heaven. We are all sinners. So God provided the means, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection, to give forgiveness of our sins.
No other religion provides a Savior who takes care of the problem of sin. Only Christianity has a Savior who has taken care of that problem.
The Bible also insists that a personal commitment to Jesus Christ is necessary. Romans 10:9. That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. This means calling on Him, confessing your sin and acknowledging Him as your Lord and Savior. There is no other way!
Romans 10:14a. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
Notice the use of the word “believe” here. The Bible says that a person must believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved. This is more than just believing in the facts about Jesus.
There are facts we must believe—that He is the Son of God; that Jesus died for our sins; that He arose from the grave on the third day following His crucifixion; that He will forgive our sins and give us eternal life.
These “facts” are the beginning place. We must believe them. But we must do something about what we say we believe.
Several years ago Allstate insurance did a survey in earthquake prone areas of California. Almost 65% believed there would be a major quake within 3-5 years. But only 1 of four had earthquake insurance. You see, we must place our trust in the One those facts are about.
Stated in the simplest possible way, to believe in Jesus Christ means to trust your life and your future to Him—to believe the facts about Him, to take Him at His word, to rely on His word, and to do what He says.
Do you see how this fits with v. 13? You cannot call on Jesus if you don’t believe in Him. To call on the name of Jesus is to believe—have faith that Jesus Christ, and only Jesus Christ, offers you salvation and gives that salvation to you when you believe.
The only way you can know Jesus is through faith in Him. The old illustration is still appropriate—you can believe that a chair will hold your weight, but until you sit in it you haven’t really placed your trust in it.
Romans 10:14b. And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? This is a great mission verse.
Look at the word “they.” Now substitute “New Mexico,” or “The United States,” or “The World.” In other words, “How can New Mexico hear without someone preaching to them?”
There is a world of people who do not know Jesus. In fact, there is a world of people in New Mexico who don’t know Him—and more and more are arriving every day.
The only way these folks can believe is for someone to share the Word of God with them. There are thousands of people in New Mexico who have no personal knowledge of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will die in their sins and be eternally separated from God unless they hear about God’s saving grace.
God has given us the privilege of telling them about Jesus so they can have the opportunity to believe. They must hear before they can call on the name of the Lord. They must believe in Him if they are to know God and His salvation.
Romans 10:17. Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
Salvation does not come by intuition, or by some mystical experience, or through meditation or speculation or philosophy, or even by consensus by the majority. It comes by hearing and having faith in the word of Christ.
There are many avenues of sharing Christ. We can give through the Harry P. Stagg State Mission offering to help ministries, missionaries, pastors, churches, schools, camps, and missions in New Mexico, so that people can believe in Jesus Christ.
And, we can be available right here through our own church in this mission field called Albuquerque. The most important thing you can do to demonstrate your faith and trust in Jesus is to be willing and available. 1