The Proclaimer

Receiving Christ

Do you believe in God?  Many in the world do not believe in God, at least not the God of the Bible.  In identifying Jehovah to the pagans of Athens, Paul says He “made the world and all things therein,” that He has determined man’s “appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation . . . for in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:24-27).  If you believe in evolution, you do not believe in the God of the Bible, for creation and evolution cannot be reconciled.  The fact is, it’s far less reasonable to believe the world just “happened” by accident than to believe God created it.

Some claim to believe in God but not in Christ.  But the fact is, one’s disposition toward God and Christ are inseparable, for Christ is God.  John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made” (John 1:1, 3).  This verse ties the existence of Christ as God with the creation of the world.  Therefore if you believe that God created the world, you must believe in Jesus Christ, for “without him was not anything made that hath been made.”

Furthermore, Jesus said, “ I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), and “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also” (John 14:9, 10).  When Christ sent out the apostles He made it clear that to receive them was to receive the Father.  “He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me” (John 13:20).  Not only so, He told them, “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that rejecteth you rejecteth me; and he that rejecteth me rejecteth him that sent me"”(Luke 10:16).  Does this mean that all who reject Christ (such as Jews, Muslims, etc.) reject God as well?  Yes!

There are some today that believe that one can accept Christ but reject His word, but this too is impossible.  John records that “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).  Consequently, Jesus said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48).  Jesus made it clear that the word He spoke came from the Father, “And the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me” (John 14:24). To receive Christ one must receive His word and the only way one can receive His word is to obey it.

John writes, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11-13).  James tells us to “receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls” and that we do so by being “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:21, 22).  Peter says we are, “born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God” and that “you have purified your souls in obeying the truth” (1 Peter 1:22, 23).  Consequently, Peter told those believers on the day of Pentecost, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins . . . Then those who gladly received his word were baptized” (Acts 2:38, 41).  You cannot separate Christ from His word any more than you can separate Christ from God the Father.

                                                                                                -- Clark Dugger

The Proclaimer