Don Stewart :: The Bible’s Life-Changing Message

The Bible’s Life-Changing Message

Ten Reasons to Trust the Bible – Reason 10

Unlike other religions and other religious books, the faith that the Bible calls for is backed up by facts; facts that can be put to the test. Indeed, the Bible is the only sacred book in the world which provides sufficient evidence to believe its claims. This is the verdict we come to after examining the evidence. No other religion has anything like what we find in the Bible.

We now arrive at the last of the ten reasons to trust the Bible. This particular reason personalizes the evidence we have looked at. If the Bible is indeed the Word of God, it should demonstrate an ability to transform the lives of people who trust its promises. We will discover that the message of Scripture does indeed change lives for the better. We can make a number of observations:

1. The Message of Scripture Answers Our Deepest Questions

The Bible claims that its message can fill the spiritual void that is within all of us. Jesus gave the following invitation to those who are in need of spiritual answers:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

Jesus promised rest for weary souls. Once we put our trust in Him, our spiritual journey, our search for truth, will be over. Indeed, we will find that rest we have been looking for.

Therefore, Scripture invites us to believe and see for ourselves. The psalmist wrote:

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (Psalm 34:8)

The Lord asks us to personally experience His love and forgiveness. This invitation is still being given to all those who desire to know “the truth.” We are to come to Him by faith and put His claims to the test.

2. We Can Become a New Creation in Christ

When a person believes in Jesus as their Savior, their outlook on life takes on a new perspective—they become a “new creation.” Paul wrote:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Our spiritual life begins the moment we trust Christ. The Bible also speaks about this as being “born again” or “born from above.” Jesus said:

Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again. (John 3:3)

According to Jesus, this spiritual rebirth is absolutely necessary. We must be “born again.”

3. Belief in Christ Answers the Three Basic Questions about Life

Life takes on an entirely new meaning when a person becomes a Christian. Indeed, if the Christian faith is true, then it gives humanity the answers to the three basic questions about life, “Who am I? Why am I alive? What will happen to me when I die?”

We Now Have an Identity: We Know Who We Are

Jesus Christ solves our identity problem. We no longer need to speculate about who we are. Indeed, we now understand that we have been created in the image of an all-powerful, personal God; we are not some evolutionary accident. We read in the Book of Genesis about the creation of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve:

So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

God’s image means that we have certain things in common with Him. They include the ability to think, love and communicate. We have the chance to know the one true God because He has given us these abilities. We now know that human beings are special and that we are special to God. This gives us an explanation as to exactly who we are.

We Now Have a Purpose: We Know Why We Are Here

Along with identity comes a genuine purpose for living. Instead of living life without any real purpose, we can now know the reason we have been created. We have been created to love God and to be in His presence forever. Jesus Christ has provided the answer to what our purpose is here upon the earth. We not only know who we are, we know why we are here.

Therefore, as His disciples, we should tell others the good news about Jesus. In fact, Jesus commanded us to do this. He said the following:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

Jesus Christ gives us a purpose for living. This is the message which we are to tell to the world.

There Is a Destiny That Awaits Us: We Know Where We Are Going

Finally, Jesus provides us with an answer about our future; our destiny. We now understand that this life is not all there is. We are beings made for eternity, and belief in Jesus Christ allows us to spend eternity in the presence of God.

Thus, the grave has no ultimate terror for us because we know there is a better existence beyond this life. Belief in Jesus gives us a destiny to which we can look forward. Jesus said:

Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:19)

After this life is over, those who have believed in Jesus will live again.

In the letter of First John, John also wrote about life after death:

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

We shall be given new bodies. They will be like the body of the resurrected Christ. Among other things, this means that our new bodies will never become sick, never wear out, they will never grow old. There is genuine hope in Jesus Christ.

As we can see, being a Christian makes a big difference. We now have an identity, a purpose and a destiny.

4. There Are Consequences to Rejecting Jesus Christ

There is something else that must be mentioned. Many have the impression that Jesus only talked about the love of God and never talked about judgment. In no uncertain terms, however, His message included warnings of punishment for those who rejected His claims. Those who reject Christ will spend eternity separated from God.

The toughest words of judgment that are recorded in the Bible actually come from the lips of Jesus. He had this to say to the hypocritical religious rulers:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. (Matthew 23:13)

Notice that Jesus said that these people were not going to go to heaven.

Jesus also said these harsh words to the phony religious leaders.

You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? (Matthew 23:33)

Again we find that heaven is limited to the believers; not everyone will end up in God’s presence.

Who Will Go to Hell?

Jesus said that those who do not put their faith in Him will suffer the eternal consequences. We read the following:

But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” (John 8:23-24)

Those who do not believe in Him will die in their sinful state. In other words, they will have no forgiveness from God and thus they will not be allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven.

From these statements we see that Jesus talked about God’s punishment for those who do not accept Him as Savior. He said there is a place of judgment where unbelievers will be eternally separated from God. This is in contrast to those who do believe. They will be forever in God’s presence and enjoy God’s unending blessings. Therefore, every human being who has ever lived will spend eternity in one of two destinations: heaven or hell.

5. Has He Changed Your Life?

The good news is that the Lord has provided a way in which people can escape the judgment of hell. In addition, there is an exciting life that He offers believers right now. In fact, in the last two thousand years, millions of people have been transformed by the life-changing message of Scripture and encounter with the person of Jesus Christ the Savior.

Secular psychiatrist J.T. Fisher explains it this way:

If you were to take the sum total of all authoritative articles ever written by the most qualified of psychologists and psychiatrists on the subject of mental hygiene—if you were to combine them and refine them and cleave out all the excess verbiage…and if you were to have these unadulterated bits of pure scientific knowledge concisely expressed by the most capable of living poets, you would have an awkward and incomplete summation of the Sermon on the Mount. And it would suffer immeasurably through comparison. For nearly two thousand years the Christian world has been holding in its hands the complete answer to its restless and fruitless yearnings. Here…rests the blueprint for successful human life with optimism, mental health, and contentment. (J. T. Fisher and L. S. Hawley, A Few Buttons Missing. Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1951, p. 273)

The wonderful life-changing message of the Bible is an established fact. The question is, “Has it changed your life?”

Summary – Reason 10
The Bible’s Life-Changing Message

God has given us sufficient evidence to trust the Bible as well as to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The facts support the various claims which Scripture makes. However, there is one more thing which must be emphasized. Not only is the Christian faith true, it works! The message of Jesus Christ is still changes lives.

While the fact of Christian conversion does not by itself make Christianity true when put together with the other objective evidence, it is a powerful argument for the truthfulness of the Christian faith. Indeed, millions of people can testify to the fact that their lives have been changed through a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

The wonderful thing is that the changed lives of believers is based upon truth; it is based upon the fact that God exists and that He has revealed Himself to humanity through Jesus Christ.