First Things First

Dearly beloved of God, the first thing we must know concerning spiritual matters is what is available to us from God. There is only one source we can trust if we are to find this information, the Word of God.

How could we possibly know these things if God chose not to reveal them to us? The Word of God reveals the Will of God. God declares in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge….”

He did not say that unbelievers were destroyed for a lack of knowledge; He says that His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. The first thing we must know is what God made available to us so that we are not destroyed for lacking this understanding.

For example, how does one get saved? Is it by joining a church, or by confessing a creed, or by doing good works, or by getting water baptized, or by taking communion, or confessing our sins, by living a good life, or…? Different people say different things, but what does God reveal to us in His Word concerning salvation?

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9

Read what it says; this is God speaking to us by the revelation of His Word. We are to do two things: confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, and you will be saved. God said what He meant, and He meant what He said. His Word reveals His Will.

The gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ, “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written “The just shall live by believing.” [see Romans 1:1-4 and 16 and 17]

God says that the gospel concerning Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation. What people say may vary from what God says. I would listen to what God says, not people. Who made salvation available; people or God?

“For by grace are you saved through faith [believing]; and that [salvation] is not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2: 8, 9

What is available? Salvation is available and we receive it by believing the information God reveals to us (as we learned in Romans, by confessing Jesus as Lord and believing God raised him from the dead). That salvation is not from any works we do, it is the gift of God and He saves us by His grace, His Divine favor. If we could have saved ourselves we would not have needed a Savior.

The moment you are saved, you receive the spirit of sonship; you are born of God’s spirit and you are now His child [see Romans 8:14-18]. He seals you with the promised holy spirit for the inheritance of eternal life [see Ephesians 1:13, 14].

Salvation is one of the things God made available to us in Christ Jesus. The moment we confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, we are saved, born again of God’s spirit, and sealed for eternal life. [see Romans 8:9-11].

We are conformed to the image of His Son so that Jesus Christ might be the first born among many brethren.

Furthermore, those whom God called, He justified, and whom He justified, He glorified [see Romans 29, 30]! God freely gives us all things with Christ [8:32], dearly beloved.

How would you know these things if God had not revealed this information in His Word? You wouldn’t. How do we know what to believe?

“So then faith [Greek: pistis: believing] comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17

Once we know the Word of God we know what is available from God. You can’t believe what you don’t know. God had His Will written down so that we can read it and be sure of what we believe.

Once we know what God made available, how do we receive the things of God? We receive them by believing, which is simply to have trust and confidence in the information God reveals to us in His Word. God instructs us that we are to walk by believing, believing what He says. [See II Corinthians 5:7]

Salvation is more than eternal life; it is to be born again of God’s spirit, to have the spirit of sonship. It provides us with an entrance into the kingdom of God, access to God by His spirit, spiritual power and the authority to use it, sonship rights, and privileges as sons of God. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm in Christ, He has given us an inheritance, the hope of receiving the glory of God, deliverance from the wrath of God, and much more.

Once we are saved, God enabled us to walk with Him - the One True and Living God as His dearly beloved sons, as highly favored in Christ, as more than conquerors, as victors, as heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, but first things first; first, hear what God says in His Word, and then walk with Him by believing what He says. Take God at His Word.

Dearly beloved, don’t take my word for it, take God’s Word for it. His Word reveals the good pleasure of His Will. If we believe Him at His Word we can live as confident children of God and walk with the power of God in our lives.

God is able and willing to perform His Word. God is not the problem; what He has promised He is able to perform, dearly beloved of God. What He says is available IS available. Believe Him at His Word.