Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15
But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
John 20:31
The Holy Scriptures were written so that we could believe on the Son of the living God. Eternal life is given to those who believe on the Name of Jesus.
What does it mean to believe on the Name of Jesus? It means to believe in Who He is and what He did. It means to believe on the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and what it does for us.
To understand this, we have to go back to the very beginning as we know it. Adam (Genesis 2 & 3), the first man disobeyed God. Disobedience is sin, and that one act of disobedience caused sin to come into a world that had no sin. It changed Adam’s godly nature to a sinful nature. Every person born after Adam has that same sinful nature. And sin produces death. The reason why people die is sin.
It almost seems futile. We’re born into sin. It’s not our fault. We have no control over it. It’s inherent. Since sin produces death, we’re going to die. We live for a short time, and then we die. It’s inevitable. If that’s not bad enough, we find that death is not the end.
Throughout the Bible you see a contrast between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the evil one, who is the devil. The kingdom of God has life and blessing and good. The kingdom of the devil has death and cursing and evil. The effect of each is also differentiated. There’s the resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation (John 5:29). There’s everlasting life and everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46). There’s comfort and torment (Luke 16:25). Revelations 20 and 21 tell us for those in the kingdom of the devil is the second death, being cast into the lake of fire where there’s everlasting torment.
It appears as if there’s no hope. But God provided a solution out of our dilemma. He sent Jesus. Jesus came to give us life eternal and to save us from the effects of sin.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John 3:16-17
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:21
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
1 Peter 3:18
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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:9-10