Believing in Jesus Christ

[Sue J Love]

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 ESV)

For as long as I can remember, and I am 75 years old, John 3:16 has been taught as “the gospel message,” without regard for what other Scriptures teach, and without regard for the meanings of the individual words which give us a much broader story than what most people use John 3:16 for.

So, what is the lesson being taught here? First of all, the kind of love that God had/has for the people of the world is divine love which prefers all that is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to God, which is what he desires for our lives. And this is why he sent his only begotten Son, who is God, to the earth to die on that cross. Why? So that we, by God-persuaded faith in him, might die with him to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands, in the power of God, by his Spirit.

For that is the essence of the gospel message that Jesus taught and that his New Testament apostles taught, that faith, which comes from God, results in us being crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So sin is no longer to have mastery over our lives, to where we obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

For we learn in Ephesians 2:8-10 that faith, which comes from God, and which is persuaded of God, and which is gifted to us by God, is not of our own doing, not of the will nor of the flesh of mankind, and not a result of our own fleshly works. So we don’t get to decide what that faith looks like. God does. His word does. And his word teaches us that faith, which is of God, results in us dying with him to sin and us now walking in obedience to his commands, by his spirit, as we surrender our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, belief in Jesus Christ is not something that we create in our own minds, according to our own thinking. In John 10:27-28 Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” So, belief in Jesus Christ involves us listening (adhering) to our Lord and then following him in obedience. For if we claim that we know God, but we do not make it our practice to obey him, then we are liars (see 1 John 2:3-6).

And Jesus said that if anyone wants to come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands, then we have life in him (see Luke 9:23-26). For our salvation is something that is progressive, and we are to be “believing” in Jesus, which is revealed as genuine by our death to sin and our obedience to his commands.

And he also said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God the Father who is in heaven. And many will stand before the Lord on the day of judgment proclaiming him as “Lord” and telling of what they did in his name, but he will say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” Why? Because they “did it their way” and not God’s way, and they did not obey him and his commands but they continued in their sin (see Matthew 7:21-23).

So, if we want to have salvation from sin and the hope of eternal life with God when we die, or when Jesus takes his faithful ones to be with him for eternity, we need to know what the Scriptures teach about what faith is and what it should look like in our lives if our faith is genuine and not man-created. For it is not an intellectual assent to who Jesus is and to what he did for us, nor is it an emotional decision we make to pray a prayer after someone else. It is dying to sin daily and walking in obedience to God.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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Believing in Jesus Christ
An Original Work / February 13, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love