He who believes……..

He who believes……..

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.   For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.

Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God's only Son.”            John 3:16-18 GNT

I think that it is worth mentioning that some form of the word “believe” appears 4 times in these three verses.  In fact, some form of the word “believe” appears over 320 times in the bible. Even with limited understanding of the Scriptures, we can conclude that believing in God is an obvious necessity within the Christian faith.  

Hebrews 11:6
“Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe the He is . . .”

You cannot come to God when you do not believe that there is a God to come to.  So belief is a prerequisite for dealing with things that pertain to God.  More specifically, belief is a prerequisite for salvation.

Mark 16:16
“He who believes and is baptized will be saved . . .”

Acts 16:30-31
The jailer asked, “ ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”


2Chr 20:20
“Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established.”

John 2:23-24
“Now when He (Jesus) was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men.”

Did you notice that it said many believed in His name?

If we read the paraphrased version of this verse in the Living Bible we would read this: “Because of the miracles Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many people were convinced that he was indeed the Messiah.”

Notice what Jesus did in spite of their “‘belief.’” Verse 24 says that, “He did not commit Himself to them.” In other words, Jesus did not reckon them to be genuine disciples.

Matthew7:21-23 Jesus paints a picture for us of Judgment Day and those people that have been living a life of self-delusion. He says:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord’ have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

Here Jesus is referring to a people who had professed Him as Lord. The fact that they cried out, ‘Lord, Lord’ indicated that these people understood who Jesus was and also indicated that they thought that they had made a commitment to Him as Lord.

Faith produces a relationship with God which in turn produces right living in us.

Genuine faith produces righteousness in us.  Belief equals proper behavior or righteous living.  If we truly believe in Jesus and surrender to Him we can’t help but want to live right.

If we want to live in sin, then our relationship to Christ is not right.  Something is missing.  You may ask, “What is missing?”   A lack of repentance is missing and a lack of true surrender and submission to the will of God.

How sincere is your commitment to Jesus?  

What is your limit in following Jesus, are you willing to give Him all?   Don’t be so quick to answer.   There is a big price to pay. 

“The leaders saw how bold Peter and John were. They also realized that Peter and John were ordinary men with no training. This surprised the leaders. They realized that these men had been with Jesus.”   Acts 4:13 NIRV