God’s word for this evening is quite possibly one of the most well known bible verses in America today. It seems as though both churched and un-churched people alike are familiar with it and this evening we are going to take a closer look at it and hopefully deal with some of the mislead theologies that are sometimes attached to it. The verse is John 3:16-18 and it reads:
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of the Father.”
I think that it is worth mentioning that some form of the word “believe” appears 4 times in the three verses that I read to you . 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. It’s kind of a no-brainer.
Hebrews 11:6
“Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe the He is . . .”
And that makes perfect sense doesn’t it? You cannot come to God when you don’t believe that there is a God to come to. That’s common sense. 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 Phillipian jailer asks, “ ‘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.”
Now before we go any further, I want to clarify a couple things so that all of us can be on the same page. This evening, we are going to talk a little bit about this word, “belief, or believe.” But in the context of talking about it I am going to talk about two different types of belief. There are over a dozen Hebrew and Greek words that are translated into the English word for ‘believe’ in the bible but they all fall under one of two definitions.
The first type of belief or believing that I want to talk about his evening is the type that most resembles Webster’s dictionary definition for the word ‘belief’ which is defined as, “assent of the mind, or in the opinion of.”
Now I want to immediately point out to you that this definition for the word “believe” is not the definition for the word “believe” in John 3:16.
If that were the case, then it could be reworded as, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever is of the opinion that Jesus is in fact God’s Son, will not perish but have everlasting life.”
Now if we really think about this and compare it to other scriptures, we would come to the conclusion that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to think that the only requirement for salvation is an intellectual opinion that Jesus was the Son of God. So it is obvious to us that the word ‘believe’ in this verse means something entirely different. But before we get into what it does mean, I want to look a little bit closer at the type of belief that Webster describes as, “an assent of the mind or, of the opinion of.”
We read this in 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.”
The people in this passage are those that have adopted the Webster’s dictionary version of the word ‘believe.’ They have intellectually come to hold the opinion that, because of the miraculous things that He did, Jesus had been sent from God.
Notice what Jesus did in spite of their “‘belief.’” Verse 24 says that, “He did not commit Himself to them.” In other words, Christ didn’t reckon them to be genuine disciples.
John Calvin further comments on these “believers” when he writes:
“They assent to the Gospel, not that they may devote themselves in obedience to Christ, . . . but because they do not venture to reject entirely the truth which they have known, and especially when they can find no reason for opposing it.”
This is a passage that we should all look closely at this evening and stand in a place of self-examination as we consider what it is saying. The scriptures are clear that there are people who are professing Christian’s that are living a lie and are in fact not true disciples of Jesus.
You might be saying to yourself, wow, Will that’s quite a big claim you are making. Well, yes it is big, and it is bold; but I am not the one making it. Consider with me a passage in the 7th chapter of Matthew starting at the 21st verse. Jesus is 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.
In commenting on this passage, John McArthur Jr. says:
“To address Jesus as Lord, Lord was to add a spirit of intense zeal to demonstrate strength of devotion and dedication.”
These people had talked the talk. They have made a verbal profession of faith. They had declared their belief of Jesus as Lord of their lives. Jesus tells them that they have deceived themselves. Jesus tells them that lip service is not what he has called for.
Alabama sits on the belt buckle of what we call the Bible belt. Far too many of us can talk the religious talk but, the real question is, “Are we walking the walk?”
That’s what Jesus is calling us to. He tells these people that only those who do the will of God are those that will enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now let me clarify something before we go any further. When we hear that doing the will of God is necessary for entrance into the kingdom of heaven, we sometimes think incorrectly about what it means to do the will of God.
LIST ILLUSTRATION
We come up with a list of things that we are supposed to do in order to be in the will of God. But when we look at what God’s will as something that he is calling us to do, our focus is on the wrong thing.
I want to challenge you this evening to shift your understanding of God’s will from something that God is calling you to do, to someone that God is calling you be.
Romans 8:29 says that those that are, “called according to God’s purpose . . . are predestined to be conformed into the image of His Son.”
And what’s God’s purpose? The salvation of His children through faith in Jesus Christ.
And if in fact you are Gods child, Romans 8:29 say that you are, “predestined to be conformed into the image of God’s Son.”
Predestined . . . That means that your destiny was set in place before you ever were. And that destiny was for you to be conformed into the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
The will of God is that you are conformed into the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ and then the life of Christ in you will naturally do the things of God.
So we have said that Jesus is not interested in our lip service but that he is interested in those that do the will of God. And I pointed out that the focus on what the will of God is, is not in what he is calling is do, but what He is calling us to be. This truth is evident in verse 22. Jesus says, “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?” These are people that have pointed to their religiosity. They are saying:
- But God, don’t you remember that I was in church every Sunday.
- And remember that time when I served on the deacon staff
- And don’t forget all those times when I helped out at Vacation Bible School and taught Sunday school.
These are people that point to reasons as to why they think that they should be admitted into heaven. But listen to how Jesus responds to them. He says to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness.” He is saying, “I never had a relationship with you.” That is what the foundation of true Christianity is built upon: A relationship with Jesus Christ.
So, as my History professor would say, “Here’s the $64,000 question.”
“Do you have relationship with Jesus?”
I’m not asking you if you believe in Him.
I’m not asking you if have ever said the “sinners prayer.”
I’m not asking you if you are a faithful church attendee
I’m not asking if you profess to have a relationship with Him.
I am asking if you do have a relationship with Him.
If you will recall, I opened this evenings message with a reading of John 3:16 and said that I was going to talk about the word ‘belief.’ And furthermore I said that I was going to talk about two different types of belief. Now I have already talked about the type of belief that Webster has defined as, “an assent of the mind, or to hold the opinion of.”
My philosophy professor at AUM has said that belief without knowledge of the truth a the matter is an empty belief. Jesus is not calling for an empty belief.
The word Greek word for “believe” in John 3:16 means, “to fully commit oneself to.”
Jesus is looking for people that will fully commit themselves to Him. But here’s the dilemma: None of us have the capacity to do this.
Romans 3:10-12 says:
“There is none righteous, no, not even one;
There is no one who understands;
There is no one who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have all together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not even one.”
**READ SECTION OUT OF “HOLINESS OF GOD” BY R.C. SPROUL**
Every last one of us lacks the ability to do the things that God is calling us to do and be the person that God is calling us to be. The only one who lived up to God’s standard and fully committed His life to God was Jesus Christ.
As we come to know God personally through a relationship with Jesus Christ, grace of God will effectively work in us to:
- Conform our desires into the desires of Christ
- Transform our minds into the mind of Christ
- And make us committed followers of Jesus Christ
God is not interested in our religiosity
He is not making a list and checking it twice.
He has no interest in reading our essays of why we think we are good people.
When we stand before God on the Day of Judgment, He is not going to ask us if we ever came to a point in our life where we intellectually asserted ourselves and thereby came to the conclusion that Jesus was in fact God’s Son.
Ultimately, God has only thing that he has called to be in place when you stand before Him in the Judgment, and that is whether you knew Him; whether you have a relationship with Him.
So I ask you one final time, “Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Maybe your saying to yourself, “What exactly does it mean to have a relationship with God?” Well let me leave you with this and I will close. As some of you know, I am a communications major in college and one of the things that they pound into our heads at school is that one of the most important factors within a relationship is communication. If you are not communicating, there is no relationship. And furthermore, communication is a two way street. Communication is not just talking, it’s also listening.
It’s like the cliché, “It takes two to tango.” I can stand here and talk to this chair until Jesus comes back but unless the chair talks back to me there is no relationship.
God has made a way through faith in Jesus Christ for us to communicate with Him. We can stand boldly before God in the righteousness that Jesus Christ has provided for those that believe and have confidence that he hears us. Also we have the Word of God in which God speaks directly to us. If there is no communication happening, there is no relationship taking place.
I want to close by challenging you to do something that I have to constantly do in my life. And that is to find a quiet place to go and stand in a place of self-examination and ask yourself two questions:
1. Do I have a relationship with God?
2. If to believe in God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, according to John 3:16 is to fully commit yourself to, then ‘Do I believe?’”
Many times I come to the conclusion that my relationship with God is not nearly as good as I would like to think that it was, and that I am not nearly committed as I know that I am being called to be.
For, as Ron says, even on our best day, we are far greater sinners than we understand, but God’s grace is infinitely greater than we could possible imagine,
Quote John 3:16
