Gotta Believe
It seemed our adjustment back to the “swing of things” proved more challenging than anticipated. After somewhat of a restless night, I got up early for a breakfast meeting at CCU with the Centennial Institute Fellows. It was good to be with this group and to hear from Jeff Hunt who will take over for John Andrews in January as the Director the Centennial Institute.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. Those who do not believe have already been judged guilty, because they have not believed in God’s one and only Son. They are judged by this fact: The Light has come into the world, but they did not want light….” John 3:18,19 NCV
John chapter 3 contains some well known words of Jesus. It can easy to forget that they are all related to Jesus’ response to Nicodemus, a Pharisee…a respected ruler among the Pharisees who came to Jesus and recognized that God “was with Him.”Â
Jesus’ response seems abrupt as He makes the statement, “unless you are born again, you cannot be in God’s kingdom.” (John 3:3 NCV) Recognizing who Jesus is through what He does, is not enough to gain eternal life; believing in Him as God’s only Son and His Words is what makes the difference. As we move through Jesus discourse we observe that spiritual life comes from God’s Spirit. It is not a product of human intellect of understanding.
Jesus told Nicodemus, “…you will not believe me if I tell you about things of heaven.” (John 3:12 NCV) Paul would write, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV)
Spiritual life is not through human intellect and it is not through human goodness. “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh.” (Romans 8:3 NIV)
Spiritual life comes from God’s Spirit. That was Jesus’ simply explanation to Nicodemus about what it means to be “born again.” Just as the wind is mysterious and it can not be controlled and it comes and it goes at will, so God’s Spirit comes to bring life to people at times they don’t expect and in ways they don’t anticipate. But it all takes place when an individual places their faith in Jesus Christ as God’s Son and their Savior.
When we look to Jesus, we see God’s judgment on sin, just as the serpent in the wilderness reminded God’s people of God’s judgment on their sin. Our sin has been judged by God, but placed on Christ. That is why the prophet declared, “…LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6 NIV)
That which is important in scripture is repeated. Consider these verses, “…everyone who believes can have eternal life in him.” (John 3:15 NCV) “…whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NCV) “Those who do not believe have already been judged guilty, because they have not believed in God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:18 NCV) “Those who believe in the Son have eternal life, but those who do not obey the Son will never have life.” (John 3:36 NCV)
We see that God has done everything possible for people to believe. “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16,17 NCV)
Failure to believe, to come to the the light of Christ’s love and truth is to place the guilty verdict on your own life. We are familiar with the idea of being “judged guilty” by others. In our modern day “jurisprudence” that is a jury of our peers. But in the context of John 3 when a person is on trial and judged guilty, when they look into the jury box the faces of those on the jury pronouncing the verdict, all have the face of the guilty person. By their own actions and attitudes they have condemned themselves. Jesus said, “they have already been guilty, because they did not believe…they did not want light. They wanted darkness…” (John 3:18-20)
I am reminded of the old saying, “I would rather be safe than sorry.” When it comes to our spiritual life and response, “we have to be sorry, to be safe” or saved.