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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him -
John 3:16 - XIII
This week we will continue our study of the words, whoever believes in Him. There are two groups of people for us to consider in John 3:16, those who believe, and those who do not believe. God loved the cosmos so much that He chose to redeem His fallen creation. But the verse is clear that His redeeming grace only extends to those who believe in Him. The ones who believe are the ones who are saved (present), and will be saved (future). The other group of people (the unbelievers) will pay for their own sin debt of breaking God's law.
So what does it mean to believe in Him? Romans 10:9 says, "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:13 says, "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." That certainly sounds easy enough!
If we have a church service with some stirring music, and get people emotional by telling a tear-jerking story about relatives who are in heaven, we could get a lot of decisions for Christ. But is that really what being born again from above means? When a person is truly born again from above, their heart, mind, and will are changed; they become a new creature in Christ. The old life of sin is left behind and they strive to be more like their Lord and Savior.
In other words, people who are truly saved, don't just say words or repeat a phrase, get baptized, join the church, or get involved in church activities. True faith always precedes regeneration; and true regeneration is always accompanied by fruit (good works) or sanctification, as evidence that we have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord. A person cannot have Jesus as Savior and not as Lord. We must take Him as He is, the Lord Jesus Christ who is Lord of our lives
In the past, we have had great evangelists who traveled the United States and Europe preaching the gospel. Sometimes there was a lot of peer-pressure, and emotionalism involved in the proclamation of the word. Only a small percentage of the people who went front to receive Christ, had their lives changed and lived for the glory of God. Some made a profession of faith because they wanted a fire escape from hell, they soon fell away and went back to their old life of sin.
This brings me to a question; do we use emotionalism in the heralding of the gospel? Do we purposely try to bring people to make decisions, or go front to an altar? I really do not see this method used in the Bible! Instead, I see the apostle Paul presenting the gospel in a clear and reasonable manner as he stood before Felix, Acts 24:25. The granting of faith, conviction of sin, and repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit. When men try to do the work of God by human means, we end up with a lot of decisions, and a church full of ungodly, unrepentant sinners.
No wonder our churches are dead; we need to ask God to revive our churches by drawing sinners to Himself. Contact the author at: (thoughtsonword@gmail.com) if you have any comments or questions.
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Lyndon Stimeling, of Richfield, has been writing about faith and family for many years. He has self-published three books, Common Thoughts on The Word in 2016 and Eye of a Needle in 2017 and Common Thoughts on The Word II in 2019. He has also had articles published in The Coming Home Journal and local newspapers and has written a children's book.