John 8:31-47
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."
"Abraham is our father," they answered.
"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does."
"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
Observations for living today:
A lot of people quote Jesus' statement: "the truth will set you free." Incorrectly quoted, the opposite intent of the author can be transmitted. In this specific case, the world not only misunderstood His intent, they have used the quote to enslave themselves, binding themselves with the chains of depraved ignorance and out of control sensual indulgence. By applying this gem of wisdom to comfort themselves, the light of life flickers until it finally goes out, starved for the breath of life God intended it to be. The only way to stop such tragic consequences from happening, the student of truth must revisit the Word and recognize the error of following those who listen to the ill-informed because it is easy or convenient.
Satan loves to see people misquote Jesus. To the Jews who believed Him, Jesus said something, which became the foundation of the most misused quote from the Bible in the world today: “If you know the truth, then you will be set free!” When an error is so prevalent, taking on a universal application as an acceptable assumption, one must be diligent to avoid falling in to the pit along with the rest of the stampeding herd of idiots.
Every sin is preceded by an opportunity to believe God or not. Those who act without thinking have trained themselves to do so, having decided already it was okay or having a foolish disregard for what is at stake. Consider comparing Esau’s action in giving up his birthright to the wickedness of mankind who did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God (Gen 25:32; Ro 1:28).
Knowing the truth is of no benefit unless it is applied—acted on. Who are Jesus’ brothers and sisters? Those who do the will of the Father (Mt 12:48-50; Mk 3:33-35; Lk 8:21). Only those who “do the will of my Father who is in heaven” will enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 7:15-27). Christ expects us to be like Him, to behave as He did, in harmony (complete agreement) with the will of the Father. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another”—wash the feet of your betrayer, pray for him, do what is good for him, and forgive him completely. John told us what love for Jesus would look in our life so we could know we are in Him—a very simple description of what Jesus did while He walked among us (1 Jn 2-3).
The experts in the law had an advantage (Ps 147:19-20)—they held the key to knowledge, which when not applied, became their downfall (Lk 11:46-52). They had access to the record of direct communications of God with man; but they did not believe those messages and therefore the generation standing before God’s Christ was/will be held responsible before God. If those who had the Law and the Prophets had an advantage in being reconciled to God, how much more does the Christian have, knowing God’s voice spoke to us through Christ—how much greater the shame and pain awaits in eternity for one who began to rebuild his life, if he then refuses to believe and act in accordance with the truth (Heb 1:1-3, 2:1-4, 6:1-12).
The example of Peter and Judas after they abandoned Christ is simply one of believing. Neither initially believed Jesus, even when told they were in danger, but Peter when recognizing the truth God spoke (Mt 26:75; Mk 14:72; Lk 22:62), understood his error, and started believing everything Jesus said. Jesus made it abundantly clear God loved mankind and would forgive all acts except calling the Holy Spirit evil (Mt 12:31; Mk 3:29). Peter believed God would forgive Him, but Judas when recognizing the extent of his error continued to not trust God’s character (Ps 147:11), gave up and killed himself (Mt 27:5).
Sin destroys you incrementally, increasing in severity, i.e., velocity (speed) and mass (weight) as it proceeds from pure innocence to total corruption (Jas 4:15). While we do not know why Judas did what he did, we do know what it cost him: 1) eternal life with God; 2) the right to sit on one of the thrones in heaven and judge the twelve tribes of Israel—a position of authority with no end (Mt 19:27-30); and 3) a conscience clean of wrong/sin before God.
It is up to the Christian to believe God and trust His love and power, putting on the clothing God gives him, so he can attend the wedding feast of the Lamb (Rv 22:10-17). Consider the parable of the wedding feast (Mt 22:1-14), where the Lord illustrates the custom of giving appropriate clothing to wear at the wedding feast, which does the invited guest no good unless he puts the clothes on. Compare John’s description of Christians at the “wedding of the Lamb” being given the “fine linen, bright and clean” to wear, which “stands for the righteous acts of the saints” (Rv 19:6-9). This clothing was provided by God both to the sealed of Israel and to the “great multitude that no one could count” (Rv 7).
Conducting cost/benefit analysis on the decision to believe God.
Jesus taught two parables (cost of building a tower/cost of going to war against a stronger king) to explain what it meant to be His disciple after saying “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:25-35). He was not fostering hate for family, rather He was saying count the cost of your decision to follow me; make it a deliberate well thought out choice with a purpose, for the “cowardly and unbelieving” will find themselves in bad company when He returns (Rv 21:6-8).
Two things must always be remembered when counting the cost of sin, i.e., cost benefit analysis when making a choice to not believe the words of God’s messenger. First, what you will give up and what you will gain. Second, your life is not temporary or temporal, it will last forever, from the creation of this world order and then forever under the new order when God implements the renewal of all things. Both the good and the bad were born, lived and most will die as part of this world order. But both the good and the bad will also transition from this life to one in the new order at the renewal of all things: the good—those who believe God will rise or transition to spend forever within God’s love; while the bad—those who would not believe God will rise or transition to the second death where they will be forever (with Satan and angels who followed him) separated from God’s presence, chained in an everlasting torment of truth lost (Rv 21:1-5).
Do the cost/benefit analysis today.
Every Christian has the same requirement—to love God and His Son:
< “anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing”;
< “if you love me you will obey what I command”;
< “whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one loves me”;
< “if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” (Jn 14:12, 15, 21, 23).
< “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own: they belong to the Father who sent me” (Jn 14:23-24).
You cannot overcome sin and unbelief if you love this world/life more than you love God:
< God will not tolerate unbelief (Ro 11:20)
< Following Christ Jesus is not for the faint of heart (Jn 12:23-26)
< If you do not accept and do what Jesus told us, you do not believe God; the word spoken to you will judge/condemn you because you did not believe (Jn 12:47-50)
< “Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did (1 Jn 2:6)
< “friendship with the world is hatred toward God and becomes an enemy of God (Jas 4:4-10)
< The world does not understand us or listen to us—we are illogical (Jn 17:25; 1 Jn 3:1-3).
< Therefore, wash your robe (body/life); put on the righteousness of God given so you can do His will (Acts 22:16; Jas 4:8; Rv 22:14).
< Count the cost now—ignorance on the Judgment Day will not be an excuse (Mt 7:13-27, 25:31-46).
What disbelief costs (not all inclusive) in this life—what you will not have today:
< Cannot come to God or know Him: “No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.” (Jn 14:6)
< No indwelling of the Holy Spirit: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. . . you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” (Jn 14:16-19)
< Cannot see God: “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (Jn 14:21)
< Not loved by God or know His presence: “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (Jn 14:23)
< Will not bear fruit God desires: “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. . . If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (Jn 15:5-8)
< Will not remain in God’s love: “you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (Jn 15:10)
< Will not be united, made one with God: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (Jn 17:20-23)
< Will not know or understand God or have His love or Christ within: “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (Jn 17:25-26)
Make no mistake, God rewards us for what we have done while in the body, but that does not give us any room to boast; for apart from God (His Son) we could do nothing pleasing in His sight. No one can give God something He needs, something He does not already have, nor return to Him more than he has received from God—no one can out give God! Bottom line, when we have done everything we could, we have only done what we should have and have no advantage before God He did not provide us with in the first place (Lk 17:1-10).
Reality in Christ:
The most powerful example of what it means to believe God is seen in Jesus. He had the power/ability to stop the betrayal of Judas and/or Israel by fighting with more than twelve legions of angels (Mt 26:52-54) or by flight, i.e., just walk away like He did every other time people wanted to kill Him (by stoning (Jn 8:59) or by throwing Him over a cliff (Lk 4:30). Jesus knew frustration, despair, isolation and even anger when dealing with the sin in this world. What made Him so strong during His struggles? He believed what God said and trusted Him—knew God’s love and power would be sufficient no matter what happened!
There are two fundamental tenants a Christian living in the Reality of Christ must belief:
First, He was made like us in every way (Heb 2:17); therefore, we have the same opportunity to show the same strength during our struggle. Peter, Judas, you and I face the same enemy of God, and God will not allow us to be tempted/tested beyond our ability to survive/bear—but will always provide a way out or through it, so we can endure (1 Cor 10:13).
Second, when we believe God, we will look and act just like Jesus (Jn 14:12; 17:20-23). Those who believe God lives within him, He indwells them and they behave like children whose Father truly loves and protects them; they bear a resemblance of their parentage—like father, like son; she has her father’s eyes; or the acorn never falls far from the tree.
Increasing the quality and quantity of belief in God is part of the reality in Christ.
The quality of your belief is governed by what you know is true—the conviction of your reality.
When measuring the quality of your belief there are some facts to be considered:
< God knows how hard the struggle to believe is—He was made like us in every way (Heb 2:10-18).
< He knows what causes us to lose to the devil—our spirit is willing, but our body is weak; fear enslaves us (Mt 26:41; Heb 2:14).
< You can know something is true, but not believe it enough to do it—know it is true but not worth doing now—how you live reveals who you believe, who you listen to or submit to as a slave: God or Satan (Ro 6:16-23).
< God told Cain what he needed to do, how to defeat the enemy—master/overcome sin (Gen 4:3-7).
< John taught us Cain belonged to the evil one, that is he followed the voice of the evil one instead of listening to God (1 Jn 3:12).
< James taught us how sin captivates our imagination with desire and leads us as a captive to a death sentence (Jas 1:12-25).
< Make no mistake, those who do not believe God will be found out and punished justly, permanently (Jude).
The quantity of your belief is how often you apply the reality in Christ to your daily circumstance. How do you increase the quantity of your belief? The business adage “You cannot manage/control what you cannot measure” bears some thought when conducting self-analysis with the intent of increasing either the quality or the quantity of your belief/trust in God. The key is the knowledge of God: “This is eternal life, that they should know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent” (Jn 17:3). Those who believe God and act accordingly are putting on the bright and clean fine linen robes made white in the blood of the Lamb (Rv 7:14).
What “truth” sets you free and what are you set free from? (Jn 8:23-51) The truth is what you learn from doing what Jesus said/taught—“if you hold to my teaching . . . then you will know the truth” and the knowledge you get from the experience “will set you free.” Free from what? “everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me . . . For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mt 11:30).
Take His yoke upon you, learn from it and know the truth—the reality in Christ of being freed from sin, forgiven, reconcile and rewarded by God! And may you never know the horror of hearing God say: "He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."
"Abraham is our father," they answered.
"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does."
"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
Observations for living today:
A lot of people quote Jesus' statement: "the truth will set you free." Incorrectly quoted, the opposite intent of the author can be transmitted. In this specific case, the world not only misunderstood His intent, they have used the quote to enslave themselves, binding themselves with the chains of depraved ignorance and out of control sensual indulgence. By applying this gem of wisdom to comfort themselves, the light of life flickers until it finally goes out, starved for the breath of life God intended it to be. The only way to stop such tragic consequences from happening, the student of truth must revisit the Word and recognize the error of following those who listen to the ill-informed because it is easy or convenient.
Satan loves to see people misquote Jesus. To the Jews who believed Him, Jesus said something, which became the foundation of the most misused quote from the Bible in the world today: “If you know the truth, then you will be set free!” When an error is so prevalent, taking on a universal application as an acceptable assumption, one must be diligent to avoid falling in to the pit along with the rest of the stampeding herd of idiots.
Every sin is preceded by an opportunity to believe God or not. Those who act without thinking have trained themselves to do so, having decided already it was okay or having a foolish disregard for what is at stake. Consider comparing Esau’s action in giving up his birthright to the wickedness of mankind who did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God (Gen 25:32; Ro 1:28).
Knowing the truth is of no benefit unless it is applied—acted on. Who are Jesus’ brothers and sisters? Those who do the will of the Father (Mt 12:48-50; Mk 3:33-35; Lk 8:21). Only those who “do the will of my Father who is in heaven” will enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 7:15-27). Christ expects us to be like Him, to behave as He did, in harmony (complete agreement) with the will of the Father. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another”—wash the feet of your betrayer, pray for him, do what is good for him, and forgive him completely. John told us what love for Jesus would look in our life so we could know we are in Him—a very simple description of what Jesus did while He walked among us (1 Jn 2-3).
The experts in the law had an advantage (Ps 147:19-20)—they held the key to knowledge, which when not applied, became their downfall (Lk 11:46-52). They had access to the record of direct communications of God with man; but they did not believe those messages and therefore the generation standing before God’s Christ was/will be held responsible before God. If those who had the Law and the Prophets had an advantage in being reconciled to God, how much more does the Christian have, knowing God’s voice spoke to us through Christ—how much greater the shame and pain awaits in eternity for one who began to rebuild his life, if he then refuses to believe and act in accordance with the truth (Heb 1:1-3, 2:1-4, 6:1-12).
The example of Peter and Judas after they abandoned Christ is simply one of believing. Neither initially believed Jesus, even when told they were in danger, but Peter when recognizing the truth God spoke (Mt 26:75; Mk 14:72; Lk 22:62), understood his error, and started believing everything Jesus said. Jesus made it abundantly clear God loved mankind and would forgive all acts except calling the Holy Spirit evil (Mt 12:31; Mk 3:29). Peter believed God would forgive Him, but Judas when recognizing the extent of his error continued to not trust God’s character (Ps 147:11), gave up and killed himself (Mt 27:5).
Sin destroys you incrementally, increasing in severity, i.e., velocity (speed) and mass (weight) as it proceeds from pure innocence to total corruption (Jas 4:15). While we do not know why Judas did what he did, we do know what it cost him: 1) eternal life with God; 2) the right to sit on one of the thrones in heaven and judge the twelve tribes of Israel—a position of authority with no end (Mt 19:27-30); and 3) a conscience clean of wrong/sin before God.
It is up to the Christian to believe God and trust His love and power, putting on the clothing God gives him, so he can attend the wedding feast of the Lamb (Rv 22:10-17). Consider the parable of the wedding feast (Mt 22:1-14), where the Lord illustrates the custom of giving appropriate clothing to wear at the wedding feast, which does the invited guest no good unless he puts the clothes on. Compare John’s description of Christians at the “wedding of the Lamb” being given the “fine linen, bright and clean” to wear, which “stands for the righteous acts of the saints” (Rv 19:6-9). This clothing was provided by God both to the sealed of Israel and to the “great multitude that no one could count” (Rv 7).
Conducting cost/benefit analysis on the decision to believe God.
Jesus taught two parables (cost of building a tower/cost of going to war against a stronger king) to explain what it meant to be His disciple after saying “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:25-35). He was not fostering hate for family, rather He was saying count the cost of your decision to follow me; make it a deliberate well thought out choice with a purpose, for the “cowardly and unbelieving” will find themselves in bad company when He returns (Rv 21:6-8).
Two things must always be remembered when counting the cost of sin, i.e., cost benefit analysis when making a choice to not believe the words of God’s messenger. First, what you will give up and what you will gain. Second, your life is not temporary or temporal, it will last forever, from the creation of this world order and then forever under the new order when God implements the renewal of all things. Both the good and the bad were born, lived and most will die as part of this world order. But both the good and the bad will also transition from this life to one in the new order at the renewal of all things: the good—those who believe God will rise or transition to spend forever within God’s love; while the bad—those who would not believe God will rise or transition to the second death where they will be forever (with Satan and angels who followed him) separated from God’s presence, chained in an everlasting torment of truth lost (Rv 21:1-5).
Do the cost/benefit analysis today.
Every Christian has the same requirement—to love God and His Son:
< “anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing”;
< “if you love me you will obey what I command”;
< “whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one loves me”;
< “if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” (Jn 14:12, 15, 21, 23).
< “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own: they belong to the Father who sent me” (Jn 14:23-24).
You cannot overcome sin and unbelief if you love this world/life more than you love God:
< God will not tolerate unbelief (Ro 11:20)
< Following Christ Jesus is not for the faint of heart (Jn 12:23-26)
< If you do not accept and do what Jesus told us, you do not believe God; the word spoken to you will judge/condemn you because you did not believe (Jn 12:47-50)
< “Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did (1 Jn 2:6)
< “friendship with the world is hatred toward God and becomes an enemy of God (Jas 4:4-10)
< The world does not understand us or listen to us—we are illogical (Jn 17:25; 1 Jn 3:1-3).
< Therefore, wash your robe (body/life); put on the righteousness of God given so you can do His will (Acts 22:16; Jas 4:8; Rv 22:14).
< Count the cost now—ignorance on the Judgment Day will not be an excuse (Mt 7:13-27, 25:31-46).
What disbelief costs (not all inclusive) in this life—what you will not have today:
< Cannot come to God or know Him: “No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.” (Jn 14:6)
< No indwelling of the Holy Spirit: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. . . you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” (Jn 14:16-19)
< Cannot see God: “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (Jn 14:21)
< Not loved by God or know His presence: “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (Jn 14:23)
< Will not bear fruit God desires: “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. . . If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (Jn 15:5-8)
< Will not remain in God’s love: “you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (Jn 15:10)
< Will not be united, made one with God: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (Jn 17:20-23)
< Will not know or understand God or have His love or Christ within: “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (Jn 17:25-26)
Make no mistake, God rewards us for what we have done while in the body, but that does not give us any room to boast; for apart from God (His Son) we could do nothing pleasing in His sight. No one can give God something He needs, something He does not already have, nor return to Him more than he has received from God—no one can out give God! Bottom line, when we have done everything we could, we have only done what we should have and have no advantage before God He did not provide us with in the first place (Lk 17:1-10).
Reality in Christ:
The most powerful example of what it means to believe God is seen in Jesus. He had the power/ability to stop the betrayal of Judas and/or Israel by fighting with more than twelve legions of angels (Mt 26:52-54) or by flight, i.e., just walk away like He did every other time people wanted to kill Him (by stoning (Jn 8:59) or by throwing Him over a cliff (Lk 4:30). Jesus knew frustration, despair, isolation and even anger when dealing with the sin in this world. What made Him so strong during His struggles? He believed what God said and trusted Him—knew God’s love and power would be sufficient no matter what happened!
There are two fundamental tenants a Christian living in the Reality of Christ must belief:
First, He was made like us in every way (Heb 2:17); therefore, we have the same opportunity to show the same strength during our struggle. Peter, Judas, you and I face the same enemy of God, and God will not allow us to be tempted/tested beyond our ability to survive/bear—but will always provide a way out or through it, so we can endure (1 Cor 10:13).
Second, when we believe God, we will look and act just like Jesus (Jn 14:12; 17:20-23). Those who believe God lives within him, He indwells them and they behave like children whose Father truly loves and protects them; they bear a resemblance of their parentage—like father, like son; she has her father’s eyes; or the acorn never falls far from the tree.
Increasing the quality and quantity of belief in God is part of the reality in Christ.
The quality of your belief is governed by what you know is true—the conviction of your reality.
When measuring the quality of your belief there are some facts to be considered:
< God knows how hard the struggle to believe is—He was made like us in every way (Heb 2:10-18).
< He knows what causes us to lose to the devil—our spirit is willing, but our body is weak; fear enslaves us (Mt 26:41; Heb 2:14).
< You can know something is true, but not believe it enough to do it—know it is true but not worth doing now—how you live reveals who you believe, who you listen to or submit to as a slave: God or Satan (Ro 6:16-23).
< God told Cain what he needed to do, how to defeat the enemy—master/overcome sin (Gen 4:3-7).
< John taught us Cain belonged to the evil one, that is he followed the voice of the evil one instead of listening to God (1 Jn 3:12).
< James taught us how sin captivates our imagination with desire and leads us as a captive to a death sentence (Jas 1:12-25).
< Make no mistake, those who do not believe God will be found out and punished justly, permanently (Jude).
The quantity of your belief is how often you apply the reality in Christ to your daily circumstance. How do you increase the quantity of your belief? The business adage “You cannot manage/control what you cannot measure” bears some thought when conducting self-analysis with the intent of increasing either the quality or the quantity of your belief/trust in God. The key is the knowledge of God: “This is eternal life, that they should know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent” (Jn 17:3). Those who believe God and act accordingly are putting on the bright and clean fine linen robes made white in the blood of the Lamb (Rv 7:14).
What “truth” sets you free and what are you set free from? (Jn 8:23-51) The truth is what you learn from doing what Jesus said/taught—“if you hold to my teaching . . . then you will know the truth” and the knowledge you get from the experience “will set you free.” Free from what? “everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”
Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me . . . For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mt 11:30).
Take His yoke upon you, learn from it and know the truth—the reality in Christ of being freed from sin, forgiven, reconcile and rewarded by God! And may you never know the horror of hearing God say: "He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."
RSS Feed