John 3:16 – (Jesus) – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
This is the best known and most repeated verse in the entire Bible. Why is that? Because this small verse in the gospel of John is a summary of the “good news” that there is a God in heaven who made us. Not only that; God also loves us because he sent Jesus Christ from heaven to die on the cross for our sins. God also says we can go to heaven because of the sacrificial death of Jesus on our behalf. This verse is really good news for all men so of course every Christian latches onto it as proof they are going to heaven and not hell. That is a great relief you say! But wait just a minute. Christians who think this would be wrong in their superficial thinking. If you’ll notice God didn’t say whoever believes in Jesus “shall” not perish. God said whoever believes in Jesus “should” not perish. The entire meaning of the verse turns on the word “should.” The word “shall” means something ought to be done. The word “should” means something could easily happen. In this verse God is saying someone who believes in him could easily be saved unto eternal life in heaven by a profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. There’s no guarantees with the word “should.” Salvation is still up in the air until a person chooses to serve God and not Satan. This verse sounds good and it gets people all excited but in the end it means nothing without the next step being completed to push the one who believes from “he should be saved” to “he was saved.” That next step is the believer giving his life to Jesus Christ by a declaration of faith in prayer before the throne of God the Father.
Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek (Gentile).
First of all, what does the word believe mean? The dictionary lists four definitions for the word believe: 1) accept that something is true or someone is telling the truth; 2) feel certain that someone or something exists; 3) think that something is the case; 4) have religious faith. From God’s perspective a believer is someone who believes in God and his son Jesus; someone who meets all four of these definitions. A believer from the Christian perspective is someone who knows Jesus Christ is the son of God who came down from heaven two thousands years ago to live a human life and who died on the cross in our place; so that the sins of man could be forgiven by a loving and merciful God. A believer is someone who believes Jesus was crucified, was buried and then rose from the dead on the third day, before ascending back to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father. A believer is someone who accepts the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of their sins and who acknowledges Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. A believer is someone who professes this gospel message of Christ before the throne of grace in prayer, with thanksgiving, and gratitude for what God has done for them through Christ Jesus.
Matthew 10:28 – (Jesus) – And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Many Christians use the term “believer” too loosely, me included, because the term means different things to different groups of people. To all those Christians who are saved the word “believer” means the same thing. To those who aren’t saved the word believer can mean a lot of different things. Fake religions also refer to their followers as believers and in their case they’re worshipping Satan and they don’t even realize it . Then there are those who call themselves Christians but they aren’t really saved. They are just deceiving themselves. The Christian moniker means nothing to them. They may even think they’re saved but they’re not because they don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. Many Catholics are in this category. Many Catholics are saved but there are also many who are not.
Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
If you’re a Catholic and you treat Jesus Christ as a cookie you only pull out at mass then you’re not saved. If you’re relying on membership in the Catholic church and following church sacraments to save you you’re wrong. If you think the Pope and his priests can forgive your sins and save you to heaven then you’re sadly mistaken. If you’re praying to Mary, the mother of Jesus, or any other human being for that matter, then your prayers aren’t being heard. Human beings whether they’re in heaven or on earth can’t hear our prayers or do anything about our prayers if they could hear them because they’re not God. Only God is omnipresent. Our God is also a jealous God and receiving and answering our prayers is God’s domain alone because it glorifies God to receive and answer prayers. In the Bible God also says he will not let another steal his glory so woe unto those who attempt it. You have been warned. Only God can forgive our sins and save us unto eternal life in heaven and not other sinful human beings. If you’re not taking your sins directly to God for forgiveness then your sins are piling up on you and you’ll have to answer for them on the last day. The Pope can’t sent anyone to hell. Only God can save you and only God can send you to hell for all eternity. It’s in the Bible! Satan has owned the Catholic church since 600 AD and probably well before then. If you’re a believer in the Catholic church God has a special message for you in Revelation 18:4-5. Read it below:
Revelation 18:4-5 – Come out of her (the Catholuc church), my people, lest you receive her plagues. For her sins have reached heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
There is another kind of person in this world who believes that God exists, and he may even believe in Jesus too, per the believer definition one and two. Many nonbelievers “believe” that God and Jesus are real. In fact, they know they are. They just don’t want to worship them. They enjoy sinning too much to give it up. They’d rather worship Satan or believe in some other fake religion and false god of their own volition. They are fools according to God. Just knowing God and Jesus Christ exist doesn’t help you; it doesn’t get you to heaven. Knowledge of God only gets you halfway. Satan and his demons also know God and Jesus are real but just believing in them doesn’t get them to heaven either. This kind of believer doesn’t meet number three and four of the definition of believe because they don’t think Jesus died for their sins and/or they don’t acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Just knowing about God and Jesus doesn’t make your salvation a fait accompli which is why God says in John 3:16 believers “should not” perish; if they had any common sense. Calling yourself a Christian because you were raised in a Christian home and you occasionally went to church doesn’t make you a Christian. At least half of the Christians you see in church every Sunday aren’t saved. Many Christians go to church to feel good about themselves and to impress others. I can call myself a Martian all day long but that doesn’t make me one unless I come from Mars. Look, you’re a Christian if you’ve given your life to Jesus. Period! The word Christian means, “Christ’s men.” Are you one? Why do you think so? Have you prayed the sinner’s prayer? Or are you just deceiving yourself like the scripture says in James 1:22?
James 1:22 – But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
The key thing after you know God and Jesus are real is to “accept” Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour. That profession of faith before the throne of grace is what gets you saved unto eternal life in heaven. It’s called the sinner’s prayer. Every nonbeliever in hell is there because they failed to take this final step when they had the chance, even after many of them knew about Jesus. Our life on earth is our “testing time” to see if we’ll choose to serve God or Satan. A believer chooses God by accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Not making a choice is the same as choosing Satan. Choose God and you go to heaven. Choose Satan and you go to hell. Let’s evaluate our choices: If I choose door number one I’ve chosen to serve God so I get to go to heaven when I die where I’ll be in the presence of Jesus forever as an adopted son of the Most High God. I’ll become a prince of heaven who’ll receive honor, glory, and riches from my father’s hand. I’ll have a glorified body that’ll never grow old or get sick. I’ll live a joyful eternal existence where I’ll experience many wonders beyond my wildest imagination. Pretty good stuff!
Romans 10:9 – That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Now let’s take a peek and see what’s behind door number two. If you die unsaved you’ve chosen to serve Satan. Upon your death you’ll immediately wind up in hell within the earth where you’ll receive your reward. You’ll get an eternal, putrid, condemned body; filled with maggots and rotting flesh. Does that sound enticing to you? Read Mark 9, 44, 46, 48 for confirmation from God. Imagine the zombies in the “Walking Dead” movies and you get my drift. In hell the nonbeliever will be in great pain and agony 24/7. An eternal spirit can’t feel pain but a resurrected body can. On the last day, after the 1000 year millennial reign of Jesus Christ on the earth, all of the condemned souls in hell will be resurrected bodily to stand in judgment before Jesus Christ at the Great White Throne judgment. If you find yourself there you’re already a goner. Jesus Christ will judge every nonbeliever and he’ll condemn them to the lake of fire and brimstone for all eternity. An angel of God will then pick up every lost soul and hurl them into the lake of fire. Picture yourself being thrown like a javelin. Imagine seeing yourself being hurled through the air heading toward the surface of lake of fire and brimstone. Anticipate the splashdown. In your mind’s eye see yourself hitting the surface and briefly being submerged before popping back to the surface.
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now contemplate bobbing up and down like a cork in the lake of fire and brimstone while screaming your head off in unimaginable pain, agony, fury and horror with no one to hear you and no way of escape. It’s not God’s fault; it’s yours. Imagine you are cursing God for all eternity even though you know you in your heart you had your chance and you blew it. That will eat at you forever. The thing is this: if you die unsaved this scenario is absolutely going to happen to you because God says so and God cannot lie. Please remember that a trillion billion years is only one day in eternity. Who in their right mind would want what I just described? You’d have to be out of your mind! No thank you! I think I’ll stick with door number one. How about you? What choice will you make and when will you make it? Don’t wait too long. Many a nonbeliever in hell had every intention of serving God one day but they died unexpectedly and they never got the chance. We’re all just a heartbeat away from our eternal destiny. If I was you I wouldn’t wait another minute. Get on your knees right now and secure your place in heaven. Say the “sinner’s prayer” to God and mean what you say. God will save you on the spot because he said he would and God cannot lie.
Romans 5:1-2 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
God’s salvation plan for man is a two step process. God did the harder first step and man does the easier second step. God’s step was Jesus Christ, the son of God, coming down from heaven as the sinless lamb of God to die a sacrificial death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. When Jesus rose from the dead on the third day his resurrection of life signified the beginning of the blood covenant of Christ by God’s acceptance that man’s sin debt had been paid in full by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. After that, all men have to do to be saved unto eternal life in heaven is to acknowledge God, admit they’re a sinner, repent of that sin, and ask for God to forgive their sins while at the same time accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior and the Lord of their life. John 3:16 was God announcing to the world that he had completed his half of the salvation bargain and calling on all men to fulfill their half of the bargain by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If you’re a true believer who has accepted God’s grace through his invitation you will live in heaven forever. Praise God for his love, mercy, and grace toward all men who believe. Jesus Christ is God!
John 14:6 – (Jesus) – I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Oddly enough, I don’t have a Bible affirmation for John 3:16. Doing this blog made me realize that I should have one. John 3:16 is a personal invitation from God to join him in heaven. God did his half of the salvation equation by sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Through faith, God wants us to accept his son Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to complete our half of the salvation equation. This will assure our place in heaven is secure and we know we’ll be in the presence of Jesus Christ forever. I’m an old man now. I’ve been saved since the age of twelve when I gave my profession of faith in Jesus Christ before the congregation of the First Baptist Church in my hometown in Oklahoma. I was baptized as a demonstration of my faith. That doesn’t stop me from continuing to reaffirm my salvation unto heaven every chance I get because it gives me great joy. My Bible affirmation of John 3:16 is my weekly response to God, my RSVP, that I’ve accepted God’s offer of salvation unto eternal life in heaven. God is glorified when I worship him and I give him thanks for his love, mercy and grace toward a sinner like me. Praise God! Let God be glorified on earth as he is in heaven. Let God be magnified forever. Here is my affirmation of John 3:16 to God:
MY AFFIRMATION:
Thank you Lord for dying on the cross for my sins so I wouldn’t have to suffer eternal death. You did your part of your salvation plan for my life in order to save me. By a prayer of faith and proclamation before the throne of God I have also completed my half of your salvation plan for my life by accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I have repented of my sins against God and now I seek only to obey all of God’s commandments to the best of my ability going forward. I’m indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. I will witness for Christ with diligence all the days of my life because it’s God’s number one commandment to believers. I am a son of the Most High God and when I’m called home to be with my Lord Jesus Christ I’ll live with him in heaven forever. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.