How Can You Believe When..

Jesus speaking: “And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:37-44 ESV)

Jesus Christ had just healed a man on the Sabbath, which he did often, healing people on the Sabbath. And the Jews opposed Jesus healing on the Sabbath, which often was also the case. And so the Jews were persecuting Jesus, and they were also seeking to kill him, because not only did they believe that he was breaking the Sabbath, but that he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God (see John 5:1-18). 

And following that Jesus then gave a defense of himself and of his ministry to the Jews (see John 5:19-47).

But I am not going to get into Jesus’ situation with the Jews, but I will be looking at how this story (or part of it) might relate to our world today and to the people who call themselves the children of God today, particularly those who call themselves believers in Jesus Christ. For I believe that Jesus’ words to the Jews of that time parallel over to the message he is giving to many who profess the name of Jesus today but who don’t really hear the voice of God because they are not really listening to the Lord.

Although they claim to believe in Jesus Christ, they don’t really believe in him because their faith is based in the flesh and not in the Spirit of God. It is human-based faith, defined by humans and not by God. For Jesus said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, then we have eternal life in him (see Luke 9:23-26; cf. Romans 6:1-23).

But the message that so many are teaching today is that we can “believe” (rarely biblically defined) in Jesus, have all our sins forgiven (past, present, and future), be on our way to heaven guaranteed, but regardless of how we live. So if someone professes faith in Jesus Christ they promise that person forgiveness of all sin, even future sin, and that he has heaven secured for him, which cannot be taken away from him, but even if he continues in deliberate and habitual sin against God from that moment forward.

And the result of that is that we have many professers of faith in Jesus Christ who are self-indulgent, spiritually lazy (lethargic), and sinfully addicted. Even if they are people who search the Scriptures, and who even know what the Scriptures teach, some because they are or were teachers of the Scriptures, still they refuse to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and to submit to his Lordship over their lives and to follow him in obedience to his commands in holy living, and in dying daily to sin.

So, even though they claim to know and to even love God, they do not have the love of God within them, for to love God is to obey him, and to love their fellow humans is to obey God and to prefer what God prefers, which is all that is upright, godly, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord and to his commandments (New Covenant). But they are the self-indulgent and the spiritually lazy who are settled in their laziness and mediocrity and sinful practices, many of whom have been there a long time.

And even if they claim to pray to God and to seek his counsel, they do not accept his counsel, and therefore they do not do what he says they must do to be free from their slavery (addiction) to sin so that they can now have true salvation from sin and the hope of eternal life with God. So they do not know true peace in knowing that they are in the center of God’s will, doing what the Lord wants them to do, because even if they do pray, they are not really listening to the Lord, and so his word is not really abiding in them.

For although they have claimed to receive Jesus Christ into their lives to be Lord and Savior of their lives, it is in lip service only that they make such claims, for their lives do not reflect those whose lives are submitted to Christ, but their lifestyles reflect those whose lives are committed to self and to self-indulgence, and to sinful pleasure, and all that is of self and for self, but not that which is of God and for God and for his good pleasure. For they are still self-absorbed, living how they want to live, for their own pleasure.

But to receive Jesus and to believe in him is not just words that we speak. It is to accept him and all that he is and is about into our lives. And so that means that we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, in his power, strength, and wisdom, by the grace of God. It means that we put our sinful lifestyles behind us and we now live holy and godly lives to the glory and praise of God, and that we follow our Lord wherever he leads us in doing whatever it is that he has called us to do. 

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 1:21-23; Colossians 3:1-11; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

But the problem is that so many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are listening to man over God, and to the teachings of man over the teachings of the Scriptures. If it sounds good, they accept it, even if it is a lie, because it feels good to them. And then they get their praise from other humans based on human thinking and reasoning and not on the teachings of Christ and of his NT apostles – taught in context! And so many are claiming salvation from sin and eternal life with God who do not, in truth, have such, sadly so.

Believe Him  

An Original Work / July 15, 2013

My heart cries: Lord, won’t You hear me

Seeking You for the answers

To my heartache and questions

I have concerning my life?

Speak, Lord, to me right now.

“Oh, dear one, why don’t you trust Me

With your life’s circumstances?

Give your all on the altar

In submission of your will

To My purpose for you.

“Surrender your life completely

To your Lord and your Savior.

He has all things planned for you

For His glory and honor.

He’ll work all things for good.

“Believe Him. He will fulfill all

Of His promises to you

For your life and your future.

Trust Him. Rest in His love.

He’ll give you peace from above.”

https://vimeo.com/115945593