John 3: Believing in Jesus

The third chapter of John opens with Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, approaching Jesus with respect. After Nicodemus greets Him, Jesus gives the learned scholar some information:

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:3-5 ESV)

In the day and age of this conversation, when we are born the first time, it is said that we are “born of water,” because we emerge into this Earth through the fluid from our mother's womb. After we are “born of water” into this Earth, we must be born of the Holy Spirit to be part of the Kingdom of God. How do we receive the Holy Spirit?

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11 ESV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:1 ESV)

When a child is born, DNA comes from both the father and the mother to create a new being. When we take Jesus as our Lord, He sends the Holy Spirit into our spirit so that we are a new creation in our spirit. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we are “in the flesh” focused on worldly things and are expected to grow from that point onward. Paul refers to those who receive the Holy Spirit but remain focused on this world as infants. Until we take time to learn God’s ways and walk in them we remain spiritual babies.

How do we receive the Holy Spirit? We have to skip a bit ahead to the first recorded account of those who received the Holy Spirit:

Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! [Just] as the Father has sent Me forth, so I am sending you.” And having said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!” (John 20:21-22 AMPC)

After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to the disciples. This is when they truly believed in Him: until this point, they were grieving over His death. You must really BELIEVE in Jesus to receive His spirit.

The Holy Spirit is called the “Breath of God,” and we see the literal application here. Jesus who is God breathed upon the disciples and imparted the Holy Spirit. When we believe in Jesus, we also receive His Spirit.

That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. (Romans 10:9-10 AKJV)

You must believe in Jesus, accept Him as Lord, and know that He was raised from the dead to be saved. The word lord means owner and master. The landlord is the one who owns or manages the property. Are you willing to be the property of Jesus? Are you willing to do what He says?

Because Jesus said we cannot receive eternal life without being born again, and accepting Him as Lord and confessing with our mouth gets us saved, we must assume that the Holy Spirit comes into our spirit at this time. Even if you didn’t know that you received the Holy Spirit, you did receive Him and that is the first step to getting to Heaven. What is it like when the Holy Spirit comes in? Let’s keep reading in the Book of John:

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8 ESV)

Wind covers the whole Earth. No one can stop it, though we have learned a bit about harnessing its power. This is what the Holy Spirit is like. We cannot say, “This oil is the Holy Spirit.” He is everywhere and He will do as He wills. You may not even be aware of Him, but He has been there from the moment you fully submitted to Jesus and were determined to turn from sin. If you didn’t know you were supposed to receive the Holy Spirit when you received Jesus, let’s pray right now to acknowledge Him:

Jesus, I thank you for being my Lord. I will learn your ways and turn from sin. I thank You for sending Your Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to me so that He can teach me Your ways. Holy Spirit, please show me how You are guiding me. Speak clearly to me so that I can follow You! I want to serve my new kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven.

It is now time to begin learning how to hear from the Holy Spirit so you can be guided by Him. A good place to begin is the free book, “Why Doesn’t God Speak to Me?” which will establish a foundation about how the Holy Spirit speaks and what He does. In addition, there is a free online class about how to hear from and understand the Holy Spirit.

Receiving the Holy Spirit just the beginning of what is necessary to get to Heaven. Jesus concludes His discussion with Nicodemus giving us a glimpse of what believing in Jesus means:

“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must [so it is necessary that] the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross], In order that everyone who believes in Him [who cleaves to Him, trusts Him, and relies on Him] may not perish, but have eternal life and [actually] live forever!” (John 3:14-15 AMPC)

Perhaps you have been told that the key to Heaven is “believing” in Jesus. The word believe means to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Jesus. When you were baptized, is this what you meant in your heart? We know this is the right definition for “believe in” because Jesus compares Himself to the serpent on the pole in the desert. Researching that comparison will show us what is necessary to receive the fullness of what Jesus did on the cross.

God’s people were wandering in the desert for a long time. In Numbers 21, they got impatient and began speaking against God and His chosen leader, Moses. Because of this, God sent “fiery serpents” into the camp. Those bitten by the snakes were dying!

And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (Numbers 21:7-9)

The snakes were the consequences of the sin of rebelling against God and His prophet, Moses. To be free of the consequences of sin, they had to:

1. Know that they had sinned

2. Confess they had sinned

3. Look at the pole where their sin had been placed

The word “look” is just glancing at the snake on the pole. It means to show regard to, pay attention to, and consider. How does this apply to Jesus?

Our Lord was hung on a wooden cross. We cannot go somewhere and see Him hanging there, but we can pay attention to Him and consider what He has done. This is why believing in Jesus means clinging to, and relying on Him.

As we learn God’s ways and realize that we have sinned, do we need to do the same process as God’s people in the desert with the snake upon the pole? Jesus, Himself, gave us the example of the snake on the pole, but let’s look to the New Testament for another confirmation.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14 ESV)

Our sins have been “nailed to the cross” just as the snake was nailed to the pole. This is why so many Christians are suffering: their sins have consequences and they are not learning about what is sin, and they are not confessing it, looking to Jesus to set them free. This is why Jesus came, as John states in the next verse:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:16-17 ESV)

For this is My blood of the new covenant, which [ratifies the agreement and] is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:28 AMPC)

There is that word again! We must BELIEVE in Jesus: trust in, rely upon, and cling to Him! Jesus wasn’t sent to condemn us but to pay the price for us to be free from sin. Believing in Jesus is how we are saved.

If we really believe that Jesus is God, He came and died so that we can go to Heaven and escape Hell, we should have an overwhelming sense of gratitude for what He has done. When we acknowledge Him as Lord, we should learn God’s ways to determine what is expected of us. When we find out that something is a sin, we must run to Jesus, knowing He paid the price for that sin. We must be willing to confess our sins, knowing they are wrong!

As this chapter continues, we see that the followers of John the Baptist were concerned about the attention Jesus was getting. People were going to Jesus to get baptized and not John.

John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the Bridegroom. The friend of the Bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly at the Bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:27-30 ESV)

John the Baptist knew Jesus was the Messiah. He knew his job was done and Jesus would be taking over. The reference to Jesus as the Bridegroom, and another reference to the bride of Christ in Revelation, is where we understand that all those who believe in Jesus are His bride because we are all equal in Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28 ESV)

Men are not superior to women, and Jews are not superior to non-Jews once we take Jesus as Lord. We are all children of God and will all be His bride. Every one of us can and should be of use to our Lord and His kingdom.

John closes this chapter with a final warning:

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:35-36 ESV)

Believing in Jesus is the first step. Belief must include clinging to, trusting in, and relying on. How can you rely on and trust in something you know nothing about? You must be willing to learn about Jesus so that you can trust in and rely on Him. As you learn His ways, you must be willing to obey them or there are consequences.

The word wrath means anger exhibited in punishment. Disobedience is a sin. There are consequences for sin. The word life is the Greek word zōē: none of the definitions mean eternal life. This is about our earthly life, specifically the quality of our physical life, both morally and physically. If we don’t obey the Lord, the consequences may be death or a restricted life on this earth!

If we want to avoid God’s wrath, we must be willing to obey Jesus. It begins with learning His ways. The Lord has prepared a place for you to do this. Anywhere, any time, you can learn at the free online classes at the Online Christian Church. We hope you will begin soon!

The Strong Meat:

In a monthly meeting, we are studying the Book of Revelation in the Q & A format. As I completed this message I realized by correctly interpreting the final verse in this chapter, we have confirmation that only a portion of the Body of Christ will go in the rapture and avoid the wrath of God.

Though we see this in the parable of the ten virgins and when looking at the churches of Revelation, here we see it plainly spoken:

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:35-36 ESV)

Those not willing to obey the Lord will see God’s wrath. We must begin learning God’s ways so we know what to obey, and what Jesus expects of us. He is our Lord and had done what we need to be free of the affliction that comes from sin.

We have seen many people miraculously healed of medically documented serious conditions, but they had to learn God’s ways and apply them to their lives. As others learned at the free classes, many received prayer and healing came, other times, multiple prayer sessions were needed.

One constant has remained in the Online Christian Church, Jesus has done all that is necessary to set His people free!

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John 3: Believing In Jesus Online Christian Church

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