A most revealing discussion is recorded in John 6:28-29. Jesus has been engaged in an on-going dialogue with members of the crowd gathered to hear HIM -- to see HIM -- to test HIM. Many have been following HIM for days. He’s been teaching them -- telling parables -- performing miracles. The religious leaders scattered among the crowd are seeking a way to trap Him. One asks Jesus, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered him, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” Surely the man was shocked along with many in the crowd. The religious leaders had by this time expanded the “Law of Moses” into more than 900 rules. Did He really say, “believe?” Just believe! Just one thing! He can’t be serious! There must be so much more to doing the works of God than to just believe! But there it is my dear friend! The words of Jesus are very clear! He was asked a question in the plural, “What must we do to work the works of God?” Jesus answered the question in the singular, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
We cannot overstress jut how important these two verses from The Gospel of John are to all of us. The devil and his demons are always working so hard to get us to add “works” to the “simplicity of “The Gospel” of Jesus Christ. It is so very easy for us to get “caught up” in “works” just as the Galatian Church did. After all, when we can stress our works, much of the credit can go to us. Paul in unmistakable terms told the Galatians that they “had started out well” but had been beguiled (deceived) into leaving the correct “Way” and slipping back into “works.” This concept sounds so revolutionary even today that we must repeat it to ourselves again and again. “My work is to believe.” “My work is to believe!” Even though this is so clear, we still want to say, “isn’t there more to it?” The answer is NO! This is it. If we are really serious about “doing the works of God” then WE MUST BELIEVE IN HIM WHOM GOD SENT! That’s it, that’s all of it! God will do the rest -- if we will allow HIM!
If believing is so all-important, (and it really is) then we must understand what is really involved in “believing.” It is very common today to use the phrase, “make a decision for Christ.” To me this implies a mental exercise of the mind. Believing “in” and “on” the Lord Jesus Christ involves much more than a “head decision” or a “decision of the mind.” It includes the mind, but it really goes far beyond the mind to encompass the the “will” and the “totality of the person.” It involves the total “giving up of self” and the total “receiving of Jesus Christ.”
Let’s explore these elements that make up “believing in and on the Lord Jesus Christ.” We all understand that we must believe in Jesus in order to be “saved,” “born again,” “made a new creation,” and thus become a part of God’s family -- a child of God. We understand that the “refusal to believe” (or “unbelief”) is a sin that blocks us from receiving the forgiveness of God The Father and thus receiving “HIS Free Gift of Salvation.” In other words, “believing” is absolutely crucial to becoming a part of the Family of God, receiving JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR AND LORD, and receiving “Eternal Life.” We “Believe on JESUS CHRIST” in order to be saved, we must also continue to believe -- to “Live by Faith” -- in order to maintain fellowship with God -- to please Him -- to be a vessel of HONOR -- to “Abide in CHRIST,” to be “IN HIS WILL.” GOD stated in HIS Word in three places, “My just ones shall live by Faith.” God’s Word also states, “The just shall walk by Faith and not by sight.” We may conclude then that our understanding of all that is involved in “believing” is critical to “our receiving CHRIST as SAVIOR.” It is also critical for as long as we live on this earth in these human bodies to “Live in Belief” in order for us to maintain our unbroken fellowship with GOD OUR FATHER and JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR AND LORD.
The beginning of “our process of believing” is CONVICTION. Actually this is not our work but the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s first work, as recorded in John 16:8-9, is to “convict of sin.” Our first step in the “process of believing” is that we must come to “know” that we are “in sin” -- that we are “lost”-- that we “need a Savior.” This “knowledge” comes to us only by the convicting work of The Holy Spirit in our hearts. The result is to make us consciously aware of our sin -- our lost condition -- our need of a Savior. Once we are convicted by the HOLY SPIRIT -- Once we become consciously aware of our fatal condition of SIN, we must respond! We must say “yes” to The Holy Spirit or we will say “no.” We must respond! To do nothing or to put it off is to reject the Holy Spirit’s “drawing” and in effect say “no!”
When we are “convicted” by The Holy Spirit, we are made aware of our “sinful state” and our “lost condition.” Let me note here that the convicting work of The Holy Spirit always draws us to God and never drives us away. (It is the condemnation of the devil that will drive us away from God. The Holy Spirit never “condemns,” He always “convicts.”) If we accept the “convicting work” of The Holy Spirit in our hearts, we are made to realize our lost condition and are given a “Godly Sorrow” for our sin!
As we accept the “convicting work” of The Holy Spirit and the experience the “Godly Sorrow” for our sin, we move to the step of “Confession” of our sin! Here we “agree” with God that we have sinned and we “confess” our sin to Him! Confession of our sin means that we “agree with God” that we are in a “state” or “condition” of sin and that we are “sinners!” If we stay in this condition, we are eternally doomed – The wages of sin is death! It is therefore vitally and eternally important for us that we become convicted of our condition of sin and that we then “confess” our sin and desire to be forgiven and cleansed.
Our next step is to “repent” of our sin. We must “turn from” our sin! Jesus began His earthly ministry by first preaching “repentance” from sin (Matt 4:17). We cannot just “add” Jesus to our lives and keep our sin. This a critically important point that is all too often ignored by those who are merely “religious.” Most “religious persons” are very willing to simply “add” Jesus to their already overcrowded lives. Our sin must be confessed, we must “repent” of our sin, we must be “forgiven” of our sin, and we must be “cleansed” of our sin before we can “receive” Jesus! We do the repenting but God does the forgiving and cleansing. Now that we are a forgiven and cleansed vessel, we need to filled with Jesus Crhist.
This moves us to the next step, to the “realization” that we need a “Savior.” The Holy Spirit leads us to “The Door” - to Jesus Christ who is the only “Way” to God The Father. Jesus spoke of “The Narrow Way that leads to Salvation” and made it clear that He is that “Narrow Way” in John 14:6 when He said, “I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life, no man comes to The Father except by ME!”
The next step is to “turn to” Jesus Christ and “receive” Him as Our Lord and Savior. When we turn to Jesus and “receive” Him, we allow GOD, Our Father to fill us with “His Righteousness” – Jesus Christ! We believe in Jesus and on Jesus -- we say YES to HIM -- we ask HIM to come into our life as our Savior and Lord! JESUS CHRIST will not come in to a vessel (you and me) until HIS BLOOD cleanses that vessel (you and me) of all sin. The blood of Jesus must be applied to our lives to “cleanse us of all sin” before The Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) will come in to dwell within us. (Let’s note here that for the Child of God, as sin increases in any life, “abiding in The Vine” decreases and “fruitfulness” decreases. But, praise God, the converse is also true! As sin is dealt with, confessed and forsaken, belief (faith) can and does grow within the life of the “believer” and we become a fruitful branch abiding in The True Vine – Jesus Chrsit!)
We “accept Jesus into our lives -- into our hearts -- we receive HIM!” This sounds so simple but I find it is a “stumbling block” for many. I’m concerned that many may voice the words to “invite Jesus into their lives” without ever accepting Him or receiving Him.
Let me offer this illustration, “Jesus stands at our heart’s door and knocks,” we say, “come in” but we never “unlock” the door to our heart. We must “receive” Him, we must “accept” Him, we must “unlock” our heart’s door and invite Him to come in. This means we must “yield” to Him -- we must “surrender” our “self” to Him. A critical part of this process is for us to permit GOD to “cleanse us” to empty us of “ourself.” We must give up our “right” to our “self” and deny “self.” We cannot simply “add” Jesus to our lives. We are “made a New Creation in Christ Jesus! “Behold old things are passed away, all things are made new!”
When we are “full of self” we cannot be “full of Jesus.” Jesus must be received and accepted as Lord and Master as well as Savior. We become a “bondservant” to Christ! We are no longer our own -- we’re bought with a price -- the blood of Jesus Christ. We are His! Now, we are “Born Again” -- we become a “part of the Family of God and indwelt by GOD.” We are not made “better human beings.” It is never the goal of GOD to make us better human beings. Instead, it is HIS goal to make us “just like CHRIST! We are made “A New Creation in Christ Jesus”-- “The very Righteousness of God.” The Supernatural Life of God now dwells in us and desires to live (ZOE` “LIFE”) in us and be manifested by GOD, THE HOLY SPIRIT -- through us! God now begins the lifelong process of “conforming us to the very image of Christ!”
Let’s summarize:
We have been convicted of our sinful condition by The Holy Spirit!
We have accepted The Holy Spirit’s “conviction!”
We have confessed our sin to God!
We have turned from our sin - We have “repented” of our sin.
We have been forgiven of our sin and cleansed of all sin by God, Our Father!
We have been lead by The Holy Spirit to “The Way” - Jesus!
We have turned to Jesus Christ!
We have received Him as Our Lord and Savior!
We have “yielded,” “surrendered,” or “given” our life to Jesus for HIM to be our Savior and Lord!
And here’s the result!
God has “cleansed” us of all sin by the Blood of Jesus!
We are “born again” as a “child” of God!
God has made us a “New Creation” in Christ Jesus!
God “adopts” us into His Family and makes us “Sons” and “joint heirs” with Jesus!
God has “transferred” us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light -- into the “Kingdom of His Dear Son!”
God has made us “Citizens of Heaven!”
God “Inhabits us” – “dwells in us” forever!
God begins His “lifelong” work of “conforming us to The Image of Christ Jesus Our Lord!”
I present these steps in an attempt to show what must happen as (and when) we become “born again.” For most of us who become children of GOD, these “steps” are blended into what may appear to be a single process of “Believing.” When we are “born into The Kingdom of GOD,” we have no conscious awareness of going from step one, to step two, to step three, and so on…. Instead we’re aware that we’ve been “made a new creation” -- that “old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.”
This brings us to the point where we begin “Our New Life in Christ Jesus.” When we are “born again,” our “work” as a Child of God begins. Remember, our work is “to believe,” to “walk in belief,” to “live by faith,” to “trust,” to “yield,” to “submit,” to “surrender” -- to allow JESUS CHRIST to “live in us and through us” and to allow God to do His work in us and through us.” We can now say with the Apostle Paul, “ ‘It is no longer “I” who “live” but Jesus Christ who lives in me and through me.’ ”
Allow me to emphasize a critical point. The object of “our Christian walk” is not to try to live like Jesus -- to mimic Him or to imitate Him. This will only produce a cheap imitation (counterfeit) when we attempt in our own strength to “live like Jesus” or to ask JESUS to “help” us.” There is a great difference in praying, “LORD, help me be like YOU” and praying “JESUS be LORD in me.” The first seeks to simply ad a bit of GOD’S Strength to our own to enable us to “do it” ourselves. The focus stays on “us” or on “me.” It betrays our attitude “I can almost do it in my own strength, I just need a little help from GOD.” (Notice the use of the pronoun “I.”) The second way of praying (asking Jesus to “be Lord in me”) is to recognize that our own “strength” is useless and to recognize that HIS Strength is unlimited. Remember, it is in “our weakness that GOD is Strong.” GOD desires that we yield to Him -- to die to “self” and allow the Life of Jesus Christ to be formed in us and to shine forth from us! Our “Light” must be “The Light of Jesus within us!” We do not merely reflect HIM or HIS LOVE. Since HE now dwells within us, we emanate THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (JESUS) that is within us. The “Light” comes from within us and shines forth from us.
Yes, my friend! THE “LIGHT” (“JESUS”) that now dwells in us does His “WORKS” in us and through us. Yes, we are created unto good works -- GOD’S WORKS, which HE does in us and through us. “For it is GOD who works in us, to WILL and to WORK for HIS GOOD PLEASURE” AND, I might add -- for our GOOD!
Amen! Amen! Amen!
Pastor J. Gilbert Hammond