Sermon
Believe or Perish
September 16-17, 2000
Pastor Donald Sheley

It's nice to have you with us in God's house. Take your Bibles and join with me in John's Gospel chapter 3, and if you'd like to use the read pew Bible, you'll find it at page 715 in the pew Bible. And for a number of weeks now we've been talking about what is considered by many to be the grand text of the Bible; John 3:16. 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. Now we meticulously and almost phrase for phrase and word for word have gone through this great passage of Scripture because so frequently we just say it. The words slip across our tongue and we really do not grapple with the intense eternal dimensions to the meaning of the words. So today we come to that phrase 'whosoever believeth in Him should not perish'. But as you observe the notes we're not going to be able in any way to get through all of the notes, and so I want to grapple just for a while with you on that phrase 'whosoever believeth in Him'. If we had time to go through the entire Gospel of John we would find the word 'believe' to occur over 50 times. I spent some time the other evening and just went through verse after verse in the concordance, but if you add other forms of the same words you come to almost 100 different Scripture verses where the subject of belief is mentioned.

And here's my thoughts. If that word appears so many times in Scripture it is imperative that I understand what it means scripturally, and so what I'd like for you to do is to take your Bible and let's just take a few of the verses just to lay the foundation for the importance of this great text. And first of all go with me to John 1:12. Just back up a couple pages in your Bible, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. So my relationship as it being a part of God's family is depending upon this whole issue of belief in Christ. Go with me to John 5:37 and 38. I'm just selecting a few. John 5: 37, 38 - And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. So the absence of God's word within us and guiding our lives is simply our failure to believe. Go with me to John Chapter 11, and here is the event where Christ meets Martha on the road. Her brother Lazarus has died and the conversation pursues near the grave, and in John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." Just a few of the verses. So to believe is eternally important. It's the difference between life and death.

Now let's go to our notes and I commence our lessons today by asking the question, what does it mean to believe? If John and Jesus talked about it nearly 100 times in the Gospel and it's at the heart of this verse we're considering today, what does it mean to believe? Here's one definition. Belief is an act of the will in which the facts concerning a matter or a person are known and received which results in a trust or faith being placed in the facts or the person. Now in a matter of salvation, it's the act of believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ for our eternal redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Believing involves acting in faith, and real faith implicitly takes God at His word, and faith transports God's promise into the present tense. Now if we were reading the Amplified Bible each time we would come across this word 'believe', you would find the italics it means to trust in, to cling to, and to rely on. So belief is something that's action. It's not static. It demands action.

Now let's talk about this matter of faith as it relates to belief. To begin with, natural faith rests on an object that is not necessarily reliable. I'm going to make the comparison in just a moment between natural faith and spiritual faith. But natural faith simply says, I put my trust in something that frequently it doesn't do what I expect it to do. I put my key in the ignition the other morning, but the car doesn't start. I had faith that it would start, but because it's temporal it has all the capacities to fail me. But now the faith that's mentioned in Hebrews 11: 1, listen, faith is the assurance, that is, the confirmation, the title deed, of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses. Let's go to the next page. When we believe unto eternal life, we trust something more real and Someone more trustworthy than anything or anyone could ever comprehend with the natural senses. Our senses may lie, God cannot. People fail, God does not. And circumstances change, but God does not. And so the nature of faith is different in the spiritual realm than it is in the natural. Natural faith relies on physical senses. We tend to believe only what we or others can see, hear, taste, and feel. When we trust the water, or our brakes, or the surgeon, we do so because our senses and human experience tell us that these things are generally worthy of our confidence. You can drink from the spigot today, or you can put your foot on the brakes as you're going home to stop at the stop sign, or you can go to the surgeon and normally you say because it always functions this way to under most cases I can have confidence. But, Hebrews 11, faith, on the other hand, is a supernatural conviction--a solid, unshakable assurance that is contrary to human nature. It includes a capacity to lay hold of spiritual reality imperceptible to the natural man. And the next line is important. So the clear implication is that faith to believe is a gift from God.

Now I want you to just think because we're going to logically work our way through this definition. If I'm going to believe in something that's supernatural, that's imperceptible to human senses, I now move in a realm outside the natural, and my conclusions are, that to do so I need faith that only comes from God. Faith, to believe, is a gift from God. So to believe as indicated in our John 3:16 text, means that with a faith that is from almighty God we act upon the knowledge of the Gospel by placing our trust and our hope for our salvation unto eternal life in the person and work of Jesus Christ, God's Son, our Redeemer, and Savior, and Lord. Now we have to clear some of the brush out of the way so let's take the next statement, personal saving faith, in the way the Scripture understands it, involves more than mere knowledge. Of course, it's necessary they we have some knowledge of who Christ is and what He has done, for how can they believe in Him whom they have never heard, Romans 10:14. But knowledge about the facts of Jesus' life, and His death, and His resurrection for us is not enough, for people can know facts but rebel against them or dislike them. Paul writes in Romans 1:32, Though they know God's decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them. Words that inform us that people may know God's laws but dislike them and refuse to obey them.

Now we put that in our lesson today because sometimes you talk to people and say, are they Christian? Well they believe in God. What you're simply saying is they acknowledge there is a God, but just to have that knowledge if it has not affected them, has no value whatsoever. Look at the next line in our lesson. Even the demons know who God is and how the facts about Jesus' life and saving works, for James says, "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder". So knowledge certainly does not make demons Christians. Moreover, merely knowing the facts or approving of them or agreeing that they are true is not enough. And we use the illustration of Nicodemus. He knew that Jesus came from God. He said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; and no one can do the signs that you do, unless God is with him ". Now Nicodemus had evaluated the facts of the situation, including Jesus' teaching and his remarkable miracles, and had drawn a correct conclusion from these facts--Jesus was a teacher come from God. But this alone did not mean that Nicodemus had saving faith, for he still had to put his trust in Christ for salvation. He still had to "believe in Him." So in addition to knowledge of the facts of the Gospel and the approval of those facts, in order to be saved, I must decide to depend on Jesus to save me. Now we're still talking about the subject of belief. So let's drop down just to the middle of the page. Our text in John 3:16 tells us that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Now here John uses a surprising phrase when he does not simply say 'whoever believes Him', that is, believes that what he says is true and is able to be trusted, but rather, 'whoever believes in Him.' Now the Greek phrase used here could also be translated, believe unto Him. Now let's stop here for a minute. Here's the observation. Here again is the meticulous preciseness of the Scriptures. John doesn't say whoever believes Christ; he says whoever believes in Him. There's a world of difference.

Let me illustrate. I have a little 74 Volkswagen bug that I have driven 300,000 miles. It's my little treasure. In fact, I tell folks they don't have to worry about buying me a coffin just dig a bigger hole, drive me in, cover it over and it's all taken care of. But I hear some noises in this little Volkswagen sewing machine motor and I go down to the shop and I say to Ernie, Ernie, it's got noises that are not really good noises. I think maybe I have a valve, a spring that's broken, or I could have some rings. It could be the engine's shot. It's got 90,000 miles on. Now Ernie could say, well Pastor, now you know I've been a mechanic for some time and what it sounds like to me, and I listen and Ernie explains it and when he's all finished I could say I agree with your Ernie. That's believing Ernie. But I get in my car and I drive to the next shop. I didn't believe in Ernie. Because if I believed in Ernie I would say, here's my little treasure, fix it up. It's all in your care. I leave it to you to make a right. Do you see the difference? You can believe someone, but when you believe in someone you submit something of treasure at their disposal and expect the results to be beneficial. Now it's interesting in this verse, it doesn't say you believe Christ or believe there's a God, it says you believe in Him. So it's coming to Christ, not believing about Him, but saying here I am, here's my eternal soul, I trust it into Your care. Do you see the difference?

Now at the bottom of page 3 we make the observation, when a person comes to trust in Jesus Christ, three elements must be present. There must be some basic knowledge or understanding of the facts of the Gospel. So now what we're doing is we're working through this process of what it means to believe. First of all this process of believing starts with an exposure to the facts of the Gospel. It's either I listen to the radio, or I picked up a Bible, or I've listen to the pastor preach, I've been to church, but I know what the Gospel now says. The Jesus died for all mankind. He died to pay the price for the penalty for our sins. Now when I hear that as an unbeliever I do not have the capacity to respond to divine truth, so what takes place is that marvelous moment when God drops into my heart that gift of faith. That happens almost in every service here. People come, they listen, and all of a sudden spiritual realities become alive and they understand what Jesus did at the cross, and thus we hear, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So God by His sovereign grace places me in an environment where I become the recipient of Gospel information. I have not the capacity to do anything about it as a natural man, but what He does is He supernaturally places in my heart that gift of faith. And then that acts, look at the next phrase, there must also be an approval of, or an agreement with, these facts. Such agreement includes a conviction that the facts spoken of the Gospel are true, especially the fact that I am a sinner and I need salvation, and that Christ alone has paid the penalty for my sin and offers salvation to me. This matter of believing is not only hearing, but agreeing with what I hear. And the Gospel tells me that I am a sinner, and if I do not turn to Jesus Christ I'm going to hell, I'm going to perish. And the Gospel tells me that He loves me so much that He went to the cross to die and to pay for my sins, and all I must do is rely on, or cling to, or surrender my life to Jesus Christ as Savior. Approval or agreement is acting with the faith that has already been given by God to the matters I now know to be true.

Back to our notes. It also includes an awareness that I need to trust in Christ for salvation and that He is the only way to God, and the only means provided for my salvation. Remember I said belief is never static it's always active. Page 4. Now believing faith and repentance must go together. So we define repentance. Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, a sincere commitment to forsake it and to walk in obedience to Christ. Remember the very first word that Jesus preached in His public proclamation, Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's a very first word of the Gospel. When John started his ministry is very first word was, Repent! And thus, repentance is intricately associated with this matter of giving approval to the Gospel that tells me I'm a sinner and I've got to change my ways with God's help. Back to our notes, dropping down three lines, repentance, like faith, is an intellectual understanding that sin is wrong. It's an emotional approval of the teachings of the Scripture regarding sin, a sorrow for sin and a hatred of it, and a personal decision to turn from it, a renouncing of sin and a decision of the will to forsake it and lead a life of obedience to Christ instead. So let's go back, to believe, I find myself, wherever that might be, as a sovereign act of God where I'm exposed to the Gospel, no matter what the setting. Now that I have the facts of the Gospel, God by His grace plants the seed of faith so I now can respond. My response is an approval, an agreement that the Gospel is right. I am a sinner. Jesus died to save me, and if I trust in Him, cling to Him, and surrender to Him, He'll save me. Now genuine repentance will result in a changed life. In fact, a truly repentant person will begin at once to live a changed life, and we call that changed life the fruit of repentance. Repentance is something that occurs in the heart and involves the whole person in a decision to turn from sin. Faith is an internal reality with external consequences.

Now let's stop here. We're at the heart of the definition, but here is where there is great confusion in Christendom today. There is what is being preached, and they take this definition of believe and simplify it and twist it and bring it down to one simple concept. If you just say it, that saves you forever. Go with me to page 5 and I'll introduce this to you, it's the twisting of the word believe. It's misrepresenting it. Page 5 in our notes; in our study, we have arrived at a point where we must address one of the great errors presently being taught in many of our evangelical churches today. It's called no-lordship theology. Now this doctrine propounds that conversion to Christ involves no spiritual commitment whatsoever. Now if I ever preached that in this pulpit you'd all be throwing your songbooks at me. But ladies and gentlemen, in many evangelical churches today this is being preached. Those who hold this view of the Gospel teach that Scripture promises salvation to anyone who simply believes the facts about - notice the difference in the preposition. You can know about something, but to put your trust in something is a world of difference. You can know about Christ and the claims of eternal life, there need be no turning from sin, no resulting change of lifestyle, no commitment, not even a willingness to yield to Christ's Lordship. Those things, they say, amount to human works which corrupt grace and have nothing to do with faith. Now think with me, there are some that say, now no, Pastor Sheley, you can't add any requirements of repentance, you can't add any requirements for commitment to Christ, you don't add any of that because as soon as you to you confuse the simplicity of what it means to believe. Believe is just simply giving mental assent to it, to a fact about a person. So here's the way it follows, they preach the message, anyone here today who would like to accept Jesus Christ just raise your hand. Now first of all listen to the terminology that's used, when we say accept Jesus Christ, that puts us in the position of sovereignty and it puts Him in the position of begging for our approval. But we hear it every day, He's the sovereign Lord, He's the one in charge, and we're the one on our knees seeking His forgiveness. But they tell us that if you add repentance, or if you add a requirement of turning from your sin, or if you add anything to the simple thing of just giving mental assent, your confusing the issue of grace and now you've got a works salvation. Do you see the accusation? But listen, there is no Scripture in all the New Testament that relates to the subject of conversion that doesn't have implied that act of repentance. It's not there.

Back to our notes. Down at the bottom of the page, Scripture puts repentance and faith together as different aspects of one act of coming to Christ for salvation. It is not that a person first turns from sin and next trusts in Christ, or first trusts in Christ and then turns from sin, but rather that both occur at the same time. Dr. John MacArthur in his book entitled "The Gospel According To Jesus" writes, faith, like grace, is not static. Saving faith is more than just understanding the facts and mentally acquiescing. It is inseparable from repentance, surrender, and a supernatural eagerness to obey. The biblical concept of saving faith includes all these elements. And none of them can be classified exclusively as a human work, any more than believing itself is solely a human effort. Now you say, Pastor, if one preached no-lordship salvation what would be some of the phrases that you would hear in their preaching? Now what I've done is gone through the books of great preachers who hold this position, don't confuse the simple issue of grace, if you add any repentance or anything else to it you mess up grace they say. Now listen to their words and I'll read just two or three for you. Here's what they say, repentance is a change of mind about Christ. In the context of the Gospel invitation, repentance is just a synonym for faith. No turning from sin is required. Now again, if you heard a message being preached in this pulpit that just say, Jesus, I believe in You, then go out and live like you want to, you would know I'm not preaching the Gospel. But they say that no turning from sin is required for salvation. That's heresy.

Secondly, saving faith is simply being convinced or giving credence to the truth of the Gospel. It is confidence that Christ can remove guilt and give eternal life, but it is not a personal commitment to Him. The say that isn't the Gospel Pastor. No it isn't, but you see it all hinges on how you define believe. If belief is just simple mental assent and saying something with your mouth and that gets you to heaven, that's no-lordship salvation. Last one. Submission to Christ's supreme authority as Lord is not germane to the saving transaction. Neither dedication nor willingness to be dedicated to Christ are issues in salvation. The news that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead is the complete Gospel, nothing else must be believed or done to be saved. That's not true, and yet there are millions of people today who classify themselves as evangelical Christians because they've just simply said I believe, got baptized, and they go on living the way they want to live without any commitment or surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Let's come back. What does it mean to believe? It means to have that moment divinely and sovereignly chosen by God when we came in contact with the Gospel message. And for each of us that appears at different times in our life. Once that information is known, God by His grace drops into my heart believing faith, and with believing faith I approve of what the Gospel says I'm a sinner, and I need God's grace and His forgiveness, and I must repent my sins and turn from them. I act upon what I believe and the result is that I surrender my heart and life to Jesus Christ, and I say Jesus, You are the Lord of my life. I'll never be perfect. I'll fall and there are times I'll make terrible mistakes, but Your grace and Your mercy reaches out to me and I want to serve You with everything inside me. I surrender my life to You dear Jesus. It's all a part of the act, the process of believing. Now here's the bottom line. If you believe in something it will always change you. It's never static.

Let me illustrate. If all of us believed that at 6:00 tonight the rapture of the church was going to take place and Jesus was coming, would you do anything different the rest of the day? If you would then you don't believe that He's coming. Because if we believe that He was coming, John says, with this hope it's a constant act of purifying our lives, and so His coming will never be a surprise if we really believe that He was coming and we lived each moment as if He's coming. Some years ago and old Pastor was asked by one of his congregation, they said, Pastor, if you knew that Jesus was coming at 6:00 tonight what would you do? He said, this is what I'd do, he said, I'm going to have lunch with my family. I've got the flowers that need to be watered, and he said, I'm going to go down to the store and get some food for the little puppy, so when 6:00 comes I'll be ready for Him. Did you get the point? The point is, if we truly believe something that changes the way we live. Now we don't have to, when it speaks of the coming of Christ, we don't have to deal with surprises. You know, I often say this when things get a little tight and we're under tremendous strain, when you have 1,000 children in this building and 150 people and 2,000 parents it can become quite a crushing experience here, and I often just stop the people in the office and say, listen, it isn't going to make a hoop of difference because tomorrow we may all be in heaven. Do you see what I'm saying? I believe that if we really believe that Jesus Christ could come at any moment, why does the issue of this moment become so distracting? And here's my point. If I truly believe whosoever believeth, I'll so implicitly trust in the knowledge that I have that Jesus died for me at the cross. He paid the penalty. There will be a supreme peace that will fill my heart, a joy of His presence, and there will be this burning hunger, this desire, this thirsting after God, and this desire to radiate His love wherever I am. And I maintain that the weakness of the church today is that we really don't understand this whole process of believing. We give a lot of words and a lot of mental assent, but our belief has not transformed us. If we went out of here today totally in love with Jesus Christ, and His love oozing out of every pore of our being, and we were committed to Him, we believed everything He said in the Gospel, we'd change it our city overnight. The world is waiting for us Christians to really believe and stop talking. Because when you believe it transforms you. The Gospel has transforming power. The power of God changing us into the kind of persons that bring honor to God. You say Pastor, is all that involved in believing? Yes it is. Whosoever believeth in Him, totally trusting, completely relying upon, totally in love with, completely sold out, totally surrendered to serving Jesus Christ. That's believing.

Let's pray. Now you're sitting here and you're saying, Pastor, I haven't achieved that kind of belief. I'm sure that most of us would agree none of us have, but what an aspiration. What a goal to aspire to. Totally surrendered to Jesus Christ. Totally enveloped in His love. Lord Jesus, we take these words and sometimes they slip across our tongue year after year and we never grapple with what is implied, but today we realize that belief is more than just saying something. True belief is something that transforms us. It does something to us. It causes us to want to turn away from sin. True belief inspires us to surrender everything we are to You dear Jesus. That's the kind of Christians we want to be, so would You help us. We open our hearts to You dear Jesus. Fill us with Yourself. And everybody said, amen. God bless you.