Unless You Believe That I am He…

By John Foll, written 03/20/2019 - 03/23/2019.

© Copyright 2019 John Foll

Jesus said, ‘unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins.’ John 8:24 NASB.

Do not suppose that Jesus was merely referring to the children of God on earth in His day here when He spoke this. Jesus said ‘unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.’ Yes, Jesus is speaking to the people in our day too and you! No one can save themselves, no matter how hard they try, no matter what they do - no matter what, regardless of how much truth they believe in, or how good they think they are. You simply cannot save yourself, dear reader. Unless you believe that Jesus was the Lamb of God, sent to take away the sins of the world - unless you believe that God sent Jesus to take away your sins, you will not have any life within you. Unless you believe that Jesus is the only one, you do not have any life within you. But if you believe Jesus is the one, you will have this life Jesus promised to all who would take it. When John-the-Baptist declared that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, that is what he said and that is what he meant. John 1:29, 36. For Jesus to be able to take away all of the sins of the world - He must take away your sins too. He came not only to clear your guilt from the record books in heaven, but He came to take away your sins as well, to help you stop sinning.

Jesus' declaration in John 8:24 addresses every single person here on this planet. Unless they believe that Jesus is the son of God, the Messiah, to save them from their sin, they will die in their sins. This not only includes forgiveness of sin, but their salvation as well. Salvation was paid for at the cross, but it is not complete until God's people are taken to heaven, to never see death or feel pain again - all crying and dying will pass away! We must believe that Jesus is the one who can save us or we will die in our sins! Ah dear reader, do not miss this point! Unless you believe that Jesus is the one, the one who can save you, you will die in your sins. We're sorry if you think this is too blunt, but it is the truth. What does it mean to believe in Jesus? It means to believe the He is the one who can save you out of all of the distresses in this world, and that He can save you from your sins. It is the belief that He can save you. He takes away your addiction to sin and your sinful propensities - He can make you righteous.

We were saying that when Jesus said ‘that unless you believe that I am He, the one, that you will die in your sins’ – that it applies to us in our day too because it's the truth - it's not just for God’s people in the days when Jesus walked this earth. We are not saying this to pick on those whom He was speaking with, because unbelief and pride seem to be a common problem in humanity. And yes even in our day, many Christians have trouble believing the Jesus can save them from all of their faults and problems. Oh they may say they believe, but where is their belief when doubts and discouragement come? Where is their belief when trials and temptations come? Do they believe that He loves them and died to save them? Do they believe the Jesus has the power to save them? Really save them? Or do they think they are stuck in an endless cycle of sinning with no way out, except to pray for forgiveness? This belief is not correct. True belief believes that Jesus is God, and that He has the ability of saving them.
 
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see! * What God did for me was so amazing – He overcame my doubts when He filled my heart with His love and peace! And now when temptations and struggles to doubt come my way, He helps me regain my faith in Him. So I no longer worry about these things as long as I stay right with God. But oh how sweet it is to know that God loves you, and that you are forgiven! You have a new chance to please Him and start over! Oh how sweet it is to get the victory over the problems and sins that bind you! Jesus claimed that He would free the captives. Luke 4:16-21. If the Son of man has made you free, you shall be free indeed! John 8:36. This is the message we want to preach with all of our strength today in this article. If the Son has made you free, you are free indeed!

* From the Song Amazing Grace, by John Newton.

Dear reader, do you believe the Jesus is the one? Our prayer for you, dear reader, is that you would believe that Jesus loves you and died to save you, and that you would believe that He is the one! And the only one who can ever save you! From this world of sin suffering and death! You may wonder why we are using so many exclamation marks here? It’s because we want you to get it! We want you to get that if you believe that Jesus is the one, that you can have eternal life. If you trust in Him, if you believe in Him with all your heart mind and soul, and that He will finish the good work He started in you, then you will be saved! Philippians 1:6. We wish that someone had fully taught this to us years ago. It would have saved us so much heartache and grief! Perhaps if we had fully given ourselves to God then, we would have known without a doubt that He loved us, and would have really believed that Jesus His Son died to save us, and we would have had this joy that was impossible to hide. But no matter, He has revealed His love to us now and our life is so much the better. We don't want to go back to the way we used to live, of not really believing that Jesus was the one - the only one. And that He is well able to save us, if we trust in Him all the way.

Dear reader, why not trust in him all the way now? What do you have to lose? If you trust Him all the way, you'll be given the ability of knowing that He can save you, bad as you are, and you will stop worrying about whether you are good enough to be saved. And you will want to serve God and obey Him! And you'll have the power to obey Him too! This is our prayer for you, and for everyone who would come to the Fountain of Life. Drink, all who are thirsty! Drink from the Water of life, flowing freely from the throne of God, offered to you if you will take it. If you would accept it and drink to your heart's content, oh how can you not want to drink more and more? You will be changed and be filled with riches beyond measure, and you will have the priceless love and joy in your heart from your most blessed savior! He loves you and wants to save you!

Dear reader, do you believe that Jesus is the one? All the peace, joy and love an eternal life that you have longed for and more can be yours, if you truly believe in Him. If you find you are having trouble believing in Him, keep reading about His wonderful love and the plan of salvation in the Bible, starting in Genesis going all the way to Revelation, praying that He will help you, and learn to devote yourself to Him, then this blessing will overtake you.

It's not about how smart you are, or how strong you are, or how good you are. It's about believing in Jesus. It's about believing that He is the one! The only one! The one who loves you and died to save you! There, we did it again! We're using exclamation marks again because we want you to get it dear reader! Whenever this happens to you, no one will have to tell you that a wonderful change is taking place in your life because you will know it. I know how happy you'll be! Oh how happy you will be to belong to Him! Then when Jesus comes in the clouds with great glory you won't shrink back in fear from your Lord whom you love! Hebrews 10:39; Isaiah 25:9. Oh no! You will say this is my God whom I have waited for, and He has come to take me home! I knew that He loved me and I love Him. I knew that He was going to save me! I knew this because He told me so – yes, He told me so! I knew He would come back to take me home like He promised! John 14:1-3.

May the grace of God be with you all!

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Lessons on Faith: Part 4 of 14: Depend on the word of God to do what it says

By A. T. Jones

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Faith is the depending upon the word of God only, and expecting that word only to do what the word says.

Justification by faith, then, is justification by depending upon the word of God only and expecting that word only to accomplish it. 

Justification by faith is righteousness by faith, for justification is the being declared righteous. 

Faith comes by the word of God. Justification by faith, then, is justification that comes by the word of God.  Righteousness by faith is righteousness that comes by the word of God. 

The word of God is self-fulfilling, for in creating all things, "he spake and it was." And when He was on earth, He stilled the raging sea, cleansed the lepers, healed the sick, raised the dead, and forgave sins, all by His word: there, too, "he spake, and it was." 

Now the same One who, in creating, "spake, and it was", the same One who said, "Let there be light, and there was light," the same One who on earth spoke "the word only," and the sick were healed, the lepers were cleansed, and the dead lived -- this same One speaks the righteousness of God unto and upon all that believe. 

For though all have sinned and come short of the righteousness of God, yet we are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth . . . to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." 

In creating all things in the beginning, God set forth Christ to declare the word which should cause all things to exist. Christ did speak the word only, and all things were. And in redemption, which is creation over again, God set forth Christ to declare the word of righteousness. And when Christ speaks the word only, it is so. His word, whether in creating or in redeeming, is the same. 

"The worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Once there were no worlds, nor was there any of the material which now composes the worlds. God set forth Christ to declare the word which should produce the worlds, and the very material of which they should be composed. 

"He spake, and it was." Before He spoke, there were no worlds; after He spoke, the worlds were there. Thus the word of God spoken by Jesus Christ is able to cause that to exist which has no existence before the word is spoken, and which, except for that word, never could have existence.

 

In this same way precisely it is in man's life. In man's life there is no righteousness. In man there is no righteousness from which righteousness can appear in his life. But God has set forth Christ to declare righteousness unto and upon man. Christ has spoken the word only, and in the darkened void of man's life there is righteousness to everyone who will receive it. Where, before the word is received, there was neither righteousness nor anything which could possibly produce righteousness, after the word is received, there is perfect righteousness and the very Fountain from which it springs. The word of God received by faith -- that is, the word of God expected to do what that word says and depended upon to do what it says -- produces righteousness in the man and in the life where there never was any before; precisely as, in the original creation,  the word of God produced worlds where there never were any worlds before. He has spoken, and it is so to everyone that believeth: that is, to every one that receiveth. The word itself produces it. 

"Therefore being justified (made righteous) by faith (by expecting and depending upon the word of God only) we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1. That is so, bless the Lord! And feeding upon this blessed thing is cultivating faith. 

RH Jan. 17, 1899

By A. T. Jones in the Review and Herald periodical in 1899.

Blog Edited by John Foll.

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