John 3:18
“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
What we decide to do with our life brings results. If we decide to follow Jesus we have life. If we neglect Jesus, or decide against Him we remain in judgement. It is the belief that moves us from the judgement and the domain of darkness to God's light. Colossians 1:13
John 3:36
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Belief and obedience are contrasted. Belief is not just an idea. To believe means we will act as well. To not believe with obedience results in our staying in the judgement that the world is under. We move into God's realm, His kingdom, when we obey.
John 4:21
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
Jesus is saying that His statement is true. We should accept what Jesus says as the truth.
John 4:42
and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Testimony will bring a person to Jesus. As they learn from Him their belief will be solidified into a stronger belief.
John 4:48
So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”
In John there were 7 signs:
Changing water into wine at Cana in John 2:1-11 - "the first of the signs"
Healing the royal official's son in Capernaum in John 4:46-54
Healing the paralytic at Bethesda in John 5:1-15
Feeding the 5000 in John 6:5-14
Jesus walking on water in John 6:16-24
Healing the man blind from birth in John 9:1-7
The raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-45
People won't believe, if their heart is set against it. So let us soften our heart before God so we will be able to believe. We speak what is on our heart. Listen to what you are saying. Do you speak belief or unbelief?
Next post in this series.
God shows up in creation where we live, and in the Bible where we first began to believe.
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