Believe it or Not!

Ripley’s believe it or not

Did you know that in a deck of playing cards, the King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache? But he carries a sword. You can believe it or not.

Did you know that a snail has over 14,000 very hard microscopic teeth? You can believe it or not.

Did you know that an average cumulus cloud weighs approximately 1.1 million pounds and an average storm cloud weighs over 105 million pounds? You can believe it or not

Did you know that in 1859, an English settler in Australia released 24 rabbits onto his property and by 1920 the rabbit population reached approximately 10 billion? That one might not be so hard to believe.

Belief. There are all kinds of things to believe or not believe.

When I was in flight school, I had a classmate who believed that the United States never put a man on the moon. He thought it was all a big hoax.

As information becomes more and more readily accessible, I think we are having more and more trouble knowing exactly what to believe. There is such an overload of information out there. Much of it partially true, some of it blatantly false. We don’t know what sources to trust and and what sources to discount.

And fortunately, there are things that we can choose to believe or not believe that don’t have a serious bearing on your relationship with God. They may make people look at you funny, but in the light of eternity, they might not be that important.

But on a serious note, there is a belief which is absolutely crucial to being in right standing with God

We are still in . And I hope as we study this chapter, we are getting a better understanding of what is going on here. I want to emphasize again that the key to understanding this exchange between Jesus and Nic is to realize that Jesus is addressing the need of Nic’s heart.

Nic wants to be close to God. To enter the Kingdom of God

First, we looked at Nic’s need for a work of the Spirit

For rebirth

For cleansing

And now Jesus addresses the second part of entering the Kingdom of God. Belief.

Because for the work of the Spirit to take place, it

John 3:9–21 ESV

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 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. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

After Jesus told him all that He did about the work of the Spirit, Nic still doesn’t quite get it.

“How can these things be?”, he asks.

Jesus kind of scolds him gently: “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand?”

I’m talking to you about things that you can’t possibly hope to explain: heavenly things.

What I’m asking of you is to believe.

As John is about to wrap up his story of Jesus, he discloses his reason for telling the story.

John 20:30–31 ESV

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 20:30-31

So we know that what we believe must be a major concern of John’s

Belief: A major theme in the book of John

His aim is that by the time you get done with this book, you will believe.

Believe: occurs 54 times

Believes: 15 times

=70+ times

Believe, Believe, Believe

Here is the question: Do you agree, or do you believe?

AGREE : to accept or concede something (such as the views or wishes of another)agree to a plan

BELIEVE : to accept something as true, genuine, or real

to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of something

Agreement: it’s a mental process. It’s something that we work out ourselves. It’s something that we do in order to reduce tension between us.

AGREE

There are a lot of things that we can agree on:

Which is better, Chevy, Ford, or Dodge?

Who is better? The Buckeyes or the Hawkeyes?

What is better? Meat and potatoes or Italian food?

We can come to an agreement on these things. Basically agreeing to disagree.

But when the rubber hits the road, what are we going to do?

I like Dodge, but If I get a great deal on a Ford or a Chevy, I might just get one of those. See, maybe I don’t really BELEIVE that Dodge is the only way.

I have two vans, an old one with lots of rust and faded paint. and a newer one with no rust and all working components. The old rattletrap still runs great. I think that it even might get me safely to the east coast if I was to take it. The engine is still solid—doesn’t use oil. And the radio still works. But when it comes down to it, I’m going to take the newer one. See, maybe I don’t really BELIEVE that the old van will get me there.

Because BELIEF goes a lot deeper than agreement. Belief requires action.

Do you agree that God gave His Son?

Belief requires that I change something either in my thoughts or my actions. Or both. Because our thoughts often dictate how we will act.

Believe what? These things: all found in this passage

Believe in the Son of God.

That is, believe that Jesus really is the Son of God

That He came as God in the flesh

Believe that He loves the world.

Not just me, but the whole world

That includes my brother, my sister with whom I have had my differences

That includes the unreached people in the 10/40 window

Believe that His death brings eternal life

Believe that eternal life comes simply and only through believing

Believe that this is for “whoever”. It is for the world

And here’s the question that the Holy Spirit was asking me and convicting me with as I studied:

Do you agree, or do you believe?

Because I just agree, then I can go on with my life.

If I BELIEVE, then that demands something from me.

Now most of us would say that yes, I believe. I believe that I have eternal life and that it only comes through Jesus.

Anybody want to argue with that? No, I didn’t think so.

But that belief demands that we also BELIEVE that this eternal life is for whoever.

And that BELIEF should translate into action to make sure the “whoever” does believe and have eternal life

And let me assure you , I’m not implying that our salvation comes by works.

But our actions certainly testify to what we believe.

And BELIEF is where it starts:

In Chapter 6, Jesus is discussing with the Jews and challenges them to work for the food that endures to eternal life.

And they ask him, “What should we be doing to do the “works of God?”

And Jesus says, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one whom He has sent.”

That’s it. So simple, yet so profound. Because Jesus knows, and the people know that BELIEF requires action.

Out of belief we:

Live courageously because we believe that He is all-powerful and that He meant it when He said, “I will be with you always”

We love our brothers and sisters because we believe that He gave us the perfect example of sacrificial love and that He meant it when He said, “Love one another as I have loved you”

We spread the good news of the Gospel because we believe that He died so that “whoever” could be saved and that he gave the command to go into all the world

Because Jesus goes on to say to Nic that lack of belief brings condemnation. Because out of that lack of belief, we do works which we would rather keep hidden.

We do works that we are ashamed of.

So here is the question again:

Do I agree that Jesus is true?

Or do I BELIEVE that Jesus is true and that He is the Son of God?

Do I believe it? If I really believe it, then why isn’t that message better lived out? Why don’t others know that I believe it?

Heidi and I were talking about prayer the other day.

Same question:

Do yo agree that there is life in Him?

Or do you BELIEVE that there is power in prayer?

If we say that we believe it, why doesn’t it translate into action? Why aren’t we fervent in prayer?

Why is it just a passing thing for us? Why is it something that we only have a couple minutes a day for ?

Do you agree, or do you believe?

Do you agree that all you have to do to access that life is believe