Morning Meditations

"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."   John 3:36

It is only right to say that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone.  This means that God shows His grace to us so that we might now have the ability to have faith in Christ.  So often however, this is where the proclamation stops and yet James tells us that faith without works is dead.  This is the core of the argument between legalism and cheap grace.  Here we actually have the words of Christ to clarify.

He says if we believe we have eternal life.  This seems fairly straight forward but that is not the whole of the thought.  Jesus continues by saying if we do not obey Him then we will not have eternal life but the wrath of God instead. This statement as a whole is Jesus connecting true belief to obedience that flows from that belief.  He doesn't leave room for wiggling out of belief or out of obedience.  They are one.  

In John 14:15  Jesus says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."  In the same chapter in verses 21 He says, "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” Again just a few verses later He says, "“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me."

Jesus never leaves any other option except that belief in Him and a true love for Him is manifested by keeping His word and His commands.  Likewise a false belief and false love for Christ is manifested by not keeping His word and His commands. It is very beneficial for us to note that the one disciple asking Jesus the questions is the one whom is the false convert, the traitor Judas Iscariot.  All of these truths Jesus spoke clearly to Judas and yet his heart remained unchanged. 

We should be sobered by this word and this reality. We must examine our lives, our hearts and our minds.  Do we love Christ? The answer lies in our obedience to Him.  Do we believe in Him as Lord?  The answer lies in our submission to His word.  All other roads lead to trading Him in for just a few pieces of silver.