"If you knew the gift..." 06-13-26                        

Introduction

"The Gospel of John was written to persuade people to believe in Jesus" 

The Purpose of This Book

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. 

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Jn 20:30–31.

I copied and pasted the first sentence of the "Introduction to the Gospel of John" from the ESV version of the Bible on the Logos software platform. That sentence, in essence covers the content of my entire post.The purpose of John is to tell people how to be born again.

Look at these Scriptures.

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.

 Jn 3:16.

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. 

 Jn 5:24.

47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life

 Jn 6:47.

 

 Do you see a trend here? The Apostle John uses the word "Believe" 53 times in His Gospel."Believed" is used 27 times,"Believes"is used 15 times.Finally"Believing" is used twice.

 

 I believe the Apostle is trying to tell us something here.What's that Ronnie? Just this.The way to be born again,the way to go to heaven, the way to get saved(does that cover all the ways we put it? lol.The actual legal term is to be justified.That's another post. )The way to ETERNAL LIFE is to believe.That's it! Simply to believe.... BELIEVE!

 

 Ronnie,that's too easy.That's not enough.We have to do more.IT CAN'T BE THAT EASY! The terms used to express those arguments are"easy believism""cheap grace""license to sin"etc.,etc., 

 

 My response to those arguments is simple.As one preacher put it,"it is so simple a five year old can understand it."God had to make it EASY for us or none of us would have made it! (smile)

 

 Listen,in this post I only have one technical concept to offer.Hear me out please.Look at this.

 

 35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—

 Jn 10:35.

 

 When Jesus spoke those words,"and Scripture cannot be broken,"He was saying something about the nature of Scripture.Jesus was saying that Scripture was infallible.It cannot be altered.There is no internal conflict or contradiction.

 

 So,without diving in, we can conclude one truth.Scripture does not contradict itself.You ever hear someone say that? Me too.lol

 

 Listen VERY carefully.If the Scripture says "...whoever believes has eternal life" that Scripture can not be altered, nor will it contradict itself.There will be a harmony.

 So,when you come across a Scripture that appears to say something else(and you will)what do you do? That also is another post. 

 

Let's move on.

 

Have you ever thought about what it means to "believe in Jesus?"

We say it all the time."Ya gotta believe" 

Well,just WHAT do you have to believe?

 

Here is my take on that.

When you look up what is it that you see? If you said "the sky" you are absolutely right!Why do you believe that? My bet is that one day long ago,you asked mommy or daddy what was that up there? And they told you that it was the sky.Now,today whenever you look up,you are looking at the sky.You have been persuaded that what you were told is true.You have head knowledge.Same thing with the clouds, sun, moon, stars etc.,etc.

You are convinced those entities are exactly what you have been told.Those are the FACTS.The sun is that yellow, hot ball.The moon is the cool ball in the night sky.The stars are the barely visible lights in the same night sky.The clouds are those white fluffy things or dark menacing things that are in the space that we call the sky. You are persuaded that those observations are true.Those are the FACTS.You have head knowledge.

You are simply persuaded those observations are true. THAT, dear reader,is the essence of Biblical belief.

Now that we know WHAT belief is, and we know WHO we have to believe in.... just WHAT is it that we have to believe? What is the content of our faith?

  

Let's take a look.In the fourth chapter of John,the Lord Jesus makes a statement to a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Look at this.

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Jn 4:10.

Then Jesus said this.

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jn 4:13–14.

Finally,the clincher.

25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” 

 Jn 4:25–26.

Jesus said "if you knew the gift of God...?"

 

What is the "gift of God?" In John 4 Jesus describes it as "living water." As we read the Gospel further,Jesus will give us a fuller explanation of the gift. Look at this.

21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Jn 11:20–27.

 

In this conversation with Martha,Jesus elaborates on the conversation with the Samaritan woman.

 

In chapter 4,at the very end,Jesus declared to the Samaritan woman that He was the Messiah(4:25-26)

 

Here with Martha He declares that He is the resurrection and the life.He goes further and says that whoever believes this will never die.Even if someone dies they will live.He then says that He is that life.He has life in Him(John Chapter 1)and whoever believes this promise of eternal life has eternal life.(Chapter 3)

After explaining this to Martha,He asks her a question."DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?" Martha's answer is instructive.She basically quotes 20:31(the purpose statement of John's Gospel) before the Apostle wrote it.Compare her reply(11:27) with the purpose statement of the Book.(20:31)

 

Listen folks the saving message has not changed since the Garden of Eden.Old Testament saints got saved the same way New Testament saints did and still do get saved.Grace alone through faith alone.It hasn't changed.

 

The only thing that changed is the content of their faith.What Old Testament saints had to believe was different from what we, as New Testament saints have to believe. Jesus wasn't walking around in Old Testament Israel. They didn't know about Jesus.The content of their faith was different. But,BUT,salvation was still by faith.All they had to do was believe.

 

 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 

Ge 15:6.

This verse spoken to Abraham declared Abraham righteous.This was the moment that Abraham"got saved."What did Abraham "do" to get saved? BELIEVE.

Dwight Pentecost says that this verse above is the most important verse in the Bible.

Lots more to say but will stop here.

All we must do is believe.

God Bless.