If Jesus isn't Leading You, He isn't Saving You
If Jesus isn't leading you, He isn't saving you...
John 3:14 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The word translated "believe" in this passage is the Greek word "pisteuo" (G4100). Pisteuo means more than believing something is true or exists. It means to "entrust something (in this case Salvation) to someone." In this context, 'Believe' means Believe Jesus can save you by His leadership.
Salvation, in the context of the Bible, is about leadership.
Leadership, or looking to someone...studying their values and instructions
..to be saved... Is the point of the analogy of Moses raising up the serpent as a type of salvation in the Old Testament:
Numbers 21:7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
The sin of the people resulted in serpents attacking them. Seeing the serpent raised up saved them. Jesus chose this analogy to describe what it means to believe, or pisteuo, Him.
Salvation requires truly seeing our sin in light of Jesus' perfection. That he BECAME sin for us displays His perfect leadership. He took our pain. He bore our punishment for our own selfishness, fear, and pride and the multitude of sins they produce.
If you 'believe' in Jesus, it means you embrace the sometimes-hard-to-feel truth that His heart, as expressed in His commandments, is entirely toward you. You look to Him and study His life and heart, that you might accept His leadership and be saved.
This requires admitting your sin and coming out of it over time. That was the point of Moses' serpent in the desert: admitting it was their sin that produced the serpents, by being willing to look the pain straight on, looking to the serpent, gave them freedom from the pain. It's about truth.
The rest of John 3 lays this out clearly. If you simply insert the phrase "trust Jesus' leadership for salvation" where the Bible says believe, it becomes clear what salvation is about:
John 3:17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who (trusts Jesus' leadership for salvation) is not condemned; but he who does not (trust Jesus' leadership for salvation) is condemned already, because he has not (trusted in the leadership of) the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
2 Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
It's more than a one-time prayer of believing something is true. It's a lifetime of saying yes to the leadership of Jesus in real time believing that is the only way out of the mess we are in. Looking to Him regularly, seeing ourselves in His light, and getting free of the pain of our own sin. Anyone can do this. It begins and ends with taking to Jesus and being honest, then studying His life and heart and seeing more of how different we are from Him and letting Him lead us to be more like Him!
Bless you.
John 3:14 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 “that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The word translated "believe" in this passage is the Greek word "pisteuo" (G4100). Pisteuo means more than believing something is true or exists. It means to "entrust something (in this case Salvation) to someone." In this context, 'Believe' means Believe Jesus can save you by His leadership.
Salvation, in the context of the Bible, is about leadership.
Leadership, or looking to someone...studying their values and instructions
..to be saved... Is the point of the analogy of Moses raising up the serpent as a type of salvation in the Old Testament:
Numbers 21:7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”
9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
The sin of the people resulted in serpents attacking them. Seeing the serpent raised up saved them. Jesus chose this analogy to describe what it means to believe, or pisteuo, Him.
Salvation requires truly seeing our sin in light of Jesus' perfection. That he BECAME sin for us displays His perfect leadership. He took our pain. He bore our punishment for our own selfishness, fear, and pride and the multitude of sins they produce.
If you 'believe' in Jesus, it means you embrace the sometimes-hard-to-feel truth that His heart, as expressed in His commandments, is entirely toward you. You look to Him and study His life and heart, that you might accept His leadership and be saved.
This requires admitting your sin and coming out of it over time. That was the point of Moses' serpent in the desert: admitting it was their sin that produced the serpents, by being willing to look the pain straight on, looking to the serpent, gave them freedom from the pain. It's about truth.
The rest of John 3 lays this out clearly. If you simply insert the phrase "trust Jesus' leadership for salvation" where the Bible says believe, it becomes clear what salvation is about:
John 3:17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who (trusts Jesus' leadership for salvation) is not condemned; but he who does not (trust Jesus' leadership for salvation) is condemned already, because he has not (trusted in the leadership of) the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Salvation means admitting our sin produces our own trouble, turning from it, and trusting in the better way of life Jesus demonstrates to us. Simply, it means being honest with Jesus about our junk and looking to Him, by seeing Him, listening to Him, learning to hear Him, and then obeying His leadership as He makes us like Him. There is no other salvation.
2 Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
It's more than a one-time prayer of believing something is true. It's a lifetime of saying yes to the leadership of Jesus in real time believing that is the only way out of the mess we are in. Looking to Him regularly, seeing ourselves in His light, and getting free of the pain of our own sin. Anyone can do this. It begins and ends with taking to Jesus and being honest, then studying His life and heart and seeing more of how different we are from Him and letting Him lead us to be more like Him!
Bless you.
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