Have I truly understood that true saving belief in Christ is evidenced by obedience to His words and not just intellectual belief in His name or person? 

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19   This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

INSIGHT: God’s love to us as sinners is totally unexplainable and indescribable.  The farther I get down this road with Christ, and the more I have come to see the filth of human nature, the more perplexed I am as to why God has ever loved us like He does.  The truth of God’s love in John 3:16 is the only reason any of us are here today as followers of Jesus Christ, having the privilege to read and understand His words, which are life and spirit to those He chooses.

Nevertheless, John 3:16 is also one of the most dangerous verses in the entire Bible because people read it and believe it as a standalone doctrine for saving faith.  As a stand-alone verse, it has caused many to think they can be saved by intellectual belief alone, apart from turning from all sin (repenting) and turning to Christ as their Master to obey His will. 

Even Muslims believe in Jesus, but to have a saving belief in Him, is to also believe His teachings and His Lordship over your new life in Him.  Could we imagine getting paid at work simply by believing that our boss existed, apart from doing what he tells us to do?   The boss would tell us that our belief was dead, perhaps even a sign of mental illness, and that we’ll be fired soon if we don’t add some action to it.

Based on this perverted view of John 3:16, many professing “Christians” should believe the demons will be saved.  They too believe in Jesus and regularly profess Him to be the Son of God when they encounter Him.  They believe in Him just like Christians do, so what’s missing?  They do not have a faith in Him, which is rooted in love for the forgiveness of their sins, or a faith which produces obedience to Him as their living Lord and King. 

Satan has deceived the whole world with a false understanding of John 3:16. Who wouldn’t love a false “Jesus” who makes no demands on your sinful life, requires no sacrificial love or obedience, but instead says, “Don’t worry about stopping your sin or suffering to do my will (that’s salvation by works), instead just enjoy your unchanged worldly life in peace because I did it all.  Because you simply believe I exist, I look the other way on all your sin and rebellion against me, after all you are only “human”.  The work I did on the cross was not to save you from continuing in sin but was to blind my Father’s Justice from seeing it!  With Satan’s twisted view of John 3:16, should we wonder how the gate which leads to destruction got so wide, and why so many enter through it?

Think of this from heaven’s perspective.  One man professes faith in Christ and gets very active in “church” activity.  He testifies that He believes in Jesus and has been forgiven his past sins, but he feels no need to learn and practice the actual teachings of Christ because his faith tells him, “Jesus did it all” and he’s now been “saved” simply by his “faith”.  A second man professes faith in Christ, but rather than jumping into the “church” activity or sharing his testimony all over the place, he quietly sets out to learn and apply the teachings of Jesus, feeling a deep sense of His Lordship over his life.  He reads Mat 6:14-16 and sees he needs to forgive some people, then Mat 6:24 and realizes he needs to stop serving money, rather than God.  His faith drives him to obey the teachings of Christ, even though they are so difficult for his natural man.  From heaven’s perspective, which one has the true faith, and which one will inherit eternal life? From God’s perspective, which one is your faith?