Confess and Believe (John 3:31-36)

Today's scripture: John 3:31-36

In so many ways, the gospel is so simple. If we believe in the Son, we will have eternal life. Jesus came to earth to proclaim the truth we read about a couple of days ago: God loved us so very much, He sent His Son, part of the triune God, to earth to pay the penalty for our sins. When we accept the "free gift," we are graciously forgiven for our sin and mercifully given the assurance of eternal life.

Yet we've made this simple truth so complicated. We've made it more about how many good things we do. Too many seem to think that as long as the good outweighs the bad, we'll make it to heaven. But by whose standards? What defines good? And who balances the weight?

There's no way for us to determine good versus bad or how much good is done versus how much bad. We're not going to have to stand before God and justify what we did and how we deserve to be in heaven. No. As long as we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and have confessed our sins, we will enter God's kingdom.

Of course, what we do to serve God will factor into our eternal award, but I don't have time to get into that today. What matters is that we believe in Jesus. But not just believe because the Bible tells us that even the demons believe and shudder (James 2:19). We need to surrender our lives to God, willing to serve Him however He chooses. We need to strive to live to please Him in all we do, say, and think. We need to immerse ourselves in His word and spend time communing with Him in prayer.

We have the very testimony of Christ. We have His life story available. And we know the simple gospel message: confess our sins and believe—truly believe—on Him and we will be saved (Romans 10:9). We will spend eternity with Him.

Amen.