Page 11 - True Gospel Evangelism

D. John 6:47, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlast-

ing life." You show me someone who believes on Jesus and I will show you someone
who already has everlasting life.

E. John 8:43, 47, "Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot
hear my word." "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not,
because ye are not of God." Clearly, you must first be of God (born again) before you
can hear God's words (gospel).

F. John 10:26-28, "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said
unto you. My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me: And I give
unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them

out of my hand." In this passage the sheep are those to whom Christ gives eternal life.
Those who are not given eternal life do not believe. Only those who are given eternal
life believe, thus belief is the evidence of the fact that God has given us eternal life
(new birth).

G. John 13:37, 38, "But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they
believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which
he spake, Lord who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord

been revealed?" It is not the miracles we see with our natural eyes that enable or
entice us to believe, but it is the miracle performed within us (new birth) that enables
or causes us to believe. God must first cause us to be born again (reveal his holy arm
<strength> within us) and then we can "believe the report."

H. 1 John 5:1, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." Once
again, "believeth" is in the present tense and "is born" is in the past tense, thus again
showing us that the new birth precedes belief and in this case "belief that Jesus is the

Christ."

Plainly it can be seen from the several verses quoted that John taught that the new
birth comes before belief. Thus the question should be asked, "What then does John
3:16 teach?" One thing it teaches us is the eternal security of the believer. Believing

doesn't cause us to get eternal life, but Christ died that we may have eternal life.
Since eternal life (new birth) precedes believing, then I may conclude that any person
that believes already has eternal life and that Christ died for them in order that they

may have eternal life.

Next, we will examine the concept of accepting Jesus as our personal Savior and dis-
tinguish between receiving and accepting.