Whosoever Believes

(Article for publication week of 11-28- AD 2013)

“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of Him” (I John 5:1).

As we continue our study of the doctrine of saving faith, we notice again that big word “whosoever.” As we wrote last week, “whosoever” is big enough and inclusive enough to include you if you will repent of your sins and trust in Christ alone for your eternal salvation. My Lord has commissioned me to preach the gospel to every rational creature that I can get to listen. And so I declare the truth of the Bible to you that whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, as my text says, is born of God, and to be born of God is to be saved. Now dear reader, you have no excuse to reject the gospel message as long as the Bible says “whosoever believes.” And you have no reason to despair of being saved, as long as it is written, “whosoever.” Don’t you just love this word “whosoever”? Why, it tells me that I am one of the “whosoever’, and though my sins are as black as the hinges on hell’s doorpost, I may come to Christ and be saved. And it tells us as a church that we may preach the gospel to the whole world, and invite sinners everywhere and in every condition to come to Christ. That is a wide-open gospel, and I rejoice to believe it and declare it to all who will listen.

Now, some of you who read the Narrow Way regularly, and know that your humble columnist is a High Calvinist, may wonder how it is that we forcefully declare the doctrine of unconditional election, and also invite the whole world to come to Christ. Well, I will tell you what Charles Spurgeon said. There is a large banner over the door of salvation, and it is written upon it,” whosever will may come.” And that is all a poor lost sinner needs to know. After a sinner has entered into salvation, he may look back and see written on the backside of that large banner, “elected and predestinated”! As we pointed out from Acts 13:48 recently, every elect person will come to faith in Christ, and as sure as a sinner puts his trust in Christ, he may be assured that he was ordained to salvation from before the foundation of the world.

And notice here in I John 5:1 that same truth. For our text says that whosoever believes in the Christ of the Bible “is” born of God. Don’t you see, the new birth precedes a sinner believing in Christ. Our text tells us why some sinners will believe and others will not. It is because of regenerating grace. It is no surprise to God when a sinner comes to faith in Christ, for He sends His Blessed Holy Spirit with all His quickening powers into the heart of every heir of promise chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the world. Every chosen one for whom Christ died will be effectually called to saving faith in Christ. “There is a period known to God, when all His sheep redeemed by blood, Shall quit the hateful ways of sin, turn to the fold and enter in” (John Kent, Gadsby’s Hymnal #76).

I invite all of you my dear readers to quit the ways of sin, and believe in Christ today to the salvation your poor soul. May the Holy Spirit draw you to Christ, for whosoever believes in Him is saved and born again.

Whosoever Believeth

(Article for publication week of 11-20- AD 2013)

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life”(John 3:16).

Lord willing we will be considering the subject of saving faith for the next several weeks (perhaps months). I know of no better place to start than John 3:16. Some have called this verse “the little Bible” for it contains so much truth and so many cardinal doctrines in a short verse. John 3:16 no doubt has been used of the Lord in millions of conversions, and perhaps He will be pleased to use it in millions more. I pray he will use it to convert some of you even as we send out the Narrow Way.

To set the verse in context, we must go back to the beginning of John 3 and see that verse 16 is a continuance of our Lord’s meeting with Nicodemus. He began by telling him of the necessity of regeneration and then began to tell him of the evidence of regeneration. This is fundamental to our understanding of John 3:16. When we look at the whole passage from verse one through John 3:16 we will see that regeneration precedes faith (see also John 1:12-13). This is an important doctrinal point that we shall consider in detail later. But for this week, rather than trying to plumb the depths of the doctrine of regeneration we simply wish to see the glorious truth that whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is saved with an everlasting salvation.

Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way that salvation comes to sinners. Now that is what the Bible says. God has not ordained any other way for a sinner to be saved except by a true and living faith in the Eternal Son of God. You cannot be saved by your good works, for the best of your noble deeds are filthy rags in the sight of God. You cannot be saved by just hoping in the mercy of God. There are many people who are making that fatal mistake. They hear of the mercy and love of God and they suppose that God will in the end just have mercy upon them because He loves them too much to send them to hell. No my friend, do not make that fatal mistake. You cannot be saved any other way than by God’s grace which comes to a poor sinner by faith alone.

Now let us be sure that we understand that saving faith is in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our text says, “whosoever believeth in HIM”, that is the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the eternal Son of God. Saving faith is not believing in some “deity” of your choice. It is believing in the Christ of John 3:16, the Christ of the Bible. “There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). You must believe in God’s coequal and eternal Son that He gave to be the savior of sinners. You must believe in the Christ Who died on a cross as a Substitute for all who would believe in Him. You must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead the third day and has ascended to His rightful Throne in heaven.

And John 3:16 says that “whosoever” believes in the Lord Jesus Christ has eternal life. Whosoever reaches to the four corners of God’s green earth. It reaches to the very depths of depravity. The gospel message reaches to the most vile. John 3:16 reaches to the uttermost and to the “guttermost” as someone has said. The whosoever of my text reaches to the very young and the very old. It reaches to the rich and the poor. It reaches to kings and to peasants. It reaches to masters and to slaves. Whosoever is a mighty big word and it reaches to you my dear reader if you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.