Truth seekers know God’s formula for Bible study as recorded in Isaiah 28:9,10.  In this passage the prophet tells us how to gain understanding and knowledge of God’s Word/way/Truth.  Speaking in the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21) he tells Truth seekers to study God’s Word “… precept upon (added to)  precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”  That amounts to a minimum of ten Scriptural references we are to examine relative to a specific subject.  However, religious people tend to read a statement (“headline”) one time and suddenly have all of the  “knowledge” and “understanding” they need on that subject.  They do not follow the directions of the Almighty Who tells us to search out and study the fine print which explains the headline.  Of all such “headlines” found in the Holy Scriptures, John 3:16 tops the list. Tens of thousands of sermons have been preached on the fact that “Jesus loves you and wants you to be saved.”  The second most used headline which billions have heard is: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved ….” (Acts 16:31).  However, no one searches out the fine print that explains the headline–a deadly omission as this website has proven many times.  GOD IS IN THE FINE PRINT.  Those who fail to study the fine print invariably miss the true meaning of the headline.  Satan is always there to provide a more user-friendly meaning.

An interesting aspect of the Isaiah passage is that the formula is repeated in verse 13.  As the following will show, when God repeats something it alerts us relative to the subject.  When the Pharaoh of Egypt had two dreams that proclaimed the same message, Joseph explained to him that when God repeats a message, in this case a warning about the immediate future, it means that the message will most assuredly and quickly come to fruition (Gen. 41:32).  Which is exactly what happened.  Several years ago the Lord gave me two identical visions in two days.  What He showed me came to pass about two weeks later.  However, not all “doubles” (my word) have an immediate manifestations. Many years ago I had two identical dreams on the same night.  The meaning of those dreams did not became evident for two decades.

One headline hunter, a relative near and dear to me, upon hearing me speak, said, “I know all I need to know.”  She knew John 3:16,17 and nothing more.  As a result she missed God’s point found in verses 18-21.  She went to her grave in that spiritual condition.  To the reader I counsel that if all you want are the headlines, go to church.  If you want the added fine print, stay tuned.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:13,14 that only a few would seek out the “precepts” and “lines,” a little “here” and a little “there” of His fine print.  Sadly, such people become low-hanging fruit for Satan.  Jesus later lamented in 22:14 that many would be called to do the research, but that few would be chosen for having done so.  Scriptural knowledge and ignorance, like holiness and sin, are choices.  Like Adam and Eve, we are free moral agents who “pack our own parachutes.”  How we land depends totally on us.  As Moses said to the nation of Israel after hearing God’s “obey and be blessed–disobey and be cursed” covenant recorded in the previous chapter: “… I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore CHOOSE LIFE that you may LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD, … OBEY HIS VOICE … AND CLING TO HIM ….” (Deut. 30:19).  Noting has changed.  The choice of blessing and cursing, life and death is ours to make.  The God Who spoke to Moses in chapter 28 is the same God Who became Jesus of Nazareth.  He is the God Who does not change.  See The God of the Old Testament currently found on page 150.  In the fine print God presents His caveat–in order to have eternal life we must LOVE HIM, OBEY HIS VOICE (WORD/LAW) AND CLING TO HIM.  There are no alternatives, no short-cuts, no excuses.  God’s covenant with man is black and white–obey it and live, disobey it and die.  Adam and Eve would attest to that Truth.

The difference between God’s version (with fine print) of John 3:16,17 and man’s version (no fine print) is the difference between Truth and wishful thinking, between light and darkness, between life and death.  Man tends to assume that because God loves man, that if man believes in Him, man is saved.  Not so.  To be saved man must prove that he loves God by obeying His Law (the Bible) that is summarized in the Ten Commandments.  Let us take the Lord’s Word for this Truth in the Scriptures that follow.  Jesus said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments (Jn. 14:15).  “If you will enter into (eternal) life, keep the commandments” (Mat. 9:17). “If you keep My commandments you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and (therefore) abide in His love” (Jn. 15:10).  Note it: As a man Jesus abode in God’s love BECAUSE He obeyed His commandments.  Contrary to popular opinion, church people are not closer to God than was Jesus as a man.  The Apostle John wrote: “For this is the love of (for) God, that we keep His commandments” (1 Jn. 5:3).  Admittedly, doing things the church way is much easier, takes no effort and draws no condemnation from other church members.  For this reason billions have chosen Satan’s more user-friendly “truth” relative to salvation.  Only those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will DO THE WORK (of obedience) so that God will fill them with righteousness which is necessary for salvation (Mat. 5:6).  Continuing to do the work of righteousness is required as the Apostle John tells us.  In 1 John 2:29; 3:7,10 we are told that “everyone who practices (does) righteousness is born of God; He who practices (does) righteousness is righteous, just as He (Christ) is righteous; whoever does not (do) righteousness is not of God.”  But righteousness is not the goal of the true saint of God for righteousness must evolve into a state of holiness which will result in salvation (Rom. 6:19-22).  Incredibly, over two billion so-called “sinners saved by grace” refute this holy statement, claiming that Christ’s grace automatically substitutes His righteousness for theirs, thereby freeing them to continue to sin and get away with it.  Grace, they claim, is their God-given license to sin (Jude 4).  If it is true, why did the Lord tell salvation seekers to “(YOU) Submit yourself to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from YOU” (Jam. 4:7)?  Notice that in order to be able to resist the devil, one must “submit to God” by obeying Him.  Because they do not submit to (obey) God, sin-loving chruchites admit that they cannot resist the devil.  They contend that Jesus knew this would be the case and died so that they would not have to resist him.  Filled with grace, Jesus resisted for them.  Their only obligation is to believe in Him.  I have a question for Christian sin excusists: Why did Jesus lie about this issue in James 4:7?  For that matter, why did He lie about obeying the Law? and about the Sabbath? and about observing Christmas and Easter, and about denominations, and about all those other things listed in the Introduction to this website?

The idea that God’s love and man’s belief (faith) in Him is all that is needed to receive salvation is put to rest by an episode recorded in Mark 10:17-22.  Here we find a wealthy man running up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and asking Him what he must do to be saved.  Jesus replied that he had to obey the commandments.  The man told Jesus that he had obeyed all ten of them from his youth. All this time Jesus was looking at him, talking to him and hearing his replies.  But when Jesus learned that he was a commandment (Law) keeper something changed: “THEN Jesus, beholding him, LOVED HIM.”  The man believed in Jesus and that He could tell him how to be saved.  But Christ’s love toward the man and the man’s faith in His Words were not enough.  The man had ONE SIN in his life that he refused to abandon.  That one sin separated him from God (Isa. 29:2) which prevented him from being saved.  The man had total faith in what Jesus said, and therefore went away sad.  The irony is that church people have no faith in His Word and go away glad.