In the eighth chapter of the Apostle John’s Gospel we find Jesus of Nazareth talking with two groups of Jews in Jerusalem’s Temple complex.  After debating with a contingent of scribes and Pharisees He then turned His attention to the others within the large crowd.  We pick up the narrative in verse 30 where we are told that, after hearing His comments, many of the Jews “BELIEVED IN HIM.”  They believed what He had said about Himself in verse 12 where He had said: “I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me will not walk in darkness (will not sin), but will have the light (Words) of life” (within him).  That His Words bring life (if obeyed) is revealed in John 6:68 where the Apostle Peter says to Him: “You have the WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE.”  Recall also that Jesus would later tell the disciples that they were the “light of the world” (Mat. 5:14) because they would carry His Words to the nations.  In Proverbs 23:7 we are told that “as a man thinks in his heart, so he is.”  Jesus thought constantly on the Father’s Words, making Him life-giving light.  In John 12:35,36 He tells the disciples that He will soon leave them.  Therefore, they must also think continuously on their Father’s Words and thereby become life-giving light.  Jesus identified with the light (Words) He spoke.  JESUS AND HIS (GOD’S) WORDS  (LIGHT) ARE ONE AND THE SAME.  He was the light (Word) made flesh (Jn. 1:1-4, 14).  His true disciples are also the Word made flesh.                                                                                                                                   As we will see, believing IN Jesus the person and what He did does not make the believer His disciple (follower).  Faith (belief) in Him is only the first step toward eventual salvation.  Read Hope and Salvation.  Key word–Hope.  Faith is taking God at His Word.  Satan has more faith than most church people.  Unlike most church people, he not only knows God’s Word, He knows it is true.                                                                                                                                                                             In verse 30 we are told that, after hearing Jesus speak, “MANY BELIEVED IN HIM.”  In verse 31 and 32 He speaks to those believers.  What He says to them separates sheep from goats, pretenders from contenders, wheat from tares.  He said: “IF you (who believe in Me) continue in (obey) My Word (Gospel/Law/Truth), THEN (and only then) you will be My disciples INDEED (truly).  And you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.”  It is absolutely essential that salvation seekers hear and believe what Jesus says to them.  Billions of people WHO BELIEVE IN HIM totally reject what He says to all believers in verses 34-47.                                             In verses 33, 39 and 41 the Jews made their case for being right with God.  They claimed that, because they were children of the patriarch Abraham and had never been in bondage to anyone, they were automatically children of God and in good standing with Him.  Here is where the modern day church person spiritually joins with those ancient Jews.  The modern (Laodicean era) church member claims an ancestral connection with God because their ancestors have been Christians for generations.  They have been “in church” all of their lives, accepted Jesus as their Savior and are saved/born again and baptized.  Therefore they are true Christians and do not need to do anything else to retain that status.  Listen to what Jesus says to them in Revelation 3:14-22 where He is addressing the modern day (Laodicean era) church: “I stand at the door (of your heart) and knock.”  Note that He is outside, not inside the heart of those who BELIEVE IN HIM, TAKE HIM AS THEIR SAVIOR, ETC.  Read Revelation 3:14-22 for His full evaluation of the end-time church of today.                                                                                                                                                The Jews then question Him about being made free.  They remind Him that they have never been slaves to anyone.  Listen to His Words to them.  “Whosoever commits sin (breaks His Law) is the servant (slave) of sin.  The (sinning) servant (church member) will not remain in the church forever, but a true (obedient) son of God will remain forever.”  In Matthew 25 we are told the parable of the ten virgins (church members).  All ten were called “virgins” (Christians).  All ten of them “knew” that they were saved and would marry the Bridegroom (Jesus) upon His return.  All ten of them believed in Him, took Him as their Savior, were baptized, etc.  But was the fix in for them?  No.  Five of them had stopped obeying His Words.  Though still “virgins,” five of them would not be allowed into the wedding feast.  No amount of last-minute actions could change the outcome of their sins.  In verse 36 Jesus told those Jews WHO BELIEVED IN HIM that He could set them free from sin indeed (in reality).  Recall that in Matthew 15:9 Jesus speaks about such people, saying: “In vain they do worship Me ….”  He will reject them because they did not obey Him.                                                                                                                                                                                In John 8:33, 39 and 41 the Jews reminded Him that they were Abrahams’s (biological) seed and therefore children of God.  Jesus told them that they must become spiritual children of Abraham by obeying Him (Jesus) as did Abraham.  Read The God of the Old Testament.  Key word–Old.  Jesus told them (and us) that if they continued to sin they would continue to be children of Satan.                                                                                                                                                         In verse 42 Jesus makes a statement that is misunderstood by billions of people.  Here He tells us says that we must LOVE HIM in order to be God’s children.  All within professing Christendom claim to love Him.  But do they?  Jesus said that there is only one way to prove our love for Him–by keeping His Ten Commandments, including #4 (Jn. 14:15,23; 15:10/1 Jn. 2:5–read these verses carefully).  However, according to the church, those commandments (a condensed version of God’s Law) were supposedly nailed to His cross.  In verse 42 Jesus tells us that we must love Him (obey His Law) in order to prove that God is our Father.  Because she refuses to hear and obey His Words, the Institutional Church has taken Satan as her father (vss 38,41,44).  Jesus spoke what God said to Him (vs 28,38), therefore, when she rejects His (Jesus’) Words she rejects God’s Words, thereby proving that she DESPISES THEM BOTH (Lk. 10:16).                                             Jesus makes it clear that believing in Him and what He did on the cross will neither convert  nor save a believer.  Believers must obey the Words (Law) of God and Christ in order to be converted.  Those who remain in that spiritual condition until the end of life will be saved at the return of Christ to earth.  Read Roman 5:21 and 6:22.  Remember the five foolish virgins.                       Notice that the Jews who “believed in Him” within minutes of believing were saying that He had a devil (vs 48,52) and were picking up stones with which to kill stone Him.  Why?  Because He told them that they had to do the WORKS of obedience, that simply believing in Him, going to the Temple, listening to the Law being read was not enough.  Nothing has changed.  The only difference is that our social law prevents church people from stoning those who tell them God’s Truth.  As the Apostle James tells us in 2:10,14,17, “faith without works (obedience) is dead” and cannot save the believer.  Religious people reject that Truth.                                                                           God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34).  What He says to one He says to all.  The Old Testament was written to, for and about the Israelites.  The only time Gentiles are mentioned is when they came into contact with Israel.  The New Testament was written to, for and about the church which is comprised of spiritual Israelites (Gal. 6:16).  When the writers wrote about sin, they were referring to sin among Israelites (Old Testament) and sin among church people (New Testament).  We must always remember this Truth when studying the Holy Scriptures.  As Peter reminds us, within the church, “only the righteous will be saved, and they just barely” (2 Pet. 1 Pet. 4:17,18).  Let us walk in the righteousness of God’s Word.  Let us do the works God requires of us.  L.J.