"And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?" (John 11:26 KJV)
"O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer! From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me. Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings!" (Psalm 61:1-4 NLT)
Looking at this question, "Believeth thou this?", it is really not a question about the actual truth to the never die part of that statement, because in reality, knowing what we know about His resurrection from the grave, it is pretty obvious that He defeated death! No, this is about the simplicity of believing in Jesus for having given us, meaning you and I, that eternal life freely!
Let me try to explain what I mean, because this really gets twisted and overlooked, pretty much in most everyone's life, at certain times of their lives. There are two very important factors that cause us to have doubts about this salvation we have been given, having a sinful nature is one of them; the other is the doubt!
Are those two connected? Maybe, sometimes that is the case; but not always, because doubt can be brought on by so many different factors, and sometimes, just by imaginations and fear; something that is part of just being human. Really something that is hard to avoid, even for the greatest of God's saints!
Truth be told, we live in two worlds at once; one is simply surviving here on earth, and the other in the power of God's Spirit, which overcomes the weakness and frailty of this flesh, if and when we are walking in the Spirit. God's Spirit is in us, those that have believed upon the saving grace of Christ, so there is no denying that He is there and that He is our helper; but we deny ourselves worthy of the supernatural power that the Helper provides!
These things are hard to talk about, because they are only realized by living them out; and even then, they are not things that you continually live in, because we never as strong as we think we are, and sooner or later we fall or stumble. But it is never about us! It is about what Christ Jesus has done for us; what He is doing for us now; and what He will do for us, when the doing is done...
"So Christ has truly set you free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery of the law. Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I'll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from grace. But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love." (Galatians 5:1-6 NLT)
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