John 3:16 | Have You Been Deceived?

John 3:16 may be the most quoted verse in Christianity...but what if many people have misunderstood what Jesus was actually saying?

In this episode, Codie confronts one of the most dangerous deceptions in the modern church. What if we’ve misunderstood something foundational about salvation?

This episode is not soft or meant to comfort the flesh.

It is a wake-up call.

If you’ve ever wondered:

“Am I truly saved?”

“Am I truly following Jesus?”

“Could I be deceived and not know it?”

…then this episode will confront, challenge, and awaken you.

This episode will challenge the way many people view salvation, holiness, repentance, and the narrow road Jesus spoke of.

Listen prayerfully.

This conversation will change eternity for someone.

Scriptures referenced:

John 3:16, Matthew 7, Ezekiel 36, Galatians 2 & 5, Romans 8

If this has encouraged you, challenged you, or helped strengthen your walk with Jesus, we invite you to partner with what God is doing through Global Footprints Ministries. Whether through prayer, becoming a monthly partner, sowing into the ministry, or simply reaching out for prayer and support, we would love to connect with you. Click the links below to give, follow, or submit a prayer request.

www.globalfootprintsministries.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey guys, alright, we are back for another podcast. So today I want to challenge you. Um, I want to go a little deeper into a scripture that I think we have just carelessly thrown around in the body of Christ. I don't believe that we understand the depth of the scripture. And to be honest, I believe that many are deceived actually by this scripture. Alright, I know you guys are gonna be like, what? As soon as I tell you what scripture it is, but it is John 3, 16. It says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Many of you can quote that scripture. Um, it's a very common scripture, it's one we see everywhere, but I truly believe that that scripture has deceived a lot of people, and it's not really the scripture. Let me clarify that. It's not really the word of God that has deceived people, but it's the way that the message is delivered by man, um, and it is the way it has been twisted by Satan to think people that they are walking into the gates of heaven when truly I believe some and majority of people who believe this uh deception through this scripture um and the way that it's been twisted by the church and the body of Christ are actually gonna be have a rude awakening when they stand before the Lord and He says, Depart from me, I never knew you. All right. So let's dig into this scripture again, John 3, 16. We can all quote it for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. I want to focus on two words in the scripture. Those two words are in him. Because I believe one of the greatest deceptions, like I said, in the modern church is that people think agreement with Jesus equals union with Jesus. We have really built this entire salvation message around believing, but many people never stop to ask themselves what it actually means to believe in him, not believe about him, not believe he existed, not believe he died, but believe and not believe he is the son of God, but believe in him. This is very important in the scripture, and we need to understand. I think a lot of us stop at believing, and we don't understand that this is a two-part scripture. If you look at every scripture, they are in different layers, they are in different depth. You need to actually dissect the entire scripture, and you need to pay attention to the wording that God used when he gives you a scripture, okay? Because we stop at believing and we think, oh, we're good. No, in him, do we actually understand what it means to be in him? Many people have settled for the knowledge of Jesus without ever entering into the depth and the death process required to actually become in Christ. The church has reduced salvation to a moment instead of a transformation. I'm gonna say that again. The church has reduced salvation to a moment instead of a transformation process. You'll hear things like raise your hand, repeat the prayer, walk to the altar. You know, people cry during worship, they even get baptized in water, they say, Oh, I invited Jesus into my heart. But let me ask you this: did your life actually change? Did your life actually change? That's the question nobody wants to ask anymore. Did your flesh die? Did your desires change? Did sin lose its grip on you? Did conviction become real to you? Did holiness begin to form in your life? Or did you simply have an emotional encounter without surrender? Because scripture says to not just be hearers of the word, but doers of the word, deceiving not just others, but it says deceiving ourselves. So it's not, it's not, you know, I truly believe that, you know, what we hear these messages and we we get this um idea that we just have to believe, and we're actually deceiving ourselves because, well, we one don't know the scripture and we don't dive into the depth and the personal relationship of Jesus, but these leaders are deceived themselves, therefore they deceive others, which causes others to deceive themselves. It's just this it's like this big cobweb that Satan builds and traps believers in to make them think that they're saved when they're actually held captive and bound by these um twisted truths. And I think there are many people sitting in the churches today that have con they have literally convinced themselves they are saved because they mentally acknowledge who Jesus is, yet they have never actually submitted themselves to becoming like him or in him. You cannot believe about Jesus and still not. Okay, let me let me get that. You can believe about Jesus and still not know him. Guys, the demons believe Jesus is the Son of God. That is not enough. Believing is not enough. You have to believe in him. That means you literally are in Christ. That means if if it's you're standing there and Jesus is standing there, you need to get in Jesus. Like you need to like become one with him. So when I when I look at you and I see you and I see Jesus standing beside you, there needs to be a process of transformation where eventually I just look and all I see is Jesus standing there because now you're in Jesus. Does that make sense? So the question, it cannot simply be, do you believe he exists? But do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe from the place of being in Jesus? It's not, it's not like you're looking upon him and you're believing in who he is. No, you're believing from within him. Like he is you and you are him, and you are in him. Not not like it's not this external thing that we look upon the cross, we look upon Jesus and we believe, we believe on him, we believe in. You know what I'm saying? So we can take that as in him, believing that we believe in him, but we have to shift our perspective and understand that it's from a position of where you're standing, that is, you're standing in him, in the image of Christ, in your you have become it's not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So if he's not in you, then you're not in him, which means you're not believing in him. I hope that makes sense to you. Um, if you can get this vision that I'm seeing is two people standing there. Like I said, you're standing there, Jesus is standing there. There should be a transformation process where eventually I look upon you and Jesus and you become one. You actually step into Jesus, and all I see is Jesus when I look at you. That is what I mean when I say believing in Him. Are you in Him? Because being in Christ means something died. Means there was a transformation, there was a transfiguration. Moses and Elijah stood with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration, and Moses and Elijah became in Jesus because the apostles no longer saw Moses and Elijah, they only just saw Jesus. They became in him, they became him. That's what I mean when I say, are you in him? And this is where the church gets uncomfortable. We love preaching about Jesus entering our heart, but we don't preach enough about what he actually does when he gets there. The Bible says in Ezekiel that God will remove the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. Guys, that is not soft language. That is not this beautiful, gentle cupcakes and rainbows. He just comes in and everything just becomes flowers and cupcakes. I see all of these hearts, you know, that people um have there these old hearts and their their skeleton hearts, and then all of a sudden these flowers are blooming out of this heart. No. No. It says that he removes the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. So if he's removing our flesh and giving us flesh, what does that even mean? That means the flesh has to actually die to walk in Christ. Christ became flesh. It's not that you want your flesh to die, but you need to understand that it has to die to resurrect. It has to die. You have to get rid of your own fleshly desires to actually walk as Jesus walked on this earth in flesh form. Your flesh needs to die and resurrect. It's not saying that you can't have flesh, it's just saying that your flesh needs to be transformed. He says, I want to give you a heart of flesh. That means I want you to walk as Jesus walked in the flesh on the earth. You literally become the hands and feet of Jesus on the earth. Your flesh permeates such resurrection glory and power. Why? Because you're in Him. You're in Christ now. People should look at you and go, who is that person? I don't even recognize them because they don't even look like who they used to look like. They don't act like they used to act, they don't go to the places that they used to go to. They don't do the things that they used to do. Like, I don't even recognize them. Why? Because we have literally become in him, in Christ. It's not that he wants us to die and just stay dead. No, he wants us to resurrect and walk as his hands and feet when we literally walking around. We're I I love some people, I tell people sometimes, you need to get in him and put on the skin suit of Jesus. Like people should see you walking around and be like, wow, they you don't like your life should preach to Jesus. Well, your life should preach to Jesus, but your life should also preach Jesus. And we do proclaim that in the body of Christ, but I think many have just been deceived in this in um in the twisting of John 3.16, and they just think, oh, well, I believe, and that's all I need to do to not perish. No, it also says they should not perish. It's not a guaranteed. Why? Because there are um there are requirements. If you read all throughout scripture, there are requirements. You you have to choose the narrow path. And a lot of times people believe and they think they're good, yet they never choose the narrow path. They choose the broad one. And we don't understand that with the two um with the bridesmaids, there it was 50-50. These these other bridesmaids, they actually had oil. They just didn't have enough oil. And it was 50-50. So if you take an entire church congregation and you say, I want 50% of you on this side and 50% of you on the other side, and you go, This is the uh this is the percentage of how many actually chose the narrow path and how many chose the broad way, and this this group is going to heaven, and this group is going to hell. Like we need to understand it's 50-50. That's not that's not like me just coming up with that number. That's what Jesus said. Those were the words of Jesus. Guys, it's 50-50. That's that's that's too big of a number. But the thing that that the fear of God just comes over me is that half of these bridesmaids, they actually had oil. But they didn't make it. They didn't endure. He says, Those who endure to the end, guys, just because you raised your hand in church and you heard a salvation message and you raised your hand and you said, I I um I asked Jesus into my heart. You even went to the altar when they they talked about how you need to confess your faith. You went to the altar, you confessed, you signed the piece of paper, you did what you did all the steps, all the religion steps, and you even went and got baptized in the water. And everybody shouted and they celebrated. Yet you never actually became in him. You never actually transformed, you never actually changed, you didn't finish the process, you didn't endure. We can't just take one scripture and make an entire doctrine off of it and let that be our scripture and our heart and the only scripture that we have. We have to read the rest of the word. We have to read the rest of the requirements and the accountability that God holds us to to actually endure to the end and receive salvation. Don't be the five bridesmaids that had oil but didn't make it to the end. You have to have death to the old nature. We've preached, invite Jesus into your heart like he's gently asking permission to sit on the corner of your life while everything stays the same. No. Jesus did not come to peacefully coexist with your flesh. He came to crucify it, he came to destroy the old men, he came to confront sin. He came to tear down idols, he came to expose darkness, he came to make you holy. He says, I am holy, therefore be holy. And holiness is the part modern Christianity does not want. Everybody wants a savior, but they don't want a Lord. They want the blessing, but they don't want to surrender. They want heaven, but they don't want the cross. You can't have heaven without the cross. You can't have heaven without death. You can't have him as your Lord and be in him without dying to your flesh. And allowing him to transform you. It's not easy, guys. It's not easy, but it says that he will give you the strength to overcome. It says that he will give you a way out every time you are tempted. And he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can endure. The Bible says those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Does this mean something changes? Your speech changes, your appetite changes, your conviction changes, your lifestyle changes. You don't drink alcohol anymore. Why? Because it hinders your process of being in Him. People will say, Oh, well, they drank in the Bible. Quit listening to that lie from hell to keep you bound in your old man. Die to the flesh and get rid of the alcohol, get rid of the drugs, leave the friendships, leave the family members that aren't willing to die to their flesh. Guys, if you are around people who aren't changing their ways, who aren't dying to their flesh, who don't want to walk in holiness, you need to get away from them. I don't care if they are your mom and dad. I don't care what close or what proximity of your family member they are, and Satan will say, Oh, well, God will never ask you to abandon your family. Yes, he will. He told Abraham that. So don't tell me that God won't ever ask you to step away from those who are refusing to hear God, who are refusing to obey, who are refusing to repent and turn from their ways. Don't tell me he won't ask you to remove yourself from them because he will. He will. Because there is a season where you are weak and you have just surrendered and you can't be around those people. Why? Because there's too many familiar spirits for you. You're not strong enough yet to resist them. You have to get rid of it in your life. Grow in your faith, grow in your strength, grow in your relationship, allow him to transform you. Okay, maybe 10-15 years he'll he'll allow you to go back like he did Moses. Maybe. But for Abraham, he said, never go back. So don't tell me he won't ask you to leave your family or your friends or your loved ones. Don't tell me that's a lie from hell. And you need to fear God and not man. You need to stop worshiping your family. You need to stop worshiping your friendships over God. You need to stop worshiping your community and your fellowship over God when He has bluntly asked you to leave. Depart. He's asking you to depart so that later when you stand before Him, He doesn't have to tell you to depart from me, I never knew you. The church has falsely comforted people into believing. They are safe simply because they once prayed a prayer years ago while continuing to live completely submitted to their sin, their rebellion, lust, pride, unforgiveness, compromise, gossip, sexual immorality, addiction, and disobedience. Guys, if you have an addiction, if you can't put down cigarettes, if you can't put, like, you need to, you need to fast your addiction. If you can't put down Netflix, if you can't put down your cell phone, if you can't put down social media, if like let's let's talk on the things that that people don't, you know, think they have an addiction or an idol to. You know, we can see people who obviously are alcoholics, who do drugs, you know, um pornography, like all these addictions, but let's talk about some of the addictions of the body of Christ. Let's talk about the addiction that you can't even get a word from the Lord without going to your prophet or your apostle, that you can't even um stay home from church uh one Sunday and actually just sit with the Lord and not go and worship at the feet of man and worship your pastor. Let's talk about um, you know, gossiping in your prayer group because you want, you know, people to join you and pray for your friend when really you just want to tell them about your friend and and what they're going through. Let's talk about the dishonor between husband and wife, and you know, the wife wants to tell all of her her girls' Bible study group about her husband, and uh in reality she's just gossiping and dishonoring her husband. Let's talk about um you know let's talk about those type of addictions. Let's talk about the addiction of needing acceptance from man, let's talk about the addiction of um of food gluttony. Come on, come on, let's let's go deeper in the body of Christ and let's let's realize that the body of Christ, Christ thinks they're so holy because they go to church every Sunday and because they are on the serve team, and because they feed the you know homeless and they they help the widows and all of that, but but when you're outside of church, you can't even uh your tongue still cusses. You still, you know, smoke that cigarette or that vape every day. Let's talk about those addictions in the body of Christ. Let's talk about the um come on, Holy Ghost. What are some more uh addictions in Christianity? Let's talk about the the um horror movies that you watch as a Christian. Let's talk about the soft porn that you watch or that you read about in the books um that you read. Let's talk about um guys, there's so much. There's so much. There's so much that we don't realize we need to get rid of these addictions and all of this disobedience. And we need to actually get in Christ. We can't just believe, we need to be in him. And nobody wants to say these things on the sun on Sunday morning because they're like, oh, it might hinder the ties of the church. Good. You don't want their you don't want their dirty money anyway. If you got if you got people in your church and they're so offended by you calling out their sin and they're so offended by what you say in the pulpit on Sunday, you know, a lot of preachers they they they want to say all these things on Wednesday night and you know, discipleship group and and all these more, you know, the more quieter services. Say it on Sunday. Say it on Sunday. So what if they leave your church? Good. Maybe God wanted them to leave. Maybe He wanted to remove them because they're actually causing contamination in your church service on Sunday. Maybe they're actually a hindrance to the move of God in your church on Sunday. So what if they they donate millions of dollars to your ministry? Bye. I don't worship money. I worship God. So I don't care if you get offended. I don't care if you don't donate to the ministry because you're so offended at me. Good. I don't want your dirty, I don't want your hands are unclean, therefore your money and your giving and your offering is unclean to me. Pastors and leaders, you gotta start calling out people's sin. We need to return to some of that old um holiness preaching where where people get offended. It literally says that the word of God is offensive. But we tiptoe around and we walk on eggshells to not offend anybody. Who cares? Start offending people. We can't just believe. We have to be in Him. Your baptism certificate is not your ticket into heaven. I'm gonna say that again. Your baptism certificate is not your ticket into heaven. Your altar moment is not your ticket into heaven, your church attendance is not your ticket into heaven. God's Jesus said narrow is the road. Not broad, not easy, narrow. And the fear of the Lord has been removed from much of the church. We have preached a version of grace that never requires repentance, a version of love that never confronts sin, a version of Christianity that never requires transformation. But Jesus said, many will say, Lord, Lord, and he will say, Depart from me. I never knew you. That scripture should shake you. It should awaken you to the fear of God. He didn't say I used to know you. He said, I never knew you. Guys, you need to study the little the little hidden treasures of the word of God. John 3 16. You need to study what it means to be in him, believe in him. Depart from me. I never knew you. He never did. Doesn't say I used to know you, and now I don't. He said I never knew you. That means from the beginning, you were never mine. You did miracles and signs and wonders, and you had these encounters, and you know, you were called to this harvest according to the encounter you had. Yet they stand before him and he says, I never knew you. A demonic illusion by Satan that you are Jesus's and that he knows you, yet you get before him, you use his name, and he allows it. Why? Because of the mercy that he has for his people, he will still use vessels that he doesn't know to help his people because he loves them. But then those vessels will stand before God. They will have had a church, thousands of people every Sunday. They will have discipleship classes. They will have, quote unquote, a soul count. Yet he'll they'll stand before him and he'll say, I never knew you. Meaning there were people who had church language without true union, people who had religious activity without surrender, people who believed about him but were never truly in him. So today I want you to honestly ask yourselves: has my life truly changed? Do I hate my sin or protect it? Do I obey when God convicts me? Am I becoming holy? Am I dying to myself daily? Do I want Jesus or do I simply want to escape from hell? Because there is a difference. And this message is not condemnation, guys. This is mercy. Because the mercy of God warns people before judgment. Jesus did not die so we could remain slaves to the flesh while claiming Christianity, guys. He died so the old us could be buried and a new creation could arise in him. So stop asking yourself if you prayed the prayer and ask yourself Did you die? Because in him still means something.