Words of Jesus Part 56
This is another way of explaining that there is no other way of salvation except the way God planned through believing in the Son of God Jesus Christ who came to save us from sin.
His sheep hear His voice. Once we come to Christ and we are "born again" by God's spirit, we will know His voice.
If one does not continue in the word, he or she may open themselves up to be deceived but if we continue in the word, we will know the savior's voice and will not follow another. Sheep will not hear the voice of a stranger. If we are the sheep of Jesus Christ we will not accept the voice of a false teacher. Remember though, sheep represents true believers. True believers do not just claim Jesus as savior but do as He says. We are not true sheep if we claim to know Jesus Christ and ignore everything He had to say to us in the word of God. We have such a responsibility to teach only truth and not change the word of God.
Again here is another verse warning us that Jesus is the only way to be saved after this point in time.
Jesus came to give life. It is God's will that we be saved. It is not God's will that any should perish. No religion that does harm to people fulfill the will of God. In the past God brought judgment to nations that committed such evil that He had to stop their acts by destroying their cities. When He sent His Son to bring us the gospel of salvation, things changed and we now have mercy and a way out of sin and into the kingdom of God. Now we bring hope, love and truth. We do not bring judgment, condemnation and harm. God will do the judging to those that oppose the gospel. He has not given us permission to destroy anyone for religious reasons. Religion that uses force are not doing God's will. Jesus wants willing faithful followers not puppets. Many innocent people have died in the past for merely not believing in infant baptism or disagreeing with the religious leaders in charge. This should never have been. Let God do that part and let us preach the gospel only. If we do the judging and condemning people to death, we are going to hurt the innocent. Sooner or later we start judging people for breaking our commandments and rules that have ceased to resemble God's commandments and words. This has happened and is happening. We will be judged for breaking God's word and God's commandments, not the commandments made by men or religious tradition.
Jesus came to save. Those who claim to know Jesus Christ and be representatives of His word do err when they use methods of torture to force conversions some have used in past history. Jesus did none of these things, Paul did none of this and we should not either. No pope, priest, minister, rabbi, or any other religious leader has a right to harm someone for rejecting the gospel or rejecting church teachings. We are to preach the gospel and make disciples. That is all the power we are given. We cannot forgive sins and make a person, "born again" by our own rituals. We are never to force conversions or put to death those that oppose us. This type of judgment has to be left in the hands of God. We make a mess of spreading the gospel if we begin to beat up the opposition with the use of force in any way. We have to have laws to punish those that break civil laws such as thieves, murderers and such but those that preach the gospel must be those that live in peace and holiness. They must never lift up a hand to harm those that believe different and oppose the gospel. Judging them has to be left up to God. So many have brought reproach to the name of Christ because they tried to make judgments that belong to God only. If we truly want to represent Christ, we are to love our enemies, do good to them that persecute us and pray for them that despise us. Love means telling the truth though and not compromising the word of God in any way to get along with people.
Jesus died for His sheep. Those that are just hired to watch the sheep may flee when trouble comes. We must keep our eyes on Jesus and His word. For He is the one who really cares for us as individuals.
This just may be a test for a good pastor of a church.
These are the Gentiles or people that were not Jews. Jews are those to whom the gospel was first given. The church never replaces the Jews but will one day be joined to them in the same fold.
Jesus could have backed out of the crucifixion at any time. He was a willing sacrifice.
No these are not the words of a devil. How many devils will die for our sins? How many devils will teach us to love one another? True love will never compromise important truth to please the crowds.
If we follow Christ in spirit and in truth, no person can ever take that away from us. However, nothing is forced upon us. If we willingly stop abiding in Christ and His word, we will separate ourselves from Him. Most true sheep though will not hear the voice of another but be faithful to Christ.
We have this hope when we abide in Christ. We have a safety net, a comfort and a place of refuge that the raging world around us cannot separate us from.
God wants the true believers to be as one like the Father and Son are one. We are to be one in spirit and in truth. Remember though not to fall for a false unity which compromises sound doctrine and important truths of God's word. True unity of the spirit will not compromise the truth.
They may have accepted Him as a miracle worker or leader if He left off making Himself to be the Son of God. Another will come one day who they may mistakenly believe to be a representative from God. That will be the antichrist. Jesus could have become a military leader and conquered the Romans but He did not do so at this time because He came first to save us from sin. This was rejected by the Jews of that day who were not looking to be saved from sin. They wanted to conquer their earthly enemies. Our greatest enemy is sin. If we remain in sin when we die, we are lost forever. If we only lose our life here, and are saved from sin, it really does not matter in the long run. We must be free from sin to inherit eternal life. Only faith in Jesus Christ and receiving Him into our lives can save us from sin. This has to be done by the Holy Spirit. We cannot force conversions to Christianity. We cannot baptize people into Christianity. We cannot save anyone by church rituals, communion services, or any other ordinance. Only repenting of sin and receiving Jesus Christ can save anyone from sin. We are to preach the gospel but the spirit of God has to do the saving of a sinner.
This is done individually to one who believes in Jesus Christ to the point of receiving Him as savior and Lord. It is on a one on one basis. It does not depend on any church, ritual or ordinance of the church. It cannot be forced on anyone. Forced conversions are the biggest waste of time anyone every thought of. True faith works by love. This is a good thing and a perfect way of salvation. It is grievous that men and sometimes women have messed it up with adding to or taking away from the true way of salvation given to us by the Lord Jesus Himself.
This is found in the Psalms:
Sometimes judges or representatives of God were called gods. These verses have been taken by some to mean that man can become as God and be equal to Him. However, we know this is not so. What a mess we would make of the world. Satan at one time thought he would rise above God. We have to be very careful to stay humble and not puff up one man or woman above another. Jesus warns of this many times in this same book of John. If men were called gods at some point in the past, why are they so offended when the real Son of God makes that claim? If a fake teacher came with that claim, they would believe it.
We can read the accounts of Jesus' life in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. By studying the actual words of Jesus we can see that He was not after evil but good.
If any religion, even a Christian religion that teaches us to hate our enemies, persecute those that oppose us, use torture, use slavery, put to death people for just opposing what they think is truth, or teache any way of salvation other than through Jesus Christ, that religion is false. The simple gospel is to repent of sin and believe in Christ. If we add to this church rituals, taking communion and make other requirements for salvation, we are teaching a false doctrine. Taking communion is good and is done to remember Christ's death and suffering for our sins, but that is not the means of salvation. Outward religious acts do not save, inward receiving Jesus into our lives is what saves. Repentance alone cannot save apart from faith in Christ. Doing good deeds can't save apart from Christ. Those things accompany true faith but they cannot save without faith in Jesus Christ. If it was possible that we could be saved by just being a good person and not believe anything, Jesus would not have had to die for our sins. A sacrifice for sin had to be made because the wages of sin is death according to the law of God. The law condemns us but Jesus paid the penalty on our behalf and we can be free from the curse of the law by repenting of sin and believing in Jesus Christ. The blood of animals was not good enough to atone for sin. It just pointed the way to the perfect sacrifice that was to come. After Jesus came and gave Himself for our sins, animal sacrifices are no longer needed for the salvation of mankind. But that is not all. Not only did Jesus pay the price for our sins but gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to live within us to comfort, help and guide us. We are not alone after we come to Jesus Christ for salvation.
Truly this man was without fault and became one of us that we might inherit eternal life and not suffer the condemnation of the law that says, "The soul that sins will die." This means eternal death of course for all natural bodies will one day die. It is the soul that faces either eternal life or an eternity in hell.
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