John 12: (25) He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. (26) If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Today we will be finishing up our study on salvation. I want to go back and quote John 3:16 -17
(16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
I wanted to start today with the John 12 verses. We have learned in the past few studies that we are saved by grace. Nothing we can do outside of believing in Jesus can save us. There is a transformation that happens when we believe and accept jesus as our Savior. It is called being reborn. We are not the same person that we were. We are created new, getting to start over, not in our worldly lives but now Heavenly life. We studied that when someone asked how they could have eternal life, Jesus would challenge them about their worldly life. We cannot have both. How many times did we see Jesus say "follow me”. Accepting Jesus means we will follow Jesus. And by follow, that would mean to adhere to His teaching. That is why it is so important for a believer to study God’s word. That is how we start establishing the relationship. Getting to know Him, Him getting to know us. We should not be focusing on our worldly lives anymore, bust establishing our lives in God’s world.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
If something is repeated that often in the same thought, we had better take heed to what it means. Jesus is very clear on this point. We must be born again. We become new.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Acts 17: (28) for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (29)Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new
Last study we talked about how faith without works is dead faith, but now because we are now a new person, our lives should be living working for the cause of the Kingdom. My faith is not justified by how many times I do something but by my life’s transition for God’s kingdom principles in stead of worldly principles. But now I need to work on my life in what is acceptable unto God.
Romans 12: (1) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
For me it sums up like this, if you do not want to live your life for Christ’s sake here in this world, what makes you think you will want to live for His sake in heaven? If we do not like spending time with Him now, why would we want to live for Him forever? Why ask the question how do I get eternal life? We cannot have eternal life without
believing in Jesus. As we studied before, He died for our sins, He was the sacrifice needed to atone for our sins.
Then I am also going to sum it up like this. Why would you not want to believe in Jesus, not just to go to heaven, but because He cared and loved you so much, even when we absolutely do not deserved to be cared for and loved, He was willingly wanting to come and bear your sins, beaten, hung on a cross, for you, even though you might not accept and believe in Him, but in the hope that you would.
John 11:50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God wants us all to spend eternity with Him. God and sin do not mix. Because we are all sinners, Jesus died for us to be the ultimate one-time sacrifice for all. We can now have hope of eternal life and a life living with God.
John 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Jesus is now preparing a place in heaven for those who believe. Do not miss out. Jesus is waiting for us to live our life with Him.
