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Jesus said to the Jews, the works which the Father has given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father has sent me. And the Father himself, which has sent me, has borne witness of me. You have not his word abiding in you, for whom he has sent, him you do not believe. I am come in my Father's name, and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes only from God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father, there is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me; for he wrote of me. excerpts from John chapter 5 *
And Moses spoke these words to all Israel: the Lord your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live. And you shall return and obey the voice of the Lord. See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command you this day to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live, that you may love the Lord your God, and that you may obey his voice, and that you may cleave unto him: for he is your life and the length of your days, excerpts from Deuteronomy chapter 30
* Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me. from John 14
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you. from John 14
Jesus answered … to this end was I born, and for this cause I came into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice. from John 18
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. from John chapter 8 *
A note from the author: Through Moses, God gave his people the law. If his people obeyed the law, they would receive good, blessings and life to replace evil, curses and death. This was the first covenant. The people didn’t obey the law. So God sent Jesus. Jesus came and kept the law perfectly. Jesus received good, blessings and life from God. God set aside the first covenant and made a new covenant with his people. Rather than fulfill the law ourselves, we could now receive grace and be saved by what Jesus did on our behalf. Our part would now be to believe Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, and follow him. God hasn’t changed what he wants to do for his people. God just changed how he would accomplish what he desired to do. God now gives us a choice. We can receive God’s goodness, his blessings and everlasting life from Jesus; or we can reject Jesus and continue reaping evil, curses and death. Moses told God’s people: Choose life. Jesus tells us he is the life. So the deeper meaning of what Moses told God’s people is: Choose Jesus. God tells us the same. This is my Son, hear him. *
Listen very closely to Jesus in these next scriptures. It is the best news I have to share thus far. *
And Jesus said to me [John], Do not seal the sayings of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is thirsty come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify to every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He who testifies these things says, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. from Revelation chapter 22 *
Whoever abides in the teachings of Christ, has both the Father and the Son. from 2 John chapter 1
A note from the author: Did you read this scripture and see it says has, not will have in the future? Ask and you will receive. We ask Jesus to come. He does. And the Father comes with him. The good news is not that we are waiting for Jesus to come. The good news is that we can have the Father and the Son simply by asking them to come! Abiding in the scriptures, listening to Jesus teach, hearing when the scripture says has, this truly matters. Today on earth God has given us everlasting life. God has also given us Himself, Father and Son. And when the King has arrived, so has the kingdom of God. *
I want to explore next what it means to be a child of God. *
Jesus said, the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The [Samaritan] woman said to him, I know that Messiah comes, which is called Christ; when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I that speak to you am he. from John chapter 4 *
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. For whoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. And this is the witness, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life. We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he that is born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. from 1 John chapter 5 *
Whoever abides in Jesus does not sin, whoever sins has not seen him, nor known him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. excerpts from 1 John chapter 3
Beloved, do not follow who is evil, but who is good. He doing good is out of God, but he doing evil has not seen God. from 3 John *
A note from the author: Jesus said to the man he healed, Behold, you are made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come to you. Ceasing to sin is not only possible, Jesus requires it. But do you see the scriptures on the prior two pages go well beyond an instruction to avoid sin, and to earnestly try not to sin? These scriptures say does not sin, and cannot sin. God cannot sin because God is holy. God is perfect. God is righteous. There is no evil in God. To sin, God would have to cease being holy, perfect, and righteous. He cannot. We know from scripture that God the Father never changes. Neither does Jesus. Pause for a moment and think about being born a child of God. Everything in creation gives birth after its own kind. Elephants give birth to baby elephants. Sparrows give birth to sparrows. Lions give birth to baby lions. An elephant can’t give birth to a sparrow even if it tries with all its might to do so. All of creation teaches us about God. It’s why creation is ordered the way it is. God can only give birth to Gods. This agrees with Psalm 82, where it is written, I have said Gods you are, and Sons of the Most High, all of you. (Jesus also quotes from this passage.) We are born of God in baptism. He is our Father. He that is born of God cannot sin because a God cannot sin. When we abide in the word of God, Jesus teaches us we are no longer a man, or a son of man (a man who repents), but a son of God. Jesus shows us we are born with his own nature. If you think you are a man, you will sin. If you think you are a sinner who repents, you will continually wrestle with sin, committing sin and confessing your sins, drawing on Jesus as your savior for forgiveness. But if you see you are a son of God, born from above, you will know the truth and that truth will set you free. You are born righteous, holy and perfect. You cannot sin. You cannot change. You are like God because you are born of God. You will always do righteousness, because you are righteous. It’s your new nature. God’s free gift to us is permanent righteousness through Jesus. To be as he is, forever. It is a spectacular gift which never tarnishes or fades. We are now children of God, born from above. We are no longer sinners. We are saints. We are holy, as God is holy. We are born blind, not seeing the truth, but then God by his spirit opens our eyes. Abiding in the word produces righteous everlasting life. We see who we are by birth. We believe the scriptures. And we are empowered by God to live accordingly. *
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead no more dies; death has no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died to sin once: but in that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey the lusts of it. Neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin: but yield yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness to holiness. For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit had you then in those things of which you are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. excerpts from Romans chapter 6
A note from the author: The old man is crucified when we are baptized. The body of sin is destroyed. We are freed from sin. Jesus sets us free from sin so we can live righteously. Ceasing to sin is not only possible, Jesus requires it. The Spirit is the one who teaches us about righteousness and leads us into the truth. We walk with the Spirit and abide in the word for it is the Spirit which quickens our life and reveals to us who we are.
continue reading Jesus : the Truth and the Life
JESUS : THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE
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