January 13th 2019
There Is Only One Way To Stay On That Narrow Path, And It Is By Following Jesus!
John 10:24-30 (NIV)
The Jews gathered round him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no-one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one."
Times change and outlooks vary based on the attitudes surrounding the person whose personality is being formed, at least that is what many people may tell us. However, Jesus seemed to tell us something entirely different. In the selected verses Jesus is being requested by these religious leaders to present to them the evidence for His claim to be the Messiah. “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly,” they asked Jesus. “Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe.” Then Jesus told them why they could not believe what He was telling them. Jesus then said, “you do not believe because you are not my sheep.” Jesus has the ability of knowing who truly believes that He is the Christ, and He refers to them as His sheep. We read this in Matthew 25, as Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. Where do you stand on this issue, do you believe you are currently would be placed on the right side of Jesus, as one of His sheep? This is the most important question for all of mankind!
When Jesus was leaving this earth and going back to be with His Father in heaven, He knew mankind needed help before any of us would truly believe that He is the Christ, so He send the Holy Spirit to allow us, His disciples to be able to believe He is who He said He is! Just like the religious leaders of Jesus time on this earth, we would rarely, if ever, believe Jesus is the Christ. Therefore, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell those who will identify Jesus as their Lord and Savior. John wrote what Jesus said about this event. I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. (John 16:7-11)
When Jesus was ascending from this earth and going back to heaven, He promised to send the Counsellor as Jesus called Him. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
Jesus said, “When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin.” Because Jesus ascended back to heaven, and His earthly mission has been successfully completed,” the prince of this world (Satan) now stands condemned.” This condemnation also includes all of mankind, because we still have the curse of a sinful nature, and this disconnect from God must be removed before any member of mankind can enter heaven when we die. Jesus was born into this world without the curse of a sinful nature, because Jesus did not have an earthly father to pass this cursed nature on to Him.
Paul wrote about this when he referred to Jesus as the last Adam. So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. (1Corinthians 15:45-49). This is describing the fact that Adam did not have a sinful nature until he committed that first sin, and thus, he and Eve immediately developed a sinful nature as part of the Fall of Man curse. Every member of mankind is born with this sinful nature inherited from Adam through the Fall of Man curse. Every baby is born into this world with this stain of the sinful nature, and thus they are going to go to hell when they die!
Paul also wrote about the struggle of mankind trying to deal with this sinful nature in everyday life. Paul wrote about his own struggle to avoid sinful enticements, and how having Jesus in your life is the only way to stay on that narrow path that leads to heaven. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (Romans 7:24-8:1-5)
There is only one Way to stay on that narrow path, and it is by following Jesus! Jesus once said, “You know the way to the place where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." (John 14:4-7). Thomas and likely some of the other Apostles did not know where Jesus was going when He was still living on this earth. Even when Jesus ascended from this earth and went back to heaven, it says of those who saw it “some doubted”!
When Jesus commissioned the disciples (us) it says there were those present who doubted, even though they worshipped Him. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:16-20). Resolve this year work on your doubts by studying His Word!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
John 10:24-30 (NIV)
The Jews gathered round him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no-one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one."
Times change and outlooks vary based on the attitudes surrounding the person whose personality is being formed, at least that is what many people may tell us. However, Jesus seemed to tell us something entirely different. In the selected verses Jesus is being requested by these religious leaders to present to them the evidence for His claim to be the Messiah. “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly,” they asked Jesus. “Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe.” Then Jesus told them why they could not believe what He was telling them. Jesus then said, “you do not believe because you are not my sheep.” Jesus has the ability of knowing who truly believes that He is the Christ, and He refers to them as His sheep. We read this in Matthew 25, as Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. Where do you stand on this issue, do you believe you are currently would be placed on the right side of Jesus, as one of His sheep? This is the most important question for all of mankind!
When Jesus was leaving this earth and going back to be with His Father in heaven, He knew mankind needed help before any of us would truly believe that He is the Christ, so He send the Holy Spirit to allow us, His disciples to be able to believe He is who He said He is! Just like the religious leaders of Jesus time on this earth, we would rarely, if ever, believe Jesus is the Christ. Therefore, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell those who will identify Jesus as their Lord and Savior. John wrote what Jesus said about this event. I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. (John 16:7-11)
When Jesus was ascending from this earth and going back to heaven, He promised to send the Counsellor as Jesus called Him. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
Jesus said, “When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin.” Because Jesus ascended back to heaven, and His earthly mission has been successfully completed,” the prince of this world (Satan) now stands condemned.” This condemnation also includes all of mankind, because we still have the curse of a sinful nature, and this disconnect from God must be removed before any member of mankind can enter heaven when we die. Jesus was born into this world without the curse of a sinful nature, because Jesus did not have an earthly father to pass this cursed nature on to Him.
Paul wrote about this when he referred to Jesus as the last Adam. So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. (1Corinthians 15:45-49). This is describing the fact that Adam did not have a sinful nature until he committed that first sin, and thus, he and Eve immediately developed a sinful nature as part of the Fall of Man curse. Every member of mankind is born with this sinful nature inherited from Adam through the Fall of Man curse. Every baby is born into this world with this stain of the sinful nature, and thus they are going to go to hell when they die!
Paul also wrote about the struggle of mankind trying to deal with this sinful nature in everyday life. Paul wrote about his own struggle to avoid sinful enticements, and how having Jesus in your life is the only way to stay on that narrow path that leads to heaven. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (Romans 7:24-8:1-5)
There is only one Way to stay on that narrow path, and it is by following Jesus! Jesus once said, “You know the way to the place where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." (John 14:4-7). Thomas and likely some of the other Apostles did not know where Jesus was going when He was still living on this earth. Even when Jesus ascended from this earth and went back to heaven, it says of those who saw it “some doubted”!
When Jesus commissioned the disciples (us) it says there were those present who doubted, even though they worshipped Him. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:16-20). Resolve this year work on your doubts by studying His Word!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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