“To Whom Shall we go?”— R Nelson
BIBLE MEDITATION:
“But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” John 6:68-69
ENCOURAGING WORD:
Have you come to believe and know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? This is the most important question that we can ask ourselves and the answer that we come up with will determine where we will spend eternity. We read in Acts 4:12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” This verse is referring to Jesus Christ! Being that this is the most important question that we can ask ourselves, why do so many just blow it off as if it isn’t important at all? I will tell you why people don’t find this question important. It is because, in this world in which we live, most of the religious sects of Christianity teach salvation through works. If you believe that you are saved by works, then why would Jesus be important in your life? Believing that you are saved by good works is a lie from the pit of hell and one of Satan’s deadliest doctrines. I have posted the following verse often in my blogs because I believe that Christians need to know exactly what this is saying, Matthew 7:21-23; “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” These verses are clearly stating that there are those that are going to believe they are saved because they have done so many good works in the name of Christ. Good works are a wonderful thing, don’t get me wrong, however, if you are doing them to earn salvation, you will be unhappy when you stand before the Lord and hear those earth-shattering words that are spoken above, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, These are the words that no one wants to hear when they stand before Jesus Christ at the “White Throne Judgement!”
In John 6:28-29; the disciples came to Jesus with a question, “Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” “Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Notice what Jesus said, “believe on Him whom the Father has sent. (Period) There was no mention of good works or anything that we could do on our behalf to earn salvation. If there was anything else that needed to be done, Jesus would have told the disciples. When Paul was teaching salvation through Grace, this very important question was asked, we read in Romans 6:1-2; “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Paul is teaching that once you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and receive the Holy Spirit into your heart, we should no longer continue to live in sin, it should go hand and hand. If you say that you are born-again but continue to live a sinful lifestyle, then your conversion is most likely in vain. Paul expands on this in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” Paul is saying that it is possible for us to believe in vain. They are those that have head knowledge and lots of lip service, but never truly get to know Jesus Christ on a personal level. I have said this many times, “Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with the creator of the universe.” Think about this, if Jesus would have taught any religion, it would have been Judaism, since He, Himself was a Jew. Jesus taught the gospel which was salvation through His death on the cross. If fact, Jesus Christ despised the religious leaders of His day. Here is what Jesus said to those religious leaders, John 8:44; “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
There is one common element of life that we all share. It is called “sin.” Whether you believe that you sin or not is irrelevant. Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Whether you are a Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or any other religion of the world you were born into sin. God is very clear in the scriptures that sin has to be dealt with and if you die in your sins, you will live forever outside of His presence, in other words, “the lake of burning fire.” It does not matter what you believe, truth is truth. Here is where Christianity separates itself from other religions. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the only God that entered His creation, lived a sinless life, and then willingly died for the sins of the world through the most painful death imaginary, “crucifixion on the cross.” Jesus Christ was the only one who had the credentials to claim that victory because He, Himself was without sin. No other prophet from any other religion could pay for your sins because they, themselves were sinful. Another sure-fire way to know the Bible is true and inerrant is because of Bible prophecy…it is the only book in the world that fulfills what is spoken of in advance with 100% accuracy. Some other prophets are right once in a while, but the prophets of the Bible are never wrong. Every prophecy in the New and Old Testament has either come to fruition or is about to. When you understand the knowledge of the Bible, you will come away with the same mindset. The God of the Bible is the only true God and His Son, His only begotten Son (Jesus Christ) is the only true Messiah. The only true messenger of God. It cannot be denied, many have tried, but have come up unsuccessful in their studies. Nobody has ever been able to discredit the Holy Bible. It actually turns out that many that have tried became born-again believers and have ministries of their own as a result of it. Why is it that so many people try to discredit the Bible when believing it is so much easier and rewarding? I will tell you why. See what it says in the following verse, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4; “But even if our gospel is veiled, (expressed in a way that is not clear and direct) it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god (Satan) of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” If you choose not to believe, then Satan has the power to blind you to the truth of the gospel and it will not make any sense to you. If you would like to come to the truth and have it revealed to you, reach out to God in prayer through Jesus Christ and pray for His truth to be revealed to you. If you are sincere, you will hear from God and He will change your life if your intentions are true.
ACTION POINT:
I do not know how much time we have here on earth before the return of Jesus Christ, but based on the events and prophecies that are being fulfilled on a daily basis, I believe it is close…very close. Jesus is saying the same thing to a lot of religious leaders of today, but they are either blind or they are just ignoring the facts. So much false doctrine has crept into our churches and unless we are grounded in Biblical truth of Gods Word, we will be deceived. It is so important that we hear the truth from the one who is responsible for every word spoken in the Bible. Only the Holy Spirit can teach us the absolute truth, so, receive Jesus Christ today and let the Holy Spirit into your heart and He will guide you and indwell in you through all circumstances in your life. Just trust and obey…it is the only way! “Written To the glory of God, Inspired by the Holy Spirit!” Amen!
To Whom Shall we go? – R Fritz
We all will choose where we will go, heaven or hell. Nobody else but you, not your parents, not your spouse, “YOU” will make that choice. Jesus has the answers. Somebody has given that option to you about choosing Jesus. You either excepted or did nothing. When you did nothing, your answer was “NO.” There is no answer that says maybe. Matthew 5:37 says and this is Jesus speaking “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” It is clear from Jesus you only have 2 answers yes or no, anything other than that comes from evil. We are looking for the answers in the wrong place. Most people talk to another person for an answer for an issue. The answer to any problem is in the Bible or from Jesus Christ. We are running all over the place first before we ask Jesus. He has the answer, or he will take you to the bible where the answer is. I say that because that is where I find the answer. If your answer is no for Jesus, you do not have that option. If you think man has all the answers, then keep listening to man. You will find that Jesus Christ has all the answers. We need to trust him with our life. Jeremiah 29:11-13 says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” This is a promise from the Lord to those that choose him. You are the one who lets the Holy Spirit operate in your life. If you want to control what part the Holy Spirit can do in your life that is up to you. The Holy Spirit will do what you let him, in my case I let the Holy Spirit use my feelings and emotions however he wants to. That is a case of a lot of trust, because I did not want anybody to see how I felt. Everybody that has the Holy Spirit has the same Spirit, you decide who is in control depending on how much you want to be in control or how much of you, you give up and let the Holy Spirit control. John 14:12-17 says, and this is Jesus speaking “Verily, Verily, I say unto you. He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works shall he do, because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you a new Comforter that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.” This explains whypeople think they have to do good works to get to heaven because they are religious and not spiritual. If they were spiritual the Holy Spirit would tell them. The thing that is interesting is the Holy Spirit is revealing this to me as I am writing this. These people are of the world in that they know who Jesus is and what he did, but do not have the Holy Spirit so are not having a relationship with him and do not hear from the Holy Spirit. They are doing what they believe Jesus did. They are living on their knowledge, not God’s knowledge. They are in the flesh and not in the spirit where the bible says we should be. This is what the bible says about these people in Timothy 3:5,7 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” This is a truth that should hit some people right between the eyes. It was meant to speak to whoever needs to hear this to change and get right with Jesus Christ while you still have time.
We need to choose Jesus Christ and obey him and his word. If you feel that being good or doing good things meets that. That is wrong doctrine or somebody’s thoughts and not of God. We cannot be good enough because sin and the sin nature are who we are. We might think we are good, but we still sin. We cannot get rid of sin unless we choose Jesus Christ and repent of our sins and are Born Again. Somebody had to pay the price for our sins. Jesus came to set us free from sin with his death where we will be with him forever. Sin started with Lucifer, a fallen angel who became known as Satin who taught Adam and Eve to sin. This is where God showed us grace! The Holy Spirit teaches us and gives us understanding of scriptures. You can read the bible but not understand it because you will not understand spiritual things. That is where the Holy Ghost comes in. John 14:26 says and this is Jesus speaking “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” This is why you need Jesus Christ and now the Comforter to overcome our past and to be able have a good present and future life with Jesus Christ. That Holy Ghost will be helping us to overcome the world and immediately after we die end in heaven forever. I pray you now see why you need Jesus Christ.