James Kraft 74 year old retired pipeline worker

The gospel. First Corinthians 15:1-4 That Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, that He was buried and rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. 

There is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. Jesus came down from heaven born of a virgin, lived a perfect sinless life, went to the cross to pay for the sins of the whole world, and then rose from the dead to prove He was the savior.

First John 2:2 And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. 

Romans 3:23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. ALL, Not some, but all. All men are sinners.

Romans 3:9-10 There is none righteous, no not one. 

In order for us to be saved, we have to be as righteous as God, and no one is. 

When we accept Jesus’ one blood sacrifice for all our sin, He imputes His perfect righteousness to us, and will no more impute sin to our account. 

Romans 4:5-8 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him who justifieth the ungodly, (all of us) his faith is counted for righteousness. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness apart from works. Our works can not save sinners. 

Blessed is the man whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. 

Romans 3:26-28 He is the just, and the justifier of them that believe in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? By the law of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, apart from the deeds of the law. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace ye are saved, through FAITH, and that not of yourselves, it is the GIFT of God, not of works, our works could never save us, lest any man should boast. You can not boast in free. 

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, and we all sin, First John 1:8, and we all die, but the GIFT of God is eternal life, through Jesus’ finished work on the cross. 

The last words Jesus said, "IT IS FINISHED." That is an accounting term meaning, paid in full. John 3:18 Believers can never be condemned to hell again. 

Jesus paid the debt we could not pay. Sinners can do nothing to save themselves. Jesus paid the penalty for all our sin, so that we would not have to go to hell to pay our sin debt to God. 

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, that WHOSOEVER, BELIEVETH in Him, should not perish, but HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.

April 16 2021 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Grant Abbott Child of Father, Follower of Son, Student of Spirit

Jesus said "You know the way to the place I am going" (John 14:4). What did this mean for the disciples at that moment of time? Jesus already provided the answer in verse 1, "You believe in God, believe also in me". What are they to believe? In Verses 2-3, Jesus says, "I am going to prepare a place for you in my Father's house in heaven. I will come back and take you to be with me so you will be where I am." 

Jesus is the only one who can take us to heaven (verse 6). In verses 7-11 Jesus declares that he is the Son of God, anyone who has seen him has seen the Father, and the Father lives in Jesus and Jesus lives in the Father.

Faith in Jesus is the way to the Father. Jesus further declares in verse 12 that anyone who believes in Jesus will do the works that he has been doing and Jesus will do whatever they ask in His name to complete these works.

The disciples understood that sin had separated people from a relationship with God (the Father) and the Old testament sacrifices had provided a way to restore that relationship temporarily. But Jesus is now declaring that He is the way, the truth and life to restore a permanent relationship with God. 

Jesus took our sinful human nature and crucified it with himself on the cross and gave us his Divine Nature (the Holy Spirit) in its place (Galations 2:20) so we would always be righteous before our holy God. We receive this atoning work from Jesus, by faith as we believe it to be true. Jesus resurrection from the dead and ascension back to heaven, proves that Jesus will come back and take us to be with himself, forever in the presence of our Father.

So we know the way of salvation involves faith and the object of that faith is Jesus. But we also know the way of salvation is a process. Jesus outlines that process for us in Matthew 5:3-6, his introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus provides us with four signposts to show us this way [road] to salvation.

Blessed are the poor - we must first recognise that we are spiritually dead and separated from God because of our sin so we desperately need a Saviour.

Blessed are those who mourn - we need to confess our sin to God, then repent, turning away from our old life of sin, and turning toward a new life of righteousness that God is offering.

Blessed are the meek - we need to humbly accept Jesus as our Saviour and surrender to him as the Lord of our life.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness - we must really want a right relationship with God through faith in Jesus, when we do God is pleased to give us his Holy Spirit to seal and guarantee our salvation.

January 19 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

Jesus had been speaking to the apostles toward the end of His earthly ministry about going away from them, and telling them that they knew both where He was going, and the way to reach it. 

The apostle Thomas then said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?" In response, Jesus answered, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

My understanding of what He meant by those words is that faith in the atonement for humanity's sin that He accomplished (and that only He could have accomplished) by His sinless life, atoning death, and subsequent resurrection -- rather than any works that anyone can perform apart from that faith, or any other belief system that humans have devised -- is the only way that God in grace (undeserved love and favor) has provided for human salvation -- that is, for deliverance from the eternal penalty for sin (separation from God) that God's justice requires, and instead for reconciliation to God, with the ability to spend eternity in His presence.

January 19 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report