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Jesus is referring to the day when men would be justified by putting faith in God and not in their own works. Abraham had this truth revealed to him (Rom. 4:13), and he believed it and was himself justified by faith (Rom. 4:3-4, 9).
Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him." It was Abraham's faith that pleased God. The Lord promised Abraham that his seed would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore and Abraham believed God. That pleased Him so much that he counted Abraham righteous right then, even though Abraham had not yet fulfilled the rite of circumcision and he was not living a holy life.
According to Leviticus 18:9, it was an abomination (Lev. 18:26) for a man to marry a half sister. Sarah, Abraham's wife, was his...
All of us were born in sin and were therefore "by nature" the children of the devil. That's the reason we sinned. Our sins don't corrupt our nature, but our corrupt nature makes us sin. That's why we must be "born again" and become new creatures (or a new creation) in Christ.
The scriptures teach that everyone was born with a sin nature or old man. For the Christian, the old man is dead. We do not have a nature that is driving us to sin. If that is the case, then why do we seem so bound to sin even after we experience the new birth? The reason is that our old man left behind what Romans 6:6 calls...
WE, AS CHRISTIANS, HAVE A JOB TO DO AND WE CAN'T DO IT IF WE ARE CAUGHT UP IN WORLDLY THINGS. THE WORLD HATES US JUST AS IT HATES JESUS. JESUS TELLS US IN JOHN 15:19 THAT "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." HE ALSO SAYS THAT WE CAN'T SERVE TWO MASTERS. (MATTHEW 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.)
The Jewish people were direct descendants of Abraham. However, as with so many biblical truths, there was much more to the Abrahamic covenant than what a casual glimpse would reveal. In truth, these Jews were not actually a part of the spiritual children of Abraham.
The Holy Spirit revealed through the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:16 and 29 that God's covenant was to Abraham and his singular "seed" or descendant, which was Christ. No one ever became an heir of God's promises through his natural birth. Before Jesus gave Himself as an offering for our sin, the Old Testament saints were justified by faith in God's promises concerning the Messiah who was yet to come. After Jesus' death and resurrection, New Testament saints are justified by faith in what Jesus has...
The devil has been deceiving the world about sin since the Garden of Eden when he told Eve that through sin she could be like God. Time has proven, not only to Eve, but to each one of us, that this is not true. Sin brings death and not life. Jesus is making it clear that sin enslaves. We become slaves not only to the sin itself, but also to the author of sin, the devil. We are either servants of God through obedience or servants of the devil through sin.
Jesus is likening the bondage that sin produces to slavery, while comparing the freedom that comes through serving God to being a beloved son. No one would doubt that being a son is better than being a slave. Likewise, obeying God is better than yielding to sin. True freedom is found only in serving God....
This is the second of three times that Jesus spoke of Himself being "lifted up" (1st - Jn. 3:14; 3rd - Jn. 12:32-33). As the scripture explains in John 12:33, this was a reference to crucifixion as the means of His death. The lifting up is speaking of being lifted up from the earth and suspended on a cross in crucifixion. The Jews understood that Jesus was speaking of death.
The crucifixion didn't just happen. It was planned by God. Does this mean that God bears all responsibility and those who were actually instrumental in the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus are not guilty? Not at all. Jesus came to the earth to die in our place and thereby purchase redemption for...
I LOOK UP A LOT OF WORDS IN THE DICTIONARY WHEN I AM WRITING MY MESSAGES AND A LOT OF TIMES I SHARE THOSE DEFINITIONS WITH YOU. I DO THIS BECAUSE I WANT TO BE SURE I AM RIGHT ABOUT WHAT I AM SAYING. HERE IS A GOOD IDEA OF WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT. I ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT PATIENCE MEANT TO JUST COOL IT AND SEE IF IT HAPPENS. WOW, DID I MISS THIS ONE. I LOOKED IT UP IN WEBSTER'S 1828 DICTIONARY AND FOUND THIS "The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness." NOW WHEN I THINK OF PATIENCE I THINK OF JESUS. I ALSO THINK OF LOVE BECAUSE HE HAD TO REALLY LOVE US TO GO THROUGH ALL OF THAT FOR US AND HE KNEW EVERYTHING THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN TO HIM.