Is Jesus In Your Room? Part 4

This conversation has taken a turn for the serious. The Messiah has arrived! Put away your religious works and repent! Believe in Him!

Now, let me ask you a serious question. If you were to die right now and found yourself standing before God at the gates of Heaven, pleading for admittance, and He asked you what you had done to deserve entrance into His Kingdom, how would you respond?

Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

John 3:11-12

In verses 11-12, Jesus shifts from addressing Nicodemus to addressing all of Israel, as evidenced by the use of plural Greek pronouns. Jesus used earthly metaphors to try to break through the thick, works-based wall of dogma that imprisoned the minds and hearts of Israel. However, their pride would not allow them to accept the truth that they could contribute to their salvation as much as they could contribute to their own birth. This truth must have been unbearable for members of an apostate, works-based religion to accept or even tolerate. This is evidenced by the fact that they eventually nailed Jesus to a cross because of his teachings.

Let’s be clear: there are only two religions in this world – the religion of human achievement (Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Catholicism, etc.) and the religion of God’s achievement, Biblical Christianity. You cannot earn your way to heaven by checking off a list of religious works. There is not a single religious work that must be completed in order to gain entry into heaven.

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

John 3:13

Jesus is confirming here that the message of salvation he is preaching is not a cleverly devised message of drama dreamt up by men. Rather, it is a message dispatched directly from heaven, brought, written, designed, orchestrated, and delivered by none other than God Himself. Nobody has ever dreamed themselves into heaven; there is no achievement of man or clever technology that can make this possible. Jesus has descended from heaven and condescended to our level. He carries with him the only map that leads to the small door of salvation.

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

John 3:14

In this reference to Numbers 21:5-9, the story of the bronze serpent, Jesus is pointing forward to his own sacrificial death on the cross, which is the only payment God would accept for the sins of man.

If you were standing before God at the gates of Heaven and he asked you what you have done to deserve it, how would you respond? If you give any achievement of your own as an answer, you do not understand the message of salvation that Christ brings. The answer is simple: nothing. You have done nothing to deserve heaven. Salvation is a free gift of God, received through faith in Jesus and the work he has completed. You cannot contribute to your being born into God’s kingdom. Put away your works and live by faith!

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

John 3:15

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So, we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:16

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Romans 1:17

If you are laboring under the belief that you must work your way to heaven, I have some terrible news for you. The mountain you’re climbing only leads to a cliff, which in turn leads to an endless descent into the abyss of hell.

But Jesus has done the work. It is finished. All you need to do is believe. You cannot add to the work. God does not require anything from you for admission into His kingdom.

And if you do believe this, then I have some wonderful news for you!

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

 Jesus loves you and therefore I love you,

mike…

P.s. If you do not read your bible on a daily basis, I encourage you to start. Jesus died so that you can have direct access to God through faith in him…

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 2:18

This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹² in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

Ephesians 3:12-13

You do not need to go through a priest to get to God. You are qualified to read and to understand scripture. Believe!!!