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Jesus says those who do good deeds will be given eternal life. So, who does good deeds? The answer is given in the next two passages,
They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him . . . (NASB) Titus 1:16 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works . . . (NASB) Eph. 2:8-10 Those who believe in Jesus will have a pattern of life which is marked by godly deeds, and those who do not believe will have a life marked by deeds that are not pleasing to God. We can claim to believe in God. It does not matter what we say about our relationship with God in this life, or what we tell others. God knows the truth. Can non-Christians perform good deeds that count for eternal life? The answer is no. Ephesians 2:10 says that only Christians can do deeds that God will consider to be spiritually good. When a man or woman becomes a Christian, God changes our spirit or soul and enables us to start performing spiritually good deeds for the first time in our lives. Only Christians can do spiritually good deeds. Since a Christian’s sins are forgiven, God will not find anything wrong with them.
Life In Himself. Buried near the beginning of Jesus’ last statement we read these words.
For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself . . . (NASB) John 5:26
We want to stop and think about this statement for a minute. Jesus uses simple words in this passage, but the concept is complex. The message is that the Father has life in Himself. That is, God keeps Himself alive. God does not need air, food, minerals, or anything else to stay alive. He was not created. He has life in Himself. He is self-existing, self-maintaining, or self-continuing. All of us know that something comes from something else. Something is never created out of nothing. But God existed before anything. He was. He has always existed. He maintains Himself. How can something come from nothing?
Some people today do not understand how the universe came into existence. So they have created theories in an attempt to explain how the universe came into existence, but their theories all assume that something existed millions of years in the past. They always assume something existed. They have failed to explain how something came into existence from nothing. But Jesus has the answer. God was there in eternity past; since He is self-existing. Jesus is self-existing!
Proof of Jesus’ Words. How would you have felt at this point if you were the angry religious leader - strong disbelief, raging anger, or would you have wanted proof? Jesus had told them that He imitates the Father. The Father loves Him. He is the Judge. He is the path to eternal life. He is self-existing. Those are incredible statements from any human being. Why should they believe Him? So Jesus proceeds to answer this unspoken question.
If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true. (NASB) John 5:31-32 |
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| Life & Heart of Jesus | |||||
