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John Chapter 14
As long as one truly believes in Jesus, he or she should never have to be troubled and shaken in mind. To believe means to believe in Jesus as the one God sent to save us from sin. To believe in Jesus means to believe His words that He spoke to us. To believe in Jesus is to be a doer of the word and not just a forgetful hearer. To believe in Jesus means more than just believe He once existed. To believe means to receive, act upon and live for Jesus by recognizing He died for our sins, He was buried and rose again three days later to usher in the plan of salvation for all who believe. We also who abide in Christ at His coming will rise to be with Him whether we are alive or our bodies have died and gone the way of all flesh. The soul and spirit does not sleep as some may teach. Only the body dies.
This at the present day of August 31, 2025, (I go back and update the date since I first wrote this study) is what Jesus is doing this present time. He is preparing a place for those that believe in Him. This is a great promise to believers who are faithful and looking for the coming of the Lord. Some call this hope, the rapture or catching away for those accounted worthy to escape the things Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 and other scriptures. The timing of this time is controversial and I won't get into that but we hope in the Lord's coming no matter when it occurs.
This is our hope and comfort. Jesus will come back for those who believe in Him and look for Him. A good sign that we are ready is that we love His appearing. We should never fear His appearing if we have our sins forgiven and have been "born again" by His spirit.
This is the only way to eternal life with Jesus where ever He abides. If it wasn't the only way, Jesus would not have had to come from heaven and suffer such agony in the flesh and not only that but allow our old dirty sins to come upon His body so that He can die for those sins that we committed. All the ordinances and laws in the Old Testament condemn us to eternal death because we have all broken those laws at one time or another. Jesus took all those sins that were against us and nailed them to that cross when He died.
All our sins, all things we have done have broken God's perfect law written in the books of Moses. If we did just one sin, the law would have been broken but there is a remedy. There is a way to be free from that condemnation. It's like the President of the United States has the power to pardon any criminal He chooses to pardon. The person's citizenship is restored, and the guilt is erased. This is what Jesus did for all who believe. The one the president pardons though still has to face God for his or her sins. If they come to Jesus for salvation, their sins is erased because of what Jesus did.
What a wonderful hope and promise straight from the throne of God. Getting back to the conversation Jesus is having with His disciples, Jesus said:
To see Jesus is to see the Father. That doesn't mean that there are not two. There is a Son and there is a Father but it means that Jesus is God. He is deity. He is just as much God as the Father is God. They are one in unity and purpose such as believers are to be one and in the unity of love and the bond of peace. We are not to be divided in Christ. We can't be in unity with those that do not walk in the truth but we are to be in unity with those that are in Christ Jesus.
We see clearly the desire of God is to save the lost. He planned and made the way through His Son, Jesus for that to happen to anyone who would believe and receive this good way.
How beautiful is the way of salvation, being filled with God's spirit and never being alone.
Yet even though there is a Father and a Son, they are so united that to believe in Jesus is to believe in the Father. To receive one is to receive another. Jesus so represented God the Father that to see Him and to believe in His words is to receive and believe the Father. If one does not believe Jesus came from the Father and spoke for the Father, he or she can never be saved for Jesus is the way of salvation. Jesus came to preach what God told Him to speak. That is an example of many of us that are called to teach or preach. We do not add or take away from the written word and we need to constantly be in prayer and speak as directed by the Holy Spirit that was given to us for the purpose of spreading the gospel and teaching the word. To believe in Jesus is to turn from sin because Jesus came to save us from sin. If we didn't have any sin, Jesus would not have had to come. So turning from sin and believing in Jesus as the only way of salvation is one of the same. Forgiveness of sin and freedom from the condemnation of the law of God comes at the same time when we truly believe in Jesus and in who He is.
True believers will do the works of Christ. Signs follow them that believe. Preaching the way of salvation to a lost world is the most important work of Christ. Getting out that message of salvation is first. Signs following believers will confirm the truth of the word but since Jesus did warn against false signs and wonders, we have to have discernment also but we can take comfort in the other words of Jesus that declare, "His sheep know His voice." We must not ever let the fear of false signs and wonders keep us from allowing signs and wonders follow us to glorify and confirm the word of truth.
This is truth that some of us have not yet really grasped. Once we truly believe and walk in the spirit, we will not go around praying for things out of the Lord's will. We will not love the world so we will not be praying for wealth and material things in this life just to consume it upon our own lusts. If we are abiding in Christ and are
walking in His word, we can ask anything in His name and He will do
it. Look on the last part of that verse though. That the Father may
be glorified in the Son. We are to bring people to Jesus Christ. If that builds up our local churches, great. If they go and join another church across town, who cares, unless of course that church is apostate. If they have joined the body of Christ with their names written in heaven, that is what counts.
We don't keep His commandments to earn our salvation, but we keep His commandments because we are saved and we love Him. Whoever claims Jesus as their savior and ignore everything Jesus has to say, most probably would not really be born again by the spirit. Perhaps the seed of the word fell on stony ground, a ground of thorns or fell by the wayside.
This is the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. Not only are we born again by the Holy Ghost and brought into the body of Christ by faith in Jesus, we also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit that comes within us and abides with us forever. In the book of Acts it is stated by Peter that the Holy Spirit is given to those that obey Him (Jesus). The Holy Spirit is the comforter, the teacher and one that pricks our hearts when we do things that grieve Him. This is the power that we receive to accomplish the work of Christ after Christ left to return to heaven. There is a big difference in those that first believe in Jesus for salvation and those that continue in the word and in prayer allowing the Holy Spirit to baptize them for service. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit does not make one "more saved" or better than someone else or holier than someone else. This great gift from God brings us into a greater understanding of God's word, and guides us into all truth. To leave out the Holy Spirit is a big mistake. I know this is not always accepted by all but speaking in tongues is part of this. To reject and speak evil of speaking in tongues is ignorance. This is a gift of God. We may not always understand the significance of this but this is something beautiful, not weird or crazy. Paul would not have written a whole chapter on the proper operation of the gifts of the spirit ending the chapter with an exhortation not to forbid the speaking with other tongues if it was not in fact something good. 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 speak of these things. There is no evidence or word that says the gifts of the spirit ceased when the written word was printed or when the apostles died off. If that were the case then the Holy Spirit would have ceased and without the Holy Spirit to draw us to Christ and convict us of sin, no one could be saved or born again. The only time the gifts of the spirit would have to have ceased would be if every one in the world was saved, healed of all diseases and perfect in the faith. If that time comes then and only then will we cease to need the gifts of the spirit. If every one of us were made perfect in love then maybe we wouldn't need the gifts of the spirit. However, we see that not every one is perfect yet so we must still need all the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit in the churches. To say we have no need of them because we have the bible is not true. Of course another time the gifts of the Spirit would cease is if people stopped believing and became apostate to the truth and rejected the Holy Spirit. Who do we think it is that causes an anointed preacher to be able to teach and preach the bible? We can't understand the bible without the Holy Spirit. Jesus would not give the gifts and have Paul teach about them if they were to disappear after a few years. The gifts and calling of God is without repentance. They will not cease until the perfect one has come and all are perfected in the faith.
Why some receive Jesus and reject the gifts given through His Holy Spirit has always puzzled me. Whatever God gives me is to serve Him with, I want to receive.
A person who has not been born again cannot receive the Holy Spirit.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is the way Jesus comes to us.
The Holy Spirit comes to those that love Him and keep His word. If we say we love Him and do not keep His words, we don't really love Him.
The fact that we don't always rely on the Holy Spirit as a teacher is why we have so much disagreement and division in the body of Christ. Its much easier just to take the word of a speaker than to read, study and pray for the understanding ourselves. Getting our minds off the head of the church which is Jesus as the only way of salvation is the first step into error. The true Holy Spirit will always glorify Jesus and will speak the words of God just as Jesus spoke for God. He will not glorify man or puff up a certain ministry above Jesus Christ. He will not teach another way of salvation other than Jesus and He will not go opposite of the already revealed written word of God.
If our minds are kept on the Lord and in the continual study of the word, we will have a peace that the world will not understand and the world will not have. DC
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