In a previous message, Jesus healed a blind man (John 9). The man believed that Jesus was from God because Jesus had healed him, something that was possible only if Jesus actually was from God (John 9:33). The man believed the truth about Jesus: Jesus had healed Him, and Jesus was from God. In response to Jesus, the man believed and worshiped Him. That man is now in heaven with Jesus. The Jewish leaders reacted very differently. They scorned Jesus and what He had done for the man. They turned away from Jesus. Are they in heaven? Not if they continued to reject Jesus.
You know, Jesus worked so hard to make it clear to people when He was here on earth who He was. He worked so hard to get people to understand that through Him was life (John 1:4), and that He was the light of the world (John 8:12). Do you know what that means? Light, in the Bible, means biblical truth. When you walk in the light, you walk in truth and you have life—spiritual life. The opposite of this is darkness which refers to errors and lies. If you walk in darkness, you’re caught up in the lies and deception of the world. Jesus trudged all over Israel, walking miles and miles to get this message out to people. He worked and worked and worked...healing hundreds…feeding thousands…teaching countless numbers of people the truth of who He was, and that eternal life with God the Father in heaven was possible only by believing in Him.
The amazing reality is that Jesus left heaven to come to earth…can you believe He would do that? It’s hard to comprehend that Jesus’s love for sinners is so deep that He would give up glorious heaven to come down to earth. And for what purpose? To die on a cross so that sinners might have eternal life. He gave up heaven to come down to earth so that He would suffer and die. And do you know who He did that suffering for? Well, He did this for you…IF you believe in Him, put your faith in Him. Trust Him with your life. Obey Him and do all that He commands. You know, when you are saved, Jesus is both your Savior and Lord of your life—which has to do with obedience to all the truth of God’s Word. So, maybe Jesus came down from heaven for you—I say maybe because if you have not put your faith in Jesus, you aren’t saved. It’s that simple. But how does salvation happen?
One of the points made in the book of John again and again is that salvation is a miracle worked by God through the Holy Spirit. We can’t get saved on our own. We can’t do good things and earn our way to heaven. We can’t “make a decision for Christ.” We aren’t saved by joining a church. So what can you do? You can pray as the tax collector did, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18: 13). Like Peter told Simon the magician, you can pray to the Lord that you might be forgiven (Acts 8:22). God promises “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you” (Jeremiah 29:13-14). Seek Him today. With all your heart. If you need a Bible or prayer, let one of the Feed Your Soul team members know.
Related Posts
