People have asked a valid question, ‘Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?’ How can His death 2000 years ago make a difference in my life? God operates exclusively through His word, in that everything He says literally defines Him, making it impossible for Him to lie (Heb 6-18). He previously said to Adam in Gen 2-17, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die,” and this statement cannot be overturned. Once Adam ate the forbidden fruit, he sinned and passed his sin nature to his descendants throughout the ages. The Bible teaches that the sinful nature of man has been woven into the fabric of our bodies, making us sinners, in that if we sin we must die, and "all have sinned" (Rom 6:23; 3:23). If people sinned and it caused them to die, then Jesus had to come without sin and die for the people to break the law of sin in His own flesh and in those who would believe in Him for eternal life, thus reversing the power of death. Without question, Jesus’ greatest miracle was that He lived a sinless life for 33 years, so when He died on the cross, He broke the power of death. God sent His son, born of the Virgin Mary, making Him completely human, but since He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He was also completely God (Heb 7-26). By reason of His divinity Jesus overcame the sinful nature of man in His flesh, having never yielded to it, being tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15). While murdered by sinners, God nailed the sin of the world to Jesus’ dying body on the cross, and by virtue of His sinless life He broke the law of sin and death. 1Pet 2:24 says, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness," and again, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2Cor 5:21). Now, the blood of Jesus atoning for the sin of the world is the basis of God’s forgiveness. When the Father went to judge His Son, He found that none of His sin was His own, so He forgave His Son for our sin and raised Him from the dead. His righteousness became our life. In His very death He destroyed the power of sin, which is death, by maintaining the righteousness of God in the members of His earthly body. There is nothing we can do to demonstrate to God that we are truly sorry for our sin, except to believe in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice and live according to His will. Our faith in the cross is all God needs from us to fully cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and living by faith is how we show our appreciation for saving us. Now that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin, He has made it illegal for sin to have jurisdiction over anyone who would believe in Him for eternal life.

www.jeansbiblestudy.com

Personal Testimony

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The Simple Gospel

1) God loves you   Jn 3-16
2) Because you love Jesus   Jn 16-27
3) By keeping His commandments   Jn 14-15  

        Which are: 1Jn 3-23,24
                 a) Love God and be born again   Jn 3-3
                 b) Love one another   Jn 15-12
4) This purifies your heart and opens your eyes   Mat 5-8
5) To the vision that God has for your life   Eph 1,15-23

6) Which is to do the works that God has prepared for us   Eph 2-10

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1. God loves you: Jn 3-16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

2. Because you love Jesus: Jn 16-27 “The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”

3. By keeping His commandments: Jn 14-15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

His commandments are to be born again: Jn 3-3 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”

And love one another: Jn 15-12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you”

1Jn 3-23,24 "This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us."
 

4. This purifies your heart: Mat 5-8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

5. And opens your eyes to the vision that God has for your life:

Eph 1,15-23 “For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all..”  

6. Which is to do the works that God has prepared for us:

Eph 2-10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

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The Gospel of James versus the gospel of Paul

The difference between “belief” and faith

James’ gospel: Jm 2,14-26 – Believing requires obedience

Belief: What we believe (obey) is our reality.

Paul’s gospel: Eph 2-8,9 – Faith requires the hearing ear

Faith: When we do the works of God, His reality becomes our reality

Finding balance between Paul and James is a matter of finding our trail of good works that proves we believe, and it completes our faith in Jesus (Eph 2-10).

How do we find our trail of Good works? We must develop a hearing ear

Rom 4,1-8

Jn 10,3-5

Rev 2-7,11,17,29; 3-6,13

This trail is our calling. How do we look for this trail? Praying the Bible pairs the Holy Spirit with the word of God, and it is the Spirit in combination with God's word that is defined as the power of God (Eph 6-17).

Mat 16,13-18     

1Cor 2,1-16          

Gal 1-11,12

Eph 1,15-19

Eph 3,13-21

The Spirit and the word lead to doing the good works that God has prepared for us, working (with) the grace of God

2Cor 6-1

2Tim 2-1

1Cor 15-10

Consider the analogy of the backhoe

There are many passages in the New Testament alone that imply working with the grace of God. Here are just a few:

Jn 3,3-5

Jn 11,38-45

Heb 2,1-4

Heb 11,8-10,28-31

Jm 1,23-25