Even though people say things like, “We’re all God’s children,"( and I remember myself specifically saying that, out of my own lack of wisdom in God's word), but that is not what Jesus taught.
Today after church, Abby asked that very question.
When you are “born of God”—not the first birth, but the second one, that’s a work of pure, free grace—you become a child of God.
John 1:12-13 says,
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he GAVE the right to
BECOME children of God, who were born, NOT of blood NOR of the will of the flesh NOR of the will of man,
but of GOD.” The answer John mentions here in this first chapter is that WITHOUT GRACE we are NOT the children of God. That happens consciously through faith in Christ.
Verse 12 sets two conditions: receiving Jesus and believing,
We need to be born. We need to have spiritual life. That is what God does according to John 1:13 without any help from us—"not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God." We are born of God by a free act of sovereign grace. He chooses us before we choose him, (John 15:16,
"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.) & (Eph. 1:4, "
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace).
God is not everybody's Father. He created everybody, and they are his. But Jesus says in John 8:42 ,"If God were your Father you would love me." God is not everyone's Father. And the test of who your Father is, is whether you love his Son.
Two weeks before I turned 18, I received Christ as my Savior, and I have never been the same!
Yes, I continued in my sinful desires, I rebelled, and I even questioned why God would sacrifice His son for me, but I will live the rest of my days praising God for sacrificing His son for a sinner like me.
The question is, WHERE WILL YOU SPEND ETERNITY ? ......................................................
~Eternal life is a free gift~
Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
~You can not earn a place into heaven, it is a gift~
Ephesians 2:8-9; 8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
~We do not deserve heaven~
Romans 3: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 3: 12...there is no one who does good, not even one
James 2: 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
~You can not save yourself~
T
itus 3: 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy
~God is just-He must punish sin~
2 Peter 3: 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
Exodus 34: 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished
Romans 6: 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
~Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven~Who is He, and what did He do~
John 1:1,14 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Romans 5: 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
1 Peter 3: 18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit
John 14: 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
~ Believing is not enough~
James 2: 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder
~True Faith is, turning from your sins and trusting in Jesus Christ
alone for your your eternal salvation~
Acts 4: 12 And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.
John 1: 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name
Acts 16: 31 They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household
Romans 10: 13 for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED"
~How do you know, if you have eternal life?~
1 John 5:11-13 11And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
13These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
~My hope and prayer is that anyone who reads this and is not sure of where they will spend eternity, will look over these verses, and I pray that their hearts will be opened to the power of the Gospel~
