"....this is
eternal
life, that they may know You, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
John 17:3
"...you He
made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in
which you once walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who
now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all
once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were
by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great
love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to
come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have
been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
Ephesians 2:1-10
The only way to the
Father is by faith in Christ -- through the cross
“For there is one God and one Mediator
between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for
all."
1 Timothy 2:5
"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'"
John
14:6
"I
am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will
go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come
except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that
they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for
the sheep."
John 10:9-11
"...by the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God
raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you
whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders,
which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there
salvation in any other, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Acts 4:10-12
“I,
even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior."
Isaiah 43:11
"And there is no
other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me."
Isaiah 45:21
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
Isaiah
53:4-6
Like Abraham, we
are saved by grace - through faith, not "good" works
"...if
Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast
about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. Now 'to him who works, the wages are not
counted 'as grace but as debt."
Romans 4:2-4
"Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to
grace..."
Romans 4:16
By His grace, believers are
saved from God's judgment
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go
in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way
which leads to life, and there are few who find it."
Matthew 7:13-14
"For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them
down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be
reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but
saved Noah... and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into
ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to
those who afterward would live ungodly... then the Lord knows
how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve
the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment..."
2 Peter 2:4-6, 9
God draws us to Jesus
and enables us to "believe" Him
Jesus said, "No
one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws
him." John 6:44
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and
gave Himself for me."
Galatians 2:20
"And we know that the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who
is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life."
1 John 5:20
"For to you it has been granted on
behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer
for His sake."
Philippians 1:29
The
"divisiveness" of
the
Gospel
"He
who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not
believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abides on him.”
John 3:36
"...you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep,
as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know
them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and
they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of
My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater
than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s
hand. I and My Father are one.” John 10:26-30
“I have come as a light into the world, that
whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if
anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge
him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the
world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has
that which judges him— the word that I have spoken will judge
him in the last day."
John 12:46-48
"They
are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and
the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is
not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth
and the spirit of error."
1 John 4:5-6
“He who believes and is baptized
will
be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."
Mark 16:16
“Now the parable
is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside
are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the
word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive
the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a
while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that
fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out
and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life,
and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the
good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble
and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience. "
Luke 8:11-15
"He
who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of
the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and
men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not
come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he
who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be
clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
John 3:18-21
Jesus tells us in His
Word -
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has
everlasting life. I am the bread of life. ... I am
the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats
of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I
shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the
world.”
John 6:47-51
“I am the light of the world.
He who
follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of
life.”
John 8:12
Our faith and salvation
are gifts from God
“But
we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of
those who believe to the saving of the soul."
Hebrews 10:39
“... if you
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart
that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For
with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the
Scripture says, 'Whoever believes on Him will not be put to
shame.' For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek,
for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For
'whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'"
Romans 10:9-13
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace
may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live
any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death,
that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
Romans 6:1-4
“In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of
the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in
baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you,
being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you
all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements
that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken
it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having
disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle
of them, triumphing over them in it."
Colossians 2:11-15
Live each day as
eternal citizens of heaven
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to
adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the
good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."
Ephesians 1:3-6
"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in
my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it
is God who works in you both to will and to do for His
good pleasure.
“Do
all things without complaining and disputing, that you may
become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in
the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you
shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so
that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in
vain or labored in vain."
Philippians
2:12-16
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of
God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the
earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ
in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also
will appear with Him in glory.
"Therefore put to death your members
which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion,
evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of
these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of
disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you
lived in them.
"But now you yourselves are to put off
all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out
of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put
off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who
is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who
created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor
free, but Christ is all and in all."
Colossians 3:1-11
“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not
yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is
revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."
1 John 3:2
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of
God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God."
1 John 4:7
“By this we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God and keep His commandments."
1 John 5:2
“...many
false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because
lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he
who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the
kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all
the nations, and then the end will come." Matthew
24:11-14