Holding to Gods Teachings

Good morning. We have a lot to cover, so we’re just going to jump in if that’s cool. John 8, verse 31 is where we’re going to be this morning. My hope is to give you a pretty thorough overview of this text that starts here in verse 31 and ends all the way in verse 59. That’s 28 verses. And in these 28 verses, we find some of the most challenging statements Jesus ever makes. But I want to set up the context for you. Jesus is talking to a group of people that we have been introduced to several months ago, a group of religious leaders who he is speaking to during the Feast of Tabernacles on the Temple Mount. And as we shared last week, he has been talking to them about this idea, what happens when we die? That’s really the discussion here. It’s about death, it’s about sin and death. And more specifically, it’s about the qualifications required for those who wish to live a life with him in heaven. Last week, we saw Jesus say that the self-righteous, those who believe in their own ability to be righteous before God and those who then belong to the system of the world and trust in its power and in its authority will miss their chance at making it to heaven.

But instead, Jesus tells the group, Hey, I want you to reject yourself, reject the world, and instead put your hope and put your trust in me. That was last week. And as we begin this week, we get some encouraging news. We read this in John 8, verse 30 says, Even as he spoke, many believed in him. That’s good. Amen. They did it, right? Jesus’s warning has led to some repentance. They have been convinced to believe, and now everything must be good. But the harsh reality is that it’s not at all how this plays out. Now that they are believers, Jesus will explicitly address the Jews who had believed in him. He’s talking to believers, he’s talking to people like you and like me. Now, as we approach this text, it’s important that we consider it this way. Jesus is now speaking to people who our world would say are believers, or maybe they would even say they’re Christians. Let me just make one more additional comment. In the Bible, it tells us that Jesus comes, John 1, verse 14, with grace and truth.

As we start John 8, we meet a woman who was caught in adultery. According to the law, her punishment, the punishment that was due to her is death. But Jesus gave grace to this woman and helped her find her way to freedom and also find her freedom from these accusers. John 8 begins with grace. John 8 begins with the greatest story of grace, maybe in all of the Bible. But John 8 ends with truth. In fact, seven times in this short discourse, Jesus is going to mention the truth. Here’s what I think is important for us to put into some perspective as we look at this text. We all agree, I would imagine, that we need grace. In fact, we love grace. We desperately need grace. We desperately want grace. But I would love to convince you that you also need truth. But I understand it’s actually easier to desire grace than it is to desire truth. Nobody wants the truth. Everybody would desire for their boss to pull them in, or your teacher to pull them in, or your parent or spouse or roommate and just give them some grace. Man, I failed that test, but you know what

It’s okay. No big deal. You messed up that order and now the company has to pay for it. It’s okay. Don’t do it next time. You spilled that milk on the table, young son. It’s okay. Nobody cares. It’s all right. It’s no big deal. Everybody wants that unearned love, but nobody wants to be pulled into the room and go, Look, you’re actually a disaster. That’s not the first, second, or third time you spilled milk on the table. That’s the 80th time. You have a problem with your dexterity. We need to take you somewhere to be trained. Nobody really likes the truth. Nobody likes when their boss pulls them in and goes, Look, you’re actually failing, and I’m going to put you on probation because you’re not going to be able to continue in this company. Nobody wants that. Now, we all know we should want the truth, but we don’t really want the truth. But Jesus, as the best teacher there has ever been, as a God of love, is going to show these people not only his amazing grace but also his perfect truth. It’s all an attempt to get them away from the condemnation of hell and towards the great reward of eternal life with him in heaven.

This text is a truth bomb, so gear up for it. You may have to put your seat belt on. I know you don’t have a seat belt. It’s a joke. John 8, Verse 31. Are you guys with me? All right, here we go. John 8, Verse 31. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. These are new disciples, the people from Verse 30 who Jesus now says, Hey, look, you believe in me, you believed in me. I want to add one more qualification required for you. It’s this, hold to my teachings. Hold on to them. What does this mean? We’re actually going to spend a fair bit of time in our discussion in John 15 when we get there about what it means to hold to his teachings. But let me just give you a quick summary. A lot of Bible translators, instead of using the word hold to, they instead use another word called abide. To abide by something is to ask to act or to accept or act in accordance with the rule. Here are some other words that are synonymous with the word abide, obey, observe, follow, uphold, head, accept.

This is what Jesus is telling these people. You believe me now, obey my word, head my word, accept my word as truth. If you’re going to be a believer, you have to stick with him by obedience. Why? Well, if you don’t, there’s actually an example in John 15 about what happens if you don’t abide. It says this, this is from the ESV, If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withered. And the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned. Do you see the motif of condemnation connected to the idea of obedience? If you don’t stick with his word, you’re going to lack nourishment and so you’ll die. I asked my wife if I could share the story, but my wife is what I’d like to call a plant murderer. Do you have these people in your family? I purchased her a bonsai tree for Valentine’s Day. And I shared with her what she was supposed to do. I explained how you water it because the Bonsai guy at Flamingo Garden, was very specific about what I was supposed to do.

So I walked her through the instructions. But over time, she got busy. She lost track of time. She forgot about it. And then she murdered the plant. She forgot to water it, choking it from its nourishment. And one day, we looked at the plant that I spent $100 on, and I bought as a symbol of my love for her, and it was dead. It was not nourished like it was supposed to be, and so she killed it. This, I think, is the way Jesus is explaining to us and explaining to these new believers that you have to hold on to the teachings. Otherwise, you will choke the nourishment required to live a spiritual life. What do you have to do instead of killing it? If you keep my commands, Jesus will say, If you keep my commands, you will abide in my love. Jesus connects the keeping of commands and staying close to Him in the same idea. Same idea. Just as I have kept my father’s commands and abide in his love. To abide in Jesus means to obey him. This is the simplest idea of what it means. It means to recognize him, not just as your Messiah, not just as a savior.

All of us want a savior. Save me, help me, protect me, select me, take care of my family. He’s not just a friend. I’m a friend of God. He calls me a friend. But it’s also that you acknowledge him to be your rabbi, your teacher, and your Lord. And in doing so, you thrive. Outback, there’s a garden that some members of the church have been building, the gardening club. I don’t remember who runs it. Maybe it’s Varenda who runs the gardening club. And they have out there 10-foot-tall sunflowers. Do you know how you get 10-foot-tall sunflowers? You take care of it. This is not a condemnation of my wife. This is just a statement of fact. Obedience in the Christian life is how you nourish your soul. Do you want to nourish your soul? Obey the Bible, obey the words of God. Here’s a question for you to consider. Is there something Jesus is asking you to do or to stop doing? Is there something that he’s asking you to take more seriously? Is there someone or something he’s asking you to engage with? Is there something you have to trust in him or to do something?

Is there something he’s asking for you to do that you need to do so that you can thrive in your spiritual life? The text continues. It says this, What’s the result of obedience? You know the truth and the truth sets you free. This is the most popular saying related to Jesus’s conversation on truth, but it’s maybe the most out-of-context passage people just take out to make it mean whatever they want to mean. But what we learn here is that the result of such ongoing faith linking to the idea of holding to his teachings is that you learn the truth and the truth subsequently sets you free. Ironically, it’s that promise, the promise of freedom that offends this group of new believers. What do they say? They answered him, We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves to anyone. How can you say that we will be set free? They’re basically saying, Set free from what? What are you talking about? Here again, it’s important to read the text in context. Jesus has already told us what we need to be set free from. It’s the thing that’s hanging over their head from earlier that you will die in your sin.

That’s what they need to be set free from. But they missed the total point and instead moved to defend their own spirituality by talking about their heritage. What did they say? They answered We are Abraham’s descendants. We have never been slaves to anyone. Their answer conspicuously ignores Moses’ repeated command in Deuteronomy to remember that they were a slave in Egypt. Deuteronomy 5, 15, 16, 22, 24, and also that they were slaves in Babel. Oh, and also that they were slaves in their homeland by the Persians and the Greeks, and now the Romans. They’ve been slaves, but Jesus is not really even talking about their historical lineage. He’s talking about what’s happening to their spirituality. But what’s so interesting is that these guys do what a lot of us do, which is that in order to defend against a spiritual attack or some spiritual truth, we look at our history and we look at our lineage and we look at our pedigree so that we can say, we don’t really need any new information. I’ve already done that. I’ve been in the church since I was a youth. These people are very much like us. When you and I are confronted with the lies that we believe or the sins that we commit or the hope that has been misplaced, so often we can be tempted to lean into our history.

Look, you’re telling me I need to do this and this and this? I’ve been a Christian for 20 years. I’ve got this stuff settled. There’s an arrogance, a sense of I know it all. Maybe better than arrogance, it’s like being childish, being a child. Children do this, I know it. Oh, do not have to tell me anything. I already understand it. That’s what people who are immature do. If you’ve been a Christian for 20 or 30 years, why would that ever be your response? My son asked me the other day, Why do cars need gas? I tried to explain to him that there are these little explosions that happen, air and a spark from a spark plug and the fuel mixed together and push pistons up and down. I was trying to explain that the systems move and then eventually move the car forward. After explaining to him for about two minutes. He said, Oh, I knew that. I said, No, you didn’t. You don’t know anything. But this is the defensiveness, guard against our own defensiveness, we think we know it all.

But here’s the thing. As a soul being sanctified by God, we should never come to believe that we know it all. There should always be room for you to grow in your faith, and to be taught things by the youngest person in the church and by the oldest person in the church. Who cares what you know? Leave it all aside and learn to be humble. Instead of leaning on your history or on your wisdom, instead, lean on some humility. Be taught, Lord, teach me to be humble. Lord, teach us to be humble so we don’t close ourselves off to the truth that he reveals to us. So we don’t close ourselves off to freedom. Well, even so, these whole descendants missed the point. Jesus was not talking about foreign rule, but he was talking about their own sinfulness. In verse 34, Jesus explains it, Jesus replied, Very truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. The enslavement of these believing Jews is not to roam, but in common with the whole world, it’s to their sin. They’ve missed the mark. They live in such a way that’s incongruent with the purposes of an image bearer and presenting the glory of God.

If you don’t learn to hold to his teaching, this is what Jesus says, they will forever be enslaved to their sin, and therefore, they will forever be enslaved to death, hell, and destruction. That’s the point. You’re held captive by sin. And if you hold to my teachings, I can free you from sin. That’s the theme. That’s the point. It’s not about now you know the truth and the truth sets you free because you were a sheep and now you’re not a sheep. It has nothing to do with any of that. It has to do with the constant slavery of our own sin. He then launches into a metaphor. He says, Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son set you free, you will be free indeed. This metaphor has a theological edge to it. What is he trying to say? The slave cannot remain in the house forever. But if the son sets you free, you can remain in the house forever. Where is forever? That’s heaven, that’s the Kingdom of God. You can’t get to the Kingdom of God unless you are set free by the son.

If the son sets you free, you are free indeed. I’ve been thinking a lot about this. It’s something like this, you can be free from sin, hell, and the grave, and you don’t have to fear what happens when you die if you hold on to his teachings, because then you will learn the truth, the truth of the Son, and the son will set you free. Does that make sense? And then what becomes clear is that the text is actually not just saying the truth will set you free. It actually means the Son will set you free. It’s not just the truth, it’s the truth that comes from the Son. Jesus himself is the truth. He is the door to knowledge, the one who knows how to escape the damning power of sin, hell, and the grave. And therefore, the place where freedom and salvation from sin are found is in Jesus Christ. But only if you’re willing to hold to his teachings. It’s not just believing. Faith and faith alone is a doctrine that came about from the Protestant Reformation. It speaks to this idea that belief and belief alone save you.

Now, if you talk to someone who really believes this doctrine, they’re not going to say it’s belief. They’re going to talk about this idea that faith tied to actions is real faith. But this doctrine, I think, has done some really challenging things to believers because here’s what has happened. People believe if you sit here and you go, I intellectually believe there is a God, then I will be set free from my sin. Or if I intellectually believe in Jesus, then I will be set free from my sin. But Jesus is very clear. You cannot believe your way into freedom. You cannot believe your way to escape from the dangers of hell. You cannot believe your way into being a follower of Jesus, no matter what preachers have told you. The doctrine of belief alone, in my opinion, has been damaging. It’s given people some false spiritual hope because, from the words of Jesus, we learn that you must hold to his teachings. You cannot be a Christian just by believing. You have to hold on to his teachings. Look, if you’re confused by this, let me just add this. I say this all in love.

If you’re like, Wait, I need to understand this. We have this great thing called the Discover class after church where Joe Sterns will answer all of your questions. He’ll do a great job. It’s an E4 or something like that. Or you can ask somebody here to walk you through it. But I just think it’s so important. No one can walk in here and go, Yes, I believe in Jesus, and then be freed from hell. It doesn’t work like that. You have to actually do what Jesus says. Jesus continues, they say, We are Abraham’s descendants. Jesus says I know that you’re Abraham’s descendants. Jesus does not deny that they are descendants of Abraham. However, you are looking for a way to kill me because you have no room for my word. I tell you what I’ve seen from the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your Father. Just keep that in mind. Your Father, this is going to come back to haunt them in just a few seconds. Having warned them to hold to his teachings, he now signals that they are not doing so, and he says, Why? Why don’t they hold to his teachings?

Because they have no room for him in his heart. Here’s a modern interpretation. The Jesus they want is not actually Jesus. Let me explain what I mean by this. The Jesus they want is a Jesus that gives them freedom from their eternal fears. They want a saving Jesus, but that’s it. They want a Jesus that feeds them, heals them, gives them life and wealth, and everything else. It’s like you want Jesus to save you, but you don’t want to hold to his teachings. You only want this much, Jesus. Do you know what I’m saying? But Jesus is really big and you’re just like, Can I just get the saving part? It’s like you’re in a pizza place. Can you leave out the onions? Keep out of this. But I just want this type of Jesus. This is what they want. They want this very specific type. They want the outcome of a life of faith without having to live a life of faith. He says you have no room for me in your heart.

They’re already all filled up, filled up by their own desires, filled up by the ways of the world. So Jesus says, Here’s how you live. Here’s how you behave. And that is just a bridge too far for these believers. I want to come as you are, Jesus. That’s the Jesus I want. I want the You can’t judge me, Jesus. I want the Sunday churchgoer Jesus. And giving your whole life and pursuing everything that Jesus called you to do is just something I’m not really interested in. And listen this rebuke, I would say, is echoed to all of us. I listen to a lot of Christian music, and man, there’s a lot of Christian music that just talks about what we want out of Jesus. And very rarely is it like, I just want to obey what you say. It’s like, I want you to save my family. I want you to fix my kids. I want you to heal my spouse. I want you to impact my bank account. But I have to ask myself, do I really want Jesus’s influence on my everyday living in every aspect of my life? Do I want that Jesus?

The conversation continues. I am telling you what I’ve seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your Father. Feeling the rebuke coming, they interrupt. Abraham is our Father, they answered. Jesus has already acknowledged the claim that they are Abraham’s children or that they are descendants of Abraham, but I want you to hear the distinction Jesus makes. Jesus is so dope. Here we go. If you were Abraham’s children, Jesus says, then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you’re looking for a way to kill me, a man who told you the truth that heard from God, that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the work of your father. They may be Abraham’s descendants, but children imply that your character and behavior have some family resemblance. Jesus’ point is that even though these believers are Abraham’s seed, they are not Abraham’s children. Their action denies their own paternity. Why? Because they don’t behave like Abraham did. Well, they’re trying to kill him. That’s why. But when Abraham saw the Lord, he welcomed him. I’m going to nerd out for a little bit. Are you with me?

Here we go. Genesis chapter 18. You don’t have to turn there. This is such a cool text. Abraham meets three people in Genesis chapter 18. Two of them are angels. We know this because eventually, they destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. The third is called the Lord. I believe, and this is just me, this is Jesus in the flesh. Here’s Jesus in the flesh meeting with Abraham. Do you know what Abraham does when he meets him? He welcomes him, he cooks for him, he cares about him, he takes hold of him and cherishes him. This is how Abraham responded when the Lord came. How do these people respond when the Lord comes? Well, the same way that the people from Sodom responded. What do they do? They try to rape the angels. They try to kill them. And Jesus is looking at them and going, You’re a lot more like Sodom than you are like Abraham. You ask, do these believers really want to kill him? Maybe they don’t at that moment, but Jesus knows they will eventually want to kill him. And so what they’re making is just the evidence of the truth of Jesus’ first statement, that he came to that which was his own and his own did not receive him.

Also, interestingly enough, when Jesus says, You are trying to kill me, they don’t deny that they’re trying to kill him. But instead, they just replete their claim. We are not illegitimate children, they protest. The only father we have is God himself. We’re upping the ante. It was Abraham. Now it’s God. Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me. For I’ve come here from him and I’m not on my own. God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Oh, because you are unable to hear what I say. Why? Because there’s no room in your heart left. If God were your father, which he is not, you would love me, which you do not. And it’s obvious you do not love me because you will not accept the teachings I’ve given. In short, they have failed and their belief has left them unchanged. And now their belief has been proven to actually be unbelief. Here’s some application. If you love God, you will love his word. That’s pretty plain and simple, but it actually has a profound impact. You can’t say you love God and then have someone show you a verse and you get defensive.

Let me just say that again. You can’t say I love God and then someone tries to be like Bro or Sister, look at this verse. I think you should change. And then you respond defensively. Obviously, you don’t love God’s Word then. Do you hear what I’m saying? You’re like, Well, it’s the way they approached me. It’s like, No, The truths of God were trying to be like a sword penetrating your heart, and you had no room for it left in your heart. We continue, and finally, Jesus identifies their father. He says, Your father is not God. Your father is not Abraham. Who is your father? You belong to your father, the devil. Can you imagine? And you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth. For there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native tongue, and he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell you the truth, because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Can anyone prove me guilty of sin? I am telling you the truth.

Why don’t you believe me? Whoever, belongs to God and hears what God says. The reason you don’t hear is that you do not belong to God. You instead are from your father and your father is the devil. Harsh reality. Some of us take it easy, Jesus. I want the meek and lowly Jesus. I want the holding of a lamb Jesus. I don’t want the “your father is the devil Jesus”. But really, Jesus is just trying to drive home the point by expanding on who the devil is. He is a murderer and a liar. See, from the very beginning, it was the serpent’s lie. What was the serpent’s lie? You will not surely die. It was that lie told to Eve that first brought death into the world. Here’s the deal. The same lie is still at work in the midst of Jesus’s hears. They are ignoring, and denying what he has said three times. You will die in your sins. And so Jesus hears our being deceived by the father of the dark world with the same lie that that world leader has been saying since the very beginning.

Their father, the devil, is telling them once again the same thing. Jesus says to them, If you don’t find freedom from your sin, you will die in your sin. And the devil is saying, You will not surely die. Do you see it’s the same lie? It’s the same lie. And the devil speaks the same lie again to us today. And when he says it, you and I need to reject it and instead hold to the teachings. What’s the lie? The lie is something like this. If you live unrighteously, if you live like a heathen, if you live in a way that’s not holding to the teachings of Jesus, you will die in your sin. That’s the truth. That’s just the truth. There’s nothing else masking any of that. That’s just the truth. Then the lie comes, you’re not going to die? God doesn’t care about that? Yeah, exactly. What she said. The devil may lie to you, tell you you will not die, but I’m telling you, he is a liar and has been a liar from the beginning. Your job is to try to live righteously. Don’t use grace as a license to sin. If you do, you’re actually living the lie of Satan himself.

I’ve thought a lot about this in my own life, and I just want to be transparent here, I in some ways prefer lies. I wonder why I prefer lies. That’s because of what Jesus said, we don’t like our sins exposed. I prefer lies. In some ways, children of the devil are those who love what their father loves, and their father loves lies. Children of God are people who love what their father loves, and their father loves truth. We should be called children of the devil if we prefer the lies we tell ourselves over the truth God tells us or the lies our culture tells us over the truth that God’s word tells us. In some ways, we should be told, Hey, you’re actually a child of the devil. In some ways, as I mentioned, I’m also there. There’s a part of me that prefers the lies I tell about myself to the truth God tells me. I guess what I’ve learned is whatever those lies are, to love God means that I love the truth of his word much more than the wonderful lies I tell myself to make me not feel bad about myself.

It’s not that we want to be children of the devil. It’s only that we prefer lies over truth because the truth is so painful. I just want to make an encouragement. This is a transition, I think, to loving truth over loving lies. How that happens is simply what Jesus said, you hold to his teachings. Well, Jesus just said, You’re a child of the devil. And that doesn’t go over very well. And so they respond, The Jews answered him, Aren’t we right in saying you’re a Samaritan and demon-possessed? Let’s just go out and say it, you’re insane. Jesus defends himself immediately. I am not possessed by a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. I am not seeking glory for myself, but there is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Very truly, I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death. What is he saying? If anyone keeps my word, he will never, ever see death. He’s talking about spiritual death, obviously. He’s talking about eternal condemnation, but they don’t get it. Instead, they dive into a conversation about Jesus’s pre-existence. They say this, At this day, exclaimed, now we know that you are demon-possessed.

Abraham died, and so did the prophets. Yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death? Are you greater than our Father, Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are? Abraham died. The prophets died. You’re like a child. Who do you think you are? In verse 54, Jesus replied, If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and obey his word. Again, the connection between knowing God and obedience. Even Jesus holds that same standard. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day. He saw it and was glad. This could mean that he saw it in the future, but it also could mean that he saw it in Genesis chapter 18. He saw it and was glad. The reply is, You’re not yet 50 years old. They said to him, And you have seen Abraham? And here Jesus replies with yet another very true statement, the 14th in the Gospel, and the most challenging one for the Jews that they could possibly have heard.

Very truly, I tell you, Jesus answered, Before Abraham was born, I am. This is the third I am statement in this short little text. I am the light of the world. We see that in verse 12. I am from above, verse 23. I am the son of man. We saw that in verse 28. This time all the ambiguity is there and it dominates the conversation and it’s there on purpose. Before Abraham was born, I am. You might ask, I am what? I am who? To a modern reader, this sentence appears unfinished, but to them, they knew exactly what he was saying. Jesus was echoing back to Exodus chapter 3, even though the Hebrew is rather different, where God says to Moses, I am who I am. What is Jesus saying here? Do you know the burning bush? Do you know the God of Israel? Do you know the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob? That’s me. This gives us then a clear answer to the question, how could Jesus say that if anyone keeps his word, they will never see death? How could Jesus say that he’s going to raise people up on the last day?

Well, Jesus’ answer is unequivocal. And here’s what it is. I can say whatever I want to say because I am God, and I can do whatever I want to do because I am God. I can help people overcome death and fear in the bondage of hell because I am God. This is why I can say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. At this, the conversation is over. The Jews have no more words to say. Instead, it says this, They picked up stones to stone him. They have no room for him in their heart. All they can do is try to kill him. But Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. They can’t take it anymore. I thought a lot about this, and we’ll end here, but these people hate Jesus. I think a lot of people in our world hate Jesus. I want to tell you why I think people hate Jesus. It’s because Jesus demands that his followers do what he says. People hate to be told what to do. Jesus says, If you want to follow me, you have to do what I say.

Guys, if you’re in this church and you’re like, I want to be a Christian, maybe you’re trying to figure it out. I want to simply say this, Jesus’s demand on your life, if you choose to be a Christian, is that you do what he says. If you don’t want to do it, then let me tell you, this is not the faith for you. I mean that with love and respect. It’s just the truth. But I want to give you some words of encouragement why you should do what he says. One, his commands are really good. Do you want to live a great life? Obey Jesus, man. Because the best life you could possibly live leads to life and joy and peace and patience and kindness and all that wonderful stuff. God gives you that because of the way you obey. It’s amazing. The second encouragement is this, it’s not a random person telling you to do what they say. It’s God telling you to do what he says. Do you want to be free from sin, hell, and the grave? Do you want to be sure that you can be with God and glory in heaven?

What qualifies you to get to heaven? Well, believe in Jesus, trust in Jesus, and then hold on to what he says. Live them out and love the truth. And as Jesus says, very truly, I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.