The Way, and The Truth, and The Life

There is much misdirection from misguided teachers regarding the path to salvation. The hard sayings of God do not enjoy favor with self-satisfied self-assured persons confident in the self-righteousness of their own good works though uncertain (or never questioning) if those works (if they have any merit at all) miraculously originated in themselves or — as would seem more likely — in the righteousness of a good and merciful God Who ordained that they do them. 

Many are on a quest for heaven deluded much as the builders of Babel’s Tower were about the possibility of success. But in truth, “Salvation is of the Lord.” Jonah 2:9b. And, those who abide in the Lord and the Lord in them, HAVE eternal life as a present possession; it is theirs forever: 1 John 5:11-13 KJV “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” 

But here is the hard saying about that: John 6:28-29 KJV “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” 

Belief in Jesus Christ is God’s work. You can’t choose or decide to do it if the gift of faith is not bestowed on you by God. But every person can seek that gift, and should seek the Lord:

Acts 17:27,30-31 KJV “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

Harden not your hearts. The call has gone forth; the path has opened; though it is narrow, and few there be that find it. If you are an unsaved sinner, you grope in darkness to find that path. But the remainder of your life should be devoted to that searching. Perhaps you will hear the whisper of a call to direct your steps; perhaps you will see a little light to find the path, whatever it takes requires that your heart be in it. There is assurance that the Lord will reward those who diligently seek Him; so your effort is not futile if it is true — and we know the Truth is found in Him for He IS the truth.

The Lord God is selective; nothing unclean can stand in His presence and live. The Lord makes divisions: some He loves, and some He hates; some are formed to honor, and others to dishonor. Some know by grace the honor with which God has dignified them by saving them from their sins, washed in the blood of their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Others live their lives in uncertainty of that dignity, but with the foreboding sense of doom that all is not well with their souls. 

The Lord God tells us how the divisions are made: Hebrews 4:12 KJV

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

John 12:48 KJV “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

So all have a duty to study the word of God; but certainly all those uncertain of who and what they are, uncertain of their fate, uncertain of their standing in the sight of the Lord. All are to read the Bible to discover the truth about themselves. 

As you read the Bible, it is reading you; it is discerning the thoughts and intents of your heart. If your heart is turned to Him, He will speak to you and reveal Himself to you. If your heart is hardened, set against the Lord, despising instruction, you will find only more of the darkness that has always filled you as a sinner at enmity with God, and you will seek to hide yourself from the torment. 

Either way it is every person’s duty to respond to the Lord’s invitation to “Come and see” where He dwells.

John 3:27,31,34-36 KJV “...A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. He that cometh from above is above all...he that cometh from heaven is above all. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

John 6:29 KJV “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

John 1:12-13 KJV “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

John 6:36-37,40 KJV “But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Acts 13:48 KJV “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”

Ephesians 1:3-5,11 KJV “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will...”

Romans 9:11,13-16,18-24 KJV “(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Psalm 119:160 KJV “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”

Isaiah 55:11 KJV “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

Matthew 4:4 KJV “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Job 23:12 KJV “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”

Hosea 6:5-6 KJV “Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

Hebrews 4:7b KJV “Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”