The connection between: Loving Jesus—Obedience—Eternal Life

[ZacharyB]

 

 

John 14:15 • “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

John 14:21 • “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.”

John 14:23 • “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him”

John 14:24 • “He who does not love Me does not keep My words”

John 15:14 • “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”

Does anyone get to heaven …

who does not love Jesus, who is not His friend, who does not keep His commandments?

 

James 1 (NKJV):

¹² Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved,

he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 

¹⁵ Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;

and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth (eternal) death.

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 

 

James is warning these beloved brethren (1:16) …

Believers who love Jesus will overcome the temptation to sin, and thus will be approved,

and receive the crown of (eternal) life … instead of earning eternal death.

 

He is echoing Paul’s warning in Romans 6 …

Believers must choose to be slaves of obedience, which leads to righteousness and holiness,

instead of choosing to be slaves of sin … which leads to eternal death.

 

There are 2 opposites above in James 1 …

Overcoming sinning à the crown of life … compared to … Sinning à eternal death

 

“The believer who perseveres will receive the crown of life.

The ‘crown of life’ is the crown of victory over sin, or the crown of victory in our life’s race.

The main meaning of the crown of life is salvation, or eternal life.”

… The Applied New Testament Commentary -- Thomas Hale, 1996, ChariotVictor Publishing

(Dr. Hale is a Spirit-filled believer who served as a medical missionary with Interserve in Nepal.)

 

Revelation 2 (NKJV):

¹⁰ … Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹¹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.

 

Jesus considers being “faithful” has to do with overcoming sin, etc. (see Revelation 3:21).

He certainly does not define an overcomer as one who believes He is the Son of God.

The second death is being cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:14 and 21:8).

 

There are 2 opposites above in Revelation 2 …

Being faithful until death à the crown of life … vs … Not overcoming à eternal death!

 

“Above all, the church at Smyrna needed encouragement and strength to endure persecution.

If they remained firm to the end – to the point of death – they would receive the crown of life,

that is, eternal life (see Mark 13:13, 1 Cor 9:25, 1 Pet 5:4) … The second death mentioned here

means eternal death; it is the final punishment for all evildoers.”

… The Applied New Testament Commentary -- Thomas Hale, 1996, ChariotVictor Publishing

 

Please notice that there are NO crowns (plural) mentioned anywhere above!

No different crowns of varying values … re: rewards.

When it comes to the crown of life, there is only one … the crown of eternal life!

 

The crown of life is also called the crown of righteousness • 2 Timothy 4:7-8

The crown of life is also called the imperishable crown • 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

The crown of life is also called the crown of glory • 1 Peter 5:1-4

 

Revelation 3:11 (NKJV) “Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.”

 

Definitely not Happy Holidays! … but … Merry Christmas!

[ZacharyB]

19 hours ago, Yowm said:

You can either receive the free gift of salvation by faith

or you can continue to 'love Jesus', 'be His friend' and 'keep His commandments' in order to be saved.

Your choice.

Thanks for the choice!

Problem is ... we don't choose which NT Scriptures to believe.

We are to believe ALL of them.

When one graduates from slurpin' milk,

he/she starts eating meat and sees how this is to be done.

 

Edited December 15, 2016 by ZacharyB

[ZacharyB]

Hey, things are lookin' up here!

I haven't been banned yet, nor has the thread been closed.

Edited December 16, 2016 by ZacharyB

[hmbld]

On December 13, 2016 at 7:52 AM, ZacharyB said:

 

 

Does anyone get to heaven …

who does not love Jesus, who is not His friend, who does not keep His commandments?

 

 

Jesus considers being “faithful” has to do with overcoming sin, etc. (see Revelation 3:21).

He certainly does not define an overcomer as one who believes He is the Son of God.

The thief on the cross had no opportunity for works, or to overcome sin, yet what does scripture say of him?

[ZacharyB]

On ‎12‎/‎16‎/‎2016 at 9:58 AM, Yowm said:

Again, I asked this in response to your comment...

So the Gospel is 'Love the Lord Jesus, become His friend and keep His commandments and thou shall be saved!' ??

Is it too much to simply answer me?

True saving belief-faith MUST include several things,

IF one takes ALL of the NT into account.

Elsewhere, a brother has stated ...

there are AMPLE WARNINGS given to born-again believers.

And I responded to him saying, "There are MORE than enough ample warnings!"

I'll give you one simple example ... About 10 NT verses teach us:

one MUST endure in his/her faith until the end of his/her life to receive eternal life!

Wouldest thou carest to see these verses?

Edited December 20, 2016 by ZacharyB

[ZacharyB]

12 minutes ago, Yowm said:

Which several things?

Another one will be explained fully in an up-coming thread

... about a soon-to-be-realized reality amongst us ... re:

IF ANYONE takes the mark of the beast, he/she will NOT go to heaven.

I guess Rev 13 and 14 are just NOT enough,

because Jesus very recently gave one of his elect a STRONG word about this very thing!

Your next complaint might be, "Prove that God talks to His people."

The problem is:

this Laodicean church (Rev 3) of ours just does NOT believe ALL of the NT.

It only believes what it wants to believe! 

Edited December 20, 2016 by ZacharyB

[ZacharyB]

5 minutes ago, Yowm said:

No, my complaint is that you won't clearly come out with the Gospel.

If a person in desperation approached you and asked, "What must I do to be saved?"

... What would be your response?

Since I would be talking to an unbeliever, my response would be John 3:16.

Happy now?

God catches da little fishes with da little fish hooks!

But then they are taught to swim in a straight line,

instead of goin' around in circles like they are blind,

which dey were before!

Edited December 20, 2016 by ZacharyB

[OneLight]

Obey His commandments comes only after salvation and is not a requirement for salvation, as is explained in Ephesians 2:8-10

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.

Notice the order in which salvation and works are explained and compared.

1. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves
2. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them

We cannot put item 2 before item 1 or we will be living a legalistic, works based salvation.

[ZacharyB]

1 hour ago, Yowm said:

Yes, the Gospel is for the unbeliever by which they are saved. (1Cor 15:1-4).

But it seems to me that once they are saved, you have plenty of warnings for them in order to keep saved.

Yes, You have the picture!

ONLY God's elect (chosen ones) choose to:

-- co-operate with the Holy Spirit within

-- obey Jesus' commandments

-- not habitually sin

-- repent of their occasional sins

etc.

Jesus promised that:

The tares (weeds) will be weeded out of the Kingdom of God (heaven)

at the end of the age and thrown into the fire!

Edited December 20, 2016 by ZacharyB

[ZacharyB]

1 hour ago, OneLight said:

Obey His commandments comes only after salvation and is not a requirement for salvation, as is explained in Ephesians 2:8+

I should explain that:

At salvation, grace has been applied, our past sins have been forgiven, etc. etc.

But, now we must face all of the dire warnings in the NT as to what we are responsible for.

E.G. Why don't we look at all of the many conditional "IF" statements in the NT?