Hello everyone! Happy Friday and God bless you all! Our daughter is home sick today with a cold, so I have been taking care of her and we have been having fun watching that funny cooking show “Nailed It!” on Netflix. The version in Mexico is great too. Your prayers for our daughter are appreciated. I want to write today about taking Jesus at His Word. Jesus said some very powerful and amazing things while He was on earth and He is trustworthy. You either trust Jesus Christ for your salvation or you don’t. You either believe what He said or you don’t. There is no middle ground. We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, not by works, and Jesus made that very clear. So, let’s hear what Jesus has to say. He is the perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins and He is completely and perfectly trustworthy to take Him at His Word.
Here are just a few of the powerful, amazing, and soul saving words Jesus said:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 3:16-18
“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:13-14
“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
John 5:24
“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:35-40
“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
John 7:37-38
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12
“Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
John 10:7-10
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 10:27-30
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:25-26
“Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”
John 12:44-46
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
John 14:1-4
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
John 19:30
Jesus couldn’t be any more clear! We are saved through faith in him alone! He died for us to be forgiven and justified before God and He meant it when He said, “It is finished.” That is why the Apostle Paul wrote what he did in Romans 3:21-28, Romans 5:1-11, Romans 6:23, Romans 7:24, Romans 8:1-2, Romans 10:9-13, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 2:11-21 and 3:1-5, and Philippians chapter 3. We are utterly sinful and wretched and only Jesus Christ can save us from this body of death! We are not perfect and we struggle with sin, but praise God we are being made perfect by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and we are saved through the Blood of Jesus! If we fall, the Lord is there to discipline us and lift us up again (Hebrews 12:1-12). We are still saved, but we need to turn from sin and keep pressing on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of us as Paul said (Philippians 3:12-14).
“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:22-24
Once you believe in Jesus Christ, nothing can snatch you out of His hand just as He promised! Believers in Jesus, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit and your salvation is guaranteed through your faith in Jesus (Ephesians 1:13-14)! There is no amount of good works we could ever do before or after accepting Jesus that would save us. Remember this simple phrase, “Jesus Saves!” He is the only One who ever died for your sins to be forgiven and reconcile you with God.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Galatians 2:20-21
“Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”
Romans 3:27-28
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
There is no boasting as we follow Jesus. We are not working for our salvation as if God should repay us. We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus and you either accept that precious gift of God or you reject it. You either trust in Jesus fully for your salvation or you don’t. When you believe in Jesus, you cross over from death to life and whoever comes to Him He will never drive away! He will raise you up at the last day! There is no reason to fear God’s perfect love. Once you belong to Jesus, you belong to Him forever!
“We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
1 John 4:13-18
It is my calling to point you to Jesus. Read all those words of Jesus again. Those are His words, and He is the only One who ever spoke them into existence. Jesus is trustworthy. Will you take Him at His Word? I pray you do and you would enjoy and rest in the grace and peace He offers you!
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ. Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face
death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:35-39
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Jesus speaking in John 14:27
Amen! Take Jesus at His Word and trust Him! He is the lover of your soul!
Grace and peace to you all!
Ryan Callahan's Blog 
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