John 6:39-40 continued  ( posted 5-10-08 )

" And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
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. "

I've been discussing some benefits of belonging to Jesus since we have studied John 6:39-40.

These benefits apply to;
" every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, "
John 6:40

Again, as I have repeatedly pointed out in past studies, the Greek words "theoron" translated " seeth " and "pisteuon" translated " believeth " are both in the present ongoing tense and never is used in the past tense in regard to one's faith in Jesus. The idea here is anyone who is beholding the Son and is believing in the Son will have eternal life.

It is not a one time "childhood "experience or a "stumbled into church one day because I heard there was a rock concert " experience that lasts for a few days and then going back to our usual lifestyle.

"Pisteuon" is the same in;

" For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. " John 3:16

and in;

" He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. " John 3:18

In this verse Jesus talks of people who do have this one time moment experience;

" They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. " Luke 8:13

In contradiction to the Calvinist predestination, eternal security, once saved, always saved church doctrine Jesus said;

and that these people lost their salvation;

" and in time of temptation fall away. "

There is no " predestination to be saved " or "eternal security" or "once saved, always saved" church doctrine taught by Jesus!

The reason I'm emphasizing this is for those of you who perhaps understand what it means to stay in the faith and who care to do so.

So far, I have discussed the following points of the benefits of belonging to Jesus.

1.) becoming literally a child of God;

2.) chosen of God to be holy and blameless

Let's continue.

3.) being a ruler of nations

In our last study I pointed out that Jesus said;

" But he that shall endure unto the end, the same
shall be saved. " Matthew 24:13

Jesus also said;
" And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. "
Revelation 2:26-27
Again Jesus said;
" unto the end, "

There is always a condition. It is not intended to be a drudgery for us;

" For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. " 1 John 5:3

nor is it "legalism" as the Calvinist once saved, always saved, predestination churches criticize, ridicule, make fun, accuse and condemn those who still love the Lord as they did when they were first saved and who still try to please the Lord but rather if we really love the Lord we will have no problem living in obedience unto Him.

John said;

" And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. "
1 John 3:22-24

John did not promote "legalism" either but clearly said;

" And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. "

If you want to run the risk of living in sin, mistreating people, living like the devil and claim you can stay in the faith to the end of life, then that is your decision. Do not be surprised at the consequences.

While Jesus promised rulership to His disciples;

" Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. " Matthew 19:27-28

Jesus also promised rulership to those of us who follow Him in faithfulness;

" His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. " Matthew 25:21

Jesus even gets explicit;

" And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. " Luke 19:17

Paul said;

" Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? " 1 Corinthians 6:3

When Jesus said;

" And he that overcometh, " Revelation 2:26

He was not contradicting John when he said;

" For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? " 1 John 5:4-5

Nor was Jesus and John contradicting James when he said;

" What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? " James 2:14

" Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. " James 2:17

because Jesus included this statement;

" And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, " Revelation 2:26

and John did as well;

" And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. "1 John 3:24

showing that they were all in agreement.

It is interesting that the Greek words "nikon" translated "overcometh, " and "teron" translated " keepeth " are both in the continuous present ongoing sense. Just like the usage of "pisteuon" in regard to the faith and believing in Jesus.

If we look at the whole picture we will see there is no contradiction in the Bible.

Think about this now.

When Jesus said;

" to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. "
 Revelation 2:26-27

When we come back to the earth with Jesus to set up His Kingdom we will have opposition from those still on the earth. The Greek word "exousian " translated " power " means authority, force, competency, freedom, privilege, jurisdiction, strength.

The people still here when we return with Jesus will not immediately like us being here.

Firstly, there will be the battle in Megiddo;

" And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. " Revelation 16:16

Believe me, there will be no welcoming committee there for us.

And when they lose this battle and the nations these armies were sent from to fight against us realize they lost this battle and that they no longer are a threat to the Jews and now they have to submit to a new ruler who is into righteous living, this will only aggravate them.

Those of us who Jesus appointed to rule over these nations will have the power to destroy nightclubs, bars, strip clubs, x-rated movie theaters, all pornography, all lewd activity of every kind.

Wow! Will they hate us for this!

They will have no "freedom of religion" then as we do now since Jesus will be the main focus, whether they like Him or not.

For a thousand years these people will have to keep their feelings and hateful thoughts to themselves and submit to us as their new rulers.

They will keep it in their heart until the day comes they can try once again to kill us off.

" And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. "
Revelation 20:7-9

Yes, these are the people we will have been ruling over for a thousand years who now can let out their hatred for us in their feeble attempt to kill us off.

But again, they will lose and this time their defeat is permanent.

There is something I want you to think about.

All this is in the next life for us who are saved.

Jesus told Pilate;

" Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. " John 18:36

We must remember this.

This is not our kingdom since this world is not Jesus' Kingdom.

We must wait until it is our time just as Jesus had to wait.

Born again christians should not get mixed up in politics.

We are here to win souls into the kingdom, not to become president.

We are not here to revolt against our government nor any sin going on.

Jesus led no revolts against society in His day nor did any of His disciples or Paul.

We are here to lead people to Jesus.

I know I said in my last study that I wanted to end with point #3 in my discussion of some of the benefits in belonging to Jesus, but I will do one more point of study on the benefits of belonging to Jesus.

And that is;

4.) living with the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit.

You really need to listen to me about this benefit also.

What I say to you will surprise you.

You know me, I'm blunt and to the point.

The Lord bless you and please stay in the faith to the end of life.

Wayne Brown

John 6:39-40 continued  ( posted 5-07-08 )

" And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
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. "

I apologize to those of you who are from other countries reading all this and no doubt wondering how there can be so many conflicting views of the Bible. I just realized recently that most of the diversity in Biblical interpretation is within my own country, the USA. We have quite a mixture here within name brands of churches even with the same title within the protestant and evangelical realm ( know that when I say protestant I also refer to evangelical ) to the point they cannot agree with each other and consequently have divisions leading to branches of the same brand name. So, instead of having "one faith" here we have multiple faiths. We have churches that promote a "God's grace" philosophy that is used as a license to sin and you would find these are the biggest church companies because that is the most affective method of attracting crowds there is here. We have no real opposition here in the USA from the unsaved like some of you do and what Jesus went through;

" For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. "
Hebrews 12:3-4

and so consequently we have quite an abundance of faithless, uncommitted, worldly, live as you want christians who would probably jump ship if persecution came to this country and we had to make a true decision about Christ whether to continue believing in Him or not.

Then we have churches that make you feel like you have to be a member of them to be saved, ( none of you are like this, right?? ) have to deprive ourself of anything deemed worldly as everything is considered sin, and churches that make one feel like they are at the gate of hell if they do not do what the church leader says.

For example when my Dad was a child my grandfather was a Church of God preacher who taught my Dad that it was sin to drink pop from a bottle. My Dad had to pour the pop into a glass and drink it otherwise it was sin to drink it from the bottle.

There was a time when the Assemblies of God declared that playing golf was a sin. In later years after they got more established some of their leaders decided golf was fun and therefore decided golf was no longer a sin.

Today, within the Assemblies of God you will find a variety of beliefs.

Let's continue.

So far I have discussed some benefits of belonging to Jesus.

1.) becoming literally a child of God;

2.) chosen of God to be holy and blameless

I have already discussed one of the popular verses predestination and eternal security churches use to promote their view.

" 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: " Ephesians 1:4

While they interpret this to mean only certain people were chosen by God to be saved, holy and blameless... if you recall in an earlier study we learned that John 3:16 is not restricted to only certain chosen ones but rather anyone who will come to Jesus in faith;

I asked a Baptist at work the other day if he believed that God only chose certain people to be saved, using he and I as an example saying, "God decided you would be saved but I would go to hell" ( since this is the Calvinist doctrine ) and he looked at me and said, "No! God loves everyone!"

So, he believes anyone can be saved.

This Baptist is only following part of Calvin's doctrine and not all of it.

You know, it is interesting that even Israel was "chosen" by God but yet Paul said most of them will end up in eternal hell.

The part of this verse from Ephesians;

"that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: "

is what God chose for those of us who come to the faith believing in Jesus and yes, the Bible also says we inherit the righteousness of Christ as believers;

" Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: " Romans 3:22

and;

" For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. " Romans 10:3

The key to understanding this verse is;

These people Paul was talking about are people who were trying to establish their salvation on works.

This is not what James was talking about when he said; ( you really should take the time to read all this as this passage is Calvinist followers' worst nightmare and this is why they reject these verses )

" What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. " James 2:14-26

James was not promoting in contradiction to Paul;

" and going about to establish their own righteousness, " Romans 10:3

James was talking about living in obedience to Jesus, whom we claim to believe in.

This is why John said;

" If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. " 1 John 1:6-7

The Calvinist predestination and eternal security has crept subtly into the Assemblies of God.

I asked an Assemblies of God pastor if he thought a born again christian's future sins were automatically forgiven and he said yes.

In light of this same topic I asked another pastor of the same church what Paul meant by;

" For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad " 2 Corinthians 5:10

Because pastors try to avoid a direct question about this verse I emphasized the part;

" according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad "

He had no answer.

I asked a Calvinist pastor about this verse and he had no answer either.

Another Assemblies of God member who is not a pastor but was listening to all this when I asked them about this verse;

" If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. " 1 John 1:6-7

he spoke up and said, "Hmm, there seems to be a condition there."

Yes and that condition is simply;

" But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. "

" But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, "

Then we can claim the promise;

" 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: " Ephesians 1:4

However, if we claim we are;

" holy and without blame "

but yet;

" walk in darkness, "

the Bible says;

Jesus said;

" Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. "
 John 15:14

But He also said;

" And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? "   Luke 6:46

And guess what? One of the things Jesus said for us to do is;

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; " Matthew 5:44

Because the blessing of obedience to this or the consequence of disobedience to this is;

" For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. "
Matthew 6:14-15

The promise is;

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. " 1 John 1:7

We cannot remember every sin we commit as we;

" If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. " 1 John 1:9

But if we are living in obedience unto our Lord the sins we cannot remember to confess to Him we can rely on the promise;

" But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. " 1 John 1:7

Again, it is not establishing salvation by works.

It all has to do with relationship.

Is our relationship with the world as it was with Demas or is our relationship with Jesus?

None of this you will ever hear taught in a predestination and eternal security church company because it goes against their established church doctrine.

These are verses straight from the Bible my friend.

We can believe and do what we want though.

In this country, commitment to Jesus is not very popular.

If a pastor is heard preaching a sermon with conviction, asking for a commitment to the Lord Jesus or pointing out sin he is ridiculed and rejected as one who "preaches at" or one who "condemns" people.

Be careful of a church who pats you on the back and says that's ok, God knows we are not perfect.

But yet, in today's world, that is what people want to hear.

That is what makes churches grow.

However, if you are a born again christian who still loves the Lord as you did when you were first saved I will talk about one more benefit of belonging to Christ. There are many benefits too numerous to mention but this is one I will end on before we continue with verse 41 in our continuing verse by verse Bible study of the book of John.

3.) being a ruler of nations

Again, notice as Jesus said earlier;

" But he that shall endure unto the end, the same
shall be saved. "  Matthew 24:13

Jesus also said;

" And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. "      
Revelation 2:26-27

" unto the end, "

I will continue with this in the next study.

After this, I will continue on with our Bible study picking up with
verse 41.

The Lord Jesus bless you as you keep the faith to the end of life.

Wayne Brown

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