The Words of Jesus

We will be judged on the last day by the words of Jesus.

John 12:47-48 As for those who hear my words but do not keep them, I do not judge them. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.  There is a judge for those who reject me and do not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 

Only a subset of the body of believers in Jesus will attain eternal life.  The true bride of Christ will be pure and spotless.  We will be made pure by the grace of God that flows from our faith which will allow us to walk with Him in obedience and true repentance for our sins.  I continue to be amazed at how deep and widespread the apostasy is in the “church”  and believe that we are entering the time of judgment.  We must be ready yet not be idle for the return of our King and Our Lord.  Jesus is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. 

The written word of God as recorded in the Scriptures and the spoken word of Jesus to us via His Holy Spirit are the most important words that we must first understand and secondly and most critically OBEY.  The writer of Hebrews told us in Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Jesus has never changed the rules.  Man has changed, church has changed but the words of Jesus have never changed.

The Epistles of Paul, John, Peter and James were written to encourage and strengthen the early church.  These scriptures totally confirm the very words of Jesus as He himself was the source of their revelation.  When the preachers of today continue to twist the words of the Apostles into doctrines that directly contradict the very words of Jesus, believers are being mislead and pointed down the wrong path; the road that leads to destruction.  Many are being taught to worship God with their lips but not to purify their hearts which is the source of all true worship.  Jesus called this a phony faith.  We were specifically and consistently warned about these false teachers and many of teachers operating today are in fact false teachers.   

Do not be deceived we are told by the Apostles.  If we don’t practice righteousness we won’t be declared righteous.  If we sin apart from the law, we still perish apart from the law.  If we sow to the flesh, we reap destruction.  The wages of continued sin is death… on and on, the words of the Apostles confirm and testify to the words JESUS SPOKE, the only words by which we shall be judged.  I encourage you to read your bibles very carefully especially the words spoken by Jesus directly in the four gospels and in Revelation.  The WORD is infallible, if Jesus said something that does not line up with the teaching you are hearing, reject that teaching and ask God for wisdom to ensure you are rightly dividing His word.What were some of the words of Jesus recorded in the gospels?  Here are some (about 40) of the sayings of Jesus that have deep consequences to all of us and are rarely the focus of Sunday morning sermons.  

 If you love me you will obey my commandments.  Jesus didn’t say you might or you should, He said you WILL.  Think you get to heaven if you don’t love Jesus?  Think again.

If you wish to enter life obey the commandments.  Very clear action required of us from the Lord to enter eternal life.  How hard is this really to understand?

Only those that DO the will of my Father in heaven shall enter.  Pretty exclusive list of who goes to heaven according to Jesus.  Are you DOING the will of the father?  I read where the Father told us that this is My beloved Son, LISTEN TO HIM.  We must hear Jesus voice and follow Him as His sheep.

If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers (dies); such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned.  This verse drives a dagger into OSAS and Eternal Security teachings as I have posted many times, but we must endure to the end, we must continually abide in Christ to enter life.  If we walk away in our own free will by our disobedience we will perish.  He does not cast us out, He does not allow us to be snatched from His hand, but He does allow us to choose life or choose death.

I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.  Again the conditional IF statement.  If we keep (DO IT) His word which is the same as listening to Him (the will of the Father) we will not see death.  If we don’t DO what he said, we will see death.  The Apostles said nothing that contradicts this.  We are not under law but we are under grace.  Correct but Paul also said the wages of sin is death and if we sin apart from the law we perish apart from the law.  Many that claim to be His, have heard the lies from the pulpit for so long, it is now dogma.  They take pleasure in their sin and have hardened their hearts to the truth and God has now blinded them by the delusion He himself has sent upon them.  But there is still time.  That is why the truth must be told BOLDLY so as many souls as possible can be saved.

Depart from me you who practice lawlessness (sin). The Apostle John defined practicing sin as practicing lawlessness.  Jesus told us that anyone who does this, even if they call Him Lord Lord and claim they did all these good things for Him would but cut off, shut out and thrown into the lake of fire.

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love.  Here Jesus says a previously quoted statement from the positive perspective but the meaning is the same.  IF we obey, we are saved.  If we don’t remain in His love we are condemned.  If we love Him, we will obey as shown above.

Small is the gate and difficult is the road that leads to life and only a FEW find it.  Salvation is not easy, it is not a cake walk.  If we want to be saved, we must endure to the end, suffer in the flesh, endure persecution and rejection and trials of all kinds.  We must indeed work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  People don’t like to hear, it is not a popular message but it is the one and only truth that will set us free and save us on the last day.

So if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life injured or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.  Why would Jesus tell us this, as outrageous as it sounds if all we needed to do was believe in Him?  He was outrageous in this passage and others to make sure nobody missed the point that HE HATES SIN and we must defeat it to enter life with Him.  The unbelievable good news that most have not yet understood is that Jesus didn’t leave us in the lurch, he gave us all we need to do this.  That is true Grace properly divided.

Unless you repent, you too shall perish.  If you don’t turn from you sin, you are going to hell.  A consistent message throughout the entire Bible, in every single book.  I have yet to find even ONE  book of the bible that says anything different than God hates sin and our need to turn from it in repentance.  It really is pretty simple.  

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice  and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.  We will indeed be judged by our deeds.  A true faith allows us to obey God.  I have never taught that our obedience is of our own strength or our own power.  God said that for those he calls, he would equip them.  He has fully equipped us to do His will.  You faith will not save you if you do not have deeds to match up and confirm that faith.

Teach them to OBEY ALL I have commanded.  In the Great Commission, some of the last things the Lord said before he ascended into heaven until He comes again —  Jesus didn’t tell us to teach others to believe in Him.  Believing in Him was implicit to the real directive He gave us, which was to teach OBEDIENCE.  If we obey we must believe and if we truly believe we will obey.  These attributes are not and never have been mutually exclusive.

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.   Repent of sin and hold fast to His teachings was the constant reminder of Jesus.  If we have fallen asleep it is us the true bride of Christ who have an obligation to wake up our brothers lest they perish.  Time is short, calamity is at hand.  The true gospel must rise up and awaken the apostate church.  If we play the game of religion as taught by many churches, we could end up having our soul required like the rich man that was busy building bigger barns; this man was called by God earlier than expected and before he turned to God in repentance and focused on heavenly things.  This rich man that built the barns is not in heaven my friends.

If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.  Another outrageous statement by Jesus to ensure we would not be deceived ever and always know that GOD HATES SIN.  Not one single sin shall enter heaven.  You cannot die with unrepented sin otherwise you are dead in your sins as the imputed righteousness of Christ only applies to previously committed sin as clearly stated in the Bible (Romans 3:24-26) .

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father (sin) you want to DO.  Christians living in the world are practicing sin and they are not really Christians as John told they cannot be Born Again if they do this.  Their father is Satan, they are slaves to the one they obey and they are not obeying the Lord of Lords.  Even in Galatians, perhaps the most mistaught book of all (either that or Romans), Paul said DO NOT BE DECEIVED, if you sow to the flesh you will reap destruction but if you sow to the spirit you will reap eternal life.  The false teachers that state your deeds do not matter are dead wrong.  You will perish if you do not awaken to their lies. 

I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.  Speaking to a Church of “believers” Jesus had some harsh words about His judgment for sinful deeds.  Those that teach this refers only to loss of rewards in heaven have no ground to stand on as I hope to show in future posts.  Our God is a God of judgment and wrath.  He is merciful and patient beyond belief but at some point his mercy runs out. There will be zero mercy on the last day.  It will indeed be too late.

If you eye makes you sin, pluck it out for it is far better to enter heaven with one eye than to ….  How can anyone we be confused and believe and use grace as a license to sin?  The wolves in sheep clothing are all around us, I believe most popular radio pastors and TV pastors (all of TBN) and many pastors of large popular congregations are in fact wolves.  We are never warned to be on the lookout for wolves falsely telling us we must obey Jesus’ commandments.  All the warnings warn of the opposite, about those that teach your sin has no eternal consequence.  This is the original lie told to Eve, that you shall not surely die if you disobey God.  Don’t believe it, it is a lie.

Why do you call me Lord Lord and not DO what I say?  If we say Jesus is our Lord and we do not do what He says, we are a liar and the truth is not in us says John.  Jesus said the same thing right here and we will be judged by these words on the last day.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  If we keep on sinning we are not listening to His voice and we certainly are not following Him and we can’t possibly know Him.  Therefore we are not His sheep.

Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  With the added emphasis from Jesus “most assuredly”, He tells us again that if we practice sinning we are not His.  Do this and we deceive ourselves, Jesus is not our Lord and that means you no what.  NO ETERNAL LIFE.

If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell.   Jesus tells us again He hates sin and will have nothing to do with it.  He is a loving God but above all He is a Holy God.  We must become Holy as our Father in heaven is Holy.  We need to do whatever it takes, which really is true repentance.

Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.  The tree of life is in heaven.  If you want to get to heaven you need to DO His commandments.  If we don’t do this, we will not be allowed thru the gates.

If you were Abraham’s children, you would DO the works of Abraham.  Spoken to the Jews who were claiming a right of inheritance simply because they were descendant from Abraham.  Jesus told us, we needed to be spiritual descendants not just physical descendants and that meant we had to do the things Abraham did.  What did Abraham do?  Abraham OBEYED God and it was credited him righteousness.

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward everyone according to what they have DONE.  Our deeds indeed matter.  We must have faith absolutely but we must also have the deeds and obedience to go with that faith.  Otherwise James and the other Apostles told us our faith was phony.  I have no idea how Pastors can stand in front of their people and tell them their deeds do not matter and that grace will save them from all sin.  We might as well rip out 90% of the pages in our bibles if that was the truth.

I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, all you workers of inequity.  If we keep on sinning and claim to know Jesus, we deceive ourselves and this is what He, the judge will tell us on the last day.

If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell.  Yet another harsh statement from Jesus.  He repeated Himself over and over again to ensure that His sheep would not be deceived about sin and its consequences.    All the false teachers and believers of Grace, like to think this and all the other statements of Jesus regarding His wrath for sin are simply a call for us to live as good of a life as we can.  These were not aspirations or desires, they are requirements of Jesus.  People that teach and believe sin has no relevance are blind, they cannot be of God.  No matter how sweet their message sounds, I encourage you to run not walk from them.   The words of the Lord and confirming words of the Apostles and all the Prophets are not confusing if one has pure heart and is seeking to please God.

But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.  We must be fully committed to follow Jesus, that means to forsake our sins, and surrender all idols and love the Lord thy God with ALL our heart, ALL our mind and ALL our soul.  What part of ALL can’t we understand?  I had a post on this one verse called DON’T LOOK BACK, I put up about a month ago.  Click here to read it.

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.  Same thing said above but in a different way.  We must be fully committed.  If we are half in the world and half committed to Jesus, we will perish.  God must be first and our obedience to Him is our sole duty.

This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.  This is Jesus speaking to the Apostate church of today.  The majority of professing Christians will not enter heaven Jesus told us.  They have a form of Godliness but deny the power therefrom as Paul told Timothy.  The power is the power of grace to defeat sin and transform into the likeness of Christ.  We must be Born Again, we don’t accomplish that by saying a prayer, we accomplish that by crucifying our flesh, suffering, counting and paying the cost of discipleship  and being reborn by the Spirit. Our old man is to be put away and we are to become a new creation in Christ.  Behold, all things are new said Paul. 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him SHOULD NOT perish but have everlasting life.  The most frequently misconstrued verse in the whole Bible.  God loves us so much He sent His son to die for us, so that there would be a means to be reconciled again to the Father.  The means is grace but grace has been totally perverted and improperly divided.  Notice the key words that if we believe we SHOULD NOT perish.  We will perish if we believe but do not obey. 

I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.  Repentance is a gift from God, a provision of Grace and God calls us to repentance as part of His mercy.  It is not about us.  Not by by power or might but by His Spirit said Zechariah.  We don’t obey on our own power, we can’t, but with God indeed all things are possible.  The disciples asked Jesus How can anyone be saved after Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go thru the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.  We can’t do ourselves but we can do it thru God.  We can do all things including obeying God thru Christ who strengthens us.  Did Paul carve out obedience when he said that in Philippians 4:13?

And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him.  We must fear God, especially if we are sinning.  If have no fear of God, we don’t know God.   Sadly the fear of the Lord is not taught, so many are deceived.  Once we are Born Again, we will have a peace that transcends all understanding.  I know way too many Christians that are stressed out, worried to death, depressed that have no peace.  I worry they are not saved as this is not how Jesus or the Apostles told us we would be if we were walking in His spirit.

You are My friends IF you DO whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.  Are you a friend of Jesus?  Jesus said you will be obeying His commands if you are.  I wrote a recent post on this as well, called Who Is A Friend Of God.  You can read it by clicking here.

Lord Lord, open up for us. But he answered, “Truly I say to you, I do not know you” .  When the door is shut it will be too late.  We need to repent now as nobody knows the hour or time nor when our soul may be required by God.  The foolish virgins, who believed were shut out in Matthew 25.  They had no oil (ie the Holy Spirit) in their lamp and were not His.

Repent and do the things you did at first otherwise I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place.  I blogged about the lost message of repentance recently.  Repentance is never even taught in many churches and people have been decieved about their salvation.  If you have no lamp, you are in darkness and full of evil and are not saved.  If you saved and live in sin and do not repent, God will make you unsaved.  Eternal Security is a lie as I have blogged about many times.  The scripture is clear and unambiguous to those that have ears to hear the truth.

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.  But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.   Knowing scripture is nice but it doesn’t save us.  Too many Christians believe that being book smart on the bible will save them.  Not true, we must come to Jesus to be saved.  We must have a relationship with the King.  He must know us and we must know Him.  If you are spending all your godly time reading the bible or blogging, and not spending time in prayer and conversation with God, you know not God.  You only know the scriptures.  Be careful here.

For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,  that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  We dishonor Jesus when we practice sin as we are not following Him nor listening to Him.  If we dishonor Jesus, we dishonor the Father and will have no place in paradise.

Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  If we are unwilling to count the cost of being a disciple and then actually step up and pay that price we will lose out on eternal life.  We can’t live like the world, practice sin and think that because we go to church or belong to a bible study group claim that we are secure.  Those are all very good things to be doing but they are no substitute for obedience.  They are great additions however.  The costs of discipleship is high, crucifying our flesh is painful, suffering is not fun, being persecuted and rejected is not our goal, but if we do not lay all of this on the line, we are not of God and should have no expectation of eternal life.

Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.  Many are blinded to the truth because of their sin.  They cannot listen to the words of Jesus until they reach a point of brokenness that I spoke about in my post WHO GETS TO HEAVEN.  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall see the kingdom of God. 

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.  The Pharisees put on a good show but at the end of the day, God judges are hearts.  Our righteousness is attained by true Faith that includes following Jesus.  If we are not obeying Jesus we are not practicing righteousness and while are past sins are forgiven when we repent of them, we are once again unrighteous in God’s eyes.  Worship Jesus with your heart, not your lips.  If you do this, you will be walking upright and circumspectly.  

 If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.  Many are walking down the broad path to destruction oblivious to their pending doom because they are following blind men and not the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.  God has called me in some small way to get the truth out to those living in Apostasy.  I am not winning many friends but I remain focused on my directive which is to please God and not men.  In fact we were told we wold be persecuted, even reviled (hated) if we spoke the truth.  Jesus spoke the truth and the Pharisees hated Him for it and killed Him as a result.

 To read the second part of this post More Words of Jesus click the hyperlink.

Praise God for his blessings and His great mercy.  I pray we as a nation and a body of believers will come to repentance before it is too late.

May God Bless You Richly!!