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NASB | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
Bible Question: By saying "if I profess to be his sheep and do not hear his voice and follow him, it is likely that I am not his at all", are you saying that you ARE His? Are you saying that you do follow Him, that is, that you do keep the commandments ("keep" meaning NEVER break any commandments)? |
Bible Answer: brother welldigger: I know that Christ is my Savior and my Lord based on the promises of his precious word. He is the one who purchased my redemption at such a cost. It was God who drew me to him when I was lost in sin, it was God who revealled to me the significance of the sacrifice on Calvary and it was God by his spirit who indwells the believer and brings about changes which we could never change ourselves. We are born into his family forever, and as such we can say we are his, he is our heavenly father. You ask "do I follow him and do I keep his commandments?" That is a searching question? While it is my desire to follow Christ and bring honor and glory to his name I would be deceiving myself to make a claim of total obedience. John teaches us "that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:8-9 As far as keeping the law, meaning the ten commandments James makes it clear of our inablility to keep the law "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." The Lord Jesus Christ is the only man who kept the law, who fulfilled the law and who bore the curse of the law upon Calvary's cross. In Romans 3 we are given a picture of how far short we come of God's glory and "that by the deeds of the law shall there be no flesh justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin" Rom.3:19 In Galations we are told that in Christ we have been made free. We have been called into liberty which does not alleviate responsibilty. "For brethren, you have been called unto liberty: only use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this,, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" Gal. 5:13-14 The Mosaic law brought bondage, it showed us what God demands and how far short we fall of his glory, it shows us our sinfulness and our total inability within our selves keep it. On the other hand in Christ, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we have been given his love within which allows us to love others and by his grace to live for Christ. Peace to you in his Name Robert |