Southern In Law: SIL Sisters in Christ: The Big Decision

Read Past Posts: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5

If you look at John 5 in my bible you'll notice that there are few white spaces and lots of highlighted verses. That's because there is is much in this chapter that we need to let sink in - but there is one HUGE thing that I won't to focus on in today's study....

The decision we have to make about Jesus.

In John 5, Jesus heals a man on the sabbath and causes a huge stir. Forget the fact that he healed a man - the Jews were furious that Jesus healed on the sabbath. Jesus was put on trial by these people who are force to make a decision about Jesus in their hearts.

They hear all of the evidence - but they make the wrong decision.

People make that decision every day, every hour, every second - people decide in their hearts to believe Jesus is their Lord and Saviour, or they turn and walk away.

It's a huge decision - and not one to be taken lightly,

In John 5:24, Jesus tells us about what happens when we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, he says;

"Very truly I tell you,

whoever hears my word

and believes Him who sent me

has eternal life and will not be condemned;

he has crossed over from life to death"

Jesus gives us life.

Jesus gives us freedom.

Jesus gives us hope.

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we are given eternal life.

When Jesus says "dead" in John 5:25, he's not talking about those who have taken their last breath - he's talking about the spiritually dead - who we are before we "hear the voice of the Son of God" and "live".

But hold on a second! Jesus then goes on to say that only those who have "done good" will rise - but doesn't He tell us that it's not our works that give us eternal life? What is He trying to say here?

Jesus isn't going back on what He said - infact, Jesus goes on to explain exactly what He means in the next chapter. In John 6:28-29, Jesus says that "this is the work of God; that you may believe in Him who He sent".

It's all about Jesus - and our relationship with Him.

Jesus tells us get we need to believe in Him so that we may have the love of God in us.

We need to seek honour from God - not ourselves or eachother. We can't be like the Jews who accused Jesus, because they were so wrapped up in their laws and ways and rituals that they'd lost sight of the truth.

We need to be in an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus. We need to believe that Jesus loved us so much that He sacrificed Himself for our sins - and we need to love Him for that.

We all have a decision to make - and the evidence needed to make that very decision is all right there in the Bible.

_____________________________