THE LIFE

"Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has ETERNAL LIFE..." (John 5:24) "I must preach the KINGDOM OF GOD... for I was sent for this purpose." (Luke 4:43) Jesus, right from His baptism until his ascension up to heaven, preached one message and one message only... ETERNAL LIFE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD! He did not preach health and wealth, or a lifelong process of transformation. He preached a clear ultimatum, death as part of this world, or eternal life in the kingdom of God.

Eternal life is in the kingdom. But... how do we get into the kingdom of God? Jesus said this about entering into the kingdom... "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom..." "Permit the children to come to me ... for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child, shall not enter it at all." (Matthew 18:3) (Luke 18:16-17) Entering the kingdom requires us to somehow become like a little child again. Why? A little child has no PRIDE! A little child cannot meet any of his own needs! A little child must trust another person to meet all of his needs!

"Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3) Jesus is saying once and for all, that we have no hope within ourselves. As a naturally born sinful human being, we are absolutely disqualified from entering God's kingdom. We must be born again as a little child. We must learn again how to trust another person to meet all of our needs. In order to enter the kingdom, and have eternal life... we must trust Christ COMPLETELY, and ourselves NOT AT ALL!

"For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. So also it is written, the first man Adam became a living soul, the last Adam became a life giving spirit. The first man is from the earth, earthly, the second man is from heaven. As is the earthly (Adam) so also are those who are earthly, and as is the heavenly (Adam), so also are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly (Adam), we shall also bear the image of the heavenly (Adam)." (1Corinthians 15:21-50)

Confused? It's really quite simple. Adam thought that he was like God in his character and holiness, failed the test, and died. We bear his image because we were born into his family. Therefore, the curse of the impossible test has fallen to us. We will also fail the test and die. Somehow, we must be born again into Christ's family. Christ already passed the impossible test, so in his family, the curse of the test has been removed FOREVER. Those in the family of Christ, are not required to pass the test, because a grace and mercy relationship to God has been re-established.

But... how do we get born again into Christ's family? "But as many as received Him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John i: 12-13) "And it shall be, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "For there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." (Acts 2:21 and 4:12) When we trust in the name of Jesus, and call on the name of Jesus, it demonstrates our desire to be in his family. That's all it takes! God ALWAYS answers this call!

Therefore, because of our complete faith in Christ, the Father can also say of us... "This is my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased." What a miracle! Christ did it all! We did nothing!

There is absolutely no room for PRIDE, in a relationship based ENTIRELY on another person's merit!