THE ROAD TO FOLLOW JESUS
HOW TO HAVE AN ETERNAL LIFE IN THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM OF GOD
Living with God in His heavenly Kingdom should be the most priority in our Christians’ faith. If this is our aim for the next life then we should always remember what Jesus said.
JOHN 14: 6 – Jesus answered: I am the WAY and the TRUTH and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father except THROUGH ME.
Jesus’s road is the only way to lead to God and His Kingdom. Whoever wants to be in Heaven after this life must walk on Jesus’ road to follow Him, no exception.
LUKE 9: 23 – Then he said to them all: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and FOLLOW me.
Not only Jesus’ disciples to follow Him but all Christians must do the same, because all are disciples of God and disciples of Jesus, because all are children of God.
1CORINTHIANS 11: 1 – FOLLOW my example, as I FOLLOW the example of Christ.
EPHESIANS 5: 1 – FOLLOW God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children.
Jesus’ road is His teaching. His teaching is the absolute truth and it will lead a person to an eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus’ teaching is the same as God rules and standards, because Jesus is the Word of God manifested into a human body, therefore Jesus is God.
JOHN 10: 30 – I and the Father are One.
JOHN 1: 1-2 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
JOHN 1: 14 – The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and only Son, Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
God created the universe by His Word. Because Jesus is the Word of God therefore He was the One Who created the universe.
GENESIS 1: 1 – In the beginning God CREATED the heavens and the earth.
GENESIS 1: 3 – And God SAID: Let there be light, and there was light.
JOHN 1: 3 – THROUGH HIM all things were made. Without Him nothing was made that has been made.
HEBREWS 1: 2 – But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, Whom He appointed heir of all things, and THROUGH WHOM ALSO HE MADE THE UNIVERSE.
Because Jesus is the Word of God and because the Scriptures is God’s words therefore not only the four Gospels but the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is Jesus’ teaching.
2TIMOTHY 3: 16-17 – ALL SCRIPTURE IS GOD-BREATHED and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Servants of God are not only prophets, ministers, teachers, elders but all Christians who truly believe in God and in Jesus Christ.
ROMANS 6: 22 – But now that you have been set free from sin and have BECOME SLAVES of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
1CORINTHIANS 7: 22 – For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person. Similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s SLAVE.
EPHESIANS 6: 6 – Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as SLAVES of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.
Because God DO NOT CHANGE and because Jesus is God and is THE SAME forever therefore the TRUTH in the Scripture is the same from Genesis to Revelation.
MALACHI 3: 6 – I the Lord DO NOT CHANGE. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
HEBREWS 13: 8 – Jesus Christ is THE SAME yesterday and today and forever.
If we see any contradiction in God’s words, it indicates that WE ARE somehow WRONG in understanding of the Scriptures. God’s words cannot be wrong or contradicted to each other; and God’ standards in the Old and the New Testament are always the same forever. That is one of the Truth. Christians must understand what laws, rules, commandments and standards are for God’s children to obey and to follow as we are living in this life; and which ones are lessons and examples to learn only.
To follow Jesus on His way leading to the heavenly Kingdom, Christians must take these 10 steps:
THE FIRST STEP
Recognize and confess that we are sinners.
God’s Word lets us know that there is no righteous person in the whole world, including us.
PSALM 53: 3 – Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one.
ROMANS 3: 10 – As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.
This step is important, because if we don’t confess that we are sinners, then we cannot hear the voice of God nor get near Him nor being able to understand the true meaning of His Word.
MATTHEW 9: 13 – But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I HAVE NOT COME TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT SINNERS.
According to Jesus’ words, only sinners can hear His voice and His calling.
To be able to recognize and to confess that we are sinners, we must use God’ standards to judge ourselves.
A man can be good in the eyes of the world, but when applying Gods standards on oneself then no one can be good or righteous.
Therefore there are only a few people who can truly hear the voice of God, because most of human beings think at least they are good and righteous in one way or another. Even known criminals think they have somewhat good reasons to commit crime.
PROVERBS 14: 12 – There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
ISAIAH 64: 6 – All of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. We all shrivel up like a leaf and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
LUKE 18: 9-14 – To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: God, I thank you that I am not like other people robbers, evildoers, adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said: God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
The hypocrites will be humbled in eternal punishment and the sinners will be exalted to eternal life with God.
The Word of God lets us know that there is no one who does not sin.
1KING 8: 46 – When they sin against you (FOR THERE IS NO ONE WHO DOES NOT SIN) and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near…
So, when a righteous person sins, none of good things that he did before will be remembered.
EZEKIEL 33: 13 – If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. They will die for the evil they have done.
As this reality can be applied to everyone, so it is better for us to see ourselves as sinners before the Lord so that we can hear His voice and come to Him while we are still living on this Earth.
(to be continued)