“So Jesus said to them again, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’” (John 10:7-10 NASB1995)
When Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross it was to put our sins to death with him so that, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in him, which is not of our own doing, we will die with him to sin and now live to him and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands. So, by faith in Jesus, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness – all in the power of God.
But the “thieves and robbers” are those who will lie to you, and who dilute the message of the cross of Christ and of our salvation to make it more palatable to human flesh and to the ungodly. And so they deliberately teach the Scriptures out of context, leaving out key verses in order to deceive you into believing their lies and into rejecting the truth as the lie. And so they do not teach the necessity of death to sin and walks of obedience to our Lord as part of believing faith which saves. So, many people keep on in their sins.
Therefore, in America where I live, it is barely distinguishable between the church and the world anymore, because the church, in general, is looking and behaving so much like the world. So many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are still living in sin, still doing whatever they want to do, living in sexual immorality and idolatry and adultery, and without conscience. For so many of them are being taught that their sins are all forgiven and so what they do from now forward will not impact their eternal life with God.
But they are living in a fantasy world, not in God’s world of reality. So many of them are keeping their sins hidden, even from their spouses, and they are masquerading themselves as the children of God, and of being those who believe in Jesus Christ, putting on a performance of all goodness while they are sinning in secret behind closed doors, just like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. But one day it is all going to come crashing down on them, and the truth will come out, and they will face the consequences of their actions.
The thieves and robbers will try to convince you that it will not happen that way, and that all you have to do is to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and now all your sins are forgiven and heaven is secured you when you die, but regardless of how you live. They will lie to you and convince you that the gospel that Jesus taught, and that his New Testament apostles taught, in truth, is the lie, because they will make you believe that Jesus and the apostles taught something different, by teaching their words out of context.
But Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if we deny self, and by the Spirit we are putting sin to death daily (in practice), and if we are walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands, in practice, then we have salvation from sin and eternal life with God, provided that we remain in Christ and that we continue in our walks of obedience to him.
[Matthew 10:22; Luke 9:23-26; John 8:31-32; John 15:1-12; Romans 8:24; Romans 11:17-24; Romans 13:11; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; Colossians 1:21-23; 2 Timothy 1:8-9; 2 Timothy 2:10-13; Hebrews 3:6,14-15; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5,9; 2 Peter 1:5-11; 1 John 2:24-25]
And this is a summary of what Paul said in Romans 6:1-23:
By God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands. Thus, we are no longer to allow sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience is what we obey, it results in sanctification and its end is eternal life with God.
And this is a summary of what John wrote in 1 John 1-3:
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:6-7 NASB1995)
“By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1 John 2:3-4 NASB1995)
“Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning… By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:7-8,10 NASB1995)
For Our Nation
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Jesus Said to Them Again
An Original Work / April 21, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
