Jesus' LIFE saves!

And Jesus said to them:

"I am the vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears no fruit He takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.....Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches: he that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. If a man abide NOT in me, he is cast forth AS A BRANCH, and is WITHERED; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are BURNED UP......If you KEEP my COMMANDMENTS, you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love" (John 15:1-10).

Now the only way it can be possible to be a branch abiding in Christ is that Jesus was RESURRECTED!!

It is just that simple. The words you have read are easy to understand, they say what they mean and they mean what they say!

A Christian continues to live on for some time (well most indeed do) after they accept Jesus as PERSONAL Savior, after they are baptized, after the death of Christ, His shed blood is applied to them, so their sins are washing away in the blood, after they are JUSTIFIED, FORGIVEN, and made AT-ONE with the Father.

But Christ was RAISED from the dead, not only to grant Him GLORY and ETERNAL LIFE once more, BUT to also be the LIVING VINE....that we Christians being the branched of that vine, could LIVE in that vine, being connected to that LIVING VINE!  And as Jesus said, if any person does not abide or stay CONNECTED to THE vine (Christ Jesus), that person is cast forth and will be BURNED UP!!

Jesus is a LIVING SAVIOR!  He MUST  be FOR as a living Savior He can LIVE within each Christian through the very nature of God, which is the Holy Spirit. A Christian has to be a LIVING branch, a living branch CONTINUES to have life giving nature pulse through them, as a branch connected to a vine has living nature pushing through them from the main body of the vine.

Verse 23 of chapter 14: "If a man loves Me, he will KEEP My words: and My Father will love him, and WE will COME TO HIM, and MAKE OUT ABODE with him."

So the rest of the story is that BOTH the Father and the Son LIVE WITHIN the Christian!!

Salvation does NOT STOP with being JUSTIFIED, FORGIVEN with and through the BLOOD of Christ. Salvation must CONTINUE within the person until that person dies the physical death of this life (or if alive at the coming again of Christ to earth, is CHANGED from mortal to IMMORTALITY - see the latter half of the famous resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians 15). And to continue that what is often called "sanctification" of salvation - you must be IN the vine Christ Jesus, through the Holy Spirit.

This is why Paul said what he said in Romans 5:5-10 - read that section again friends.

And this is also why Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I LIVE, yet not I, but Christ LIVES IN ME: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the FAITH OF the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

Paul had Jesus LIVING WITHIN HIM, he had the VERY FAITH OF Christ in him! And so must ALL Christians. Salvation does not JUST have a "death part" to it; Salvation has a LIFE part to it. They are INSEPARABLE!!

And being so that is why Paul wrote: "But you are not in the flesh (carnal minded, vvs 6-8), but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone has NOT the Spirit of Christ, he is NONE of His.....But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead DWELL in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also MAKE ALIVE (quicken) your MORTAL body by His Spirit that DWELLS in you.....For as many as are LED by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 9-14).

So we have returned to the example Jesus gave of the VINE and the BRANCHES!

There is another important reason that salvation is LIVING - that LIFE and not just DEATH is part of Salvation.

Jesus today is at the Father's right hand doing the work of being our INTERCEDING HIGH PRIEST! Yes that is truly so friends. The book of Hebrews shows this truth in clear plain language. You may want to take the time during this Feast of Unleavened Bread to read the book of Hebrews say in the New KJV. As you read this wonderful book you will see clearly that Jesus is NOW our HIGH PRIEST in heaven.
The New Testament Priesthood has been CHANGED friends, and the HIGH Priest of this New Testament Priesthood is Jesus the Christ - see it in Hebrews 7:12-25. Notice it, mark it well, verse 25....
"Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He EVER LIVES to make INTERCESSION for them."

The book of Hebrews is a WONDERFUL book, if you have not read it for a while, let me encourage you to read it in a modern translation, like the NewKJV. Read it slowly, there are so many verses in it that need to be imbedded in your heart and mind. There are so many TRUTHS of the Lord in that book, you need to read it SLOWLY and let the GLORIOUS WONDER of those truths sink deep into your mind.

Then put all the greatness of Hebrews with 1 John chapter one and chapter 2:1-6.

We are to admit that we are still sinners as we walk the Christian life. We must have the attitude that we do not want to sin,  that we want to walk in the light, desire to keep God's commandments; we must know that calling ourselves a Christian means we desire to walk, live, as Jesus walked and lived.
But we are still in the flesh, we do fall at times, we do miss the mark, we do sin at times, BUT we can take heart, we have Jesus Christ as our ADVOCATE  - INTERCESSOR - as our HIGH PRIEST that intercedes for us on our behalf to the Father. And as we acknowledge, have a mind-set that is always in a REPENTANT frame of mind, asking our Heavenly Father to forgive us our sins, as we forgive others that sin against us (remember that part of the so-called "Lord's prayer"?) - Jesus also interceding for us, His blood is then still applied to our sins, and we continue to be under GRACE!!

OH what RICHES is the LOVE of God and Christ TOWARDS us human flesh and blood creatures!

What riches and GLORY is the Feast of the PASSOVER and the Feast of UNLEAVENED BREAD!

May you who know these things continue to be richly blessed during this Spring Festival time of the Lord.

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