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Genesis to Revelation

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Moser Ministries Genesis to Revelation Bible Blogs: non-profit organization mission is the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus.

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Life (John 4:14)

but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal #life

Jesus' comments here present important facts about the nature of salvation. To get water from a well, a person must lower a bucket, then haul up the full container. This needs to be repeated as often as required to get more water. The water Jesus promises will become a permanent spring within the person.

In direct terms, Jesus is pointing out that salvation is neither obtained nor kept through works. In fact, Jesus is contrasting the nature of salvation with the nature of human efforts. One is temporary and requires work. The other is eternal and is obtained only as a gift. Twice, in fact, Jesus refers to this "living water" as something He will give. This is not something a person could draw for themselves, even if they wanted to.

Many of the things we pursue on earth are an attempt to fill the natural human longing for God. Augustine famously said to God, "You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You." This is part of what Jesus means by earthly water being only a temporary solution. Material things can never take the place of a relationship. Our ultimate purpose as created beings is to know, serve, and worship our Creator.

Looking at the Samaritan woman's history, it seems she was looking for comfort or security in relationships (John 4:17–18). Sadly, that quest led her into an immoral and unsatisfying life.

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You Must Be Born Again

John 3:1-15

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”

Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Go to Heaven

Get Right with God

John 3:16

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Commentaries

This is the core of Christianity: that God loved the world enough to come in human form—Jesus, who died for us, so that anyone who trusts in Him will be saved from sin. This is certainly the most well-known verse in the Bible.

It is probably the best-known and most-memorized part of any holy text in human history. The verse is a one-sentence summary of the gospel: the subject line of the entire Bible.

The verse also reflects the way the gospel's essential idea is clear, but there are layers of meaning and knowledge inside of it. The opening phrase is traditionally translated as "God so loved the world that."

This is typically understood to mean, "God loved the world 'so much' that…" That idea isn't entirely wrong but the actual phrase means "God loved the world 'in this way,'" with emphasis on what God did, more than why.

Jesus is an expression of God's indescribable love for "the world," meaning all of mankind (1 John 4:9–10).

The phrase translated as "one and only Son," or "only begotten Son" uses the Greek word monogenēs.

This is a very precise word which John uses in other places in this gospel (John 1:14, 18; 3:18).

The traditional English term "begotten" often makes people think of biology, but monogenēs does not imply it. The word literally means something of the same nature or substance.

"In other words, the Son Man—Jesus—is of exactly the same divinity as God the Father. That makes this verse an important part of proving the biblical concept of the Trinity.

In typical use, monogenēs is used to imply "the only of its kind" or "sole [only]," or similar ideas. The life offered to those who believe in Christ is "eternal," from a Greek word meaning "never ending."

The alternative to life in Christ is destruction: to "perish." This passage explains that the purpose of sending Jesus was our salvation (John 3:17) but also reminds us that those who don't believe are condemned (John 3:18, 36).

There is no question that, according to the Bible, people can be saved only through faith in Jesus (John 14:6).

Robb Moser

Robb Moser was the pastor of Way Home Church and the publisher of Verse to Verse.

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Genesis to Revelation

Robb was a Word of God preacher and a Gospel of Jesus teacher. Moser studied at Moody Bible Institute and Reformed Theological Seminary. He was raised in the Presbyterian church and attended Congregational, Lutheran, and community churches for 50+ years before starting a home church called the Way on Father's Day, Sunday, June 19, 2011.

The Way was the name of the Jesus followers and the Christ believers. Acts 24:14 But this I admit to you that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets. Robb and his wife Vicki live in southwestern Colorado, married in 1984, and retired in 2021. They have three grown children and three grandchildren.

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