Jesus Is The Resurrection And The Life

John 11:25-26, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

How simple is the Gospel. In John 11:25-26 we once again see that salvation is obtained freely by simple childlike faith in the only begotten Son of God. BELIEVE oh guilty sinner and you are forever saved! Jesus didn't ask Martha if she was ready or willing to repent and turn away from her sins (which Bob Jones University errantly requires on their website).

Jesus didn't ask Martha is she had surrendered "all" to Him as Lord (which Pastor John MacArthur errantly requires). Jesus didn't ask Martha to repent AND believe to be saved (as Ray Comfort errantly requires). Jesus didn't ask Martha to start, run and finish the race to win the award of salvation (as Steve Pettit errantly requires).

Jesus SIMPLY asked Martha if she BELIEVED that He is the Resurrection and the Life? Jesus SIMPLY asked her if she believes that He gives eternal life? John 6:47, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." Simply BELIEVE oh guilty sinner to be immediately, irrevocably and eternally saved!!! Believe the Good News (Gospel) that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, He was buried, and three days later Jesus raised up from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Galatians 3:26, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."

Galatians 1:6-7, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.” The Apostle Paul was bewildered that the churches of Galatia, whom he had spent so much time preaching and teaching the things of Christ, had so soon been duped into a local religious cult that perverts the Gospel. Paul calls them “fools” and “bewitched” in Galatians 3:1. Likewise, I find it hard to accept that Moody Bible Institute (MBI) and Bob Jones University (BJU), once fundamentalist institutions, have deteriorated decades later into cesspools of doctrinal heresy and worldliness. Both MBI and BJU have turned into hardcore Calvinist institutions today in 2021. This is so tragic!

I challenge you dear reader to forget everything that you have heard from preachers from a moment, and simply focus on the words of our wonderful Savior in our text passage. John 11:25-26, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” The Savior's words are so clear and simple. All that He wanted to know from Martha is if she BELIEVED that He is the Resurrection and the Life!

Dear friend, if you BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, Who died on the cross in your place to pay your debt of sin, and you BELIEVE that just as He resurrected from the dead He can also raise you up from the dead, and that is your only hope for forgiveness of sins and eternal life, then you are saved! Salvation is so simple! You are a guilty sinner friend, and so am I. But Jesus died for OUR SINS, so that He could take our guilt upon Himself. I was saved at age 13 when I received Jesus as my personal Savior.

From that moment and forever I was no longer guilty. I am no longer under the curse of God's law, I am forever under God's grace. The born-again believer never falls from grace, we fall in grace! Amen and amen! Only an unsaved person who rejects the Gospel is fallen FROM GRACE, like the deceived Calvinist Bob Jones University camp today. Since they ADD turning away from your sinful ways to be saved, they have FALLEN FROM GRACE, burning their bridge to Heaven. Faith alone in Jesus Christ is that bridge! BJU has torn up their ticket to the Pearly City. They have damned themselves by corrupting the Gospel, placing their trust in a false hope, another gospel which cannot produce the new birth. The Devil's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again.

Dear friend, I love you with God's love! I care about you. I love THE TRUTH. Right doctrine matters. There is no Gospel in Calvinism. Calvinism is a deadly theological system of lies that base salvation upon human performance, not Christ's sacrifice on the cross. In God's true plan of salvation, you can absolutely KNOW 100% that you are immediately saved the instant that you place your trust in Christ, because salvation is solely rooted in God's promise to SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE (1st Corinthians 1:21b). I know that I am saved because God said so in His Word.

I put my trust in Jesus alone to save me as a 13 year old boy, and God wrought the supernatural miracle of the new birth. I was forever indwelt and sealed with God's blessed Holy Spirit since the moment I was saved. I have never wondered if I am really saved because of bad sinful decisions I have made in my life. I have never questioned God's salvation of my soul because of my poor behavior as a child of God. I have never doubted my salvation because of those reasons because I was not saved by being good or forsaking my sins. I didn't get saved by doing good works, so I cannot become lost by doing bad works. God saved me because of my childlike faith in His only begotten Son (John 3:16-17).

If you talk to a Calvinist you will hear them insist that salvation is without works. Yet at the same time they will say that you will do works if you are really saved. It get ugly theologically. Calvinists will all tell you that you cannot know for certain that you are saved if you continue living in sin and if your life does not change and continue to change until you get to Heaven. This is NOT the simplicity that is in Christ. Case in point is Evangelist Ray Comfort, who heretically states:

“Merely being sorry for your sins, or confessing them to God won't help you. You must turn from sin (repent).” —LIVING WATERS ministry, SAVE YOURSELF SOME PAIN

That is a lie of the Devil. What saith the Scripture? 1st John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The Bible teaches that if a person will simply confess that they are a guilty sinner to God, the Lord will forgive us before even being asked to do so. That is a good God Who loves to pardon guilty sinners!!! Isaiah 65:24, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” In a false religion, you have to beg, torment yourself with penance, wait and sacrifice, hoping to receive pardon from a false god. But in Biblical Christianity, God offers complete and immediate forgiveness on the sole basis of the sacrifice of His dear only begotten Son Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. No other religion offers such a good deal of a free, easy and simple pardon by faith alone!!!

Ray Comfort's plan of salvation is extremely HARD because it requires a large amount of self-denial, self-abandonment and self-righteousness. You are required to stop all deliberate sinful activates if you want to be saved. That is a false Gospel. Romans 4:5-6 plainly teaches that salvation is solely by Christ's righteousness and without our own works. On page 1513 of 'THE EVIDENCE BIBLE,' under the section: “Questions & Objections,” Ray Comfort addresses the statement: “Because Jesus died on the cross we are forgiven of every sin.” Here’s Ray Comfort’s reply to this statement:

“The forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ is conditional upon ‘repentance towards God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 20:21). It is a gift that God offers to everyone, but individuals must receive it by repenting and trusting in Christ, or they will remain dead in their sins. No one has Biblical grounds to continue in sin, assuming that they are safe just because Jesus died on the cross. See 1 John 3:4-6.” [Emphasis added] —'THE EVIDENCE BIBLE,' by Ray Comfort, p. 1513; 2003, Bridge-Logos Publishers, Orlando, Florida

Those are some very dangerous and heretical words at the end, “…assuming that they are safe just because Jesus died on the cross.” Dear reader, what Ray Comfort is preaching is NOT what Jesus taught Martha in John 11:25-26. The Savior simply asked Martha if she BELEVED on Him as the Resurrection and the Life. Do you believe friend that Jesus died on the cross for your sins? Do you believe that after being buried, that three days later Christ raised up by the power of God triumphant from the dead? And do you believe that Jesus has the power to give you the same eternal life through faith in Him? Do you BELIEVE these truths? I sure do, which is why I got saved as a 13 year old boy. The only way to get saved is through FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 16:30b-31, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

Carefully notice that nowhere in these passages of Scripture are we taught to repent (turn away from sinful behavior) to be saved. Ray Comfort ADDED that extra step to the Gospel. Ray Comfort is a theological liar! Romans 3:4, “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” You must decide dear reader who to believe! Will you trust Ray Comfort and his lies that you cannot go to Heaven without forsaking your sinful bad habits? Or will you trust the Holy Bible and Jesus, who said to Martha in John 11:25-26 that He is the Resurrection and the Life?

Jesus' plan of salvation is so wonderful and simple, you just BELIEVE on Him. Ray Comfort's plan of salvation is complicated and burdensome, because you must forsake your pet sins and make a constant effort to turn away from sin for the rest of your life, or else worry that you may not make it to Heaven. How in the world is that not works what Ray is falsely preaching? If you must maintain a repentance LIFESTYLE (which is the exact word that Ray uses), to maintain the confidence that you are saved, then how can you ever really enjoy the perfect peace of knowing that you are a child of God? Obviously you cannot!!! Folks, please listen to me, these ungodly infidels are not true preachers of righteousness, they are phonies masquerading as God's righteous ministers for the sake of filthy lucre. Ray Comfort makes about $4,000,000 each year from his Living Waters and Way Of The Master demonic ministries. I've never made a single penny. It is tragic that tens of millions of people are being woefully deceived by these wicked devils.

Jesus never once told anyone to turn away from sinful behavior to get to Heaven, He simply said to BELIEVE on Him. John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. ” Again we simply see that salvation is obtained by BELIEVING ON HIM!!! Nothing more is required than faith in the Good News of Christ crucified, buried and risen the third day (1st Corinthians 15:1-4; John chapters 19-20). You are a guilty sinner friend! Consequently, you deserve to burn in Hell forever (and so do I). 

But God in His love has made a way of escape through faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  Anyone who receives Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for their sins, believing that Jesus is risen from the dead physically, is immediately, irrevocably and forever saved. Nothing more is necessary, required or allowed. Christ died, that's history; Christ died for me, that's salvation. When you come to God as a dirty guilty sinner and personally trust Jesus as YOUR Savior, you are now a born-again child of God. Salvation is all about you coming to God as you are, in your ungodly state; and BELIEVING the record God has given in His Word about His Son. Simply take God at His Word and be saved!!! The Bible says you are a guilty sinner for breaking God's commandments. If you agree with that and want to escape the fires of Hell and go to Heaven forever, then let God save you by putting your trust in His dear Son.

Friend, did you know that you don't even have to ask God to forgive your sins? That is correct! God is already offering you the free gift of eternal life. God is already asking you to please receive His only begotten Son as your Savior. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jesus has already paid for everyone's sins with His precious blood. This is why God can freely offer eternal life to all humanity. All you need to do is receive that gift by faith, but you MUST want it. God won't force Himself on anybody. 2nd Timothy 2:13, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”

All you need to do is accept the gift that God is freely offering you. Your sins and eternal life have already been completely paid for by Jesus. God is offering you forgiveness of sins and eternal life, just for the taking. It would be silly to ask God to forgive your sins, when He is already asking you to freely receive it. Just say “yes” to Jesus! The “Gospel” means Good News! It is the Good News that Jesus is the Christ Who died on the cross for our sins, He was buried, and three days later Jesus bodily resurrected from the dead. This is the Gospel according to 1st Corinthians 15:1-4. Anyway who BELIEVES this Good News is saved!!! That is what Jesus was asking Martha when He asked her if she believed He is the Resurrection and the Life. Fortunately Martha did believe! The $64,000 question is do you BELIEVE?