GospelNotes.life

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  • The Rich Young Ruler

    The story of the rich young ruler that asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life is found in Matthew 19:16-21 and Mark 10:17-27.

    The rich young ruler came to Jesus asking what he needed to do to get eternal life. He assumed that it was by keeping the law perfectly, and he thought he had kept the law perfectly. But Jesus knew his heart and sought to teach him that he hasn’t been following the law perfectly and that by the young man’s standard he wasn’t saved. So Jesus told him all the things to do in the law which he thought he was doing, except for one thing that Jesus brought up that he wasn’t doing, showing the young man that he hadn’t been keeping the law perfectly. This was to get the young man to say to himself, “Uh oh. How can I be saved then if I’ve failed at keeping the law?” And then Jesus told him to do the right thing by using his rich abundance to supply the lack of others by selling his stuff and giving to the poor (not for salvation, but because he wouldn’t need those worthless possessions anymore and the poor always need help and that’s the right thing to do), and then to follow Him so that he could learn that salvation is through believing in Him and not by following the law.

    Mark 10:17-27:
    As He (Jesus) was setting out on a journey, a man (the rich young ruler) ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do so that I may inherit eternal life?” But Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone (Yes, Jesus is good as He is God, but what He’s doing is setting up to show the man who wants to be justified by the law that only God is good and not humans per the law’s standard). You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth.” Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack (here Jesus shows the young man that he failed to keep the law perfectly): go and sell all you possess and give to the poor (because it’s the right thing to do by using his rich abundance to supply the lack of others by selling his stuff and giving to the poor [not for salvation, but because he wouldn’t need those worthless possessions anymore and the poor always need help and that’s the right thing to do]), and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me (to learn that eternal life is gained by believing in Him rather than by following the law).” But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” (Because most people trust in their works: “being a good person” rather than by faith in Christ alone) And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus responded again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were even more astonished, and said to Him, “Then who can be saved?” Looking at them, Jesus said, “(Jesus coming full circle here:) With people it is impossible (following the law), but not with God; for all things are possible with God (His salvation through faith in the gospel).”

  • Preventative Measures

    Want to prevent illness and evil from happening to you? Psalm 91 has your answer. It basically boils down to: “If you believe that Christ will keep you from all evil and illness, then He will.” He is able, and He is willing. You don’t have to know how it works, just know that it does.

    Psalm 91:

    1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
    Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
    2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
    My God, in Him I will trust.”

    3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
    And from the perilous pestilence.
    4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
    And under His wings you shall take refuge;
    His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
    5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
    Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
    6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
    Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

    7 A thousand may fall at your side,
    And ten thousand at your right hand;
    But it shall not come near you.
    8 Only with your eyes shall you look,
    And see the reward of the wicked.

    9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
    Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
    10 No evil shall befall you,
    Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
    11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,
    To keep you in all your ways.
    12 In their hands they shall bear you up,
    Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
    13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
    The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

    14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
    I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
    15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble;
    I will deliver him and honor him.
    16 With long life I will satisfy him,
    And show him My salvation.”

  • Grace. Mercy. Justice.

    Grace = getting [good things] what we don’t deserve.

    Mercy = not getting what we do deserve [punishment].

    Justice = getting what we do deserve.

    Ephesians 2:8-9 — For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

  • The Book of John: Faith, not works.

    John 1:7 – He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.

    John 1:12 – Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

    John 3:15 – that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

    John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

    John 3:18 – Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

    John 3:36 – Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

    John 4:14 – but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

    John 5:24 – “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

    John 6:28-29 – Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

    John 6:35 – Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

    John 6:40 – For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

    John 6:47 – Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.

    John 6:50-51 – But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

    John 6:54 – Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

    John 7:38-39 – Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

    John 8:24 – I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

    John 10:9 – I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.

    John 11:25-26 – Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

    John 12:36 – Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

    John 17:3 – Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

    John 20:31 – But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

  • Don’t Negate Faith Verses with Seemingly Works Verses

    Remember, a handful of seemingly condemning works-based scriptures cannot negate the over 200 verses explaining that salvation is through faith in Christ alone. There must be another way to interpret them.

    John 3:16 — For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

    Ephesians 2:8-9 — For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

  • Verse Construct

    John 3:15-17, 20, 23

    [book] [chapter]:[beginning verse]-[end verse], [another verse in this chapter]

  • Sin in the Book of Hebrews

    The sin talked about in Hebrews is the sin of unbelief.

  • When God Looks at You

    When God looks at you – that is, your reborn inner man (your soul and spirit) – He sees the imputed righteousness of Christ. A righteousness apart from the law – a righteousness that is by faith in the gospel alone.

    He doesn’t look at your dead, crucified, buried flesh and it’s evil deeds and judge that day-to-day. He’s dealt with that 2,000 years ago on the cross. “It is finished.” Sin debt paid in full.

    No…He sees the real you – the reborn inner man. He has forgotten all of your sins, and has removed them “as far as the east is from the west.”

  • Matthew 5-7

    Matthew chapters 5-7 may sound scary. But all Jesus is doing is elevating the law to its proper place to get His listeners to ask the question, “well who then can be saved?”

    The answer is – no one can be saved by keeping the law, because no one can keep it perfectly. Thus, Jesus is getting them to start looking to the messiah (Him) for salvation, rather than by keeping the law (that they thought they were keeping perfectly).

  • Bible Reading List

    The Bible is a pretty difficult read the first few times you read it. A lot of times it says a word that’s not specifically defined till later in the book, or even in another book. The wording and sentences can also be confusing, with long, run-on sentences. It also uses multiple words for the same definition. If I’m not lying, I hated reading the Bible the first few times I read it, because I barely understood what any of it meant. However, the more times you read it, the more connections you make, and the more it comes alive and becomes super exciting. Every time you read it, you learn something new. You see something new. You connect new things. It’s amazing. I’ve grown to love reading the Bible now (specifically the New Testament). Hopefully my notes will speed up your learning and understanding of the Bible. However, you have to accept the fact that us humans are just not going to understand everything the Bible has to say 100% until we get to heaven. There may seem like contradictions in the Bible, but God does not contradict Himself. Let yourself be at peace with this, and hold fast to the gospel. Below is a reading list to guide you:

    1. John (Jesus’ life and gospel)
    2. Acts (events after Jesus leaves earth)
    3. Romans (justification by faith alone)
    4. Galatians (justification by faith alone)
    5. Ephesians (our position in Christ)
    6. Genesis (the beginning)
    7. Exodus (escape from Egypt. Giving of law)
    8. Leviticus (law)
    9. Numbers (law)
    10. Deuteronomy (law)
    11. Joshua (taking the promised land)
    12. Matthew (Christ’s life and work on earth)
    13. Revelation (end times Tribulation prophecy)
    14. 1 Thessalonians
    15. 2 Thessalonians
    16. 1 Timothy
    17. 2 Timothy
    18. Titus
    19. Anything else.

  • How to Read the Bible

    Reading through the lens of grace vs law:
    When reading the bible, you MUST read it through the lens of “grace.” If you read it through the lens of “law“, it will condemn you at every corner.

    For example, see the note: The Works, The Will, The Command, The Overcomer, The Righteous, The Obedience

    Just in the note title alone, if you were to come across those words reading the bible through the lens of “law”, you’d probably think that “The Works” are to follow the law and do good deeds, “The Will” is to follow the law, “The Command” is to follow the law, “The Overcomer” is one who turns from all their sins, “The Righteous” are those that follow the law and “The Obedience” are those that obey the law.

    However, when you come across those words and read them through the lens of “grace”, you can see that they all pertain to simply believing in Jesus. *See note for full definitions.

    Reading a verse in context:

    You cannot cherry pick verses out of thin air and get their proper meaning. You have to understand the meaning of a verse based on (in order of importance):

    1. The immediate, surrounding verses.
    2. The chapter.
    3. The book.
    4. The entire bible.

    Reading the entire book at once:

    It greatly helps to read the entire book in one sitting (not the entire bible at once, but the book, example: John, Romans, Galatians, etc). This is because other parts of the book require the context of previous parts of the book to understand the book as a whole, and if you put it down for a day or so, you will easily forget what you read before. Most books in the New Testament can be read in under 30 minutes, as many are only a few chapters long. The lengthiest one, Matthew or Acts (28 chapters each), can be read in 2-3 hours.

    Understanding the words’ original language meaning:

    The original biblical texts that were divinely inspired by God were written in Hebrew and Aramaic (for the Old Testament), and Greek for the New Testament. English translations (and rather all other language translations) were translated from these original languages, and are not inspired by God, meaning, they aren’t perfect in translation, which is why there’s so many revisions of the Bible in other languages. Let’s talk about the New Testament: English is a rather poor language to use for reading the Bible, and the original Greek is excellent. Why? Because in the original Greek texts, there will be, say, four different words that have a different meaning, yet in English, the same English word is used for all four different Greek words, making the English version confusing and muddled. So, what do we have to do in our English translations to understand a verse that contains a word that isn’t clear? We have to get to the root of that word in its original Greek meaning. We can do this through what is known as The Strong’s Concordance and the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. Strong’s is named after the author James Strong, and Thayer’s is named after the author Joseph Thayer. What Strong has done, is given each word in the bible a number, and provided its definition in the Greek. Example, Strongs G726 (Greek 726) is the Greek word of “harpazo”, and is the original greek word behind the phrase “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 in the English translation. Harpazo in the Greek means “To seize, snatch, take away by force”. When you’re reading an English Bible and don’t understand the meaning of a word, look it up in Strong’s and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. To do this, simply Google the book and chapter you want, along with the “Strongs” keyword. For example, if you were reading 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and wanted to know what the word “caught up” means in the original greek, simply Google “Strongs 1 Thessalonians 4:17” and look for Bible Hub’s (biblehub.com) “1 Thessalonians 4 KJV + Strong’s” webpage. Once you click on that, it will show the chapter in the King James Version bible, where you can click the specific word you’re looking for, and it will go to a new page where it will give you the Strong’s definition of the word, and if not more importantly, the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon for the specific meaning of the word in context of that verse. Thayer’s can be lengthy, because it provides the meaning of the greek word in all its various forms throughout the bible, so just do a simple search on the page for the verse you’re looking for (example: 1 Thessalonians 4:17) and it will bring you to the specific meaning for the Greek word in that verse context.

  • 1 John Untwisted

    The book of 1 John is a brain twister. But when you iron it all out, it says one thing about 17 different ways: “Those who believe the gospel are saved”:

    Definitions (they are all “the gospel”):

    1. To know God:
      1 John 2:3 — Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments [Definition 4].
    2. Born of God:
      1 John 5:1 — Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
    3. To Love God:
      1 John 5:3 — For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments [Definition 4]. And His commandments are not burdensome.
    4. Keep His Commandments:
      1 John 3:23 — And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another [Definition 5], as He gave us commandment.
    5. Love the brethren/children of God:
      1 John 5:2 — By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God [Definition 3] and keep His commandments [Definition 4]. 1 John 1 — everyone who loves Him [Definition 3] who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.
    6. Overcome the world:
      1 John 5:4-5 — For whatever is born of God [Definition 2] overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
    7. The will of God:
      John 6:40 — And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
    8. An antichrist:
      1 John 2:22 — Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 1 John 4:3 — and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh [as the Christ] is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
    9. His word:
      The gospel. His commandments [Definition 4]. 1 John 2:4-5 — He who says, “I know Him,” [Definition 1] and does not keep His commandments [Definition 4], is a liar, and the truth [Definition 13] is not in him. But whoever keeps His word [His commandments – Definition 4], truly the love of God [Definition 3] is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
    10. His promise:
      1 John 2:25 — And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
    11. To practice righteousness:
      Galatians 3:11 — Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
    12. To abide in Christ:
      1 John 3:24 — Now he who keeps His commandments [Definition 4] abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. 1 John 4:12 — No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another [Definition 5], God abides in us, and His love [Definition 15] has been perfected in us. 1 John 4:15 — Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
    13. The truth:
      The gospel. Christ.
    14. To purify oneself:
      To believe the gospel.
    15. The love of God:
      1 John 4:9 — In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him [the gospel].
    16. The witness/testimony of God:
      1 John 5:11 — And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
    17. Believers [as the inner man] cannot sin:
      1 John 3:6 — Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known [Definition 1] Him. 1 John 3:9 — Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God [Definition 2]. 1 John 5:18 — We have known that everyone who has been begotten of God [Definition 2] does not sin, but He who was begotten of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him;