Make It Personal! – John 8:48-59
1. Pedigree – Being a Christian is not passed down through physical genes or automatic because of nationality. For the Jews this was showing they were a descendent of Abraham.
2. Performance – Salvation is not obtained by keeping certain religious rituals or practices. For the Jews this was keeping the Law as well as their extra man-made traditions.
3. Principles – Right relationship to God does not come by agreeing with a creed or mentally assenting to certain facts. The Jews believed in only one God and that that God was Jehovah.
Christianity is about personally accepting a person (Jesus Christ). I must personally put my trust for salvation (forgiveness of sin and eternal life) in the personal work that Jesus did for me. This personal faith in the person of Jesus Christ establishes a relationship through spiritual birth that can never be broken. Once I am born again, I continue to walk in fellowship with God through my personal relationship each day with Jesus Christ!
Is your relationship with God personal? If we are not careful we can substitute pedigree (my parents are Christians, my grandpa was a preacher) or performance (I go to church, I serve in a ministry, I am a good neighbor) or principles (I believe in God, I believe Jesus died on the cross). True Christianity is a personal relationship with God through the person of Jesus Christ!
Walk with the Lord and make it personal!!!
