A lady in my faith family shared a story about a conversation that she had recently. She and a man were talking and he asked her if she believed that Jesus was really coming back like those weird Christians believed He was. She said that she believed He was because without His coming back we had no hope. She then asked him, “What is the purpose of your life?” He had no answer.
I thought about Raise the Roof and Raise the Walls. What is it’s purpose? What is it based on?
I then read John 10:22-42 and Jesus shares five truths that are what Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is based on, and what my life is based on, and what I pray that your life is based on.
The first is In John 10:36 where Jesus says that He is the Son of God.
This is one of the bases of Christianity.
In Matthew 16:13 Jesus asks the twelve who people were saying that He was.
They answered:
John the Baptist
Elijah
Jeremiah
One of the Prophets
Then in Matthew 16:15 Jesus asked who they, the twelve say He is. And in Matthew 16:16 Peter replies, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then in Matthew 16:17 tells Peter that he is right and that it is God the Father who had revealed that to him.
Jesus acknowledges in this conversation that He is the Son of God.
In John 10 Jesus points to the works that He does that bear witness to the fact that He is the Son of God.
A second truth that Jesus shares is in John 10:30. He says, “I and the Father are one.”
When Jesus tells them this, the Jews pick up stones. They want to kill Him.
Why?
When Jesus says that He and the Father are one, He is claiming to be equal with God. In other words, Jesus is claiming that He is God.
I have had people tell me that Jesus never claimed to be God. My response is that, if you ignore the Gospels and in particular the Gospel of John, then no, Jesus never claimed to be God. But if you read the Gospels, Jesus claimed to be God and even accepted worship as God.
You have to accept that either Jesus is God and thus Lord or He is a liar or a lunatic. Jesus doesn’t give the option to accept Him as just a great human being.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is built on the truth that Jesus is The Son of God and He is, in fact, God in the flesh.
A third truth is what Jesus says in John 10:28. Jesus says that He gives to those who follow Him eternal life.
God created you for eternity.
In Ecclesiastes 3:11 it says that God has put eternity into people’s hearts.
Sin tried to destroy God’s will for us to live forever. But through Jesus’ death and resurrection we have the victory of eternal life.
There are not many ways to God; it is only through Jesus.
There are not many ways to eternal life; it is only through Jesus.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is built on the truth that Jesus is the only One who can give us eternal life.
Jesus shares a fourth truth in John 10:27. He says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
Jesus says His sheep hear His voice. We as people who have surrendered our lives to the authority of Jesus as Lord know His voice when He speaks to us.
If we can’t hear and recognize Jesus’ voice then we are in trouble at the heart of our relationship with Him.
When Jesus speaks, it will always be verified by the Bible. Jesus will never speak anything to us that is contrary to the Bible.
When Jesus speaks, it will always be verified by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will confirm it in our hearts and minds.
A key to hearing Jesus’ voice is to listen. Listening and hearing Jesus is about spending time with Him in prayer.
Prayer is not just us talking.
Prayer is also Jesus talking.
Another key to hearing Jesus’ voice is to get away from the noise of life. We are surrounded by noise and many times that noise drowns out what Jesus is saying to us. We need to get alone with Him and be quiet and listen.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is built on the truth that Jesus speaks to us as His followers and we can recognize His voice and understand what He is saying.
Jesus shares a fifth truth that we as His followers are secure in our salvation.
Finally, in John 10:28b Jesus says that no one will snatch His followers out of His hand.
Then in John 10:29 Jesus says, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
Jesus is saying very plainly here that NOTHING can tear you away from Him once He has you.
Salvation is not based on you or me. It is based on the finished work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection.
You don’t deserve salvation.
You can’t earn salvation.
When David prays his great prayer of confession and repentance in Psalm 51, he says in verse 12, “Restore to me the joy of YOUR salvation.”
Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Since Jesus never changes and the work of salvation is complete (no more has to be done to secure it), and Jesus says that He and the Father have us in their hands and nothing can remove us, then we as followers of Jesus are secure.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is built on the truth that once we have surrendered our lives to Jesus and He has us, nothing can take us away from Him.
The truth is that we can have a relationship with God. And God loves us so much that He became one of us, God in the flesh - Jesus. Jesus, because of His love for us, gives us eternal life and He guides our lives by speaking to us. And to top it all off, He guarantees and secures our eternal life.
We again see a decision being made in relationship to Jesus.
John 10:39 says, “Again they sought to arrest Him, but He escaped their hands.”
One group rejected Jesus and wanted to get rid of Him.
Then John 10:42 says, “And many believed in Him there.”
Another group put their faith in Jesus and gave Him their lives.
Jesus will always make us decide to believe and follow or to reject and walk away.
With Jesus The Son of God Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
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