The Notes

This Wednesday night, March 18, 2026, we begin a 3-week series called: "Found It - Walked It - Nailed It!" 

In this first week, we look at the 3 parables Jesus told about finding things.  Are we spending time on the most important things, or getting distracted by life?  Are we even looking?  Join us for in-person worship and some mid-week encouragement for the soul at 6:00 p.m.

If you can't join us in person, you can always participate through our Facebook page - we go "live" at 6:00 p.m., and you will have a front row seat.  If you can't join us live, there are 3 ways to watch the message later - on Facebook, on YouTube, or here on our website.  Messages are posted the following day and you can watch a replay of any message anytime!  

If you want to keep some notes from a message, you can download the notes for a specific message from the "Past and Future Messages" page of our website.  There are many ways to be spiritually fed and encouraged.

This past Wednesday night, March 11, 2026, we look at 3 warnings of Jesus.  It's interesting that Jesus warned the disciples about the future, but they didn't get it.  They didn't understand Him.  For instance, John 11:32-24 says that Jesus them that "He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. 33 They will flog Him and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again.” But the disciples did not understand any of these things. The meaning was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend what He was saying.”

You wonder how did they not get it? 

Well here are 3 other warnings of Jesus that not everyone comprehends.

1 - Eternal Life in Heaven is only for believers.

John 8:21-24 relates this story - "Later Jesus said to them again, “I am going away. You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going.”  The people asked, “Is he planning to commit suicide? What does he mean, ‘You cannot come where I am going’?”   Jesus continued, “You are from below; I am from above.  You belong to this world; I do not.  That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.”

When Jesus said, “You will die in your sin,” it is a warning of the consequences of unbelief.  The "sin" of unbelief is, according to Jesus, a sin.  It is the sin of rejecting Jesus as the Messiah.  It's a fundamental sin of the mind and heart because it rejects truth, it calls God a liar, and ignores (or refuses) to see and accept the evidence He provided.  That sin separates us from God in both our hearts & mind, and Jesus tells us the eternal consequences of disbelief in Him: "Where I am going, you cannot come." 

Where was Jesus going?  Jesus would be returning to the Father.

The inability of the Pharisees to follow Him highlights the separation that will exist between those who believe in Christ and those who do not.  Salvation is based on belief in Jesus, and eternal life in heaven is exclusively for believers in Jesus.

Not everyone believes that.  Some express that everyone will be in heaven.  Jesus said no, that's not true.  

And that statement should give us concern for non-believers we love.  It should motivate us to keep talking about Jesus - His love, His grace, and our own redemption stories.

After that interaction, Jesus left Jerusalem; no wonder - the end of chapter 8 says they picked up stones to stone him.

Just a few chapters later, Jesus has another interesting conversation that we need to know.  In John 11, Jesus went to see Martha & Mary after hearing about Lazarus.  

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”   Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”  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?”  “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”  (Jn. 11:21-27).

Notice that Jesus says He is the great “I AM.”  This is 1 of 7 "I AM" declarations in John’s Gospel.  This connects Jesus with God and to God's conversation with Moses in Exodus 3:14 when “God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”  God told Moses to say " This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 

The statement of Jesus - “I AM the resurrection and the life” - shows us Jesus has authority over life and death.

The statement also foreshadows His own resurrection, and it fulfills 2 Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah bringing life over death.   Isaiah 25:8 – “He will swallow up death forever.” 

Daniel 12:2 – “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”

And hear this statement clearly - Jesus said "Whoever believes in Me will live."  That tells us that faith in Jesus is the avenue to eternal life.  We each must make a personal decision to accept Jesus's offer of salvation.   It’s open to anyone!  Whoever…  and it connects to an earlier conversation Jesus had with   Nicodemus.  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.”   These statements of Jesus emphasize that belief in Jesus is the pathway to eternal life, available to all who believe.

It’s both inclusive & exclusive.  

It is inclusive because anyone & everyone can believe.  "Whosoever" . . . anyone!

It is exclusive because not everyone will believe in Jesus, or be in heaven.  Here's another statement by Jesus that confirms not all people will be in Heaven with the Father. 

In Matthew 25:31-45 Jesus tells the parable of sheep and the goats.  Look at verses 32-34 - "All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”  That shows us there will be separation between those who believe and those who do not.  The parable ends with this statement in verse 41 - "Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." 

And if that parable isn't enough to convince you, look at Matthew 7:21 - “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Jesus said multiple times what He said to Martha - that "the one who believes in Me will live, even though he dies."

He then proved it true in His moment with Lazarus when Jesus brought him back from the dead.  This Lazarus moment is Jesus proving He is the Messiah.  Yes, He swallowed up death!  He conquered the grave!  The grave is defeated!  Those who sleep will awake.  Death, where is your victory?  Where is your sting?

Jesus proved that the mortal become immortal, what is perishable becomes imperishable.

The Lazarus moment is a literal example that Jesus is life.  He is the resurrection!  This is why we believe in the resurrection of the dead and eternal life.  We have the assurance of life after death. 

We have the expectation that as believers - physical death is not the end but a transition to eternal life with God. 

We have comfort and confidence that we’ll see our loved ones again!  Jesus said He is the source of both physical and spiritual life, and we can believe Him.  He proved it with Lazarus, and He proved it with Himself.

Finally - the third warning is another source of comfort for believers in Jesus.  In John 10 we have the concept of once saved, saved forever.  Look at verses 27-30 - "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”

Jesus is saying to us that we never have to worry that we can lose our salvation.  Eternal life is an eternal promise, guaranteed by our belief and acceptance of Jesus as Savior.  The Enemy may fight to keep us from knowing Jesus, but he can't take us away from Jesus after we give Him our hearts.  There’s a battle for our souls in the beginning, but when God wins, He wins for forever.  It may be true that we will have backsliding moments in our lives . . . we may need to repent that we have been wandering away and living life with us in control instead of God, but keep in mind - God leaves the 99 sheep to go after the one that wandered away.  We're still His child, no matter how we have strayed.  God welcomes us back, just like He welcomed the prodigal son back.  That story makes clear - we are still God's child.  So when we believe that God loved us enough to send His Son for us and put our faith in Him, we can have confidence that we have a place in heaven reserved for us.  It will always be there.  Your reservation will not be given away.   You will not be disowned.  You are forever a child of God, no matter if you have stayed close to Him or wandered away.  Think about it this way - you are still the child of your parents no matter if you live in the same town with them or hundreds of miles apart.  You are still the beloved child of God no matter how many times you wander away from Him.  Your place at His table will always be there.  His love will never end.