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"IF"

B-A-C

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Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
12,067
If, it's a tiny word. But it's a conditional word that changes the meanings of many sentences.

I sometimes hear people say something like "I'm not under the law" or "I'm following Jesus". They often quote scriptures to support this line of thought. What's interesting, is that even though they quote
the scripture correctly, when they explain the scripture they also state it as A = C. But most of the time when I look at these scriptures, it's really stated as IF A = B, then C.
Here are a few examples (including those above) They all contain the "IF" word, with a condition after it.

Matt 16:24; Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

Matt 17:20; And He *said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

Matt 19:17; And He said to him, "Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."

Mark 8:34; And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

Luke 9:23; And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Sometimes, we also to accomplish A, must do B.

John 8:51; "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death."

John 12:26; "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

John 13:35; "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

John 14:15; "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments

John 14:23; Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

John 15:5; "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:6; "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
John 15:7; "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 15:8; "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
John 15:9; "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
John 15:10; "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
John 15:11; "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 15:12; "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

Rom 8:8; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9; However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
Rom 8:10; If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11; But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Rom 8:12; So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--
Rom 8:13; for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Rom 8:14; For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Sometimes, there are two conditions.

Rom 10:9; that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

Rom 11:21; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.
Rom 11:22; Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
Rom 11:23; And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

Gal 5:18; But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
1 Jn 1:9; If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The word "IF" appears in the New Testament 547 times, now many of these scriptures aren't conditional statements. But many of them are.
Maybe instead of just assuming that half of a verse we like always applies to us, we should check the condition of the IF to see if it really does apply to us.
 
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I have a question... along these same lines. All of the verses below pertain to "eternal life"
The one you hear most often is John 3:16. My question is...
Do we only have to do one of these verses to obtain eternal life? Or do we have to do all of them? Or only some of them? If it's only one or some of them, how do we choose which one to do?

Matt 19:16; And someone came to Him and said, "Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?"
Matt 19:17; And He said to him, "Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."

Mark 10:17; As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
Mark 10:18; And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.
Mark 10:19; "You know the commandments, 'DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.'"

Luke 10:25; And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
Luke 10:26; And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?"

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

John 6:54; "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

1 Jn 3:15; Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Jude 1:21; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
 
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Yet another question.... about being "saved".

Matt 10:22; "You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.
Matt 24:13; "But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
Mark 13:13; "You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

Mark 16:16; "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
John 10:9; "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

Rom 10:9; that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
Rom 10:10; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Acts 16:30; and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
Acts 16:31; They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

These last two verses in particular... seem to be the same requirements as John 3:16. So I would ask, is being "saved" and receiving "eternal life" the same thing or are they different?
If they are the same thing, do I have to follow these scriptures in addition to the ones previously posted above?
 
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