The question was “Who shall enter into the kingdom of God?”
Four key points to the Kingdom of God. All of which needs everyones attention. How foolish is it to play Russian Roulette with your everlasting life. To just say I am saved yet fail to seek His Spirit for all truth. So we look into these four key points, not with a wisdom we know, a human wisdom. We seek a Spiritual Wisdom. To quote Scriptures regarding the Spiritual God one would need to paste the bible in the work here. The Bible is Spiritual from start to finish, but its also flesh from start to finish. What this means, the Bible can be read with the flesh and understood with flesh according to men, humans. But the Bible is also Spiritual and needs the Spirit of God to unlock its hidden secrets, secrets hidden for you, not from you. We humans are weak and lazy, we go for the easy option every time. Human wisdom ! But human wisdom will not get you in the door of heaven. Only the Spiritual Wisdom of Gods own Spirit will unlock the Secrets. What did Jesus say..
John 4:21-24 ESV
(21) Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. Many Christian that have human wisdom as their base say one must be in a church or a church group. But Jesus said neither on this mountain or in Jerusalem, what Jesus was saying is God is not locked in a temple built with human hands, but in the temple of your own flesh. You can worship God in any location at any time, as long as your temple is open to His Spirit, the church doors are open.
(22) You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. Jesus makes the point that human wisdom has faults and leaves people empty and not complete, yet Spiritual wisdom fills the person so much they have no need for human wisdom because God gives them all they need. We get to know our God in Spirit, so when we worship, we know what we worship.
(23) But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God does the seeking, God searches the hearts of all people and seeks out those seeking Him in Spirit. Then God on finding one revels Himself to that one.
(24) God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." We can't worship God with human wisdom, this is just lip service, human wisdom is just ideas of men reasoned within the minds of men. You have to worship God with Heart and Spirit. To let go of human ways and start from scratch, relearning in Spirit. Its a bit like being reborn and having to relearn but in Spirit. Its like becoming a child as Innocent as a child and just having the trust in Gods Spirit. Oh yes it can be a hard road, but did you know only few find it.
Now lets look at the four key points and see what we see.
1. Those who do the will of God.Matthew 7:21-23 ESV
(21) "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. What is Gods will, you know many Christians don't know. They think they know, but in truth they do not know. But here Jesus tells us ever so clear, he who does the will of my Father in Heaven. So it begs the question, why do we not seek the answer like our life depends on it? What is Gods will?????? I know what Gods will is, he told me because I asked. Our quest in life is to know Gods will, not according to men but according to God.
(22) On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' Here Jesus speaks of Christians, because an non believer would not do mighty works in His name. Christians that seek the way of flesh in all things the easy road. They still do great works in His name, but not in the Spirit. Its done in the flesh according to wisdom of men.
(23) And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' Then Jesus says 'I never KNEW you' Jesus never knew them, why? Because they did all according to flesh and that witch was reasoned with a human mind, not the human heart. Again we go back to John 4:24 God is Spirit and those who worship Him MUST worship in SPIRIT and TRUTH. If you don't how will you know Him and how will He know you!
So Key 1 is Gods Will, we have to learn what is Gods will and know what happens to those that use flesh. Lets look at Key 22. Those who do more righteous than of the scribes and Pharisees.Matthew 5:18-20 ESV
(18) For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. I love this so much, in a Spiritual way that is. Many have a understanding of flesh regarding this one. But in truth the Spirit has more depth to it. The key here is LAW. Remember Matthew 7:23 'Workers of lawlessness' The Law is Spirit the lawlessness men commit is working in a lack of Spirit. Jesus was not talking about the written word, He was talking about the Spiritual word. As we know the bible the written word has had changes, made by men, we have so many versions of the Bible now so many to chose from. Jesus said not an iota or dot, will pass from the law. If He was talking about the Bible the written word, then Jesus got it wrong, because the Bible has changed at the hand of men. No Jesus did not get it wrong, we did. Jesus was talking about the Spiritual Law, it has not changed ever.
(19) Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now we move onto the commandments of Christ, Jesus knew what was going to happen, way back then. Men would teach man made doctrine, understandings of men. Taking the easy road I guess you could say. Men teaching ideas of men based on flesh. But he that teaches men about the Spiritual Law of God, this one will be great in the Kingdom.
(20) For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The wise men of Jesus day, Pharisees, Scribes. These guys had a knowledge of flesh, scriptures base on human reasonings. We know they did, because they killed our Lord. The scripture they said they knew were the scriptures that spoke of Christ. So here we see the two powers, one of flesh and the other of spirit. In this day we all like to think we are not like these Pharisees, but in truth we have become them. We learn from men and teach men the things of flesh rather than teaching the things of Spirit. But Jesus tells us here we have to exceed the righteousness of men of human knowledge. The only way to do that is to be men of Spiritual knowledge.
3.Those who converted as a child.Matthew 18:1-6 ESV
(1) At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
(2) And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them
(3) and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. This is wisdom, unless we become like children! Again Jesus shows us the flesh human wisdom, over that of Spirit. We as Christians like to think we are adults, knowing what we know. But Jesus was taking about us becoming like children. Not children in the world based on human knowledge but based on Spiritual knowledge. We have to become like a child, a child does not ask a thousand questions, it is told by mum and dad, do this and it does it. The child does not seek its own way, but seeks approval from mum or dad. In all things the child does what mum and dad tells it and the child has total trust in its parents. We have to do this in God, seeking His Spirit, we have to become like this child trusting in the parent God.
(4) Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Again this is a very narrow gate and few find it.
(5) "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, Well look here, the Lord knew many would be pushed around having bad things said about them and treated in a way you would not treat an enemy. But Jesus said anyone that receives one such child in my name receives me.
(6) but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. But Jesus also give you an idea on what He thinks of people that abuse His children. To steal away the idea of Spiritual trust from one such child, you have made an enemy of Christ. Do not steal away one of His Children, do not put out the flame of Christ based on weak human wisdom. You may just make an enemy of Jesus.
4. Those who born of Water and of the spirit.John 3:5-6 ESV
(5) Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Many men have great ideas on what this means, but great ideas don't make it so. They are just great ideas. Truth is the only idea we should be seeking, not a truth based on human wisdom, but based in Gods Spirit. So i will not enter into the great ideas of men, just His simple truth. Born of water, baptized with water to be made clean, this means giving away of all man made ideas and getting ready to seek the Spirit of God in Spirit and truth. When God sees this clean heart, then and only then can Jesus baptize you with Spirit the FIRE we need.
(6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Jesus goes on to say that which is born of flesh will always be flesh, the ideas of human ways will never become Spiritual until we turn to Him in Spirit, so flesh will be flesh until it dies and with it all that was flesh will return to the dust in the ground. Yet that which is born of the Spirit, will live as Spirit and will return to were it came from God, His Kingdom. Or as we say everlasting life.
Assumption “The Mother of all Huge Mistakes”
The worst possible mistake you can make is think you are saved just because you are a nice guy and think you know you have the answers.
The book of questions !
Who is greater, Jesus or His Disciples ?
Who was Spiritual Before Birth, Jesus or His Disciples?
Who has the final say, Jesus or His Disciples?
Who died on the cross, Jesus or His Disciples?
If you answered Jesus, then who's word is greater, Jesus or the Writings of the Disciples? Your clue is Who is our King....
So if we say Jesus is the beginning and the end, then lets not argue about what the Disciples say in later chapters. Let us focus on the Christ and what He said.
One last question, is Jesus a lier? Your answer should be No.
This Scripture to prove the point of those keeping His commands and those that are not.
The Master said regarding teaching and being a teacher. Please read this in Spirit with faith.
(Matthew 23:8 ESV) But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. What is Rabbi? Rabbi means great teacher, modern translation, it means Pastor, Persist, Minister, Reverend . What was Jesus saying here. We are NOT to be called these things, Jesus said we have one teacher and that is Him. But the problem with that is simple we lack faith to hear Him in Spiritual truth within our own Spirits. We have forgotten the sound of His voice. John 10:27-28 ESV(27) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (28) I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Jesus asked us a simple question, if we love him follow his commands. We see in John, John 14:23-24 ESV (23) Jesus answered 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 home with him. (24) Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.
How is that possible? Simple we have trained our minds (flesh) to hear the written word only and justify our lacking of the Spirit by saying that was for them and not for us in this age. Oh its so easy to cover over the truth so we can live with it. But hang on, Jesus said it again, why? Because He knew what we would become and what we would do, so He says it again just to make the point. Jesus really did not want us taking on the role as teacher. By doing so what have we done? We have taught the same error we have made to others and in turn they will teach the same errors to those they teach later on. What else have we done? We have divided Christians into to Religious Groups based on the ideas of men, these men create rituals and stage shows based on flesh and the understandings of men. White washed tombs, having the form of Godliness but denying its power. Jesus said it again
(Matthew 23:10 ESV) Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
So we see here, Jesus really made the point, He is Teacher, not man. Jesus said we are all Brothers and Sisters only, all equal, no one greater than another.
1.So Gods will, we best get knowing what that is.
2. Be Spiritual, seek Spirit Knowledge, not the knowledge of flesh like the wise of this world, in fact its better to be dumb in the world, because you will be wise in the Kingdom.
3. Become a child, turn from man made ideas and seek Spiritual truth.
4. Get put right with God, wash yourselves in baptism and seek the Spiritual flame that sets you on the narrow road. A Spiritual Way in Christ.