Jesus the Light 6 Entering the Kingdom 2
Strive to enter by the Narrow Gate…for the gate is small and the Way is difficult That leads to Life, and there are few who find it –Lk.13:24: Mt.7:14
Dear Listener, have you entered the kingdom of Christ? How far have you come since last week’s message? What are you waiting for?
Many are still vainly confident in their participation in religious activities and that ceaseless round of meetings and ceremonies. But hearing the Word of God without doing it disqualifies all hypocrites from admission into that kingdom. James 1:22: “Prove yourselves doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
Unless you “are converted and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!” –Mt.18:3. Yes, you will never enter because your pride will cast you into “the condemnation of the devil” –1 Tim.3:6.
The seductiveness of riches and the desire for other things “choke the Word so it produces nothing” –Mt.13:22. You cannot have one foot in the kingdom of wealth and the other in the kingdom of Christ. Any who suppose that “godliness is a means to financial gain are corrupted in their minds and destitute of the truth” -1 Tim.6:5.
Desiring riches has already cast you “into a trap and many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction” – 1 Tim.6:9. Longing after money actually turns a person into an idolater according to Ephesians 5:5: “No greedy person who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ.”
Holding malice, bitterness, anger, grudge, and hatred in the heart will keep you out of the kingdom of Christ. Mt.6:15: “If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your sins.” Lying, stealing, giving and taking bribes, and sexual immorality including pornography all show that you have not entered the kingdom of heaven.
Jn.3:3,5: “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God…he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
Dear Listener, you need a new life. You need a totally different kind of life. You are not sufficient in yourself to enter that kingdom. The life that comes from Jesus Christ the King of this kingdom is fresh and clean, powerful and transforming. It is His very life as risen from the dead that He imparts to any and all who come to Him in humility, confession, and repentance.
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner” is the prayer He delights to hear. “Lord, I am unclean, unworthy, and powerless to do Your will; Help me, my God” brings a swift reply when uttered in sincerity and truth.
This is the glad gospel of Rm.5:6-10: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!”
Abandon your own failing efforts to live a righteous life. God has worked in Christ in our behalf while we were still sinners, helpless, and enemies. Christ can do in you what you can never do in yourself.
This is the secret of entrance into His kingdom; receive Christ’s resurrection life that He may dwell IN you by His Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God imparts new life, new resolve, new power, new values, new character, new desires within the heart of every humbled person who will come to Christ, trusting and loving Him alone.
Here is a great mystery in Rm.14:17: “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The kingdom of God does not consist in external regulations, codes, systems, creeds, a list of do’s and don’ts, traditions, and religious ceremonies. No! Away with them! They are not Christ and in fact are the very things that are keeping you in bondage.
Listen to the Word of God in Col.2:23: “Such regulations have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and false humility and severe treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”
We rather need to enter the kingdom: and that kingdom is internal, where Christ reigns over our hearts that we have submitted to Him. He dwells there, is Lord there, and governs the willing soul in His way of life and peace.
Righteousness, peace, and joy are internal spiritual realities imparted to Jesus’ subjects in His kingdom of life and light. We are not to look for evidence of His kingdom in outward things: in prosperity, success, promotion, and possessions. No! These things are no evidence of being a partaker of His kingdom.
Jesus said clearly in Lk.17:20,21: “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ Or, ‘There!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Houses and lands, silver and gold, fine clothes and comfortable cars are not WITHIN you. They have nothing to do with Jesus’ kingdom. His kingdom is within the heart of all who are born from above with the very life of Christ resident inside them. They alone are in this kingdom.
Why is it called a kingdom? because Jesus is a mighty King and He is honored and served by His loyal subjects. The King comes to reign in the heart of each true believer. And that common life that is shared individually by all, also brings every real Christian into loving devotion and service to one another as well.
And that is a fellowship not dependent upon denominations, cathedrals, and ceremonies. It is spiritually instinctive as a fellowship of love springing up as a living fountain, because Christ Himself abides in His own people in a living union with them.
No one instructed the 3,000 believers to “devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers” –Acts 2:42. They did not pass through a catechism before they shared with everyone who had need, and by common consent shared their food with glad and humble hearts. No one needed to force them to praise God and have favor with all the people as we are told in Acts 2:44-47.
They did these things immediately, freely, joyously, and self-sacrificially. And how did this happen? What was their secret? No secret. They had the life of Christ by the Holy Spirit of God.
Acts 2:38,39: “You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And how did that come about? They simply accepted the message. They turned from Self to God. They abandoned sin for Christ.
And they became born again and entered the kingdom. The old passed away and all things become new. They were born with an entirely different life and from then on 2 Cor.5:14,15 says: “the love of Christ controls us. And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose again for them.”
Dear Listener, are you in that kingdom? Have you received His life? Is the Holy Spirit of God producing in you purity and peace, joy and love? Why don’t you come now?
Col.3:1-4: “If you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, WHO IS YOUR LIFE, appears, then you also will be revealed in glory with Him.” May the Lord help us all to do so.
Copyright Steve Phillips 2019