Jesus the Light 5 Entering the Kingdom
Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven – Mt.7:21
Jesus made this startling statement in Mt.5:20: “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Think of the most religious man you know, one who outwardly appears in every way to be respectable in his behavior. Now consider this: Unless your righteousness is greater than his, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
What is needed is a righteousness of a different type altogether, one that goes beyond external ceremonies, attendance at church gatherings: something more than outward respectability.
The greatest and most respected religious leaders in Jesus’ day did not enter the kingdom of heaven. Something else is needed beyond what they possessed.
Jesus warns further in Lk.13:23-28: “Someone asked him, ‘Lord, will only a few be saved?’ So He said to them, ‘Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.
“‘Once the Head of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg Him, ‘Lord, let us in!’ But He will answer you, ‘I don’t know where you are from.’
“Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will reply, ‘I don’t know where you come from! Depart from Me, all you evildoers!’
“‘There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrown out.’”
Dear Listener, many will attempt to enter the kingdom but will not be able to. Something far greater is needed than listening to sermons, than partaking of communion. O how multitudes will cry out in anguish on that day: “We listened to Your messages; we sat at Your table and shared from Your bread and cup!”
But their pleas will fall to the ground. And Jesus will reply, “I do not know where you come from! Depart from Me all you evildoers!”
No, entrance into Christ’s kingdom is not gained by hearing the Word; you must be doers of it. It is not obtained by participation in religious ceremonies, however holy they may appear.
And that is not all that will prevent entrance into Christ’s kingdom. Jesus’ words in Mt.18:2,3 are: “He called a child and had him stand among them, and said, ‘I tell you the truth; unless you are converted and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!’” Lk.18:17 adds this: “I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
It is not the great, the wise, the mighty, the noble, and the lofty in pride that will enter. They will be cast out. Only those who have become like little children will enter. The self-sufficient, the arrogant, the man who thinks he knows anything, the exalted in his own eyes will find that door shut fast against him. Only the lowly and dependent like small children will be welcomed.
Neither will those relying on riches ever enter that kingdom. In Mt.19:23,24 “Jesus said to His disciples, ‘I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Then in Mk.10:23,24 “Jesus said to His disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God.’”
The rich cannot enter any more than a camel can be threaded through a sewing needle. No man can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and Riches.
Those who love money will perish. Those seeking after gain will be rejected by Christ. Storing up treasures upon earth competes with and actually cancels storing up treasure in heaven.
1 Tim.6:5-11 informs us that anyone thinking that godliness is a means to financial gain is corrupted in his mind and deprived of the truth. Do you want to be rich? Verse 9 tells you that already you have stumbled “into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”
Are you longing after wealth? Verse 10 says that “the love of money is the root of all evil” and those who pursue it have “strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains.”
No, Dear Listener, no matter what the false preachers of Prosperity have told you, if you desire riches, or think that religion is a way to obtain a breakthrough, you are lost. If you seek wealth and its comforts and ease, you have already abandoned striving to pass through the narrow gate that leads to entering into the kingdom of heaven. You will be cast out.
The fearful reality is that your religion may be your greatest stumbling block to entering the kingdom of Christ. Trusting your own righteousness and hearing the Word of God but not doing it will destroy you. Being baptized and taking communion, being full of pride and self-sufficiency, and the deadly longing after prosperity will slay you. You will never enter the kingdom this way.
As well, there are other more recognizable deeds that will equally disqualify multitudes from ever entering that kingdom. That list is equally terrifying.
Gal.5:19-21: “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: adultery, sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these – I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!”
1 Cor.6:9,10 adds these hateful deeds to those already mentioned: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, greedy, revilers, and extortioners will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
The unchangeable sentence against all ungodliness is pronounced in Rev.21:27: “Nothing unclean will ever enter in to it, or anyone who does anything detestable, or practices falsehood: but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Jesus Himself declares this final inescapable verdict in Rev.22:15: “Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood,” including lying religious hypocrites.
O Dear Listener! May your name be found written there! May you enter that kingdom of light and life, of gladness and glory! Should you not devote heart and soul, and all your energy to assure that you will enter therein?
Do not be found lacking in this. Weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth await all who are thrown out into that unending darkness. And Jesus will be heard saying: “Depart from Me you workers of lawlessness; I never knew you!”
“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.”
Copyright Steve Phillips 2019