Randy Bell
12 Mar 2018

Be Sure You Are Going To Heaven

Are you really, Biblically, personally following Jesus? Part 1 Few End in Heaven

Few Enter Heaven, Will You?

Matthew 7:13-14 (NLT)

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.

14  But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

Jesus Christ is God! The second person of the Triune God. He came to earth 2000 years ago and revealed His Good News to mankind. He died for our crimes, was buried and resurrected from the dead. He offers forgiveness to everyone who accepts His sacrifice and follows Him. Millions claim to be Christians, but are they really, Biblically, personally following Jesus?

How many will end in eternal hell? MOST people go on the easy way that ends in eternal damnation in hell. Just simply do what you want, follow your dreams, and believe in yourself. Millions and millions will be eternally separated from God.

How many will end in eternal life with Jesus? Notice Jesus was clear only the people who enter the narrow gate go to heaven. This means those who think they deserve heaven and even if they truly believe they are Christians must be verified by one criteria, have they entered through the narrow gate? The very narrow gate that takes every Christian on a very difficult life only a FEW ever find.

But why do so few find the narrow gate?

 

The Lord Jesus immediately points to false preachers for the reason that so few will find heaven. False preachers are deceived about the narrow gate and the wide gate. They really think they are going to heaven. They have wolf-like evil hearts and are not really Christians. In spite of their sincere beliefs their actions are not good. Their evil hearts expose them. Their actions reveal them to be really traveling down the wide road to hell.

Actions always expose an evil heart. Never trust what a person says until you see the fruit of their lives.

What can a preacher do to block people from entering heaven? How do some try to widen the narrow gate to heaven?

Jude 1:4 (NLT)

I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Some add to the gospel Jesus and the apostles preached 2000 years ago. And Jude reveals the deceived people who do this are inside the “church”. Not just those we call themselves preachers, but many who are in all appearance accepted by the church as Christians, are ungodly, not godly. Wolves not sheep.

Their message contradicts the words of Jesus. They try to widen the gate to let their loved ones and friends to be falsely assured that they all get to heaven. They make excuses for sin and stretch grace to mean constant forgiveness in spite of the absence of repentance. As the Amplified Bible reveals of the depth of the Greek, “pervert the grace (the spiritual blessing and favor) of our God into lawlessness and wantonness and immorality, and disown and deny our sole Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).”

This is not the gospel message of the Bible. Let’s look closely at Jesus’ words.

Matthew 7:21-23 (NLT)

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22  On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23  But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

Let’s examine Judas Iscariot’s story to prove this terrible evidence of false believers.

Judas Iscariot followed Jesus. He was one of the inner circle of apostles who was trained by Jesus. He preached (prophesied) the gospel, cast out demons, and performed miracles in Jesus name.

Matthew 10:5-8 (NLT)
5  Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans,
6  but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep.
7  Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.
8  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!

In spite of Judas being able to look like the other apostles, he was a wolf in sheep’s clothes. Unlike the others, he did not “actually do the will of my Father“. Jesus never knew him spiritually like the other apostles because he was one of the many “who break God’s laws” and ended in hell.

He so hid it that only Jesus knew his secret sin. When Jesus exposed a traitor would sell him out, none pointed to Judas because he was such a hypocrite. No, they did not know his secret. Only many years later was John able to explain, “But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him… Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.” John 12:4-6 (NLT)

Even though many, many, many will boldly run to Jesus at Judgment Day calling Jesus their Lord, they will be stunned to find they were deceived because they never stopped doing their will, but kept disobeying God. The haunting truth is the local churches of our day are full of wolves in sheep’s clothes.

 

Also to understand the magnitude of the issue in our day is shocking. Remember Barna Research found:

30% of Americans claim to be born again

90% of those say the Word of God does not influence how they live their lives

10% of all the people in the U.S. who say they are Christians actually follow Jesus

Also, LifeWay revealed:
64% of all American Evangelicals think everyone goes to heaven
48% of Evangelicals agreed that God accepts all kinds of worship
77% of people who claim to be followers of Jesus say they want to grow and mature in their faith but 20% actively obey and are involved in some form of discipleship activity.

ChristianMingle found: 89% of self-identified Christian singles are having sex or will have sex before marriage which is clearly against the will of God.

Again most church attendees prove their talk does not match their actions. And also remember Jesus states our actions are what identify us. (Matthew 7:15-16,20)

Because there is such ignorance surrounding what it really means to be a born-again Christian, we are challenged to ask ourselves Are we really, Biblically, personally following Jesus?

Randy Bell
12 Mar 2018

Be Sure You Are Going To Heaven

Are you really, Biblically, personally following Jesus? Part 2 Everyone is born with an evil heart.

Why does mankind need the gospel?

First we must understand why we are born with an evil heart, not a good heart. We are not born good and learn to be bad. Instead, we are born with an evil heart and He reveals it to us in His Word.

Adam and Eve were given life with a good heart, free will, and direct communion with God. This is revealed in Genesis. But they chose to disobey God’s very simple command and thrust mankind into a cursed life from birth. All are born under the bondage of sin.

What does this actually mean?

Paul tells Christians, “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NLT) It is hard to understand that there is a division in our makeup. But God reveals we have a spirit and soul, and they are separate pieces of us in a similar way that our body has different divisions.

A soul is made up of your mind, will, and emotions. An animal has a soul. For instance a dog has a mind, definitely has a will, and also shows emotion. But an animal does not have an eternal spirit. We learn this in Genesis when God created everything. He breathed life into man, but created all other life.

But what are the functions of the human spirit? Your conscience, creativity, faith, fellowship, passion and drive, enthusiasm, joy and peace are all products of your heart. Since we are created in God’s image our spirit images God’s but ruined by our evil hearts. God is spirit and connects to man through the spirit. Then discernment, spiritual gifts, etc. can come to life. It will explained later.

For now let me explain to you how the stubborn heart of disobedience affects the human spirit? We must begin with Christ’s words.

Matthew 12:34,35 (NLT)

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.

These are the words of God, and I do not care about the theories of psychologists or other ideas of men. Do not be fooled, God says evil hearted people can only produce evil things. This evil heart pours out into a person’s words and actions and affects every part of a person’s life. Even if you think a person is good, like Judas Iscariot, their secret sin reveals their crimes to God who sees all people’s motives and secrets.

Romans 3:10-18 (GW)

10  as Scripture says, “Not one person has God’s approval.

11  No one understands. No one searches for God.

12  Everyone has turned away. Together they have become rotten to the core. No one does anything good, not even one person.

13  Their throats are open graves. Their tongues practice deception. Their lips hide the venom of poisonous snakes.

14  Their mouths are full of curses and bitter resentment.

15  They run quickly to murder people.

16  There is ruin and suffering wherever they go.

17  They have not learned to live in peace.

18  They are not terrified of God.”

You really need to understand the seriousness of the stubborn heart because it means everybody is an enemy of God inherently bent to love the things God hates. And  all are stubbornly self centered and unconcerned about the things of God. No one can fix themselves or change their eternal destiny. We are a lost race of humanity.

God in the flesh helped his original followers understand our horrible evil condition. He stated:

“Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.” Matthew 13:18-19(NLT)

Like he explained in Matthew 12:34,35 Jesus deciphers the truth about the evil heart but here he explains the three different types of evil heart to the disciples. The hardcore sinner has nothing to do with the gospel of Jesus, period! This is your relative or friend who shuts you up the moment you want to talk about their sin and the gospel. They are content and happy with their religion and supposed relationship with God. They have created a god in their minds that accepts them the way they are.

For example, the rich young ruler that Jesus spoke to claimed his relationship with God was already perfect. He had no understanding of his true condition. He saw himself as righteous and pleasing to God just the way he was. When the Lord exposed his greed he immediately rejected the gospel. His stubbornly disobedient heart chose the riches of this world over eternal life and immediately walked away.

Next Jesus revealed the truth about those that many call backsliders.

“The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.” Matthew 13:20-21(NLT)

 

Millions of sincerely religious “Christians” will be stunned at Judgment Day when they finally see their evil hearts have never been changed and they are rejected by Jesus. Even though they choose with their mind, will, and emotions to accept Christ their hearts are still evil. Therefore they cannot produce good fruit. Human effort will only leave a person powerless to obey and serve Jesus. Just like Judas Iscariot they will give up over time and depart from the church.

Then Jesus explains the great mystery of the deceived who live among the saints.

“The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.” Matthew 13:22 (NLT)

 

As this group of people live among the Christians they really only focus their attention on their families and careers. They are too busy to really, Biblically, personally follow Jesus. They hold to the doctrines that make them feel eternally safe and if they choose a local church they are not committed. They read their Bibles but do not obey what it says. The Bible does not affect the way they live their lives. They can attend a church each week or once a month and have no worries that they will miss heaven. After all, they prayed a little prayer and accepted Christ in their minds.

Paul explains it this way.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NLT)
1  You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times.
2  For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.
3  They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.
4  They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.
5  They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

Finally the Savior reveals the extreme good the person with a good heart produces.

“The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Matthew 13:23 (NLT)

The only way people are able to be good and be flooded with goodness is when they have a good heart NOT an evil heart. And this dilemma can only be solved by a miracle that God can do. You must be born again.

 

Randy Bell
19 Mar 2018

Be Sure You Are Going To Heaven

Are you really, Biblically, personally following Jesus? Part 3 How God Gives Us A Good Heart

What is salvation?

The desperate plight of man is his evil heart. We all need God’s forgiveness and we need to be rescued (saved) from the bondage of our evil heart. The only hope of true and complete change is for our evil heart to be removed and replaced with a good heart. But this is purely a spiritual thing. Who can change wicked people? Who can save us? Only Jesus! There is no other person but Jesus because he paid our debt.

What is the gospel?

God promised through the prophet Ezekiel that He would one day alter people’s lives by literally removing their evil heart and replacing it with a new good heart. This began to be fulfilled through Jesus when he died in our place on the Roman cross of capital punishment, was buried, and resurrected three days later. Justice was served and we were offered forgiveness. Then God fulfilled His promise to Christians on Pentecost which you can read about in Acts chapter two. He gives all believers a new heart and new spirit.

God is spirit and that means He is invisible to our eyes. His true nature is like the sun and we would die in His presence. But He created us with a spirit so that man can connect with Him. As our graphic shows, since we cannot see Him we can only see the results of His presence. His righteous character and supernatural presence are revealed in “everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

So what is grace and how does God use supernatural grace to bring people to salvation?

We find in Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, Greece, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” Ephesians 2:8 (NLT)

Most skim past these words. But we need to stop and understand what grace is. We find in Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary the definition of grace.

GRACE: graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life;

This may not be what you thought. According to this grace is God’s hand influencing our hearts like the wind leaving His mark in our lives. No one can decide to follow Jesus. No one can save themselves. No one can change their heart. And that is because Jesus is clear, “…no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.” John 6:44 (NLT)

God uses grace, the divine influence upon the evil heart to draw the sinner to Jesus. Here is how He does it.

The Holy Spirit uses grace to bring conviction to the evil heart of man. He works to open the spiritual eyes of the spiritually dead spirit. The Holy Spirit stabs the conscience to influence a person to admit their sin.

The Holy Spirit presses God’s Law upon the conscience until it produces guilt.

This unmerited grace of conviction is a free gift of God. With the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) a Christian shares the gospel with someone and God thrusts the Law past their mind, will, and emotions and stabs the Word into the conscience, exposing “the very thoughts and motives of a man’s heart.” Why does God do this? The reason is simple, God is working to bring that person to repentance. Man must respond to the gospel, but because of their evil heart, they cannot repent without the grace of God.

Here is what I mean. According to the Lord Jesus, the people who see they have no good inside them and realize their horrible sin are the only people promised heaven.

 

The type of “poor” He speaks of are those who know their evil hearts have absolutely no good in them at all. But the problem is to gain this realization people must be convinced by the Holy Spirit to see how sinful they really are.

Let’s look at the first sermon the apostle Peter gave in Acts 2 to understand this. You need to see what God does to draw sinners to Jesus, and how the Law of God probes the guilty conscience.

Acts 2:22-24 (NLT)

22  “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know.

23  But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 24  But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.

As Peter shares the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, he also uses the sixth commandment and points out they are murderers. You see, the Jews rejected their Messiah and murdered him. Peter is not trying to convince them to accept Jesus, he is aiming at their conscience to bring them to repentance.

Acts 2:29-31(NLT)

29  “Dear brothers, think about this! You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us.

30  But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David’s own descendants would sit on his throne.

31  David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave.

Next, Peter repeats his words and stabs them again by saying, “whom you crucified.” And it is important to remember the words of Jeremiah the prophet while he spoke for the LORD, “Is not my Word like a fire?…and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” God cracked open many of the Jews’ stubborn hearts and they saw themselves as horrible sinners.

Acts 2:36-37(NLT)

36  “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”

37  Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

As the book of Hebrews stated the Word of God, “exposes the thoughts and motives of a man’s heart”. Yes, the free gift of grace greatly influences the conscience. The Holy Spirit uses the Law of God like a hammer and powerfully pierces the conscience. So we see here Peter preached and suddenly 3000 people realized just how sinful they really were.

Remember the words “pierced their hearts” were used to describe what happened to the people moved by Peter’s words. To understand the Greek word meaning look at two other Bible translations of this statement.

Acts 2:37 (NCV) “When the people heard this, they felt guilty and asked Peter and the other apostles, ‘What shall we do?’”

You see the Holy Spirit was not finished with just making these sinners realize in their minds that they were evil. In Matthew 5:4 Jesus tells us the people who are grieved and sorrowful for seeing their sin are the ones God blesses with His eternal comfort. So He pressed them hard with His law until they felt guilty. God knows our evil hearts and only this grace will move us to actually be deeply grieved for our sin.

 

The Holy Spirit holds the guilt upon the conscience until it produces grief (sorrow).

If we look back deeply into the Greek word translated “pierced” we find “it properly denotes to pierce or penetrate with a needle, lancet, or sharp instrument; and then to pierce with grief, or acute pain of any kind.” – Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament.

So the next Bible translation of this statement helps us further understand why grief, sorrow or mourning is important and taught by Jesus. “Now, having heard this, they were stung to the heart with poignant sorrow.” Acts 2:37 (WuestNT) God blesses the people who deeply grieve over their evil hearts.

For the Holy Spirit to enter our spirit and give us a new heart the conscience must be pierced until we see our true sinful nature. We all must realize and confess our specific spiritual crimes like they did under Peter’s sermon. To receive salvation our hard heart must be broken.

As Paul explains, “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that [the murmurs and excuses of] every mouth may be hushed and all the world may be held accountable to God. For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character].“ Romans 3:19-20 (AMP)

And as God’s grace pierces the guilty conscience it produces godly sorrow. Deep grief is the normal response when a sinner actually sees their guilt.

Finally, godly sorrow produces repentance.

As God’s Word says, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation.” This grace affects the soul and frees the person to respond to God in humility instead of reacting to God from their evil heart. As the Word says, “But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).” James 4:6 (AMP)

The only way a person can be humbled to the place that allows the Holy Spirit to enter them and give them a new spirit and new heart is by this grace process. The sinner screams “I am a good person!” But the convicted sinner shuts their mouth, grieved over their horrible sin before their Creator, and surrenders to His control.

God’s process is GUILT… GRIEF… REPENTANCE. This is why Jesus taught from the start only the spiritually poverty-stricken get heaven, only the grief-stricken who mourn over their sin will God truly comfort, and only the meek will receive God’s eternal blessing of a new heart and spirit.

So when Jesus says God blesses the meek he is describing repentance.

God only blesses the broken sinner who fully surrenders to God and receives His forgiveness. No more resistance to the will of God. No more excuses for doing things their own way. Instead, they now humbly FOLLOW THEIR LORD JESUS!

And the blessings begin immediately on this earth, not just later when they get to heaven after death. Finally, as Jesus revealed, now they “…understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Matthew 13:23 (NLT)

The whole earth benefits from the harvest!

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Randy Bell
26 Mar 2018

Be Sure You Are Going To Heaven

Are you really, Biblically, personally following Jesus? Part 4 Following Jesus transforms you from the inside out.

God only blesses the broken sinner who fully surrenders to God and receives His forgiveness. The broken sinner stops his resistance to the will of God. He stops making excuses for doing things his own way. Instead, he now humbly FOLLOWS HIS LORD JESUS!  “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NKJV)

What happens to those who really repent?

Remember the Ezekiel prophecy says that two things will happen to the born again. All receive a new spirit and a new heart.

So first of all, at the point of repentance, the Holy Spirit enters the spirit of the broken sinner. This is what it means to be born again. And now the supernatural transformation begins. That is right, the Almighty God pours Himself into the human spirit.

Everything about this is miraculous! Can you comprehend the fact that the living God lives inside a person’s spirit? This is not a theological theory, but a new reality! The great promise of Ezekiel, “I will put a new spirit in you” is fulfilled in every true Christian. Everything is DIFFERENT! Everything changes!

What is the evidence of a new heart?

The first thing the Lord Jesus tells us about this new heart change is found in Matthew 5:6. Immediately brand new godly passions surge from the grace the Holy Spirit releases which cause a starving desperate hunger to gnaw inside the new believer. With the evil heart removed the new heart pangs of hunger for God and His goodness. The great desire to please and obey God floods into their soul and forces the Christian to use their mind to read the Bible and pray. Desire always precedes action.

Remember the good heart can produce a lot of good fruit. The evil heart produces NO good fruit. But the harvest is in response to understanding the word of God. As Jesus taught, “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Matthew 13:23 (NLT)

So this NEW hunger and thirst is the first evidence of salvation. This is not a natural hunger but the miraculous change of God’s presence inside a new heart. The desire to please God and not sin, the hunger to read God’s Word, and the pull to be with other Christians is the work of the Holy Spirit and the tender, responsive heart.

But there is far more to this miraculous transformation than just desires. Jesus promises the born-again Christian will be flooded and stuffed with righteousness. We know this from His words in Matthew 5:6, “they will be satisfied.” The Greek is “gorged” a stronger meaning than just satisfied. Years later the apostle Paul clarifies this truth by saying, “…Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13  For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:12-13 (NLT)

Next, the apostle Peter writes, “Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! 4  We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.” 2 Peter 1:3-4 (MSG)

The miraculous grace of God brings people to repentance and continues to miraculously transform the Christian as the Holy Spirit lives inside their spirit. Peter also makes it clear that “terrific promises” like we find from Ezekiel are the ticket “that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” 2 Peter 1:4 (NLT) This is amazing grace!

How does the tender heart of obedience affect the human spirit?

The divine nature implanted in our spirit releases an endless river of grace inside us from the Holy Spirit. Again grace is the “divine influence upon the heart” but now a tidal wave that floods from the new divine nature of God Almighty dwelling within every Christian. This is what frees the disciple of Jesus from the “corruption” of the old sinful heart.

This is important, you must understand that this is not a fair fight! Your human desires (strong desires for your own will and sin) are overpowered by God’s divine nature. This is why Ezekiel’s promise is your ticket to freedom! The promise is CLEAR! “I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”

Notice also, He does not say that you should, ought to, or are supposed to obey God’s commands. No, it says,  “…you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”

What will be gushing from your heart by the Holy Spirit?

Jesus described the result of spiritual birth as “Rivers of living water will flow from (your) heart.” The Greek used here is a gushing flood. But what exactly will be gushing from your heart by the Holy Spirit?

Again remember the born-again Christian is flooded and stuffed with righteousness. Now he has a good heart, not an evil heart.

Now one of the first things we discover is that righteousness floods from the Holy Spirit lifting the normal Christian to live life in such a way that they easily do far MORE than fulfill the law of God.

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness (your uprightness and your right standing with God) is more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20 (AMP)

You must understand this righteousness is not just an applied righteousness from God like a coat, but the real righteousness from within that transforms your behavior. You cannot live like the Pharisees and just believe you are more righteous because of Jesus. He makes this abundantly clear through the next whole section of His talk.

He compared the lifestyle demanded by the Law that the Pharisees taught to the FAR MORE righteous lifestyle of the new heart and new spirit that He provides through the Holy Spirit.

In fact, the very Greek word that is translated more or exceed is not the same as we use in English. It is superabounding and it means not just a little more, but it is the difference between having one billion dollars and everyone else having a penny. Jesus is not saying Christians must have two cents worth of righteousness instead of one cent like the Pharisees, but the Pharisees have zero and true Christians have billions.

The Lord makes it clear in Matthew 5, the superabounding flood of righteousness, mercy, purity, and peacemaking gushing out of the Holy Spirit alters the way a Christian thinks, acts, and feels about others, and actually everything.

The ABUNDANTLY MORE RIGHTEOUSNESS of the Spirit drives Christians to such extremes that they show so much mercy that murder is not even an option. Instead of revenge, they forgive, reconcile with their enemies, and settle their differences even when it is the hardest thing they ever had to do in their lives. Nothing stops them from restoring relationships.

If the Christian has offended or wrongfully gained from another, they let nothing stop them from doing the right thing by paying the last penny back without being threatened with punishment. The narrow road follower of Jesus shows mercy and forgiveness and works hard to restore any relationship back to where it was before an offense was committed.

The righteous Christian does the will of God because they are flooded by the Spirit of God.

How does the Holy Spirit affect the human spirit?

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” [2 Corinthians 5:17] And God’s Word guarantees “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…” [Romans 8:16 NKJV]

How does He “bear witness with our spirit” so that we know we are Christians? Well, remember, a witness in a courtroom gives testimony and evidence. So when the Holy Spirit invades your spirit He brings life-changing evidence!

A born again person is someone who has a direct connection with Almighty God by receiving the Holy Spirit inside their human spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. They are new creatures by the revolutionary change that takes place inside them when the Holy Spirit enters their spirit, and this permanent transformation establishes them as adopted children of God.

Like plugging a pinball machine into the electrical wall socket, new spiritual life ignites and activates all kinds of new things once dormant or non-existent in the human spirit without God. Yes, the Holy Spirit activates or gives life to the dead spirit of the sinner. His grace rushes into you and connects you directly to Him which makes you a brand new, supernatural creature.

This grace of God…

1/ surges into the human spirit lighting up the conscience,

2/ establishes and stretches real faith,

3/ starts cravings for fellowship with God and other Christians,

4/ activates spiritual gifts,

5/ initiates a hunger for worship,

6/ kick starts new ideas of creativity,

7/ stirs up new thoughts and ideas for discernment,

8/ and enlightens the heart with new wisdom.

All these functions of the human spirit were turned off or fully corrupted because your stubborn evil heart was dead in trespasses and sin, but immediately at salvation, spring to life by His mighty power! This flow of supernatural energy never ceases, because God’s grace has no end. And these new spiritual experiences are the evidence of being a new creature in Christ.

For example, before new birth, the conscience of the human is clouded and dark without God’s presence emblazing the holy standards of His Law upon it. Before salvation, the evil heart cannot produce good fruit. After salvation, the harvest of the good heart produces massive activity in your spirit.

And finally, the great harvest of fruit promised by Jesus grows from each true disciple because the bent of the heart is driven by the love of God. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:14 (AMP) “For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us…”. No longer does selfishness and personal dreams drive the disciple of Jesus because the “love of God has poured into our hearts” and we focus our love and obedience to following Jesus and fulfilling His will. We disciple others because He gave us all that command. We help teach new Christians how to follow Jesus because we love to obey Jesus. The harvest of the fruit of the Spirit is a reality that strengthens us to fulfill God’s will and goals!

Called to die to my goals. Called to live for His goals.

Jesus says in John 15:8-11 (NLT)

8  When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

9  “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.

10  When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

11  I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

 

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