Randy Bell
13 Apr 2018

Be Sure You Are Going To Heaven

Following Jesus means committing our life to be a member of a local church Part 6

Why does following Jesus include being a part of the church?

1/ Jesus commands His followers to become best friends

John 13:34-35 (NLT) “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 15:12-14 (NLT) “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13  There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14  You are my friends if you do what I command.”

Just before Jesus was taken to be tried and killed he met with His 12 apostles and gave them final instructions. He made sure they understood his new commandment was to lay down their lives for each other to prove their love for Him. Our friendship with Christ is solely determined by our obedience to what He tells us to do. Choosing to become best friends with fellow Christians inside our local church is not an option, but a direct order.

The world will only see the value of the church by seeing the love between those who follow Jesus.

As He says, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” The power of our friendship screams to the world we are not normal but enveloped in a powerful supernatural love. The visual reality of a life-changing culture proves to the world that we are Christians. This is the power of our witness!

2/ Jesus makes His followers unite into teams so that the world will believe

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21  I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” John 17:20-21 (NLT)

Not just the first century but all who ever will believe must unite and work together like our 3 in 1 God. Local disciples follow Jesus and band together in a community of best friends called the local church.

Our Lord also commands us to join the local church and work together even as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit unite together to accomplish the will of the Father. We do not just sing songs and listen to a sermon, instead we must choose to unite in friendship and join the team in ministry and mission. We have a calling and a place that God wants us to join in the BODY OF CHRIST.

Ephesians 4:1-6 (NLT)

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2  Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3  Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

Only friends love each other enough to stick together. The greatest hindrance in churches is people who cannot get along with each other. We all must follow Jesus and chose submission instead of forcing our will on others, reject conflict and be gentle with people. Overlooking those pain in the neck people you don’t like is wrong, you are required to not ignore them or resist them. We must find a way to befriend them and make every effort to keep ourselves united. This is not a noble thing it is the narrow way of Jesus. This is the love the world will marvel at. This is the love Christ commands, so we have no excuses if we say we are following Jesus. He showed love to Judas Iscariot even though He knew he was the traitor.

Jesus raises up leaders to serve and help all disciples unify into teams and grow in all areas of their lives so that they will rise up as disciples and make disciples.

Ephesians 4:11-12,16 (NLT)

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12  Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ… He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

You can tell a leader by the focus they have of helping disciples become greater servants of Jesus.

Friendship, the loving best friend type of love, is the command of Christ for you and our church. We are called to do HIS work and BUILD UP the others inside our church team. The only way we will be able to succeed is through each of us stepping forward and volunteering to help each other.

So where do you fit in?

3/ Jesus commands us to show love for each other by helping each other

Hebrews 3:12-14 (NLT) Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.

Mark 10:42-45 (NLT)

“You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 43  But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44  and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus prizes helping others as the highest form of following Him. It does not matter if you are shy, a private person, or just a plain loner all those excuses are no longer valid.  Serving others inside our church is a must. Trust Him, obey Him, and serve Him by loving one another.

When you find “one another” in the New Testament it is God’s direction of how to love and serve others.

01/ Love one another [John 13:34,35; 15:12,17] “God is love” [I John 4:8]

02/ Have peace with one another [Mark 9:50] When we choose not to fight with each other but keep the peace we obey God and love our brothers.

03/ Be kindly affectionate to one another  [Romans 12:10] As emotionally fond of your natural family [children, parents, etc.], have the same unflinching love to the church family.

04/ Prefer to give honor to one another [Romans 12:10] Really consider the other Christian more valuable than yourself. What they think and want is more important than what you think and want.

05/ Agree to have compassion on one another [Romans 12:14-16; 1 Peter 3:8] Decide to merge yourself into the lives of your brothers so that you can weep right along with your hurting Christian brother and also truly be excited and happy with them in their triumphs and victories.

06/ Accept one another just like Christ accepted us [Romans 15:7] Accept into your inner circle of friends all believers and give them hospitality and care.

07/ Admonish (caution and warn) one another [Romans 15:14; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; ] Just like any member of your immediate family [children, brothers and sisters, etc.] caution and warn them when you see them doing wrong or erring in judgment.

08/ Greet (embrace, hug) one another [Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Peter 5:14] Care as much for a Christian as your own family member and show it.

09/ Have the same anxious concern (care) for one another with no division (no clicks) [1 Corinthians 12:25,26] Be as anxious for the health and well being of your fellow Christian as you do for your own wife, kids, or brother and sister.

10/ Serve one another (be a slave) [Galatians 5:13] Make yourself available to each believer helping them as you are able, filling in the gaps and weaknesses they have with your abilities and talents.

11/ Bear with one another (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13; James 5:9) Suffer without complaint, bear with the irritations that your fellow believers carelessly rub against you.

12/ Be kind to one another (Ephesians 4:32; James 4:11) Be easy and soft in attitude and action to all Christians in the church.

13/ Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13) Grant your Christian brother a favor by delivering them from their wrong doing toward you and forgetting about it.

14/ Submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 5:5) Intentionally subordinate yourself under your authorities. Obey your pastor’s leadership. Follow and submit to your ministry team leader’s directions.

15/ Tell the truth to one another (Colossians 3:9) Be completely truthful to each other and do not try to deceive or hide the facts.

16/ Teach one another (Colossians 3:16) In any caring community of people, becoming humble teachers by example and experience benefit all by helping everyone excel. Just like parents teach their children to become mature, everyone must love God enough to become wise teachers and love each other enough to help each member of the church grow and mature.

17/ Comfort [exhort] one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18; Hebrews 3:13; 10:25) This word is from the same Greek term used of the Holy Spirit, we must come alongside each other to invite, invoke and cause each other to desire God’s will and the hope of heaven. We must beseech everyone to obey and trust Christ through our everyday struggles. We must become like individual coaches coming alongside our friends to help them achieve victory over sins, problems, etc. Through it all we can still be overcomers!

18/ Edify one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11) Like a house builder we must construct each other’s spiritual faith, in other words, we must build each other up in the faith. We are to confirm the truth of what God teaches and strengthen, not weaken our brothers into spiritual leaders and complete [mature] disciples.

19/ Consider one another—to stir them for good works (Hebrews 10:24) We must observe and watch carefully the spiritual progress of each other and prod and incite the disciples of Jesus to be doers of good works not just critics and talkers.

20/ Confess to one another (James 5:16) Openly acknowledge your weaknesses and sins to each other for the sake of needed support and prayer. Overwhelming problems demand the hands of many.

21/ Pray for one another (James 5:16) Only by crying out to God for deliverance and grace can anyone overcome bondages and spiritual blindness.

22/ Be hospitable to one another without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9) Change your attitude from isolationism to an open door policy. Without murmuring invite the church members over to your house and show them the same friendship you show your immediate family.

23/ Minister your grace gift to one another (1 Peter 4:10) Like a slave, discover your grace gift [Romans 12], and put yourself to work serving your fellow believers in the church. For example, if you are a servant, help clean the church without grumbling. Set the rest of the body free to serve you with their special abilities. Don’t make them feel sorry for you! This actually means to become deacon-like [slave-like] with your gift and do all the menial tasks that are attached with your gift to show endless love to your church family while you glorify God by laying down your life for them.

24/ Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19) As we obey Him even when we do not feel we can sing well, and worship the Lord God in music, we also strengthen and teach one another through singing together.

Now it is apparent that this list screams best friends! But you or I cannot just hug someone’s wife, or rebuke a stranger. So look through the list and find some things you can start to do immediately with those inside your church. And start friendships. Invite people to hang out, go to lunch or really get brave and invite them over to your house. Aggressive love and friendship pleases Jesus!

But remember this whole thing is easier when you work as a team. It is God’s way to team up and invite someone to join your group in an activity. Teaming up is God’s way. That is why Jesus created an inner circle of 12.

That is also why we are a local church inside a city. Most New Testament letters are written to the Christians inside a city and called to unify and work together obeying Jesus. God wants His teamed up followers to shine like a light in a city of spiritual darkness. One little candle does not shine bright enough to get the attention of the city. But try collecting a crowd of candles and the light shines bright.

 

So how do we team up? Making disciples is not the job of the pastors, but our job.

In football the coaches do not play on the field. They oversee, train, equip, coach, encourage, and create plays. The players go out onto the field and execute the plays. The team works together by taking responsibility for important actions and they function together. Each of us has an important team position and must be dedicated and focused to do our part. So what position do you fill?

 

4/ Jesus gives us spiritual strength (a grace gift) to fulfill our ministry

Romans 12:6-8 (NKJV)

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7  or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8  he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

 

Remember God’s grace grows our desires to please God and strengthen us to fulfill His will. That is why He gives you His powerful love language. Each grace gift thrusts you into a specific way to love others. Your gift will color what you see is important. It will also press you to love others in the way your gift is designed to express His love.

Where do you fit into God’s team, the Body of Christ? (make sure you score your grace gifts sheet) Download Grace Gift Questionaire

The letters on the assessment sheets translate to each of the seven grace gifts. C is the same as mercy giver. If you do not have a grace gift assessment contact me and I can email it to you.

Jesus was FULL of all the aspects of the Godhead. But each disciple is intentionally equipped by the Holy Spirit with one of the seven gifts so that we must unite and work together to glorify God (1 Peter 4:10). We need each other to fully glorify God and build each other up. This is how we help make disciples!

The ministers of the Word (1 Peter 4:10)…

1/ PROPHET (perception) Main focus: a SPIRITUAL doctor, good and evil, repentance and prayer

GOD’S DESIGN: To monitor the spiritual health of the Body of Christ and protect it from evil, bitterness, and satanic attack.

2/ TEACHER (mentor, instructor) Main focus: MIND, full and complete education of all disciples to know the TRUTH

GOD’S DESIGN: To present clear and complete instruction to protect the BODY OF CHRIST from dangerous error that would ruin the mission of the church.

3/ EXHORTER (encourager) Main focus: Psychological health, healthy relationships, solving problems

GOD’S DESIGN: To encourage everyone in the BODY OF CHRIST to grow spiritually and keep all members applying spiritual truth.

The ministers of the work (1 Peter 4:10)…

4/ LEADER (administrator, organizer) Main focus: holding up the church by giving vision and direction

GOD’S DESIGN: To give leadership and organization to the BODY OF CHRIST and keep everyone focused on following Jesus and doing His will (vision: seeing the big picture).

5/ SERVANT (minister, helper, worker) Main focus: physical work, building or creating projects, doing things

GOD’S DESIGN: To help with the practical needs of the BODY OF CHRIST. This keeps the work of the ministry and mission going.

6/ GIVER (gifts, supplies, support) Main focus: giver of money, things, time and love

GOD’S DESIGN: To monitor the BODY OF CHRIST and supply it with needed resources to complete the work of God.

7/ COMPASSION (mercy giver) Main focus: emotional hurting, helping people feel better, protecting others from hurt

GOD’S DESIGN: To monitor the BODY OF CHRIST to find the hurting members, then show His compassion and nurse them back to health and keep the team in right attitudes in our relationships.

Once we become friends, love each other, join together as a powerful team, and fill our role as His servant building up each other the natural overflow is working together and making disciples.

 

5/ Jesus commands us to go work together and help fulfill His mission

Matthew 28:19-20 (NLT)

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20  Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

A football team works together to get the football across the goal line. Our team, the BODY OF CHRIST, works together to get the gospel of Jesus in our city across the goal line of the stubborn disobedient hearts of those who do not believe. Together our team uses all the love, truth, grace, strength, determination, and combined force that God empowers us with to push the devil down the fieldand then plant our football, the word of God, in the endzone of hard hearts that will be rescued as trophies of grace for our awesome God.

Then we all start over at part #1 and share this amazing truth to the new members of the team. We are disciples making disciples for the glory of God.

As David Platt states, “As Jesus transforms the thoughts and desires of our lives, he revolutionizes our very reason for living.”  From FOLLOW ME. A call to die. A call to live. Page 146

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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