Randy Bell
16 Feb 2018

StraightTalk Articles

WARNING: Do Not Put Words Into God’s Mouth

The Revelation of Jesus Christ finishes telling us everything that God wants us to know concerning what He will do until His Son returns. He reveals to us in the Bible all things that He wants us to know and so that we can obey in all times of great trouble. His revelation prepares the true church for the future days of great tribulation and trials leading up to the THE END OF DAYS. And you must understand that the true church never has to worry about God’s wrath to come.

Christ the Lord taught in John 3:36 (NLT), “And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”

The collection of people who experience eternal life and follow Jesus in obedience to Him are the church. These are spread all over the world. Christ demands that locally they unite together, make disciples and pass on His original teachings, not make up new stuff.

Generation after generation the first century GOOD NEWS and teaching are passed on through time and the church of Jesus prevails on until He returns in his second coming. They are the ones who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. These are the ones who will never receive God’s wrath. But all the world including hypocrites that gather with the church will suffer the eternal judgment of God.

The Holy Spirit will never contradict the Word of God. Revelation 22:18 (NLT) states, “And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book.” This Holy Spirit will not contradict the written Word of God in any way. Instead He will reinforce the truth already spoken by Jesus.

We know this because Jesus himself reveals to us this truth. We find in John 14:24-26 (NLT) Jesus says, “Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

You do not have permission to reveal new truth and claim it was revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. When you do you are directly disobeying the true and only Savior. The Holy Spirit does not add to or ignore the words of Jesus. Any person or group who dares to make claims of hearing the Holy Spirit tell them whole new teachings that condemn the original church of Jesus Christ are false prophets. Their teaching is not from heaven.

When Jesus gave instructions to the Twelve He further instructed in John 15:26-27 (NLT), “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.”

He did not stop there but continued.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14  He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. 15  All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’ John 16:13-15 (NLT)

“Two themes are balanced in these texts. The Spirit would lead the disciples into further truth after Jesus was gone, but it would be based on what they already knew about Him and had learned from Him. Denying that the Spirit can still give believers the gift of prophecy is unwarranted, but allegations of such prophecies must always be tested and can never contradict, or be elevated to the same level as Scripture (see 1 Co 14:29-33).” – The Apologetics Study Bible: Understanding Why You Believe.

Whenever some group comes along and condemns the whole church that should throw up red flags all over for you to see. Paul warns in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (NLT), “But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.”

Cult leaders often preach “another Jesus.” For instance, Reverend Sun Myung Moon teaches that Jesus was the second Adam who only partially succeeded at His mission; thus, Rev. Moon must complete it. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist (aka Christian Science), wrote of Jesus as a divine being who only appeared to have a physical body. Victor Paul Wierwille, founder of The Way International, rejected the preexistence of Jesus and taught that Jesus was a man with a fallen nature, yet without sin. Charles Taze Russell, the architect of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (aka Jehovah’s Witnesses), taught that the preincarnate Jesus was the archangel Michael, the first of God’s creation. Mormonism teaches that Jesus was the first and mightiest spirit son of God and the brother of all the other spirits who would eventually become humans on earth. Followers of the Word-Faith embrace a belief that Jesus was born again after His death and descent into hell. New Age gurus espouse a Jesus who was a great world teacher for His age, but they believe that a new world teacher is about to appear. To accept another Jesus is tantamount to receiving “another spirit” and “another gospel.” The authentic gospel is the free offer of salvation to all who believe. – The Apologetics Study Bible: Understanding Why You Believe.

Only a different spirit would masquerade as the Holy Spirit and contradict the revelation of scripture. Only another spirit would dishonor the words of Jesus and totally condemn His church. Only a false spirit would try to replace the church Jesus established 2000 years ago with a different good news and reject all the followers of the original Jesus. Only the deceived would believe that God was unable to preserve His people, the church for the last 2000 years!

Heed His words.

Two thousand years ago Paul explained in Ephesians 3:3-6 (NLT) “As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. 4  As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. 5  God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. 6  And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.”

Two thousand years ago the Holy Spirit revealed the plans of God. A different spirit today cannot erase, override, or twist the revelation of the church established by the one and only true Jesus Christ. When a false prophet stereotypes the whole church as wrong and condemns it to hell they are liars.

The true church did not die, and does not need replacing. In spite of traitors like Judas Iscariot and all the assaults of the devil through his false prophets and teachers, and all the persecution that the world pours on the church it will not separate the saints from their God. Jesus promised they will prevail and He will come back victorious!

Christ Jesus made it clear to His church 2000 years ago.

First He promised nothing would stop the church from accomplishing God’s will.

Matthew 16:16-19 (MSG)

16  Simon Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17  Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am.

18  And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.

19  “And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.”

 

Next He promised He would never forsake His church.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT)

18  Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

19  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.”

The church will never be bypassed by God and does not need replacing because God is all powerful and “…is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.” Jude 1:24-25 (NLT)

So again I say…

WARNING: Do not put words in God’s mouth.

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Randy Bell
3 Feb 2018

StraightTalk Articles

Why Are There So Many Different Bibles?

 

It seems that there are a lot of different Bibles today, which can be very confusing if you are trying to know God and His will for your life. If you go to a store you can buy a KJV, NASV, NKJV, RSV, NIV, CSB, NLT Amplified, NCV, and many, many more.  The Catholics have their Bible, The Mormons their book, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have their version, and all the churches have their preferred version. How can anyone get to the truth with all the conflicting ideas, writings and translations?

I hope you slow down and think this through with me. The Bible was written thousands of years ago, in basically two languages, Hebrew and Greek. Therefore, because there are many English translations does not mean there are different Bibles. Since you and I cannot read or speak Hebrew and Greek we need a translation into our language.

The one Bible gets translated into thousands of languages so that the billions of people of the world can read and understand it for themselves. Language is a complicated thing. It is fluid and changing all the time that it is a living language. It is not like mathematics, so words in Hebrew do not always have equal English words to match. Greek and Hebrew do not have equal words that always clearly define a Spanish word, and so on. Therefore, the way someone translates becomes very important!

And not only that, people are prejudice in their thinking. When two people disagree on politics, they interpret the same words of our president in very different ways, even though they all speak English. Now, add this to translating a person’s words into another language too. Then add locations of the world where customs and figures of speech are different, this makes the translation even harder, so the readers can actually understand the sense of what God is revealing to them.

But wait there’s more! Add sworn enemies who try to corrupt and destroy the translation on purpose. Then add time, a lot of time and now you have the difficulty of getting to the truth of God’s Word from the modern day translators. Yes it can be confusing, but if you will be careful, you can understand why there are so many modern day translations.

The Bible is true, eyewitness accounts of people who met God through His divine revelation to them. They recorded actual events they saw and heard themselves. Like in any court of law, truth is found through actual evidence and eye witnesses, not hearsay and rumors.

One eyewitness records, “[WE ARE writing] about the Word of Life [in] Him Who existed from the beginning, Whom we have heard, Whom we have seen with our [own] eyes, Whom we have gazed upon [for ourselves] and have touched with our [own] hands. [2 ]And the Life [an aspect of His being] was revealed (made manifest, demonstrated), and we saw [as eyewitnesses] and are testifying to and declare to you the Life, the eternal Life [in Him] Who already existed with the Father and Who [actually] was made visible (was revealed) to us [His followers]. [3] What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah). [4] And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and your joy may be complete].” 1 John 1:1-4  AMP

The New Testament authors’ saw, heard and touched, to verify truth. The Old Testament writers have the same testimony and are proven authentic. Therefore, we know the truth is clearly written in the original languages. And remember the Bible is the most questioned and tested book in all the history of mankind. Archeologists have dug up and continue to dig up everything they can in Israel and have never contradicted the Bible, but instead proven it’s accuracy. Paul writes in the New Testament and verifies that all the Old Testament is the actual words of God [2 Timothy 3:16] and therefore trustworthy also.

The Jews considered the Bible so sacred they had experts who memorized and made hand written copies to pass on from generation to generation. These men were so meticulous that every letter was counted on every page, so no mistakes would be preserved. The New Testament was written by the people who lived with and around Jesus. They were not some writers in another century who decided to write a history, these men preserved and watched over the truth they themselves witnessed. They carefully copied the writings and spread them across the Roman Empire as quickly as possible.

We know this because the second and third generation Christians wrote letters to each other, and quoted the New Testament books over and over again. These people are known as the Early Church Fathers and in their writings alone all but eight verses of the New Testament have been quoted and verified. The Bible was well protected and preserved.

But, slowly during this time groups from Egypt and other locations began to do some dubious things. They disagreed with the original eyewitnesses on the message and truth, and invented a spin off type of Christianity. And two streams of Bibles were now available. The northern stream was continuing to flow from Antioch and stayed faithful to Christ and the original Bible. The Christians from the Antioch translations created the Old Latin Bible that made its way even to England by 200 AD.

But in the south a new Bible was beginning to circulate.

Now the southern stream was a perverted group. They wrote letters and articles and forged the famous apostles names to them, confusing many. Paul mentions this problem even during the first generation of believers. They got away with this because it was the common way the early church leaders taught. For example Paul writes, “After this letter has been read to you, make sure it gets read also in Laodicea. And get the letter that went to Laodicea and have it read to you.” [Col 4:16 TM] So it got difficult to keep the truth with forgers working to pass on their warped teachings.

Paul had to start warning the churches about forgers, “Don’t let anyone shake you up or get you excited over some breathless report or rumored letter from me that the day of the Master’s arrival has come and gone. Don’t fall for any line like that.” [2 Thess 2:2-3 TM] Paul even had to start making a clear signature on each letter for authenticity. “I, Paul, write you this final greeting with my own hand. This is the mark and sign [that it is not a forgery] in every letter of mine. It is the way I write [my handwriting and signature].” [2 Thess 3:17 AMP]

This whole movement of false teachers mixed pagan philosophy with Christianity and created a mystic religion that felt they could erase the parts of the Bible they did not like. There was a movement who rejected the fact that Jesus was God, dismissed the miracles of the Lord, and chose to remove some of Christ’s words. These southern copies became confusing because some added words to the gospels, just like cults and modern day movements do today instead of leaving the Bible alone and believing what it already says. Origen (A.D. 185-254) found much confusion in these copies from northern Africa.

Now this group progressed for several hundred years and the evidence shows they produced all kinds of versions that were  different from each other. They could not even agree what to add and subtract to propagate their lies. During the following few centuries [300-400 AD] a number of versions arose from these people such as, the Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and the Alexandrinus manuscripts which are preserved still today. These were so messed up they disagreed with each other in over 3000 places of the four gospels alone.

The Roman Catholic church eventually embraced these men and their mutilated versions, which are the foundation of many of the popular Bibles today, and is one reason for so many English translations and variations. The King James Version of the Bible is based off the Antioch stream of consistent and faithful copies. The quotes from the Early Church Fathers [100-200 AD] agree with and verify the old accepted Greek text used for the KJV version also.

I met Doctor David Otis Fuller and spoke to him about some of this matter. He traveled to England and other places researching and tracking down great evidence to verify these facts. The following quote comes from one of his sermons in the 1970’s:

Then in 1881, the Revised Version of the Scriptures was published. Brook Foss Westcott, late Bishop of Durham, and Fenton John Anthony Hort, were both professors at Cambridge University, and without question were two of the most brilliant and erudite scholars of their day, and to this day, nearly a century later. They command the attention and admiration of textual critics, both liberal and conservative. The two together had been working for twenty years on a Greek text of the New Testament. Around 1870 there was a demand made for another version of the Scriptures. Westcott and Hort spearheaded this demand and influenced many scholars and theologians to form a committee for a revised version which appeared in 1881.

The Westcott and Hort text was based upon two of the oldest manuscripts extant, Codex Aleph and Codex Vaticanus. One was found in the wastepaper basket by the great scholar Tischendorf on Mt. Sinai. The other was found in an out of the way place in the Vatican museum with dust over it. The former was discovered around 1859; the later some centuries before that; I believe in the thirteenth century or thereabouts.

These manuscripts are two of the worse in existence. They are filled with contradictions and errors, and they contradict each other. In the Vatican manuscript all of Revelation is missing, as well as all the Pastoral Epistles of Paul, and from the ninth to the thirteenth chapter of Hebrews. They just aren’t there. So it was quite a mutilated manuscript. But because they were the oldest, going back to the fourth century, there were those scholars that almost revered them and made much of the fact of these two manuscripts. The theory was that the oldest manuscript was nearest to the original autographs written by the Apostles and others.

But it so happens that this is not the case. The oldest manuscripts have proven to be the worst, because in the early days of Christianity a war was raging between Athanasius and Arius concerning the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot thank God enough that Athanasius won, even though he was banished five times by the emperor, because he was so tenacious and would not let this matter go. And when some of his friends came to him and said, “Athanasius, the world is against you,” he drew himself up and uttered those famous words, “Athanasius is against the world.” Arius and his followers were unitarian, and it is clear that many manuscripts in those days were corrupted doctrinally.

Both ideas, evolution and that of the Westcott and Hort theory, have no foundation whatever. They are made up of cobwebs, yet the Westcott and Hort Greek text was founded squarely upon these two manuscripts, with a few others, but in the main Codex Aleph and Codex Vaticanus were the ones that they relied upon the most.

See the full article here.

So even though the King James version is written like Shakespeare, it’s underlying Greek and Hebrew are the clearly preserved Words of God. But, like any translation be careful, you must be a real student of the Word.

What about all the other translations and versions? Be careful, read the introductions and research them. Just because they are new does not mean they are all of the devil or from the corrupted texts of ancient heretics. But they might be, and it is getting harder to find out and see them. Whenever I use other translations, it is as a commentary and help in understanding the original text. I use a Strong’s Concordance to verify the words and definitions. I stick with KJV and NKJV for the main research.

Take note, all the new English versions are copyrighted. So many publishers commission their own translation to give them an exclusive Bible to sell to the public. As they compete in the marketplace they advertise their version as better than the others.

Also, remember, because some Greek and Hebrew does not have exact equivalents, a variety of words can be used to give a good translation of the text. Within these good variations deeper truth can be understood.

And one last thing,  remember God finalized His Word in Greek and Hebrew, not English. We are all reading the attempts of men trying to give us God’s Word, some, not all are using corrupted text. And these corruptions are a small percent of the whole of the New Testament. The main message and doctrines are not destroyed even in the worst of our modern translations.

 

 

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Randy Bell
3 Nov 2017

Narrow Road Insights

Randy Bell | The Narrow Way Part 1: How Grace Brings People Into The Kingdom Of God (read)

The “big reveal” of the Kingdom of Heaven and how to get there was presented by Jesus to his followers in Matthew 5-7. Those men knew the old Jewish religion from birth but this new way of life is so completely different that they had no idea what Christ Jesus is talking about. The Lord had to reveal pieces of truth step by step over the three years of his ministry so they could digest this radical new way of living.

So let’s look at the context.

Matthew 4:16 (NLT) “…the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.”

According to Matthew 4: 15-16 their lives consisted of learning the Law of God, breaking the Law of God, confessing their sin, bringing animal sacrifices to the temple to be killed and burned for their sin, and repeating the cycle over and over all their days. They lived in “darkness” as sin and death cast a shadow over their miserable lives. Sin ruled their hearts and they were slaves of sin.

Let me use my marriage cult illustration to explain this great issue of “darkness” that Jesus reveals here for the first time so we can see the reality of the Kingdom of God.

Let’s say all of us gather every week in a regular group meeting on the topic of marriage. BUT, no one in the group is married or ever was married. We have special speakers who come and talk about marriage. We have weekly studies on marriage. We have special small groups to study marriage. We learn a lot about marriage. We argue about our opinions on marriage. We even sing a lot of songs about marriage. We are passionate about marriage.

But really none of that matters because no one KNOWS marriage unless they are married. No one has the TRUTH of marriage unless they are in the relationship of marriage. Unless you EXPERIENCE marriage you are in the dark about marriage because your knowledge is only theoretical!

And this is the consequence of spiritual darkness. The Jews learned about God stuff. They studied stuff. They knew stuff. They sang about stuff. They argued about stuff. They were passionate about stuff. They had strong opinions about stuff. But they were completely missing the light! The disciples did not know or experience God personally like they would in around three years from that day. They did not know or have abundant life.

And today many, many in churches across America learn stuff, study stuff, believe some stuff, sing about stuff, argue about stuff, BUT are not STUFFED by God within their souls.

We must understand what Jesus says as He explains the way to heaven and the new life of the Kingdom of Heaven. First, here is a simple story to help you see the need to look very carefully at the Bible because the original was written in ancient Hebrew and Greek. Our English can cloud the meaning.

Jack was doing his morning jumping jacks and remembered he needed to go to the store. So he jumped into his car and headed to town. Jack only traveled a short distance and felt a thumping noise and pulled over to find he had a flat tire. Irritated, Jack opened the trunk and pulled out the jack and jacked up his car and replaced the flat. Just as he was finishing, a car pulled over behind Jack and two men got out.

Jack thought, “these are nice guys stopping to help” until Jack realized they stopped to carjack his vehicle. One attacked Jack and jacked him in the jaw and knocked Jack to the ground. They were both jacked up on drugs and carjacked his car, leaving Jack lying on the side of the road.

Dazed, Jack rolled over with his back to the road and saw two little girls eating cracker jacks and playing jacks on the sidewalk. Jack mumbled “too many jacks today” and passed out.

Jack did not get out of his car to take himself out of the trunk! Jack did not get under the car and push up the car with his body. Jack did not hit himself in the jaw, steal his own car, or was the object of the game on the sidewalk. We must know the context, usage, slang, and meanings of a simple word like “jack” to understand a silly story.

Our language uses “jack” for multiple unrelated uses. Context, slang, and varied meanings cause confusion to someone unfamiliar with the language.This happens in many cultures and languages including the Bible. In the Greek and Hebrew original languages of the Bible, we find a variety of word usages which forces us to not be simple minded when we study the Word of God or we will miss the heart and soul of what God is saying to us.

So let’s be careful as we look at the heart and soul of the Messiah’s message. The two parts of his message are revealed to us in Matthew 4.

1/ Jesus preached repentance. Matthew 4:17 (NLT) “From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

2/ Jesus also preached the Good News about the Kingdom. Matthew 4:23 (NLT) “Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom.”

What did he tell them about repentance and Good News? We find out in the Sermon on the Mount.

Remember context is everything! Looking back 2000 years later our Good News is centered in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. But, this text is three years before Messiah was crucified. They needed more information before they could even understand our Good News.

So Jesus first speaks to them focusing on the real inward experience of the Kingdom of God. He later makes this clear by saying, “…behold, the kingdom of God is within you [in your hearts] and among you [surrounding you].” Luke 17:21 (AMP)  But he did not explain all this yet, instead he just taught them the path to heaven and the inward experience of the kingdom of God.

Matthew 5:3 (NKJV) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus sounds like a passive eastern guru the way this translation reads. Especially when people think or read this as “Happy are the poor in spirit, they all are of the kingdom of heaven.” But, just like jack is not always Jack or jacks, here is where we must be careful to see the truth. Because the word can be used as “happy”, and also it can be used as “God blesses”. There is a big difference between God blessing you and simple happiness.

Instead of the simple, we must see that the Lord of heaven and earth is explaining the experience of REPENTANCE in his first three statements. God blesses people by drawing them to the Lord Jesus. This is not a happy road, but a narrow and difficult path to salvation.

The narrow way to eternal life in heaven (verses 3-5)

Matthew 5:3 (NLT) “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”

First, God only blesses the person who sees they are poverty stricken and offers them heaven. Some versions make it sound like all soft-spoken humble people have heaven. Jesus is not teaching universalism, but a narrow way of salvation many today will resist.

But pride says “I am a good person” and not as bad as my neighbor cheating on his wife. And that guy says I am a good person just trying to be happy and I am better than that murderer I saw on the news. The murderer says I am basically a good person and not as bad as that child molester. But the child molester says I am a good person and not like those terrorists I see on the news. The terrorist says I am a good person fighting for my god and not like those evil Americans full of lust and riches.

Next, you must come to see that the word “poor” is “destitute” according to Adam Clarke’s Commentary. Poor is a weak translation because the word “poor” in English is used in many ways. We say we are poor when we still have a lot of goods, but short on cash. We call people poor with an income of $24,000 and live in a house, plus drive a car. The truth is if you have a car you are in the upper 2% of the richest people on the entire planet.

When it comes to spiritual poverty. God tells the truth and His opinion is the only opinion that matters. Our creator has the only perspective that matters. In the end, we face Jesus Christ, not anyone in America, or the rest of the world. Comparing ourselves to others and using this world’s standards or opinions are meaningless and part of the darkness!

God says…

Romans 3:10-18 (AMP)

10  As it is written, None is righteous, just and truthful and upright and conscientious, no, not one.

11  No one understands [no one intelligently discerns or comprehends]; no one seeks out God.

12  All have turned aside; together they have gone wrong and have become unprofitable and worthless; no one does right, not even one!

13  Their throat is a yawning grave; they use their tongues to deceive (to mislead and to deal treacherously). The venom of asps is beneath their lips.

14  Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

15  Their feet are swift to shed blood.

16  Destruction [as it dashes them to pieces] and misery mark their ways.

17  And they have no experience of the way of peace [they know nothing about peace, for a peaceful way they do not even recognize].

18  There is no [reverential] fear of God before their eyes.

So “destitute in spirit” is the strong real meaning, clearly meaning we have

ZERO RIGHTEOUSNESS, 

ZERO GOODNESS,

no matter how good or nice we believe ourselves to be compared to other people. This fact must crush all pride out of every person who wants to go to heaven.

All are destitute because “None is righteous”, all people seek their own happiness and pleasure instead of seeking the full will of God. No one seeks out God because they are overcome by darkness. “No one does right” but instead mislead others to gain an advantage in many ways. Full of bitterness and unforgiveness people hate and seek revenge. Relationships are full of pain and hurting others in return.

Misery and hurt are the truth that describes that dark way of living. Drama, conflict, and pain are the experience instead of even knowing what a peaceful heart and life are really like. And the narrow way of God is not even desired by those locked in sin and the darkness of death. No one knows God to fear him.

The poverty-stricken state of spiritual darkness rules every human being on the planet.

But the “Light of the World”, our Lord Jesus, establishes a very narrow gate to heaven. Here Jesus reveals the truth that only those who SEE they are “destitute” in spirit will experience the Kingdom of heaven. It is a miracle of God to see our true state. He must crush and break the self-righteous pride that screams, “No, no, no, I AM A GOOD PERSON”!

God only blesses those who are fully humbled and see their sin because Jesus said: “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) And Jesus only explains this later, not on this day. But that does not detract from the truth that God initiates His blessing of heaven only for people that he holds the light of truth on their hearts until they really see themselves.

This is called CONVICTION and later he reveals clearly how this will be accomplished. “But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin…” John 16:7-8 (NLT) But as you see, Jesus saved the explanation for later.

So only the humble man, crushed and broken of self-righteous pride, can see how evil he really is, and be able to receive God’s offer of eternal life. Deep wounds of conviction leave sinners quivering and broken at the feet of Jesus. You must see yourself as a guilty monster for your spiritual crimes against God.

Adam and Eve made excuses and blamed others for breaking God’s law. They did not fall to their knees and admit their guilt before the holy God. The problem was not the fruit, it was their disobedience to the will of God. They chose their will over God’s will.

So have you!

Romans 3:19-20 (NLT) “Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God… The law simply shows us how sinful we are.”

When God shows you His law, His commands, and His will you must admit your guilt. No excuses or blame or you do not get to the next step of repentance. Let’s look at the next truth.

 

2/ God must break our hearts to make us willing to repent

Matthew 5:4 (NLT) “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Again you must see this statement in context, not as an unrelated thought. The one who is so shocked by their sin and spiritual hopelessness must have an emotional awakening. God will only bless the one who steps into this narrow entrance to God Almighty. God must break you further and crack open your hard heart.

The Greek word translated as mourn is a deep grief. It is the heartbreaking effect when you learn your beloved child has just been killed. It is the wrecking ball that devastates you when your spouse suddenly dies. It is the horror of your worst fears that come true and death and destruction throw you to your knees in agony.

The true shock of God’s righteous law flung supernaturally into your heart by the force of the Holy Spirit pierces your hard heart and wounds your conscience. When Peter denied Christ, the very sound of the rooster struck his conscience with the guilt of his traitorous deed and he wept. Later when Peter preached to those at Pentecost as recorded in Acts chapter two, they were struck to the heart for their great sin of rejecting and killing Jesus the Messiah and they cried out in agony and fear.

This too is the place where God must break your heart and bring you to repentance and salvation.

Again Jesus saved all the explanations for later. As we look back in time we can read what the first followers could not grasp that day. Years later Paul explains, “For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct, produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret…”  2 Corinthians 7:10 (AMP)

No one is happy while God’s grace takes them through this process. The deep and raw grief of your sin and rebellion against God forces you to true repentance and salvation. Judas Iscariot believed, followed Jesus, performed miracles, and cast out demons. But he never grieved over his sin, repented and followed Christ in obedience like the rest of the Twelve. There are no excuses or room to wiggle through into heaven without full and total repentance.

Again later, not this day, the disciples and all of us know the truth about Judas. John reveals in John 12:4-6 (NLT) “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.”

Only the deep grief filled reality check, through broken pride and a broken heart throws you to the ground in a humble encounter with the Savior.

Again years after the Sermon on the Mount, James, the Lord’s half-brother still calls all people to, “… humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8  Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9  Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.”

This is not symbolic language, but the real gut-wrenching humility that throws you at the feet of Jesus begging for mercy and forgiveness. Have you ever come to Jesus in his way?

This leads us to the third experience God must lead us through and the final act of grace God uses to convert a sinner.

 

3/ God must break our will to give us abundant life

Matthew 5:5 (NKJV) “Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.”

Now the final action man must take to repent is surrender. Repentance means to take a 180-degree turn from selfish living that makes up your own decisions, that chooses your own path and does whatever makes yourself happy. The new path is to follow Jesus sacrificing your life for His will, obeying His commands, and seeking to please Him in everything you do.

The path to repentance is a walk through admitting and seeing your rebellion and disregard for your Creator and grieving over your true self with all your sin. This is the only way that leads to absolute surrender to your Savior.

And here is the reason. Meekness is not weakness. The simple way to see this change is through many of the movies of great stallions who ran wild and free doing whatever they wanted. They chased mares, beat up contenders to their harem, and screamed and ran wild all night long.

But in every story, this one wild stallion bends his will to a new master. He is just as strong, energized and full of life, but he accepts the bridle and gives up control of his life to his new master. He serves willingly his new master. He gives his back to the master to ride him and do his bidding. He is meek and gentle to his master.  Now fully obedient and committed, the tame stallion lives a new and different life.

An easy example is the same change the scripture shows in Moses. Originally he was self-willed and arrogant, so he decided to deliver Israel by killing an Egyptian who was physically hurting a Jew. He was forced to flee from the authorities and hide far away in the wilderness. But many years later, after he met God he became the very opposite in nature. We read, “Now the man Moses was very meek (gentle, kind, and humble) or above all the men on the face of the earth.” Numbers 12:3 (AMP)

Meekness has everything to do with your relationship to Almighty God.

Humbleness is “…an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; it is closely linked with the word tapeinophrosynē  [humility], and follows directly upon it, “meek and lowly;” … it is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and contend with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by Him for the chastening and purifying of His elect.” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words)

Absolute surrender is the evidence that the sinner gives up his resistance to God and instead turns and follows him. The meek leave all and give up the control of their life to Jesus. Again Jesus explains this in depth later. For example, later he says, “… If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].” Luke 9:23 (AMP)

As you see, Jesus makes it clear later, again and again, and explains what he meant in the Sermon on the Mount. He meant the absolute surrender of every aspect of your lives, and yes mine was demanded to be accepted by God into His Kingdom. Nothing less is enough!

Do not fool yourselves, the narrow way is literal, specific, and costs you everything.

When you generalize these commands of Jesus everyone thinks they have the STUFF. But the specifics of your life verify whether you are born again or exposes your false claim. Jesus plainly spoke to people then and it means the same for us today.

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 (NLT)

And the specifics are taught by Jesus over the three years of ministry before he died on the cross.

So here is the teaching of repentance by Jesus.

1/ The narrow road follower of Jesus experiences an eye-opening realization of his true sinful state.

2/ Then rocked to his core, he grieves and mulls over his terrible sinful state of zero righteousness.

3/ Finally, he bows before the God of Heaven, broken in pride, heart, and will, then fully surrenders to God. The born again Christian receives forgiveness, salvation, the promise of heaven, peaceful comfort instead of guilt and grief, and amazing blesses from God during this life as he experiences the Kingdom of heaven within.

 

Read The Narrow Way Part 2: The New Life of the Kingdom (verses 6-11) Part 2 …

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