Matthew 25:33-35 “He [Jesus] will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
I cannot remember when but at a very young age, I was taught that God created everything and creation was good. There never was a question about macro-evolution for origins. I learned that Adam and Eve doubted and disobeyed God, so sin and death entered the world, separating mankind from God, and humans then had a heart with a sin nature, so we think, say and do things that are wrong in the eyes of God. Later, I learned that people are made of body, soul and spirit and the spirit died within each of us and needs regenerated by God. That original sin remains in our heart, so we needed a Savior to reconcile this situation because we are unable to. So, God made a plan to send His Son to us to pay for our sins and we world inherit the kingdom of God and go to Heaven. I also learned, that Satan rebelled against God in Heaven and was expelled to earth where he temps and deceives us today. Finally, I learned that there was a Heaven for good people and a Hell for bad people. Pretty simple concept that I understood at that pre-school age. Later, I learned what “good” and “bad” really meant.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
We grew up in a world where there were mainly “good guys” and a few “bad guys” in our country, who broke laws, robbed or hurt people which the police took care of and they went to jail. There were even “bad guys” in other country’s that started wars and our soldiers fought to protect us. Our parents would watch over and protect us at home, so we felt safe and secure to live a normal life. Growing up, I didn’t know about these passages in the Bible about “the works of the fallen flesh”, but they made sense that they were “bad” things that would make us unrighteous before our “just” and “holy” Creator God. Sin is a dirty thing and we should want to do what God says is “good” and wholesome. I wanted to go to Heaven and surely didn’t want to go to Hell. I knew that God would help me.
Galatians 5:19-23 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
It was in my early twenties that I read Jesus say in Matthew 7:13-15 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it”, and realized how big God’s salvation issue was. If most people were “good” and few people were “bad” then why was the gate to Heaven narrow and the way difficult? And why is the gate to Hell broad and the road wide … how could “many” be going in on it? Was acting and doing “good” not the measure to inherit the kingdom? I didn’t understand the narrow gate.
Let's continue my message on inheriting the kingdom of Heaven in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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