Many people have not thought about God’s two Kingdoms? This is extremely important, because each Kingdom has an exclusive way of getting into it. The two Kingdoms are:
⇒ The Kingdom of God
⇒ The Kingdom of Heaven
The Kingdom of God exists here on earth. The Kingdom of Heaven is where God lives and from where He manages and controls the universe.
...The Kingdom of God on earth, is in the here and now, and consists of born-again Christians...also known as children of God or believers...who live in this physical world, but whose purpose for living is to do God’s will.
- They have been saved or converted through their belief and faith in Jesus Christ...as their personal Lord and Savior.
- Since their conversion, their purpose in the remaining time of their lives here, is to represent Jesus Christ...to all of the rest of the people alive at the same time...who have not yet come to know the Lord.
- As they lives their lives, in representation of Jesus Christ, they also worship God and they minister to the other children of God alive at the same time they are. As God’s family on earth, they help take care of each other, using God’s resources.
...The Kingdom of Heaven is the specific place from where God rules and manages the universe for His glory.
- Along with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...the holy angels also live with God (the Trinity) and are available to do God’s bidding...as He directs each one. As they serve Him, they also worship Him day and night and give Him great glory.
- In addition to the Trinity and the angels, all of God’s children who died on earth at the end of their natural human lives, live with Him (their spirits and their souls) in the Kingdom of Heaven...worshipping Him day and night and enjoying His powerful, glorious, and majestic presence.
- Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is God’s family who are already living in the 3rd Heaven and enjoying their eternal lives with all of the peace and joy promised them, during their lives on earth...while they were participating in the Kingdom of God. They are eagerly waiting for the resurrection of their bodies.
To get into this physical world, you were born into it. Your mother gave you physical birth into this physical world or you would not be here.
To get into God’s spiritual Kingdom here on earth, you also have to be born into it. It requires a spiritual birth. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can give you spiritual birth into God’s Kingdom on earth. Jesus explained this to a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus in John 3.
Before we consider the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus about being spiritually born into the Kingdom of God, please note how Paul explained the necessity of this birth in 1 Corinthians 15. (Commentary inside the parenthesis is mine.)
1 Corinthians 15:50: And this I say to you brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. (Or the Kingdom of Heaven.)
1 Corinthians 15:46: The spiritual (birth) did not come first, but the natural (birth), and after that the spiritual (birth).
In the first verse (50), Paul clearly reveals how being born into this physical world...with your flesh and blood human body...will not get you into God’s spiritual world on this earth...called the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God here on earth in the here and now is a spiritual Kingdom and you have to be born into it through a spiritual birth...that has similarities (analogous traits) to your physical birth.
* Inside God’s physical/material world.
* But in a parallel spiritual dimension.
In the second verse (46), Paul explains that your natural birth into this physical world had to happen first. After one has been born into God’s physical world (creation) as a human being, then...as a human being in need of salvation...one has the opportunity to be born-again a second time spiritually into God’s spiritual Kingdom, which exists and operates in this same physical world (creation), but in a different dimension...a spiritual dimension.
The Kingdom of God here on earth is in a supernatural spiritual dimension...that you cannot see with the naked eye. You can see the effects of it in the lives of people who belong to it and who participate in it (believers / Christians / children of God) and you can see the effects of the things these people do in the physical world (spirit-led activities and the fruits thereof)...but you cannot see some physical form that is actually the Kingdom of God on earth.
Now, the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus should make sense and have the context it needs for us to grasp the uniqueness of the Kingdom of God on earth...in the here and now compared to the eternal Kingdom of Heaven
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John 3:1-8: Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said: Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.
Jesus replied: Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.
Nicodemus asked: How can someone be born when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!
Jesus answered: Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again’. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
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NOTE: When Jesus said “born of water” above, He was referring to physical birth, when a mother’s water breaks, allowing the baby to come out of the womb. He also referenced the mother’s flesh giving birth to the flesh of her new son or daughter (physical life or biological life).
Note the interesting information from the Cleveland Clinic about the Amniotic Fluid that surrounds and protects a baby in the womb as it grows:
...Amniotic fluid is mostly water (from the mother’s body) for the first half of pregnancy. It’s clear or light yellow and odorless.
...The fetus’s pee makes up most of the amniotic fluid after about 20 weeks of pregnancy, because like adults, the fetus will swallow liquid and pee it out. While it sounds unpleasant, it’s healthy for the fetus to swallow and breathe in amniotic fluid.
...The rest of the fluid contains hormones, lipids, carbohydrates, antibodies and other nutrients to help the immune system,
...Amniotic fluid is inside the amniotic sac. Picture a balloon filled with water. The amniotic fluid is the water, and the balloon is the amniotic sac. When the sac (or balloon) opens, the fluid (or water) leaks or gushes out.
...Amniotic fluid cushions and protects the fetus during pregnancy like a shock absorber.
...The Amniotic fluid helps develop a fetus’s muscles, lungs, and digestive system.
Source: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/23310-amniotic-fluid
Now...if you want to get into the Kingdom of Heaven when you die, you first have to get into the Kingdom of God here on earth during your physical life...before you die.
So, being born into the Kingdom of God (through spiritual birth) on earth is eternally important. It is the only way you can get into the Kingdom of Heaven at the moment you experience physical death. This spiritual birth can only happen through what the Bible calls conversion. You could say that spiritual birth and conversion are the same thing.
Please notice the following passages below, that refer to the Kingdom of God, as different from the Kingdom of Heaven. Note the emphasis in each of these passages and how the Kingdom of God activities relate to God’s continuing work of salvation on earth in the here and now, which prepares people for the future Kingdom of Heaven.
After these passages, I want to share with you select scriptures that refer to the absolute necessity of being converted into the Kingdom of God here on earth, which will prepare you and qualify you to inherit the eternal Kingdom of Heaven, the moment you die.
NOTE: Please forgive me in advance for listing below, so many verses for you to read (26). I only did it, because I just did not know of another way to confirm for you, the reality of God’s Kingdom here on earth, as being uniquely different than the eternal Kingdom of Heaven, that believers will begin to experience the moment they experience physical death.
To help you get through these 26 verses with a logical and practical approach, I grouped these verses together in small groups, based on how they help identify and illustrate the activities (work) that go on within the Kingdom of God each day here on earth. I have placed a label or theme title before each small group.
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PROCLAIMING (through preaching, teaching, and conversation)
THE GOSPEL (the good news of what Jesus Christ did for us)
Matthew 4:23: And Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
Matthew 24:14: And this gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
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SPIRITUAL WARFARE (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 - For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.../ Ephesians 6:11-13 - Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.)
Matthew 12:28: But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
Luke 9:1–2: And Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal.
Luke 11:20: But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
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PRAYER
Matthew 6:9–10: Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”.
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PRIORITIES
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (These things will be added to you in this life in the here and now.)
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LEADING PEOPLE TO REPENTANCE
Mark 1:15: Jesus said, “The time has come. The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news”!
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UNDERSTANDING HOW THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH GROWS
Mark 4:30–32: And Jesus said, “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade”.
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EVERY MEMBER OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD RECEIVES ANOINTING AND POWER TO DO THE WORK OF THE KINGDOM AS LONG AS HE/SHE IS ALIVE ON EARTH
Mark 9:1: And Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God after it has come with power”. (This refers to the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down and empowered the Apostles and disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel.)
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WE AS BELIEVERS ARE TO HELP UNBELIEVERS HUMBLE THEMSELVES...TO RECEIVE CHRIST...WITH THE FAITH AND TRUST OF A CHILD
Mark 10:15: Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
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PARTICIPANTS IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD ARE TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL EVERY SINGLE DAY
Luke 4:43: But Jesus said to them, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns as well...for I was sent for this purpose”.
Luke 8:1: Soon afterward Jesus went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the Kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him.
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GOD GIVES VICTORY TO EACH CHILD OF HIS, AS THEY DO THE WORK OF THE KINGDOM
Luke 12:32: Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
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THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS SPIRITUAL AND RESIDES INSIDE EACH CHILD OF GOD ON EARTH
Luke 17:20–21: Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered them, “The Kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you”. (The Kingdom of God here on earth comes within you and becomes a part of you, when the Holy Spirit brings the life of Christ into your life, on the day of your salvation.)
John 18:36: Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my Kingdom is not from the world”. (Jesus is referring to how His Kingdom on earth in the here and now is a spiritual Kingdom.)
Romans 14:17: For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 4:20: For the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power.
1 Corinthians 15:50: I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, because it is a spiritual Kingdom, that requires a spiritual birth into it.)
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UNBELIEVERS WHO ARE CONVERTED TO CHRIST ARE TO BE BAPTIZED BY IMMERSION, AS A SIGN OR TESTIMONY OF THEIR NEW RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST (AS THEIR PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR)
Acts 8:12: But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
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THOSE WITH FAITH ARE TO SHARE THAT FAITH WHEREVER THEY FIND THEMSELVES THROUGH THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD
Acts 28:23: When they had appointed a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening Paul expounded to them, testifying to the Kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus...both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.
Acts 28:31: For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house (in Rome) and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!
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THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS GOD’S FAMILY ON EARTH IN THE HERE AND NOW
Ephesians 2:19–20: So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone. (Members of the household of God refers first to the converts to the Kingdom of God here on earth, in the here and now, and, secondly, to the family of God in Heaven after history is finished.)
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THE KINGDOM WORK OF CONVERTING OTHERS TO CHRIST IS THE PROCESS OF DELIVERING THEM FROM SPIRITUAL DARKNESS INTO CHRIST’S KINGDOM ON EARTH
Colossians 1:13–14: He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Again, the Kingdom of His dear Son refers first to the converts to His Kingdom here on earth in the here and now and, secondly, to the family of God in Heaven after history is finished.)
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DOING THE WORK OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH INVOLVES SUFFERING IN THE HERE AND NOW
2 Thessalonians 1:5: This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. (Any suffering we do is a part of our experience as members of the Kingdom of God on earth in the here and now. There will not be any more suffering in the Kingdom of Heaven.)
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THE SPIRITUAL WORK, THAT CHILDREN OF GOD DO THROUGH THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD, CANNOT BE DESTROYED
Hebrews 12:28: Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire”. (The day you become a Christian...through conversion...you become a part of Christ’s Kingdom on earth that cannot be shaken. Jesus promised in Matthew 16:18, that the gates of Hell could not prevail against His Kingdom, referring to His Kingdom here on earth in the here and now. This should cause each of us to be so thankful and to worship God in the deepest reverence and in awe of His power and glory.)
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Now, please notice the following passages below, that refer to the reality of conversion, and the necessity of being converted into the Kingdom of God...during your lifetime. There is no other way into the Kingdom of God. (PS: This list of verses is much shorter.)
Acts 13:43: And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas. Who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
(Here the word “convert” refers to Gentile people...non-Jews...who had first converted to the Jewish religion, but now after hearing the gospel, they converted to Jesus Christ. They understood from Paul’s teaching that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah in the Old Testament, from which came the Jewish religion.)
Acts 15:1-4: Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after engaging these men in sharp debate, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. Sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, recounting the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy to all the brothers. On their arrival in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and apostles and elders, to whom they reported all that God had done through them.
Romans 16:5: Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. (Paul refers to Epaenetus as the first ‘convert’ in Asia, which means he was the first believer who trusted in Jesus Christ as his personal Lord & Savior.)
(In Romans 16:5 above, the word ‘converts’ here also refers to the first believers in Achaia who trusted in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord & Savior. Achaia or Achaea was a Roman province located in Greece.)
1 Corinthians 16:15: Now I urge you, brothers – you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia. And that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints…
1 Timothy 3:6: An overseer must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. (Paul is referring to the qualities that a church pastor or elder...who helps oversee the ministry of a church...must have, which means he cannot not be “a recent convert” i.e...a new believer.)
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Now that we have seen these verses that refer to conversion, let us study the biblical meaning of conversion. Since conversion is the only way into the Kingdom of God, what else can be more important to you and me?
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Conversion is a word you don’t hear used very much in public anymore, except maybe in political circles, where a Democrat may convert to the Republican Party or vice versa. Many people across our country, have come to see Christianity more as a general belief in God, rather than representing a personal and dynamic relationship with God.
BUT...the Bible is very clear in explaining and illustrating how Christianity is not a religion or a philosophy, but a family made up of those individuals, who have been born into it or converted to Jesus Christ. Therefore, conversion is one of the most important concepts in the Word of God.
If you sincerely want to go to the Heaven described in the Bible when you die, then you must be converted into the Kingdom of God here on earth first. This Kingdom is God’s family of believers on earth in the here and now.
Those who become a part of this family during their earthly life, then automatically graduate up and into the eternal Kingdom of Heaven, the moment they die.
The experience of conversion is what prepares you for the “BIBLICAL HEAVEN”. Through conversion, a person who was born in sin (each one of us) and grew up as a sinner, is separated from their sin (i.e. sinful nature or their personal sinfulness) and given the gift of righteousness (i.e. the righteousness of Christ), which qualifies you to live in Heaven with God and His family forever.
The metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly, beautifully illustrates the conversion of a sinner into a saint...a holy and pure child of God.
The word metamorphosis is derived from two Greek words:
...meta, meaning change
...morphē, meaning form
So...it literally means to change form.
This is exactly what the Holy Spirit does inside the spirit of sinners (with a sinful nature or a sinful inner core) during their spiritual metamorphosis {CONVERSION}. The Holy Spirit changes their inner form, meaning their inner nature is changed from sinful to pure (Christ-Like).
Colossians 2:9-10: For in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead (the Trinity) lives in bodily form (in His human body) and in Christ you have been brought into (His) fullness (through conversion)
The caterpillar stage
An unsaved sinner
The chrysalis stage
A Sinner under conviction
The Butterfly
The Born-again believer
The New creation in Christ
2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creature (new creation / a new person). The old things have passed away. Behold, everything has become new.
You begin this new life, living with Christ and serving Christ here on earth, until you die. Your physical death is literally your promotion day or your graduation day...your time to join God in His Heaven.
King David in Psalm 51:5 declared this: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin, my mother conceived me” (NKJV). If a great man of God like David could see this truth about himself, we should each be able to see it about ourselves too...if we really look.
The Apostle Paul shared in Philippians 3:8-9, how he came to realize that any and all of the righteous things he thought he had done (to please God and have a right standing with God) were nothing by garbage (spiritual trash).
Before his conversion, Paul’s name was Saul from the city of Tarsus. He was "a Pharisee of Pharisees" (his religious standing and credentials), who constantly and fiercely persecuted the followers of Jesus. Paul describes his life before conversion in his Epistle to the Galatians:
Galatians 1:13–14: For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, and how I intensely persecuted the church of God...and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
Paul also shared how he had held the coats for those who stoned Stephen to death for his preaching of Jesus...as the Lord and Savior and promised Messiah. But a short time later, this Jesus struck him down on the road to Damascus, blinded him, and spoke to him audibly from heaven. Then Jesus began to reveal Himself to Paul and told him how he was to serve Him from then on. The narrative of the Book of Acts suggests Paul's conversion occurred 4–7 years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/447404544244337987/
From Saul to Paul...his life completely changed in one day through conversion...as he personally met Jesus Christ...reaffirming the theme of this study, that Jesus can save any person...anytime He wants.
When Paul could finally see that, then he could see that the only righteousness that would please God and put Paul in right standing with God...was by having total faith in Jesus Christ and what Christ had done for Paul on the cross (where Jesus took Paul’s punishment for him).
Philippians 3:8-9: I consider anything I have ever done as garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from keeping the law (or the commandments), but that righteousness that comes only through faith in Christ—that righteousness that comes from God...on the basis of faith (my trust in Jesus Christ).
Sadly, many people, especially in America...still think they can earn their way to heaven, by living a good life. By a good life, I refer to people who visualize God keeping a tab of every wrong thing they have done and every right thing they have done, as if they could really remember all those things.
They visualize, that if the list of right things they have done in their own eyes (by the time they die) is longer than the list of wrong things they have done...then they get to go to heaven and live with God.
If the list of wrong things is longer than the list of right things, then and only then, do they think they might go to hell. BUT they really don’t think there is a real chance of that, because of the delusional way they see themselves spiritually.
This is the philosophical and theological essence of trying to work your way to heaven by good works or as Paul would say...trying to keep enough of the law, to be in a right standing with God.
As just stated, they think that when they die and appear before God, He will bring out their two lists (the wrong things and the right things) and add each list up. Whichever list has the most points wins and determines where he or she (owning those two lists) will spend eternity. This is a self-delusion of the worst kind.
Right Things I Did Wrong Things I Did
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Think about the seemingly infinite number of things you could do during your life, depending on how long you live. Consider all of the “things you did”. Remember your thought life, your attitudes, your actions (your behavior), your reactions, your decisions, your motivations, and anything else you had control over.
How many us think we could stand before God and claim we had a perfect thought life, from the age of accountability (when we become conscious of right and wrong, good and bad, etc...) to the moment we die?
And when you add to your thought life, your actions, reactions, attitudes, motivations, and all the other things you had control of...do you really think you would have a perfect record or even a winning score?
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/304204149802158039/
In reality this list would be irrelevant in your life, because to get into heaven based upon your good works, you would have to live a perfect life. You could not have any wrong things in your record. One wrong thing would make you a sinner (constitute you a sinner) and keep you out of heaven. James, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, explains it this way.
James 2:10: For whoever keeps the whole law, but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it (of breaking the whole law or all of the laws or commandments).
Therefore, one has to be perfect to go and live in heaven with God. God cannot be in the presence of any sin or sinfulness or wrong doing. This is why conversion is your only hope.
You must be converted from a sinner to a perfectly righteous person before you die. The only way you can be perfect in God’s sight is to accept the righteousness of Christ, as a free gift from God. Jesus lived a perfect life for 33 plus years and then He died...being punished for all of our sins, our sinfulness, and all of our faults and imperfections.
Hebrews 4:15: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin.
Note: Jesus is our high priest. He was tempted in every possible way a human being could be tempted. You can know how Satan made sure of that, but He never gave into a single temptation...in His thought life, in His behavior (actions or reactions), in His emotions, in His attitudes, or in any other part of living out His human life.
In living a truly perfect life as a human being, Jesus literally earned His right to go to heaven by His good works, in addition to the pure righteous nature He was born with...that He never defiled. He lived out...in and through His flesh, His righteous nature. Jesus is the only one to ever do this. Over and over in the New Testament, God the Father reaffirmed how Jesus was His beloved Son, with whom He was well pleased.
In living out His perfect life, but then dying for your sinfulness, He earned the right to give you His purity and His righteousness as a free gift. Therefore, you can ask Him for the free gift of His purity and His righteousness. If you ask Him, He will give it to you and convert you. He will save you from your sinfulness and place within you His pure and righteous eternal life. Then, and only then, will you become a part of the Kingdom of God.
Romans 10:13: For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Next time in Part 2, we will study in-depth, the biblical experience of conversion, which is the only way you can get into the Kingdom of God (and Christ) here on earth.
Until next time, please examine your life very closely, and determine if you have ever really been converted?
Yours in Christ,
Gene
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