Kingdom of Life

Forgiveness of sin is through faith in Jesus Christ and nothing else. Our confession of faith in Jesus must be accompanied by repentance — genuine remorse for what we have done and a desire to turn away from it — for it to do us any good, because even the demons believe Jesus is Lord, and shudder (James 2:19). Once we have been forgiven of our sin and made right with God, and He has sent His Holy Spirit into us, we should be growing in the fruit of that Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26) — there should eventually be a significant difference between our attitudes and actions and those of most other people in this world. Godly attitudes and actions do not save us; they are evidence that we have been saved. If we stumble and do something wrong, as we will still sometimes tend to do, the Holy Spirit will not allow our mind to rest until we have admitted to God what we did and turned away from it, and made it up with whoever we have wronged.

For anyone who is unsure about the above points, the following sermon by Paul Washer will bring it home very forcefully and directly. There are those who claim to be Christians who have never had a point in their life or a period in their life where they realized they were a sinner and needed to be transformed by the power of God. For them this sermon is highly recommended. There are those who have confessed faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, and knew what they were saying and meant it, but their attitudes and actions are indistinguishable from the rest of the world. They sense that something is wrong — that there is a disconnect between what they are saying and what they are doing — but they can’t put their finger on it or be sure how concerned about it they should be. For them this sermon is also highly recommended.

Paul Washer is director of HeartCry Missionary Society, which supports indigenous missionaries around the world. This sermon is to a youth conference in the US, but its message is relevant for any age. The sermon is about an hour long. Consider it an investment in your spiritual future. It is not calming and soothing, it is jarring and unsettling. But remember, the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 110:10). “My child, do not despise discipline from the LORD, and do not loathe his rebuke. For the LORD disciplines those he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)

Please understand this: what is being talked about here is not that we should “try to be more religious.” What we are talking about here is letting God have His way with us — letting Him do a work of spiritual rebirth in us, a rebirth that will make our attitudes and actions noticeably different from those of the world in general.

There are two groups of people this message is primarily directed to. To understand who these groups are, let’s look at Jesus’ Parable of the Sower. “He told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil. They sprang up quickly because the soil was not deep. But when the sun came up, they were scorched, and because they did not have sufficient root, they withered. Other seeds fell among the thorns, and they grew up and choked them. But other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. The one who has ears had better listen!’” (Matthew 13:3-9)

“‘So listen to the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; this is the seed sown along the path. The seed sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. But he has no root in himself and does not endure; when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, so it produces nothing. But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands. He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.’” (Matthew 13:18-23)

In this parable, the seed which falls along the path represents those who hear the gospel and do not understand it; they do not receive it into their heart. They have no room for God in their life. They reject the call to repent, much less to allow God to work a change in their life. The message presented here is not aimed primarily at them.

The seed sown on good soil represents the person who hears the word and understands it; they receive it into their heart. They repent of their sin, believe in Jesus, and allow God’s Spirit to transform their life. They have already heard the message and have taken it to heart. There are some who accepted Jesus very early in life and don’t have a history of sinning greatly followed by a radical transformation in their lifestyle. The important thing is that their attitudes and actions show that they know God because they look more and more like Christ and less and less like the world.

The unregenerate religious person

The first group we are mainly concerned with here is represented by the seed which falls on rocky soil. The plant grows up but does not last because it has no root; the soil was too shallow. This person may say they believe in Jesus and may even do a lot of religious things and show a lot of religious fervor. However, they never really believed. There never was repentance; they never really admitted to God that they were a sinner in need of forgiveness. Therefore, their declaration of faith in Jesus was essentially meaningless, and whatever religious things they do are by their own effort, not by the Holy Spirit. If trouble or persecution comes their way because of their religious involvement, they will not hang around very long. Even if they do, it will not do them any good at the judgment. While they knew things about Jesus, they never knew Jesus, and Jesus never knew them. That is why, as Paul Washer pointed out, there will be surprised people on the day of judgment. “‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter into the kingdom of heaven — only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?” Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!”‘” (Matthew 7:21-23)

So what should you do if you recognize yourself here? It is imperative that you hear what the Word of God has to say about how we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that you believe it and have a change of heart about it. Immerse yourself in passages of scripture such as Psalm 51, Isaiah 53, Ezekiel 33:7-20, Habakkuk 2:9-20, Matthew 7 and 25, John 3, 4 and 6:35-59, Acts 17:16-31, and Revelation 16. One of the best things you can do is set aside a few hours and carefully read the first five chapters of Romans, not moving on from one paragraph to the next until you are reasonably sure you understand the previous one. Pray to God, asking Him to help you understand His Word and show you where you have gone wrong. Ask questions of Christian friends or others who can help you understand difficult passages. The important thing, when we realize there is something we should care about but don’t, such as how we have sinned against God, is to turn to God and ask Him in prayer to show us what we are blind to, to give us the concern we don’t have. There is nothing God wants more than for us to ask Him to do for us what we admit we cannot do for ourselves. And His Word works with His Spirit to do this.

The casual Christian

The second major group we are mainly concerned with is represented by the seed which falls among the thorns. The seed sprouted, but the thorns growing around the plant choked it and prevented it from being fruitful. This is the person we could call a ‘casual Christian’. They hear the Word and receive it, they repent and believe in Jesus, but the cares and concerns of this world and the deceitfulness of worldly things distract them from following Jesus. There is little room in that person’s heart for the Holy Spirit to move and operate because so much of that person’s heart is crowded with worldly things. Paul Washer said in his sermon that there is no such thing as a ‘carnal Christian’, and certainly it is legitimate to question how much repentance accompanied someone’s confession of faith when they go on sinning like before. God and that person know whether they really have placed their faith in Christ. At the same time, spiritual growth is a process; we don’t necessarily go overnight from being a bad tree bearing bad fruit to being a good tree bearing good fruit. Nevertheless, there ought to be significant and lasting spiritual growth in a believer’s life. This growth will be very limited if we are not putting the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first in our lives, if we are not surrendering to God and letting the Holy Spirit really move in our lives.

This, first of all, grieves God, because He didn’t send His Son to die just so we could go on sinning like before. Secondly, it prevents us from experiencing the abundant life Jesus promised us, because we aren’t giving the Holy Spirit any room in our hearts. It’s like inviting a guest into our home but stipulating that they have to stay in the foyer or the basement and cannot go anywhere else in the house. Thirdly, it means we cannot be a blessing in the lives of others like God wants. Our consciousness of our continued sinfulness tends to discourage us from talking to others about Jesus. Even if we do talk about it, chances are we are just bringing discredit to the name of Jesus because the person we are talking to sees no difference between us and everyone else. We cannot lead others to Jesus unless we ourselves are following Jesus.

I know what I’m talking about because I’ve been there. I’ve been the casual Christian; I know the mindset, the mentality; I know all about it. I placed my faith in Jesus as a pre-teen and knew what I was declaring when I did so. But for many years, while the talk was there, most people would not have known from my behavior what I believed. It was inconceivable to me that there could be a life worth living in which one could not commit any sin at all. But I sensed that there was something wrong with my attitude; the Holy Spirit was convicting me. I sensed that I needed to take in God’s Word on a regular basis and did so; over time He used His Word, His Spirit, and many different people and things to get my attention. Finally I committed to following Jesus and letting the Holy Spirit have its way with me; the resulting change in me was sudden and dramatic and extended to every area of my life.

What to do

You may be saying, “OK, I’m convinced. I have been preoccupied with the things of the world rather than the things of God, and I shouldn’t be. I, too, sense there is something wrong with how I am living. But how do I change? How do I follow Christ like I ought to?”

The single most important thing to do is to take in God’s Word on a regular basis. It is a necessity for our spiritual life. And in this day and age there are many different ways to do this, not just by reading it. Hearing the Word of God must be a priority; it is the first step in our spiritual journey, not just for salvation, but for spiritual growth and anything else we want in our lives. We cannot concoct our own recipe for becoming the people God wants us to be; we can’t improve on God’s truth. We’ve got to take His Word into our hearts and keep it there.

Then, we’ve got to believe what we have heard. We’ve got to think about it, meditate on it, take it to heart. In other words, we have to hear God’s Word with our brain turned on, rather than just letting it go in one ear and out the other. We’ve got to listen to it critically, meaning we think about what it means, whether we believe it; if we do, why; if we don’t, why.

After we hear God’s Word, after we believe what we have heard, then we have to act on what we believe. The most important single action we can usually take is to pray. We come before God with that passage of scripture that contains something we want and we pray in Jesus’ name that God will do it for us, believing as we ask that we have received what we asked for — even before we see it. For example, if we want to grow in love or in self-control we go to the scripture that contains that promise and ask for it. Or if there is a scripture that says we should avoid saying careless, hurtful, disparaging things about others, and we are not convinced that that is a big deal, we can pray to God to help us see that it is important and to give us the desire to say things that build people up rather than tearing them down. In addition to praying, we need to be ready to do whatever God commands us to do, whether it is something He says in His Word or something He says directly to us individually. We need to be ready to do whatever God leads us to do in the spiritual or the natural realm.

When we hear the Word, believe the Word, and act on the Word, we can count on God to keep His Word. He will keep the promises He has made in the Bible. If we pray to Him having admitted and turned away from any sins we may have committed, with right motives, in Jesus’ name for things in His will, with faith that He will do what we ask, He will hear that prayer and respond. He will enable us to know Him and love Him for who He is. He will give us salvation, love, peace, joy, and abundance and blessings in every area of life — spiritual, professional, relational, physical, financial. He will motivate us and enable us to be a blessing in the lives of others, so that they can know God, so they can experience life to the fullest, so they can in turn be a blessing.

This is what real life is. The person who has allowed God to change them by the power of His Spirit finds a world that the nonbeliever, or even the believer who has kept the Holy Spirit at arm’s length, knows nothing about. It is a world that you cannot believe exists until you are in it. Once you are in it, you will wonder how anyone could live outside of it.

And ultimately, no one will live outside of it. “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:20-23)