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“it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”
- Matthew 19:24
It is impossible for a rich man to enter heaven
Discussion time. Let us ask.
Question : Does being Poor means you will enter heaven?
Neither being rich nor being poor, qualify or disqualify anyone from entering heaven.
Is this the reason why many Christians are poor? because sub consciously they are convinced entering heaven is by “being poor”?
How does one enter heaven? how can a person be save?
Answer : Grace
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast”
- Ephesians 2:8-9
So what then was Jesus trying to tell us? if entering heaven is not by ‘status (rich or poor)’ ?
All Jesus was saying is “it is impossible to enter heaven”
Here’s another verse to ponder
“But everyone who denies me before people, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven”
- Matthew 10:33
Question : How many times do you need to deny Jesus to be rejected of heaven? 1 time. Once.
How many times did Peter denied Jesus? 3 times. That’s a triple negative!
therefore it is very much extremely hard and impossible for Peter to enter heaven. don’t you think so?
As Impossible it is for the rich man to enter heaven, so is for Peter to enter heaven who will be denied 3 times as well. that’s like sentenced “triple life imprisonment”
“When his disciples heard this, they were stunned. “Then who can be saved?” they asked”
- Matthew 19:25
Perhaps just now you were asking the same question. “Who then can be saved?” Here’s an answer for ya
“Jesus looked at them carefully and said, ‘It’s impossible for human beings. But all things are possible for God.’”
- Matthew 19:26
WHAT’S THE POINT?
All Jesus was saying is this
“it is impossible for man to save himself”
In other words “God made salvation free”. all we need to do now is receive the free gift freely.
Simple? too good to be true? because you have no part to do? read on.
If we come to God by our good works or obedience, then it is never enough
“Jesus replied,
‘You shall not murder,
you shall not commit adultery,
you shall not steal,
you shall not give false testimony,
honor your father and mother,’ and
‘love your neighbor as yourself’
‘All these I have kept,’ the young man said. ‘What do I still lack?’
Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me’ ”
- Matthew 19:21
Notice “You still lack one thing” when you come to Jesus with “I have done this, I have done that”
see what happens when you bring your “good works” ? It is never enough!
ONE THING YOU LACK
“What do I still lack? One thing you lack”
To those who come against Grace (which is the gospel) say “we have to obey the 10 commandments”. Let them recite the 10 commandments. let us see if they LACK A THING OR TWO. let them enumerate the 10 commandments on the spot
I say “one thing we lack. we forgot to memorize”
Now then. Why do we still wonder ‘why it is impossible for man to enter heaven’ ? When the simplest thing which is memorizing 10 items, we simply cannot.
How then can we obey the Law when we do not even memorized it?
the point I am driving is this. never come to God with all your boastings “I have done this, I have done that therefore I deserve to receive …” for no one can satisfy the Law. we will end up “You lack one thing”. but there is a Man who has fully satisfied the Law. His name is Jesus, where “nothing is lacking”
Let us draw near to Jesus as one needing a savior
Let us not come as a disciple, or as a follower or as if a student wanting to learn the Law as if Jesus came to teach us the Law – but rather let us come to Jesus looking at Him as our savior for He is in truth our savior, the lamb who took away our sins!
FINAL WORDS
Salvation is by Grace. the Grace is God’s Effort. Salvation is God’s Work.
If salvation is not by God’s work and Grace, then Peter would have ended somewhere else except in heaven for Peter denied Jesus 3 times.
why then? did Jesus failed in His words when He said “I will deny before God those who deny me before Man”. no way! for God does not change His mind
but at the cross, Jesus bore all of Peter’s sins, including the “sin of denial” (if you want to put it that way).
God was demonstrating Grace. God is showing “where sin abounds, Grace super super abounds” that in spite of Peter’s grave sin of denying Jesus, God’s grace is beyond our sins.. amen
Definitely Peter did not deserve heaven. nor Absolutely can Peter ever merit eternal life. Peter is not special. no favoritism on Peter. he is like you and me. Jesus shed His blood for Peter as well.
But God’s grace is undeserved, unearned and unmerited. Awesome! my Jesus is just plain awesome!
Did you deny Jesus before man? have you? look at this verse below
“If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us”
- 2 Timothy 2:12
it simply means
“even if we deny Jesus, Jesus will deny that we denied Him. it is as if we did not deny Him. too good to be true? tell that to Peter!”
love you all!
- grace and peace
This is a great story!.. If we walk in the ways God has commanded us, we will prosper in many ways!.. But greed, selfishness and dishonesty will make it hard for us to enter…
indeed!
we have to walk according to “God’s ways”
and God’s way is simple..
“Believe”
if we “simply “Believe” then the greed, selfishness, dishonestly and the like shall dry off and fall like dry leaves.
but then, we are still saved not because we are not greedy, or we are not selfish or that we are not dishonest. a big NO!
we are still saved by Grace, not by the result of Grace, but Grace Himself saved us – Jesus
- grace and peace
I don’t know if it is true, but its been said that “the eye of a needle” was an entrance into Jerusalem or something like that. The camels would have to get on their knees to enter. The point that people try to make through that is that we have to enter the kingdom on bended knee.
But does that really make sense or line up with what Jesus was saying? Jesus was saying it is IMPOSSIBLE to save ourselves and gave an analogy of something very impossible (camels going through needles). to say that we enter on bended knee is to point to our own religiosity instead of grace that saves us not when we are on bended knee but when we are DEAD in sins. Just thought I would pass that on :)
Ameeeeeeeeeeen
I appreciate your exposition here. You have presented the truth of God’s grace, the Lord Jesus Christ in straightforward argument using the Scriptures. Indeed, if it not for Jesus Christ, his sacrifice on the cross for our sin, we would have remain in the ‘wilderness’ of sin and mortality.
Sorry to leave you with the number of man, but thanks for your blog it’s been a real blessing. I encourage your venture to memorize the Law, some of us are not so blessed. If you can recall one of my blog posts called feasts of the Lord, I talked about the Passover being in the month of Abib, I am still trying to find that blog posting. Do you keep a print out of your blog postings? You should. You should keep them in a journal and it will be a blessing to others. You have really inspired me and shaken my thinking. Keep hanging in there brother. Take Care and God Bless, SingingIt’sComplicatedv4
hey, its been a while since i saw you comment.
i know all is going well with you.
it has been a combination of rough and grace year for me.
yes, I did memorize the Law. there was a video that teaches how to memorize the Law using pictographs. it makes memorizing it easier.
thank you for suggesting me to print my post, i soon as i get a printer, i will print
have a blessed new year to ya!
may you increase in the knowledge of our Lord and His grace and peace be multiplied upon you. amen
Thank you for what you write and how you write . .for all the grace! I loved your ending scripture. Once, traveling in the wee hours of the morning with my 2 daughters to another state . ..hurting and needing help . ..I was crying out to Him. There alongside the road was a sign that said “All things are possible. – God. ” It was a turning point for me. God bless you!
wondering if you got my email, cheers Graeme
peace be on all, pplz sam verse is mentioned in da quran( get a copy).