Obtaining the Kingdom of God

As Mr. Imes mentioned, this is a continuing seminar series, and we certainly do enjoy presenting the Kingdom of God Bible Seminars. As was mentioned, Jesus Christ, as He walked the earth, the main focus of His ministry was to preach the Gospel and spread the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. And after His death and His resurrection, He told His disciples and apostles later to go out and preach the Gospel.

And again, that's been a commission of the Church down through time, and that is why we give such emphasis even today in what we teach, as far as the coming events and the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. Now again, this is a continuing seminar series, and so as we go through today's presentation, I will touch on some of the things that we have covered previous to this point.

But I'd like to proceed from the fact that the foundation has already been laid in the previous seminars. What we'll talk about today, again, we'll build on that foundation. I'd like to begin in the springboard Scripture that we go to each time for these Kingdom of God Bible Seminars. If you'll turn with me, please, to Mark the first chapter. We'll be looking at verse 14 and verse 15 of Mark chapter 1. Here we'll gain a snapshot into the ministry of Jesus Christ. Mark chapter 1 and verse 14. It says, now after John was put in prison, and John is referring to here as John the Baptist, John the Baptist came to pave the way to make way for the ministry of Jesus Christ.

It says, after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God. And saying, the time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand. He said, repent and believe in the gospel. So what we see is that the message that Jesus Christ brought was the message of hope. It was the message that pointed to the future. It's the message of the coming Kingdom of God.

Now in his words here, he says, the time is fulfilled. And that indicated that his arrival on the scene had fulfilled prophecies that had been declared among men for a few thousand years. He was also declaring the fact that the way of man's doing things, the way that society of his age and our age functions, is soon to come to an end. And the time had come to begin to fulfill the restoration of the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ also said, the Kingdom of God is at hand.

And that was literally the case. Jesus Christ was the King of that Kingdom, and he was walking on earth. He was among men. He was teaching them. He was instructing them about the Kingdom of God. Whenever he intervened on someone's behalf and performed a miracle, when he healed them, when he intervened in their life, the Kingdom of God was literally drawing near unto them.

Jesus Christ's teachings revealed that some of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, which had been recorded in Scripture and not clearly understood, his teachings helped to reveal those mysteries to those who would listen and have ears to hear what he had to say. The phrase, the Kingdom of God is at hand, also means that the Kingdom of God is soon to be established on this earth. That is true in the day of Jesus Christ, and is true in our day as well.

Jesus Christ's message also included the call to repentance, included the call to believe in the Gospel for those who would hear and respond to the message that he brought. In the previous seminars up to this point, we took a close look at what the Gospel message was that Jesus Christ brought. In doing so, we recognized that it's a message of hope. It's a message of hope for the troubled age in which he lived, and it's a message of hope for the troubled age of our time as well.

The Gospel of the Kingdom is a message that gives hope to those that would respond. It gives purpose. It gives direction. It gives fulfillment in their life. What we saw in the previous seminars is that the conditions of this earth are going to grow much worse as the time in the end arrives. Jesus Christ's own words tell us that there will be great tribulation that's going to fulfill this earth, and it's not until the return of Jesus Christ to establish the Kingdom of God that those things will be brought to an end.

Scripture indicates that unless Jesus Christ intervened, that there would be no flesh saved. No flesh would be saved alive. Again, mankind is building to their own destruction. This earth desperately needs the coming Kingdom of God. In our previous seminars, we also read prophecies that describe what a restored earth will look like under the reign of the Kingdom of God. There's going to be a new system, a new structure that's put in place, a new world that will live by the laws and the standards of God and our elder brother and king, Jesus Christ.

We recognize that it's going to be a time when the resurrected saints will rule as kings and priests alongside Jesus Christ, helping to instruct and helping to bring in this new world. Now, in light of Scripture, ladies and gentlemen, it should be clear to us that, again, the Kingdom of God was central to the ministry of Jesus Christ. And it was his intent that for those who would hear the Gospel and believe that they would take action in their life, that they would respond to the good news that Jesus Christ brought. In Matthew 6, verse 33, Jesus Christ instructed believers everywhere to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

He said to seek it first, to go after it. To seek the Kingdom of God first means you make it the highest priority in your life, and you structure all the other elements of your life in support of that vision. Do we seek first the Kingdom of God? It's a question we each have to answer individually. Now, Jesus Christ in His ministry, and through various parables in which He taught, He reinforced the need to have focus and zeal for that soon-coming Kingdom.

I'd like to begin by looking at just a couple of short parables of Jesus Christ in Matthew 13, if you'll follow me over there, please. Matthew 13. Again, we'll see the emphasis that Jesus Christ shows that we should place on obtaining the Kingdom of God. Matthew 13, verse 44, contains a short parable, and the heading of my Bible says, The Parable of the Hidden Treasure. Matthew 13, verse 44, here Jesus Christ says, Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid, and for joy over it, He goes and sells all that He has, and He buys that field.

And the point here is that upon discovering the Kingdom of God, we need to realize that everything else in this life that we consider priorities, maybe they pale in comparison to the revelation of the Kingdom of God. I think what we see by this parable is that we need to be willing to sacrifice all. We need to be willing to make the Kingdom of God the highest priority in our life and to do all that we can in pursuit of that vision.

Verse 45 continues on. Another parable. It says, Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. So you have this merchant and it's his business to go out and buy and sell him, so he's looking. There's something very important he's trying to find. Seeking beautiful pearls. Upon when he has found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and he bought it.

So again, we need to realize that the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is the pearl of great price in our life. When we hear the message, when we understand the Gospel that Jesus Christ brought, we need to understand that we need to be willing to place all our energy, all our focus on obtaining that goal.

Again, Jesus Christ said to seek first the Kingdom of God. Make obtaining it the highest priority in your life. And everything else will fall in order, just as it should.

Now this afternoon I'd like to ask and answer the question, how should that process begin? How does the process begin where we first recognize and understand the Gospel of the Kingdom of God? How does the process begin by which we then respond to that Gospel message? How do we go about obtaining the Kingdom of God? Jesus Christ summed up the basic requirements for entering the Kingdom of God when he preached the need to repent and believe in the Gospel. He said, repent and believe in the Gospel. Up to this point, the topics we've covered in the previous seminars and the emphasis that we've placed on the first part of Mark 1, verse 14 and 15, those things have been primarily informative knowledge. We discussed what it meant for the time to be fulfilled, what it meant for the Kingdom of God to be at hand. Those are things that inform us, are things that every disciple of Jesus Christ should know about. Now, as we move forward through Christ's words of Mark 1, the message takes on a different tone. It goes on from simply being head knowledge and we move past that point into understanding the action that we need to take. We come to the point of saying, okay, I see this, I know this, I understand Jesus Christ taught this, now what do I personally need to do about it? Jesus Christ said to repent and believe in the Gospel. As we'll come to see this afternoon, the actions of repentance and belief are the principles that are based in action. They're principles that require us to take action in our life. And they're actions that are essential for obtaining eternal salvation in the Kingdom of God.

Now, repentance is a topic that we discussed in a previous seminar, but I'd like to go back and lay some of the groundwork to repentance. Because, again, it is an important topic. It is essential to the process of being saved. Repentance begins with an understanding of just who and what we are before God. It begins with the understanding of what our carnal nature is and how that nature affects our relationship with God. Repentance leads us to understanding that we need to take action in order to seek God's mercy and forgiveness. Repentance ultimately leads to a reversal of direction. It leads to a change of an active change that we make in our life, in which we actually reverse the course from which we were walking, and we turn and we go another direction that's in line with the calling of God the Father and the example of our brother Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ's gospel message was a call to repentance. It was a major emphasis of his gospel. It was a call for a life change in those who would hear it, who would respond. Now, at this point, sometimes the question might come up, why do we even need to change? What is it about our life that needs to be changed? I mean, doesn't God love us just the way we are? Well, the main reason we need to make changes in our life is found in Romans the 8th chapter. I'd like you to follow me over there, please. We'll use the Romans 8. These are the words of the Apostle Paul. They're very instructive for us today.

Romans 8. We're going to look at verses 7 and 8.

Romans 8, beginning in verse 7. Again, we're looking at why we need to make these changes. Romans 8, verse 7 says, Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, nor need can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Here, the Apostle Paul is talking about the carnal mind. The carnal minds, essentially, are sinful human nature. It's our mind apart from the influence of God. To be an enmity against God means that we're in opposition to God. We're opposed to God. We're living our lives in a way that doesn't conform to the standard that God would have us live by. And frankly, ladies and gentlemen, that's not a place we want to be. The Apostle Paul said the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, which means it's in a state of lawlessness. It's in a state of opposition against God. In other words, the carnal mind is a mind which is living in sin. And that, in fact, is what needs to change. Follow me over, please, to 1 John chapter 3.

1 John chapter 3.

We're going to see what exactly sin is. Sometimes the question comes up. Just what is sin? 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4. It says, Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. So sin is going against the law. We might say, what law? What law are we talking about? I mean, this is years after the life and death of Jesus Christ. What law? Well, we're talking about God's holy, righteous, and perfect law. We're talking about the law and the commandments that Jesus Christ exemplified in His life, in His ministry, as He walked this earth. We're talking about the standard that God, from the beginning, laid out for mankind to live by. Sin is against God's law. The prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 59 that sin separates us from God. So sin builds a wall of separation and builds a barrier between us and God. It's a hindrance to our relationship with Him. That's why it has to be changed. Again, I don't think any of us here would want to be in opposition to God. We want to be in opposition to the plan He has for us.

So what is it that those who hear the gospel message of the kingdom of God have to repent of? The answer is we have to repent of sin. We have to repent of our carnal nature and our carnal ways of doing things. We have to come to see who and what we are before God. We need to recognize the need that we have for forgiveness.

Again, God is merciful. Jesus Christ came preaching good news.

And so we need to understand that God, through His mercy, desires to give us forgiveness. But again, there are actions that we have to take. And that's through the process of repentance. Again, the question comes up, well, doesn't God just love everyone the way they are? Doesn't God love all His children and love everything that they do in this world? Well, it is true that God loves all His children, but God doesn't love the sin of His children.

And it is that action we need to change. The consequence of sin is death. The consequence of not turning and going the other way from that direction in our life. The consequence is severe. If you follow me over, please, the Romans 6. And we'll see the consequences of sin.

Romans 6, verse 23.

The words of the Apostle Paul are the Romans. Romans 6, verse 23. The first half of it says, for the wages of sin is death.

That's the just compensation. It's the fair wage that sin earns us. It's death. We're not talking just simply a physical death. We're talking eternal death. It's a condition that all mankind is under apart from the mercy of God in their life, apart from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You know, when we work a job, we go out and work a certain number of hours, we receive a wage. We receive compensation for those actions which we've done. What Paul's saying here is the wages of sin is death. That's what we've all earned in our life. And that's what we need to recognize and repent of. Because sin is an obstacle to salvation. We can't be saved in our sins. Jesus Christ didn't come to save us in our sins. He came to save us out of our sins. Again, Christ put out the call to repentance. The second half of Romans 6.23 gives the flip side to the coin. It says, but the gift of God is eternal life and Jesus Christ our Lord. So salvation, being saved, obtaining eternal life is the gift of God. In that sense, it's not a wage. It's not something that we can walk through a certain number of steps and earn. It is a gift of God. But as we'll come to see, it's a gift that is given conditionally. God gives us the gift, but He requires certain conditions to be fulfilled in order for us to receive that gift. Romans 6.23 tells us that all have sinned and we fall short of the glory of God. Again, that's the condition of all mankind. That's the condition we all need to turn and change from. Because that is there, because we've all earned the wages of sin, which is death, it means we all need a Redeemer. You all need a Redeemer. Redeemer is one who buys something back. As carnal human beings, we need to be bought back from the wages of sin. We need to be bought back from death and be reconciled in relationship with God. The Redeemer in our life is none other than Jesus Christ.

That was the purpose He came to this earth. That's the purpose He brought the Gospel message. That's the purpose He died on our behalf. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth. He lived among men. He walked among men as a physical being. He was without sin. The Bible says He was tempted in all ways as we are, and yet He was without sin. Jesus Christ never earned the wages of sin. That qualifies Jesus Christ to pay that penalty on our behalf. He was our Redeemer who bought us back from the wages of sin. But again, this is conditional. It's conditional, as we'll see upon repentance.

Let's go to John 3.

John 3. John chapter 3 verse 16. It's a familiar passage, probably familiar to most anyone who's claiming to be a Christian. John 3 verse 16 says, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What this verse is saying is that it's through belief in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It's through belief that He came to die on our behalf and to pay that penalty for us, that we can receive the gift of eternal life. What that means is salvation is conditional. It is the gift of God again, but it is conditional. Salvation is conditional upon repentance from sin. It's conditional on belief in Jesus Christ as the only one by whom we can be saved.

Salvation is also conditional on baptism. Baptism is the means by which our past sins are forgiven by God, and we can walk forward in newness of life. Let's look at John, Mark chapter 16.

Mark 16 verse 16. Mark 16 verse 16 says, He who believes and is baptized will be saved, that he who does not believe will be condemned. These aren't my words, they're not even Mark's words. They're the words of Jesus Christ. So again, exercising faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and the process of baptism are what's required to be saved. Now, baptism is a physical process. It's a physical symbol, but it is also a spiritual process. Baptism is a physical set of circumstances that we walk through, which represent a spiritual process that takes place in our life. Before baptism, an individual has to recognize that he is a spiritual person. He is a spiritual person. So the first step, again, is recognizing that we have all sinned before God, and that we need to be forgiven. We repent of our sins, which are contrary to God's holy, righteous, and perfect law. And then we have to accept by faith Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Accept by faith Jesus Christ is the one who has the power to pay for our sins in that way. And then the process is to be forgiven. And then we have to accept by faith Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. To pay for our sins in that way. And then the process is we are baptized by full immersion in the water.

Full immersion baptism symbolizes a death. It symbolizes the bearing of the old man, of the old self. Symbolizing putting to death of the carnal nature, which is contrary to God. Something we all need to go through before we can walk in newness of life. Baptism symbolizes going down into a watery grave. Our sins being washed away.

Now again, baptism symbolizes the death, but you don't hold the individual under there. It's kind of to the bubble stop and they're literally dead. The fact is you bring them back up out of the water, symbolizing resurrection and raising them back up to newness of life. Newness of life in service to God and Jesus Christ. Once this process has occurred, God views the person as clean. He views them as sinless. He views them as justified in a sight because his forgiveness and his grace has been extended.

Again, it's through the process of repentance through baptism that we're justified in the sight of God. It means we're made right in his sight. We're made straight in his sight. When we're sinners, we're cut off from God. When we're made right in his sight, we're renewed and reconciled in relationship to him. Baptism is followed by the laying on of hands, the ministry of Jesus Christ, and at that point God gives his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit allows the mind of Jesus Christ to live in us and dwell in us. It allows us to be able to have the power and the ability to walk in newness of life and walk according to the calling that God has given us. From that time forward, God expects us to surrender, to submit, and to serve him fully in obedience as an ongoing condition to being saved.

Now, you might say, well, that's interesting. You said you're saved when you're baptized. What do you mean, ongoing condition to being saved is obedience. Well, you see, the Bible doesn't show us that being saved is a one-time event. Being saved is not once saved, always saved. It's not that you've been dumped in the water and now you're clean and there's never anything you can do again to disqualify yourself from salvation. That's not what the Word of God teaches. There are people who teach that. That's not what God's Word teaches. It's important we understand that we can still disqualify ourselves from salvation. The great challenge a person faces following baptism is actually keeping the old man under the water. Keeping that carnal nature and that carnal way of doing things which is in opposition to God. The challenge is keeping that suppressed and out of our life. The problem is we do sometimes fall short. We do sometimes stumble back into sin. The wages of sin is still death. Even after baptism, even after forgiveness, the wages of sin is death. When that happens, we have to recognize our sin. We have to come before God again in renewed repentance. We need deceit to have the blood of Jesus Christ applied to us to be made right on the side of God once again. When God does justify us in that way, we are made right once again. Therefore, each time we receive God's forgiveness applied to us, it's essentially a renewed application of salvation.

I was saved at baptism. I admit, since baptism I've stumbled. I've faltered. I've had to come to God in repentance. I've been forgiven of my sins. I've been saved once again out of the wages of sin. I have to admit, I'm human. I will need to be saved again.

Ultimately, salvation comes at the return of Jesus Christ when we receive eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Again, it's not once saved, always saved, but it is an ongoing process throughout our life. That's a basic overview of the process of repentance, the process of forgiveness leading to reconciliation with God. Now, we move on to the second requirement that Jesus Christ laid out for those who would hear the Gospel message and seek to be a part of the Kingdom of God. He said, you need to believe in the Gospel. The word Gospel means good news. That's the good news of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel is an all-inclusive message that tells us how we can live forever in the Kingdom of God and what it is that we need to do in order to be there. In Jesus Christ, it laid out standards that needed to be followed. The Gospel message is a message of hope. It's a message of liberty for all of mankind. The Gospel message shows that there's a better way of life than what this world has now. As mentioned in the introduction, if we turn on the news, I think even just this last week, we see that many parts of this world are on fire, literally. Not just politically, but religiously. These aren't just small brush fires. These are things that, at their core, have heavy religious undertones. Jesus Christ said great tribulation would come such as mankind had never seen. These things will be continuing to build until the return of Jesus Christ. For us, we like to think that we can do something about it. We like to think maybe if we elect the right person or install the right political process, we can fix the problem. The only thing we can truly, ultimately fix is ourselves. God is calling us to salvation. God is calling us to repent and believe in the Gospel. Now, belief is a word that could be termed faith. Belief is a confident assurance. It's a conviction. It's a trust. That those things that we hear in the Gospel message are true. Belief is founded in the faith and understanding that God has the power to bring about and fulfill those things which He has promised. Believing in the Gospel includes believing in everything the Bible teaches, including concerning salvation. It requires that we believe in everything that Jesus Christ said we needed to do in order to be saved. Again, the Gospel message points to the future, points to hope. It also points to the steps that we need to take in our life to be an active part of the coming Kingdom of God. When we believe in the Gospel, that message becomes real to us. It becomes part of who and what we are. It becomes the main focus by which we structure our lives, by which we organize everything in our lives so that it's in support of obtaining that vision and that Kingdom. Belief is required for repentance. We have to believe that we sin. We have to believe that God is desirous and willing to forgive us. We have to believe that the blood of Jesus Christ being applied to us will put us in a position where God will extend that forgiveness to us. We have to believe in the Gospel. So, how is belief demonstrated? Is belief a warm and fuzzy feeling that we get inside? Is belief an intellectual process where we re-read the words and we kind of understand them academically and we can intellectually say, I believe. Is belief a process where we just say, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ saved me and there's nothing else that we need to do?

More so more to believe than that. Again, the Bible indicates many things. It indicates that there is more to belief than simply saying those words. And we'll see that as we go forward. The Bible clearly shows that belief is an active process. It's an active process that we have to put into action in our lives. It's active because belief is linked directly to obedience. If you believe in the Gospel, if you believe what Jesus Christ said, then you're going to be doing the things that Jesus Christ, the author of the Gospel said to do. Belief is linked to obedience. You can see that demonstrated in the book of Matthew. If you'll follow me over to Matthew 19. I'm going to look at verse 16. Matthew 19, beginning in verse 16. I see a practical example of this.

Again, we're jumping into the snapshot of Jesus Christ's ministry. Matthew 19, 16 says, It's interesting. This person recognized that the Gospel message was pointing to the future. It was pointing to eternal life. Apparently, he believed it to a certain extent. He said, Notice what Jesus Christ here says. He said to him, Why do you call me good? There is no one good. There is only one good, but that is God. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. Jesus Christ didn't say, All you have to do is feel good about it. All you have to do is say you believe, but not change your life. It is a foundation to come to acknowledge the Gospel and believe, but Jesus Christ says, You need to put that belief into action. You need to put it into action through obedience.

Verse 18, He said to him, Which commandments are you talking about? Jesus said, You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus Christ is talking about the Ten Commandments. He is talking about the spiritual laws of God. He is talking about those laws. Many people view those as old physical laws that are done away with. They are physical in many ways, in application, but they reveal a spiritual process. They reveal the mind and the character and the nature of God. The commandments of God are the standard that Jesus Christ lived by when he walked this earth. It wasn't a stretch for him to have to fit to conform within those parameters, because that was his character and that was his nature. That is the mind that should be developed within us as well. Again, Christ showed that it is faith linked with obedience that we enter the kingdom of God. It is only through faith linked with obedience that we can maintain a right and proper relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Again, sin separates us. Obedience draws us closer. If we go back now to Matthew 7, chapter 7, verse 21, I see an example in an illustration by Jesus Christ that shows that just saying we believe doesn't cut it. It doesn't measure up. Matthew 7, verse 21, Jesus Christ's words, He says, Christ is making it clear, just saying, Lord, Lord, I believe, Lord, you saved me, Lord, you're my master. Just saying those things is not enough. If we want to enter the kingdom of God, we have to be doing something. In this case, Jesus Christ described it as doing the will of the Father. Verse 22, It says, You know, they're saying, Lord, we believed and we acted. We believed in the gospel, we believed what you said, and you know what? We went out and we acted.

But what's the problem? What does Jesus Christ say here? Verse 23, And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, the part for me, you who practice lawlessness. The problem is, they didn't have the proper relationship with God and Jesus Christ. The problem is, they were doing what was right in their eyes, not what Jesus Christ said to do. And there is a difference. If you want to obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God, you need to be obedient unto the words of Jesus Christ, not what might feel good and right and proper to you, but to what Christ commanded and directed.

Verse 24, Christ says, Christ says, And the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on it, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. It was founded on a solid foundation. It was founded on the true and actual teachings of Jesus Christ. And it was founded on Jesus Christ Himself, actually being the chief cornerstone in that rock in which we base our life. Verse 26, it says, Now everyone who hears these saying in their minds and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. You know, they built a structure. They heard the message, a structure was built, but again, it was on the wrong foundation. It wasn't built on obedience to what Jesus Christ had said to do. And the structure fell.

Verse 28, And so it was in Jesus that it ended these sayings that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, not as described.

Jesus Christ had authority. Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Now these scriptures and others show us that salvation is conditional on belief linked to obedience.

Those two are inseparable. Belief linked to obedience. Again, sometimes the question can come up. You know, I thought salvation was a gift of God. We can't earn it through words. That is true. The gift of God is eternal life. There's nothing that we can do to earn it as a wage, but God, as the giver of that gift, has laid out certain conditions that must be met in order that we can then receive the gift.

Now I'm saying you can't earn it, but you have to do certain things. And that can perhaps seem a little confusing, but to me, a prime example that illustrates that, in my mind, is the relationship that the parent with a child, the relationship that my wife and I have with our children. As they're small, we give them gifts. And I remember one gift in particular when our children were young. We packed up the family, we flew to Florida, and we went to Disney World. That was a gift that we extended to our children. And you know what? They were small children, and there was nothing they could have done in the sense of earning a wage to pay for that trip. You know, the motel room, the plane tickets, the entry passes. I could barely cover that myself, to be honest. But the fact is, there was nothing they could do to earn that. It was a gift. And yet we gave them that gift conditionally. We said, okay, if we're going to take you on the trip and do these wonderful and fun things, you're going to keep your room clean. You're going to obey your mother, and you're going to get good grades in school. You're going to do your homework. You're going to apply yourself in these ways. Salvation is a gift of God. We can't earn it. But it is conditional. And God requires that we would walk in obedience, submitting to Him in order to receive it.

Again, John 3.16, that we covered earlier, is a very familiar scripture, John 3.16. It starts by saying, for God so loved the world. How do we know that? How can we know? How can I know that God so loved the world? You know, God didn't get up and down from a mountaintop and say, I love the world. So how do we know that God loved the world? Because He acted. So God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That whoever believed in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. We know that God loved the world because He acted, because He demonstrated it. How does God know that we believe in Jesus Christ and the Gospel?

Well, He knows not when we simply say it. He knows when we act. He knows when we obey Him. He knows when we demonstrate our love for the message that Jesus Christ brought by living according to all the commandments of God. In John 14.15, Jesus Christ said, if you love me, keep my commandments. So again, we demonstrate that love for Jesus Christ by doing what He said to do.

Again, is it enough to say, I believe, and not do anything about it?

Let's go to James 2. We can see the principle illustrated.

James 2.

Beginning in verse 14. Again, is it enough to say, I believe, and not act? James 2.14. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? You know, it's saying, I believe enough. Can faith save him? As he goes forward, he walks through a practical demonstration. He says, if my brother, sister, is naked in destitute of daily food, and if one of you says to him, depart in peace, be warm and filled, but you do not give him the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? You know, if your brother says, I'm hungry, I'm cold, I need something, and you say, well, very good, go and be filled. Have a nice night. Has he gained anything? Have you gained anything? Again, we have to act on what we know.

Verse 16, it says, Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Verse 18, But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. Again, faith is demonstrated. Faith reveals what it is that we actually have in our heart. Verse 19, You believe that there is one God, and you do well, even the demons believe and tremble. You know, when Jesus Christ walked the earth, when he conducted his ministry, the demons acknowledged that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Straight up, they acknowledged Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Yet they didn't do anything about it. They didn't turn and come to any kind of repentance in any way. They're still demons. Demons believe. Is acknowledging something enough, or do we have to act on it? I think the message is clear. We need to be acting. Verse 20, Do you know, oh, start again. Verse 20, Do you want to know, oh foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? You know, it's interesting. You can go back to Genesis. You can read the story. Abraham was made right before God, when he was willing to sacrifice his son. Jesus, God had required that of him. Abraham was preparing. He's lifting the knife to sacrifice his son, and God stopped him. But Abraham don't do that. But if you read the message, what were God's words, then he followed up with. He said, Now I know. Abraham, now I know. Now I know that you fear me. Now I know that you love me. Now I know that you believe. Abraham demonstrated his belief before God in action, and was counted to him as righteousness.

Verse 21, Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works? And by works, faith was made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled which said, Abraham believed God, and was accounted to him for righteousness. He was called the friend of God. Verse 24, You see then, that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

So I think the message is clear. We have to have belief. We have to have faith working together with obedience, in service to God and Jesus Christ. For to truly believe in the gospel, and obtain eternal life. I do want to make something very clear as I begin to wrap this up. I want to make it clear that scripture shows that we are saved by grace, and we're not saved by works of the law.

The law can't save us. What do I mean by that? If I go out on Monday and I sin, and I stumble, and I keep the law perfectly on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, no perfect keeping of the law can forgive the sin I made on Monday.

It's only through grace being extended to us by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and by us coming before God in repentance, that we can receive forgiveness and salvation. Work and salvation cannot come through works. On the other hand, we need to understand that all of those who are going to be saved by grace are going to be those who are doing the works that God requires. Salvation is a gift, but there are conditions.

Again, we can't maintain the right and proper relationship with God. We can't maintain the proper relationship with our son Jesus Christ without doing what God and Christ said to do. Jesus Christ came to the world to save us out of our sins. He didn't come to save us in our sins. Obtaining the kingdom of God is not going to come about by law only, or by grace only. It's about applying the proper relationship of law and grace with repentance, and it's about believing in the gospel message which Jesus Christ brought. Jesus Christ came preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. God has given us all the choice to make. The question is, will we respond to Him? Jesus Christ in His own words said, the time is fulfilled. He said, the kingdom of God is at hand, and that's just as true today as it was in His day. Even more so, I would say. In light of that gospel message, His instructions to those who would seek and obtain the kingdom of God, that we repent and believe in the gospel.