After the Cross your visit to the law is an unpleasant one !

What on earth is the law ?

It is easier to describe the relationships and interactions that people have with the different aspects of the law , than trying to force one definition of the law . The reason is simply that there is more than one aspect of the law . Different groups also adopted their own understanding of the law and the role it should play in their life's . The original law of Moses were adapted by them to suit their own needs .

I can accurately predict your future spiritual destiny and experiences by observing your continuous relationship with the law . I can do it because the Word of God gives me more than enough very direct and easy to understand principles to apply . I also have very real experience of the effect of the law in my own life . Thirdly I meet people every day who walked the way of the law . I have counseled many people and observed the change in their spiritual life's when they understood that they don't have to fullfil the law themselves .

I have seen the effect when people refused to let go of the demands of the law . It worked a certain attitude of condemnation for themselves and the people they talk to .

I can certainly write a book if I try to go into a full scale discussion of the role the law played in previous and current religious societies .

I will only, very briefly , touch on a few principles and effects the application of the law have on people today .

My experience showed me the following :

If you apply the law in your life then you are forced to take your eyes of the redemptive power of Christ . You cannot apply the Cross and the law in your life and prosper spiritually .

It is much easier for your flesh to go back to the law and apply it in your own and other people's life's than to stay in the Grace and Mercy and redemptive Power of the Cross . The flesh understand the law very quickly and will choose it . The Grace and Mercy and unconditional forgiveness and Life giving power of the Cross is foolishness to the flesh . O yes the flesh sporadically appreciate the anointing of forgiveness . It sporadically long for love and and to have dominion in the Kingdom of God ,but the moment the flesh understand that it must die to be filled with the Christ of the Cross it will find it very hard to do so .

You will bring yourself and your children and family and other people under regular condemnation .

You will try to get away from condemnation by trying to observe many rules and principles . You will be absolutely rigid in your approach to get rid of all the wrong things in your own and other peoples life's .

You will tend to concentrate om many small things that you perceive as wrong but very easily neglect very important situations that may ruin your marriage or other aspects of your life .

You will almost daily judge people on what they believe and end your contact or relationship with them .

You will be glad to meet new people with spiritual wisdom and insight . You will temporally enjoy their conversations and presence ,but it will not last very long . Very soon you will become offended with what they say . You will start to speak out against them . You will criticise them ,and discard them , forgetting that you loved their words only a few weeks or even days ago .

You will join groups or forums or go to camps and talks where people discuss all the wrong things that Christians do because they don't know all the dangers that is lurking around them .

Love will not be your first priority . You will have the urge to correct people . You will not accept them unconditionally . You will attach a string to everything you do for them . You will constantly expect counter performance from them . You will judge them for not “ coming right “ .

You will be very sceptic about the possibility of messed up people to change . You will not trust in the redemptive power of the Word ,but rather look at all the things in their life's that they must still overcome before they will become “good Christians “ .

You will very often be disappointed with their progress . You will be disappointed because you “have done so much for them ,but they just don't “appreciate” what you have done for them “ .

There will be many quarrels about their behaviour and attitude .

You will perceive your Christian walk as hard work . You will often have “blue Mondays” and “mad days” where “everything went wrong “ or days that “you never want to have over again .“

This is but a drop in the bucket . I can describe many other things that form part of the Christians that try to live according to the law . Of people who went back to “their roots” in the law . I don't think it is profitable to concentrate on the negative stuff for too long . Let us rather come to the Word principles that were neglected or misunderstood in the first place .

The law of Moses was never part of God's original plan with mankind . The law came because people were destructing themselves and other nations by doing more and more horrible sins .

They hardened their hearts to such an extend that they did serious sins but later became so used to it that the sins only caused very little discomfort in their hearts .

The law was then given, to give them knowledge of how serious it is to stand up against God .

Romans 3:10-20 BBE

(10) As it is said in the holy Writings, There is not one who does righteousness;

(11) Not one who has the knowledge of what is right, not one who is a searcher after God;

(12) They have all gone out of the way, there is no profit in any of them; there is not one who does good, not so much as one:

(13) Their throat is like an open place of death; with their tongues they have said what is not true: the poison of snakes is under their lips:

(14) Whose mouth is full of curses and bitter words:

(15) Their feet are quick in running after blood;

(16) Destruction and trouble are in their ways;

(17) And of the way of peace they have no knowledge:

(18) There is no fear of God before their eyes.

(19) Now, we have knowledge that what the law says is for those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and all men may be judged by God:

(20) Because by the works of the law no man is able to have righteousness in his eyes, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

Another very important aspect of the law was that it had the purpose to show us the way to Christ . To show us the way to the Cross where we were all made righteous by the Blood and Body of Christ .

Galatians 3:23-29 BBE

(23) But before faith came, we were kept in prison under the law, waiting for the revelation of the faith which was to come.

(24) So the law has been a servant to take us to Christ, so that we might have righteousness by faith.

(25) But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a servant.

(26) Because you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

(27) For all those of you who were given baptism into Christ did put on Christ.

(28) There is no Jew or Greek, servant or free, male or female: because you are all one in Jesus Christ.

(29) And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and yours is the heritage by the right of God's undertaking given to Abraham.

The problem is that you will have to turn your back on the Cross to go back to the law . I know people always say “I will never turn my back on the Cross , I love Jesus so much . I study the Word and pray every day , I know Him , I will never forsake Him” . But still I find the them firmly operating in the law . What a sad thing to see .

If you understand that you must do certain things right in order for God to be on your side then you operate under the law . If you are convinced that there are many things in your life that you must get rid of in order for God to be present in your life again ,then you are under the law .

If someone else convince you that you are guilty of doing something wrong ,because you did not know that it was wrong at all ,then you are under the law .

The moment the law is applied to your life you become aware of your “ shortcomings “ . You will feel guilty about something . You just feel guilty even if you are not convinced that you are guilty of doing it on purpose .

You will always wonder ,how many things must I still learn before I will truly be a “good Christian “ . It is all part of being back under the law again .

A very good test to determine if you operate under the law or not ,is to think back to time when you found Christ as your Saviour . You were overwhelmed with joy to suddenly find that all your sins are forgiven . That God loves you unconditionally . You were not aware of anything that you must still do before God is really happy with you . You did not receive forgiveness because you did a lot of things ,but only because you believed in Christ . You expressed your dependance on Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit filled your whole being . Now why must you now after many years first “clean your house , or read the Word this or that way , or first do this or that , or first understand this or that , before God will be happy with you again ? . If you think so then you are under the law . You are in bondage again .

Galatians 3:1-14 BBE

(1) O foolish Galatians, by what strange powers have you been tricked, to whom it was made clear that Jesus Christ was put to death on the cross?

(2) Give me an answer to this one question, Did the Spirit come to you through the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

(3) Are you so foolish? having made a start in the Spirit, will you now be made complete in the flesh?

(4) Did you undergo such a number of things to no purpose? if it is in fact to no purpose.

(5) He who gives you the Spirit, and does works of power among you, is it by the works of law, or by the hearing of faith?

(6) Even as Abraham had faith in God, and it was put to his account as righteousness.

(7) Be certain, then, that those who are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham.

(8) And the holy Writings, seeing before the event that God would give the Gentiles righteousness by faith, gave the good news before to Abraham, saying, In you will all the nations have a blessing.

(9) So then those who are of faith have a part in the blessing of Abraham who was full of faith.

(10) For all who are of the works of the law are under a curse: because it is said in the Writings, A curse is on everyone who does not keep on doing all the things which are ordered in the book of the law.

(11) Now that no man gets righteousness by the law in the eyes of God, is clear; because, The upright will be living by faith.

(12) And the law is not of faith; but, He who does them will have life by them.

(13) Christ has made us free from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us: because it is said in the Writings, A curse on everyone who is put to death by hanging on a tree:

(14) So that on the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; in order that we through faith might have the Spirit which God had undertaken to give.

The Word say that even if your could keep the law perfectly , that is , cleansing yourself of every unclean thing ,cleansing your house of every unclean object then you were still like someone clothed in filthy rags in the sight of God .

Isaiah 64:6 BBE

(6) For we have all become like an unclean person, and all our good acts are like a dirty robe: and we have all become old like a dead leaf, and our sins, like the wind, take us away.

You need more than doing things right every day . You need more than not doing some things that are wrong . You need only one thing , RIGHTEOUSNESS . That is to be instantly made prefect in the eyes of God . That is exactly what Christ did for you on the Cross when He cried out ,” it is finished “ . He made you righteous . The moment you believed it , it became the most profound and powerful force in your life . The more you discover the righteousness of Christ in you the more powerful your thinking and doing becomes .

The opposite is also true . The more you concentrate on your mistakes and processes to correct it yourself ,the more powerless you become .

Christ did everything for you . The more you discover it under the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit , the more Christ is manifested in your life .

1 Corinthians 1:30 KJV

(30) But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

Christ gave you perfect wisdom to use

Christ gave you perfect righteousness

Christ sanctified you perfectly

Christ redeemed you perfectly .

You cannot add anything to it ! It is done ,you are perfect in the eyes of God .

Where ever you put your foot everything is also sanctified and made holy ! .

If you enter your house the Glory of Christ in you sanctifies everything .

Nothing unholy have greater power to make you unholy again .

Nothing can make you unrighteous again .

Nothing can take away your redemption again .

You can make it ineffective though by willingly rejecting the work that Christ has done in your life . You can reject Him , not by doing wrong things ,but by hardening your heart constantly to such an extend that you will not seek after Him again . Your wrong doings is then the result of a deliberately hardened heart , not merely a heart that love God but struggle to do what is right at the moment .

Nothing on the outside can make you unholy or unclean . Nothing in your house can make you unclean or unholy . Nothing that you hear can make you unclean . Only what comes out of your heart can make you unclean IN YOUR OWN EYES . Not in God's eyes .

Matthew 15:8-20 BBE

(8) These people give me honour with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

(9) But their worship is to no purpose, while they give as their teaching the rules of men.

(10) And he got the people together and said to them, Give ear, and let my words be clear to you:

(11) Not that which goes into the mouth makes a man unclean, but that which comes out of the mouth.

(12) Then the disciples came and said to him, Did you see that the Pharisees were troubled when these words came to their ears?

(13) But he said in answer, Every plant which my Father in heaven has not put in the earth, will be taken up by the roots.

(14) Let them be: they are blind guides. And if a blind man is guiding a blind man, the two will go falling into a hole together.

(15) Then Peter said to him, Make the story clear to us.

(16) And he said, Are you, like them, still without wisdom?

(17) Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth goes on into the stomach, and is sent out as waste?

(18) But the things which come out of the mouth come from the heart; and they make a man unclean.

(19) For out of the heart come evil thoughts, the taking of life, broken faith between the married, unclean desires of the flesh, taking of property, false witness, bitter words:

(20) These are the things which make a man unclean; but to take food with unwashed hands does not make a man unclean.

Romans 14:13-14 BBE

(13) Then let us not be judges of one another any longer: but keep this in mind, that no man is to make it hard for his brother, or give him cause for doubting.

(14) I am conscious of this, and am certain in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself; but for the man in whose opinion it is unclean, for him it is unclean.

When you do something wrong it should not take you more than a few seconds to be aware of your position in Christ again . How ? . By simply confessing ,that is , acknowledge before God that you have done something wrong . Take note you don't become unrighteous in the sight of God when you do something wrong , you stay righteous ,but your own conscience will falsely try to condemn you again .

Satan can only lie . There is no truth in him the Word says . His accusations are always false . They are false because satan will try to cross the line to make you believe that the sacrifice of Christ is no more applicable to you . He will try to convince you that if you make a mistake you must correct it yourself by doing some religious things . If you believe it then you are still righteous and holy and sanctified and redeemed ,but under the bondage of a slave of sin . Sin will seem to be back in your life again ,destroying the joy and peace and boldness you previously had in the presence of God .

Romans 14:17 BBE

(17) For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

God from His side is waiting for you to enjoy Him again . To believe in Christ like you believed before . I mean you did so many things wrong when you came to him initially ,but it did not bother God at all to make you righteous and holy by confirming that Christ loved you when you were still at enmity towards Him . Why would your mistakes bother Him now ? He doesn't look at your mistakes ,He sees your heart . God has full confidence in the Word of your redemption to keep you at His feet ,to keep you righteous and sanctified and clean . God does not want you to live under condemnation .

Colossians 1:20-23 BBE

(20) Through him uniting all things with himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, uniting all things which are on earth or in heaven.

(21) And you, who in the past were cut off and at war with God in your minds through evil works, he has now made one

(22) In the body of his flesh through death, so that you might be holy and without sin and free from all evil before him:

(23) If you keep yourselves safely based in the faith, not moved from the hope of the good news which came to you, and which was given to every living being under heaven; of which I, Paul, was made a servant.

Keep your eyes on Christ

Enjoy your posistion in Him

Be Blessed

Bertus .

Sermons preached by Jesus in order that some people should not understand it ! 

Yes , you have read the correctly . Jesus preached certain sermons in such a way to prevent the people from understanding their real message .

Sermons that come from an anointed tongue is very ,very powerful . We tend to forget that . What a pity . The full power of God is behind the words that we speak in His Name . The words from an anointed man or woman of God is loaded with power . Nothing is going to stop them from accomplishing what they were intended to do .

Isaiah 55:10-11 BBE

(10) For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and does not go back again, but gives water to the earth, and makes it fertile, giving seed to the planter, and bread for food;

(11) So will my word be which goes out of my mouth: it will not come back to me with nothing done, but it will give effect to my purpose, and do that for which I have sent it.

Jesus knew that His words will always have a profound effect on those who listen to it . Jesus therefore spiritually assessed His audience before and during the delivery of His sermons .

Many times halfway through the sermon Jesus suddenly stood up and left the multitudes listening to the sermon behind ,and either went up a mountain or on the sea in a boat ,making it very difficult for the people to follow Him and hear more of His words .

Some of the crowd then put a lot of effort in to hear more of His words . They did not let Him get away from them . They persevered till they could listen to more .

Many times Jesus waited for the Word hungry ones to catch up with Him . He then answered their questions and explained the deeper revelation of the sermon to them . Sometimes it was only His disciples that had the privilege to hear the deeper interpretation of the sermon .

In today's life many preachers use a shotgun approach and let all the words rain down on a assembly of people without discerning the spiritual state of their hearts and minds first .

This is detrimental to their spiritual life in the sense that they will be easily be offended when they hear words that they cannot understand spiritually .

They are also spoiled in the sense that no commitment is required from them to get the deeper revelation of that word . The serious believers and pursuers of the Word is not challenged to put some determination and perseverance in to get to the deeper meaning of the Word preached to them . They leave the building with the rest of the crowd who could not wait for the sermon to end . Their spiritual legs are not stretched . Next Sunday they sit comfortably with the bigger crowd again , now hearing even a new sermon without ever understanding the sermon of the previous Sunday . Something is wrong ! .

Let's go to Matthew chapter 13 .

In Sunday school they taught us as kids that Jesus chose parables as a mode of teaching to help all the people to understand the sermons more easily . This is contradictory to what Jesus Himself said about the use of parables . By the way the key element in all the parables are the Kingdom of God . Jesus said :

Matthew 13:10-18 BBE

(10) And the disciples came and said to him, Why do you say things to them in the form of stories?

(11) And he said to them in answer, To you is given the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

(12) Because whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have more; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

(13) For this reason I put things into the form of stories; because they see without seeing, and give ear without hearing, and the sense is not clear to them.

(14) And for them the words of Isaiah have come true, Though you give ear, you will not get knowledge; and seeing, you will see, but the sense will not be clear to you:

(15) For the heart of this people has become fat and their ears are slow in hearing and their eyes are shut; for fear that they might see with their eyes and give hearing with their ears and become wise in their hearts and be turned again to me, so that I might make them well.

(16) But a blessing be on your eyes, because they see; and on your ears, because they are open.

(17) For truly, I say to you that prophets and upright men had a desire to see the things which you see, and saw them not; and to have knowledge of the words which have come to your ears, and they had it not.

(18) Give ear, then, to the story of the man who put the seed in the earth.

It is absolutely amazing to understand what Jesus said to His disciples here ! .

It boils down to the following :

1 There is a problem with the hearers hearts .

2 That prevents normal preaching

3 The mode of parables or stories is then chosen

4 This will not help them to understand ,but prevent them from understanding the Kingdom

5 Why must they be prevented ? It is an act of Grace ,because when they understand with a hardened heart ,they will reject the Kingdom and be worse of than before they listened

6 The parable will however stimulate some hearts and awake a desire to hear more about the Kingdom of God

7 They are the ones that will put in extra effort to hear more about the Kingdom of God

8 People with hardened hearts don't want to hear solutions for their condition of deterioration,because they know they will have the obligation then to do something about it

9 Parables therefore either reveal or conceal

10 Unbelievers in the crowd could not extract the spiritual truths from the parables . Therefore they were protected in the sense that they could also not pervert the truth like the Jews did

11 The parables made it impossible for the enemies of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to quote what Jesus said as proof of Him opposing their church doctrines . The parables is so open ended it is impossible to draw conclusions from them if you want to use it in a specific sense .

12 Parables opens up an understanding of the immense power of the Kingdom of God to those with a heart to accept the truths hidden in the parable . Parables therefore unlocks the power of miracles to the hearer . On the other hand it disguise the power of miracles to those with hardened hearts . The miracles is not real to them ,they see it as a staged ,faked occurrences ,even as works of the devil . Equally the parables is only fairy tales to them , only stories of an weird sectarian teacher , only an annoyance to them .

Every true Spirit filled preacher and pastor will know that every crowd you preach to have a spiritual atmosphere . They are either very open and hungry for the word ,they drink in every word coming from your spirit . They believe ,they are motivated spiritually ,they bear good spiritual fruits afterwards , they are drawn closer to God and praise Him . They give honour to God for His goodness and grace and mercy in their life's .

Some crowds however have a spiritual atmosphere of coldness ,hardness ,rejection ,tradition .

They reject your words and they show it by frowning ,mumbling among themselves ,clearly indicating that they want you to stop the sermon or teaching as soon as possible . They look around ,look on their watches every few minutes ,they grin at you , or take their Bibles out and sit and read something else till you have finished you teaching .

Stop your teaching ! . You can't keep on give revelation knowledge to people rejecting it . Tell them a story and end everything .

Open up your ears and eyes for the Kingdom of God . Study the parables until the Kingdom of God becomes a reality in your life . I pray that you will experience the Blessings of God in this life when you enter the Kingdom of God and it's protection and provision and Life .

Be Blessed in the Kingdom of God

Bertus .

Matthew 11:2-5 MKJV

(2) But when John heard in the prison of the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples.

(3) And they said to Him, Are You he who should come, or do we look for another?

(4) Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John again those things which you hear and see:

(5) the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel proclaimed to them.

(6) And blessed is he, whoever shall not be offended in Me.

The central message and focus of the ministry of Jesus is the Kingdom of God . In fact it is the

central message of the Bible , “I give you a Kingdom on earth to reign in and have dominion over all things “ .

Doubt overcame John while he was in prison . He wasn't sure of the Kingship of Christ anymore .

Jesus then showed him the windows of the Kingdom . Christ demand of John and his disciples to take note of all the miracles that is taking place .

It is of great significance for us today as well . Miracles is the test for people to determine whether Christ is at work in your area or not . If you should ask Jesus “ are You real in my circumstances ?, can You help me ? . Is there enough power to help me to overcome any circumstance ,whether it is the threat of crime or disease or whatever ? “ .

His answer is still the same today . “ What do you see ? , do you see all the crime and fraud and bad circumstances or are you aware of miracles that happen in your country , within your reach ? ”. Do you hear or see testimonies of miracles ? . They are the windows to the Kingdom .

Make great effort to drink in the anointing that surround true miracles . Make great effort not to let the wonder and awesomeness of miracles disappear from your sight . Pursue the miracles ,shout for joy when you see them happen . You will experience them so vividly that you will be able to stretch out your hands and draw your own miracles through the windows of heaven into your own life .

If miracles become is a sign of the Power and Glory of the Kingdom of God to you ,then you should jump up and down ,filled with heavenly joy ,because you are chosen to step into the Glory of God yourself , because your heart is pure in the sight of God .

Verse 6 gives us an important clue .

Miracles is also a test . Where miracles happen people will be divided . Some will say they happen by the power of satan . Others will say they are from God and real . Others will say it is only eye blinding , they are fake . Some people are so against miracles that they will reject them even before they happen . The easiest way to do it is by rejecting the person who does the miracles.

Even a greater danger is when people look at the miracles, then look for something trivial to use as a tool to shoot down what has happened there . They will say for instance “no the people did not fall under the power of God ,he/she pushed them over “ . Or “ yes they look as if they are healed ,but tomorrow they will be blind or deaf or confined to a wheelchair again “ .

I am sure there are false preachers that try to fake miracles . You must remember that the Holy Spirit will confirm the authenticity of the miracles to you . You can see miracles happen right in front of your eyes a be so hard of heart that you reject them straight away . Miracles are there to soften your heart to believe in the Presence and Power of God in your life . If I give you a million dollars in cash , will you also reject the authenticity of the notes so quickly with a few words ? . No you will not ! . Why not ? . Because they are very important to you . Don't reject miracles so easily , they might be a test to test the importance that Christ have in your life .

Don't let unwise people with hardened hearts lure you into the trap of taking offence to the genuine works of God for your own and other peoples benefit .

As far as miracles is concerned I will not rush in like a fool where angel's fear to tread .

Don't ask other people whether they think the miracles are genuine . Don't ask other blind people to lead you on this path . Why don't you ask the people who can hear and see and walk again . Ask them if they can really see now ! You will be amazed when you discover the difference between what they experience and what others think ,really happened to them . The fakes will be clearly visible to you then .

Miracles is part of the Kingdom of God ,don't miss it !

May the Glory of God capture your whole mind and soul

Be Blessed

Bertus

We had a glorious revelation of the deeper meanings of righteousness during our visit in the Old Testament . ( Part 7 ) . I can't wait for our visit to the New Testament today . Let's go ! .

Matthew 5:6 KJV

(6) Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

a Full understanding of righteousness does not come naturally . You will not understand righteousness if you do not seek after it . If you have a craving for chocolate late at night you will leave the comfort of your warm bed and search for the chocolate that you bought two days ago and forgot to eat .

The requirement to find the treasure of your righteousness is that you must be hungry ,to receive it . Now that is not too difficult , for the simple reason that if you lived without a proper understanding of righteousness for a long time ,maybe your whole life long so far ,then you will have a real hunger for proper nutritious spiritual food by this time . All the meaningless suffering and pain that you went through in the past ,will cause you to seek after the truth one time or another . Maybe your time for a radical change in your life has come today .

Understanding righteousness will fill you completely . That will be the end of your hunger pains . God is always faithful to fulfill His promises to you . God's promise is that you will be filled .

Matthew 5:10 MKJV

(10) Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness sake! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus ministered righteousness every day . It is one thing to read the Old Testament prophecies about righteousness ,but it is another thing to practically minister righteousness every day to all the people around you . The moment the full consequences of righteousness becomes visible to people they are divided into two camps . The person that is released from his/her sinful struggles and pain and spiritual hunger by hearing the Word of righteousness is overwhelmed by joy and thankfulness . The other group is angry because they were looking for punishment ,not radical immediate forgiveness without any form of preceding performance first . I can see you struggle a little bit to understand this statement . Let me give you some more examples .

Righteousness is a radical, no questions asked ,no performance required , no first to do verdict of “forgiven ,not guilty , I can't remember what you have done wrong” . It cannot be reversed . Once the verdict was given it is final . Jesus looked at all the people that was born in the past ,alive at that time and not yet born and gave the signal to God by saying , “it is finished” . The moment the sacrifice for the sin of all mankind was completed , God gave the final verdict “They are all now righteous ,they are all forgiven , nothing can ever separate them from My Love again . They will never be found guilty of any sin or unrighteousness ever again . The Blood of My Son washed them all . The Blood of My Son will keep them clean and Holy forever . If anyone of them should sin it will be immediately washed away by the Blood again . “ I declare them righteous for ever “.

Now the seat is getting really hot ! . Does it mean that nobody can go to Hell ,because they are forever forgiven . No I do not imply that ! . There is people that will go to Hell . If you choose Hell as your destiny that is the place where you will go . The irony is that you will land up in Hell with all your sins still forgiven . God can never withdraw His declaration and promise of righteousness.

The Word does not say that people go to Hell because they sinned or have sin in their life . People go to Hell because they don't BELIEVE in what Christ did for them and explained to them during their lifetime , that is it ! . They prefer to reject their righteousness that saved them from sin and death . They look Christ in the eyes many ,many times and say over and over again and say , “I don't want Your sacrifice at all . Now this does not include people who did not understand it . This is people who understood the Cross fully but preferred to cultivate their wrongdoings further and further . In other Words they constantly drove through every red robot , laughing because they understood the consequences of their deeds fully . They are very very few indeed .

The broad and the narrow way in the Bible does not describe the people going to hell . It is a description of the many people that did not enter the Kingdom of God on earth and therefore have a life of destruction , sickness , poverty , bad marriages and many other things that work destruction in their life's , because they did not enter the Kingdom. They don't reign over circumstances , circumstances reign over them . They don't have dominion . They are dominated by many sinful things like crime etc.

It is quite clear that you will not end up in hell because you could not manage your mariage . Because you were poor because you could not manage your finances properly . No, you will lack power and peace and joy ,but are saved by the Blood of Jesus Christ . That is not the end of it all if you die . The Kingdom of God is eternal Life . Life implies that you will never stop growing in the things of God . You will need the teachings that you ignore now while you have the opportunity to conquer spiritually . Some time or another you will need it so desperately that you will submit yourself to God's pure and powerful Word . Death will not make you perfect in the Word suddenly . You will need to be perfected by your decision to submit yourself to the Word .

OK let me show you quickly .

Matthew 7:13-14 MKJV

(13) Go in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in through it.

(14) Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

It does not say that the wide gate and broad way leads to “hell” . Many preachers just put it in there themselves to judge people ,to tell them falsely that only few people will be saved from hell . That means the Cross was a failure . It could only save a handfull of people . No , Jesus did not die to save only a few “church” people . Satan was finally conquered and stripped of all it's power on the Cross . He will never have the opportunity to stand at the gates of hell and shout “ I am the winner ,although you gave your life for the world I have multitudes of people here with me in hell ,you only have a few . Clearly this is NOT the message of the Word of God .

The context is seeking and finding the Kingdom of Heaven on earth . I you go a few verses back you will pick up the thread of the Kingdom of God .

Matthew 6:10 MKJV

(10) Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

Matthew 6:33 MKJV

(33) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

This whole conversation is part of the sermon on the mount . The central theme is;” choose life in the Kingdom of God , get away from a life of destruction and pain” . Take up your rightful place as a Kingdom ruler in the Kingdom of God . It is not about heaven and hell .

Hell is the destiny of HEARTS that became so hard and filled with hatred for the things of God that they cannot be changed anymore . Hell is not the destiny of life's that were not perfect . People's life's may seem to fall apart ,but that does not mean that their hearts doesn't long after God anymore . Not a single person on earth is qualified to determine the point of no return in someone's life . Nobody can rightfully declare that a person did go to hell . People may seem hard and hopeless but deep down in their hearts they cry out to God “please help me I am a wretched sinner Lord !“ . Jesus said the following : Matthew 9:10-13 MKJV

(10) And it happened as Jesus reclined in the house, behold, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Him and His disciples.

(11) And when the Pharisees saw, they said to His disciples, Why does your master eat with tax-collectors and sinners?

(12) But when Jesus heard, He said to them, The ones who are whole do not need a physician, but the ones who are sick.

(13) But go and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Let us end with this verse that we started today's teaching with :

Matthew 5:10 MKJV

(10) Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness sake! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

People will fill your church very easily if you teach them to observe how bad other people is . If you often give them examples of ungodly people they will feel good that they are not so bad as the people around them .

You will help them to judge other people themselves . They will feel that they make enough good sacrifices to please God . They will feel that they make the sacrifice to come to church often ,that they make financial sacrifices by giving money to the church . Jesus said in verse 13 (above )

(13) But go and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

The other side of the coin is ,that when you dare to forgive other people for everything they have done to you ,because you understand righteousness then they (false religious people) will oppose you immediately , they will even persecute you . If somebody is annoyed because you forgive so easily and permanently ,then you know ,they may know something about God ,but they don't know God . They go through religious rituals every day ,they pray they read Bible ,but they have no compassion and mercy . They don't understand righteousness .

Be Blessed in the King of King's

Jesus Christ our Saviour

Bertus