Post by 2fw8212a on May 15, 2018 14:52:07 GMT -5
The narrow way, as described in the gospels, is a spiritual way... Not a way that we can see with our carnal eyes.
"Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the
way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." - Matthew 7:14
It cannot be seen by those who are in the flesh, unless God grant them to see it... And it requires faith.
"By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king;
for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible." - Hebrews 11:27
And the way is narrow, so narrow that if you look behind, to the right or to the left, you will miss the next step and you will fall to perdition.
The narrow way is: To heed the Holy Spirit, and obey Him.
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." - John 10:27-28
"Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him,
for they do not know the voice of strangers." - John 10:5
"For there are three that bear witness in heaven:
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit;
and these three are one." - 1 John 5:7
And the flesh - yourself - is your biggest enemy in this walk... Because the flesh will produce many things to get you back and give up following the narrow way.
"Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey,
whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" - Romans 6:16
When we are in the flesh, the only thing we are deceived to see is: "There is nothing better than this".
All the flesh hungers for is: Disobedience.
"in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of
the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" - Ephesians 2:2
It is very strong, and we can only overcome this by faith that comes when hearing and accepting the truth.
"Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." - John 14:6
"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32
The other things that can get you out of the narrow way is to hear friends and family.
Because only the Holy Spirit can guide you in the truth; unless your friends and family are speaking truth, they cannot help you.
Then, the way is not seen with human eyes but with spiritual eyes... By faith.
A common trap is that many people follow the excuses of the flesh, and end up loving it more than the Spirit.
And they start reading and looking for excuses to keep them comfortable in their evil pleasures.
And what the carnal mind says is: Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice.
Just as the pharisees did, they committed sin regularly and just wanted sacrifice as an excuse for their wicked behavior - and that to deceive themselves - to think they were clean.
"But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’
For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." - Matthew 9:13
That is what the flesh and the spiritual enemies use to prevent the person to accept the truth, and eventually become born of the Spirit.
The way indeed is narrow, there is only one Spirit, one Word, and one Truth that will lead you to become a child of God.
It is to deny all that we see and to hope and seek the things we are not seeing.
"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." - John 17:3
And it is by such truth that people are convicted and decide to repent of his/her evil ways. And to desire, indeed, to be washed by His blood.
The blood of the Lord Jesus is the only thing that can cleanse a sinner; so that he/she become acceptable to God.
And this decision must be done when the person comes by faith in the truth;
"He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true." - John 3:33
otherwise there will be no effect as the person have neglected the truth, and by such the remission of sins does not happen in the spiritual realm.
"but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" - Mark 3:29
And that is exactly what we are seeing today, people who just say that they trust in the Lord and have accepted Him.
They say they trust, they say they have accepted, they say they have repented but are not willing to walk as He did; they do not embrace the truth.
"You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie,
he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar
and the father of it." - John 8:44
Well, if they trust then why they do not obey Him?
"Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word;
and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." - John 14:23
It is certain that if I trusted in someone then I will pay attention to what he/she says, and believe it.
"then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’
But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’" - Luke 13:26-27
To heed and to obey the Holy Spirit - the Lord Jesus... The only one who can get us out of this world and ourselves.
"Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And
to heed than the fat of rams." - 1 Samuel 15:22
It is not your version of the gospel, it is not your excuses, it is not by simply telling: The blood is there, I saw Him at the cross, I am sinner.
You must repent, embrace the truth, receive forgiveness of sins and then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and consequently be a doer of the Word - by faith.
"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River,
or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." - Joshua 24:15
The Lord is good, He loves you and He is willing to receive you - no matter what you have done: Just repent!
"Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." - Luke 15:10
God bless you in Jesus' name!
"Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the
way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." - Matthew 7:14
It cannot be seen by those who are in the flesh, unless God grant them to see it... And it requires faith.
"By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king;
for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible." - Hebrews 11:27
And the way is narrow, so narrow that if you look behind, to the right or to the left, you will miss the next step and you will fall to perdition.
The narrow way is: To heed the Holy Spirit, and obey Him.
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." - John 10:27-28
"Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him,
for they do not know the voice of strangers." - John 10:5
"For there are three that bear witness in heaven:
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit;
and these three are one." - 1 John 5:7
And the flesh - yourself - is your biggest enemy in this walk... Because the flesh will produce many things to get you back and give up following the narrow way.
"Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey,
whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" - Romans 6:16
When we are in the flesh, the only thing we are deceived to see is: "There is nothing better than this".
All the flesh hungers for is: Disobedience.
"in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of
the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" - Ephesians 2:2
It is very strong, and we can only overcome this by faith that comes when hearing and accepting the truth.
"Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." - John 14:6
"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32
The other things that can get you out of the narrow way is to hear friends and family.
Because only the Holy Spirit can guide you in the truth; unless your friends and family are speaking truth, they cannot help you.
Then, the way is not seen with human eyes but with spiritual eyes... By faith.
A common trap is that many people follow the excuses of the flesh, and end up loving it more than the Spirit.
And they start reading and looking for excuses to keep them comfortable in their evil pleasures.
And what the carnal mind says is: Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice.
Just as the pharisees did, they committed sin regularly and just wanted sacrifice as an excuse for their wicked behavior - and that to deceive themselves - to think they were clean.
"But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’
For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." - Matthew 9:13
That is what the flesh and the spiritual enemies use to prevent the person to accept the truth, and eventually become born of the Spirit.
The way indeed is narrow, there is only one Spirit, one Word, and one Truth that will lead you to become a child of God.
It is to deny all that we see and to hope and seek the things we are not seeing.
"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." - John 17:3
And it is by such truth that people are convicted and decide to repent of his/her evil ways. And to desire, indeed, to be washed by His blood.
The blood of the Lord Jesus is the only thing that can cleanse a sinner; so that he/she become acceptable to God.
And this decision must be done when the person comes by faith in the truth;
"He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true." - John 3:33
otherwise there will be no effect as the person have neglected the truth, and by such the remission of sins does not happen in the spiritual realm.
"but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" - Mark 3:29
And that is exactly what we are seeing today, people who just say that they trust in the Lord and have accepted Him.
They say they trust, they say they have accepted, they say they have repented but are not willing to walk as He did; they do not embrace the truth.
"You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie,
he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar
and the father of it." - John 8:44
Well, if they trust then why they do not obey Him?
"Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word;
and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." - John 14:23
It is certain that if I trusted in someone then I will pay attention to what he/she says, and believe it.
"then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’
But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’" - Luke 13:26-27
To heed and to obey the Holy Spirit - the Lord Jesus... The only one who can get us out of this world and ourselves.
"Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And
to heed than the fat of rams." - 1 Samuel 15:22
It is not your version of the gospel, it is not your excuses, it is not by simply telling: The blood is there, I saw Him at the cross, I am sinner.
You must repent, embrace the truth, receive forgiveness of sins and then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and consequently be a doer of the Word - by faith.
"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River,
or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." - Joshua 24:15
The Lord is good, He loves you and He is willing to receive you - no matter what you have done: Just repent!
"Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." - Luke 15:10
"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,
so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord..." - Acts 3:19
God bless you in Jesus' name!