Words of Jesus Podcast - Don't Bank on This World to Save You

Episode Date: July 22, 2022

The Kingdom of God is a mystery until you become a part of the Kingdom of God. Jesus teaches us the keys. Pray in secret. Forgive everyone. Fast in secret. The open reward of obedience is observed as a "lucky life." Not a life of wealth but having the ability to face whatever comes your way without perishing. It's a good life. ***Chapter 19: The Sermon on the Mount...And when you pray, you will not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. But when you pray use not vain recitations, as the heathen do: for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking. Be not therefore like unto them: for your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him. After this manner therefore pray: Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us our daily bread, day by day. And forgive us our sin debts, for we also forgive everyone indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Moreover when you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face That you appear not unto men to fast, but unto your Father which is in secret: and your Father, which sees in secret, will reward you openly. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust corrupts, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupts, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye were single, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye be evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothes? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one inch unto his stature? And why take thought for clothes? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What will we eat? Or, What will we drink? Or, With what will we be clothed? (For after all these things do the nations seek) for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things will be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for tomorrow: for tomorrow will take thought for the...

Think Red Ink Ministries presents The Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris Hello, I'm Don Harris of Think Renate Ministries. Welcome once again to the Words of Jesus series. What are we doing here? Trying to reinforce Christianity with the wisdom and words of Jesus that it once had. There was a time when the church was built upon His words, upon His life, upon everything that he stood for. And today, he's just kind of been reduced to a few old gospel songs. Bless his heart, you know, Jesus doesn't know everything.

I mean, he's not a Baptist. How could he know everything? So we have the idea, I think, many times that we have a better understanding of the way things are or should be than our lord jesus did and what he has it's kind of antiquated it's really not for us today um you know it's fine for those people in those days but i don't know you know it needs to be upgraded we need to have uh the sermon on the mount uh what do they what do they call that? Version 1 or Version 2 or revised or I don't know. Look, the fact is, is that, who was it? I forget who it was that said

it. Oh, Thomas Carlyle said that Christianity has not been found to be faulty and people walk away from it. What it's been found to be is very difficult and people have never tried it. Okay, that's 20th century translation of what he said, but that's really a fact. You know, what's wrong with Christianity is that it's never been tried. What's wrong with Christianity is not some list of grievances

I may have with the conventional church down the road, but what's wrong with Christianity is many of us have never even seen it. I mean, some of the things that I'm telling you from the Sermon on the Mount, I mean, I know, I see you. I can't. You know I can't. But, you know, I know your head's kind of cocked to one side and you're staring at me like a calf at a new gate. You never heard anything like this before. Do you know it's been in your Bible all this time? I think that's occurring to some people. I get the emails. All right, as we continue,

just to finish off what we started, Jesus was talking to them about prayer, and he said that we should enter into our closet and pray in secret, and the Lord that sees in secret will reward us openly. And he says that the Lord knows all the things that you have need of before you ask him. And then he tells us to pray after this manner. And he gives us what is commonly called the Lord's Prayer, but it's actually

the disciples' prayer that he instructed them to pray. Now at the end of the Lord's prayer your Bible probably ends that prayer with for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen. But you know history and textual criticism over the years has taught us that this was an addition that was put upon this prayer because the person translating it,

probably having something to do with the Septuagint, the Jewish influence on this was that prayer shouldn't end in negative notes. Did you know that? And so they didn't like the fact that Jesus ended this prayer saying, Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And this didn't sit right with them, to be talking about evil when you end a prayer.

So this was added, this little glorification of God, thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. Which is all based in that same idea that saying it makes it so. But it doesn't. And so we have Jesus ending this prayer in one way, and we have whoever this translator was ending it in another way and unfortunately when they ended it in the new way, in this way of talking about the kingdom and the glory and the power and all this kind of thing it causes an interruption in thought

that I think separates these two verses and really shouldn't. Jesus in this prayer of this, what's called the Lord's Prayer, I'll probably be calling it the Lord's Prayer as well. He says, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. It, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. It's forgive us, and I think Matthew's rendition is,

forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And if we move the interrupter away, the next sentence is, for, now when the King James says for it's perfectly legal and right to exchange that word for because. And so he's saying to forgive us our debts because and if you look in the book of Luke at this particular point

when he's talking about this prayer, he says, forgive us of our debts because we forgive everyone their debts. We forgive everyone that's indebted to us. Now this is Jesus saying something in order to plant a thought in their head, you better be able to pray this. That you forgive everyone their trespasses. And let me ask you something, friend.

Do you keep, do you hold grudges? Or is there somebody you're mad at? Somebody you don't want anything to do with? Somebody that you're out of fellowship with? Do you know there is nothing more important for you today, including, I mean, picking up the kids at school? There is nothing more important for you today than to make those kind of things right

and make sure that in your life there is nothing but forgiveness that follows a transgression. Nothing. There's no getting even. There's no remuneration. There's not avenging your adversary or revenging people that's done you wrong the only thing that's supposed to follow transgression is forgiveness and jesus is going to explain here we've removed the interrupter from the lord's

prayer so that it reads lead us uh that forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For, because, Jesus says, if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Now, it's not uncommon to find in common and conventional Christianity the idea of once saved, always saved. Some people say once saved always safe. But nevertheless the concept

that once a person is saved that they can never be lost, well I happen to believe that. But I believe it under the constraints of the definitions of the words that were intended from the beginning. You ask me if I'm saved, I'm going to tell you, not yet. I intend on being. I'm being saved. I'm being transformed. Yeah, I'm doing the best I can.

My soul is at rest. I mean, I'm not concerned about my salvation or any of the rest of this stuff that uh that people need these uh you know these little wooden promises for but um i'm not under the impression that i am saved it's a done deal it's a signed contract it's just there's no way out of it because i've got news for you i don't care how saved you are if you have unforgiveness in your heart you have no assurance of your sins being forgiven well not if you believe the son of god not if you believe him you do believe him right he says that if you don't forgive

every man their trespasses your heavenly father is not going to forgive you your trespasses so you're getting into the kingdom of heaven how how are you doing this with unforgiveness in your heart how are you going to accomplish this you want to argue with me you know i i'll give you 15 minutes to argue but i'm not arguing this one long because we've got the words of jesus christ on this he tells a story later in the gospels about a man who owed i think it it was $13 million. He was forgiven of the debt and the Bible says that he went out and found somebody who owed him $20

held him against the wall and said, pay me that thou owe us. And that man begged of him, we're going to deal with this in detail. That man begged of him. We're going to deal with this in detail. That man begged of him the same way this man begged the king. And he didn't let him off the hook. Well, it came to the townspeople. The townspeople realized what had happened. They went to the king and said, look, you need to know what's happened.

That fellow that you let off 13 million bucks, he just almost choked a man to death for 20. Something's wrong there, king. King says, bring him here. They brought him before that king. That king says, you wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt. And you didn't have it in yourself to forgive your brother of a minuscule part of that debt?

You know what that king did? Do you think that he continued with his gift to the man of paying the debt? No, he didn't. Do you believe once saved, always saved? It's a real concern. Because this king, well, well you know the bible says that he removes our sins as far as the east is from the west throws them in the depths of the sea well that's not erasing them the bible says that so has he so has he removed from us those sins. He's removed those sins from us.

Doesn't mean there's not a record of them. As a matter of fact, this king had the record books brought back out and said, you see this amount here? You're no longer forgiven of that. Pay that. That's your only way out now. You're going to have to pay this debt i can't sorry i'm gonna sell you i'm gonna put you in jail i'm gonna sell your wife sell your children i'm gonna sell

everything that you own till this debt's paid well he can't do that i don't think you understand what a king is i think you've been an American too long. I think you think that we're all going to go to the democracy of God somewhere in heaven and worship a God that we elected as our president. I don't think you understand kingship. Kings can do what they want. It's called sovereignty. And as soon as you remove his sovereignty,

oh, there's a lot of people that like to talk about removing the divinity of Christ by not giving, not saying he was born of a virgin or not saying he's part of a trinity or not saying that he knows everything and he's everywhere at once. I don't know if they attach that to Jesus. But take all these characteristics of God.

If you remove any of them, people run around with their hair on fire saying, oh my goodness, you're taking the divinity of Christ. Well, let me tell you something that's worse than that. It's taking the sovereignty of God. Do you really think he's bound to a book? Bound to ink on paper somewhere that commands that demands that and ensures that he save you because you recited some words to a preacher or out of a track somewhere are you you're not that dense why do you think people struggle with the once saved, always saved doctrine?

There's a lot of doctrines that nobody ever struggles with because they know them in their heart. They know them to be true in their heart. People struggle with once saved, always saved. This is why famous preachers preach on it every other Sunday because there's not enough truth in it to stick in people's spirits they know you can't live any way you want and still see the kingdom they know that they know it without a doubt how is it again well you know you did you ask jesus to save you yeah i did and did he say he

would well yeah the bible says that he said that uh if you believe on him yeah do you believe on him yes well is he a liar and they take you down these silly little convoluted things and and and leave some poor straggling sinner sitting there now he's got a decision to make hmm can i tell this preacher that i don't feel like anything's changed in me or and and in doing so call god a liar or can i just accept this and walk out of here whistling and make him make him happy and me happy and i'll figure it out as time goes by i'm afraid that's what we do we cower and we're afraid to believe what we know is so within our own being we know these things aren't true jesus is making it clear here. You want to jeopardize your salvation? Let's see. Has he mentioned drinking whiskey?

No. Doesn't mention smoking cigarettes. Doesn't mention saying poopy if you smash your finger with a hammer. Doesn't mention that. Well, what is it that can get us lost as a ball in high grass?

Unforgiveness. Being unmerciful to people. Unmerciful to the whiskey drinking, cigarette smoking guy that says poopy. I'm sorry. But, I mean, really, it's just that petty. It's just that ridiculous. Our church environs are just that petty and

ridiculous and we are omitting the weightier matters of the law here he's giving us a warning he's warning us you cannot live with unforgiveness in your heart you can't carry grudges and be Christian you can't carry grudges and be Christian. You can't carry grudges and have your own sins forgiven. This is how it happens. It's how it's done. We either don't know this, we don't care, we overlay it with sermons that come over our pulpit, but for some reason we don't live this. We just don't live it. You may not be one who carries grudges may not be a necessarily a problem for you but i assure you it's a problem for some people they can't forgive they just can't they can't do it but they're still under some impression

that they're christian well let's see if we can move on here. He says, Moreover, when you fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, wash thy face, and appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy father, which is in secret. And thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

All of these instructions that we just got finished reading all seem to follow this pattern, don't they? The relationship with God, the discussion, the working out our salvation, the logistics involved, the instruction obedience, the works, if you will. These are all to be carried out in secret. And then in public, he says he'll reward you openly man that public reward is not just god announcing hey don wrote a check in in the closet this morning for a thousand bucks no that's god's going to announce that so that's him rewarding me openly no it's not rewarding us openly is you know people walk up to you they don't understand they don't know they don't give they don't worship god they don't know anything you know what they do they look at you they say you're the luckiest guy i ever saw

man does everything go your way do you just win at everything you do? You see, what's happening there? What's happening is the Lord's rewarding you openly. So when you fast and you do these things properly and it's not a big show and it's not a, y'all pray for me this week, I've been fasting. And, you know, well, you know, you just blew it didn't you uh no what what they see is is they see the you know the fruit of what you're doing that's what makes you known worldwide if you will that's what makes you known in front of others that's what that's what we're after it's the reward of what we do that's what makes it

that's what it means when he says he will reward you openly the reward that you receive is going to be apparent to everybody um let's see um let's read if we can we We got time? Sure. We're going to continue in the Sermon on the Mount. This is some really good advice for every Christian today in our 21st century. Lay up

not for yourselves treasures upon the earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up... Now, this particular section here is talking about us trying to balance as Christians the kingdom of God on the earth and the kingdom or the democracy or whatever the country, the political structure or whatever it happens to be, contrasting the

kingdom of God that we live in with the physical kingdom or country that we live in. Because Jesus is not under any impression that this kingdom of God that is on the earth is readily available to everybody and everybody can see and everybody can understand. He's not under that impression at all. available to everybody and everybody can see and everybody can understand. And, you know, he's not under that impression at all. He knows that this kingdom that is on the earth is very difficult for us to see or understand. There's a beautiful story of Elisha and Gehazi that are on a mountain and they are about to be attacked by the enemy. Gehazi is he's got his dress pulled up running around

the campfire screaming and hollering and he's worried sick about Israel. And he's worried that the enemy is going to come and destroy Israel right in front of both of them. They're going to see it happen. This is horrible. Look how many people there are. Look at the chariots. Look at the horses. Look at the swords. Look at how many men there are. They're bent on our destruction. Who knows all the stuff that he had to say. Elijah, on the other hand, is over there under a tree making himself a bologna sandwich

or something. He comes to now and get something to eat relax relax we can't relax we're we're all about to die and elijah elisha offers a um a wonderful little prayer that um if uh if i thought the Lord would hear this prayer for you and do these kinds of things essentially against your will, I'd pray it. I'd pray it now. But Elisha just looked toward heaven and said, Lord, open the lad's eyes. And when he did.

Little Gehazi looked up. He saw the armies of God. And the angels of God. And gleaming swords and chariots and horses. All around the tops of the mountains out there. They were watching over Israel. And all of a sudden, Gehazi could settle down and have his sandwich. What happened?

Those angels were always there. They didn't just come. They've always been there. Elisha knew they were there. That's why he was calm. But Gehazi didn't just come. They've always been there. Elisha knew they were there. That's why he was calm. But Gehazi didn't. That's why he wasn't. Remember Nicodemus?

He comes to the Lord and he's there, obviously, to talk about the kingdom of God being born again. And Jesus is trying to tell them that all these things kind of interweave with one another. How's that?

Unless a man is born again, I know we all quote the section of this scripture that says he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. But do you notice that just before this, he tells Nicodemusus unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. You show me somebody that's upset. They're running around thinking

that their life has fallen apart and what can I do and oh heaven help me and oh God I've prayed and nothing's happened and I've done this and I've done that and I just don't know what to do and I'm at my wit's end and I'm not making fun of them look I've been there I know what that's like I know that it hurts my children don't love me and my spouses run off and my money's dwindling and my car just blew up the other day. I know, I know.

I'm not making light of it, but that's not a person that can see the kingdom of God. It's just really not. How can you see the kingdom of God and know that all the angels that ever been created are sent forth to minister to those which shall be heirs unto salvation there's salvation in the future again by the way but the angels have been sent to minister to those which shall be heirs how can you not see the kingdom of God and have hope?

How can you not have hope and see it? If we understood, I think, this idea of seeing the kingdom of God, I think we would better understand where jesus is saying look this kingdom is a very real thing and here's what i see you doing i see you banking on the physical banking on the flesh banking on this world to get you out of trouble when this world is what's putting you in trouble. You need to set up for yourselves accounts in heaven. You need to make sure that whatever you give,

that you're giving to the kingdom of God. Because where your treasure is, that's where your heart is. He goes on to explain exactly why we just can't seem to do that. Your eye's not single. Okay, you're scratching your head and saying, what? My eye's not single. No, if your eye were single,

you wouldn't have these problems. Time's gone. Sorry about that. But we'll take it up here tomorrow and we'll talk about this single eye and the darkness that seems to plague mankind's soul alright that's it for this time

we'll catch you next time until then I want you to write to me ¶¶ you've been listening to don c harris of think red ink ministries ThinkRedInc.com. That's ThinkRedInc.com. Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. you