Words of Jesus Podcast - Everyone Saved Will Not Have The Same Reward

Episode Date: August 23, 2024

Jesus is different than we expect. He is loves, but His love is conditional. He is just, but His justice is based on our actions. He calls many, but not all. Those chosen must remain faithful to the end. We are required to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, to follow Christ. What we do matters! ***84: Jesus Tells Of The Temptation Of RichesMatthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30A MAN came to Jesus and asked:            “Good Master, what shall I do that I may have eternal life?”            Jesus replied:            “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one–that is, God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”            The man asked:            “Which?”            Jesus replied:            “Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”            The man said to Jesus:            “All these things I have kept from my youth up. What lack I yet?”            Jesus, looking upon him, loved him and replied:            “One thing thou lackest. Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”            When the man heard that, he went away sadly; for he had very great possessions. Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said:            “Verily I say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of Heaven.”            The disciples were astonished at these words. Seeing their surprise, Jesus said to them:            “Children, how hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”            The astonishment of the disciples was great. They said to one another:            “Who then can be saved?”            Jesus answered them saying:            “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”            Thereupon Peter said to Jesus:            “Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have therefore?”            Jesus replied to him:            “Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And...

Think Red Ink Ministries presents the Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris. Hello my friends and welcome once again to the Words of Jesus series. Don Harris, your host. And we've been enjoying chapter 84. I hope you've been enjoying it. It's kind of difficult, isn't it? It's kind of difficult when Jesus says things that are not found in our Sunday school literature. When they're not even allowed to say some of the things that he says. You can't say it

out loud, not without a big argument. But friend, let me assure you, I know you've heard it. You know, church doesn't save you. The preachers don't save you. Your denomination don't save you. I know you've heard all that, but you really need to know that within yourself. There is one being that you will stand in front of on Judgment Day, and that's Jesus Christ, the one we're quoting here. And I think it's very important that we give him the credence, the power, the sovereignty to say what he wants and we should do as he says that's really kind of the simplistic form of of my faith in god and my christianity so to speak that's really what it's all about now uh we talked about about the rich guy that came to Jesus and said,

what's the key? How do I enter eternal life? Jesus says, you need to keep the commandments. And he says, well, I've done that. Well, Jesus could have said to him, okay, well, then what else do you need? Anything? Next? And dealt with the next one. But the young man says, now look, there's a problem in my life. I'm adding to this story, but I want you to see what easily could have brought about the rest of this conversation. I got a problem. No, I don't't murder but sometimes I want to I don't commit adultery but sometimes I want to and you know what I really don't want to anymore Jesus is saying to him oh well you want to be perfected you want to be completed

you want to be brought to this to the to the man that God created you to be. Yeah, that's it. That's what I want. When Jesus says, if thou would be perfect, that's exactly what he's saying. The King James Bible uses the word perfect, but it really doesn't mean without flaw. It doesn't mean anything, you know, that God is perfect and you need to be perfect like God is perfect. Well, the scriptures say that, but if perfect means what it means in our vocabulary today, well, that's an impossibility.

You're not going to be as perfect as god is because we have the idea that perfect means flawless when in reality it means complete it means where you're supposed to be i give the example of tuning the guitar nobody tunes a guitar six strings at a time i've seen some pretty good guitar players in my life, and I'm impressed with their playing. But you know, we all tune the guitar just the same, one string at a time. And what you're doing is, as you progress in tuning the guitar,

you are making one string perfect. And then you are tuning the next string perfectly. And all along as you are doing this, you are bringing along completion in stages until finally you can make some pretty music on it. I have trouble making pretty music on it, but some people do. And so it's a matter of tuning in our life. We can be in a state of that, you know,

if you strum the chord, it sounds pretty bad. But three of the strings are perfectly in tune you know i'm complete that far and i think that's what we really need to understand that everybody is on this journey um i don't want to say by themselves because that's not so i mean the lord says i'll never leave you or forsake you but we're not in this as a denomination or as a group or as a family or as even a couple. This is an individual standing before God in our own stage of completeness. This

young man was far and away farther along than most people that I know because he kept the commandments from his youth. Hey, I didn't, but he did. But you know what he noticed as he was keeping the commandments was, this is really too much trouble. This is really a strain on me, so to speak. Now what I would like to do is,

I don't want to violate the commandment. I want to honor the Lord God. However, it would really make this easy if the desire for the murder of my brother, so to speak, was removed from me. Jesus says, what you're talking about is regeneration. Now I can help you there. I know the law's not going to do that for you.

Well, you know that. You've kept the law your whole life and you still have this problem. But I can fix that problem. Well, how do we fix that? Well, let's go on and read. He says, one thing you lack. One thing you lack.

Notice he doesn't mention any of the commandments. So it's very believable that this young man did indeed keep the commandments from his youth. Anybody can do it. So he says, one thing you lack. Go your way, sell whatever thou hast, and give to the poor. Then thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And come, take up your cross, and follow me.

This little piece of advice, this little three-pronged piece of advice that Jesus has given here. He has given earlier. We've read it before. He will give it again. It's a foundational understanding of true Christianity. This only pertains to people who keep the commandments because there's no way that you can expect anything from christ if you're dishonoring his father's commandments i i know you know there's people that have testimonies of jesus doing miracles in their life uh you know or you know they they pray for miracles constantly usually praying for the god to guide the hands of the doctor these kind of things the things you don't find in scripture you find in

scripture a miraculous intervention of god the power of god actually changing and healing and doing things that are irrefutable. But those kind of things come to people who have learned how to live by faith. And they're keeping the commandments of God. They're on their way to perfection. They're on their way to regeneration. These kind of people, well people well frankly they're rare but jesus is giving him the key to regeneration the key to be being saved being salvaged it's it's one thing to enter into the kingdom of heaven

there'll be a lot of people that will enter the kingdom of heaven. As a matter of fact, you know, just recently we were talking about at the end of the millennial reign of Christ that Satan is going to take away people that the number of which is going to be like the sands of the sea. There's going to be a lot of people that are going to be brought into the kingdom of God, but not everybody's going to have access to the city of God. How do I know that?

Well, because there's gates around that city. The Bible makes it very clear. Well, you don't put up gates and not a fence. You don't do that. What good is a gate if there's not a wall if there's not some kind of a barrier there are certain people that are going to be given the power the privilege and the scriptures call them priests i think for lack of a better term but they're going to have access to and from they'll be able to go in and out of that gate well that's not everybody that's them bringing the gifts into into the city of God so you know the idea that that this democratic equality that gets preached a lot,

and frankly, it's really done by innuendo more so than it is by verbal means. But most people have the idea that if you're saved, you're saved. If you're going to heaven, you're going to heaven. Everybody's going to be equal. Everybody's going to, you know, their reward's going to be equal everybody's going to you know their reward is going to be the same same thing with hell people talk about people going to hell and they say you know if you go to hell you go to hell you know jesus did not even talk like this he said when it comes to punishment he said some people will be beaten with many stripes some some with few stripes. Well, that's a different kind of punishment, isn't it?

Of course it is. And when it talks about our reward within the kingdom of God, some people are going to inherit cities. Why? Because they were faithful. There's going to be people that are going to be given rewards. Why? Because they were faithful with what was given to them. So the idea that everybody's going to be people that are going to be given rewards. Why? Because they were faithful with what was given to them. So the idea that everybody's going to be equal is, well, you know, that's just fantasy. I'm afraid it's not backed up by Scripture.

So here you have a guy that says, look, I appreciate the fact that I'm going to enter the kingdom of God. That's a load off. However, I really am seeking completion in my life. Jesus says I can help you. How do you do that? Well, first of all, you need to deny yourself. Do you know what that means? Let me explain.

He said, for example, why don't you take what you own and give it to the poor? You see, you're just keeping it for who? Who are you keeping that money for? Yourself. Well, you need to deny yourself. And you need to consider other people. This was difficult for him. Friend, it's difficult for a lot of people.

But he says, if you you deny yourself there's step one step two is you're going to have to be willing to die for what you believe willing to die for it that's what take up your cross means you're going to have to be willing to die for what you believe i mean this is not is not just, you know, faith like I believe in God. Oh, I hope, I hope, I hope. This is faith in God to the point that you're willing to lay down your life for what you believe. Those people are rare, by the way. There's a lot of people that are willing to,

or they say, that they're willing to die for what they believe. And they like to make up little stories about the communist hordes and the jackbooted thugs that come in with machine guns and line everybody up against the wall and tell them to deny Christ or they're going to kill them.

Why, I'd be the first one to say, I'll never deny Jesus. You've heard this kind of thing. So if they say that they're willing to die for Jesus, they feel like that that's good enough. Well, friend, that's not what he's saying here. Oh, I can't say at all because that's not what he's saying here. Oh, I can't say at all, because really, that's what he's saying. But you know, to lay down your life for him, you don't have to

wait for somebody to point a gun at you. You can lay down your life for him today. Oh, now, wait a minute. Oh, so you're willing to die for Jesus, but you're not willing to live for him. I wouldn't give you two cents for whatever it is that you're calling your salvation. I wouldn't do it. You're willing to die, but not willing to live. It's like the people who, you know, when we're attacked by a foreign enemy and people say, you know, we need to go out and I'm willing to die for my country. Well, truth is, if the truth was told, it was that I'm willing to kill people for my country. I don't know that I'm willing to die for it, but I am willing to kill for it. You have to look behind what people are saying, because what

they say and actually what they do are usually two different things. But he's telling this guy, you need to be willing to die for what you believe. I don't know that you've got that in you right now, but you can. And if you are settled in what you believe and you are willing to give your life to it, well, you're my man. And that's step two. What's step three? Follow me. You need to do what I do.

You need to act like I act. You need to think red ink. You see, that's what follow me is all about, to have the mind of Christ. That's what it is. And if you're not willing to follow him, then, you know, as I say, your salvation is not really worth much. It's really based in hope, not faith. Hey, I hope anybody with any sense hopes.'s how we get it's how we get through

depression in a lot of cases we have no evidence for ever getting out but we have hope that we do we have hope that we will and sometimes it pulls us out isn't that wonderful that's not faith. Hope is not faith. You have to understand that hope is not faith. You know, faith is the evidence of things hoped for, or the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things that you cannot see. And most of the time when we have hope, it's hope in a person hope in a situation hope in a in a scripture hope in our own imagination but you know faith is believing that something is

that has no physical evidence for it whatsoever there's your father in heaven. Your Father in heaven. And when we have faith in Him, we believe that He is. Wow, that sounds like scripture. I believe it is. We have to believe that He is and that He's the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. So we have to have faith and we have to have, and with that faith we have hope that he's going to reward us do you see this these are definitions that are are extremely valuable

and necessary to understand what the scriptures are saying hope is not faith and faith is not hope if you don't know the difference there's something for you to meditate on. Think about it. Well, you know, how's that 401k doing? Well, you know, I've got faith. No, you've got hope. That's hope. Now, if God tells you your 401k

is going to be worth twice what it is 10 years from now, you can put faith in that because now you've got the word of god you can't have faith without the word of god and if you think that the bible is the word of god what you're going to end up with is some kind of a a skewed and weird kind of faith that really should be labeled hope all right so that when the when the man heard this and he he heard this this threefold challenge of the lord jesus which was um essentially that you need to um deny yourself take up your cross follow follow me. When the man heard that, he went away sadly, for he had very great possessions.

Jesus turned to his disciples and said, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. Hmm. So what Jesus was telling him was going to do what for him? It was going to let him gain entrance into the kingdom. And what was keeping the commandments going to do for him? It was going to supply him with eternal life.

Are you saying that eternal life and living in the kingdom are two different things uh-huh i am and the scriptures are really clear on this that there's such a thing as the kingdom of god the kingdom of god is within you the kingdom of god is coming to the earth where j Jesus is going to be king of the whole earth. But that doesn't mean you have right to enter the kingdom of God. It doesn't mean you have right to go into the gate. The Bible says that nations of people, nations are going to walk in what? The light of that city. the light of that city. It didn't say nations of people are going to be in that city.

That city's only so big. And frankly, you know, just from what I see and what I've experienced in life, there's not going to be a lot of people in there. Jesus will be there. His throne will be there. And his faithful ones will be there his throne will be there and his faithful ones will be there his prophets and his priests and the the faithful ones on the earth that did his bidding that that actually

performed actually did what he said that really he really was their lord they'll be there and you want something to strive for you want something to work for there you go he says um he says verily i say unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven you know um there's a lot of people who feel like that poverty is some way of salvation. No, no, no. If you want to gain eternal life, keep the commandments. All right, so what is the poverty thing all about? Is that going to help us regenerate?

It will remove the hindrance from hearing the word of God within yourself. Remember Jesus says you need to be careful how you hear. The sower sows the word. And when the word goes in, it grows up. But what spins around it? What chokes the life out of it? Cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things. Entering in, choke the word, and thus it, the word, becomes unfruitful. It's not going to take your salvation, but it'll certainly take your advancement in the kingdom of God to mess around with riches. Jesus says, this is just dang near. I can't believe Jesus said dang near. But this is almost an impossibility. He says, children, how hard is it?

How hard it is for them who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter in the kingdom of God. Here's an interesting aside on this, by the way. In those days, there were camel hair ropes. And in the Aramaic tongue, when you use the word rope, the word looks so much like the word camel that I would say that from six, eight feet away, you'd have very difficult time. You'd

have to get up close to it to see if the little dots are above and below or whatever the difference was in the word and i've forgotten now but um but when jesus says that it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle people who know the aramaic language well namely george lamza who wrote the pashita who translated the pashita from Aramaic to English. He said that, you know, this is a misunderstanding. Jesus actually said it'd be easier to thread a needle with a rope. Well, that makes sense, doesn't it? No camel's going through the eye of a needle.

Oh, did you hear about the needle's eye gate? Yeah, it's a real narrow gate and and you can you can hardly get through it and if you try to take your camel through there he has to get down on his knees and you have to take the baggage off of him so that he can wiggle through that gate now you don't want to walk 60 yards that way and go through a big gate you want to wiggle your camel through this needle's eye gate right and it shows that he has to unburden himself and he has to get down on his knees oh wow that's just really a goose bumpy story i just love that we can tell that at sunday school people will be impressed with us um the fact that that's a lie i guess his is it doesn't stop people from telling that story but there's no such thing

isn't it time that we just clean up our act and quit lying and quit telling stories like they happen to us they happen to my brother-in-law when you know full well you read them in a book you heard them on a book you heard them on the radio you heard some other preacher preach it come on get your own revelation all right so he says that it's easier to thread a needle with a rope now so his disciples were concerned they said, who then can be saved? Because, you know, they were concerned because, are you saying no possessions?

Really? Is that what you're saying? And he's saying, with men it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. What's possible? All things? Really? Does he mean all things? What is he saying saying he's saying that there is such a thing there is such a way to live that a man can have possessions and them not have him how is that done through character through uh keep first of all keeping the commandments of god to open the doors of communication second not disobeying your conscience if your conscience is

bothering you god's greater than your heart and knows all things keep you have to obey your conscience and three you need to spend time before the Lord and you need to listen for his voice because he can make these things work. You can own something. My advice to you, hold it in an open hand. Whereupon Peter said to Jesus, Behold, we've forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have therefore?

Jesus replied to him, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Every one that hath forsaken houses, or or sister or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake. Shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Wow, if you'd have just left that off, we could have said, we got it made. But Jesus wants to make it very clear to you, nobody's got it made. You need to endure to the end. You need to endure to the last. The last, those are the ones that are going to be first you think you're first now you may end up to be last these kind of things are so important to

us and we need not add to this or take away from this and and try to make it fit our lifestyle friend if you have things in your life, things that are winding their way around the seed of Christ in you and choking it out, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things, you're not going to win. You're not going to win unless you learn how to hold those things through the wisdom and knowledge of your father god in heaven all right it's time for us to go already write to me will you don at thinkredinc.com and uh i'll get your email right here in pie town you have a question you got a comment i'd love to hear from you it's It's always great. We'll see you next time, okay? And until then, Think Red Ink Ministries. Email don at thinkredink.com. That's thinkredink.com. Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. you