Kingdom Truth - What is the Kingdom of Heaven in the Bible?
Chapter 3, Part 2
From the Objective to the Subjective
It seems that everyone knows the phrase "Believe in the gospel". In fact, even some preachers don't k:now what it is all about! It would be a miracle if the future of such churches does not go down the tubes! The "Gospel" is God's mighty power because its content is what the almighty God has accomplished. Through His death, our sins are forgiven and Satan, who has the power of death, is defeated. Through His resurrection, we can have a resurrected life which is God's life and we can have the authority to become God's children. His appearance tells us that in the future, He will come in the cloud and everyone shall behold Him! (1 Cor. 15:3-8; Rev. 1:7) In a word, all that He accomplished for us on Himself is the gospel. So, He Himself is the gospel. Praise the Lord!
"Believe" is a rather abstract verb. In many cases, people think that to believe in Jesus is to marvel at Jesus, to agree with Jesus and to respect Jesus. They are using methods from other religions to "believe" in Jesus. In Christ, there isn't such an ineffective "believe"! The meaning of "believe" is very clear in the Scriptures:"...received Him...who believe in His name..." (John 1:12). So, to "believe" is to invite Jesus into one's heart. This is also the only way to salvation. All other kinds of "believe" lead to dead ends! Readers, please do not be deceived! As for "receive", most people know what it is. Frequently, when we have relatives or friends come over to stay at our house for a while, we all know the need to vacuum the floor, sweep the patio, and fix up the guest room. We clean the house and wash the windows so that our guest would feel at home. If not, we are not being hospitable (receiving) but being rude! In like manner, before we invite the lord to come into our heart, we ought to do some internal cleaning. We tell Jesus all the garbage in our heart---all unclean and unrighteous thoughts, actions, wrong handling of people and things, and all the sins we can remember, and hand them over to Jesus. The more detailed the better. He is willing to bear them for us and remove all the sins we give Him to the "no man land" in order to set us free from the power of sin. When we have cleansed our heart, we ought to say to Him sincerely, "lord, please come into my heart and be my Lord!" The gracious Lord has never turned down those who sincerely invite Him. He will immediately enter into one who has opened his heart and change his heart and thoughts. Praise the Lord, salvation is just so wonderful and man's heart is that easily changed! The requirement to enter the Kingdom of Preparation is all that simple. Hallelujah!
Some years ago, there was a revival meeting held in the central China. In that city, there was a Wheaton College graduate who taught English in the local high school. He came to the evening meetings every night and was touched by the message. One thing that puzzled him very much was that every evening, this speaker always invited people to receive Jesus as Savior. The speaker always said, "Friends, Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart, please open the door to your heart and invite Him in, okay?" Finally, one night, he decided to ask the speaker what is the meaning of "to open the door of your heart". When the speaker understood his problem, he smiled and said, 'that is a very simple thing". He asked the teacher if he has a roommate and he indicated that he didn't have one. So the speaker said, "Excellent, after you go home tonight, close your door, kneel down sincerely and say to God: "God, I am very willing to open the door of my heart so that you can come into my heart. Only I do not know how to open it. Please help me." Are you willing to do so?" The teacher made a promise. He returned home and did it. A wonderful thing happened to him. Later. he gave his testimony saying, 'When I knelt down to pray, I did not understand why there was a very heavy load pressing on my heart. Suddenly, I started to confess my sins one by one which was not what I anticipated. As I continued to confess my sins, a bright light shone into my heart and began to disperse the darkness in my heart. The more I confessed, the brighter was my heart! After I finished confessing my sins, I invited Jesus to come into my heart. By this one action, all my burdens, darkness and emptiness vanished. God's love filled my heart and I experienced a peace and joy that I have never had before".
Dear readers, have you had such a change in your life? If not, please hand over to Jesus all that you have wronged against God and man. Jesus will remove them all. Then invite Jesus into your heart. Your view of life will then change and your questions about life will be answered!
Chapter 3, Part 2
Shepherd His Sheep
