Good Morning Beloved Family.
I am so privileged to share the Word of God,
and to the very words of our Lord Jesus Christ
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for Your Word
for the honor and privilege of Your calling
allowing me to share the truths contained in Scripture
with this flock You have blessed me with
Lord, may You open the ears of all those who hear
soften the hearts of those who have previously rejected You
draw them nearer, with Your grace and compassion
let them also enter into Your kingdom through the narrow gate.
We ask, we pray, we seek, we knock knowing that You’ve promised to always answer.
In Jesus' name
Amen and Amen
Today's Message: Only One Way!
"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter."
Matthew 7:21
At the end of the great Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said those words, words that would have had to be the most frightening words to religious people of the day. I know, it should also be just as frightening to many people today! Words many should heed...
Jesus went to say in Matthew 7:22-23, referring to the day of the Lord, Judgement Day,
" Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"
I am reminded of the words from an old preacher friend of mine,
"E'erbody here talkin’ ‘bout heav’n but I'ma tell ya, they sho' ain’t goin’ there!"
"There is a generation that curses its father
and does not bless its mother.
There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes,
yet is not washed from its filth.
There is a generation—how haughty its eyes
and pretentious its looks.
There is a generation whose teeth are swords,
whose fangs are knives,
devouring the oppressed from the land
and the needy from among mankind."
Proverbs 30:11-14
Beloved, I would venture to guess, we're living in such a time, today.
There are a great many people today, millions and millions of people, who associate themselves with Christianity, and quite frankly millions more people who are from a variety of religions and beliefs, that would say to Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” and yet have no hope of entering heavens gates. Millions of people who would proclaim their identification with the Lord Jesus Christ who will spend tormenting eternity in hell, full of suffering and everlasting punishment.
"We're all on different roads headed to the same destination."
I have heard, more than a few times, people who do not claim the Deity of Christ, or have a belief that doesn't acknowledge Jesus, in any way. This is their way of expressing that all religions have the same results. Many feel they are free to pick their own paths to heaven. Some world religions promote the concept that all doctrinal routes eventually lead to the same God. God allows us the right to choose, but the direction chosen either leads toward God or away from Him.
But be assured, there is only one way .... to God.
All roads do not lead to heavens gates!!
"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
Matthew 7:13-14
I do not know how much clearer Jesus could have made it!, And yet .... we're here aren't we?
Still discussing the same subject, two thousand years later... and people still do not understand!
And I have also heard, a great many people profess, “We are all worshiping the same called by another name God, so what's the big deal anyway?”
In a world of many choices, people find it difficult to understand that there is only one way..
Just let me make this as perfectly clear as I can, there is but ONE WAY!
His name is JESUS CHRIST!!!!!
The early church knew the way, and went that way, and led others in the way. “The Way” was one of the earliest names given to the Christian church.
Allow me to share a story, one I'm quite sure most of you are familiar with..
A story about a man named Saul of Tarsus.
"Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem."
Acts 9:1-2
"I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished."
Acts 22:4-5
Paul eventually followed “The Way.”
Paul was called upon to defend himself. He knew Felix was familiar with ”The Way.” Having knowledge about truth is not the same as embracing it. It is possible to know what the Bible teaches, but not do what it commands. Each person is responsible for the truth he hears.
There are basically three reasons why people reject Jesus as the only way.
They are satisfied with their own way. Like people in a smoke-filled building because they doubt there is a fire, they insist on finding their own way out.
They deny their lostness. The people in the smoke-filled building insist on debating whether there is a fire.
They believe that there are several valid ways to get to heaven. They reluctantly agree that there may be a fire in the smoke-filled building, but they think that one escape route is as good as any other. Jesus is the only way to the Father. Some may argue that the way is too narrow. However, it is wide enough for anyone and everyone to enter.
Author Howard G. Hendricks, a longtime professor at Dallas Seminary, and pastor at Calvary Independent Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth, wrote in his book Color Outside The Lines, a book I highly recommended reading, gives a wonderful illustration of what can happen to those who refuse to heed advice.
A boat made its way toward its destination. On board were 1,358 people enjoying an afternoon outing. Thirty minutes after leaving the shore, a fire broke out. People started shouting, fearing their lives would be lost. Although the ship was close to shore, the captain steadily kept his course. No one knows why he did not return to land for help. Some say he did not understand the severity of what was taking place. Others say he thought the crew could take care of the situation. He refused to pay attention to the fire alarms, the screaming people, or the smoke and flames. The tragedy resulted in the loss of over a thousand lives. Investigations revealed the crew was unskillful and inspectors had been bribed. Fire buckets had been filled with garbage, and life vests had rotted.
We have been warned of impending fire in hell. We cannot be saved on our own. Salvation through Jesus Christ has provided a way of escape. Shall we heed the Savior’s call?
Hebrews 2:3 says, "how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? "
God sees sin.
God sees the sinner.
God judges sin and sinners.
God provides only one way of escape, salvation through Jesus Christ.
There is no other way.. NONE!
And, in my view on the subject, rather than to be debating, arguing, about how "limited" that thinking is, we should all be saying, "Thank You God! For providing the sure way for us to get to You!"
Seriously, how ungrateful are some of you out there, who would argue Jesus is not the only way?
We should all be so grateful, so very grateful, that God loved us enough to provide any way for us to spend eternity with Him!!
"Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
John 14:6
Allow me to spell that out for some of you ....Jesus is:
The Way
The Truth
And The Life...
Faith in Jesus and obedience to His commands is the only way to heaven.
Obedience and faith leads us upward to heaven.
Disobedience and sin leads us downward to hell.
We all get to chose which direction we're going...
Sin and disobedience is the way to hell.
Faith and obedience to Christ is the way to heaven.
Period!
There is no other way to heaven besides Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and we should obey His teachings. He alone provides eternal life.
Man would prefer to choose his own path to heaven. And there a many that try to do just that, but it leads to a dead-end street. There are no other options. Jesus Christ is the way, the only way.
It is highly possible, it is very common, and it is, generally speaking, true that the majority of people who acknowledge that they believe in Jesus will never enter heaven. To say nothing of a world of religious people who are in religions other than some form of Christianity.
And so I say to all of you, there are no more terrifying words to someone associated with Christianity than the words, “Not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter my kingdom.”
First of all, apart from believing in and accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior, no one will get to heaven, not one. Scripture is very clear, that there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved.
No other name.
Not Mary, Muhammad, the Pope, Buddha, Confucius, Vishnu, Allah or any other name you can come up with.
I don't care what you think, or who has convinced you otherwise, Jesus says otherwise!
I know some of you think you're all that, but when all is said and done, Jesus is the Authority.
Not me, not you, and certainly not any and false god.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."
John 3:16-21
There is no hope, no hope of heaven for those who do not believe the gospel. That we understand.
No gospel, no salvation. No Christ, no salvation. No understanding of the cross and the resurrection, no salvation possible.
But the absolutely mind blowing thing, the positively shocking thing is that even among those who believe and say, “Lord, Lord, we preached in Your name, we cast out demons in Your name, we did mighty works in Your name,” there will be those who have no hope of heaven. The shock is that many who call Jesus Lord will be sent by God to eternal hell.
This then is a very startling, even riveting critical passage in a day and a time when lots of people are calling themselves Christians. How important, then, are those frightening words spoken by our Lord?
"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter."
Matthew 7:21
In Closing....
Every biblical "call" to the gospel is a command. Repent, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. These are all imperatives, commands, mandates which call for obedience or disobedience, compliance or rebellion. So the Lord ends His sermon with a command and a strong and unmistakable command at that.
At the conclusion of that sermon, Jesus gives what some might call an invitation. And, I know, I have even occasionally, used that popular phrase myself, more out of carelessness than anything else. Because the truth is not an invitation. In fact, an invitation might be a bad word altogether. Might it be a word that every preacher, including myself, shouldn’t even have in his vocabulary because an invitation is possibly too refined a word. Just maybe it’s a little too social a word. Maybe there’s too much liberality with the word invitation. Maybe there’s too much freedom with the word invitation. Maybe there’s not enough power in the word invitation.
Far better to say, that at the close of His sermon, Jesus gave a command. The command is powerful, in the unforgettable passage in Scripture;
"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
Matthew 7:13-14
Beloved, its is now make-up-your-mind time about the sermon on the mountain.
And, quite frankly, between One true God and Christianity and all other gods and religion, which is one or another form of the same thing.... false.
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries