“THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM …” Part 1 of 4
“THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM …”
Part 1 of 4
THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH of the
book of Matthew
Christ
comes to set up a kingdom ON earth,
called
the kingdom OF heaven,
with
the rules from the kingdom IN heaven.
What
were the rules of the kingdom FROM heaven?
While
Christ was on earth he gave Israel the rules
needed for entry into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew
5,6 and 7). Today
however, we can be born directly into the kingdom of God as Christians.
How
are these two kingdoms different
from each other?
Christ
says “Look, I am the Messiah you
have been waiting for, and I am also God in the
flesh (Mat 1:23 ). I have come
so that you can have heaven here on earth. We’ll call it the
kingdom
of heaven.”
Christ
says “I am from heaven and I bring
you the rules of heaven. You must take those rules from heaven and put
them
into practice down here on earth.” “Tell us more” the Jewish people
reply
excitedly.
So
Jesus sits them down and gives them The
Set of Rules that will be needed to have this kingdom of
heaven
here on earth. He gives them The Constitution, The
Manifesto, of
how this thing will operate. He gives them The Sermon on the Mount
as
contained in Matthew
5,6 and 7. These rules are called the
kingdom gospel
or the gospel of the kingdom. When he finishes, they are in
disbelief!
“Those
rules are too strict!”
they complained “we’ll never be able to keep them. Are you saying that
God
won’t forgive us our sins unless we forgive others? Who can be pure in
their
heart? Pluck out our eyes if they cause us to sin? Who can do that? No,
Jesus, maybe
you’re not the Messiah we were looking for. Our immediate concern is to
rid
ourselves from these Romans who are crushing us to death.”
Jesus
says “The kingdom of heaven,
here on earth, will be works with the right heart attitude as well!”
1.
You must
be pure in heart to see God (Mat 5:8 )
2.
Your
righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees
(Mat 5:20 ).
3.
Saying “Thou fool” with no good cause will mean
hell fire (Mat 5:22 )
4.
Lusting after
women is
adultery and equal to the act (Mat 5:27-28)
5.
Pluck your
eye out if necessary if
it causes you to sin (Mat 5:30 )
6.
There will
be no oaths
using heaven’s name (Mat 5:33)
7.
Limit your
agreements to a
‘yes’ or ‘no’ (Mat 5:37)
8.
Don’t pay
back evil for evil (Mat 5:38-44)
but go the extra mile (Mat 5:41)
9.
You have
to be perfect like God (Mat 5:48 )
10.
Give alms in secret
(Mat 6:1-4)
11.
Pray in secret
(Mat 6:5-8)
12.
Forgive others or
God won’t
forgive you Mat 6:14
13.
Fast in secret
(Mat 6:16-18)
14.
No hoarding up money or goods (Mat 6:19-21,24)
15.
No
worrying about food and drink (Mat 6:25-33)
16.
Take no thought about tomorrow (Mat 6:34)
17.
No hypocrisy (Mat 7:1-5)
18.
Beware of false prophets (Mat 7:15-23)
Now
the Jews were astonished (Mat 7:28)! They couldn’t
believe their ears! These
were IMPOSSIBLY strict rules. Christ
had said “My kingdom here
on earth will not tolerate sin!” The disciples said “Who
then can be
saved?” (Matt 19:25). Jesus answers “No-one”. But then he replies “…with
God all things are possible” (Matt 19:26), he was saying “I am
God, pure
and sinless, in the flesh. It is possible with me.”
If
you believe that I can do this on
your behalf, when you die you will go to a ‘half-way house’ called Abraham’s
bosom. It’s simply a place in the earth where Abraham has gone and
is
waiting for you. People in the fires of hell will be able to see you,
but you
won’t see them, and it will be impossible for you to visit any friends
or
relatives that have gone to hell (Luke 16:26). Abraham’s bosom isn’t
heaven. You’ll
wait there until I am resurrected after the cross, then I’ll come and
take you
into heaven where God the Father lives.”
****
****
Harley
Hitchcock
This
website’s front page is:
www.
“THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM …”Part
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Australian Bible Ministries, PO
Box 5058 Mt. Gravatt East 4122 Qld, Australia
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com
