1148 - How Great Is the Love of Jesus Christ#
1148 - How Great Is the Love of Jesus Christ
(JP Text Group - Organized by Life Like an Eagle)
Let us pray together:
Loving Heavenly Father, we thank and praise you for your special grace. It is your love that gathers us before you, and we are willing to seek you; you are our Lord and our provider. My good is not outside of you. Today, bless us through your word, renew us; you are the answer to all our problems, you are our strength, and our ever-present help in life.
Today, through your word, we are willing to know you more. Please grant us the words we need for this week, and we completely entrust the following time into your gracious hands, Lord. We are willing to open our hearts to you; may the Holy Spirit guide this time. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!
Our topic is How Great Is the Love of Jesus Christ
Let us first read today's scripture: Matthew 21:33-46
33 "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. He leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!' 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43 Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed." 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Today we will share a verse-by-verse interpretation.
At the beginning, Jesus tells a parable about a landowner. Who is this landowner? He is our God. He planted a vineyard. But who does the vineyard refer to? The vineyard refers to Israel.
In Isaiah 5:1-7, it mentions that the vineyard is the house of Israel. Here, let me read Isaiah 5:7 to the brothers and sisters, "The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel..." It is very clear that God planted a vineyard; He chose the house of Israel, and then put a fence around it. What does the fence refer to? The fence can be understood as a form of protection. God separated the people of Israel from all nations to make them His holy people, a unique nation.
In Job 1:10, it tells us,
Job 1:9-10 Satan replied to the Lord, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land."
Even Satan noticed that God had put a hedge around Job and his household, but Job himself did not realize it. Similarly, God watches over the people of Israel and protects them all around. After putting up the fence, He dug a winepress. What is the purpose of the winepress? It is to crush the grapes into juice when the vineyard produces grapes. This symbolizes that Israel will bear fruit before God. Furthermore, it says, He built a tower. "He built a tower" in the original meaning refers to a watchtower, indicating that God watches over His people.
In Deuteronomy 11:10-12, it tells us,
10 The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. 12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.
Indeed, God has always cared for the people of Israel. Not only did He give them this land as an inheritance, but He also watches over this land from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. In other words, God has always been watching over the people of Israel.
It says here that after building a tower, He leased it to tenants. Our main characters today have appeared; who are the tenants? The tenants are the chief priests and the scribes. In Matthew 21:23, when Jesus was preaching, the priests and the scribes came to challenge Jesus' authority, looking for a way to trap Him. Therefore, this parable contains a statement directed at the scribes and chief priests; the tenants refer to the chief priests and scribes, indicating that God entrusted the responsibility of the vineyard to the priests, scribes, and elders.
Here it says leased to the tenants. The use of the term "leased to the tenants" is very good; it means you have the right to use it, but the ownership still belongs to the one who gave it to you. In other words, God gave the people of Israel to these officials, but these people still belong to God. Just like today, God has given you children; although you have management rights, the ownership of the child still belongs to our God. Thank God!
The management rights of the vineyard were entrusted to the chief priests and scribes to be responsible for its management, but this vineyard is not theirs.
After leasing it to them, He went to another country. Verse 34 says, "When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit..."
Thank the Lord, the harvest time approaching refers to the time of reaping. God sent His servants to collect the fruit, representing the owner. Although the servants came, they came on behalf of the owner. Why did God send servants to collect this fruit? It is not that God lacks this fruit today; it is just to tell them that the owner of the vineyard is not them, but God. Just like when we give a tithe, it is not that God lacks money; rather, it is a way for people to prove that their blessings come from God.
In the Garden of Eden, there was a tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That tree itself was not particularly special, nor was its fruit particularly delicious; that tree represented God's sovereignty. So when that tree was in the garden, it represented that all blessings were given to Adam by God, and not obtained by Adam's efforts.
So today, do we know? When God sent His servants to collect fruit, what kind of fruit was He collecting?
Isaiah 5:7 states, "The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel; and the men of Judah are the vines he delighted in. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress."
Brothers and sisters, God saw that there was a lack of justice and righteousness among the people of Israel, and many cries of distress were emerging. At this time, He sent His servants to lead these tenants back to the blessings and to receive God's grace again.
If the vineyard cannot bear fruit, the responsibility does not lie with the grapevines but with the managers. Just like today, if you believe in Jesus and cannot bear fruit, it is not your problem. So whose problem is it? It is the problem of the teachers. If the words you hear are wrong and you receive incorrect teachings, then no matter how hard you try, you cannot bear good grapes. Just as God had expectations for the people of Israel, but these teachers taught incorrectly, the chief priests and scribes taught incorrectly, and thus the people bore wild grapes. Only when faith is correct can life be lived correctly.
God has prepared everything for the people of Israel, and the people of Israel did not participate in this preparation; God prepared everything. These officials were only there to manage. God repeatedly sent His servants and prophets to the people of Israel and to the officials, hoping to interact with them, to communicate with them, and to have a loving connection with them. However, the tenants persecuted these servants and even killed these prophets; they completely misunderstood God's intentions.
Let us look at the history of Israel in the Old Testament. Every time God sent a prophet to find these leaders of Israel, it was when the people of Israel had already strayed from God. This is directly related to their leaders; they went astray, and most of the time, they were worshiping other gods.
So we see that the prophetic books begin with Isaiah 1:2-4:
"Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: 'I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.' Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him."
Brothers and sisters, when you read the Old Testament prophetic books, many people may feel uncomfortable. Why do the prophets speak such harsh words? Because these people were already quite terrible; they deliberately estranged themselves from God, regressed, and intentionally committed various sins. They worshiped other gods and rebelled against God, doing everything that God had forbidden. In such a situation, God sent His prophets to tell them: "You have gone astray; turn back! As long as you return, God is willing to heal you, and you will still be blessed."
But how did these people treat the prophets sent by God? In two ways. The first way, as mentioned in today's scripture, is "beat one, kill another." This is how the tenants treated God's servants; they did not regard them as anything. God came to heal them, to lead them to repentance, to bring them back to God's grace, but their response was only two ways: one was to beat, and the other was to kill.
In the New Testament, Hebrews 11:36-37 mentions that many prophets had a terrible end. Those prophets are listed among the great heroes of faith, but what was their outcome?
"36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated."
Brothers and sisters, these people were God's servants. They suffered for preaching the correct gospel and for letting the listeners receive God's blessings. As a result, some were beaten, and some were killed. Just like we read earlier, Isaiah was a very faithful servant, but do you know how Isaiah died? According to some records, Isaiah was put inside a tree and then sawed in half while still alive.
Jeremiah was stoned to death, and Amos was killed with a stick. This is the Old Testament. In the New Testament, we see John the Baptist was killed by the sword, and some of God's servants, as the Bible tells us, were dressed in sheepskins and goatskins, running around everywhere. What does this refer to? It refers to a very cruel form of punishment. They would skin a goat or sheep and then put a person inside it, sewing it up. When the sun shone on it, the skin would shrink, and the person inside could not walk due to the pain, so they could only run around until they died from exhaustion.
This is what it means to "run around in sheepskins and goatskins." It was a very cruel punishment, but these people had not committed any crime; they were only telling these people, these lost souls, that they had gone astray and needed to turn back, and God was willing to bless them and heal them. They misunderstood God's intentions, thinking that God came to punish them, that God was demanding something from them, that God wanted to imprison them and take away their freedom. Therefore, they treated God's servants by beating some and killing others.
So where does God's love manifest? Of course, when these officials, these tenants treated the servants sent by God in this way, it was actually an insult to God. But let us see how God responded.
Verse 36 says, "Then the owner sent other servants to them, more than the first time."
Brothers and sisters, this is God's love, how great is His love! Time and time again, He forgives, time and time again, He pleads, hoping they can turn back. Brothers and sisters, do you know? These tenants not only did not turn back, but they also escalated their rejection of God, repeatedly refusing the servants sent by God.
What does verse 37 say? "Later he sent his son to them." The meaning is: "They will respect my son."
Thank the Lord, after so many servants were beaten and killed, God still offered them forgiveness and the opportunity to turn back. So God sent His beloved only Son to seek out these tenants.
In John 3:16, it tells us, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." This is God's wonderful and great love!
Let us think about it; in this world, can we find anyone who loves us more than our God? If someone offends you, how many times can you forgive them? God's love for us is: every time He sends His servants, they are beaten, they are humiliated, but God does not blame them; He only forgives them time and time again. Finally, God sent His beloved Son to come.
However, when these tenants saw the son of the owner coming, it proved that these people, these officials, knew that he was the Son of God!
Brothers and sisters, when Jesus preached on earth, later on, through the miracles Jesus performed and the things He did, many officials knew that Jesus was the Son of God. Although they knew in their hearts, they still refused to admit it with their mouths. So when they saw the owner's son coming, not only did they not respect Him, but they also said, what did they say?
In verse 38, when they saw the owner's son coming, they said, "This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!"
Do you see? This is such a ridiculous contrast! One is God's vast and profound love; the other is the small calculations and jealousy in human hearts. So in the presence of God, people really count for nothing! Thank the Lord! They said: "Come, let’s kill him, and we can take his inheritance." So did the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees in the New Testament do such things?
In John 11:47-48, it says,
"Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. 'What are we accomplishing?' they asked. 'Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.'"
Verse 53 says, "So from that day on they plotted to take his life."
Brothers and sisters, when the chief priests and scribes, these tenants of Israel, were entrusted with the people of Israel, they thought that these people belonged to them. They said, "If these people all believe in Jesus, what will we do?" This is their mindset. They thought Jesus came to take their people away from them. They thought that as long as they killed Jesus, these people would still follow them. Therefore, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, they could no longer bear it. They could not stand to see Jesus performing miracles and healing people because they were too afraid. The more miracles Jesus performed, the more fearful they became, fearing that everyone would follow Jesus.
Who can take away God's inheritance? The leaders of Israel decided to kill Jesus to monopolize God's inheritance.
Today, some church leaders are like the tenants. No matter which church you are in, some church leaders scare the believers into not leaving, even going so far as to slander other churches. Some leaders shamelessly say, "You must not go to other churches, because apart from our church, other churches cannot be saved. If you go, you will go to hell!"
Brothers and sisters, if you hear such words, what is the difference between them and the wicked tenants we are sharing today? What is the difference between them and the chief priests, Pharisees, and scribes? All churches in the world belong to the Lord Jesus, Amen? The administrators of our church are merely conduits; we are just managing God's inheritance on behalf of God.
But how does God respond to such people who are intent on plotting against God and killing the Son of God? We see that God already knows their hearts, but God loves us in this way. Even if they want to kill Jesus, they still do not understand that this is God's love, a love that God is willing to give us. God loves the world so much that He gave His one and only Son.
The Pharisees thought they were very powerful, thinking their schemes had succeeded because they killed Jesus. They did not realize that this was God's willingness to give them, that Jesus was willing to lay down His life for us. Even if Jesus is willing to die for us today, it is still for us to receive His righteousness, His holiness, and His love. Thank the Lord! How great is this love! You cannot find another God or Lord like this in the world. So, where did Jesus go before He was crucified? To the Garden of Gethsemane.
Brothers and sisters, do you know what the Garden of Gethsemane means? The Garden of Gethsemane means "oil press," the place where olives are pressed into oil. Jesus, this green olive, when He grew to maturity, this healthy life, this mature life, willingly placed Himself into the oil press, thank the Lord!
No one loves us like this. For us to receive life, He willingly placed Himself in the oil press. When the olives are placed in the oil press, what happens? The whole olive is completely crushed, and all the oil inside is squeezed out.
Isn't Jesus Christ offering Himself like this for us? He placed His youngest, healthiest life, around thirty-three years old, on the oil press, on the cross. His body was broken for us, and the most precious oil inside His body—His precious blood—flowed out.
Do you know what olive oil is used for? When olives are pressed into oil, the fragrant oil that flows out can be used for several purposes: first, it can be lamp oil; second, it can be cooking oil; third, it can be anointing oil to heal the wounded. Thank the Lord!
When Jesus Christ broke His body for us, the precious blood that flowed from His body became the light in our darkness. He became our oil to illuminate our hearts in the darkness. At the same time, it also became food, the nourishment that flows from His body, supplying us every day. Thank the Lord! It is also anointing oil that can heal us; His wounds can heal the wounded.
The precious blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us from all our sins and heal all our wounds. Because of the wounds He suffered, today we are healed because He was broken, because He was placed in the oil press, His perfect life was broken, and what flowed out from Him could heal all our ailments. He selflessly supplied everything to us. Thank the Lord!
This is our Jesus Christ, this is the great love of Jesus Christ, a selfless love, an unconditional love. Although we humans treat Him this way time and time again, slandering Him and defaming Him, God still loves us.
Today, who among us can do this? Perhaps when a husband or wife at home says a few harsh words to us, we cannot bear it and say, "Lord, why have you placed this burden on me? Do you not see that Jesus willingly placed Himself in that oil press?" He willingly put Himself in there, and from Him flowed abundant life, just to supply you. This is our God. So when we see Jesus offering Himself like this for us, this is God's view of us. Although we are so unjust to God, treating our God in such a way, our God still loves us.
Let us also look at these Pharisees, the self-righteous people who thought they could keep the law. What kind of things did they do? When Jesus told them this story, when these tenants repeatedly insulted and even killed God's servants, and even killed the owner's son, Jesus asked them, "What will the owner do when he comes?" Those who claimed to be righteous, the Pharisees, had no compassion at all.
Verse 41 says, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
What a vicious curse! If God treated us humans in this way, I think there would probably not be a single person left in the world; they would all be killed. But do we see this? These Pharisees, who always exalted the law, showed no mercy at all in their actions, nor did they show any forgiveness.
In the Old Testament, when David woke up in the afternoon and wandered on the rooftop, he saw another man's wife bathing. He looked and looked until he could not resist taking her. This itself was already a violation of the law, a great evil. When he saw that she was pregnant, he used various methods to cover up his sin. Finally, when he could not cover it up anymore, he plotted to kill her husband.
He thought that no one knew about what he did, but God sent His servant to tell David, "King, there is a rich man who has many cattle and sheep and lacks nothing; there is another man, a widow, who has only one lamb, and she treats that lamb like her own child, holding it close to her."
But this rich man, when a guest came, could not bear to kill his own sheep, so he took the widow's only lamb and killed it. At that moment, he asked David, "King, what should we do about this?" David was very angry and said, "The man who did this deserves to die! He should pay back four times what he took." Finally, the prophet told him, "You are that wicked man."
Brothers and sisters, do you know? If a person's heart does not have forgiveness, no amount of law can help them.
In the Old Testament, the Bible tells us that how you treat others, your heavenly Father will treat you the same way; if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.
So today, only when we have Jesus' forgiveness in our hearts can we forgive others; when they have Jesus' love, can we love others. Unfortunately, the Pharisees and scribes had no such love or forgiveness, and therefore the words that came out of their mouths condemned them.
Matthew 21:42-43 says,
"Jesus said to them, 'Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes?'"
So I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
Thank the Lord, why did Jesus later give them such an answer? Because they still had no intention of turning back. Jesus simply told them that according to what they knew, they had already condemned themselves. If today you still do not repent, what will your end be? The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to those who are willing to accept His righteousness, His fairness, and His love. Thank the Lord.
Verse 44 tells us, "Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed."
If today people refuse to accept Jesus, after their lives end, their outcome will be like this. There is no other name in this world by which people can be saved. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, meaning that this rock, if people do not build on it, will be immediately discerned as true or false when tested. Only this rock—Jesus Christ—is our guarantee of salvation.
In the future, this stone will fall on anyone, and they will be crushed. If Jesus judges people in the future, anyone being judged will be speechless; it is they who rejected salvation and life!
God's love for us is wonderful; it is a forgiving love, a sacrificial love. Although the world betrays Him time and time again, as long as people repent, He is still willing to bless them. Thank the Lord!
In the history of Israel, what happened to the Jews after they rejected Jesus? In AD 70, the Roman army invaded Jerusalem, completely destroying the temple, and a large number of Jews were slaughtered. Especially the officials, during a Sabbath gathering, this group of people was all slaughtered, and the blood flowed from the temple into the Kidron Valley (the stream next to which Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane), and at that time, that stream was completely stained red with blood, fulfilling the prophecy spoken by Christ.
Some people ask, why did the Jews suffer such calamities? Some legalists say it is because they crucified Jesus, so Jesus cursed them like this. Brothers and sisters, do you also think this way? Is it really because the people of Israel crucified Jesus that they had to suffer such a curse? Actually, it is not like that. The reason they encountered such things is not because they crucified Jesus, but because they did not accept God's grace; they rejected God's protection. The result is predictable.
Do you remember what we shared at the beginning? The vineyard actually had a fence. Today, when we deliberately reject Jesus' protection, our fence has holes, and the devil can easily come in; those little foxes can easily come in and ruin the vineyard.
Everyone needs the salvation of Jesus Christ. When people reject Jesus' grace and try to receive God's blessings through their good deeds and efforts, they end up with the same outcome as these Israelites. We do not want to be like those under the law, who condemned themselves with their own mouths.
In fact, Jesus gave the Pharisees and scribes many opportunities. Every time Jesus preached, they never rejected Him; they were always listening. Jesus did not say, "I know you will not believe me, so you can leave!" They heard these words of God, they saw the miracles, yet they still did not believe. They would rather admit they were disciples of Moses than acknowledge Jesus as their Lord.
Let me give you an example from the Bible, and you will understand. In John 9:27-28, there was a man who was born blind and was healed by Jesus, and he could see. The chief priests, Pharisees, and scribes repeatedly questioned this man, saying, "Tell us, who healed your blindness?" The man said, "It was Jesus." Then they kept asking him. At this point, the man said, "I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?" The Pharisees insulted him, saying, "You are His disciple; we are disciples of Moses."
Brothers and sisters, they did not not recognize Jesus; they did not not know God's grace. They just deliberately refused to accept it. They would rather accept the law and put themselves under the law than accept the grace of the Lord Jesus. Brothers and sisters, this is an important reason for their tragic end!
I hope you can accept Jesus because He loves you very much. He does not want you to live under a curse. When you are willing to accept Jesus, you accept His great and wonderful love, and your life will be different, filled with the love and power of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, are you willing to accept such a Jesus who loves you? He even died on the cross for your sins two thousand years ago. He broke His body just so you could receive His health. He shed His last drop of blood just to tell you that all your sins have been washed clean by Him. He is willing to accept you as His child, as long as you are willing to acknowledge Jesus as your Lord; as long as you are willing to acknowledge Him as your God, you will be saved, and you will be a child of God. Therefore, you can, like others who have received God's grace today, come to know this wonderful and great God of love more and more through listening to the word and reading the Bible. Thank the Lord!
Let us continue to look at verse 45, which contains an important truth and is also the last question we will address today.
Verse 45 says, "When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they knew He was talking about them."
Many people have been asking me: "Teacher Ren, there are many verses in the Bible that I really do not understand. You keep saying that we are under grace, that God no longer remembers our sins, that we are saved and will be saved forever. But I still feel uneasy because there is a verse in the Bible that says, 'Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.' Do you see? It mentions that just being saved is not enough; you must also have good behavior and obey the will of the Father in heaven to enter. Isn't this a bit inconsistent with what you are saying about grace?"
Brothers and sisters, let us take this last moment to address this question.
Did you see in verse 45? "When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they knew He was talking about them." This means that in the parable we just read, "the wicked tenants" refers to whom? It is not directed at you.
The Bible is indeed written by God for us, but not all the words in the Bible are directed at you. This is very important, brothers and sisters. There are many words in the Old Testament, but many of them are spoken to the people of Israel; many words are spoken to Adam.
Just like the verse we just mentioned, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven," this is directed at false prophets, not at believers. If you think that verse is for you, you may have entered a misunderstanding, thinking that all the words in the Bible are directed at you.
Then God also said to Adam, "You may eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die." Now, brothers and sisters, how can you eat from that tree? How can you eat? That word is not directed at you but is for you to see, and it also lets you know that God originally expected Adam to have a permanent and beautiful life.
Do you see this passage of scripture? When Jesus asked them, "What will the owner do to those tenants when he comes?" They said, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." God, according to what they said, today has brought the gospel to us Gentiles. Then Jesus said, "The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit."
Jesus said that the kingdom of God will be taken from your hands and given to those who bear fruit. You might look and say, "Lord, I have believed in you for a long time, and up to now, I have not borne a single fruit. Are you going to take me away too, and let me fall on the rock and be crushed?" It seems that salvation is not stable, and without good behavior, one may not be saved. This is not correct.
So, from this, I give you a way to read the Bible. You need to see who God is speaking to at the beginning, who Jesus is speaking to, and the passage that says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven," let us take a look at it.
In Matthew 7:22, it says,
"Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?'" And it also says, "Only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter."
If you turn to the previous verse 15, you will see, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." If you think you are a false prophet, if you think you are like the Pharisees, then at this moment, you indeed need to reflect on these words, but in reality, this passage is not directed at believers. Jesus wanted the Pharisees to understand what He was saying, hoping they would open their hearts to accept God's grace. Thank the Lord!
When the Pharisees were unwilling to accept Jesus, Jesus said that the kingdom of God would surely be taken from you and given to those who are willing to accept the grace given freely.
Brothers and sisters, today in terms of keeping the law, we are far behind the Jews. None of us can say, "I know more of the law than you." But we can say, "I know Jesus more than you." We are justified by faith! They know the law but cannot bear fruit; we are saved by faith. As we continually come to know Jesus and receive Jesus' love, our lives will undergo wonderful changes and bear the fruit of the Spirit. Thank the Lord!
Let us pray together:
Loving Heavenly Father, we thank and praise you for your special grace. You have prepared everything for us, and you have put a fence around our vineyard to protect us.
Today, I have received the abundant love and mercy of the Father. You have been waiting for us to turn back, to understand your love, and to receive the salvation of Jesus Christ. You are willing to give us more blessings, allowing us to live out the likeness of Christ in this world. Not only will we be blessed ourselves, but we will also freely give this blessing to others, allowing others to be blessed.
As the new week begins, we do not rely on our own wisdom but on your grace to live. All my blessings are given by you. I am willing to live a life of gratitude every day. No matter what happens, I am willing to pray to you. Please lead me in my life this week, allowing me to experience your presence and power. I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!