WHO WILL BE LEAST IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

 

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 5:19

 

Oopsie!  The Bible contradicts that the law is done away with.  Here is a pesky scripture that states clearly that anyone who breaks the least of the commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of God. 

UNDERSTANDING SALVATION...

All Christians know that we must accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, but that is more than just simply accepting the name of Christ!  To accept Him as your Lord involves admitting that He is your boss and what He says goes as far as how you will receive eternal life.  With that in mind, one time Christ was asked what must be done to enter into eternal life?  Christ told the gentleman that to have eternal life he must keep the commandments! 

Matthew 19:16-18
"Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." (In case one might misunderstand what He meant, Christ added, 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself...etc...")

That's right--to have eternal life, Christ said that we must keep God's law---the same law that you have been told is done away with... The law that also says, "remember the Sabbath to keep it holy."  Sunday was not kept by anyone claiming to be Christian until about 400 years after the death of Christ.  All the early Christians were Sabbath keepers.  Yet, some say that the Sabbath is not even mentioned as one of the Ten Commandments in the New Testament.  But is this right? No!

In Luke, the Sabbath is called a commandment!  Christ was laying in His tomb and the women who loved Him dearly waited until after the Sabbath to apply spices to His body.  This is proof that they obviously didn't think the Sabbath was done away!  And the scripture actually says that they rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment!  Obviously, after Christ was dead, His followers were still keeping the Sabbath!

"And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:55-24:1
 

Christ didn't tell the young rich man who enquired how he could enter into eternal life that the law is going to be done away soon, so forget what I told you about keeping the commandments and just believe on my name instead.  What people don't understand is that Christ sacrifice never did away with the law, it simply did away with the penalty for breaking the law.  For example, if you commit a crime and the judge let's you off, you don't run outside and exclaim, "Hey everybody, I just got away with a crime, the law is done away with!!"  That is silly isn't it? 

THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH

A spiritual death penalty is incurred when we break the law.  Remember the scripture "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life"?  The breaking of the law brings the death penalty.  How do we get the penalty off our back?  We do what the early Christians did, we repent (of breaking God's law) and we are baptized by a true minister of God and we accept Christ's sacrifice to cover our sins.

THE UNPARDONABLE SIN...worse than being least in the Kingdom!

26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,

27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

28 He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

Hebrews 10:26-29
 

HAVE YOU COMMITTED THE UNPARDONABLE SIN?

Say someone has been taught that the law is done away with all their life and they die, because of their ignorance, they will be beaten with few stripes.  They will simply be least in the Kingdom. But there is a worse category to be in!  This is for those who are converted, they have had God's Holy Spirit and they have understood the full truth.  YET, a spirit of rebellion against God rises in their hearts.  They sin willfully, I am not talking about the sins we do, due to human weakness which we all deal with, but these people are in full rebellious "I hate God and everything He stands for" mode, and the Bible says that in that case, there remains no more sacrifice for that person!  They have committed the unpardonable sin. 

Because the unpardonable sin is to know that you are going against God by breaking His laws and and you are doing it willfully on purpose, and you know it and will not be deterred.  Many Christians worry, have I committed the unpardonable sin?  The easy answer is that if you still want God and you still want to obey Him...then NO, you have not even come near it.  That is the easy test.

If you don't want to sin against God, then don't worry about it.  We all sin, no doubt about that.  But, we as repenting Christians need to be fighting our human nature and trying to be more and more like God.  The law shows us how to do that.  Those who think it is ok to commit murder, to commit adultery etc...are followers of Satan.