You can't get into the kingdom of heaven by going to church every week. No. Those things are all sacrifices to the Lord. Things that you do to please the Lord, but the Lord says over and over again, I don't want your sacrifices, I want your love. A broken and contrite heart are what the Lord wants. THEN you can offer your sacrifices, THEN can He shed His grace on you.
Say you have a 10,000 dollar debt, but you don't believe that you have that debt. How can the Lord forgive the debt if you don't believe that there is one? How can He have mercy and compassion if you can't see and are too proud to admit that it's impossible to be good, as the scriptures say, that you really are a sinner? Didn't He tear the kingdom of Israel away from King Solomon?
The body of Christ and the church-goer The difference is like this: You have a wife, you're a man. And every time this wife comes home, she kisses and hugs you and tells you that she loves you. But, the only thing is, you know that she's in love with another man and that they're sleeping together. So, 5 days a week, she comes home and does her worldly duties to you. You'd hate the smiles. You'd hate the kisses. You'd hate the hugs, and you'd have enough of them. Jesus said that those that are lukewarm in the body of Christ will be vomitted out of His mouth come judgement day in Revelations. So, if you're still falling into unrighteousness, you're like that adulterous woman that the Lord hates.
Get this. There were the pharisees. The sadduccees. They were in Christ's day. They prayed harder than anyone they had praying down pat. They gave more then anyone, they worshipped harder. They knew the scriptures well just like satan. But the Lord Jesus Christ tore their kingdom away from them, and made it so much different, that anyone who trusts in Him and uses the Holy Spirit that He gives to stay away from sin and keep His righteousness can enter into His kingdom rather than the adulterous woman pharisees and sadduccees.
He wants you. Your love. Your hopes, your dreams. Your body as a temple for His Holy Spirit. He wants your flesh crucified in Christ Jesus because the carnal mind can never be in submission to His laws, and it says that in the bible. He wants all of you, and none of you. And that's the standard. He doesn't want your duties as a wife. Doing "the right thing." Jesus Christ wants your heart, and your soul.
Be crucified in Christ Jesus. Admit today that you're a sinner, despite all of your knowledge and your wisdom and how many godly people you know, or which church you go to. Follow CHRIST!
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