TEEN TREE 
OF LIFE
THE NARROW OR
THE WIDE GATE
Part 4
April 7, 201 9
Before you begin, ask yourself a very important question: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins? If you answered yes, you will need to be sure that you are filled with The Holy Spirit. How do you do this? You name your sins to God The Father in His Son’s Name. This is called rebound. As a Christian, you must rebound any time you sin. This is taught in 1JOHN 1:9: If we confess [name] our sins [directly to God], He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you have never believed that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins, all you have to do is say to yourself that you believe in Him and you are saved! The Bible verse which teaches us this is ACTS 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
Let’s start with a few firm warnings. NEVER FORGET that throughout our lives, we’re going to get sidetracked by Satan’s cosmic system and the people on the wide path!! NEVER COMPARE The Call of The Man with The Scar, with those people at the wide gate, because the reality is that their final destination, is hell. Keep looking at WHERE THE NARROW PATH LEADS! NEVER FORGET that Heaven is where we, as believers, are headed and that it’s our final, fabulous, forever destination!
As you can imagine, a great deal has been said and written about Heaven over the years. Webster’s dictionary describes Heaven as “the dwelling place of God and His angels, and as the place where the blessed will live after death.” It also describes Heaven as a “place of great beauty and pleasure.” But this description was written by humans. And sadly, most humans know nothing more about Heaven than this description from a dictionary.
But the Bible is filled with specific facts about Heaven. For example, Heaven is said to be a glorious place in ISA 63:15: Look down from heaven and see from Your holy and glorious habitation… The Message Bible translates ISA 63:14-15 this way: That’s how you [God] became so famous. Look down from heaven, look at us! Look out the window of your holy and magnificent house! Heaven is so magnificent, so glorious that it stands to reason that only God could create the absolute perfection of this eternal paradise! And He prepared it for every person who would ever be born. But only those who believe in His Son, as their personal Savior, will go there. Heaven will be our eternal home where all believers will live forever in perfect happiness. Although we cannot imagine or even understand exactly what heaven will be, God’s Word gives us incredible descriptions of what He’s prepared for us! Once we learn what awaits us, at our final destination, we’ll be even more motivated to serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who made it all possible.
As you know, we’re studying the Sermon on the Mount of Beatitudes in the BOOK OF LUKE. Luke wrote this Gospel to give the true and complete story of Jesus Christ’s Life. The apostle actually wrote the fullest and most orderly account of the Our Savior’s Life. His focus was to show how Jesus Christ loved ALL KINDS of people. The theme of Joy is felt throughout this book because His Coming brought Joy, Hope and Salvation to a sinful world of humans.
LUK 16:19-31 teaches us about the rich man and Lazarus. This piece of teaching isn’t a parable; it’s a true story. Parables never mention proper names and they are always identified or explained as parables in the Bible. Our Lord and Savior said: “There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man’s table. His best friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores. Then he died, this poor man, and was taken up by the angels to the lap of Abraham. [Heaven] The rich man also died and was buried. In hell and in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus in his lap. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, mercy! Have mercy! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool my tongue. I’m in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It’s not like that here. Here he’s consoled and you’re tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from you to us.’ The rich man said, ‘Then let me ask you, Father: Send him to the house of my father where I have five brothers, so he can tell them the score and warn them so they won’t end up here in this place of torment.’ Abraham answered, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets to tell them the score. Let them listen to them.’ ‘I know, Father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but they’re not listening. If someone came back to them from the dead, they would change their ways.’ Abraham replied, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, they’re not going to be convinced by someone who rises from the dead.’” (LUK 16:19-31 The Message Bible)
These verses are an historical account given by Our Lord prior to His Death, Burial and Resurrection. He was speaking about a very wealthy unbeliever. As we learned in the Doctrine of Prosperity back in November, there is nothing immoral, wrong, or sinful about being rich. That is an evil philosophy which has now become a part of the political forum in this country. There are certain problems connected with being rich and having an abundance of possessions, just as there are certain problems connected with being poor. In other words, no life is free from problems. The rich shouldn’t bully or push around those who are less fortunate and the poor shouldn’t envy the rich. Bullying and jealousy are sins, so we should try to avoid them. But one of the great problems that many rich believers develop is ignoring the fact that there is life after death. They start to wander over to the wide gate! Many become self-indulgent, and forget MAR 8:34-37 (The Message Bible): Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?” They give no thought to eternity and life after death.
Always remember that our time on earth is extremely short when compared to eternity. Unbelievers traveling the wide path have to ask themselves where they want to spend it. Wealthy unbelievers tend to ignore the fact that only through personal faith in Jesus Christ can they spend eternity in Heaven. This is because they have placed money before God; they’ve made it their first priority. When Our Lord says, “What could you ever trade your soul for?” – He’s saying there is no way you can buy your way into Heaven. Jesus Christ purchased Our Salvation on The Cross. He bought our ticket in!
Money can’t buy eternal life, happiness, love, or virtue. It is not true that you are happy because you have money or miserable because you’re poor. Happiness and misery are not based on your economic status. This is one of the great myths in the time in which we live. People with very little material wealth can be extremely happy and the same is true for rich people. Those who lust for money become a slave to money. But those who acquire wealth through God’s Grace (and by staying in His Plan) will discover how to make money their slave. But the person who regards money as his or her number one priority in life will becomes a slave to it. The first priority, in your life, MUST be Bible doctrine. Once it is, you will be able to organize your life around it. By doing this, you organize your thinking around priority number one and this determines the outcome of your life.
{to be continued}