THE PROCESS OF ENTERING THE KINGDOM PART 2

Matthew chapter 6
















Today we are walking in: The Process of Entering The Kingdom Part 2










The Torah testifies...............





Genesis 25:33




And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright H8435 unto Jacob.













The prophets proclaim..................



Isaiah 66:9




Shall I bring to the birth H8435, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.











The writings bear witness...........................



Ecclesiastes 6:3




If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth H8435 is better than he.













ENTERING THE KINGDOM




The number one goal of all humanity should be to enter the Kingdom. But what does it mean to enter the Kingdom? This is a very important question because most of us have been taught that entering the Kingdom means dying and going to Heaven. This is not true. Whenever Yahusha uses the word enter with reference to the Kingdom, He is not referring to dying and going anywhere. He is talking about entering into the lifestyle of the Kingdom. When you enter the Kingdom you begin to experience the life of the country.




To enter also means to pursue and attain citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven. Citizenship inherits everything in the Kingdom. When you become a citizen, you have privileges and rights to everything in the constitution.




So make the Kingdom of Heaven your priority and get into it.




For better understanding of entering the Kingdom, let’s consider three statements that Yahusha made. First, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). Yahusha did not say, “Unless you die, you will not enter,” but “unless you change and become like little children you will not enter.” Why did He use the simile of little children? Because children simply submit to their environment. They go along with whatever they see. In innocence a child will play with a snake or move toward a flame because the child doesn’t know any better. The child simply submits to the environment and assumes everything is safe.




When Yahusha said we should become like little children, He was saying that when we come into the Kingdom we should just live like we’re in it. Accept it on childlike faith. Submit to its influence, its mandate, its values, its morals, its standards, its dictates. Obey its laws and follow its principles.




The difference between a child and an adult is that a child obeys and an adult negotiates. Yahusha is saying, “Be like a child. Don’t try to negotiate with me. If I tell you to stop sinning, stop sinning. It’s that simple.”




Yahusha’ second statement is one He spoke to a rich young man who asked Him what to do to receive eternal life: “There is only one who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments” (Matt. 19:17b). If you want to go to the United States and enjoy their good American life, you must abide by the American law or else you may end up cooling your heels in their nice American jail. By the same token, if you want to enter Kingdom living and experience Kingdom lifestyle you must obey Kingdom laws. Otherwise you may find yourself cut off from Kingdom resources and bowing under Kingdom judgment.




Yahusha made the third statement right after the rich young man went away sad because he was unable to part with his wealth in order to follow Yahusha: “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 19:23b). Here Yahusha is not talking about initial entrance into the Kingdom. He’s talking about experiencing it. Why? Because in the Kingdom, the King owns everything. If you come into the Kingdom through the new birth in Hamachiach but do not surrender your mindset of ownership, you will be unable to experience the fullness of Kingdom life because you are trying to hoard instead of releasing.




Kingdom citizenship can be prevented by religion. In fact, according to Yahusha, religion is the most dangerous opponent to Kingdom citizenship. Yahusha had many run-ins with the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, the religious leaders of His day; because they, by their own actions, were keeping many people out of the Kingdom.




Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Matt. 23:13).




Religion can prevent Kingdom life because religion pretends to be a substitute. Anyone who thinks the substitute is the real thing will miss out on the real thing. Unfortunately, there are many people trapped in “religious” Christianity who believe that what they have is all there is, yet they know next to nothing about the Kingdom. They cannot enter into something they know nothing about.




Once when I was leading a conference and a pastor came up to me and said, “So, you’re the Kingdom preacher, huh?”




I replied, “And you’re not?




He became very quiet. Finally, he asked, “What do you mean?”




“Come,” I said, “let’s sit down and have a cup of tea.” We sat down together and I took my Bible and began showing him Scripture after Scripture about the Kingdom. He wept. Then he asked if I would join him after the evening session. I agreed.




At 2 o’clock in the morning he was still asking me questions. “Where did you learn all this?”




“From the same book you use, that Bible right in front of you.”




“Well, how come no one ever showed me?” I said, “Yah only shows you what you want to see. Religion blinds you.”




He fell on his knees before me. “Pray for me,” he said. “I want forgiveness. I’ve been a pastor for 37 years and I’ve been preaching the wrong message. Pray for me.”




I laid my hands on him and prayed for him. He got up, went to the book table and bought one of everything. He said, “I’m starting over.”




“No,” I said, “you are finally entering yourself.”




Watch out for religion. It can keep you from experiencing the fullness of Kingdom life.




THE PROCESS TO CITIZENSHIP




Yahusha explained the process of acquiring Kingdom citizenship during a dead-of-night meeting with a leading Pharisee named Nicodemus. Their conversation is recorded in the Gospel of chapter 3. This is the only place in the Bible where the words born again are found, and Yahusha uses those words in describing to Nicodemus the process of becoming a Kingdom citizen.




Nicodemus had heard Yahusha teach numerous times and so had certainly heard Him speak about the Kingdom. But Nicodemus did not understand the teaching even though he was a highly educated expert in the Jewish law. Nevertheless, he was intrigued by both Yahusha’ manner and message and wanted to know more. So he came secretly by night to inquire of Yahusha.




Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Yahusha at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from Yah. For no one could perform the miraculous signs You are doing if Yah were not with Him.”




In reply Yahusha declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of Yah unless he is born again.”




“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!




Yahusha answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of Yah unless he is born of water and the Ruach. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Ruach gives birth to Ruach. You should not be surprised at My saying, ‘ You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Ruach” (John 3:1-8).




Here was Nicodemus, a respected religious leader, asking Yahusha, an itinerant rabbi from Galilee, how to enter the Kingdom of Yah. Nicodemus would never have asked such a question or sought such a thing as the Kingdom unless he had found his strict religious observances unsatisfying. Yahusha’ teachings on the Kingdom had stirred in Nicodemus a hunger for more than he was experiencing. He was at the top of the Judaic religious ladder and knew he was not where he wanted to be. He wanted to be in Yahusha’ country. He wanted to know how to become a citizen of the Kingdom of Yah.




Let’s look closely at Yahusha’ answer, because so often we have misunderstood His words. He said, “No one can see the kingdom of Yah unless he is born again.” The Greek word for see in this verse means “to experience, or to understand.” Yahusha was telling Nicodemus, “You can neither understand nor experience Kingdom life unless you are born into the country.” This is not a religious statement.




I was born in the United States; I didn’t have to become a citizen. I was a citizen by birth. Anyone not born in the United States who wants to become a citizen has to go through a long and complicated process. In this regard, Yah’s Kingdom operates a little differently from other countries. Yah’s Kingdom has no citizenship “process.” Either you’re born again or you aren’t. Once you are born again, your citizenship “process” is instantaneous.




Upon hearing the necessity of being born again, Nicodemus asked a very logical question: “How can a man be born when he is old?” Did Nicodemus misunderstand Yahusha? No. His question proves it. This is an important point. Yahusha literally told Nicodemus that he had to be born again the way he was born the first time. There was no spiritual or theological confusion. Yahusha said, “The way you become a citizen of My country is the same way you become a citizen in any other country. You have to be born into citizenship.”




“OK,” Nicodemus answered, “but I’m an old man. Do I have to go back and be a baby again and enter a woman’s womb and be born all over?” Another logical question because he had heard a logical answer. Nicodemus understood Yahusha’ reference to being born again as referring to a natural birth, and he was correct. There are no illegal immigrants in the Kingdom of Yah, and no illegitimate children, either. Every Kingdom citizen is a bona fide native-born citizen.




But how can this be? Like Nicodemus, none of us can reverse time, become babies again, and return to our mother’s womb for rebirth. If birth into the Kingdom of Yah is a natural birth, how does it happen?




Yahusha said, “No one can enter the Kingdom of Yah unless he is born of water and the Ruach. This is good news for every one of us! No matter who or where we are, Yah has made special governmental arrangements for us literally to be born citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven legally. Flesh gives birth to flesh, He says. In the same way we were born physically, the Ruach gives birth to Ruach. Yahusha says, “I have made arrangements for my country to give you a new birth spiritually.” That’s why He says we must be born again. He’s talking about citizenship rights.




Natural citizenship is a result of natural birth. And so the Kingdom of Heaven is a “super natural” otherworldly Kingdom, which is why heavenly Kingdom citizenship requires heavenly Kingdom spiritual birth. Yahusha has made arrangements for every one of us to be born spiritually and to achieve supernatural citizenship in the Kingdom of Yah. When? Now. If you are born again, you are a Kingdom citizen right now, and all the rights, benefits, and privileges of citizenship are yours right now.




RECEIVING THE NEW BIRTH




If you have not been born again, that is the step you must take before you can become a Kingdom citizen and receive eternal life. This is why Yahusha came. He came not only as the one who announced the coming of the Kingdom, but also as the one through whom we gain entrance to the Kingdom: “For Yah so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).




Receiving the new birth is not a difficult process.




1.Acknowledge that you are a sinner in rebellion against Yah: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of Yah” (Rom. 3:23).




2.Understand that the penalty for sin is eternal death: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of Yah is eternal life in Hamachiach Yahusha our Most High” (Rom. 6:23).




3.Believe that Yahusha Hamachiach died for your sins so that you might be forgiven: “But Yah demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Hamachiach died for us” (Rom. 5:8).




4.Confess your sins to Yah: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). To confess your sins means to agree with Yah regarding your sins.




5.Repent of your sins: “Unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:3). To repent means to make a clean break with sin, a 180-degree reversal of direction.




6.Confess Hamachiach as your Savior and Most High and give Him control of your life: “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Yahusha is Most High,’ and believe in your heart that Yah raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Rom. 10:9-10).




THE SECRET OF CONCEPTION




When I was born in the United States, one of the first things they did was put ink on my foot and pressed it onto a piece of paper. That footprint, along with my name and official registration, was filed at the hospital and a copy sent to the registrar general downtown as a record that mine was a registered birth in the United States. If anyone wants to know where I was born, all he has to do is check the registry. Most other countries follow a similar procedure.




Conception is a secret process invisible to the naked eye. When you and I were conceived, nobody was watching, probably, except Yah. In other words, when the process of birth began, it was secret. Yahusha said that the new birth is like the wind; no one can see it. Likewise, citizenship is not a visual reality but a disposition.




In John 3:8 Yahusha says, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Ruach.” When you give your life or surrender your life to the King and He gives you a new birth, no one sees that. It may happen at an altar, in the back of a car, at home, at school; wherever you receive Hamachiach, the process is invisible. The new birth involves believing, and no one can see you believing. Belief, like conception, is invisible.




Sometimes the new birth is accompanied by a feeling and sometimes it isn’t. Everybody is different, so everybody’s response to the new birth will be different. Feeling something is not the point. The point is that spiritual conception took place and internal change is underway. When a woman conceives, her clothes don’t change. She doesn’t even realize until some time later that something is going on.




The same thing happens spiritually. When you’re born again, you surrender to Hamachiach. Some weeks later it suddenly dawns on you that you don’t enjoy sin anymore. That’s change. That’s a sign of the new birth. You have been born again. That’s why it’s impossible now for you to sin and feel the same way about it as you once did.




In fact, sin eventually becomes a terror to you. Why? Because that is not your nature anymore. You’ve been born from above. And your Kingdom citizenship began the moment you were born again.




PRINCIPLES




1.Unless you know how to get into the Kingdom of Heaven, everything else about the Kingdom is meaningless.




2.Yahusha never said, “Seek Me first.” He said, “Seek first the Kingdom.”




3.The most important priority of people on earth is the Kingdom of Heaven.




4.When we have the Kingdom, that is enough.




5.Yah’s desire is for you to enter and experience the Kingdom right now.




6.When you enter the Kingdom, you begin to experience the life of the country.




7.Kingdom citizenship can be prevented by religion.




8.You can neither understand nor experience Kingdom life unless you are born into the country.




9.Once you are born again, your citizenship “process” is instantaneous.




10.Yah has made special governmental arrangements for us literally to be born citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven legally.




11.The new birth involves believing, and no one can see you believing. Belief, like conception, is invisible.




12.Your Kingdom citizenship began the moment you were born again.