The Right Way

Matthew 7:13-23

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find i15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

According to Jesus there is a right way to live, but it is narrow door or gate.

Thorns represent the ways of nations that do not know Jesus and their godless culture.

Thistles represent that which is a nuisance and useless. Yet it grows quickly which hinders he growth of genuine.

Both thorns and thistles are mentioned in Genesis 3:18 as a result of the curse.

Jesus said if you practice lawlessness, He never knew you!

What does it mean to live right and in the narrow way?

Micah 6:7-8

7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,Ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,cThe fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly,To love [mercy,And to walk humbly with your God?

Jesus said the weightier matters of the Torah instructions are justice, mercy and faith. The basis for what Jesus said was found in the passage in Micah.

The first time the word good is used is back in Genesis chapter one where God called the light good and He separated the light from the darkness.

When we walk in light we are good, when we are walking in darkness we are not good.

John 8:12

12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

What I am really talking about today is righteousness.

Today I want us to take a breather together and make sure we have the two kinds of righteousness working in our life.

Positional Righteousness is received by faith when we repent, are converted as we put our trust and faith in Christ alone for salvation.

Practical Righteousness is lived from that position of being in Christ and Christ in you. It is how we live and walk in the light of God’s Word.

Righteousness is living the right way according to God.

What does that look like?

What are we doing with the blessings that God has already given us.

What are you doing with your time? Time is the greatest gift God has given to mankind outside of Jesus.

What are you doing with your talents? What are you doing with the gifts of God’s grace, Personality, Abilities, Intellect, Passions, and Strengths Etc.?

What are you doing with your treasures? The material and financial resources God has given you to steward?

Time is the greatest gift besides Christ. What are we doing with the precious time He gives us?

Ecclesiastes 11:1 HCSB

He made everything appropriate in its time. He also placed eternity within them—yet, no person can fully comprehend what God is doing from beginning to end.

What does it mean to live with eternity in mind?

Live with eternity in mind for there is a payday coming either for being righteous or unrighteous.

God has a timeline and calendar that He wants you to sync with. God’s calendar is intricately tied together with the time clock of your life.

It is the right calendar for the righteous. What does syncing with God’s calendar look like?

He wants you to by faith live righteous and honor the lord with your time by syncing your calendar with His.

Isaiah 58:13-14

13 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, 14 Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Isaiah said that the Sabbath was the Lord’s (HIS DAY NOT OURS!)

The Lord causes us to go higher when we sync to His calendar. It is what separates us

Ezekiel 22:26 CEV

The priests of Israel ignore my Law! Not only do they refuse to respect any of my sacred things, but they don't even teach the difference between what is sacred and what is ordinary or between what is clean and what is unclean. They treat my Sabbath like any other day, and so my own people no longer honor me.

Without the Sabbath and syncing to God’s calendar we won’t be rested and refreshed.

The Sabbath is a day to recalibrate you to God and His time clock.

What we do on earth is connected to the heavens

What we do in the natural connects to the spiritual

When you keep and celebrate the Sabbath you are entering in to a spiritual rest and no longer strive to achieve, instead you rest and receive. You faith is connecting you to the spirit realm and God’s promise that more will be accomplished when we do what is righteousness with our time.

Hebrews 4:4-6 NLT

4We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.”[ 5 But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”[6 So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God.

We obey God because we choose to Love Him back! We want to please God and we also do not obey because we don’t want to go to hell.

Righteousness is not to be based on fear but faith.

God can redeem our time! He can give us year’s back we lost or were stolen!

2 Kings 20:1-6

In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ”

2 Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 5 “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. 6 And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.” ’

Hezekiah’s prayer connected him to the heavens. He did something on the earth and responded to God’s Word.

Joel 2:25 “ I will restore the years”

The Word restore in this passage is from the root word of Shalom, which means wholeness.

God is saying you won’t really even lose a day!

Ecclesiastes 3:11-15

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.12 I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.14 I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it,

And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.15 That which is has already been, And what is to be has already been; And God requires an account of what is past.

Ephesians 5: 15-16 PT

15–16 So be very careful how you live, not being like those with no understanding, but live honorably with true wisdom, for we are living in evil times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for his purposes.