[SUB12] AS TRÊS ETAPAS DA VIDA CRISTÃ: A PORTA - Luciano Subirá

Guys, I'm in Curitiba, in the Botanical Garden, our city's postcard passing by to bring one more message to your heart. Actually, this is the first of a three message series. We are going to ground ourselves in our Lord Jesus’ assertion in Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14, when He talks about a gate and a road, one wide and one narrow, one that leads to life and and one that leads to destruction.

Obviously, when Jesus talks about a gate and a road that leads to life, He is talking about Christian life, of our relationship with God and salvation that is proposed to us. And He informs us that the christian life is divided into three steps: gate, road and target. In this first message we are going to talk about the gate.

In the next one we will talk about the road. And in the third one, we will share about the target and the sum of these understandings will, certainly, produce something special in your heart. Stay with me and in the next few minutes we are going to talk about the gate.

The Lord Jesus says in Matthew 7:13 and 14: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.

" At this point Lord Jesus is talking about two gates, two roads with two different destinations. But, although we can highlight that one is narrow and the other is wide, through one fewer people enter, through the other more people enter, although we can highlight what is different between them, one leads to destruction and the other to life, what both of them have in common is actually beginning, middle and end. The word of God talks about these three stages inside the christian life in the same way as in this illustration made by Jesus.

He talks about a gate, He talks about a road and He talks about a target. It is very important for us to understand these three perspectives of the christian life. Even because, in each one of these stages, the way God handles us and the way we interact with God is completely different, and the sum of these three stages will actually lead us to live the fullness of what God has.

We are going to talk, in this first message, about the gate. Obviously Jesus talks about a gate. The path to God's kingdom is not taken without a formal entry and we need to understand this gate statement.

In fact, in the gospel of John, chapter 10, Lord Jesus says very clearly, both in verse 7 and in verse 9, He says: "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture". So, He refers to himself as a gate and He says that going through Him, the gate, will put us on that path that leads to salvation.

But the path can not be taken unless you and I go through the gate first. In the gospel of John, chapter 3, Jesus has a conversation with Nicodemus, a Israel teacher and Jesus' statement to Nicodemus is that if someone is not born again, if someone is not born of the Spirit that person can not enter God's kingdom. " That is an entrance in God 's kingdom.

Many times, people wrongly say: "oh, we are all God's children! " No, not everyone is God's children There are people who are mere creatures of God, they were made by God but the sonship position that should belong to everyone who has been lost. When we read Jesus's genealogy in the gospel of Luke, the bible says who was son of who until Adam and the bible says: "Adam, son of God.

" When Adam was created, settled by God in this earth, he enters as a son. But it is obvious that sin stole this position. So much so that when Jesus is introduced into the earth, the bible says, in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.

" The expression "one and only" means unique, single. So, if He enters in this condition of one and only son, there was nobody else in the same condition, it has been compromised. It gets pretty evident in the gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 12 when the bible says: "Yet to all who did receive Him, He gave the right to become children of God", because they were not before.

So, we need to understand, there is a moment where we walk through that gate where we have a conversion experience to Christ, where we live a new birth and, from the moment we walk through that gate, something will start happening in our lives regarding God, concerning our christian road, the fullness and the salvation He has. But it is important to differentiate not only the need for this conversion experience, but which is the level of interaction we have in that moment. For example, we have an ancient religious teaching that works are very important and indeed they are, but I'm going to highlight their importance in the next video in the series and not necessarily right now.

While talking about the gate, something we have to understand, is that there is no good work that makes you go through this gate. Many people believe that good work has a role in salvation. No, that is not true.

They are important in the christian life, after we went through the gate, while we are walking the road toward the target. But, when it's time to pass the gate, the word of God says, in Ephesians 2:8 and 9: "for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. " The bible says: "and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.

" So, we need to understand that at that moment there are no works, no merit, in fact, the very definition of grace is precisely that, it is an undeserved favor, it is something God proposed us freely in Jesus Christ. It is an experience received by faith. You can only enter the door through repentance and a faith attitude.

In fact, wasn't that the message we found in the Gospels? When Lord Jesus appears preaching, Mark chapter 1, verse 15 says: "Repent and believe the good news! " The Lord says: "The time has come, The kingdom of God has come near.

" And the message was: "repent and believe the good news. " We don't preach just a message of faith, we preach a message of repentance. That was John the Baptist's message preparing for Jesus's arrival.

That was the message announced by Jesus. That was the message He ordered His apostles to announce, so, it remains being the way through which people come. Although we need to recognize that on one hand it was Christ who died for us and paid the price for our sins, the man needs to recognize the reason why Christ had to die for us, which is precisely that we are sinners, we cannot resolve our condition of salvation, only God, and we have to repent from this condition of sin.

Repentance is the recognition of our condition, of our distance from God, our inability, but along with repentance we need to apply faith. In fact, in Romans, chapter 5, verse 2 the bible says that it is through faith that we have access to grace. So, how do you get through the gate?

Is it God's manifestation of grace? Yes, but the access to grace is faith. Repentance and faith are what we need to go through the gate.

There is no need for works. In fact, we need to understand something else, there is an initial sanctification experience. In that moment, in that repentance and faith attitude, we can experiment and enjoy what it is described as a sanctification experience in the word of God.

Apostle Paul writes, in the epistle to the Corinthians "to those sanctified in Jesus Christ. " Past tense, something that happened in the past. In fact, he says in chapter 6 of his first epistle, verse 11: "and that is what some of you were", speaking of the condition of sin, he says: "But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

" There is an initial sanctification. Now, the cleaning that happens when we pass through the gate, it is not the full work, that initial sanctification is just a part of the process. Throughout the way there is something more to be experimented.

The works have no participation in the moment of going through the gate, but in the next message we are going to show that they are important throughout the way. And we need also to understand the action of the Holy Spirit in the moment of going through the gate. It is only through the Spirit of God that man can reach salvation.

In the moment of repentance that we said it is necessary, John 16, in the word of our Lord Jesus, he says that who convinces man of his sins is the Holy Spirit. The bible says that it is God's kindness that leads man to repentance. If there is man's part to repent, there is God's part and who works that is the Holy Spirit.

Now, in the moment of the new birth, which is the entrance through the gate, it is the new birth experience, the word of God also says that we experience the washing of the Holy Spirit's regeneration. It is Him doing that for us. But it is only after going through the gate, be born again, that the Holy Spirit will come to dwell in us.

Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 13 and 14 say that only after we received the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, after we began to believe in the Lord, we received the seal of the Holy Spirit. Before that we didn't have that level of involvement with the Holy Spirit. Is there a work of His leading us to repentance?

Yes, but there is no dwelling of Him in us. In John, chapter 14, Lord Jesus says: "it's best for me to go but I won't leave you orphans. I'll give another advocate" He says, "the world does not know Him and cannot receive Him.

" So, even while we are being worked by the Holy Spirit to repentance, even as we initiate that correspondence with God of repentance and faith for the new birth, He still does not dwell in us. The interaction with Him is one. After going through the door, He will be dwelling in us and will lead us throughout the way.

Recognizing each one of these stages helps us to understand what God does in each one of them, what we need to do interacting with God and it also helps us to understand that there are different things waiting for us in the next stages of the way. I want, in that moment, to encourage you to go through the gate, if you haven't yet, surrendering your life to Jesus. And to understand that, if you have already, this was not the target itself, it was only the beginning of a journey that will lead you to the target.

I want you to follow this series of messages and to understand not only the gate experience, but also the road and the target. May the Lord, actually, bless your heart bringing you to a practical understanding. I believe and I'll insist on it, Lord Jesus would not have shared the christian life in theses three stages if we didn't need that understanding and if it wasn't useful for us.

So, may you make sure you go through the gate, if you haven't yet and after that, understand that it's not time to stop yet, there's more to be achieved, there's more to be conquered. And my prayer is that the Lord carry you through this journey until you reach the target, in the name of Jesus.