[SUB12] AS TRÊS ETAPAS DA VIDA CRISTÃ: O ALVO - Luciano Subirá

Guys, I'm in Curitiba, in the Botanical Garden, our city's postal card, to share one more message to your heart. In fact, this is the third of a series of three. We are talking about Jesus' statement in Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14 when He talks about a small and narrow gate and road, that leads to life.

We showed that, with that, Lord Jesus summarizes the christian life to three different stages: the gate, the road and the target. Christian life has a beginning, a middle and an end and it is very important for us to understand each stage and what is our interaction with God in each one of those stages. If you were not able to keep up the previous messages, there is a descriptive link talking about the gate and talking about the road, but in this message we are going to talk about the target.

Stay with me and in the next few minutes and your heart will be strengthened and encouraged through this understanding. In this third message of our series we want to emphasize one more time the three stages of the christian life. In Matthew 7, 13 and 14 Jesus says: "Enter through the narrow gate.

For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. " In the verse 14 He says: "But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. " We already spoke of three stages of the christian life, beginning, middle and end, distinguished in Jesus' definition as: gate, road and target.

In this third message of the series we want to highlight the target. In fact, Lord Jesus shows us that passing through the gate and walking by the road makes sense to reach the destination. The destination is the target and, in christian life, it is eternal life.

In Philippians chapter 3, verses 13 and 14, Paul the apostle says: "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead", in fact, that is the idea of the road we talked about, movement, to leave something behind, walk forward toward the destination, he says: "I press on toward the goal, to win the prize for which God has called me, in Jesus Christ. " We've all been named, we've all been called and there is a prize when we reach the target. The christian life involves a separate stage from the gate.

There is a conversion experience to Christ that determines the entry into God' kingdom and the beginning of everything, the beginning of a journey and a road. But the road has a destination, the road has a final target. It's this prize, the prize of God's sovereign calling, in Jesus Christ.

In the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, we are also encouraged to run with perseverance the career, the christian career, that road, not only tread it, but run it with determination. And the bible says: "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. " He is presented not only as the author, but also the finisher of our faith.

Jesus is the one who starts. The faith is given to us by passing through the gate, when we hear God's word but this faith should not be abandoned throughout the road. It will be finished, it will have it's final goal accomplished when we finally reach the destination or target.

In fact, in that moment we will understand the apostle Peter's statement, in 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 9 he says: "for you are receiving the end result of your faith. " This "end result of your faith" is the final goal, the finishing line for those who are running the road, the journey. "For you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

" We need to understand that it doesn't make sense merely to go through the gate if it is not to trail the road. Some stopped throughout the road, stagnated, they are simply standing by the road. We need to understand that the christian life involves not only that moving forward dynamic, of growth, of progression.

Proverbs 4:18 says: "The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. " Today, after the initial sanctification we experienciate through the gate, after this progression, we already talked about in the previous message, that it is to perfect the holiness in the fear of the Lord, we are looking to the moment when all this will be consummated. We have stated in this series of messages that, at each of these stages, what God does for us is different and what we need to do by interacting with Him is different.

So, let's talk about the sanctification experience. We live the initial sanctification, we live an improvement that is the progressive sanctification, but we still don't live this complete work. In the book of Romans, chapter 8, where Paul the apostle speaks very rightly of this sanctification work, he says in verse 23: "not only so", he tells us in the previous verses that the nature groans, but now he says "not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

" He reveals to us two things in this passage: both the Holy Spirit's action, which we have already shown, it is different when go through the gate, it is different when we trail the road, because before the gate we don' t have Him dwelling in us, after the gate, along the road we have Him dwelling, His work in us. But here, Paul the apostle is saying in Romans 8:23, that for now we have the Spirit's firstfruits. In other words, we still don't have everything we could have, we haven't lived the fullness of what God planned for us.

We have more than before going through the gate, that's for sure, but we don't have everything we'll have when we finally reach the target. Another thing he shows us is that our bodies redemption will happen only in the target. We need to understand that in these three stages of the christian life, God does something in our spirit.

The new birth, passing through the gate, is an experience in our spirit. Now, throughout the christian journey, the perfection of holiness, the progressive sanctification after the initial one, has a lot to do with our soul. James, chapter 1, verse 21 says: "humbly accept the word planted in you.

" He is talking about someone that has already accepted Jesus. The bible says: "which can save you. " The salvation idea translated in this word also involves the idea of restoration.

And, what God has done in our spirit instantly, generating a new birth, it continues now with a perfectioning being produced in our soul, but at this point the flesh was not yet directly touched by the redemption. We need along the way to subjugate the flesh, keep it under a short leash, that is what Paul says, in 1 Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 27, where we can read about that. He says: "I strike a blow to my body, and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

" He talks about self-control, something we exercise throughout our christian life. Why? The initial sanctification experience of the gate generates a new birth in the Spirit.

Jesus says to Nicodemus: "flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit", but someone who is born again on the level of spirit is still someone who was already born of the flesh and the flesh has not been totally changed. Only on the final day there will be fullness of redemption. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verses 50 through 54, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

We cannot enter with this body and with this flesh, which in the book of Romans he calls "the body of sin". In fact, there will be a need for a transformation and Paul says: "we will not all sleep", talking about death "but we will all be changed. " The bible says that at a certain point, in a twinkling of an eye, the dead in Christ will be raised.

The bible says that the living will be transformed, there will be a final transformation. This transformation is also announced in 1 Thessalonians 4, when the bible says the same thing, "the dead in Christ will rise first and us, the living will be transformed encountering with the Lord in the air". What is this transformation?

It is the redemption of the body. In Philippians 3, verses 20 and 21, Paul says: "our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.

" We need to understand not only the difference of sanctification in the stages, not only the difference of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives in each stage, but also the difference in the matter of works. We have already said that through the works no one goes through the gate, but after, if you go through the gate, the way to walk the road is through the works. The bible says we were made for the good works.

But where does the matter of the works come in when we get to the end, the target? The word of God tells us that there will be a reward. In Corinthians 3, verse 8, the bible says that each one will be rewarded accordingly with his works.

Which means, no one goes through the gate, salvation, through works, because salvation is not by merit, but inheritance, that is the final reward, it is merit. In Revelation 22:12 Jesus says: "Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.

" We need to learn to live the christian life looking to the target. The apostle Paul says: "that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. " When you go through those difficulties along the way that may make you discouraged, the fact that you are looking or not to the target is what determines if you will have strength to go forward, what determines if you will follow with constance, with perseverance the Christian life.

I want to tell you something, that day when you and I finally cross that finish line, each one of us will look back and no matter what we went through, what we lived along this road, we will say: it was worth it! That moment when we are finally face to face with the Lord Jesus and listen from His mouth the phrase: "good and faithful servant, come and share your master's happiness", then, again, in our core we will say: it was worth it! What we are taught, when the apostle Paul talks about forgetting the things that are left behind, is that along the way we can make mistakes, fail, stumble but there is a possibility to persevere, to insist, to start again, to move forward, what he says is that we have to proceed to the target.

Some, mistakenly believe, that going through the gate means that everything is settled. Others, are living this road almost like there was no course. We need to follow the target.

We need to persevere, run with perseverance this career looking steadily to Jesus. The book of Isaiah declares, prophetically announced 700 years before Christ: "he will see the light of life and be satisfied. " There will be a moment when the Lord will look to you and me, after we crossed the finish line, having lived all the consumption of the redemption work, He will also look with a big smile as if he was saying: "my suffering was worth it, my surrender and my sacrifice for them.

" Stay steady, don't get caught along the way, don't drag yourself along the way, walk, run, run with perseverance and do it looking to the target. We have a goal so we can reach the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls. May God strengthen you.

If you haven't walked through the gate yet you need an encounter with Christ. If you've done that, you can't stop along the way, you need to keep walking and even running. And, if you're on the way, do not lose sight of the target.

May the Lord bless you and when we've finally all crossed the finish line, may we meet there and rejoice before God and say together: it was worth it!