Heresy Hunters and “Exposed” Ministries, Part 2 – Cessationism and Confronting Real Heresy

What About: “Idolators Will Not Inherit the Kingdom of God” Etc.?

The Scriptures in question are Scriptures like these – which, unfortunately, are greatly misunderstood by some to mean that you cannot go to Heaven if you have just committed a sin or have a habitual sin that you have not repented of.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21

And the same here: 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. 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.

Some Christians now think we have to live perfect to go to Heaven. And if we have sin in our lives – we are going to hell. This interpretation, however, stands in direct contrast to the “offense of the cross” in Galatians 5:11.

The offense is that we are perfect in the eyes of God – just by faith. So, how do we reconcile the salvation by faith in the perfect grace of God – where “we are the righteousness of God by faith”?

(2 Corinthians 5:21) – to if we sin – “we will not inherit the kingdom of God?”

First, Word Studies and Definitions – Please Read Links

Inherit: biblehub.com

Reward: biblehub.com

Righteousness: biblehub.com

Eternal Rewards – Secured by Jesus – And the Rewards of the Father for True Love

What if the Scriptures above are not supposed to be interpreted as Heaven or Hell – but eternal reward? And it is not supposed to be interpreted in absolutes – but as: as much as you have lived in sin while on earth – even though you are a Christian – of course there is no reward = no inheritance in Heaven for that?

This then fits in with this Scripture below and this Scripture from the mouth of Jesus (John 15:5) that what is not done in Christ – will be burnt up – and we will all (except Jesus Who was perfect) to some degree get into Heaven just as it says here:

Paul writes it like this in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15

No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

Did Jesus talk like this? YES clearly:

Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:19

Could one escaping into Heaven through the flames be said to lose the reward they could have had and had a short cry and a short moment to “grind their teeth”? Yes! Could the “outer darkness” mentioned in the Scripture below easily fit the above? YES 100%! Could there be a short moment of regret? Yes. For all of us, there will be. Does that mean we do not enjoy Heaven forever afterwards? Of course not. Heaven is greater than anything on earth by factor 10 billion+++.

‘You wicked, lazy servant!’ replied his master. ‘You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return, I would have received it back with interest. Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. And throw that worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Matthew 25:26-30

I agree outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth does not sound like Heaven. But it is part of the reality of Heaven according to Paul (1 Corinthians 3:14-15 – “as through fire” and “no reward for sin”) and Jesus. Neither does this sound like Heaven – “suffer loss” and “escaping in there as through fire”. But it is the reality of the second judgment!

another core key to unlock the right understanding

Colossians 3:23-25

I believe an overlooked key to understanding these 2 passages of Paul is Scripture in Galatias and Corinthians about “will not inherit the Kingdom of God” and Paul himself. We must interpret Scripture with Scripture! The key Scripture that gives context and further depth of understanding to this Scripture is found in Colossians 3:23-25

23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

Here we have the beautiful self-interpretation of the Bible.

Verse 23 – it is about “doing” and “working” for the Lord

Verse 24 – it is about – WORK & DO since – you will receive an inheritance as a reward!

This fits right into the words of Galatians 5:19-21 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 – about evildoers not inheriting a reward in the Kingdom of God for the wrong they have done.

When I used to watch porn. The time I spent watching porn. Do you think I will get a reward and an inheritance in the Kingdom of God for that? NOPE!! NONE at all. It was not loving. It was selfish, it was egotistical, it was utterly sinful. But when I then loved my wife, my kids, people around me and led people to Jesus and served him – will there be a reward for that? Yes. So – no inheritance for the time spent sinning – as a Christian.

The 2 Judgments in the Bible for Christians

(See also the full post: Understanding the Two Judgments of God.)

Please see a deep Bible study about the related Scriptures on the subject of the 2 judgments we will face as Christians here: Word doc

More is also written a bit further below.

There is a great contrast between “worthless servant” (but still servant) and “outer darkness” and “Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” And “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

How do we avoid turning Matthew 25:31-46 into doing good deeds of the law to earn salvation? We know that salvation is by faith alone – not good deeds.

Please see all these Scriptures about that – and we know Scripture does not contradict itself: John 1:12; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:22-24; Romans 4:4-8; Romans 7:24-25; Romans 8:12; Galatians 3:6-9; and Ephesians 2:8-10 – as well as Jesus’ own words in John 16:9 that the only sin left – is to not believe in Jesus – because believing in Jesus removes all sin from you forever, as long as you believe.

Verse 40 says: You did for me what you did for the least of the Christians. This corresponds to this: Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. There is great reward – for all – who bless Jesus Christ and His followers.

And when Jesus sent out the 12 and the 70 He talked about a person of peace: Luke 10:6 – And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.

Matthew 10:11-13 – Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you.

In Conclusion

The good works mentioned in the parable are not the cause of salvation but the effect of salvation.

James says, that we will show our faith by our works – if it is true faith, it is proven by works, James 2:17: In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

True faith will lead to good deeds, that God has prepared, Ephesians 2:10: For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Good deeds – especially out of love for other Christians – come out of faith first.

When I became a Christian, for the first time, I had a new and special genuine love for other Christians – as well as the Bible, Jesus, myself, and others in general. This led me to good works toward other Christians.

So, There Are 2 Judgments for Christians – Just 1 for Non-Christians

• For both: Heaven or Hell based on perfection, 100% holiness – given by grace by Jesus to all who will receive it on the cross, by the blood, through His bodily death.
• For Christians only: This second judgment is not for the non-believers. We do not make it to Heaven based on good works. A judgment where God will reward as much as He can what we have done in love for Him, others, and ourselves. This will be evaluated with complete justice and fairness on the basis of the talents and opportunities, understandings etc. that we have had in life.

Either you only enter into Heaven as a perfect one due to pure grace – the blood of Jesus is perfect and sufficient. Or you add a little baptism, a little good works – and you have a non-holy God allowing non-holy, non-perfect people into Heaven.

And then salvation is by good works – which is a great error – and we might as well all get circumcised now – as Paul says in Galatians – I wish those who preach this cut themselves like crazy – those who preach this false gospel: AMP – Galatians 5:12 – I wish that those who are troubling you [by teaching that circumcision is necessary for salvation] would even [go all the way and] castrate themselves!

Please read the entire letter of Galatians where Paul is saying – “Who has bewitched you?” – to no longer preach righteousness only by faith in Jesus dying for all sins on the cross. Now you have to keep all the commandments! If you say – oh – you need to keep this one on top as well.

Rewards are all over the Bible. And every time there is a talk about inheritance – there are 2 forms of inheritance. There is the complete perfect free eternal forgiveness we choose to receive through faith.

And we get gloriously saved and go to Heaven as in this parable – the reward of access to Heaven for eternity is the same for all – no matter how long or hard you have worked.

But after that we all enter Heaven as though through fire – for our works in Christ – the degree to which we actually lived in the plan of God for our lives – will correspond to the size of the reward we get.

The Father very very very clearly wants to bless us with blessings – both here and in Heaven. Please look up all the uses of the word – reward – here, biblehub.com – there are both the positive and the negative version of reward and

So, in Conclusion

• We are justified for free by grace, faith – Jesus did it all. We stay in that simple humbling undeserved babylike faith and trust from the heart and by that alone – we qualify for Heaven, freedom and friendship with Daddyo (Greek: Abba Father / Hebrew: Ab). It is FINISHED – Jesus cried out. His atonement for all our sins – they are paid in full! We can do nothing to improve that. It is complete and perfect in and of itself forever. We can only receive in by faith. If we try to add something – we have misunderstood it and destroy what it is all about.
• We then repent, change, and choose to live a life based on that total forgiveness and the Holy Spirit living in us and we choose to be broken and to walk it out. We choose to be led by the Holy Spirit of God, choose to live in intimate friendship and heart to heart – wholehearted relationship with the Father, and we walk out the humility, honor, grace, peace, love, glory, justice of Jesus and display the mighty power of God – as Jesus did all perfectly – we strive for it with all we got (imperfectly as disciples)! – daily dying to ourselves, bringing the Kingdom to earth – the Kingdom of the King Who already lives in our hearts for free by His Holy Spirit. And the more we humble ourselves and fervently and passionately and zealously seek the Father through Jesus by the Spirit – we will be rewarded as He pleases – both in this life and the next.

And does God choose to see the good unselfish deeds, the broken humble hearts of people who are not yet born again and does want to reward them with an invitation for salvation? Yes. See this story: Acts 10:31