Losing Heaven (part 2 of 3)

 To explain this blog, you really need to read "Losing Heaven" (which is part 1). Here's how it started:

As some of you already know from my prior blogs, from carefully reading what Jesus said in the Gospels, once a person is initially born again, it is necessary that he goes on in godliness. Jesus requires what He called fruit for us to achieve heaven. We cannot call ourselves “Christian,” yet desecrate our Lord by sinful behavior and by ignoring God 6 days a week, after publicly claiming Him as Lord of our lives.

I have taken on a big task in these three blogs, beginning today: I will provide all verses from the Gospels that our great Teacher gave as fruit—both bad and good.  In EVERY ONE, is mentioned life if you do it, or eternal death if you don’t. Most of those 100 verses make it clear that even if you lack that particular fruit--you are excluded from heaven.

I have devoted the first blog to 5 of the 17 areas I cover. Please read on for 5 more "danger" areas.

Next we have to GIVE TO THE POOR. Let’s start out with something controversial, like Matthew 25:31ff:

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. ³³ And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

First, this is about our Lord’s second coming--as Judge. But not to judge “nations,” but people.  Verse 32 is the key: Is he only addressing this to nations? So we individuals are not judged on this basis? Or is He talking to people, so we ARE judged on this basis? The ESV translation has v.32 right: “Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. There is no way that entire nations will be noted for visiting the sick or visiting people in prison. No, PEOPLE do those loving visits. Doing those kindnesses for the underclass make us sheep, on our Lord’s right hand. Secondly, note how the sheep are blessed with life in heaven (the kingdom) because of a WORK, namely their loving actions for the dispossessed. That is, after all, what Jesus did—and what we should do. Not doing it makes us a goat. Bound for hell. Continuing in the verses above:

⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Not caring for the poor and disabled means you lose heaven.

Luke 16:19-23 is pretty blunt, too (another one ruined by the commentators):

¹⁹ “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. ²⁰ But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, ²¹ desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

We learn, in verses later than this, the futility of the efforts of the man in hades, to get a second chance for someone. Fact: you have to decide while you are alive and still have a thinking brain, to make the most important decision of your life and act it out. It takes faith, because you are dealing with the unknown. I think of my old-age friends; they never think about how to stay out of hell. First, their optimistic view of God is wrong—fact is, God will be forced to send the majority of people to hell (I’ll comment on “the Narrow way” soon). Secondly, many assume there’s no way we CAN know, for sure, which way we go. That belief is a mix of not believing the Bible is God’s Word, not getting proper sermons, and not studying the Word. Thirdly, many assume since they haven’t killed someone, they’re “good enough” for heaven. But they don’t know that God demands perfection in the Law, if that’s the path you choose, since you decided not to abide in Jesus. Well, perfection is impossible for us mortal creatures.

But let’s get to the point that’s relevant: why is the rich guy on the flame-side of hades? Well, let’s do away with prejudices first. We will assume his riches were legitimately obtained. Jesus did not imply such a charge. Simply being rich is not a sin. Then why? There is only one answer, assuming Christ has a point here (He always had a point). He was there because he did nothing for the poor beggar. He is a goat (that’s NOT the “greatest of all time.”) because he “performed” as the ones who are thrown into everlasting punishment do. Namely, not loving, not even a bit, the poor and the underclass people. Not even the one that he passed by every day.

You may feel that this helping-the-poor requirement for heaven, this fruit, is moot because you’re ensconced in a suburb where you never see someone poor, so how are you going to fulfill this?  Well, the news flashes plenty of these people from all over the globe. And we see blown-up rocks instead of homes in Gaza or Ukraine, we see riots because of governments who don’t know how to govern, or we see people living in eastern Europe and Turkey in fenced-in and ghettoed areas. So there are many needs, and actually, many ways to help. Sending money directly to a Christian agency would be step one. Demographically, I wish there were a way to keep many of these immigrant families, assuming we “vet” them and find them innocent of criminal past, in the U.S. We desperately need a growing population for the economy to leap ahead, increasing the middle class. Social Security and Medicare’s funding are financed from working-population growth. Those retirement programs will be broke if we have to depend on our native population, who refuses to have a decent number of children, or can’t because of strange vaccines. So there is no working class growth, without immigrants. So, our population needs immigrants to grow. Helping the immigrants will help us--those are the facts. But there are now too many, and they are politicized. We still must find a way to step up and help these families.

A rather surprising quote by Jesus happens when He visits Zacchaeus, a height-challenged tax collector who was short on friends. In Luke 19:8-9, Zacchaeus makes a statement on helping the poor, and a generous repentance for cheating people:

⁸ Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold. ⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; ¹⁰ for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

It’s shocking for those of us whose theology is “faith only,” that Jesus pronounces salvation for Zaccheus. Where was his faith in Christ expressed in this? Calling Him Lord does not necessarily mean worship; it was a greeting for a master or a rabbi. His announcement is simply that he will restore what he took from the poor—with generous interest. Yes, he was very happy to meet Jesus. Looking at all this, we should have seen by now that Jesus’ theology is not boxed up like we assume. But He does place Zaccheus as a member of the sheep—because he helps the poor and underclass. As He required in Scripture. So some of us will see Zacchaeus again, taller and happier, and long on friends.

OTHER REFERENCES: Luke 3:7-11, Luke 11:41, Luke 14:13, 14.

Next, let’s look at how heaven requires that  YOU MUST FORGIVE.

Yet another one in the life vs death series. Matthew 6:14-15 makes it black or white:

¹⁴ “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Search your brain: If there is someone you don’t like, is it because of one thing they did that you are still upset about? Then we must forgive them, for our eternal life. We ask God’s help doing it, we say it out loud (to them, ideally, if they are still alive). That doesn’t wipe out the bad memory, but it doesn’t leave us with a bad taste thinking about that person anymore. Maybe we end up with, at least, a neutral feeling about them. It might help if you search for anything you did that caused the split, or anything in their background that led them to respond that way. It’s not always their sin. Remember, this is heaven vs. hell stuff. God is faithful to His Word. No way can you slide by without forgiveness.

Let’s study Matthew 18:21ff:

²¹ Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. ²³ Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants… 

Jesus spins this tale masterfully, as only the greatest Teacher could. A servant owed the Master 10,000 “talents,” a huge pile of money. He forgave that servant; so the servant owed him nothing. Nothing is said as to his thankfulness. However, that servant found another servant who owed him chump change, couldn’t pay, and here is what he did: and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ ²⁹ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ ³⁰ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 

You can only imagine what the Master did to him when he heard: ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. ³³ Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ ³⁴ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. ³⁵ “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

I can’t miss a doctrinal point here: This is a proof verse that we can lose our salvation. This servant was saved (free of debt) until he did not forgive another; then the Master retracted his salvation. Then he lost it; he was unsaved.

Note how Christ sees us as potentially saved people, IF we’re obedient to the end. Carefully observe the application:  Christ’s death on the Cross freed us from debt to God, if we have proper faith in Him. That debt was huge because our sins are huge. HOWEVER, if we cannot forgive another the sin they have done to us (Jesus considers it small compared to our sin to God), then God can put us back on the track for hell. By un-forgiving us our sin.

Don’t start on me about how that seems that God is “unfaithful,” or how it breaks the “unbreakable” law of unconditional security. This guy broke a rule, a rule that is in Scripture but no one likes to talk about. God is faithful if He applies that rule. Why should a just God overlook what’s clearly pointed out in Scripture that the servant has chosen to ignore? The price is steep for disobedience, but he should have known. And now YOU know. Once again, you can’t box God in like you think.

We all know the “Lord’s Prayer,” right? Then have we thought about this in Luke 11:4 (NLT)?

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

The word “as” requires a joining, or a same activity. So it says that God will forgive us as we do the same thing, forgiving others. It suggests that without the joining activity, the forgiveness won’t stick.

OTHER REFERENCES: Mark 11:26, Luke 6:37, Luke 17:4

Next let’s consider NOT ACCUMULATING WEALTH ON EARTH, BUT ACCUMULATE IT IN HEAVEN

Wait, wait, you say, I don’t even have to read the verses: this title immediately grinds against the joys of building a fat fund so we can enjoy retirement. No fun! Well, here’s some verses that you won’t like. We begin in Luke 12:16ff:

¹⁶ Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. ¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

When you think about it, you might ask, “what was so bad here? The man knew how to save, a good trait, and all he wanted was to store up against any possible future tragedy. Well, look at the detail: His storehouses were already full, which would cover any tragedy already, and still he wanted to have more. This exudes covetousness. No word about his neighbors, some of which might need help. So we can assume he will do nothing for them, and just take it easy himself. His life’s goals were all in the world. Jesus calls him a fool for that.

I have seen many “financial helps” that advise us that because of the many uncertainties in the world, we should accumulate at least $3 million for retirement. Many people do that and more, and thank God on occasion for blessing them. They’re actually suggesting you need $3 million, plus pension and Social Security to avoid starving to death. No, of course not. You need $3 million to have a GREAT retirement. Cruises (where you get sick), traveling to foreign lands (where there are criminals waiting to rob you). Or, if you are headed for “tropical” places, you pick up a strange bug (from their “exotic” foods or unsanitary water), and get violently ill. Just kidding (not). Let’s pay attention to Jesus’ exact words from Matthew 6:19-21:

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“Treasures on earth” is wealth, plain and simple. Sorry to say, I don’t know how many pastors muff these verses. Applying logic, it says “where your treasure is (first), then that is where your heart is. Not the reverse. It says just by accumulating wealth, we are in trouble—because it shows our heart is here, or worldly. So it really says it’s hard for those who have a huge wad of assets in the world, to get their heart anywhere else—like on God. Therefore, if your treasure is in the world, your heart is in the world. Don’t let that happen, because it will put you in danger of eternal death. So let’s say you have the world’s luxurious and unnecessary goods—namely, super house, nice schools (whatever that is), attention-getting recent car, nice fat 401, with stocks that never stop going up, and ultimately nice retirement. The kids have been to great colleges (whatever that is), so they think the same way we do; i.e., they don’t need us. And maybe we don’t need them---but that’s a brave assumption—what happens if you develop a chronic illness when you get old? (Elderly people who are not too sharp should NEVER be left alone in today’s hospitals. Work in shifts to avoid that.) Speaking bluntly, too many people have no goals in retirement; so what’s to live for? Hey, they might say, my wife and I are doing all this to kill time, since we just have each other, and we spend more time on the cellphones or TV than having meaningful conversations. So the big pileup of assets may not help you have a satisfactory time in retirement.

But your treasure is in heaven, if you’ve actually been thinking about God’s plan for making you useful in your elderly days. If you want to do things for the Lord ALL your life, then you will do His will—namely, your goal does NOT mean accumulating a $3 million retirement plan. Just plan keeping what’s necessary and giving the rest away. Those of you that are young, plan on eliminating credit card debt as soon as possible in your working career, stick to the same job with a good company long enough that pays good benefits, pay the mortgage off, play it safe in stocks or bonds (nowadays, it’s gold or silver), and give generously to Christian charity. You will then have the magic in retirement—namely, netting extra cash every month from what’s coming in from Social Security and/or 401, and having moderate expenses. (Not having debt or mortgage does that). So when “retirement” comes, you don’t need that hoard of backup cash, since your income is greater than the expenses with extra dollars left over every month. Forget the annual $10,000 trip, just visit the family. Hug the grandkids; pass on a little of your wisdom, including a good word about the Lord. Hopefully you’re not a workaholic, and have instead spent a lot of time developing a good relationship with the kids. Doing these things shows you have been thinking of heavenly treasures, not worldly ones. If you can give to charity while working, you can if you keep the expenses moderate, you might be able to give to charity while “retired,” too. All that giving should not be regretted. It is probably saving people, and you were a part of that. In heaven, there will be friends that you never imagined looking for you to hug and say “thanks” when you get there someday. Luke 16’s parable of the unjust steward could very well have an application for us like that.

Let’s look at Matthew 19:16ff:

¹⁶ Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”… ²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” ²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

So the rich man wanted to hang onto his riches; not new. But Jesus did not like rules the world imagines for heaven. He makes a requirement to having eternal life, that he should “sell what he has.” It certainly seems extreme.

But, hey, you say, not to worry, that’s only spoken to a rich guy, not me. Wrong! Luke 12:33-34 has the same theme, but as v. 22 says, He was speaking all this to His disciples. And these are not rich guys. Here is the command He gave them:

³³ Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So, another unassailable logic slaps us: For our heart to truly be in heaven, and not the world (which would possibly lose eternal life, as we pointed out in verses above) we need to “sell what we have,” if we want to be His disciples. This does not mean sell necessary assets and enter poverty. It means sell luxury assets, those above moderation—and we should buy in moderation all our life. By doing that, there would be more to give to charity and make more treasures in heaven.

Face it: Jesus does not want us to pile up wealth when there are so many in the world who desperately need help. Totally contrary to the world’s “wisdom.” But that’s not new. Part of His “upside down” rules. We need to give more to charity. Don’t complain: You want to be sure of heaven? Are you one of His disciples (anybody that follows and obeys Him, not just the 12)? Then these words are for you. All I can add is, God will bless you in ways “over the top” in heaven. He is rich for those who lend to Him. He pays back with very high interest (Proverbs 19:17).

OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 19:16ff, Mark 10:17ff, Luke 18:18ff.

Next, Jesus requires us to DO THE WILL OF GOD to enter heaven. We can assume that not being interested in God’s will buys us a ticket to hell.

Let’s start with Matthew 7:21-23:

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!’

Many people are in service for the Lord for their own benefit. They may do mighty things; some are fake, and some God allows to be real. But they have some serious sin, which they keep unconfessed and continuing. Doing “the will of My Father” means having the traits that we are talking about in this paper. We should regularly confess our sins to God and work on them, and we pray God’s help in defeating them. We frequently ask His forgiveness. He is not tired of forgiving us many times, if we run to Him for help—and not run away and feeling ashamed, and are unable to work for Him for awile. We are humble, and only seek the spotlight to show the glory of God. At no time should we even consider that WE are performing service to God to obtain glory for ourselves. So doing God’s will is obeying His commands to mature in the faith, to give all glory to Him. To do the opposite, to steal credit for what He has done and calling it “ours,” or to do as little as we can for God, is defying God, it is lawlessness. It will not earn heaven.

Let’s look at Luke 6:46-49:

⁴⁶ “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? ⁴⁷ Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: ⁴⁸ He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. ⁴⁹ But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

We call Jesus Lord, or Master of our lives, as required—yet we too often ignore His commands, His will. To do His will is like building a house on a rock. It will hold up in the most severe storms in our lives. To hear His commands and do nothing is like a man who builds a house without a foundation (how ridiculous is that). The house, or our faith, fails in a storm. We might lose our faith. It was easier not to dig down deep, just build on sand. But God wants you to deepen your relationship, do whatever to get close to Him, and be truly founded on the Rock of our faith.

One more to talk about: Luke 12:45-48

⁴⁵ But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, ⁴⁶ the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. ⁴⁷ And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. ⁴⁸ But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

This harks back to a previous discussion, but we have one more nugget of wisdom to apply. Our hearts should be anxious to get out of this sin-sick world to our true home, heaven, where we can be with our loving Lord. Instead of looking up to heaven and Jesus, choosing to follow the world means, ultimately, not doing God’s will—and our reward is hell and destruction.

I added v. 48 as an extra treasure. When you look at that verse, you realize that hell has grades; it has suffering throughout, but some are not as bad as others. There are some people that never heard the Word because they were deaf, and didn’t have help available. Or they never got a Bible because they lived in the outposts of humanity. Their suffering will not be as great—but they will be in hell if they never thought about God, who is evident in Creation and in our conscience—as Romans tells us. IF they were, upon that realization, seeking God, then He would show them a way to Jesus and salvation. Many people in Muslim countries speak of having dreams pointing the way to Jesus when they were truly seeking for Him.

The last sentence is sobering to pastors and preachers; to whom much is given, from him much will be required. God will expect more faith from them. To fail and desert His will is to expect a deeper pain in hell.

OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 21:28-31, Mark 3:32-35, Luke 11:27-28 (where “keep” is defined as “keep doing.”

Next, God promises heaven to those whose sacrifice includes LEAVING FAMILY MEMBERS WHO ABUSE AND EVEN THREATEN TO KILL YOU AS AN INFIDEL.

We’ll start with Mark 10:29-30:

²⁹ So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, ³⁰ who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

This is not a category allowing divorce, unless your spouse has the desire, and made it plain, that he might kill you in anger, and he has shown that trait. Yet he does not apologize for such an explosive anger, since getting him angry is “your fault.” Do not buy into his assessment of fault.

In some false religions, living among them as a Christian for a long time is not a problem; you can pay the extra tax, be treated as a low-class person. When you’ve been with them as a Muslim, say, and then convert to Christianity, however, that’s a problem. Also, evangelization is a problem. They actually have the feeling, given to them by their “god,” that you no longer deserve life for becoming an infidel. You are mentally unbalanced. You are unfit. Your only way out is to run. Start a new life, under a “God’s Witness Protection Program.” Despite your prayers to open their eyes, trying to tell some of these people the truth about Jesus will only make them so infuriated that they will kill you. If you die, you are assured that, as a martyr, your soul, and your resurrection, would be protected by our Lord.

In Luke 14:25-26, Jesus has the same theme, only this time He uses hyperbole:

²⁵ Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

He means that our love for Him should be so great that our love for relatives seems mild—even hate—in comparison. Our love for Him should be deep enough that if He wants us to leave a murderous family, we should not let our love for our innocent sister, say, stop us. (Evangelize her and invite her to escape with you). Speaking to husbands and wives, our love for Him should mean His commandment to ‘leave father and mother, and cleave to your spouse” should be obeyed—even if a woman’s husband wants to live several thousand miles away. We have vowed our life to them now.

OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 19:29, Luke 18:29-30.

Losing Heaven (Part 1)

 

As some of you already know from my prior blogs, from carefully reading what Jesus said in the Gospels, once a person is initially born again, it is necessary that he goes on in godliness. Jesus requires what He called fruit for us to achieve heaven. We cannot call ourselves “Christian,” yet desecrate our Lord by sinful behavior and by ignoring God 6 days a week, after publicly claiming Him as Lord of our lives.

I have taken on a big task in these three blogs, beginning today: I will provide all verses from the Gospels that our great Teacher gave as fruit—both bad and good.  In EVERY ONE, is mentioned life if you do it, or eternal death if you don’t. Most of those 100 verses make it clear that even if you lack that particular fruit--you are excluded from heaven. Jesus would not lie to us, to scare us into good behavior. But these are the facts that few people “get.” We are uneducated; that is partly our fault, and partly our pastor’s fault. Most pastors nowadays seem to teach us, if they teach this at all, that initial salvation is all that’s required for heaven, and you are eternally fixed; any fruit you give afterwards are just an “option.” Other pastors simply do not want to use the word “hell” or “sin” (some even avoid the word “Cross.”) Those are ”downers,” they say, and their sermons are directed to  just making us happy. If we are happy, we stay there, the tithes keep up, and our pleasantries will draw people to us, and they will ask serious questions (?), and then we can evangelize, and help to save others. So they think. But fact: Jesus talked more of hell than heaven. Any other view that your pastor, or your selective Bible readings give you, is deception. So many of these verses will be “new” to you, that you may doubt the inerrant truth of the Bible. That’s going around a lot nowadays. I have many blogs addressing many of these issues, but none like this one—listing ALL Scripture that Jesus spoke of that indicates fruit, good or bad, that may put you in danger of hell, or the joys of heaven. Don’t even think this to be a half-interesting proposition. You should want to KNOW if there is anything that would exclude you from heaven, and put you in hell.

These are listed, after the first one, in pretty much “most frequent” reference to “least frequent.” Do not assume least frequent means nothing to worry about, as you will see. Please devote prayerful hours of self-examination. “Do I have any of these qualities that are bad fruit, vs good fruit?”

The first requirement, on how to gain or lose heaven based on what we do after initially being saved, is WE MUST ABIDE IN CHRIST

 If we do not stay in His commands, and live for Him, we lose our salvation. The key verses are in John 15:5-6:

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 

It is logically clear: Abide in Christ, bear much fruit. Do not abide in Christ, and you wind up in hell. Not abiding means it is impossible to bear fruit for God. Your purpose in producing fruit is not self-glorification, to try to earn heaven, but to give glory to Him—and continue in salvation, once

initially obtained. This phrase is defined as the following: belief in Jesus as the Son of God, through a virgin birth, that He is eternal God, that He rose from the dead, and promises the same resurrection for us who believe. Hell awaits the rest, for He is the only way to heaven. Repentance of our sin, or changing our behaviors, is required: separation from the lusts and desires of the world as well. Some verses also say adult baptism is required, presumably as a public vow that we desire to die to sin, and turn to have new life in Christ.

Obviously, you should examine yourself to see if you have initial salvation to begin with. Doing works, or fruit, without being saved, is effectively trying to ‘earn’ salvation, an impossibility. It’s the cart before the horse.

Thus, I am maintaining a “two-stage” salvation from hell: Initial salvation, and then moving into godliness, or producing fruit, through our lives. (I have a blog that explains the two phases more). I am maintaining that the evidences of fruit, as will follow, will finally determine our eternal life or death, even if we are “initially saved.”  

To continue on the theme of abiding in Christ, look at John 8:31. It says if we study and meditate in His Word (part of the meaning of abiding in Christ), then we are true disciples, a good sign for heaven:

³¹ Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed:

A controversial passage is John 6:51,56. There, we have the basis for sharing communion. This is taken too lightly in many churches; for some it is rote, for others, to avoid rote, they have it once a month—and even on Sunday night, no less. These next verses say that communion is a symbol of abiding in Christ. Thereby we obtain heaven. Avoiding communion shows we are not on a good basis with our Lord, not a good sign for heaven:

 ⁵¹ I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world…⁵⁶ He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 

Our second most frequent single reference is, well, Jesus’ requirement THAT WE HAVE FRUIT.

John the Baptist doesn’t say too much; he had little “showtime.” But he didn’t miss saying this, in Matthew 3:10:

¹⁰ And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

For the next verse, one could argue that Jesus’ whole point of the famous Sower parable, was about fruit. He points out that even when people “see the light,” they may nevertheless refuse to carry it out. So, in three of four cases of sowing, there is no fruit. But there is fruit, finally, in “good ground” that we may possess. Matthew 13:23:

²³ But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Related to that is John 8:51, where we are urged to “keep (obey) His Word” to see heaven. Obeying His Word is surefire good fruit:

⁵¹ Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.”

The opposite would apply: If we read His Word and do not apply it, or if we simply don’t read His Word, we will indeed see death.

Salt has, I think, two main functions: One, as a preservative, to prevent valuable food from rotting quickly. Second, it adds zest to taste. Jesus applies this illustration for us. Are we slowing the rotting of society, at least within our family, as a testimony of Him? Secondly, are we joyful in Him, and present ourselves as such before society? There is danger in not having positive answers to these questions. This is in Luke 14:34, 35:

³⁴ “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? ³⁵ It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out

In Luke 13:6-9 we see God’s patience in waiting for us to generate some fruit. Caution: His patience has an end; destruction will follow those who can’t seem to tear themselves away from the world, and thus have no fruit. The Old Testament failures of the Jews, and what God did upon their failures, are examples of that too:

⁶ He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷ Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ ⁸ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹ And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”

Luke 19:20ff has an interesting parable about a Master who gives his three slaves money (a “mina”) to invest (this is speaking of either “use your gifts” or “bear fruit for Him”) while He is gone. This is speaking of our Lord in heaven. The first two slaves are successful in bearing fruit (symbolized by increasing beyond the mina by investments or by interest), but the third is a failure. Part of his problem is how he perceives his Master:

²⁰ “Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. ²¹ For I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ ²² And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant…²³ Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ ²⁴ “And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas…’ and from him who does not have (i.e., not having fruit or gifts for the Lord), even what he has will be taken away from him. ²⁷ But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’ ”

One could only conclude that the lazy man, who was “afraid” of the Lord, yet did not bear fruit (or use his gifts), is one of the enemies, bound for destruction. OTHER REFERENCES TO FRUIT: Matthew 25:27, Mark 4:20, Luke 3:8,9, Luke 3:11 (which has some good examples of what fruits are), Luke 8:14,15, Luke 19:23-27.

We must be willing to be SELF-SACRIFICIAL. In Matthew 16:24-27

²⁴ Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶ For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 

What is “desires to save his life?” I think it’s activities that are not self-sacrificial, that you push yourself selfishly in front of others to keep living. “Myself first” suggests a lack of love, which is another fruit I will speak of later. Continually done, especially in crises, that person will be in hell—he will “lose” his (eternal) life. This is most relevant in the area of giving to the poor and disabled. Sacrifice involves buying only necessities for ourselves, and giving the cash saved to the poor. Sacrifice could also mean setting aside valuable time to dedicate to those in need.

There is also the idea that “loses his life,” could refer to martyrdom. Or it could mean simply giving service for others, rather than ourselves, for the glory of our Lord. Desiring to “save” our life

The controversial phrase is v. 27b, how God will reward each according to our WORKS. Reformed theology hates works in connection with salvation; they will twist this verse into pretzels to say what it does not say. You could argue that the meaning of “rewards” could just mean crowns in heaven, which, you allege, that is all our works do for us; but I think certain works are necessary to obtain heaven—which is what this blog is all about. Let’s not lose sight of James 2:14’s rhetorical question:

¹⁴ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can (that) faith save him?

James clearly says faith without a show of works (or fruits), will not get us into heaven. So, yes, initial salvation is not enough (unless you get killed immediately  afterwards). The point he is making is that the rest of your activities in life counts in salvation.  We should believe in Lordship salvation, folks. After you are initially saved, you must sacrifice your desire for the world. If you pursue continual “backsliding,” or you have some addiction that you have not spiritually attacked, odds are high that you end up in hell. The great need to cast off the world is evident from Matthew 5:29-30:

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Let’s really talk about losing ourselves. Jesus is using hyperbole here. He is saying, GO TO EXTREMES of self-sacrifice to get rid of any sin that blocks our ability to be close to Him. Continually being lazy, failing and feeling like a loser, or feeling remorse, does not earn credits with our Lord. Such feelings inhibit our testimony further anyhow.

Another example of self-sacrifice is serving our Lord, not ourselves. In His Cross, He sacrificed for us, saved us from a deserved hell. Now He owns us. He is our Lord and Master, thinking of the feudal days. He provides us food, shelter, a wonderful future in heaven. Thus, all our assets are His, not ours; our job is caretaking His assets; it is called “fiduciary trust” in business. We are only His managers. All our behavior as managers is in the interest of the master. We need to seek His will before moving or expending His assets. It is insulting to God if we go into credit card theft, because it says God did not provide sufficiently for me. Good managers will also set aside a reserve for a sizable down payment on a house or for buying a moderate car. Going into deeper debt rolling over cars, means someday the debt will be greater than what the car will be worth. Then you will see people abandoning the car and trying to avoid paying the debt. This is stealing, plain and simple, like writing bouncing checks and not paying off credit cards. This is not honoring to God. God will honor us with heaven by serving Him and being honest. Thinking this way will fulfill John 12:26:

²⁶ If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

I have to mention John 14:21. If any of you have difficulty, as I do, with “loving Christ,” since He is not physically here, we need to know that one definition of loving is keeping (obeying) His commandments; this is one of our forms of self-sacrifice. There is great joy in being touched by Him in some supernatural way. Something impossible happens that you know is Him smiling on you. That’s today’s manifestation. There will be another great manifestation day coming:

²¹ He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Another verse on that theme is in John 15:10; this time it helps explain what fulfills our need to hear we are abiding in Christ:

¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

One more set of verses on self-sacrifice; Matthew 16:29:

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.

Many families in Muslim territories will threaten their parent’s life, or their children’s life, or even kill their spouse, if they are “infidel” enough to follow Jesus. You could lose a job, your reputation, and could be physically kicked out of the house, and lose ownership of it, and you are no longer claimed as related. In the 1600s, when the Catholics would do battle with the Protestants, your family would be kicked out of the whole country if you went Protestant; you would lose your land, only going away with the shirt on your back. This kind of rejection is as bad as what Jesus experienced; of course how can we, His servants, expect to be treated any better? It is only through God’s grace that anybody escapes this persecution, sin being so wicked as it is these days.

The verse above, by implication, suggests the opposite: If we attempt to avoid heavy persecution by lying and denying Christ (even our behavior may deny Christ, you don’t have to announce it), we will not inherit eternal life. Doesn’t matter how long you’ve been “saved” before. OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 10:38, Mark 8:34, 35, Mark 10:29, 30, Luke 9:23.

NEXT IS HUMBLENESS. I think of it as being so aware of our sin that we see no good in ourselves, but only as God works through us. Our greatest weakness is our certainty that we can handle a problem ourselves, because, let’s say, we have the degree for it. (This is getting very personal). We cannot be so sure of our smarts that anybody’s advice we perceive as a threat, they are “talking down” to us. We cannot be so sure of our ‘doctrinal correctness’ that we dismiss anyone who has uncommon experiences, or has a seemingly unlikely doctrine that we prefer to avoid even thinking about. We are resistant to any new ideas, and no one can teach an old dog new tricks, right? Let’s see what Jesus has to say. Caution: Let’s not always think of the Pharisees as the bad guys—some Scripture could apply to you, couldn’t it? Matthew 18:3,4:

“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

Becoming like ”little children” is humbling ourselves, He says. He also implies, not humbling ourselves means we will not enter heaven. Why not, when we are told that pride is our greatest downfall? Well, what are the traits of a small child that indicates he/she is humble? I think of two things: (1) the child trusts mom and dad implicitly. They will protect me, they will not deliberately hurt me or will do anything to keep me from being hurt. In applying to us, Mom and dad, that’s God. We trust God. There is no substitute for His protection. (How many guns did you say you need? Do you have trust issues?) We don’t have to worry about starvation. We may be homeless, we may be out of cash, but neither of those will end our lives. God will provide necessities. An especially good verse to memorize when persecution comes our way is Psalm 37:25, the words of David: 

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread

The second trait of a child denoting humbleness is him saying, “some things I can’t do, so I trust mom and dad to lead the way and show me, or do it themselves if it’s too much for me. They’re bigger and stronger than I am, and much more capable.” Would that we would think that about God. Instead, we have men and women who think they are better than others, they make negative statements about how God is treating them, or they think “I can do this; I will only call on God if I get into trouble.“ It’s true also, that lack of humility breeds prejudice, which means mistreating people, treating them as sub-human, and hating them as the  “enemy.” The real enemy, as Pogo wisely quoted, is “We have met the enemy, and they are us.” On another point, if someone wounds you, it is a sin in thinking someone should say they are sorry to me before I will forgive them; they are ”too good” for that, we say. No, WE are thinking we are too good to forgive and express God’s love. Ours is the problem.

Matthew 9:12-13 is partly on humbleness:

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Interpretation of these verses can be a challenge. Since Jesus was speaking of the Pharisees, He has to couch His words. He is at the beginning of His ministry, so if He makes a series of obvious negative remark about them, they have the capacity to see He is killed early, and no chance to finish His ministry. Thus, “those who are well” really means “those who think they are well”—that’s the Pharisees. They think that they have no need of a physician, so their prideful stubbornness means, they won’t be called to repentance. They had their chance to repent with John the Baptist—they gave it a hard pass. Later they will attribute His miracles to the devil, a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit so serious that there will be no possibility of salvation for them. Jesus is saying He can work with those who realize that they are sinners. They perceive that their tendency to sin has overtaken them again and again, and they fear that they are left with no way to God. Jesus will show them that way, bit by bit, if they follow Him.

One surefire act of humbleness is the ability to show mercy. Jesus rejects rituals given by the hardhearted—it is hypocrisy. Hell is the pathway for those who are not able to show mercy. They have already judged and condemned and decided they are better than some people, who are not worthy of help.

Matthew 5:3 has different words for humbleness:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

A commentary on “poor in spirit” clearly shows its connection to humbleness: Those who are “poor in spirit” acknowledge our need for God; we grow in dependence on Him; we realize we are nothing without Him; we realize our own sin and our spiritual emptiness and poverty; we are not be self-satisfied or proud in our hearts; we know we cannot rely on ourselves, that we are not self-sufficient, and we live as “beggars before God;” we feel our need for God and recognize every good that comes from him as a gift, as a grace; we treasure what we receive; we have no worthiness to claim God's blessing; we are to be reliant on God.

Frankly, self-inspection may make you, as I, score poorly on many of these points of humbleness. I remind you what I said before: humbleness, or being poor in spirit, is necessary to attain heaven. Without it, we attain hell.

This sin is an epidemic among Americans, and why fewer of us attain heaven than people assume.  I don’t know what’s the cause. Perhaps it’s a desire to be litigious, or perhaps it’s class division (helped by our politicians and judges), or perhaps how some are hugely rich and others clearly don’t even have a home (we have to think up an excuse why we should dislike those homeless people, or else we might actually break out some charitable cash, or otherwise we will feel guilty). Finally, perhaps our wealth enables us to get along without any need for God. This feeling of independence and having everything under our control is a perfect example of non-humbleness. In any case, we have this sin bad. But as the verse above suggests the other side, an absence of humbleness could mean eternal death. What would cause us to become humble? A total economic reversal; a war; persecution; or any tragedy. Some will curse God, but some will find new life in Him. OTHER REFERENCES Mark 2:17, Mark 10:15, Luke 5:32, Luke 18:9-14

The next fruit we should learn to apply is SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD makes it POSSIBLE to abide with Christ. Related to that is the doctrine that YOU CAN’T GRASP THE WORLD AND ABIDE WITH CHRIST AT THE SAME TIME.

Matthew 13:22 is in the Sower parable. This is one of the three failed crops out of four sown:

Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

This seed failed (i.e., people would be bound for hell) because this person became “distracted” away from God by the “cares” of the world and the “deceitfulness” of their wealth. There was a time when I asked God to make me rich (I was not like Solomon), but later I realized that would make me farther away from Him—and I wasn’t too close to Him in the first place. It didn’t matter to God that if I were rich, I could give more away for charity. God wanted my love, and I was more interested in a position that would take me away from His love. Not smart. I didn’t even imagine that God would want my love.

The time we spend thinking about the cares of the world, and getting worried, prevents us from getting closer to God. The solution is, in part, don’t worry about where our next dollar is coming from. (This does not mean “don’t budget.”) Jesus has many wonderful words about that in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25ff). The problem in America is different and deeper; we are dissatisfied with “just” having necessities; we have to have the latest. It will increase our reputation, and we can run with people we like to run with. Many of us spend $150,000 of income a year, yet go into debt—so we conclude we are not rich. Well, we are, in the eyes of the world. About 7.2 billion people wish they could wish for that.

Separation from the world is a big part of self-sacrifice. And it’s critical to being saved. In America, though, we have little separation—and fewer people saved than they assume. Pastors won’t speak of separation—they call it “legalistic.” We think of the Amish. We think of perverse stuff like cults that wouldn’t let you marry, wouldn’t let you eat certain foods certain days. We think of stoics, never a cheer-hearted lot. Or the Puritans (we have been misinformed on those folks).

John 12:25 says:

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. ²⁵ He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

What is Jesus saying with the phrase, “if it dies, it produces much grain?” He means for us, dying to the world is the way to producing much fruit. The phrase “hates his life in this world” suggests that our separation from the world is so complete that we realize we would get no joy from plunging ourselves into the world—we would feel treasonous to our Lord, after what He has done for us. We would suffer such guilt and remorse that we would not derive any pleasure to repeat it. He who loves his life on earth will lose it for eternity. Therefore we hate the worldly temptations that the devil continually bombards us with.

Matthew 24:48-51 urges us to look for Christ’s coming, realizing that this world, so perverted from sin, is not our home. Our home is heaven, to be with our Lord. The verses begin with a servant put in charge of the household while the Master is gone. But the servant has deserted his calling and is plunging into the world. His end is hell:

But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ ⁴⁹ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, ⁵⁰ the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, ⁵¹ and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 12:33, Matthew 18:8, Mark 9:43, Luke 9:62, Luke 12:37-45.

Next, we look at the necessity TO LOVE GOD WITH EVERYTHING IN US, and LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELF

Let’s start with Luke 10:25-29:

²⁵ And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”…²⁷ So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” ²⁸ And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” ²⁹ But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Loving a non-physical Entity (God) that much--an impossible goal, right? But that doesn’t mean we don’t adopt practices that will attain as much of that as is possible—since Jesus feels it’s possible. For me personally, the goal is to meditate on knowing God from His Word; how can God love us rebellious little creatures that He has placed us in His vast universe? Given His magnificence, why then would our God take on painful flesh to be so horribly treated that we kill him, even though He spent His physical time on earth healing us, and teaching us wonderful truths? He has made us adopted children, and has given us an inheritance.  With that kind of love, how do we develop a relationship with Him more? We must spend time for this, we must learn His Word, we must discipline ourselves to break the grasp of flesh and be more like Him. For instance, He has rules for developing families that, if we are brave enough to be radical, if we follow them, make for happy kids, happy spouses, and a joy of family life that is so much the opposite of most. We also recognize, looking back, on when His Spirit strangely interrupts our lives; we recognize how He provides our needs through miraculous deeds on occasion. We could make lists of how God has especially touched us, and belatedly thank Him. We don’t deserve any of this. If He had judged us for hell, there was no argument that we could have given—or could now give—to dispute that. Some of us, even as men, get choked up, He is so worthy.

Don’t miss the implication of “Do this, and you will live.” (Don’t do this, and you will not be in heaven).

“And who is my neighbor?” That was the question a lawyer asked. A neighbor could be someone close by that you may dislike. Or it could be someone that is several thousand miles away who needs our help. With outfits like Ministry Watch checking out charitable organization’s legitimacy, what would be the harm of giving to Muslim families that are peace-loving, that are trying to live a life in a hell of violence and death all around? Or giving to Venezuelan families, where helping has to be on the sly because the totalitarian government refuses aid? They are the current top of the list of wrecked economies. Many will die of hunger or disease. Perhaps we do not know what’s happening in the rest of the world; perhaps we do not care (a dangerous situation to be in).  Do we, who are so rich, stack guns to defend our possessions, and do we not understand how they hate us, and hate Christianity, because we do not give to those that desperately need help? Or our neighbor could be the guy next door. Think how God loves us, despite our sinfulness. Just so, we look past the neighbor’s evil habits and find a mindset to love them anyhow. After all, for many, this is their best life, because they are bound for hell in the afterlife. We look past what we see, and we do nice things for them, unexpected things. We surprise them by telling our feelings, we get personal, we want to evangelize them. Giving them the gospel is the greatest love we can give them, but we build up a relationship first. If we are sincere throughout, they know we just want to help.

Speaking of “do this, and you will live,” above, take a look at Luke 6:35, where Jesus again speaks of loving those who don’t love us:

³⁵ But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

For the suggestion to “lend, hoping for nothing in return,” you might just as well just give it to the person in need, rather than hanging a debt over their head (a tendency it’s too easy to fall into). Note the pointed remark Jesus makes, that God is kind to the “unthankful and evil”—in other words, us. God broke barriers to love us--you can’t miss the connection to Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. If we want to be like God, it is necessary that we work on loving people who don’t like us.

Matthew 5:39-46 has examples of how we express love even for our enemies:

³⁹ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. ⁴⁰ If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. ⁴¹ And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. ⁴² Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. ⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 

About not resisting evil, this does not say that we cannot defend our family or ourselves against physical harm. I take the phrase “slaps you on your right cheek” to mean that we do not have to respond aggressively to someone’s insult. But more than that, we should not have fits about some government persecutor confiscating our property, even if they do it by breaking our Constitutional rights (which they have been doing for some time now).  During the End Times, if we’re there, we don’t throw away God’s commands to love our enemies because we are treated unjustly. People will see our hypocrisy if we scream and keen because we have been denied just treatment. They will not recognize that they are working for Satan becaause they will be propagandized. John 16:1-2 says:

“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. ² They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.

We are to “not stumble;” do not hang onto your property so hard that you cannot love these people when they take it away, if those days should come. Feel for them; they will suffer an eternity in hell unless you can, with the Holy Spirit, find a way to love them. That’s the best evangelization you can do. The Bible is full of people who are not upset when horrible things are happening to them—look at what happened to Joseph. Despite repeated injustice, he was calm as a cucumber; he had trust that whatever happened was in God’s plan. The fact that his family were welcomed into the best of pagan farmland, instead of starving to death, is proof that he got respect from pagan Egyptians for showing over-the-top integrity.  Plus, his brothers learned to love him and his faith in God, instead of wanting to kill him anymore. There is a good side to tragedy; look for it.

OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 22:36-39, Matthew 25:35, Mark 12:28-31