"Not everyone who calls me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do.

Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother."

Tell them that as surely as I, the Sovereign LORD, am the living God, I do not enjoy seeing sinners die. I would rather see them stop sinning and live. Israel, stop the evil you are doing. Why do you want to die?

In the same way, I tell you, the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents."

God has overlooked the times when people did not know him, but now he commands all of them everywhere to turn away from their evil ways.

The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.

David became very angry at the rich man and said, "I swear by the living LORD that the man who did this ought to die!

"You are that man," Nathan said to David. "And this is what the LORD God of Israel says: 'I made you king of Israel and rescued you from Saul.

There is no need for me to condemn you; you are condemned by every word you speak.

Jesus spoke up and said to him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Yes, Teacher," he said, "tell me."

Neither of them could pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Which one, then, will love him more?"

He said to him, 'You bad servant! I will use your own words to condemn you! You know that I am a hard man, taking what is not mine and reaping what I have not planted.

Now we know that everything in the Law applies to those who live under the Law, in order to stop all human excuses and bring the whole world under God's judgment.

Remember that as long as heaven and earth last, not the least point nor the smallest detail of the Law will be done away with---not until the end of all things.

"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites! They love to stand up and pray in the houses of worship and on the street corners, so that everyone will see them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full.

and said, "I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Jesus left that place, and as he walked along, he saw a tax collector, named Matthew, sitting in his office. He said to him, "Follow me." Matthew got up and followed him.

And Jesus concluded, "So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last."

All the people heard him; they and especially the tax collectors were the ones who had obeyed God's righteous demands and had been baptized by John.

In that town was a woman who lived a sinful life. She heard that Jesus was eating in the Pharisee's house, so she brought an alabaster jar full of perfume

When the Pharisee saw this, he said to himself, "If this man really were a prophet, he would know who this woman is who is touching him; he would know what kind of sinful life she lives!"

"There were two men who owed money to a moneylender," Jesus began. "One owed him five hundred silver coins, and the other owed him fifty.

"I suppose," answered Simon, "that it would be the one who was forgiven more." "You are right," said Jesus.

You did not welcome me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing my feet since I came.

I tell you, then, the great love she has shown proves that her many sins have been forgiven. But whoever has been forgiven little shows only a little love."

The others sitting at the table began to say to themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?"

One day when many tax collectors and other outcasts came to listen to Jesus,

the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law started grumbling, "This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them!"

Jesus said to him, "Salvation has come to this house today, for this man, also, is a descendant of Abraham.

The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

Law was introduced in order to increase wrongdoing; but where sin increased, God's grace increased much more.

So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with him through faith;

And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the "stumbling stone"

even though in the past I spoke evil of him and persecuted and insulted him. But God was merciful to me because I did not yet have faith and so did not know what I was doing.

This is a true saying, to be completely accepted and believed: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am the worst of them,