Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord!" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.
What a terrifying verse! This is telling us that there are people who think they are going to heaven that are not going to get in. These are not people who have ignored the truth of who Jesus is, because they call Him Lord. These are not people who just paid lip service to the gospel. From the verses that follow we can see that these are people who worked for Jesus; they preached in His name, they healed the sick in His name, they cast out demons in His name. These people we are talking about here are pastors, and missionaries, Sunday school teachers, and church members. But what is is about these people that will cause Jesus to say to them "I never knew you! Depart from me, you lawbreakers!" (Matthew 7:23)?
Jesus goes on in the next few verses to give us the answer to this question. He tells us that there are two foundations that we can build our lives on; a foundation of rock, or a foundation of sand. He explains that the wise man is the one who put the words of Jesus into practice; he is the one who built his life on the rock. But the foolish man, the one who ignored the words of Jesus, built his house on sand. So what is this telling us in relation to our question? What we are seeing is the difference between someone who is doing the will of Jesus and someone lives for self.
Jesus taught us that we are to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him (Mark 8:34). This means that we no longer live for our own pleasure and desires; we have died to self and we now live for Christ. The will of God is that we recognize the Lordship of His Son Jesus, and that we submit our life to His authority. The will of God is that we listen to the words of Jesus and put them into practice every hour of every day. The will of God is that we become like Jesus.
So who are the ones who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven? It's not those who have done great works for God, it's those that, as the overriding pattern of their life, have done His will.
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What a terrifying verse! This is telling us that there are people who think they are going to heaven that are not going to get in. These are not people who have ignored the truth of who Jesus is, because they call Him Lord. These are not people who just paid lip service to the gospel. From the verses that follow we can see that these are people who worked for Jesus; they preached in His name, they healed the sick in His name, they cast out demons in His name. These people we are talking about here are pastors, and missionaries, Sunday school teachers, and church members. But what is is about these people that will cause Jesus to say to them "I never knew you! Depart from me, you lawbreakers!" (Matthew 7:23)?
Jesus goes on in the next few verses to give us the answer to this question. He tells us that there are two foundations that we can build our lives on; a foundation of rock, or a foundation of sand. He explains that the wise man is the one who put the words of Jesus into practice; he is the one who built his life on the rock. But the foolish man, the one who ignored the words of Jesus, built his house on sand. So what is this telling us in relation to our question? What we are seeing is the difference between someone who is doing the will of Jesus and someone lives for self.
Jesus taught us that we are to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him (Mark 8:34). This means that we no longer live for our own pleasure and desires; we have died to self and we now live for Christ. The will of God is that we recognize the Lordship of His Son Jesus, and that we submit our life to His authority. The will of God is that we listen to the words of Jesus and put them into practice every hour of every day. The will of God is that we become like Jesus.
So who are the ones who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven? It's not those who have done great works for God, it's those that, as the overriding pattern of their life, have done His will.
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