Few Will Make It
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 7:21 ESV
This is a sobering and perplexing statement to the body of Christ. Not everyone we see in church each week or doing all kinds of good deeds will enter the gates of heaven. Really? How can that be? The Bible says that whoever believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God would be saved (Acts 2:21). But Jesus tells us that whoever hears His commands and does not do them will not enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:36).
Jesus tells us the story of two brothers who are asked to go work in their father's vineyard. One says "No" at first but changes his mind and goes to work. The other brother told his father he would do it but never went to the vineyard at all. The first son although he refused to work did it anyways. He chose to obey his father. The second son agreed to do what the father asked but did not keep his word. Jesus then explains that the ones we would disqualify from entering the kingdom of God would enter before some of those in the church (Matthew 21:28-31).
This still may seem contrary to the promise in Acts but lets think about what it really means to make Jesus the LORD of your life. For many people, they say the "sinners' prayer believing that they don't have to do anything else after that to be saved. While this is true there is something that many people in the church today fail to recognize.
Saying the prayer of faith has to be followed by corresponding action. Meaning, that when we make Jesus the Lord of our lives, we have to start making different choices than we did before we prayed. In other words, we have to obey the commands of God.
Luckily for us, Jesus took all the Old Testament laws (I think there were over 6000 of them) and combined them into two commands. One, to love God first and foremost with all that you have and all that you are and two, to love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus is very clear here that we are responsible for what we say we know. If we claim to know Christ and yet refuse to submit to His instructions for living then we are deluding ourselves and heaven will not be our eternal home.
James reminds us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Our choices matter when it comes to eternity. If we make a poor choice and repent, God forgives us completely and immediately. But if we keep making the same poor choice over and over then our words of repentance are really empty and we are dead in our sin. If we are truly sorry for doing something, we don't keep repeating it.
When our words, our heart, and our actions do not match - we are living a lie.
Our profession of faith is useless to God unless we follow it up with actions.
Heidirn
Matthew 7:21 ESV
This is a sobering and perplexing statement to the body of Christ. Not everyone we see in church each week or doing all kinds of good deeds will enter the gates of heaven. Really? How can that be? The Bible says that whoever believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God would be saved (Acts 2:21). But Jesus tells us that whoever hears His commands and does not do them will not enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:36).
Jesus tells us the story of two brothers who are asked to go work in their father's vineyard. One says "No" at first but changes his mind and goes to work. The other brother told his father he would do it but never went to the vineyard at all. The first son although he refused to work did it anyways. He chose to obey his father. The second son agreed to do what the father asked but did not keep his word. Jesus then explains that the ones we would disqualify from entering the kingdom of God would enter before some of those in the church (Matthew 21:28-31).
This still may seem contrary to the promise in Acts but lets think about what it really means to make Jesus the LORD of your life. For many people, they say the "sinners' prayer believing that they don't have to do anything else after that to be saved. While this is true there is something that many people in the church today fail to recognize.
Saying the prayer of faith has to be followed by corresponding action. Meaning, that when we make Jesus the Lord of our lives, we have to start making different choices than we did before we prayed. In other words, we have to obey the commands of God.
Luckily for us, Jesus took all the Old Testament laws (I think there were over 6000 of them) and combined them into two commands. One, to love God first and foremost with all that you have and all that you are and two, to love your neighbor as yourself.
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 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. 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.”
Luke 6:46-49 NKJV
Luke 6:46-49 NKJV
Jesus is very clear here that we are responsible for what we say we know. If we claim to know Christ and yet refuse to submit to His instructions for living then we are deluding ourselves and heaven will not be our eternal home.
James reminds us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Our choices matter when it comes to eternity. If we make a poor choice and repent, God forgives us completely and immediately. But if we keep making the same poor choice over and over then our words of repentance are really empty and we are dead in our sin. If we are truly sorry for doing something, we don't keep repeating it.
When our words, our heart, and our actions do not match - we are living a lie.
Our profession of faith is useless to God unless we follow it up with actions.
Heidirn
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