“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. 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?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ – Matthew 7:21-23
I’ve been writing a large number of end times posts. The reason for that is because there is a lot of fear, uncertainty and misguidance regarding matters of end times. People are scared of what they don’t know. But as knowledge increases, that fear dwindles. When you approach end times biblically, you begin to realize that it’s not that scary after all. There is so much hope and joyfulness in it. If there is truly a scary passage in the Bible, however, it is this one right here in Matthew 7. THIS is a scary passage for a lot of believers. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven”. What does this mean? Am I among these people? When I sin am I no longer following the will of the Father? Am I not truly saved? These are the kinds of questions that often play in our minds when we read these daunting words.
These questions are all valid, and to a certain extent, it’s ok to have them inside our heart. The Bible tells us to “examine ourselves to see if you are in the faith.” However, this call to examine ourselves should always be aligned with the proper standard to which faith is based upon. In Matthew 7, we are told what that standard is. We are told that only “he who does the will of the My Father in heaven” shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, if we are to truly examine ourselves, we must know what the will of the Father is. That is our primary question in need of answering here today.
I am not going to take my time getting to the point. Some people try to complicate this point and try to put a legalistic twist on it. But we do not have to play these games. God is not the author of confusion. Is salvation based on works? Is salvation based solely on faith? Is it a little bit of both? If so, how do I balance the two? Just relax. This post isn’t going to be an exhaustive study, but it will be very conclusive. Jesus answers this question directly, so if anyone has anything different to say then they can take it up with him. What is the will of the Father? Jesus says in John 6:37-40,
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
There are two points of emphasis Jesus makes note of regarding the will of the Father.
- He (Jesus) will lose nothing that the Father has given Him.
- That everyone who sees and believes in Him (Jesus) will be raised up on the last Day and have everlasting life.
Christ, the firstborn from the dead has been given a double portion of the Father’s inheritance. He is the firstborn who is given this birthright. He alone is worthy of this inheritance. Christ, as the worthy firstborn is giving assurance that He will not lose this inheritance. God put his name on the line that this fact will remain so. If Jesus were to lose this inheritance it would mean God is not God. Christ is divine. He is fully God. That’s what can be inferred by this passage. God is so confident in Christ’s ability to maintain all that He has given him because Christ is divine in nature. That’s how confident God is in who He is. It is the Father’s will that Christ will not lose anything that has been given to Him. This point is incredibly significant because it assures permanence to the succeeding statement. The following statement is the new covenant that Christ makes with mankind. He says, “that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” This is the Father’s will. Believe in Jesus Christ. Period. Go home. Stop reading. The Father’s will is that you believe in Jesus Christ! We are no longer bound to a standard that we are unable to fulfill. Christ, the Son of God, the firstborn from the dead, fulfilled it in our place. And now, by the new covenant in His blood, we must simply believe in Him.
I’m not joking, we can literally wrap things up here and call it a day. There will be people who come before the Lord saying, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” But they did not do the will of the father. Meaning, they did not believe in Jesus Christ. In other words, they claimed to do all these things, but it was all exterior. It was all for show. It was of the flesh. It was to earn them worldly respect and praise. It was to hustle God’s people for a profit. There are a hundred things it could have been for, but it wasn’t for Christ. That’s what the text is making clear for us here. Can we read this text in Matthew 7 now and say that these people who God turned away were believers in Christ? No! Because the will of the father, is to believe in Jesus Christ. Ladies and gentlemen, we do not have to fear being turned away by God and hearing the words, “depart from me, I never knew you”. When we examine our hearts, we are not looking for, “how many times did I sin this week? Did I go to church this week? I gotta make sure I’m doing everything right or else I’m not a Christian.” NO! You examine your heart for belief in Christ. Who is Christ to me? In other words, do I believe that He is the Son of God who lived a perfect life, died an undeserving death, and raised to new life as Lord and Savior of all? That is what you must ask yourself. If your reason for your “faith” is anything besides that, THEN you must get a bit more critical of your spiritual condition. You are FREE to grow in Christ as a believer in Him. You may grow at a different pace than others around you and you may be at different levels of spiritual maturity than others around you. But if you believe in Christ, then you are His, and he will raise you up on the Last Day. That is stamped in the blood of Christ. It is the Father’s will. And when you are raised, you will be immediately changed. You will be fully sanctified and be fully remade in the likeness of Christ. No matter your progress here on earth, on that Day, if you believe in Him, he will complete the work in you.
We don’t have to be paralyzed by fear our whole lives as to whether or not we are good enough to make it to heaven. For those who believe in Jesus Christ, we are afforded assurance of our salvation. Matthew 7:24-27 says,
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
To believe in Christ is to build your house on the rock. The rains of tribulation will come, but the house will remain standing. We can be sure of our salvation. But to stand on your works, as mighty as man may believe them to be, is to build your house on the sand. When the rains of tribulation come, the house will surely fall to pieces.
The will of the father is light and freeing. If you believe in Christ, you WILL be given eternal life and you WILL be raised by Christ on the last Day. Stop worrying about trying to earn the inheritance directly through the law. That was Christ’s purpose on our behalf. Only He can be the firstborn to which the birthright is given. There is no other way into the kingdom but through belief in Him. We can have assurance of our salvation because nothing the Father has given to Christ will ever be taken away, and because of that, the promise regarding your belief will forever remain.
“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; No one can snatch them out of my father’s hand.” – John 10:28-29
Softly Spoken Truth 