BIBLE MEDITATION: Matthew 7:21-23. “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!’
ENCOURAGING WORD:
I have quoted this verse many times in my previous posts, but until recently I don’t believe I totally understood what it really meant. I was always trying to understand how people could serve Jesus Christ, and then hear these words when they stand before Him at the Great White Throne judgement. When you give your life over to Jesus Christ and totally trust everything to Him, He will reveal scriptures to you that absolutely made no sense before. The verse that I read above has got to possibly be the scariest words in the Bible. Listen to this again.
Matthew 7:21-23; “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!’
I believe this verse is in direct reference to those that think good works will save them. Those that believe they can earn their way into heaven, will get a rude awakening when they hear these words at the “White Throne Judgement” I believe this is also in reference to the many pastors and priests that also teach, “saved by works.” Just because people call themselves Pastors and Priest does not mean that they are saved and going to heaven. I can’t believe that Pastors and Priests continue to teach saved by works especially after they read the following Bible verse.
Ephesian 22:8-9 tell us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
How can a Pastor or Priest read this verse and think you can be saved by works? You are being lied to and deceived. I also must believe that they obviously do not teach through the Bible as Paul instructs us to do in the following verse.
Acts 20:27; “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”
For those that don’t understand what Paul is saying here, it is this, he taught the whole Counsel of God without avoiding the parts that were unpleasant to hear. Most people only want to hear messages that tickle their ears, such as the verse that I just read in Acts 20:27. You may have been taught that you are saved by grace, plus works, which is, once again, a very deceptive lie. What did Jesus say as He hung on the cross? For those that don’t know, one of His last works were, “It is Finished” What do you think that He was referring to when He said that? For those of you that aren’t hearing the truth of the Bible, He was referring to the fact that sins were now paid for, for those who would believe on Him and become born-again into the Holy Spirit. He didn’t say, it is finished on my end, so now you must do the rest by yourself. If you believe that, then you are saying Jesus Christ is not able to do it all on His own. You’re saying, He needs our help! If that were the case, we would all be recipients of Hell when we pass from this life into the next because none of us could contribute anything that would be good enough to earn salvation. I know what some of you are thinking at this point. “You mean I can believe on Jesus and then do whatever I would like to do.” If you say that, then your ignorance far exceeds your limited knowledge. If you truly love Jesus and receive His propitiation for your sins, and it is a true confession of your faith, you will then do what is right in His eyes. It wouldn’t be something that you had to work at, it would come naturally. If you still live a lifestyle of sin after your confession of faith, then it is obvious that you were not sincere. This verse below explains what I just said very clearly.
We read in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,”
Did you hear the words, “unless you believe in vain”? There are so many that only give God, lip service, which means their walk does not match up with their confession. I see this everyday by people that claim to be Christians. Words mean nothing if actions don’t back it up. I’ve said this many times, there are people that will miss heaven by about 18”, which is the average distance from the brain to the heart. I know of a pastor that knows the Bible inside and out, but his walk is quite the opposite of what he teaches.
Listen to what the Lord said to Samuel in the following verse.
1 Samuel 16:7; “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
We will not be judged by what we know, we will be judged by how we apply it to our walk with Jesus Christ. When I hear the following Bible verse, I believe this is what makes the verse that I just read believable.
Matthew 7: 13-14; “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. (Speaking of the broad gate) Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Did you hear the last part of this verse, “Few will be who find it” Do you know what a few means, few means a few. There are religious sects of Christianity they say all will eventually be in heaven. Do not believe that for a minute. Here are a couple of verse that rebuke the notion that all will go into heaven.
Matthew 25:46; “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:41; “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”
Does it sound like hell is a temporary dwelling, not to me it doesn’t! As a matter of fact, if you stand before Jesus Christ at the White Throne Judgement, it is because you did not accept the gift of Grace that was offered to you, and you will be sentenced to eternal separation from God for all eternity. Do a little research and find out what many good scholars have to say about hell. If you knew the truth, you would do anything that you could to avoid ending up there. But see, but therein lies the problem, churches of today do not teach about hell, because they would rather tickle your ears than tell you the truth. They just want you to continue to attend their church and give money, so they don’t tell you anything that might turn you away. They are afraid that some might depart from their church and then they would lose money and they don’t want that to happen. They would rather continue to tell you feel good messages than to tell you the truth. They are referred to as “Seeker Sensitive and Prosperity Churches. I could mention a few of these Mega Churches, but without naming them, I would just say, follow the money. Ask yourself these couple questions. How many jets do these pastors own? How many homes do they own? How much are they worth? Read the Bible, Jesus spoke more about hell than he did heaven. You know why, because He doesn’t want anybody to end up there because He knows how horrible is going to be. That is why He went to the cross to pay for your sins, so you wouldn’t have to, but if you reject His sacrifice for your sins, then you will pay for your own sins which is eternity in the “Lake of Burning Fire.” Another false understanding is this, there are those that think, God won’t send anybody to hell if He truly loves us. Why do you think He died such a horrible death of the cross? It’s because He loves us, but we must receive His free gift of great to inherit His promise. God will not send anybody to hell, it is a choice that we make, not Him. These are those that are still teaching false messages instead of searching the scripture for the truth.
Religion will not save you, only the true and inerrant Word of God will save you and the only way to understand the Bible is by submitting your life to Jesus Christ and letting the Holy Spirit guide you through truth. Let me ask you a question, do you want to hear the truth, or do you want your ears tickled with lies of deception, which is what is happening in most of the Christian churches of today.
Listen to this verse that comes form 1 Timothy 4: 1-2; “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,”
We read in John 15:13; “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
Are you a friend of Jesus, if so, then He laid down His life for you, it is called grace, but once again, this free gift, will only be received by all who would believe the truth. Let me put it in a way that might make it easier to understand. If someone offered you a free Cadillac, but you rejected it, would it be yours, no, in the same way that if you do not receive the free gift of grace, it is not yours and you will not benefit from it. You must be forgiven of all your sins before you can enter through the gates of heaven and the only way is to accept what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. He paid for your sins, but once again, you must accept His propitiation for your sins. Notice, this is a free gift, nothing that you can earn or pay for. I hope this is opening some minds so that you know the truth of salvation. I have to say this, but you must stop believing all the lies that you are hearing from the pulpits of today. I know, I sound like a broken record, but this is a message that we need to hear over and over, for it to sink in.
We also read in Proverbs, 3:5-6; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and He will make your paths straight.”
It is a giant leap of faith when you get to this point in your walk with Christ. He will reveal all things to you if you just ask Him and trust in Him and Him alone. This is also confirmed in,
1 John, 5:14;where we read, “this is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
Listen my friends, you may have attended a church your whole life and think you are doing well, but, as important as it is to fellowship with likeminded believers, being a part of a church or religion has nothing to do with your salvation. It has everything to do with your relationship with Jesus Christ.
Matthew 4:19-20 says this, “Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.”
Read this very carefully again, what did He say, “Follow Me”, He did not say follow any man-made religion or wind of doctrine that may be circulated around the world. You need to believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, receive the Holy Spirit into your heart, and show it by fellowshipping with Him daily. Nothing that you can do, can save you from your sins, only by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, can sins be removed.
The psalmist tells us in Psalm 103:12; “As far as the east is from the west,so far has He (Jesus Christ) removed our transgressions from us.”
Any other attempt to remove your sins is blasphemy! No pastor, preacher or clergy of any kind can resolve you of your sins. So, let me ask you this final question, Do you want to hear, “Well done good and faithful Servant” or ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
The choice is yours to make, nobody can make that choice for you!
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