3-8-2025    Not Everyone Who says ‘Lord, Lord’

                         

Matthew 7:21-24

Not everyone who unto says Me ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father which is in heaven.

When I was a young teen in church, we had evangelists come in and preach a rousing sermon on giving our lives to Jesus.  The idea is to get souls into heaven.  Get ‘saved’!  Its’s a great idea, but it’s only the first step.  For when we confess the Lord Jesus with our mouth and believe in is our heart that God has raised Him (Jesus) from the dead, we shall be saved (Rom. 10:9)!   Note the word ‘shall’.  This is true but the ‘shall’ implies that there just might be something more.  We gain access to the eternal heavenly realm but we’re not physically there yet.  It is not necessarily a ‘done deal’. 

Yes, with our confession, we died at that moment (to ourselves), through our faith, we will have eternal fellowship with Jesus in eternity.  Our sins are forgiven at the moment of confession, though we have not ritually have been baptized with water or received the Holy Ghost.  I said ’ritually’, that is according to common practice.  Think about the thief on the cross next to Jesus, “Truly I say to you, this day you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).  Here, paradise is not eternal heaven.  The Greek word paradeisos (G3857) is used in this passage and relates to a park (aka Eden) or a place of happiness.  It is derived from the Hebrew word pardec (H6508) which is a forest, park or orchard.  Had it been eternal heaven, Jesus would have said so, but nonetheless, it is a place where there is no more pain nor suffering – until we do reach that eternal existence with our Lord.  Note, the thief received paradise without ceremonial water baptism.  We do know that the thief had received Jesus into his heart because Jesus said “today, you will be with Me in paradise”.  Jesus would not have said that had the thief not believed.  We have to believe that God is (Heb. 11:6), to let Him into our hearts (1 John 4:3, 14-16).

My wife to be and I counselled with the pastor of the church we had started attending.  He had this funny idea that if Jesus wasn’t in the marriage, it was doomed to failure.  Modern Family Law states that between 40 and 50 percent of first marriages will end in divorce (https/www.modernfamilylaw.com), yet 67% of Americans profess to be Christians (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_United_States/). A sad state.  I confessed Jesus during that counselling session and I felt a huge burden, a huge weight, being lifted up off my body, literally.  It was spiritual and not physical, but nonetheless, the real feeling was there.

As we live in this world now, salvation (confessing Jesus) becomes our first step in growth as we continue to yield ourselves to Jesus.  Note that Jesus also said “that those who do the will of My Father shall be saved”.  The hint that there is something more than just professing Jesus Christ.

Consider that Jesus said many false prophets shall arise and their intent will be to turn us away from God’s truth (Matt. 7:15-20).  And even though some of these folks will say “Didn’t we do wonderful things in Your name?” and Jesus will reply “I never knew you, depart from me, you who work iniquity (Matt. 7:22-23)!”  These were church people, who thought they had eternity locked in!  Jesus also says that those who are told to depart, will be cast into darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:10-12Rev. 20:11-15).  Jesus also tells us that false prophets will arise, even deceiving the elect, if it were possible (Matt. 24:24).  Here ‘elect’ is the Greek word eklektos (G1588) which is favorite, chosen or elect.  God’s sons and daughters, those who truly love and follow the Lord.  Again church people who never really got to know Jesus will be subject to deception!  So Jesus never really knew them who didn’t really know Him.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He knows the children of God (John 10:1-5).

 Yes, there will be those, even who come into the church doing their best to draw us away from God.  We need to always be on guard.  We can recognize them by their fruits (Matt. 7:15-20).

So, the first thing we need to do is to learn how to grow in God’s love.  1 John 4:1-21 give us a pretty good picture of the bottom line of love.  As children of God, the Holy Ghost in us will help us to recognize the devil’s attacks that come our way (John 16:13).  We will truly come to realize that God is love and if we love Him, we will abide in His love.  We show this love by sharing it with those whom we encounter.  When we don’t love others, our love (and our relationship with the Lord) comes into question.  Why?  Because God IS LOVE, so our lives should be a reflection of His love (1 John 4:7-16). 

Jesus tells us that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15).  His commandments are one, upward move and one outward, to love Father with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and then love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:29-31).

So how do we grow in love?

We have to talk with God.  I said with, not at.  When we pray, we need to focus our attention on the Lord.  Jesus has given us a prayer that suffices our daily living:   ⁹ “This, then, is how we should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
   hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
   your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts (trespasses),
    as we also have forgiven our debtors (trespassers).
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.  (Matt. 6:9-13)

We should go to a quiet place so we can focus on the Lord, as Jesus did in the garden (Matt. 26:36-39).  Jesus was in a place where He could pour His heart out to the Father.  Father has shown me through personal experience that He cares about the little things as well as the big.  He cares for us so much that He calls us His children (1 John 3:1).  Keep in mind the relationship between a little child and his parents.

We should always pray, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18).   Now, it is a huge help when the Holy Ghost abides in us.  Take note that the 12 Apostles of the Lamb believed and confessed Jesus then walked with Him for over three years.  Then, ten days after Jesus returned to the Father, they and 108 others received the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:1-16).  Paul met twelve men on the road to Ephesus who had knowledge of Jesus but were lacking.  So He baptized them in Jesus’ name and they received the Holy Ghost (Acts 19:1-7). Phillip preached Jesus in Samaria but Peter and John came up so the people could receive the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:12-17). The Spirit makes intercession for us according to the will of God for all things work together for our good and the purpose for which God has called us (Rom. 8:26-28).

To receive from the Lord, we must believe that Father will answer our prayers (Mark 11:24).  If we don’t believe that God will do something, why should He?  Remember the lame man with Peter and John at the temple, he expected them to give him something – and they did (Acts 3:1-11).  Jesus says that we should believe, then we will receive it (Matt. 21:22).

The entire bible, Genesis through Revelation, gives us more than enough examples of God’s love, so we need to learn God’s love so we can live in it.  Right?  Prayer is one way, but how do we know that what we are praying is right?  So we need to know what the bible says (His Word) so we can know as God speaks to us in the Spirit and the Spirit is in us, so He speaks to our heart (Rom. 8:26-28).

We have to renew our minds – daily.  That is read the bible every day (Rom. 12:2).  We don’t have to read a whole book, or even a chapter in a single sitting, but even just a few verses a day will help.  And as we read, ask the Holy Ghost to guide and direct us.  He is our teacher, isn’t He (John 14:26)?

Job says “l heard about You by hearing with my own ear, but now, I have seen you face to face (Job 42:5).  God considered Job a righteous man (Job: 1:8) because Job knew all about God (Job 42:5).  Yet, by the end of the book, we see that Job finally comes to understand who God really is!

So, not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” shall enter into the kingdom of God for, truly, not everyone’s heart is truly with the Lord.  We need to know and understand His Word so we can operate in His will.  There are many who halve an understanding God’s Word (the bible) says but not all actually live in His will.

Amen