Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of
heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on
that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out
demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?" And then I will declare to them,
"I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS."
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall.
The result was that when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were amazed
at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their
scribes. -(Matthew 7:21-29)
We live in a world where people are always looking for an edge. We like to search for
the secrets of success. We are fascinated by trying to discover whether there is a key to
unlock the doors of opportunity.
Are there such keys or secrets that apply to Christianity? It does seem that some
people have greater success than others in living successful Christian lives. What makes
that difference?
You recall that among the Twelve disciples there were two who denied Jesus. Judas, no
doubt, immediately springs to your mind. He is the one with whom we are most familiar. But
we should be careful not to forget that Peter also denied the Lord. Judas denied the Lord
by betraying Him to his enemies. Peter betrayed the Lord by denying Him before others.
These two disciples both denied the Lord in different ways. Yet they ended up in two
very different places. One life ended in tragedy. The other ended in restoration and
victory. What was different? Was there something fundamentally different about their lives
which made the difference?
What is the key to the Christian life? What makes the difference? What is the life-line
through which the provision and power of God flows? What marks us as those who have a
relationship with Jesus Christ? What gives us the ability to stand when others fall?
Jesus gives us the key to the Christian life in His closing comments in the Sermon on
the Mount. He gives us the answer to the questions we have just posed. As a matter of
fact, this key or secret can be summed up in one word - obedience.
Obedience is the natural outflow of a life which is surrendered to Jesus Christ.
Obedience reveals who we are. Obedience reveals whose we are. And obedience gives us the
power to stand in the tough times when others around us fall.
In the text before us, Jesus tells us of two sets of people. He uses these two sets of
people to illustrate the clear truth that without obedience everything else is useless.
Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of
heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on
that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out
demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?" And then I will declare to them,
"I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS."
The first set of people Jesus describes illustrates the importance of a personal
relationship with Him. In verses 21-23, Jesus speaks of the true nature of discipleship.
Here He contrasts true discipleship with so-called discipleship. In other words, there are
true disciples and there are false disciples.
One day we will all stand before the living God. The Bible speaks of that day,
which refers to the great day when all of God's plans for this present society have been
fulfilled. It is the day when every human who has ever lived will be gathered before His
throne. It will be a great and awesome day. Human words are simply not adequate to
describe the magnitude of this encounter. What shall we say to Him then? What will we be
thinking? What will we be feeling?
Undoubtedly, we will be called to answer for our relationship with Him. At least it is
clear from this passage of Scripture that the people in question are responding to some
sort of inquiry from our Lord.
Jesus indicates that many will say to [Him] on that day, "Lord, Lord,
did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name
perform many miracles?" Here are people claiming to have done great and mighty
things in the name of the Lord. Surely people who prophesy and cast out demons
and perform miracles in the name of the Lord must be valued disciples of
Jesus Christ. And from all outward appearances it would seem so.
But it is not so. The truth is that many people do things "in His name" that
He has not authorized them to do. Many people work for God who do not know God.
The point that Jesus is trying to make here is that works for God are not sufficient
evidence that we are His. He says that not everyone who says to Me, "Lord,
Lord," will enter the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is
in Heaven. In other words, it takes more than saying that Jesus is Lord to make us a
child of God. It takes obedience to God's will.
You see, doing work for God does not mean that we are doing the will of God. We may
simply be doing what we want to do. And the evidence that we are truly born of God is that
our lives reflect His life. You see, obedience is never an arbitrary thing. Obedience is
allowing the Lord to rule in our lives. Obedience is the life of Jesus Christ being lived
through us. Obedience is surrender to Him. Obedience flows from a living relationship with
God. It comes from knowing Christ intimately.
That this is true is evident from Jesus' response in verse 23: "And then I will
declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'"
The plain truth is that those who do not do the will of the Father do not know the Lord no
matter how many works they have done in His name. Jesus says to them, "I never
knew you." Our acceptance is based on our relationship with Christ. Works apart
from that relationship are works that missed the mark. Indeed, Jesus calls them iniquity.
The key is obedience.
It is important - vital - not to confuse obedience with doing things.
There are many churches and many Christians who have long lists of rules and regulations.
They have things that are required that every Christian must do and things that are
required that every Christian must not do. Now God has certainly indicated in His Word
that there are many things that are sins. Christians certainly should not engage in sin.
It is evident from the Word of God that there are many things that we ought to be doing to
actively live out our faith before this watching world.
But Christianity is not keeping a list of rules and regulations. Christianity is a
relationship. It is supernatural at its core. Christianity is living our lives out of a
sense of communion with God. Christianity is allowing the life of Jesus Christ control us.
Christianity is knowing God. Christianity is being led by the Spirit of God.
Now, while the Spirit of God never leads us in ways that contradict His word, He does
actively lead us. And as you follow His leading, you will find that He does lead you to
obey His Word and do good works. But you are never just doing things you have picked out
of the Word of God that you would like to do. And you're not living based upon your own
human ability. You are obeying God. You are living by the power that God supplies. And you
are obeying God's will for you. True disciples do not just say "Lord, Lord,"
they do the will of God.
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be
compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not
fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine,
and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand.
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that
house; and it fell, and great was its fall.
The second set of people Jesus describes illustrates what it takes to enable us to
stand the storms of this life. Again, we will see that obedience is the key. In verses
24-27, Jesus contrasts the wise with the foolish builder.
He describes two men who built two houses. The houses could well have been identical.
In fact, they could have been built beside each other. To the casual observer, these
houses could have seemed alike in every detail. And these houses also endure the same rain
and winds and floods. The storms came to both houses equally.
But there was one fundamental difference in these houses. One was built upon sand
and the other was founded upon the rock. In other words, the builder of one house
had taken the time to dig down past the sandy topsoil to the bedrock below. It was there
that he laid his foundation for the house. The other builder decided not to do that. He
decided that he would simply begin building on top of the ground without laying a
foundation upon the rock underneath.
The problem with the house built upon the sand was that when the rain descended, and
the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house . . . it fell,
and great was its fall. On the other hand, the house which was founded upon the rock did
not fall. Its foundation held it secure.
Obviously, one person was a wise builder and the other person was a foolish
builder. What was the difference between them? Jesus makes clear that the wise builder was
the one who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them. The foolish builder, on
the other hand, was the one who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them.
Both men heard, only one responded. Both heard, only one obeyed. And the one who obeyed
stood. The one who only heard fell.
The key to our relationship with Christ and to standing in the storms of life is our
obedience to the will and Word of God. In these two illustrations, Jesus has made it
crystal clear that it is not what we say that counts, it is what we do. It is not what we
hear that counts, it is what we do with what we hear. In other words, our response to the
Lord indicates both our standing before God and our ability to stand in this life.
The people surrounding Jesus were amazed at His teaching. He was a man who was
teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. Of course, the reason
why Jesus was teaching as one who had authority was that He did have authority. Indeed, He
is the authority. How we respond to Him is the key.
If we decide that we know best how to live for God, then what we will have might be
called religion, but it will never be the real thing of a life with God. God is not
calling on us to commit to do a few more things for Him. He is calling us to surrender our
lives. He is calling us to give up trying to do stuff for Him and to live for Him. He
doesn't want more of our spare evenings, He wants the whole of our lives. In exchange, He
will give us His life. He will live through us and empower us, not to do a few more good
works, but to do the greater works. He will enable us to really live.
Copyright (C) 1995 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property
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