20/03/2025
The Lord Jesus said, “Not every one that said to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and in Your name have cast out devils, and in Your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21–23). “Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the son stays ever” (John 8:34–35). “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). “Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). The Lord Jesus clearly told us that only those who do God’s will can enter the kingdom of heaven, that only those who escape sin and are cleansed will have a place in the kingdom. That’s the only standard for gaining entry. Does being redeemed of sin and justified through faith mean someone is doing God’s will? Does it mean they no longer sin, or rebel against and resist God? Of course not. All believers in the Lord can see the fact that although we’re redeemed and justified through faith, we’re constantly sinning, living in a cycle of sinning by day and confessing by night. We live with the pain of being unable to escape sin—we can’t help ourselves. There are people within all denominations who are jealous, and contentious, fighting for name and gain, badmouthing each other. This is very commonplace. And most people’s faith is entirely because they are greedy for God’s grace, but they don’t do as He says. They rush to church when faced with crisis, but in times of peace they follow worldly trends. And churches are just hosting one party after another. No one is fellowshiping on the truth or sharing personal testimony, but just competing over who receives the most grace, the greatest blessings. With the great disasters coming and seeing the Lord still isn’t coming on a cloud to rapture them, many people’s faith and love are cooling, and they’ve begun to blame and judge God. Some have even denied and betrayed Him. The facts show us that having sins forgiven and being graced with salvation may mean people behave better, but it doesn’t mean they’ve escaped sin altogether, that they don’t disobey God, and particularly not that they have achieved holiness and are worthy of the kingdom. That’s just wishful thinking. So now we can see this fact and understand why the Lord Jesus said those who preached and cast out devils in His name are evildoers, and He never knew them. It’s because people are still always sinning, even though their sins are forgiven, and they blame and judge the Lord. They’re full of complaints when they see the Lord still hasn’t come, and they’ve begun denying and betraying Him. Some even say they’ll have words with the Lord if He doesn’t rapture them into the kingdom. These people are hardly any better than the Pharisees who oppressed and condemned Lord Jesus, or perhaps even worse. Other people can see how they’re behaving very clearly, and in God’s eyes, they are evildoers, without a doubt. God is holy and righteous, so would God allow those who are constantly sinning, judging and resisting God, into heaven? Absolutely not. And so, people’s belief that being justified by faith will get them into the kingdom is a notion that goes against the Lord’s own words, and the truth. It is purely a human notion and imagining that comes from our extravagant desires.
