“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 will enter. 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.’” (Matthew 7:21-23 NASB1995)

Many people today who profess faith in Jesus Christ are of the belief that all that is required of them is that they acknowledge Jesus as Lord, and that they believe in his death and bodily resurrection, and they are now saved from all sins, and that they have eternal life with God, but regardless of how they live. And that is because they want to believe that, and because they are being taught a passage of Scripture from Romans 10:9 out of its biblical context. And so they will ignore such biblical passages as Matthew 7:21-23.

Others are embracing a doctrine of salvation which asks that you invite Jesus Christ into your heart and life to be your Savior. And they may ask that you say that you are sorry for your sins, but then they will pronounce you as a permanent member of the body of Christ, but again regardless of how you live. And then there are those who give the promises of John 10:28-30 to everyone who gives lip service to Jesus Christ but absent of verse 27 which teaches us who those promises apply to, to those who hear and obey God.

And then there are those who teach the “no works” doctrine of salvation, largely based off Ephesians 2:8-9 which excludes verse 10 which teaches “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” And they ignore Titus 2:11-14 which ends with “our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

They take Scripture after Scripture out of context to make them say what they do not say if taught in the correct biblical context, for they are teaching a “no works” and “no obedience required” and “no death to sin” gospel message which does not put sin to death in the life of the believer and which makes no requirements for walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands. For it is a “do nothing” gospel message which puts everything on Jesus and which does nothing to change us or to lead us to obedience to our Lord.

People are buying into this cheapened version of the gospel because it makes no requirements for them to put sin to death in their lives and to walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands. Or they might suggest that we “should” obey God and not make sin our practice, but they make it optional, and not required of God. And so it seems to be very rare these days to find anyone teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ like Jesus taught it and like his New Testament apostles taught it, requiring death to sin and obeying God.

Now, do the Scriptures teach if we make one single error that we are now cut off from God? No! (see 1 John 2:1-2) That is another extreme that few people teach these days. But they also do not teach “once saved always saved” based on a loose profession of faith in Jesus Christ which is not followed up with being crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as servants of righteousness in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands.

So, you can’t just ignore Matthew 7:21-23, and many other passages of Scripture like that, just because it doesn’t fit in with your theology. And you cannot base your gospel of salvation off a few Scriptures taught out of context which contradict the teachings of Christ and of his New Testament apostles on the subject of the gospel. The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that we must follow our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands, in surrender to his will, and we must die to sin to have eternal life with God.

For, not everyone who professes Jesus as their Lord has eternal life with God. Not everyone who claims that they did certain things in the name of Jesus has eternal life with God. For whoever makes sin their practice, and not obedience to our Lord, does not know God, is not in fellowship with God (with Jesus Christ), and is not of God, but is of the devil, according to the Scriptures. For all who make sin their practice, they practice lawlessness, and they will hear Jesus say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

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