“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)

There are many people today, it would appear, who are taking this passage of Scripture out of its intended context, and they are using it to teach against us having to do any kind of works. But this clearly is not teaching that there are no works involved in our salvation from sin and in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord’s commands. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Without works, faith is dead.

What this is teaching is that we are not saved by our own fleshly works which are of the flesh and not of the Spirit. We can claim faith in Jesus Christ with our lips and do all sorts of “good deeds” and still not be approved by God. For even the faith to believe in Jesus comes from God, is authored by God, is gifted to us by God, and is persuaded of God as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to deny self, die to sin, and follow Jesus in obedience to his commands, all in the power of God.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Hebrews 12:1-2; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:24]

What Jesus Christ was communicating here is that giving lip service only to God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – will not gain anyone entry into heaven and to eternal life with God. Just because someone calls him, “Lord,” it does not mean at all that Jesus is “Lord” of their lives. And just because they do a bunch of “good deeds,” of their own doing, to try to be acceptable to God, or to try to look good to others, it does not buy them their ticket into heaven and forgiveness of all sins from here on out.

What this is teaching us is the critical importance of obedience to God and to his commands for our faith in Christ to be genuine faith which saves. What is of critical importance here is that we live holy lives, pleasing to God, all in the power of God, and that sin no longer be what we practice. For if lawlessness (disobedience to God and his commands) is what we practice, and not death to sin and holy living, we will not have salvation from sin, and we will not inherit eternal life with God, but God will reject us, instead.

And this is what Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught us as the gospel of our salvation all throughout the New Testament Scriptures. Yes, we are not saved by the works of the flesh. But we are also not saved by lip service only where we profess faith in Jesus but where we do not submit to him as Lord and to where we do not follow him in walks of surrender to him in obedience to his commands. For Jesus taught if we are to come after him we must deny self, die to sin daily, and obey him and his commandments.

[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 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

The Ransom

An Original Work / September 8, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Jesus paid the ransom,
so we’d be forgiven;
Purified from our sin,
so we’d be set free.
Crucified on a tree;
took on him our sin.
Buried our sin with Him;
rose in victory.
Jesus calls us to Him;
asks that we flee from sin;
Obey His commandments;
live eternally.

God our Father loves us,
which is why He gave us
His Son to die for us
on a cruel tree.
God created us to
walk in fellowship with Him,
daily trusting in His righteousness.
He has a plan for us
to abide in His grace;
Be transformed in our hearts;
live for him always.

Won’t you trust in Jesus?
Be your Lord and Master?
He wants to forgive you,
give you victory.
Over sin and yourself,
Jesus set you free.
Daily walking with Him,
live victoriously.
Invite Him in your heart.
He’ll give you a new start.
Your old life behind you,
a new creature be.

The One Who Does God’s Will
An Original Work / April 28, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love