Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Doing the Works of God

Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My father in heaven. Many will say to Me, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21-23)
Jesus is still talking about false disciples and their fruit. There are many false disciples who will come to Him and say, “Lord, look at all we have done in Your name.” They come presenting themselves to the Lord on the basis of their works and behavior. But they do not know the Lord--in fact, Jesus declares, “I never knew you.”

They know nothing of the will of God. That is because they do not will to do His will and have no desire to fulfill His desire. They are into rules and regulations, not intimate relationship with God. They are entangled with the spirit of religion.

They eat from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They suppose themselves to be doing good, but the good from that tree is as detrimental as the evil, for it leads them to trust in themselves and not in God. Jesus says that they actually practice lawlessness.

Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (John 6:29). Though these false prophets perform miracles in Jesus’ name, they do not believe in Him, therefore they do not do the works of God. Nor do they please God because without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Performance-based religion will never please God, because it is totally devoid of faith in Him. It is not good works and better behavior that is required, but a new birth from above. Always and in everything, we must be totally dependent upon God. Then we will be eating from the Tree of Life. This is the will of our Father in heaven.

No comments:

Post a Comment