Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mat 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Mat 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.(KJV)
These are hard words. Does a "Loving God" reject those who come before Him and say: "Lord, Lord"? Apparently He will and He does, if you believe what Jesus says, and if you don't believe it and yet say you are saved, you are exactly the one He is talking about here, who is only speaking empty words, and pretends to love Him and believe Him, and yet loves himself and the things of this world more than His words, His love, His price at His terms. Those are the ones who say they love Him and yet Jesus can see into their hearts, He knows the truth, and if they confess the truth of their error, and truly submit to the truth of the fact that no one comes to the Father unless they have left all (their love of the things of this world that they loved more than God) to follow Jesus, then Jesus gives us a hundred fold of what we thought we had to give up.
But there are many who hang on to this world, who want to straddle the fence, and love this world and Jesus equally. Jesus said it cannot be done. He said "You cannot serve God and Mammon".
Luk 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Luk 16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
Luk 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. (KJV)
When Jesus taught the multitudes, many followed Him to get stuff, to get a healing, to get food, and Jesus understood that, and He provided, but when He confronted them about the truth of the selfishness of their seeking, many stopped following Him:
Joh 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Joh 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
Joh 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (KJV)
Their hearts were not changed, they didn't actually see the true miracle of who Jesus was and is, but only wanted to satisfy their belly and their curiosity, and their flesh. Jesus then tells them about Himself being the bread of Life, (this passage is completely misunderstood by Roman Catholics, sorry), and then the Bible tells us:
Joh 6:61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Joh 6:62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Joh 6:64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Joh 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
(KJV)
Sobering words, it is a gift, and to say "That isn't loving" doesn't understand true love. He gives abundantly, but many reject it, and then blame Him for their rejection of Him. It is a gift, who throws a gift back at the giver and says "This isn't the kind of gift I wanted! This isn't the way I wanted it to be!"?
His gift is given to all, but not all want it, in fact no one wants it, at first, because it is contrary to our flesh. But God will draw His own to Himself, and they won't be able to boast that they did anything, even the choosing of Him is done by Him, so we have nothing to boast before Him. He chooses the lowest, the beggars, also there are the Josephs of Arimethea (which aren't low beggars, but respected people in the community, but their heart is lowly and truly humble)...He sees our hearts, He knows who are His because He created us, He breathed life into us.
The ones who do boast:
Mat 7:22...."Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? "
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
I struggled with this one because I knew that I could do nothing to attain it. I felt it was horrible that I was on the outside unable to come in of my own self, that it was only by God's invitation. I begged the Lord to save me. Even my begging seemed to go nowhere, and I knew that my heart was bad through and through, and that God could not listen to someone as selfish and evil as I, and I like the Caananite woman begged for crumbs from the master's table (Matthew 15:22-28) or like the woman with the issue of blood who only sought to touch the hem of His garment (Matthew 9:20-22) and was persistent in my looking and seeking for that opening, that day that He would hear me, not because I was good or anything, but seeking His mercy (Luke 18:2-9)...
And yet, if I am sent to hell and it's fires and torments to be there for eternity, I would only be getting what I deserve. If I do find myself there it is just. What is unjust is His mercy. It is true what His enemies say "It is UNFAIR that some don't go to hell and many do"...however it is the upside-down of the fleshy reasoning. It isn't unfair that anyone goes to hell at all, we all deserve no more than hell. The unfair part is that any escape it at all, and that is GRACE.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mat 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Mat 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.(KJV)
These are hard words. Does a "Loving God" reject those who come before Him and say: "Lord, Lord"? Apparently He will and He does, if you believe what Jesus says, and if you don't believe it and yet say you are saved, you are exactly the one He is talking about here, who is only speaking empty words, and pretends to love Him and believe Him, and yet loves himself and the things of this world more than His words, His love, His price at His terms. Those are the ones who say they love Him and yet Jesus can see into their hearts, He knows the truth, and if they confess the truth of their error, and truly submit to the truth of the fact that no one comes to the Father unless they have left all (their love of the things of this world that they loved more than God) to follow Jesus, then Jesus gives us a hundred fold of what we thought we had to give up.
But there are many who hang on to this world, who want to straddle the fence, and love this world and Jesus equally. Jesus said it cannot be done. He said "You cannot serve God and Mammon".
Luk 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Luk 16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
Luk 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. (KJV)
When Jesus taught the multitudes, many followed Him to get stuff, to get a healing, to get food, and Jesus understood that, and He provided, but when He confronted them about the truth of the selfishness of their seeking, many stopped following Him:
Joh 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Joh 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
Joh 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (KJV)
Their hearts were not changed, they didn't actually see the true miracle of who Jesus was and is, but only wanted to satisfy their belly and their curiosity, and their flesh. Jesus then tells them about Himself being the bread of Life, (this passage is completely misunderstood by Roman Catholics, sorry), and then the Bible tells us:
Joh 6:61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Joh 6:62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Joh 6:64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Joh 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
(KJV)
Sobering words, it is a gift, and to say "That isn't loving" doesn't understand true love. He gives abundantly, but many reject it, and then blame Him for their rejection of Him. It is a gift, who throws a gift back at the giver and says "This isn't the kind of gift I wanted! This isn't the way I wanted it to be!"?
His gift is given to all, but not all want it, in fact no one wants it, at first, because it is contrary to our flesh. But God will draw His own to Himself, and they won't be able to boast that they did anything, even the choosing of Him is done by Him, so we have nothing to boast before Him. He chooses the lowest, the beggars, also there are the Josephs of Arimethea (which aren't low beggars, but respected people in the community, but their heart is lowly and truly humble)...He sees our hearts, He knows who are His because He created us, He breathed life into us.
The ones who do boast:
Mat 7:22...."Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? "
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
I struggled with this one because I knew that I could do nothing to attain it. I felt it was horrible that I was on the outside unable to come in of my own self, that it was only by God's invitation. I begged the Lord to save me. Even my begging seemed to go nowhere, and I knew that my heart was bad through and through, and that God could not listen to someone as selfish and evil as I, and I like the Caananite woman begged for crumbs from the master's table (Matthew 15:22-28) or like the woman with the issue of blood who only sought to touch the hem of His garment (Matthew 9:20-22) and was persistent in my looking and seeking for that opening, that day that He would hear me, not because I was good or anything, but seeking His mercy (Luke 18:2-9)...
And yet, if I am sent to hell and it's fires and torments to be there for eternity, I would only be getting what I deserve. If I do find myself there it is just. What is unjust is His mercy. It is true what His enemies say "It is UNFAIR that some don't go to hell and many do"...however it is the upside-down of the fleshy reasoning. It isn't unfair that anyone goes to hell at all, we all deserve no more than hell. The unfair part is that any escape it at all, and that is GRACE.
Good word on Grace. We don't deserve His love yet He gave it.What we do deserve is His wrath yet He with holds it from all who call on Jesus, believe and accept His gift of grace.
ReplyDeleteBlessings Susan.
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True Child of God :) If we deserved it, it wouldn't be grace, it would be called payment for services rendered...He paid the price, paid in full.
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