SAYING OR DOING GOD'S WILL

Matthew 7:21-23 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. 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? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.

As He approaches the conclusion of His "Sermon on the Mount" Jesus once again tells His disciples, and all that hear and read this message today: it isnecessity to obeyLord's commandments given through Him, and by inspiration, through other chosen messengers of God. Here Jesus makes a distinction between professing to be a Christian and practicing the obedient life of a Christian. To be acceptable in the sight of Jesus, one cannot profess to believe the Master's teaching and ignore practicing it in one's conduct of life. It is as simple as this - people cannot be followers of Christ by simply hearing His teachings without committing themselves to dutifully obeying them. Hearing God's law does not make one just in His sight, but doers of the law are justified (Rom. 2:13). To know the will of God is not sufficient in order to receive the hope of eternal salvation. Who can read James 2 without concluding that faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone (Vs. 17). Hearing the word of God may result in faith, but to be acceptable to God, it cannot end here, because, if it were, it would be vain and alone. Faith, that is produced by hearing God's word must, in turn result in doing God's will - faith must produce works.

James, in his epistle, assures us that it takes hearing and believing God's commandments in order to obey them. He writes that one must receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. However we are assured that merely hearing God's word is insufficient in itself, because James continues to say we are to bedoers of the word, and not hearers only. Unless we do the will of God, we are only deceiving (our) own selves. Hearing alone, without doing, James compares to an image we see in the mirror, which as soon as we turn away, the impression of the image (which parabolically means the word of God that we heard) disappears from our minds (See James 1:21-24). Indeed, hearing God's word is necessary in order to do the works that God, through Jesus Christ desires if His children. Then we can say that faith is necessary in order to produce good works! Notice what Paul wrote to Titus regarding such matters. Referring to false teachers as vain talkers and deceivers, Paul wrote: They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate (See Titus 1:10-16).

Most certainly the faith that results in hearing God's word can, and should result in openly confessing Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. Jesus assures us of this in Matthew 10:32-33, and His apostle Paul confirms it further in Romans 10:9-10. As these versed reveal, a public confession of Jesus is necessary, but the tragedy comes when hearers of God's word find these quotations alone as sufficient without any evidence to supports their belief. The evidence is found in doing God's will that has been revealed through His Son. Jesus, Himself, assured us of this when He said to His disciples, And why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Jesus demonstrates this in verses 24-27 that follow, saying His word is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. He then said that one that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great (Luke 6:46-49). How much clearer can it be made that hearers of God's word must also be doers to be acceptable in the sight of God?

Good intentions fail and have no eternal value if not expressed in obedience to God's will. Nothing that mankind can think, feel, and be totally convinced of, can take the place of the fulfillment of one's obligation of obeying and putting into practice, not just part of, but the complete will of God offered to all mankind through His Son, Jesus Christ. Many confess Jesus Christ as the Savior sent by God but fail doing His will. To these disobedient men and women, Jesus will say, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. These are incomplete Christians - they say they have faith but fail to do God's will!.