To Believe in Jesus is to Follow Jesus

24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7

This passage is often misunderstood. Here is a common interpretation: When the storms of life hit, as a Christian you’ll withstand the storm but if you aren't  watch out!  It’s not that Jesus does not strengthen you as you walk through the storms of life.  However, applied to the context of the passage, this interpretation is incorrect and doesn't fit.

Notice the “therefore” in the beginning of the passage. The “therefore’ connects this passage with the previous passage.  In the previous passage Jesus said that many will be surprised on Judgment Day. Although they called Him Lord they practiced sin, and in the end Jesus denies ever knowing them.  The “therefore” in this passage is saying “because many will be surprised on Judgment Day and cast away from Me, listen to what I am going to say.”

Jesus is comparing those who do and don’t follow His teaching to those who build houses. The person who follows His teaching is like a person who builds on a firm foundation. The person not following Jesus’s teaching is like a person who builds on a soft pliable foundation. Both houses may look beautiful and may appear to hold up.  But a day will come when the foundation will be revealed. Inevitably the storm comes, and the one on the poor foundation crashes to ruin.

One day the Lord will judge the hearts of men. The ones who followed Jesus will stand. The ones who didn’t follow Jesus will fall, and their fall will be great.

This does not teach salvation by works. Salvation is by grace and comes by believing in Jesus. However, when a person believes and Jesus says “follow Me,” those who truly believe in their hearts will follow Jesus. Those with a superficial belief and relationship with Jesus may call Him “Lord, Lord,” but will not follow Him.

To believe in Jesus is to follow Jesus. To follow Jesus is to live out His teachings. Decide to follow Jesus. 

Don’t Be Surprised on Judgement Day!

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’.” Matthew 7 ESV

This should get your attention! “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” On Judgment Day, there are those who will claim a relationship with Jesus, but Jesus will have nothing to do with them.

It is interesting that these people will plead their case with the Lord by claiming to have driven out demons and done many mighty works in Jesus’ name. Jesus doesn’t argue with the validity of the “mighty works” but says that in the end they were “workers of lawlessness [sin].” Performing signs and wonders is not proof of salvation, and Jesus will cast them away on Judgment Day.

What can be worse than believing you’re saved and finding out otherwise on Judgment Day? How do we avoid being one of those people? The Apostle Paul told the church of Corinth to “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5) Better to test yourself now than be surprised on Judgment Day.

How do we test ourselves? I can think of at least two ways:  First, do you love Jesus? Jesus is not a religion nor is He a means to an end. He is the living, risen, Son of God!  The Bible says we are to love God with all our heart (Luke 10:27).  We are to have affection for Christ. This manifests itself in love for His Word and love for His people. Not having affection for Christ should raise a huge red flag!

Another test follows the context of the passage. Is sin diminishing in your life?  Jesus denied knowing the people in Matthew 7:21-23. The one thing He said about them was that they practiced lawlessness. No believer attains sinless perfection, but there is a turning from sin. Where we once ran toward sin, now we run from it. When we do sin, we hate it.

   

Jesus teaches a significant number of people will be surprised on Judgment Day. They’ll find out they have no real saving relationship with Jesus. The time for self-examination is now. The good news is that if you’re reading this and feeling a sense of conviction about having a real relationship with Jesus, you can turn to Him now and follow Him. As long you are alive, it’s never too late.

Believer Beware!

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”  Matthew 7

There are false prophets among us! Jesus warns us of them. You know if Jesus warns us that they’re here. We don’t like to think of anyone as a false prophet but they’ve been around since the beginning of the church. Many of the New Testament letters were written to combat their false teaching.

To make matters worse, these false prophets want to devour us! Jesus says that “inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Christians are depicted as sheep in the Bible and wolves have only one use for sheep -- dinner.

Don’t expect to see wolves sitting openly in the pews at church next Sunday. False prophets come “in sheep’s clothing.”  They look just like you and me. However, although they disguise themselves as sheep, they can be identified as wolves. 

Jesus tells us that we can know false prophets by their fruits. What is coming forth from them? We often evaluate on the level of someone being nice, handsome, compelling, funny or charismatic. That’s not how God tells us to evaluate.  It’s by what fruit comes from them.

The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). I’ve heard it said that the one thing false prophets can’t do is deny their flesh. Putting to death the deeds of the flesh is something we can do only with the Spirit. False prophets don’t have the Spirit, consequently they can’t deny their flesh.

Somewhere in the false prophet’s ministry you’ll see gratification of the flesh. It could be with money as they love to use God’s people to acquire their own wealth. You may see their flesh manifest itself in an inflated ego (pride).  And, yes, one of the most popular, sexual immorality. They don’t just struggle with a particular sin, but use their ministry to feed their flesh. To acquire the money, pander to their pride and to seduce.

The reality may be that you’re not close enough to the false prophet to know whether they are proud or money hungry. So how do you identify a false prophet from afar?  You identify them from their teaching. Know the Bible. That’s what false prophets do, they twist the Word of God. Spend time getting to know the Word better than the one who wants to devour you.  The more time you spend with the Good Shepherd the more easily you will spot a wolf.

Identifying a false prophet is not one of the top five list of subjects we want to hear; but take Jesus’ warning of ravenous wolves seriously and beware!

So Much for “All Paths Lead to God.”

¹³ Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  Matthew 7

One of the most popular religious beliefs today is that all paths lead to God.  Whether Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and so on, pick what works for you, and you’ll find your way to God. This view fits nicely in our pluralistic society. You don’t have to step on toes or ruffle anyone’s feathers, and you’ll never be called a “fundamentalist.”  The problem with this is that it stands in direct opposition to the teaching of Jesus.

Jesus does not teach many paths, He teaches two:  The first leads to life but it is narrow, difficult and only a few travel it. The other path is wide and well-traveled, but unfortunately it leads to destruction. The first path, the one that leads to life, is Jesus (John 10:9). The other, leading to destruction, is the path of all others not coming through Jesus.

Jesus clears up any ambiguity of His claim to be the sole path to heaven with one statement: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).  The single solitary path to heaven is through Jesus.

The reason why? Only one path has a savior. Jesus offers what nobody else can --  payment for sin. Jesus, the perfect sinless Son of God, stood in the place of the guilty sinner and paid the price for the sins of the world. Every other path offers a way to work off sins. There is no way to work off sin. You can’t do five good deeds to pay off one bad deed. How would you even keep track! Thanks be to God that He sent His Son to pay for my sins on the cross!

You have two paths to choose from. Embrace the one path that leads to life – Jesus!  

Godliness Made Simple

 ¹² Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.  Matthew 7:12

Jesus, as only He can, takes something very complex and makes it simple. The Old Testament (referred to here as the “Law and the Prophets”) has 613 laws, or do’s and don’ts. It’s hard to keep just a couple of rules, how do you keep 613?  Well, Jesus tells us how.  We call it “The Golden Rule.”

Jesus says, “Whatever you want people to do to you, do to them.”  Notice this statement is positive, not negative. We often hear it as, “Don’t do to people what you wouldn’t want them to do to you” (negative).  However, Jesus says we’re to take the initiative and, “Do to others what we would have done to us” (positive).  So, if you think it would be nice for someone to offer help when you have the need, offer help to others when you see they need it. If you want others to come to you instead of talking behind your back, do the same for them. If you expect others to make an effort to understand you, make an effort to understand others.

Jesus says doing for others as you would have done to you fulfills all the laws in the Old Testament. For example the Law says, “Thou shall not lie.” In living out the Golden Rule you will naturally tell the truth. Since we all want others to be truthful to us, we’ll be truthful to others. The same with “Thou shall not commit adultery.” You want your spouse to be faithful to you, so be faithful to them.

The Golden Rule goes a step further than being honest because we want others to be honest with us: It leads us to help others with their burdens. reaching out in love; because truth be told, that’s how we want to be treated.

The Golden rule should be our motive to share the Gospel. We who believe the Gospel are eternally grateful to those who cared enough to step out of their comfort zone and share the hope of Jesus with us. Should this not lead us to do the same with others?

Living out the Golden Rule helps us simplify godly living. However simple does not mean easy. Living a godly life and doing to others as we would have them do to us takes commitment, but one well worth the effort.