Doing the will of God

 

    Here is the context: Jesus has been explaining what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. Then one asks, "Lord, are there few that will be saved?" Jesus responds by saying, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for many, I say unto you will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."

            Ask yourself, who seeks to enter into Heaven?  Answer: Religious people.  That is, Jesus says that many religious people will seek to enter into Heaven but will not be able to do so.

            Who are these religious people seeking to enter into Heaven but will be unable to do so? Letting the Bible interpret itself, we find the answer in Matthew 7:21. In this verse, Jesus makes it very clear that all who do the will of the Heavenly Father will enter into Heaven. That is, the failure of anyone to go to Heaven will be because of their failure to "do the will of the Father which is in Heaven."  Therefore, to answer the above question, the "many" who are seeking to enter into Heaven but will not be able to do so, are religious people who are not doing the will of God.  In other words, it takes more than just being "religious" to be saved. We must be "religious" according to His Will.

            In Matthew 7:22, Jesus gives us a picture of Judgment Day, saying that many religious people will argue that they spent their lives "doing many wonderful works, prophesying, and casting out demons, all in His name!"  Yet, He will say to them, "Depart from Me ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23).  Since Jesus had just said that all who do the Father's Will, will go to Heaven, then even though these people were devoutly religious, and even though they tagged the name of "Jesus" on all they did, still, the good things they were doing were not being done in harmony with God's Word, and they were therefore lost.  This is not popular Bible teaching, but it is "profitable" for those seeking to be saved. As Paul writes, "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you..." (Acts 20:20).

            It is important that souls who are striving to be saved do good works (Titus 3:8), but even good works have no eternal value unless they are accomplished according to His Will, and not according to the will of any group of men who meet to decide what "their church" will believe and accept, or how it will worship.                               

 

--Toby Miller