"Not everyone 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 ."

Matthew 7:21-23

These verses indicate clearly that the outward show of Christianity is not sufficient to guarantee entrance into the kingdom of heaven. The Lord will not be impressed that a person has traveled the globe having huge meetings complete with prophecy, casting out of demons and healings all done "in the name of Jesus". As in everything dealing with truth; it is NOT what is on the outside which is important, but what is on the inside.

Just because a person looks, sounds and acts religious does not mean they are saved. There are two very important principles that need to be understood in these verses. First is that the criteria for entrance into the kingdom of heaven is not through saying nice sounding words but rather through doing the will of God. Second is that no matter how good a person's works may appear, if the person practices lawlessness, he will be told to "depart from Me" at that day.

Hebrews 11 makes it perfectly clear that FAITH is what pleases God and to do the will of God is to believe God's Word and do what He says to do no matter how crazy it looks to the senses or how many others say "don't do it". The common denominator of all those mentioned in Hebrews 11 is that they manifested utter and complete faith in what God told or showed them to do. In other words they DID what God asked of them to do.

Words are cheap and mean next to nothing in our day and time. Anyone can say just about anything, and they do say anything it takes to advance themselves, make friends and solicit money. Words are most certainly not the way to get to heaven. Actions speak louder than words. The Lord would prefer a person never say a word with his mouth and do His will in their lives than the other way around. In fact, it is very obvious that the Lord has very little patience towards those who say they are doing His will but in reality are doing just the opposite.

By our fruit we are known.

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