Those doing the will of the Father!

¹⁰ 내가 전심으로 주를 찾았사오니 주의 계명에서 떠나지 말게 하소서 ¹¹ 내가 주께 범죄치 아니하려 하여 주의 말씀을 내 마음에 두었나이다 ¹² 찬송을 받으실 여호와여 주의 율례를 내게 가르치소서. ¹⁰ With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! ¹¹ I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. ¹² Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! (Ps. 119:10-12)

²¹ 나더러 주여 주여 하는 자마다 천국에 다 들어갈 것이 아니요 다만 하늘에 계신 내 아버지의 뜻대로 행하는 자라야 들어가리라 ²² 그 날에 많은 사람이 나더러 이르되 주여 주여 우리가 주의 이름으로 선지자 노릇하며 주의 이름으로 귀신을 쫓아 내며 주의 이름으로 많은 권능을 행치 아니하였나이까 하리니 ²³ 그 때에 내가 저희에게 밝히 말하되 내가 너희를 도무지 알지 못하니 불법을 행하는 자들아 내게서 떠나가라 하리라. 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.'  (Mat 7:21-23)

FCF: We may be deceived that our salvation is based on our mere talk with real walk.

주제: 하나님의 백성은 그분의 뜻을 행하기에 우리는 그분의 뜻대로 행해야 합니다.

Theme: Because God’s people do His will, we must walk according to His will.

Introduction: Talk without walk is a major problem in the church of Christ. Talk is easy and walk is hard. We often say “it is easier said than done.” We may easily find numerous examples for it. Let’s take one. A husband makes a habit of saying, “I love you, honey!” When he hangs up a phone, or when he leaves for work in the morning, he says so to his wife. Before his children, he charmingly says “I love you, honey” to his wife. However, when he gets frustrated or irritated, he abuses or beats up his wife physically and verbally. He wickedly takes advantage of his wife’s love for him, saying, “Honey, I know you love me. So, I chose to spend my salary for my sake. Since you love me, I will do whatever I like to do for myself or for you.” Moreover, he meets another girl besides his wife. He hides it from his wife. But he still keeps saying to his wife, “I love you, my darling!” Does he really love his wife? Doesn’t he meaninglessly say so? Doesn’t he say it to cover up his extramarital affair? What does he mean by stating “I love you, honey”? Doesn’t he say the same thing to another girl? We reasonably may raise a lot of questions to doubt the truthfulness of his saying “I love you, honey.” Probably, his saying of “love for the wife” may not be for her sake, but for his sake, to cover up his guilt and make himself feel he is a decent husband. None of us would say his love for her is real. His love is self-deceived, worthless, and counterfeit. His talk has no support from his walk.

The Lord Jesus points out a similar problem among His listeners. They were eager listeners. They fervently called Him “Lord, Lord!” Like Judas Iscariot, they were impressed with the Lord’s powerful teachings and miracles. They came to Him to be fed, healed, or taught. They agreed on His challenge that they must obey His Word. Despite all this, they disobeyed Him. Unfortunately, this is our problem, too. A lot of people talk a lot about Christ and Christianity. But only a few really walk according to their talk. The Lord strongly warns His listeners against “talk without walk.” Concluding His sermon on the Mount, the Lord exhorts us to enter the narrow gate and walk on the hard path leading to eternal life. He warns us against false prophets who keep us from entering the narrow gate. As there are false teachers in the church, so are false believers. So, the Lord warns us against mere Christian talk without genuine Christian walk, that is, nominal Christianity. This problem is pervasive among those who profess Jesus as Savior. The Lord says that there are those who assume they are saved and yet are not really saved. They brag about a false sense of assurance of salvation, which is very common today in the church of God. Knowing the pervasiveness of this issue, the Lord defines God’s people as those doing the will of the Father. He is not talking about those of sinless perfection, but about those who seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Taking His teaching wholeheartedly, we must walk according to God’s will. Our Christian talk should go with our Christian walk. I want all of us to consider the following four points to see whether we belong to the kingdom of God or not. Today, I will discuss the first two points. First, our talk…

     I.         우리의 고백은 구원의 충분한 증거는 아니다.

Our talk is insufficient evidence of our salvation.

Having told us how to discern false prophets, now the Lord reveals how to discern false professors. He says, 나더러 주여 주여 하는 자마다 천국에 다 들어갈 것이 아니요. ²¹ "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, He says here not everyone who calls Jesus “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. He says there are some, though they profess the lordship of Jesus Christ, who will be excluded from entrance into heaven. Though it is necessary for our salvation, in other words, verbal profession is not enough to prove we are citizens of heaven. It is not a sure sign of the recipients of eternal life. We may profess mechanically without having our hearts involved, which is often the case when we mindlessly say the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, reading the Bible, or grace over a meal. Jesus’ statement here doesn’t contradict Paul’s statement in 1 Cor. 12:3: 그러므로 내가 너희에게 알게 하노니 하나님의 영으로 말하는 자는 누구든지 예수를 저주할 자라 하지 않고 또 성령으로 아니하고는 누구든지 예수를 주시라 할 수 없느니라. “Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit works within our souls so that we can not only confess Jesus as Lord but also be empowered to live faithfully to our confession of Jesus’ lordship. The Lord Jesus warns against false professors, whereas Paul explains the Spirit’s role in one’s confession of Jesus’ lordship.   

In what sense is the title “Lord” used here in the text? This title is often used to signify “Sir.” It is an honorary title used for high officials or respectful teachers. However, in v. 21, it refers to the redemptive title applied to Jesus Christ. After His resurrection, He was called “Lord.” Even during His earthly ministry, He used the term for Himself to reveal His divine identity. The Greek word “kurios” in the Septuagint translation of OT refers to Yahweh the God of Israel who created heaven and earth, redeemed His people from Israel, and entered a covenant with Israel. When the disciples called Jesus “Lord,” they meant Jesus was co-equal with Yahweh in the OT in essence, power, and majesty. Therefore, their calling Jesus with this redemptive title means they understood who Jesus was and what He did. In other words, they may have had a right understanding of Jesus’ person and work. They may have had a right theology of Jesus Christ. They recited the creeds. On this basis, they assumed they were headed to heaven. They based their salvation upon their verbal confession of faith. They had the assurance of salvation simply because they made right confession of faith. But the Lord said that their profession was insufficient evidence of their salvation.

There are people who argue that our verbal profession is all needed to be saved. They quote Scriptures: 누구든지 주의 이름을 부르는 자는 구원을 얻으리라 하였느니라. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved' (Acts 2:21); 사람이 마음으로 믿어 의에 이르고 입으로 시인하여 구원에 이르느니라. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved (Rom. 10:10). Obeying these verses, they have called upon His name and assumed they are God’s people bound to heaven. Not only so, but also they exhort others to call upon the Lord’s name, so that they can be saved. Following their instruction, some make profession of the Lord’s name and be affirmed that they are saved. Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with stating Jesus “Lord.” It is good and necessary. But the problem is not their verbal profession, but profession without obedience.

There is no change in their lives that has taken place as a result of their confession of faith. Their salvation is often questioned even though they are convinced they are citizens of God’s kingdom. Their lifestyle demonstrates they belong to the world. They are often told, “Don’t look to yourself. Since you have professed Him Lord, you are surely saved. You should not doubt your salvation. See your confession of faith as sure evidence of your salvation.” So, they base their salvation on the ground of their verbal profession without considering what kind of lifestyle they pursue or what kinds of fruits they bear. According to the Lord in v. 21, however, calling upon His name may not be sure evidence of salvation. Certainly, it is a right thing to do. But it must be proven either to be true or false, by means of their fruits, according to vv. 15-20.

What really matters is not only we call upon His name, but also we live out the practical implications of our calling upon His name. We may merely profess His name without knowing what it involves. We may profess it sincerely at the moment. Or we may profess it because it is good for us and people say it guarantees our entry into heaven. However, mere profession doesn’t matter much on the day of God’s final judgment. We can’t deceive the Lord Jesus even though we may deceive others through our words. It is because the Lord knows everything about our hearts and deeds. He knows whether our profession is genuine or not. When we call Jesus Lord, it means that we are willing to submit ourselves to His lordship. He is our Lord and we are His servants. This means we are here to carry out His biddings. We are to obey Him. Abusing and misusing the precious name of the Lord Jesus magically, mechanically, or profanely violate the sanctity of the Lord’s Name. When we call Jesus Lord, we are to ascribe respect, honor, and glory to His Name.  

Martyn Lloyd Jones powerfully describes the meaning of our faith in Jesus our Lord as follows: 만약 우리가 나사렛 예수께서 하나님의 독생자이며 이 세상에 오시어 갈보리 십자가에 나아가 우리의 죄를 대신하여 죽으시고 부활하시므로 우리를 의롭다 하시고 우리에게 새 생명을 주시며 우리를 위하여 천국을 예비하신 것을 믿는다면, 진실로 우리가 이 모든 것을 믿는다면 거기에는 단 하나의 필연적인 결론이 있습니다. 그것은 하나님께서 어떤 제한도 없이 우리의 삶 전체를 받으실 권리가 있다는 것입니다. If we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the only begotten Son of God and that He came into this world and went to the cross of Calvary and died for our sins and rose again in order to justify us and to give us life anew and prepare us for heaven-if you really believe that, there is only one inevitable deduction, namely that He is entitled to the whole of our lives, everything without any limit whatsoever. This is the New Testament Christianity. The early church made a profession of Jesus’s lordship and pledged their total allegiance to the Lord. Mere profession without surrendering to His lordship is prominent in modern Christianity. Lamentably, we find a host of self-professed Christians who have never attempted to put themselves under His sovereign control.

I knew of a man who served as a deacon in his big church. He divorced his wife because of his extramarital affairs. After he got married, he met with multiple ladies in secret. He still said, “You know why I want to go to heaven? It is because my Lord whom I love dearly is there.” Who could believe his confession? The Lord says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” He felt he loved the Lord. But in reality, he loved himself, that is, his sinful pleasures, deceiving himself. I know of a guy to whom I tried to exhort him to believe in Christ. He says, “I have a confidence of faith that I can go to heaven.” He trusts his profession of faith rather than Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. He hangs his eternal destiny on his verbal statement of faith that he made long ago. But he doesn’t even attend the church of Christ. He doesn’t care about the will of the Lord. He does whatever he wants to do and still says he will go to heaven. Here is what the Lord shall say to them: 나더러 주여 주여 하는 자마다 천국에 다 들어갈 것이 아니요. ²¹ "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven,.

John 13:13-14 show us one practical aspect of calling Him Lord. The passage says: ¹³ 너희가 나를 선생이라 또는 주라 하니 너희 말이 옳도다 내가 그러하다 ¹⁴ 내가 주와 또는 선생이 되어 너희 발을 씻겼으니 너희도 서로 발을 씻기는 것이 옳으니라. ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. The Lord Jesus knew His timing was approaching. So, He wanted to teach His ambitious, self-centered disciples the necessity of mutual love, service, and humility. As their Teacher and Lord, He humbled Himself and washed their feet. He was saying, “If you call Me Teacher and Lord, you must do to one another what I have done to you guys.” Acknowledging His Lordship involves imitating His character.

We have a great number of people in the church of Christ who readily profess the lordship of Jesus Christ, confess orthodox creeds, and have a right theology of Christ’s person and work. What they profess, confess, and know about Jesus Christ is necessary and good. However, it may not be a sure indicator of their eternal destinations. We should not presume that we are going to heaven because of our profession. The Lord will not accept our verbal profession as the ground of our entry into His kingdom. We must remember our acknowledgement of His lordship entails our efforts to be like Him. Profession without imitation doesn’t count before the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ.

According to the Lord, empty profession will not necessarily lead us to heaven. Let’s turn to the next point.

   II.         우리의 열정은 구원의 충분한 증거는 아니다.

Our fervor is insufficient evidence of our salvation.

People call Jesus “Lord, Lord,” They repeat the title. The repetition of a given word or title in the Bible conveys the idea of emphasis. They stress their zeal, fervor, or enthusiasm for the Lord. Before the public, they make their profession, putting emphasis on the title “Lord.” They impress the public with their zeal for the Lord. However, they are devoid of Christ’s character. They are zealous of the Lord for their own sake, not for the Lord’s sake. Passion for God is what we need to carry out His grand mission. However, it is not a sure sign of our salvation. Our fervent cries “Lord,” “Lord,” “Lord” may not count on Judgment Day. There are people whose temperament is passionate. Whatever they do, they do it with passion. So, they demonstrate the same passion for the Lord’s work. They unconsciously seek the public’s admiration and call attention to their unwavering passion for God. They tend to trust not on the finished work of Jesus Christ and His person, but on their passionate faith in Him. They may brag about their great zeal and faith for the work of God. However, their motives are for self-glory, not for God’s glory.

Surely, true passion for God comes from the filling of the Spirit. It is a good thing. But fervent emotion for God may come from our natural personality. It may lead us to a wrong conviction that we are people of God. Comparing our passion with others’ lack of zeal for the Lord, they jump to a conclusion that we have every reason to be accepted into His kingdom. But our passion doesn’t lead us into heaven. Christ leads us into His kingdom. We must not brag about our passion. We must not trust our passion as the ground of our assurance of salvation. Our passion fluctuates, depending upon our circumstances. It comes and goes. It is not something we can rely on. We often hear people saying they used to be zealous for the Lord and no longer are in the church of God. Where is their zeal gone now? We need to check on whether our passion is grounded upon God’s truth. Passion without the guidance and restraint of God’s Word may go astray. We can easily find out passionate false teachers and believers who try to win their converts on the streets. It seems that no one can quench their fiery zeal for their cult leader and his erroneous teachings. In fact, their passion arises from their belief that they are God’s true remnants.

Jehu, one of the kings of the Northern Kingdom Israel, was a general of Ahab’s army. But he was anointed by one of the student prophets of Elisha to be king over Israel. He was to replace wicked king Joram. Yahweh raised him up as His instrument to punish King Ahab’s household. Ahab brought Baal worship into Israel and corrupted Israel’s faith. So, God determined to execute his wicked children. As soon as He received the command to execute Ahab’s family and Baal prophets, he passionately carried out it without a break. While promptly obeying the Lord’s command, he once said, 나와 함께 가서 여호와를 위한 나의 열심을 보라 하고 이에 자기 병거에 태우고. "Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD." So, he had him ride in his chariot (2 Kings 2:16). He showed his passion for killing Ahab’s children and Baal prophets. However, he didn’t demonstrate the same passion for obeying the Lord’s commandments. Here is what the author of Kings evaluates Jehu: 그러나 예후가 전심으로 이스라엘 하나님 여호와의 율법을 지켜 행하지 아니하며 여로보암이 이스라엘로 범하게 한 그 죄에서 떠나지 아니하였더라. But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin (2 Kings 10:31). Jehu was zealous for Yahweh in one sense. But his zeal came from his temperament, not faith in Yahweh. Thus, he failed to obey Yahweh with all his heart.

Our verbal passion for the Lord doesn’t necessarily we are bound to heaven. It must be translated into obedience to the will of our heavenly Father. Passion without obedience is a show for self-glory. True passion for God necessarily results in passionate obedience to His truth. We may have passion for various things, passion for denomination, passion for reformed theology, passion for God’s Word, passion for the ministry, passion for evangelism, or passion for the filling of the Holy Spirit. But we may have passion for these things without obeying the Lord’s clearly revealed moral obligations. Such passion without obedience won’t count at the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ.

Years ago, I visited one American mega-church in Atlanta, GA. I saw a young man sitting two rows in front of us and singing fervently. He raised his hands high while singing praises to God. It seemed that he thoroughly was enjoying the worship of God. He was passionately singing unto God as if he were standing in the presence of God. But as soon as the famous speaker came forward and began to preach, this man slouched and didn’t show any passion for the preaching of God’s Word. I have heard about those who prayed fervently in the prayer meeting. As soon as their meeting was over, they directly went to a club to drink and dance. They showed the same passion for the things of the world. There is something fundamentally wrong here. Passion for the Lord must be translated into passion for obedience to His Word. True passion for God is not a fleeting feeling. It is a constant, increasing thirst for God Himself that drives our souls to follow Christ through the narrow path and moves us toward Christlikeness.

However, there is a misguided religious or hypocritical passion. For example, the Pharisees were zealous for keeping the letters of the Law, ignoring the spirit of the law. They were not really obeying the spirit and letter of the Law. So, they rejected Jesus’ right interpretations of God’s law. So, they were rejected by God. The Israelites in Isaiah’s day were zealous for the observance of Sabbath and various holy days of Israel. They visited the Temple as frequently as possible. But their heartless faith was condemned by the Lord God. God disdained their religious fervor without obeying His commandments, saying, 내 마음이 너희의 월삭과 정한 절기를 싫어하나니 그것이 내게 무거운 짐이라 내가 지기에 곤비하였느니라. 너희가 손을 펼 때에 내가 눈을 가리우고 너희가 많이 기도할지라도 내가 듣지 아니하리니 이는 너희의 손에 피가 가득함이니라. "Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood (Isa. 1:14-15). The Israelites kept worship regulations meticulously to cover up their iniquities against their poor neighbors such as orphans and widows. But they couldn’t deceive the Lord, though they deceived themselves into believing they would receive God’s blessings for their religious passion for worship.

Conclusion: Both profession of faith and passion for God are good things. But they may not necessarily indicate we are true children of God because there are false profession and passion of the heart. We have to be careful as we examine our spiritual conditions. Our assurance for entry into the kingdom of God is not based either on our profession of faith or our passion for God, but on the finished work of Jesus Christ. We must stand on Jesus Christ the rock of our salvation, the unshakable foundation of our salvation. Not only is Christ our Savior, but also He is our Lord. We must not deceive ourselves through what we say or what feel about Christ. We must surrender ourselves to the lordship of Jesus Christ. We must not be fans of Jesus Christ, but disciples of Jesus Christ, keeping in mind we are saved not due to our profession of faith or by passion for God, but due to the person and work of Jesus Christ. We must live as people of God’s kingdom, not as people of the world. At the same time, we must acknowledge the gravity of our sinfulness and our inability to live as God’s people in the world. Relying on the sufficiency and power of the blood of Jesus Christ, we must repent of making a mindless confession of faith and hypocritical passion for God. We must confess that we have failed to walk the talk. No doubt, we talk a lot about Christ, but fail to do what He says in His Word. We passionately seek Him and at the same time seek the world. We are not there as we ought to be by the grace of God. So, we must return to the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross on our behalf and broke the power of death through His resurrection. He is our good Shepherd who protects us from falling, provides us power, faith, and hope necessary to fight sin, endure hardships, and persevere to the end for God’s glory, and safely guides us to the Celestial City. Jesus Christ is all in all for us. We must humbly trust Him through the Holy Spirit while following Him faithfully until we get to heaven. Jesus Christ is the sole ground of our salvation and our assurance of salvation as well. Let me leave you with the following Scripture: ¹⁴ 그러므로 우리에게 큰 대제사장이 있으니 승천하신 자 곧 하나님 아들 예수시라 우리가 믿는 도리를 굳게 잡을찌어다 ¹⁵ 우리에게 있는 대제사장은 우리 연약함을 체휼하지 아니하는 자가 아니요 모든 일에 우리와 한결 같이 시험을 받은 자로되 죄는 없으시니라 ¹⁶ 그러므로 우리가 긍휼하심을 받고 때를 따라 돕는 은혜를 얻기 위하여 은혜의 보좌 앞에 담대히 나아갈 것이니라. ¹⁴ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:14-16).

Benediction: ²⁴ 여호와는 네게 복을 주시고 너를 지키시기를 원하며 ²⁵ 여호와는 그 얼굴로 네게 비취사 은혜 베푸시기를 원하며 ²⁶ 여호와는 그 얼굴을 네게로 향하여 드사 평강 주시기를 원하노라. ²⁴ The LORD bless you and keep you; ²⁵ the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; ²⁶ the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace (Num. 6:24-26).