Yes! There is Good News! 2.7.20

As we finish this six week study, let me summarize by saying that salvation comes by faith and the reward that our Savior is bringing with Him is based upon our obedience in doing His word and His will – as our father Abraham did.

In Matthew we find a very curious scripture that talks about these two aspects of doing God’s word and His will, it is found in 7:21, “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. 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?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Here we find “many” who, after prophesying, casting out demons and doing mighty works in the Lord’s name, have Jesus say unto them that He never knew them and He tells them to depart! Why? Evidently they did not do the will of the Father and they were workers of lawlessness.

Let’s consider this for a few minutes. First of all, what is the will of God? This sounds quite serious because we do want to be able to enter the kingdom of God!! We could possibly fill a book seeking to answer this, but let’s look for our answer in a different area of this scripture in Matthew. Jesus declares that ‘I never knew you.’ This word ‘knew,’ in the Greek language, is “ginosko.” Vine's Dictionary of Biblical Greek tells us that the word frequently indicates a relationship, often between God and man or between a husband and wife. This is a word that shows intimacy and so Jesus is intimating a lack of relationship. If one does not have a relationship with Him, then He does not know them. Hence, it is God’s will that we seek Him with all our heart so as to form a relationship of love with Him!

But what about this statement, “Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” What is a worker of lawlessness? Again, we can go to the Greek to understand this word – it is used of one who “acts contrary to law.” Paul tells us that God’s law is holy, righteous and good and Jesus wants us to be a “worker of the law” or, one who is “obedient in doing His word” as I mentioned in the first paragraph.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 14:23, Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him.” Wow!! The Father and Son will choose to live in me – now that is a heavy statement. A couple of verses before that, Jesus says, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Friends and brethren, this is the relationship Abraham had with God. It is as intimate as it gets. There is no greater reward for us to receive than to have this intimacy with the Father and His Son. And this is what we should strive for. Salvation? Yes! Access to God through Jesus’ blood? Of course! But what a reward He has set before us!!! Think about these things.