NOT WORKS OR POSITION, BUT REPENTANCE AND BELIEF
NOT WORKS OR POSITION, BUT REPENTANCE AND BELIEF
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. —Matthew 21:31-32
Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” —Matthew 21:43-44
People that are religious, just going through the motions, are in real danger of not entering the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom where Jesus is the King, He is the Ruler, the Sovereign and we are His subjects, servants and friends. Those thinking they got it all together and are “all set” just because they got some type of religious background or just because they attend “church” or just because they belong to some denomination or just because they hold some position in the “church” are badly mistaken if that is what they are depending on to be forgiven and saved from sin to a relationship with Him. If they think they are a good person by doing these things then they are in danger of going to hell and not heaven.
It is not by what I do or the position I hold that makes me right or righteous before God, it is Who I am trusting and Whose I am. It is interesting that Jesus said that “the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.” The tax collectors and prostitutes believed the way of righteousness that John spoke of and were entering the Kingdom of God. Are we looking for those who will truly believe?
Those who are “religious,” but are not bearing fruit, better look at their lives to see if they have truly repented and have believed “the way of righteousness.” Jesus is that way (John 14:6) — “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (II Corinthians 5:21). It is only through trusting Him, putting our faith in Him are we made righteous, made right before God. All other works based “religious” systems are false. It is not what I have done or do that saves me, but what Jesus has done. — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD6khv6pGkw&t=9s After I trust Him, call on His Name for forgiveness of sins, then I serve Him out of gratitude, not out of a hope that what I do saves me. I seek to bear fruit for Him as He works in and through me out of thankfulness.
Dear Father I thank You for the salvation You have given me in Jesus, so rich and free, so safe and secure. Now out of the gratitude of my heart may I serve You faithfully by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus. May it be so! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyFNAs2jRjU