Bible Truth #64 - Matthew 7:21

Matthew 7:21

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

So there will be a lot of people who will call on Jesus. They will say, ‘Lord, Lord!’ But Jesus said they will NOT enter the kingdom of Heaven. Well, who WILL make it to Heaven? Jesus said only he who does the will of the Father. Well what is the will of the Father? Jesus clearly says what the will of the Father is in John 6:39-40:

39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Is it the Father’s will that ALL be saved? Is it the Father’s will that every human ever born be saved? NO. It is the Father’s will that Jesus lose NONE of those God has given Him AND that everyone who looks to the Son and believes WILL have eternal life.

“Looking to the Son” is a spiritual act, it is akin to looking to the Kingdom of God. A lost man can do NOTHING spiritual because he is spiritually DEAD, everything he does is done “in the flesh.” A man without the Holy Spirit can’t see anything of or from God. Jesus said in John 3:3 (Bible Truth #56) that unless a man is born-again, he can’t see the Kingdom of Heaven - so a lost man CAN’T look to Jesus. Satan has BLINDED the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the Light! (2 Corinthians 4:4) How can he look to Someone he can’t see?

So here is the sequence of salvation events in a man’s life: God chose him before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), God saves him by quickening his dead spirit through faith, the faith He gives (Romans 12:3; Ephesians 2:8), simultaneously gifting him with belief (John 6:29, Philippians 1:29), and repentance (2 Timothy 2:25), and that man can then, and only THEN, look to Christ. Looking to Christ is a RESULT of salvation, not the cause of it. Believing is a result of God working in a man, not the cause. Looking to Christ, believing in Christ, repenting of sin - these are all the result of salvation and are spiritual acts. Since a lost man is spiritually dead he can’t do any of those things. This is also why a lost man, those in the flesh, can not please God (Romans 8:8).

We become children of God NOT by human decision (John 1:13). It’s God’s decision and God’s alone.