Matthew 7:21-27 ESV “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.’ (24) “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (25) And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. (26) And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. (27) And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
The gospel presents everyone with a binary solution set. We can either accept the message or reject it. Partial acceptance is counted as rejection. In the beginning of this account Jesus tells us about people that appear to have accepted the Gospel. They identify Jesus as Lord, and they claim to have done might works in his name. Despite their claims Jesus calls them “workers of lawlessness”. He follows up this sobering statement with a parable that I believe is meant to expound upon message from verse 21. In this parable as we often find in scriptures, Jesus is condensing the affect of the gospel into the actions of two men. One man hears the gospel, and does it. Jesus calls this man wise. The other man hears but does not do what the gospel says. Jesus calls this man foolish. Over the next few days we will be considering this message in more detail.
Part II – Here
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