The Wise Man

Imagine living your entire life working for God and arriving at the gates of heaven to be turned away. We can’t imagine that could be possible but Jesus warned us of this very thing. In both Matthew and Luke those warnings are recorded.

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:22,23

“When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: 26 Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. 27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.” Luke 13:25-27

How can this be? How could a person prophesy, cast out devils, do many wonderful works, eat and drink in His presence and invite God to teach in their streets and then be turned away? The answer lay in the last part of Matthew 7:22, “In thy name done many wonderful works”. If we are depending on our works to get us into Heaven the reality is we don’t even know Jesus.

There are two doors that call to us come and enter. Both promise us eternal life and both claim to be the way to God but there is only one door and only one way. Jesus said,

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:7-9 (KJV)

There is only one way in and that is through Jesus but what is He the door to, what are we enter in to? When we come to that holy place where Jesus stands and we knock what lay on the other side? Many have been deceived because they did not understand fullness of God’s plan. He is not the door to self sufficiency, wealth, or a wonderful plan for your life. Jesus is the way to God. When we enter we step across the threshold of grace and enter a room that can only be described by that same word. Grace! Amazing, marvelous, wonderful, glorious Grace!

The Grace of God is best defined as favor. In Christ we are moved from enmity to favor. No longer are we separated from God but we have found that place where “His grace is all complete”. The only way to pass through The Door is with a broken heart. The contrite and humble heart is welcome but the proud cannot even find the door. The proud heart cannot kneel and receive the free gift. It desires to find its own worth and strives to enter by birthright, knowledge, or works. The proud heart cannot find satisfaction in the free gift but will always look to self in a never ending struggle for identity. Blinded to the free gift and groping in the dark for answers the proud heart finds another door.

Next to The Door of Grace is another that beckons the souls of men. This door is much wider and there is no kneeling required. Above this door is a sign that says, “You Can Do It”. The words draw the heart longing for validation. Self esteem, self love, and self fulfillment are drawn to this door. Yes, Jesus died for my sins but now it’s up to me. If I can conquer my sins, make my life over, work hard enough, labor long enough then God will love me. We have earned the blessings of others all of our lives. We obeyed our parents and they smiled at us. We worked hard in school and earned good grades. We labored and disciplined ourselves as we climbed the corporate ladder. This door calls to us and everything we have ever known says it must be the way. It is not.

Disguising itself as the door to God, the works based life simply isn’t enough. When we stand before God and begin to tell of all the wonderful works that we did in His name we will hear those fateful words, “Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.” I have often wondered how could someone that had done all those things be wrong? How could God not know them? The answer is all about Grace.

Some believe that they are saved by Grace but then they must take over and clean up their lives, work for God, and show themselves worthy of His favor. This thinking is exactly what took you through the wrong door. You have not entered the room. You’re not even close. It is by faith that we enter into this Grace where in we stand. The elements of our salvation are well defined.

Jesus is the Door.
Faith, believing in Him, is the Key.
God’s Favor is the room we enter.

Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again. The New Life that we have entered is foreign to this world. We must continually wash our mind and soul with the Word of God because we are walking in the “strange land of God’s promises”. Living in God’s favor does not require you to anything but “be still and know that He is God.”

But what about our purpose, our mission, our work, shouldn’t we be doing something? Of course, we must be about our Father’s business. In that room of God’s grace we receive every good gift. Some of those gifts are the abilities and callings that we possess. Given to us by the Favor of God our work becomes a place of rest. There is no striving, no burnout, no discouragement because all that we are and do, every breath that we take, is a gift from God. We are abiding in His amazing grace. Consider what Paul writes to the Ephesians,

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10 (KJV)

Right after Jesus told His Disciples in Matthew that “Many will say unto me in that day...” and he tells them depart from me you WORKERS of iniquity, He gives them the parable of the wise man that built His house upon a rock. The wise man was able to stand every storm, every wave, every flood, but the foolish man lost it all. Building your life on your works will not end well. Building your life on the Grace of God can’t help but end well. Many expositors have likened the rock in this parable to Jesus. I understand the comparison but in the parable at Matthew 7:24 Jesus says, “The wise man is the one who hears what Jesus is saying and does it.” Now go back and read verses 21-23 again be wise.

I Ain't 'Fraid of no Ghost

Psalm 27:1 (KJV) - The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Do you remember what movie theme song that line was from? Our enemy has used fear as a weapon against the children of God from the beginning. Creating a crisis in our lives and then motivating us to respond out of fear. Fear of losing, fear of pain, fear of humiliation, fear for our life, fear we won’t have enough, the list goes on and on. Satan loves to make us feel insecure. I have seen men cower behind cars in the face of gun fire or freeze in their place when confronted by an attacker. One of the greatest dangers of fear is inaction. It can paralyze the strongest among us and stop us in our tracks. I remember once as a patrol officer my partner and I were dispatched to a “man with a knife” call. There were four police officers that responded to the call and I was trying to reason with the man. I had my baton and mace out as I was talking to the man, a former Laotian Army Captain, who was very drunk. The other officers were standing behind me with their guns drawn. The man was about 20 feet from me and there were civilians around that I felt were in danger so I sprayed mace in the man’s face to disable him. I expected the man to fall to his feet but instead he became enraged and ran at me. In a split second he had covered the 20 feet. He was holding the knife in an attack position like an army commando would. His training was proficient and he was going to kill me. The police officers behind me should have opened fire and shot the man but instead they froze. Fortunately I was able to defend against the attack and disable the man. In that moment, facing the same threat, some allowed fear to overcome them and other trusted in their training and stepped into the battle.
Often our lives are just like that confrontation. The enemy is upon us without warning and we must trust in what we know to be truth in order to overcome him. Paul says in Romans 8:31, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” Let me warn you right now! Lots of people and things can be against you. The enemy hates you and the image of God that is in you. He will attack you and try to destroy you. People will lie about you, slander you, undermine you, try to tear you down, and set in wait for you. The idea of Romans 8:31 isn’t that our lives will be a bed of roses with everyone just falling over before we get there, it is that with God we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord! You are a vessel of the Holy Spirit! God lives in you and when you learn to trust Him and follow His ways there is no weapon formed against you that can prosper.
When that knife wielding, former jungle fighter, lunged at me I had no time to reason. I had to trust my training. My baton blocked his knife and using a technique that I had practiced time and time again in the police academy I disabled his arm and used his own momentum to place him on the ground. The battle was over and I had won. When the enemy comes at you like a flood overcome your fear with the faith. Faith that God has equipped you with everything you need to stand against the attacks of the enemy.