“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.” – Matt 7:21-22
This is the difference between talking and doing. So it is apparent that as a comparison between what a believer of Christ “says” and “does,” it is not enough to simply name and claim a relationship with Jesus and do good things in His name to enter into heaven. Instead, doing the will of the Father by an indwelling of the Spirit is necessary but not how one may think.
Outward efforts of doing good deeds on your own without the Holy Spirit within you will not bring out the kind of fruit that the Father requires. Good done here and there on your own is not doing the will of the Father. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, must reside within you as necessary to do the Father’s will. That is, to bear fruit as the work of the Father is believing in whom He sent (John 6:29). Namely, His son, our LORD, and King.
Jesus will know you if the Holy Spirit, His Spirit, dwells within you. This dwelling within you will produce fruit. This fruit is a way to express a personal practice of obedience and worship. As John Piper puts it, “the people would be defined by faith in Jesus and the fruit of love.” [1]
This fruit authenticates your faith as a byproduct, but not the source or pursuit of your security and status before God the Father. The Spirit of Christ, His Holy Spirit, must dwell within you to produce obedience and worship of God, our Creator. An absence of fruit indicates an absence of Christ within you.
So this is the will of the Father. That Christ dwells within us and that as an outcome, we bear fruit. We love, obey, and worship. Whereas Christ is our righteousness and our everlasting peace.
[1] John Piper, “What Jesus Demands from the World” (2006 Crossway, Wheaton Illinois) 164.
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