In Name Only

What’ s in Celebrex recall a name?  A title?  What are Nifedipine preterm labor the attributes Side effects Celexa 10 mg of metronidazole of your life that set you apart from the people around you?  A fireman who runs into a burning building, putting  himself at risk for the sake of another is called “hero”.  A man who beats his wife is called “scum”.  Both men earned these names.  Both are deserving of the privilege or scorn that follows them based on that name.

Now, if a man claims to be something he is not, won’t that eventually find him out?  If he fancies himself a hero but does not do heroic deeds would it not prove that he was never a hero at all?  What are some of the names that you claim?  Consider the following verses:

Mat. 7:21-23

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 then I will declare to them, “I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

Here we see a most grievous, deadly case of claiming a false name.  One that Jesus says is true of MANY.  Many who claim the name of Jesus do not, cannot claim the title “saved”.  They are not identified with Christ.  These are people who say that they have something to do with Jesus.  These are people who have done mighty works in his name.  Simply claiming the name Christian does not save you!  You have Digoxin classification to be Metoprolol vs atenolol able to Zovirax 800 mg do everything Cialis Jelly 20 mg that name implies.  This is a high and impossible calling.  We cannot do this.  No amount of claiming the name of Jesus, wearing a cross, or going to church will help you enter the kingdom of heaven.

People who are saved don’t go to church every week or read their Bibles every day just because it is a Christian or moral thing to do.  They do these things because it flows out of their heart because Jesus resides there.  Christians aren’t perfect, they can’t be, but this is precisely why they need Jesus.  A Christian understands this.  They are poor in spirit.  They are ravaged in the knowledge of their sin.  It rips them apart to the point that they recognize their daily need for Jesus.

This next bit is a hard truth but it is best to hear it now than later.  When Jesus says the words, “I never knew you, depart from me” there is no more time, no more hope.  You will not pass into eternal life with Jesus.  But this day has not yet come.  There is still hope.  What is that hope?  I’m glad you asked.

Mat. 7:13-14 tells us to enter through the narrow gate – this leads to life.  To pass through the narrow gate instead of the wide is to enter salvation.  “How do I do this”, you ask?  What does it mean? To be able to enter it you would have to be perfect.   The narrow gate has room enough for one person: Jesus.  He is the only one who could enter it because he was perfectly blameless.  You might look at it  as if this gate is cut out in the one-of-a-kind shape of Jesus.  The only way to get through it is to look like Him.  When we relize that our sin is keeping us from entering into life and ask Jesus to mold us in His likeness – to save us – we can enter through Him.  He is the gate!  Every other gate possible leads to the broad path and destruction apart from Christ.

Entering does not mean that you plan to enter someday.  It doesn’t mean studying it, thinking about it, or being around people who talk about it.  It is making a decision and acting on it.  Every decision we make is an opportunity to show that we are indeed in Christ; that we chose to enter the narrow gate.

Jesus has not yet spoken the words “depart from me”.  There is still time to make this decision.  Make it and act on it before it is too late.  Choose to enter through Christ and, by doing so, enter into life and the kingdom of heaven.  Don’t be one of the many that will hear the words “I never knew you”.  Don’t be a Christian in name only.