“A form of religion………….”

“A lot of you are going to assume that you’ll sit down to God’s salvation banquet just because you’ve been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives.   Well, one day you’re going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you’ll find the door locked and the Master saying, ‘Sorry, you’re not on my guest list.’

 “You’ll protest, ‘But we’ve known you all our lives!’ only to be interrupted with his abrupt, ‘Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing.  You don’t know the first thing about me.’

 “That’s when you’ll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace.  You’ll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets march into God’s kingdom.  You’ll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God’s kingdom.  And all the time you’ll be outside looking in—and wondering what happened.  This is the Great Reversal: the last in line put at the head of the line, and the so-called first ending up last.”                                        Luke 13:24-30 MSG

God has set in order the requirement for entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven.  It has nothing to do with a building it has to do with having a relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Calling Christ Lord or anything else is not enough it is doing the will of God.

So Jesus announces the condition for the Kingdom.  

First of all, in Matthew 7: 21 we saw the condition for entrance.   In verse 22 we see the cry of those who were refused entrance; "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name and in Thy name have cast out demons and in Thy name done many wonderful works?"

When Jesus in judgment says not everyone that says "Lord, Lord," all of a sudden there's an outburst, there's a plea from the hearts of these people and they cry out and they say we've done all these things.

 Many people are going to go to heaven, perhaps with nothing to show but simple faith in Jesus Christ.  But many more people are going to go to be turned away, eternally disappointed because they thought their religiosity was enough.

 Millions of people depend on their morality, their good deeds, their baptism, their church membership and/or their religious feelings. There will be many church workers in Hades, there are going to be many pastors, apostles, prophets, and teachers there, too, sad to say and I'm sure there are going to be many there who are going to say to Jesus, "Lord, it's us, we prophesied in Your name."  But Jesus will tear off the sheepskin and lay bare the ravening wolf.

That's exactly what He's been talking about in Matthew 7: 15 -20; false prophets…..those who claim to have reality and have it not.  

What a picture it is.

The false revealed.

Luke 13:25-28: "When the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late.  You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’  But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’   

Then you will say, ‘But we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’  And he will reply, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you come from.  Get away from me, all you who do evil.’

 “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for you will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you will be thrown out.”

 Another illustration of that same day; those who are cast aside because all they had was the “religion” of Jesus without the reality of a relationship with Him. How sad to see them outside crying to gain entrance.

I'm reminded of those people in Noah’s day that must have been doing much the same thing when they were banging on the doors of the ark trying to let Noah know that they finally believed what he said was true.  They were crying out and banging on the door wanting to come in and they could not.

Do you have only a form of godliness?

 Do you know the Lord personally?