Jesus' Sermon On The Mountainside: Wrong Focus

3) The Lord Jesus Christ's third warning was to watch out for the wrong assumptions about good deeds, which ignore relationship with God’s Son

The test for a claim to Christianity is whether or not we have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ

"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.' (Matthew 7:21-23)

There are two vital points here.
1) The first is that only the person who does the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven. Flip with me to the Gospel of John,

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:28-29)

The will of the Father is to believe in His Son.

2) The second point is the critical, vital, importance of being known by the Lord Jesus, to be intimately connected with Him, made one with Him.

God’s wisdom comes to those who have His Spirit

Spiritual discernment comes from a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do you know whether you have a personal relationship with Christ?

Tell God, “I want to make sure about my relationship with you. I want Your Spirit to tell me in my inner being that I am Yours. I confess that I am sinful person, and I know I deserve Your judgement. I know I stand condemned, and that I deserve the punishment that sin earns. I understand that I am I am helpless to change that.”

Ask Jesus to save you from the punishment you deserve, and believe with confidence that He will do that, He will save you because you know that He is God the Son and He came to earth specifically to save you from the judgement of your sin, because He loves you so much more than you could ever even imagine.

Ask Jesus to give you new life by coming into your life, by putting His Holy Spirit into your heart.

Tell Jesus you are ready to submit to His authority in your life, as He gives you the power to do it. You know you can’t do it by yourself, but when He puts His spirit in you, you will obey what His spirit says; as He enables, you will work it out.

Jesus says that whoever comes to him He will take to himself, so believe it, it is true, count on His peace and affirmation.

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