Call Upon The Lord

May 29, 2022

Devotions:

         “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 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? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” ‭Matthew‬ ‭7:21-23‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Here Jesus is talking to the Jews under the Old Covenant. They had a works based salvation. We who are in the New Covenant are saved by grace not by works.

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10:13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Jesus was trying to show the Jews that in their own strength they could not be saved. They need a Savior. Under the Old Covenant all the saints had was their own will power to try to do the will of God. They were to try their best but that was still not good enough.

“Jesus replied, This is the work (service) that God asks of you: that you believe in the One Whom He has sent [that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger].”

‭‭John‬ ‭6:29‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

We must call on the Lord to be born again. The new birth is the reason that we go to heaven, not our good works. But our change of identity is what causes us to do the will of the Father. The issue is knowing Jesus, not doing the works. If we know Jesus we will do the works that glorify God. No one is perfect nor do we do the will of the Father perfectly because we are in the flesh which is still unredeemed. ( We have a promise of our bodies experiencing redemption.)

We must look to the greater one within us to walk out our salvation. Our perfection is in Jesus and from that in dwelling presence comes our good works. If we truly been born again we will manifest the fruit of His life within us.