Enter By The Narrow Gate - Paul Washer

Here's the passage of scripture that hit me really hard when I was a lukewarm Christian. (I'm not sure if I should even call my old self a Christian) “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 ESV . . I was a hypocrite (and still am sometimes but God is working in me) and I realized that in this passage, Jesus was talking about people like me - People who claimed to be Christians but never really knew God, people who never had a real relationship with God, people who were relying on their own works rather than the righteousness of Christ! A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 7:18‭-‬19 ESV . . Only the work of God in our lives can enable us to produce good fruit, we can never produce good fruit on our own because of our sinful nature. Here are some questions we should ask ourselves. "Do I know about God or do I know God?" "Do I have a relationship with Christ or is it just a Sunday thing?" "Am I serving God out of my love for Him or is it because I want to appear good before others?"