21. Enter the Kingdom
Matthew 7:21 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 say, “Lord, Lord,” but not all those will enter the kingdom of God. Those who do the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of God. If you do the will of the Father, then you shall enter the kingdom of God. That’s a big IF. Who does the will of God, that is, perfectly obeys all the commandments? No one, except The One: Jesus did the will of the Father and entered into the kingdom of heaven. He did it for us. By faith in Christ we identify with Him and so have “done the will of His Father in heaven.” By faith we follow Christ right into the kingdom: we live now, today, in the invisible, spiritual kingdom within the hearts of believers; and we will live, after death, in the visible, eternal kingdom in the new heaven and new earth.
The person who “does the will of the Father” is the person whose heart has been changed by the love of God, the forgiveness of sin, eternal salvation, and the promise of eternal life: the very will and desire of the believer has been changed, for now he wants to do the will of God (obey His commandments). However, he is not able to do what he wants because of the sin that remains in the flesh. Therefore, he repents of his failure to perform the will of God and his failure to fulfill even his own desire (“the good that I would”); he receives forgiveness for Christ’s sake by faith in the Gospel; by the power of the Gospel he now does the will of God more and more. It is the Spirit of Jesus within that actually does the will of God and completes the good works the believer was created for.
Jesus Christ does it all for us and in us: the IF has been completely satisfied. Therefore, we have the promise: enter into the kingdom of heaven, now by faith, later by sight.