The Lord Jesus doesn’t hold back as he comes in to land the conclusion of his great Sermon on the Mount. Belief is to be backed with behaviour born out of obedience fuelled by grace. Interestingly, the key, Jesus says for getting into the kingdom is to do “the will of the Father." Of course, though this sounds a lot like earning your way into heaven, it doesn’t take long reading the New Testament to discover, salvation is by grace through faith alone. The will of the Father is to love his Son, obey his Son, receive his Son as Lord and Saviour. Living in the will of the Father has been the subject matter of Jesus’ entire sermon.

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We must admit, Jesus’ words are sobering. Many will serve powerfully in his name as ministers of the gospel, but will fall away before the end. Others will simply be fakes. What matters is a transformed heart

through faith which occurs from the inside out.

To pray the Lords prayer is to say “your will be done." This is a profound and overarching truth which grounds a believer daily. Jesus has taught us about the power of the request. What a glorious invitation we have been given, to begin each day with a welcomed request given to our Father in heaven —“your will be done in my life today."

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Jesus’ words ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’, on first hearing might seem hard to digest. How can the one who teaches to love always, to not condemn, to be careful with anger and contempt, say something so harsh? Because love is not defined by the absence of limits. God’s love imposes boundaries which are not arbitrary, they are grounded in reality. Reality, is whatever God says it is, because God’s words hold the universe together. He or she who has the Son, has life, they have crossed over from death to life. He or she who does not have the Son, does not have life and remains under the judgment of a holy God for their sin.

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Now might be a good time to check whether your righteousness is based wholly and solely on the goodness and grace of God in Jesus. If so, may God’s will be done in your life today. If not, repent and believe the good news, Jesus has died for your sins and because he rose from the dead, deserves your full and complete allegiance.