Saying What You Don't Mean

[Sue J Love]

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23 NASB1995)

Imagine with me that you are married to someone. And one day, when you went to sit down on a chair, this person pulled the chair out from underneath you so that you fell to the floor and you hurt yourself. And then suppose that this person then said, “I am sorry!” Would you believe they were really sorry? And what if a week later, they did it again, with the same result, and again they said, “I’m sorry!” Would you believe they were really sorry? And what if this continued for months or even years with the same result? Would you believe that they were really sorry for their actions against you?

Lip service is not enough to prove your love for anyone, including for God. We prove our love by our actions, not just by words. And if we deliberately and habitually do what we know is harmful to others, that is not love. That is hate which comes from what is stored up in the hearts of those who choose to do what is harmful (sinful) to others, and which is against God and against his Word. So we can declare with our lips all we want that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, but if we deliberately and habitually sin against him, and if we do not change course, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

So all those people who are telling you that all you have to do is give lip service to the Lord, but that you don’t have to obey his commands, and you do not have to forsake your sins, they are lying to you. Even if they teach the importance of dying to sin and obeying God, but they teach them as optional, i.e. as something we should do, but that if we don’t do, that it won’t impact our eternal security, they are not speaking the truth to you, whether willfully or not. For God requires self-denial, death to sin, and walks of obedience to his commands in surrender to his will and purpose.

Now this is not saying that God demands absolute sinless perfection and that if we make one error then “bam!” we are out! See 1 John 2:1-2. But he does “draw a line in the sand,” so to speak. He does set a limit for what he will allow (not sanction) and what he will not allow. And the standard he has set for us all is that if we die to sin, not just once, but in practice, and if we walk in obedience to his commands, in practice, we have salvation and eternal life with him. But if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to God, then we do not have salvation from sin, and heaven is not our eternal destiny.

For if we deliberately and habitually do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, and obedience to his commands is not what we practice, it is the same as someone who is married to someone who is a practicing adulterer or adulteress who willfully and habitually chooses their sexual sinful practices over love and fidelity to their spouse. And saying, “I am sorry,” where there is no change of heart or behavior or life direction, does not cut it. And the same applies in our relationship with God. If all we do is say “I am sorry” but we keep repeating the same sinful practices, that is not biblical repentance.

And in the Bible, our relationship with Jesus Christ is compared to the marriage between a husband and a wife. For we who believe in Jesus, in truth and in righteousness, are his bride, and he is our husband. And we are to honor our Lord and obey his commands and not deliberately and habitually sin against him anymore than we should deliberately and habitually sin against our spouses by cheating on them with sexually immoral practices. For the marriage bed is to be undefiled, and we are to be united as one flesh, showing equal love and concern for one another.

And we are to be united with our Lord, all of us as one body, with him as the head, with him as our husband, and with us as his bride. And we are to be faithful to him, and live in moral purity, and do what is pleasing to him, and not deliberately and habitually sin against him while professing with our lips that he is Lord of our lives. That would be like a person saying “I love you” to their spouse while they are knowingly committing adultery against them, in practice. So lip service only will not cut it. We must deny self, die to sin, and walk in obedience to our Lord, in practice, then we will see heaven.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

Saying What You Don’t Mean
An Original Work / June 9, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love