Most of us are pretty good people. We usually do what is right by others and usually treat others pretty good. We sometimes help others when we see something that needs to be done. We give a word of encouragement in passing to some that we feel need that word of encouragement. We are pretty good people.
Most of us are pretty good people. We believe in God. We worship Him from time to time. We even pray to Him once in a while. When someone brings it up we will talk about God and the Bible. We are pretty good people.
The people of Israel were pretty good people. They believed in God. They worshipped God. They were the nation of Israel, the people of God. Yet Israel had one fatal flaw throughout most of their history. They failed to fully submit to God. Romans 10:1-3 says, “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” After all of their effort, they still failed to fully submit to God. They worshipped, they sacrificed, they did good things, yet through all of that they failed to fully submit to God.
The day of judgment will be a sad day for many. It will be a sad day because there are so man pretty good people who will be lost. Many people who believe in God, read their Bible, live a good life, help people, and talk about Jesus are sadly going to realize on that day that they are lost.
Jesus describes the situation in Matthew 7:21-23 where He says, “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.”
I can worship God and be lost. I can do good things and be lost. I can live a pretty good life and be lost. I can do these things and be lost because of a lack of submission. God does not need me to do these things. God is looking for our total submission to Him. Israel missed the point because they didn’t submit to God. The people in Matthew 7 missed the point because they didn’t submit to God. If we fail to wholly submit ourselves to God, then we also miss the point. When we fully submit, we will obey, yet there is more to submission than these works.
We can either carry the full responsibility of our lives, our actions, and our sins on our shoulders, or we can give up our own will, our own perceived power and fully submit to God. God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly submitted to Him.
