Let’s first read Acts 2:21, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Acts 2:16-22 is referring to the prophesy we have in Joel 2:28-32.  Yet, the teaching is emphatic.  To call upon the Lord is to put your faith in Him and His finished work at Calvary.  It is to trust Him.  It is to believe on Him from the heart.  It is the same thought as we read in Acts 16:31 which says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…”  This is an unbreakable promise of God…if we truly put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be saved.

Now let’s read Matthew 7:21-23, “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.”  How then, are we to understand these words of the Lord, which show some who refer to Jesus as Lord, yet are rejected by Him?  To understand this, let’s read 1 Corinthians 12:3, “…NO MAN CAN SAY THAT JESUS IS THE LORD, BUT BY THE HOLY GHOST.”  This shows us that to truly call upon the name of the Lord or to believe on Him we must be led by the Holy Ghost.  When Peter acknowledged that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God”, the Lord responded to him by saying, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17).  It was the Father who enlightened Peter’s heart as the truth of His person.

When speaking to His disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world, the Lord Jesus said in John 15:26, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, HE SHALL TESTIFY OF ME.”  The Lord further said of the Holy Spirit in John 16:8, “And when he is come, HE WILL REPROVE THE WORLD OF SIN, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to us and to convict us of our sins that we might put our faith in Him.

However, it is possible to call Him Lord with no conviction of sin, with no work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.  This is the case in Matthew 7:21-23.  Let us examine these verses carefully.

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.”  The word ‘saith’ implies simply to say or speak the word.  In Acts 2:21, the word to ‘call upon’ the Lord implies appealing to or relying upon.  There is much difference in the application of these two words.

“But he that doeth the will of my Father.”  What is the will of the Father towards those who desire to be saved?  “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, THAT YE BELIEVE ON HIM WHOM HE HATH SENT.” (John 6:28-29).  Simply put, the will of the Father is that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior.

“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?”  While these men used the word ‘Lord’ it is obvious that were depending upon their own works to save them. 

“And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”  These men had no relationship with the Lord.  He NEVER knew them.  They were strangers to Him and strangers to His grace.  They worked for their salvation and their efforts were ‘iniquity’ or sin. 

I trust that we can all see that there is a huge difference between ‘calling upon the name of the Lord’ in sincerity and simply trying to use His name to our own advantage.  (446.2)