Football fans will remember Dallas Cowboy’s coach Jimmy Johnson making these remarks while celebrating his team’s Super Bowl victory.

What he was referring to was that during the days leading up to the Super Bowl, players from both teams made predictions and statements about how they would win, how they were the better team.  Such statements are easy to make, ‘You can talk the talk.’ BUT, the truth of the matter is that it is not what is said in the locker room that counts, it is what happens on the playing field.  To prove you are the best, you have to back up your claim with a victory, ‘You have to walk the walk.’

Jesus is saying, the same is true when it comes to faith.

"Not everyone who says to me:
‘Lord, Lord’
will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the
will of my Father in Heaven."

In other words you have to walk the walk of faith.

Jesus heard a lot of religious talk.  He saw the comings and goings of the Pharisees, the scribes.  He saw how religion had been reduced to habits and rituals.  He saw hypocrisy.  He saw inconsistencies between word and action. He realized that many people were in the habit of giving God lip service. They could talk the talk. Yet too often they were like the rich young man who addressed Jesus, ‘Good teacher.’ BUT he could not follow Jesus’ good teachings.

Jesus warns against such inconsistency,

"Not everyone who says to me:
‘Lord, Lord'
will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the
will of my Father in Heaven."

There is only one way in which a person’s sincerity can be proved, and that is by practice.  Fine words can never be a substitute for fine deeds.  There is only one proof of love, and that is the proof of obedience.  There is no point in saying that we love a person, and then doing things which break that person’s heart.

Did you ever say to you mother or father when you were a child, ‘I love you’?  They responded to your statement with a smile and saying, ‘I wish you would show it a little more in the way you behave.’

It is not difficult to recite a creed, but it is difficult to live the Christian life.

A child learns to sing the alphabet song long before they learn phonics and how to read.  A child can count to ten long before they know
2 + 2 = 4 or 8 - 3 = 5.

Jesus is more concerned with our walk than our talk.  He wants us to do right, not just say the right words.  We may be able to deceive people with our words, but we cannot deceive God.  "Faith without practice is a contradiction in terms, and love without obedience is an impossibility." - Wm. Barclay

What is the point of going to the doctors, unless we are prepared to do what the doctor tells us.  What is the point of going to a counselor, unless you are prepared to act upon his advice.  Yet every Sunday there are thousand of people who listen to the teaching of Jesus, people who know the Word of God, and yet make little or no deliberate attempt to put it into practice.

If you are going to do the will of God you need to start with desire.

Desire - God’s way is more important than your way. Without desire, you accomplish nothing.

Good teachers don’t just happen, they desire to be good teachers.

Churches bringing glory to God don’t just happen, the members of the body desire it to happen.

Athletes don’t just win gold medals, they desire it to happen.

Add to desire, discover

Discover - listen - let the word of God permeate.  Truth has to be absorbed.  Wrestle with it. Be challenged by it.

One of the greatest difficulties facing humanity today is Biblical illiteracy. The simple facts is that people do not know what Jesus said. The first step to building a firm foundation is to give Jesus a chance to be heard.

Along with desire and discovery is demonstrate

Demonstrate - acknowledge the Lordship of Christ.

His Lordship in your relationship, in your finances, in your behavior, in your life. Knowledge only becomes relevant when it is translated into action.  Anyone could pass a course on Christian Ethics, yet not be a Christian.

Jesus doesn’t care how good you sound religiously.  Come judgment day what is going to count, is not your deeds, but your relationship with Jesus Christ.

It is possible to serve the Savior without having a valid viable relationship with him.  Obedience gives validity to your profession.  If you love the Lord, its bound to show in my actions.  We are saved by grace, but the evidence of our salvation, our faith is found in works - obedience to the Lord’s demands and commands.

To emphasize the importance of obedience to His Words, Jesus provides an illustration.

Only a house with a firm foundation can with stand the storms.  Only life with a firm foundation can stand the test.  To have a foundations such as this, Jesus demands that we listen and do.

Practical obedience saves lives, yours.

Are you walking the walk?

AMEN