Making Sure God Doesn’t Say I Never Knew You.
(Matthew 7: 21-23)
Introduction.
We looked at what Jesus taught us last time about how to false what he calls false prophets. Today we will think about what he says next about the future destination of such people. So, let’s look at the next verse where we left off, last time Jesus says.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
(Matthew 7: 21)
The false prophets we were talking about last time have a problem. They’re going to have a big problem when they stand before God, because this verse says not everyone that says to me (Or Calls me), Lord, Lord, shall enter the Kingdom of God. Their problem is they’re not going to heaven just because they haven’t spoken the real message of God, it because they are not believers and at this point he says that’s because they haven’t done the will of the father. This verse confused some people because in isolation it sounds like in order to get to heaven you gotta do the will of the father. Is that what it means, do you have to work your way to heaven by doing all the good things that God says we should be doing. Let me try and explain, in order to start to do that you got to look at the next verse for just a second.
On That Day.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?
(Matthew 7: 22)
The issue here is what people will say on what Jesus calls “that day”. You see this referring to a day of judgment. But the issue is there are several different judgments, so which judgment is this. The issue with this judgment mentioned in verse 21 is it is the day when “not everyone that says to me Lord Lord shall enter the Kingdom of God”. So, on that day when your eternal destiny is at stake (which is call the great white throne judgement, on that day the issue is have you done the will of the father, the only issue is, have you done the will of the father.
So, here’s the question, what is the will of the father?
What is the will of the father in order to get to heaven. The father has many wills/desire for us. There is a will of the father we should follow if we want to be happily married. There’s a will of the father as to what you should do with your money. There’s a will of the father with what you should do with your time, and your thoughts, and your speech. The question here is what is, what the will of the father, in order to have eternal life. God has many plans and purposes on how we should live the faithful life but he as only one will as to how we can enter heaven. It easy when you look at it that way.
Look at John 6: 39 it tells us clearly.
This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
(John 6 39-40)
What is the will of the father? It is for us to have everlasting life by believing in Christ and that is what it clearly says in all these verses say.
Here’s my point, Matthew Chapter 7, on the day of judgment, the issue isn’t whether we do or do not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus says we will, but these false prophets didn’t do the will of the father meaning they not only misused the gospel, but they didn’t really believe that the only way to heaven was through the son which is why he will not recognize them as believers. To enter the Kingdom of heaven all you have to do is believe in Jesus Christ and that salvation is by faith alone, in Christ alone. It’s trusting Jesus Christ for the gift of eternal life. It’s not doing something, it’s about believing in someone.
Now let’s go back to the passage and let me point out what their problem was in terms of their eternal destiny. Now keep in mind it’s the day of judgment, keep in mind the issue “on that day” is where you’re going to spend eternity. Listen carefully to what they are going to say as criteria to get into heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?
(Matthew 7: 22)
Look very carefully and think for a minute they’re standing before God and the issue is whether they’re going to enter the Kingdom of God or not, and here’s what they say. “Look what I did”. That’s their claim for entry into heaven, “look what I did”. First of all, I called you Lord. Isn’t that interesting you mean there are people who call Jesus Lord and they don’t even know the Lord. The fact is that not everybody that uses the name of Christ, knows Christ. How do you know, I mean if they’re using the name of the Lord how do you know if Jesus really is their Lord? Well again the answer is you will know them by their fruits, and the fruits in this example is what they say or preach about Jesus, and the words we should are looking for are words that say they believe in Jesus Christ and they believe they’ve were made right before God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That’s what God is looking for, as confirmation of a true follower of Him, and that is what we should be looking for. We want to hear people say I’m saved by grace through faith, plus nothing, minus nothing. However these people say look at what we’ve done, “we prophesied in your name” we cast out demons in your name and on top of all of that I did wonderful wondrous other works, in you name. They’re using the name of Jesus, rather than believing in the name of Jesus.
Can non believer do miracles.
Isn’t that interesting, does that bring up any questions in your mind. Does that mean that an unsaved person can do all of those sorts of thing. Because these people don’t know the Lord and they say they have done these things. I mean it sounds impressive, they look like they’re doing wondrous works, doesn’t that prove they’re from God. Well, according to Jesus, not necessarily, It great when those things happened credit is given to God, but in isolation they should never be used as a measure of whether someone is saved or not, or even if they are a true prophet of God or not. Only if the declare that Jesus is Lord and he is the only way in which we might be saved and gain eternal life. What Jesus says here is that the only thing God wants to hear on judgment day is to hear you say their salvation was by grace through faith in Jesus. So can an unsaved person do these miraculous things. Well keep one foot in Matthew 7 for a moment, we’re coming back to it, and go to Matthew chapter 10 where Jesus is seen to call his 12 disciples.
And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.
(Matthew 10: 1)
That’s all-wondrous works, including casting out demons prophesying as mentioned here. Alright now let’s see the list of the people he gave this power to.
Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.
(Matthew 10: 2-4)
Let me ask you a question, was Judas able to do miraculous things. This passage says he gave 12 people that power and he name them all, and Judas is amongst those he named. So, it is perfectly legitimate to come to the conclusion that Judas also had those powers. God will always honors his word and I believe sometimes it is preached by people that don’t even know the Lord themselves, but at the same time people are saved by it. In fact, I believe that happens all the time. I believe as may bible experts suggest that all the disciples were able to do these miraculous things because they did it in Jesus’ name. So that God honored as was the name of Christ, not just those that speak it out. Here’s the point let’s go back to Matthew 7: 22, were we see that these false prophets are standing before God and their eternal destiny is the issue and here’s what they say to God, he is what they rely on as a way of justifying their faith life. “Look what I’ve done”, wrong answer, for them it was their final answer. Jesus will then say to them in verse 23.
I never knew you.
“Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
(Matthew 7: 21-23)
Jesus says the real issue is always did you trust in me, and if you didn’t then that means I didn’t know you, so depart from me. It’s not what you know, it's who you know and that’s never truer than when you are get to heaven.
Let me pause here for just a moment and get back to the false prophets. God says I’ll let you into eternal presence if you have trusted in my son. On one hand some are appearing and saying, look what we did, we cast out demons and did miracles, so on one side you have these false prophets rocking up to their final judgement saying look at what I’ve done. And on the other side is another group of people who will say, I’m here God, I read my Bible every day, and went to church every Sunday, let me into to heaven, well they are all in the same boat. The only answer that will get you into heaven is the answer that says, I’m a Sinner and I don’t deserve anything, but because Jesus Christ died for me he arose from the dead and I am trusting in Him for the gift of eternal life, and I am thankful to receive that as a gift of Gods grace and then and only then will you be welcomed into eternity.
What I’m asking today is because Jesus is asking it here is have you done that? Do you know him, have you trusted in him , because that is the only way you will ever make it through the pearly gates. It’s not what you’ve done it’s who you know. Now having said that, let me go back and wrap up the problem with our false prophets. You need to know who the false prophets are because there’s a lot of religion being peddled in the world today. Jesus is saying in this passage beware of false prophets who look like true prophets, who speak like true prophets, who even do things true prophets do, but the litmus test of a true prophet is not the miracle but whether what they say and do accurately conveys the message of God as determined by the word of God. The issue is did they tell you or show you accurately what is in this book. That’s the issue and there’s no more fundamental issue than that.
The way to have eternal life is by trusting Jesus Christ, so the test of a prophet is not his wardrobe just because someone wears a clerical collar does not mean they represents God. Outward appearance proves absolutely nothing. It can look like a duck, it can waddle like a duck, it can quack like a duck, but if it’s not giving you the message of God it is a decoy and it’s not a duck. It has nothing to do with outward appearance, the plumb line of a prophet is not his works, it’s his words, So look at their words because they may sound spiritual but you’ve got to probe and see, and think do they meeting the criteria of a true prophet or are they a decoy, a deception. It’s not whether or not they performed supernatural works, the test of the false prophet is whether or not they speak scriptural words.
That means you have got to know the scriptures, you got to know the word, you got to know this book because let me tell you there are a lot of deceivers out there particularly on the internet. In fact, the internet is making things worse than they have ever been. You got to be careful and the only solution is you’ve got to know this book. There are no short cuts, a lot of Christians don’t spend the time or the effort to get to know the book, which means they become vulnerable to deception. People in our society believe their senses so if something looks like a duck, waddles like a duck, quacks like a duck they believe it’s indeed a duck but that’s not always so. In the Christian world if an animal looks like a sheep sounds like a sheep and it’s covered with wool it’s might a sheep, but not necessarily, it could be a wolf disguised as a sheep. So, Jesus says beware of false prophets.
I’ve been speaking about false prophets but portion of this applies in the sense that you too need to know for sure that you’re going to heaven. I’d like to take a minute and try and nail that down for everyone listening. I don’t normally do this in these podcast but today it feels like it is the right thing to do. Let me ask you a question, do you know for sure you’re going to heaven, if you don’t it means you’ve never trusted Christ. Well if that’s the case then right now I want to invite you to pray, I want you to pray if you’ve never trusted Christ before.
Here is what I’d like to suggest you do, say “God I admit to you I’m a Sinner” you don’t have to list all your sins, God knows them already. Just admit you sins and then say I believe Jesus died for me and I want to trust him for my salvation. Don’t pray it or say it if you don’t believe it or mean it, but if you do. then say it and pray it. If you don’t know for sure make sure right now just tell God right now, I am trusting in Christ. I’m going to ask you to do one thing if you have done that for the first time today. Tell someone what you did today. Find a Christian or if you don’t know any then find a church in you area that preaches from the Bible and tell someone there I just told God, I wanted to trust in Christ.If you can’t do that drop me a message on the podcast Facebook page and I will try and link, you in locally with someone who can help and support you on this amazing journey you have embarked on this day following what you have done with God today.