In Matthew 7:21-23 [KJV], Jesus said:
Not everyone 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.
Again, for years, the buildings of my salvation and sanctification was threatened by this Scripture. 😓 I knew deep down that I had confessed Jesus as Lord of my life and that I believed it with all of my heart that God raised Him from the dead, and that I had submitted my life to Him. But the more I struggled with heart and character issues, the more frustrated I got and the more I lived in fear that I could never meet the Man my heart so longed to see – the Lord Jesus. The scripture looked straightforward on the face of it, until I studied it in context and realized it had been preached completely out of context to me.
Jesus had been talking about false prophets just a few verses up in the same chapter. From verse 15 all the way up to verse 23, He had been telling them to watch out for these false prophets who were ferocious wolves but came in sheep’s clothing. He gave them a key to identifying these unbelievers disguising themselves as believers; He told them that by their fruit they would know them, because no one could harvest grapes from thorn bushes [we can say same for believers, but we’ll discuss this another day 😊]. It is at this point that Jesus made the popular declaration – that He would tell them, when they came claiming to have used His name, that He never knew them!
Let me draw your attention to a couple of things in this text. By now you’re getting the point I’m making:
That Jesus was talking about unbelievers!
Did you ever consider Jesus’ use of the word ‘never’? 😅
These people did not lose their salvation. They never had it to begin with! 🤦🏽♀️ Jesus had at no point in time sanctified or justified them! 🤷🏽♀️
Jesus called these men ‘workers of iniquity’. The root of the word ‘iniquity’ is ‘anomia.’ It translates into contempt and violation of law, wickedness. It is not the same as merely missing the mark or transgressing the laws of God. It is a conscious, deliberate scorn against the Lord; being determined to live your own life outside of the authority or reign of God. These men the Lord Jesus was talking about were NOT sanctified believers whose spirit men had been regenerated [Titus 3:5]. They were NOT believers who may have been struggling to grow spiritually and who had trouble walking in the consciousness of their righteousness even though God had placed a desire and ability to will and to do of His good pleasure [Philippians 2:13]. The Lord was talking about men who knew the name of Jesus was supposed to be a covering, and thus took the name to indulge their selfish ambitions by engaging in the miraculous and by prophesying. They had never actually submitted their lives to Him. They were no different from the guards who knelt before Jesus at His crucifixion and cried, ‘Hail King of the Jews’ but only rendered lip service. Remember the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians in 1:15-18? He warned them about men who preached the gospel for their selfish ambition. Much like the magicians in the times of Moses who replicated every miracle Moses did, and very much like those we see in the present age, these workers of iniquity resort to nothing other than sorcery and demonic power to exhibit what appears to be a manifestation of the Spirit of God.
Let me show you an even bigger reason why these men were not believers. They came to Jesus actually depending on their works to get into heaven. They came reminding Jesus of their works of prophecy and miracles, none of them ever mentioned that they had been sanctified by His blood and justified by faith in the Lord Jesus!
So Jesus said it will not be he who says, ‘Lord Lord’ who will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but ‘he who does the will of my father who is in heaven.’ I don’t believe many of us have ever taken the time to find out what the will of His Father is. John the beloved of the Lord captured Jesus’ words beautifully in John 6:40:
For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Such beauty in truth! Have you looked to the Son? Have you believed in Him? Then stay in His Rest while He transforms you into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit! [Hebrews 4:11, 2 Corinthians 3:18]
Love,
RAD! ❤
PS: If you missed the other pieces on the Assurance of your Salvation, click on any of the following links to catch up! Double Jeopardy, We’re Not All Sinners and You Cannot ‘Work Out’ Your Salvation!
Amen sister! God bless!
Amen! God bless you too Ryan!!
Thank you for sharing. Bless you.
Bless you too Cathy! 😍
This is just right on point! I love it.
Thank you for the love Proph! ❤
This is just right on point! I love it.
Thank you for the love Proph! ❤
HA
Amazing!!! Blessed by this. RAD God bless you. 🤝
Blessed by your consistency too, Okyerewa!! God bless you for me! 😍
HA
Amazing!!! Blessed by this. RAD God bless you. 🤝
Blessed by your consistency too, Okyerewa!! God bless you for me! 😍
Blessings Rad
Blessings Amoah! ❤
Blessings Rad
Blessings Amoah! ❤
This topic has actually become a lot of burden on most Christians. Thank God for using you to bring clarity to his word.
God bless you dear.
God bless you for reading too Gid! Let’s keep sharing!
This topic has actually become a lot of burden on most Christians. Thank God for using you to bring clarity to his word.
God bless you dear.
God bless you for reading too Gid! Let’s keep sharing!
God bless you for sharing
God bless you for reading! 😊
God bless you for sharing
God bless you for reading! 😊