“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. 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?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7: 21-23, NKJV.
Merciful Savior and Friend, Oh that we might know You, Who to know is life eternal (John 17: 3)! Oh, that we might serve You acceptably! Please teach us Your will and Your way as we study Your Word today. In the name of Your Son, Jesus, the Christ, we ask these blessings. Amen.
In all ages people have so much in common. That is why I find the Bible such an extraordinary book. It is unique in so many ways. It is an all-people, all-situation, and all-seasons, book. The message in our Scripture for today, is as valuable now, as it was, when Jesus uttered it for the first time. It is as good advise for Pharisees and Sadducees as it is for Publicans and sinners. All who have ears, should listen to what the Spirit is saying (Revelation 2: 7)!
In our society, people tend to see us as what we do. In God’s broader view, He sees our hearts, and knows that it is the other way around – who we are, determines what we do. Jesus summed it up this way: “Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7: 21). Yet, how many times, in our society, people are labeled incorrectly.
The first part of our Scripture is known and repeated by many. But it is the second half that I would like us to turn our attention to for a few minutes: “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?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” ’ ”
Jesus warned about the many false prophets that would exist in the last days (Matthew 7: 15; 24: 11, 24). Because we only see outward appearances, we are prone to take people at face value, and attribute to them titles, according to what they do. We are so caught up with people’s eloquence, and the amount of things that they do, and the many titles behind their names, that we fail to see who they really are. Not everyone who speaks in Christ’s name is His prophet, and only the final day will reveal the real fruit – because what we do, is determined by who we are. A false prophet will prophesy falsely, because that is who he or she is – a false prophet. It is important that we understand what the falseness consists of. Is it the message, or the messenger, or both?
We have prophets whose lives are not consistent with their message. That is a false prophet. We have prophets preaching in the name of the Lord, whose message is not from the Lord. That is a false prophet. And we have prophets whose lives and messages are false. These are also false prophets. I believe the people that Jesus is speaking about in our Scripture today, fit all three categories. The fruit of their lives contradicted their words. They were preaching a message in Christ’s name, but He had not spoken to them, because they did not have a relationship with Him. They pretended to offer something that they themselves did not possess. The Christ of the message was missing. They never took the time to become acquainted with Him. He never made their acquaintance. They never became friends. Not because Jesus did not want to be their friend, but because they did not allow Him into their lives.
Notice that Christ refers to their prophesying in His name, their casting out demons, and their “many wonders” as “lawlessness!” Apart from Him, we “can do nothing” (John 15: 4, 5) worthy of mention. Dearly beloved brothers, sisters, and friends, if “our works” are going to be able to stand the day of testing, they have to be “Christ’s works,” done through us, because only His works are righteous. Our best effort is nothing but “lawlessness.”
We will continue our study in this chapter.