Matthew 7:21-23 | “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
you know how you said: the I never knew you part is gonna be said at "faith alone" people tbh.
my dad likes to think it's people who never accepted Jesus but just attend church, others say it’s people who ‘earn it’
BUT I suspect it's much worse than what you all are thinking.
v.22 gives it all away: did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?
This knowledge leads to trust & real dependence on God..
humility isn’t feigned, neither is the praise & thanks to God
desire to know Him more because He is the only good there is
What did Jesus mean when He said, “I never knew you. Depart from me”?
Jesus said, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:23). It seems strange to hear our all-knowing Lord say there’s something—or someone—He doesn’t know. Jesus refers not to an intellectual knowledge here but to a relational knowledge.
To understand a verse, always start with the context. Jesus is wrapping up His Sermon on the Mount with a final warning about true faith. Jesus predicts that false Christian prophets will be coming as wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). They may use all the right “God talk” and even make impressive displays of power, but they will not belong to the Lord:
In Jesus’ words on Judgment Day, we see several important truths:
it’s not a verbal claim that one follows Jesus that saves (Matthew 7:21). Nominal Christianity cannot save.
it’s not a demonstration of spiritual insight or power that saves (verse 22).
A person can seem like a Christian in the eyes of other people, yet still be an “evildoer” in God’s sight & sent away from His presence (verse 23).
Only those who do the Father’s will & are known of God will enter heaven.
So, what is the Father’s will?
Some men came to Jesus once with a question about what God required of them: “They asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’
Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’” (John 6:28–29). God wants us to have faith in His Son: “This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 3:23).
Those who are born again by faith in Christ will produce good works to the glory of God (Ephesians 2:10).
When Jesus said, “I never knew you,” to the feigned disciples, He meant that He never recognized them as His true disciples or His friends.
He never had anything in common with them nor approved of them.
They were no relations of His (Mark 3:34–35).
Christ did not dwell in their hearts (Ephesians 3:17),
nor did they have His mind (1 Corinthians 2:16).
In all these ways and more, Jesus never knew them.
Note that Jesus is not breaking off the relationship here—there was never a relationship to break off.
Despite their high-sounding words & showy displays of religious fervor, they had no intimacy with Christ.
So it turns out that what matters isn’t so much that we know God on some level, but that God knows us.
As Paul explained, “Whoever loves God is known by God” (1 Corinthians 8:3; also see Galatians 4:9). The Lord “tends His flock like a shepherd” (Isaiah 40:11), and He knows who are His sheep (John 10:14).
Those somber words “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” in Matthew 7:23 (KJV) show that Jesus is indeed omniscient.
He did not “know” them in the sense He would if they were His followers, but He knew their hearts—they were full of iniquity!
Isaiah’s condemnation of hypocrisy fits this group well: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13). The evildoers whom Jesus does not to know are fake Christians, false teachers, and nominal adherents of religion.
Those who are bid depart from the presence of the Lord will not partake of the blessings of the kingdom: “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Revelation 22:15).
They will be cast “into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12).
Those fake Christians whom Jesus says He never knew will not produce the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23); rather, they will produce the opposite, the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19–21).
"What are the works of the flesh?"
Answer: Galatians 5:19–21 speaks of the works of the flesh, saying they are "evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these."
Paul then warns “that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The works of the flesh are the things human beings naturally tend toward that are contrary to God’s design for us (Romans 1:28-29). Those who pursue lifestyles characterized by immorality, anger, divisiveness, drunkenness, etc., are giving evidence they are not saved (Matthew 7:20).
When the Bible speaks of the “flesh,” it is often referring to our natural sin tendencies. We are all born with a sin nature (Romans 5:12). Our natural predilection is to please ourselves any way we see fit. We can be trained to behave in more socially acceptable ways & even find enjoyment in being kind to others. However, without power of God, we remain self-centered. We do what we do, even good things, because we receive selfish payoff.
Anything not done from faith or love for God—any deed not empowered by the Holy Spirit—is a “work of the flesh” (Romans 8:8; 14:23).
At salvation, the Holy Spirit moves into the repentant heart, making it possible for us to make choices of the Spirit, rather than the flesh (Galatians 5:16; Ezekiel 36:27; Romans 8:4; Colossians 3:5-8). Consider ourselves “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20) & our old sin nature dead (Romans 6:2,11), but the flesh does not die easily. A battle still rages within even the most dedicated follower of Christ. The apostle Paul wrote eloquently of this battle in Romans 7:21-23 say, “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind & making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.”
Works of the flesh are not always as obvious as the ones listed above. They can even be found within Christian ministry, as people try to gain popularity or self-worth under the guise of serving Christ. Diotrephes was rebuked for this in 3 John 1:9.
Trying to please God from selfish motivation leads to unhealthy competition, slander, bitterness, & eventual burnout (Galatians 1:10).
The works of the flesh are in total contrast with the fruit of the Spirit, detailed in Galatians 5:22–23. What pleases the Lord in our lives is not a “work” but a “fruit” that the Spirit alone can produce. We can avoid works of the flesh by staying continually submitted to the Holy Spirit & allowing Him to direct every aspect of our lives (Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:25).
Recommended Resource: Eternal Security by Charles Stanley
Jesus warns that one day He will tell a group of religious practitioners, “I never knew you.”
God takes no delight in sending people to hell (2 Peter 3:9).
But those who are told to depart have rejected God’s eternal purpose & plan for their lives (Luke 7:30).
They have spurned the light of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4),
choosing darkness instead, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19).
At the judgment, they try to justify themselves as worthy of heaven on the basis of their works (prophecies, exorcisms, miracles, etc.), but no one will be justified by his own works (Galatians 2:16).
While claiming to do all these good works in Christ’s name, they failed to do the only work of God that counts: “to have faith in the one he sent” (John 6:29).
And so Jesus, the Righteous Judge, condemns them to eternal separation from Him.
Recommended: Matthew, New American Commentary by Craig Blomberg
I taught her that the Lord’s prayer is HOW to pray.
Even though it’s a perfect prayer, it’s meant to show us prayer structure for when we need to ask for other things.
Proper prayers includes 3 things:
Addressing God with Praise and Honor. He’s a king and honor is due to Him. So you should always begin by praising Him.
Next you make your petition & last is humility.
In some way you say “Let your will be done”.
Whether it’s a yes or a no, be prepared to accept God’s will on the matter.
And if it is a yes, be prepared to allow God to make it happen HIS way. Sometimes we want something done a specific way, but God has a better way of doing it. That’s what I taught her
RE: Even though the Centurion deserved to be blessed, it didn’t mean that nothing bad would happen to what belonged to him.
Basically, even though he was already in a good standing with God, it didn’t necessarily mean everything connected to him was.
So his servant was able to get sick, his servant wasn’t invulnerable, but when he did get sick the Centurion had the right to ask for Jesus to heal him. But he did have to ask.
Sometimes we see things going south in our life & wonder why God let it happen instead of asking what God can do about it.
The things & people in our lives are not us, & are subject to being affected by the circumstances of this world.
But just because the world can affect them it doesn’t mean God can’t lift them back up stronger.
Birthday Horoscope for November 16th Happy Birthday dear Scorpio, the important events for you this year will have a connection with a child, with greater material gain or both things.
Happy Birthday dear Scorpio, the important events for you this year will have a connection with a child, with greater material gain or both things.
Photo by Eileen lamb on Pexels.com
It will be a favorable year for conception and childbirth. It will be a favorable year for any kind of change, development of a lawsuit or a new business.
Men will have a strong year. Time for a new beginning,…
There You Are Mistaken: A Man Who Is Good For Anything Ought No To calculate The Chance Of Living Or Dying; He Ought To Consider Whether He Is Doing Right Or Wrong..
