I Never Knew You!

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. 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?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Our mouth speaks out of the abundance of our heart (Luke 6:45). Yet this same heart can produce words that have no authenticity.

Jesus tells us there will be many people on the day of judgement who will not enter the kingdom of heaven even though they call Jesus their ‘Lord.’ They have ‘prophesied’ in the name of Jesus, ‘cast out demons’ in the name of Jesus, and have done ‘many mighty works’ in the name of Jesus. Yet these professing Christians must ‘depart’ because they were never known by Jesus. The question really is not how many facts we know, but who are we known by. I may be able to recall so many facts about our President that it could seem like I know him. But if I showed up at his front door, he would say ‘I don’t know you, depart from me.’ I may know about him, but he certainly doesn’t know me.

False Christians are known by the fruit produced from their lives. ‘A tree is known by it’s fruit,’ we are told by Jesus. Those who claim Jesus as their Lord are workers of righteousness. They do not work righteousness to earn favor from God. Rather they work righteousness because they are known by Jesus the Righteous. A false Christian is a worker of lawlessness. They may speak words of righteousness and perform deeds of unrighteousness. Or they may speak unrighteously and act righteously. But they do not consistently do works of righteousness and speak words of Lordship. Those people are not known by Jesus.