Matthew 7:21 "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.'"
In these verses Jesus says that there are people who will prophesy in His name, cast out demons in His name, and do many mighty works in His name, and yet He says He never knew them. You would have to believe that at some point in their life they came to know Jesus or know of Him and believe that His name has power in the natural and spiritual realms. Why else would they use it? But at some point in their lives, they became "workers of lawlessness"; evil, immorality, sin, wickedness, corruption. In one instance they are doing works of the kingdom of God; righteousness, peace, and joy, and in the next instance they are doing the opposite; lawlessness. The ones that Jesus is speaking of obviously thought that because of the things they were doing that meant that they were His disciples but Jesus says otherwise.
Since that's the case, we can't get caught up in those things because we too could be doing them and still be operating in lawlessness. Those things are things that we should be doing but we also and even more importantly must be doing the work of keeping our lives fit for the kingdom of heaven. We have to understand that our lives; the way we live our daily lives is of more importance to our eternal status than doing those things. We must be disciplined in the things of God; godliness and the word of God. Our lives as followers and disciples of Jesus Christ must be a reflection of His word and that we are abiding in His word. This is what those whom Jesus is speaking of will ultimately look past. Unfortunately, I believe by the word of the Lord that many of us in the church are looking past this ignorantly because we have been taught to do so foolishly.
The Apostle Paul said it best in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "...I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.". Paul knew that he had a duty to "discipline his body and bring it under subjection" and that if he did not do so he would not be qualified for entrance into the kingdom of heaven even though he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to others and had the "mighty works". Imagine that Paul, the apostle, the writer of the majority of the New Testament choose to disregard this teaching of Jesus and said "I don't have to discipline my body and bring it under subjection". What do you think Jesus would have to say to him "on that day"? Imagine what Jesus would have to say to him "on that day" if he allowed lawlessness to reign in his body? Well we don't have to imagine because Jesus Himself tells us what He would have to say to him if he didn't do those things, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you worker of lawlessness.'". Jesus will declare those words to all who fall into that trap of the devil.
If we choose not to discipline bodies and bring them under subjection; to the word, the will, and the ways of God, we too will find ourselves in the same predicament on track to hear the same words, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you worker of lawlessness.'". Let us not let those things; the prophesying, the casting of demons and the doing mighty works blind us or fool us. Ultimately that shows that we know the name and the power of the name, we know the Spirit and the power of the Spirit but He Himself, Jesus, the one who is seated at the right hand of the Father not know us because we have fallen back into doing works of lawlessness; evil, immorality, sin, wickedness, corruption. And it's not a hard thing to do.
The only way that we can avoid this trap of the enemy is by purposing in our hearts to abide in His word continuously. His whole word. The word of righteousness. The word of truth.
So, ask yourself today and every day this question, will Jesus "know me" on that day and welcome me into the kingdom of heaven?
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