Matthew 7

Matthew 7

verses 21-23

Jesus tells a group of people

to

depart from him - he never knew them.

This page will explain those verses

to make sure that

you and your loved ones never hear those words.

A helpful video

is presented further down

to answer many common questions.

Here are the verses.

Jesus said,

“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.

²² 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?’

²³ And then I will declare to them,

‘I never knew you;

depart from Me,

you who practice lawlessness!’ "

In those verses,

Jesus is obviously talking to people

who appear

to the world

to be "serving" God.

These people are not just doing "nominal Christian activities."

They are even

doing wonders,

( some miracles are NOT from God )

2 Cor. 11:13-15... 2 Thess. 2:9-10... Deut. 13:1-3... Isaiah 29:13 and
Acts 8:9-11 and Exodus 7:11-12 

saying they are speaking out new words from God

(doesn't mean the words are actually from God)

Jeremiah 14:14

And

casting out demons.

(I'm not sure how to explain ungodly people doing this.)

So

someone looking at their life might easily think -

"Wow, they really know God."

But in fact, these people do NOT know God at all. 

Matthew 7 is important to remember

when people come to your church

and they say

I am a prophet or a teacher, or an apostle, or a bishop

or give some other impressive title about themselves

or do some impressive act.

-

Do not be swept up in awe because of those things.

Matthew 7

is written

so that

we are not fooled by others because of their works

AND

so that

we are not self - deceived -

thinking OUR works

are evidence of a right relationship with Jesus.

Even if a person truly wants to bless God

with his or her works.....

Jesus is clearly telling us that

no matter how much you "Do" for God,

it will not get you to heaven. 

The key word in these Matthew 7 Scriptures

is

LAWLESSNESS.

Titus 2:14

tells us that

Jesus CAME to redeem us from

Lawlessness

and purify us.

Since lawlessness

keeps people from going to heaven -

we need to understand that word. 

This page will help you understand

lawlessness.

Below is a

helpful video.

After the video,

I will explain the word

Lawlessness

and

how to avoid being lawless.

Real believers vs. Make - Believe believers

As the speaker says -

Make - believe Christians

are not

interested in

confessing sins,

turning from sin,

and

allowing

the power of the Holy Spirit to change you. 

Consider -

Pursuing modern - day prophecies and supernatural events,

appear to be a glamourous and "fun" activity.

Yet

our day to day

godly assignments from God

of
drawing close to God in prayer,

Bible reading,

and obedience

are often seen

as

too boring and hard. 

There are two paths in life.

You choose to walk on one of the paths.

You are

either

walking

on the path of

actively

trying to be obedient to God

(it doesn't mean you are perfect at it - it does mean you are trying)

or

you are walking on the lawless path.

-

Jesus said in John 14:21,

"He who has My commandments and keeps them,

it is he who loves me. "

Path # 1

is

actively trying to obey God and drawing closer

to God

or 

Path # 2 

is

walking on the lawless path

 - The Book of First John -

1 John 2:29,  1 John 3:7,  1 John 3:10

First John tells us that

actively

trying to be obedient to God

is called

practicing righteousness.

If you are not

practicing

righteousness,

then

you are

practicing

lawlessness.

Think of practicing a musical instrument
in order to get better and better at it.

We will never be perfect, but we are called by God to improve until our time to go to heaven.

Jesus said in John 14:23,

"If you love me, you will obey me." 

We cannot experience

a good relationship with God

if

we allow our thoughts and attitudes

to continually

resist God's will for us.

Lawlessness

will shut the door to heaven.

Lawlessness

is

rejecting

God's laws

as your personal standard

of behavior.

Lawlessness

is

the idea of

being your own lawmaker

instead of following God's laws.

And

even if you are outwardly obeying -

you are inwardly rebelling.

Matthew 15:8

True Faith in Jesus results in a heart change.

You start out the Christian life pushing yourself to obey

and you end up loving God's ways.

Following Jesus will transform us.

The Greek word

 Lawlessness 

is also translated

Iniquity.

Iniquity = Lawlessness.

Does Jesus KNOW You?

Jesus "knows you"

if

you are practicing righteousness -

and that means -

you

are creating

a friendship with God

and trying to obey.

Jesus said to those people -

"I never knew you."

Jesus never knew them

as a

true disciple.

Jesus does not "know you" in your iniquity - 

Iniquity = Lawlessness.

God knows

the heart of each person and he knows their sinfulness

but

he does NOT know everyone in the intimate / friendship way

that he knows his followers.

God is -

The Father, The Son Jesus, and The Holy Spirit.

God knows ALL things. Nothing is hidden from him. 

Matthew 7 is saying that

God does NOT have intimate fellowship with lawless people.

Let's Be Clear - 

Ephesians 2:8-9

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast."

Next,

Let's Remind Ourselves that -  

Obedience

will result from

Genuine Faith in Jesus.

John 14:15 and John 14:23

A Saving Faith Produces Obedience.

Take Note:

We live in a lawless world surrounded by lawlessness.

Therefore,

a person

may naturally think,

"I'm better than most people - so I'm fine." 

Taking that attitude,

puts you on a dangerous path. 

I did a Youtube search for Lawlessness and came up with this video.

Video:

A Culture of Lawlessness

Let's gain more understanding by reading the

NLT version - starting in verse 20...

" Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. ²² On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ ²³ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ "

You do not get into heaven by obeying God's laws,

yet

if

you do not

try to obey God's laws

while developing a deeper relationship with God.....

you expose

what kind of tree you are

(verse 20 and verses before verse 20 ).

You expose

your lack of rightness with God

by Not trying to obey God's laws. 

A saving knowledge of God and dedication to God

results in

trying hard to obey God's laws. 

Your attitude

toward obedience to God

is

easily seen

by God.

God doesn't have to read your face,

he can hear every thought you think.

He knows if you are overly rebellious

or

if you just don't care about his laws enough to obey.

Not caring is described in the Bible as - Lukewarm.

1 John 3:23 KJV says...

"And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment."

The word  " believe " means more than just "thinking."

If you  " believe " in Jesus - then you believe his word and DO IT in obedience.

You believe and continue to believe and continue to follow the Bible because you believe.

Let's look

one more time

at 

Titus 2:14 ESV

It tells us that

Jesus came to

redeem us from lawlessness and purify us. 

Titus 2:14...

Talking about Jesus

says

"Who gave himself for us

to redeem us

from all lawlessness

and to purify

for himself

a people for his own possession

who are zealous for good works."

Titus 2:14 ESV

I highlight that

Jesus came to 

Purify us.

That means

we don't just say a sinner's prayer

and then

live life as we did before. 

Prayer - 

Purify my heart

We have lots more Bible Studies here

If you want a Bible Study on a Psalm  click here