“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.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)
Most of us can recall a time back when we were young when we were afraid of something. I’m not talking about scared one night during a thunderstorm, but something more long lasting. Something like the fear of the boogiemonster or the monster in the closet, or we were afraid of the dark. We were scared that something much more bigger and powerful than us was lurking just around the corner, waiting to get us at just the right moment. And these fears lasted long times. A child is not scared of the monster in the closet for just one night. Monsters in the closet are monsters precisely because they never go away. The threat is always there, and for us, the threat was real. And while we eventually grew out of those childish fears to be afraid of other things (like cooties or first days at school or maybe relationships at home that weren’t right), if we are honest with ourselves, we acknowledge that the fear of boogiemonster cut deep into our souls and haunted our deepest darkest places and chilled our hearts with the cold of loneliness fear uncertainty.
The fact of the matter is, this is the way most of us feel about this verse. For some of you, it may be the first time you’ve ever heard this verse preached. Good for you. Take in the word of the Lord. However, I think that most of us have heard this verse before. And most of us, and rightly we should be, are petrified of it. These words of Jesus are the ones that haunt us at night when we are laying in our beds saying our prayers: “what if on the judgement day, these words become a reality? What if Jesus doesn’t know me??”
I think that maybe we all have a good reason to be afraid of these words. As far as I can tell, these people who say “Lord Lord” look a lot like most of us. First of all, they honor the name of Jesus. In English class, if we want to highlight something, we use an exclamation mark. For ancient Hebrews, the exclamation mark was to say something twice. For example, I go to the University of South Carolina. I love my school, and when I get excited about it, I yell “Go Gamecocks!” But if I were a person in the time of Jesus that went to USC, instead of saying “Go Gamecocks!” with an explanation point, I would say “Gamecocks, Gamcocks.” These people seem excited about Jesus on surface.
Second, they did a lot of good and holy things. As a matter of fact, it looks like they’ve done more holy things than you and I have ever done. They preached and prophesied, cast out demons, and preformed miracles. The last time I checked, I’ve never cast out a demon. And the last time I checked (insert name of person) has never healed someone or brought them back from the dead. So we have good reason to be afraid that Jesus might never know us: these people that Jesus mentions here are more excited about Jesus than we are, and they do even more holy things. That being the case, why would Jesus cast these people out of His holy kingdom? It seems almost ludicrous!
In my opinion, and I think this opinion aligns with what God’s word says, we as church people, especially church people in the South, should be absolutely petrified and terrified by this verse. If we really take seriously what Christ is saying here, then that means that a lot of is in here fall into that category of the condemned. Not everyone who thinks they are going to heaven are going to heaven. There are many of us in here that will say on the day of judgment that “Jesus is Lord” but Jesus will say back to us “I don’t even know who you are!” When we read these words, we should fear for our lives, for Christ is speaking of serious stuff here. So how can we tell if Christ really knows us or not? How do we know that our faith is sincere and that we are one of the ones that Christ will say to “Welcome home my good and faithful servant?” Lets dig into the text to find out!
First, from this text, we can learn that it apparently takes more to save someone than we originally thought. How do I know that? Quite simply because all of these people thought they were saved. Notice the question: “Did we not…?” As you might expect, these people sincerely thought they were going to heaven when they died. After all, they had cast out demons, fed the poor, clothed the homeless, and prophesied. The other day I was on the internet, and I found an article that said that 85% of Americans think they are going to heaven. Isn’t that an interesting fact? To put that in perspective, if you asked 10 random people at your school if they think they belong in heaven with God if they died right now, 8 or 9 people would always say yes. That’s sort of funny isn’t it? We as Christians know that 85% of Americans will probably not make it to heaven. But why do we know that? Quite simply because if we look at American society, culture, television, music, internet, churches, and even ourselves, we know that it is ludicrous to believe that we are going to heaven based solely on our own works. We know that 85% of America will not make it to the throne of grace because the faith that they profess doesn’t match up with the actions of their lives and the desires of their hearts.
But there’s more to this verse then just saying that the drug dealer on the street won’t make it to heaven even though he thinks he will. This warning of Jesus is not just for the evildoers, the rapists, murderers, or thieves who have deluded themselves into thinking that they knew Jesus. This verse doesn’t say “Did we pimp…?” This verse is for the “good” people in society. Quite frankly, this verse is for people who currently sit in the pews of the church and on the floor of the youth room. Now how do I know that?
Well, I know that because these poor souls held had a good theology. Not only did they believe that Jesus was “Lord, Lord” (twice for emphasis, mind you), but I’ve been told that the words for “Lord” in Greek here actually don’t mean only “master” but also Jehovah or God. These weren’t the people you might have encountered who think that Jesus was a good guy but wasn’t really divine or the Son of God. These are the people who are religious, who spend their time in Christian Supply reading all the good theology books. These people that Jesus never knew believed that Jesus was the Son of God:
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
They believed in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.
We believe in those things too, and what’s more, these people did more good works than any of us could have ever done. They even did supernatural things! You know, I’m beginning to think that these people to whom Jesus said “depart from me for I never knew you” were not really that different from you and me. They were good church people. They were in church every Sunday, always went to Sunday school, gave generously with tithes and offerings to the church, went on all the youth retreats, always came to Wednesday night, and did all the right things. As a matter of fact, these condemned people are exactly like us. So I guess the only question we have left to deal with tonight is “Why does Jesus not know these people?” What is it about this group here in Matthew 7 that Jesus did not like? What is it about these people that made them convinced about their salvation but led them to be tragically and miserably wrong? What could it be about you and me that makes us fall into the same category?
I think that if we look closely at what Jesus says here, we can figure out the mystery of what’s going on here and settle once and for all what the issue is. So here are a few points derived from the text that tell us how to avoid being the type of person that Jesus doesn’t know.
First, these people were obsessed with themselves and not Jesus. They were concerned about their own glory and works and not about glorifying God and making God look good. Plus, although they may not have been aware of it, they looked to their own good works to save them. (Elaborate…good works don’t save us). Remember how we talked about them saying “Lord Lord” in order to emphasize the name of Jesus? Well that’s not quite what they were actually doing. Instead of giving glory to God by saying “Lord, Lord” or shouting praises to Christ by saying “Lord!” what these people were actually doing was pointing attention to themselves. Just a few pages over, Jesus says this about prayer in Matthew 6:
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (ESV, Matthew 6:1-6)
Jesus tells us to pray and give to the poor in secret because if we do it in public, we are trying to bring attention, glory, and honor to ourselves. Thus it was with the people in our main text, those whom Jesus did not know. Instead of shouting out “Lord, Lord, save me!” they were shouting out “Lord, Lord, look at me! Aren’t I so awesome? Look at all the wonderful things I’ve done. The people that Jesus doesn’t know are the ones who find more joy in bringing attention to themselves by using their religion, good works, and spirituality, than those who really want to serve and honor Jesus.
This point is again backed up by the text just a verse below. When Jesus tells them at the throne of judgment that he does not know them, they are obviously surprised. In response, notice their flawed and awful response: “Did we not?” When Jesus accuses them of not being Christians, their first and only defense is not that they found themselves trusting only in Christ’s death on the cross to save them, but only in what they have already done. In short, they point to their works: “Did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” What they should have been saying is “Lord Jesus, I am a sinner and my works are useless. Save me!” And we know that works don’t save us, and when we stand before Jesus, we would be stupid to point to all the good things they’ve done. Just a point of clarification: what these people are not doing here is showing that because they loved Jesus they did a bunch of good things. If that were the case, then Jesus would gladly welcome them into heaven. What these people are doing is pointing to the fact that they think doing these things gets them into heaven. Bringing attention to our works instead of pointing to Christ’s work on the cross that actually saves us makes Jesus to not know us.
Second, these people didn’t know Jesus because they had a confession without commitment. Notice how they answer Jesus: “in Your name…in Your name…in Your name.” Certainly they confessed the name of Jesus. They believed he was God. They believed he died on the cross. They believed in the mystery of the Trinity, but yet they weren’t saved. We overlap with them too. So why weren’t they saved? Quite simply because they confessed the name of Jesus without any change in their lives. They said that Jesus was Lord, but they didn’t believe it or act like it. Some of you might know this verse:
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (ESV, Romans 10:9)
These people confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, but they never really believed in their heart. They believed the facts about Jesus, that he was really God, that he walked on Earth, that he died on a cross for our sins. But that’s as far as it went. They only believed some facts. Imagine it like this: I know that 2+2=4. I believe that that is a logical fact. But I can hate the fact that 2+2=4 is true. I can hate the numbers 2 and 2 and 4. These people do the same. They believe in mere facts, but don’t trust in Christ, don’t put their heart behind Him, and don’t love Him. Saving faith is not just about believing in some historical facts about Jesus in the same way that we believe that our youth pastor is currently in the Dominican Republic right now. Beleivng in Jesus means so much more than just facts, for it is written:
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!(ESV, James 2:19)
Even Satan himself thinks that Jesus got up from the grave. The difference is that he hates Jesus. And we do the same when we just simply say that Jesus is Lord but actually put our hope, trust, and reliability in our own works. We say we don’t need Jesus when we trust in our works or feelings to save us. But this is what most of us do.
I just recently got back from a trip to Washington DC. I was there for a church conference, and on the last day we had a free day in the city. In big cities like DC, there are subways. So while I was there, I got to ride the subway around DC. Here is my ticket. The ticket lets me get on and off of the subway and lets me ride. You see, I’m convinced (and John Piper is also) that we treat Jesus a lot like a ticket. We keep him in our wallets or purses, or maybe on our bedsides. If someone asks us if we have Jesus, we pull out our little ticket and show that we do, but we really don’t care too much for the ticket. The ticket is only a free pass to heaven anyways. It’s all about us. A professor or teacher would say that we are treating Jesus as a means rather than an end. We use our salvation and faith in order to get to heaven when we die, instead of getting us closer to Jesus. We are more concerned about going to heaven when we die rather than worshipping Jesus while we are alive. And this is a problem. When we treat Jesus only as a free pass or ticket to heaven, we put the focus on ourselves and not on God. And that is precisely what the people that Jesus doesn’t know do.
So I guess the main problem that these poor wretched people in Matthew 7 have is that while they believed that Jesus was God, but that that fact never changed their lives. They believed all the right things and did all the right things and confessed with their mouths that Jesus was Lord, but they didn’t confess with their hearts that he was Lord. If they really believed that Jesus died for their sins, they wouldn’t focus on themselves or the things that they had done in their lives. Rather, they would focus only on Christ’s righteousness to save them. But these people really don’t want anything to do with Jesus. And in that sense, this is not a real tragedy. These people never loved Jesus anyways…they only loved themselves. They use his name and do good works, but they have nothing to do with Jesus except that they use only his name. They are those who have a form of godliness, but deny its power. They are effectively Christians in name only.
Now here is what I am not and am saying. I am not saying that salvation comes by works. We don’t have to prophesy in Christ’s name or cast out demons in order to save ourselves. Works do not save us. Only belief (and believe means many things) and trust that Christ died for our sins saves us. What I am saying is that believing in Christ is much more than just believing in a few facts. It is much more than saying a prayer or simply just saying the words that Jesus is Lord. For not all who say Jesus is Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. You see, true saving faith is faith that begins by wanting to honor, love and serve Jesus. Elaborate here.
The question is, where do you fall? Does Jesus know you? Do you honor him with your lips but not with your hearts? Are you the kind of person who saves yourself by your good works, or are you leaning on the all sufficient, all glorious work of Jesus Christ and that alone for salvation? Our own works will not stand up to God's measure of righteousness on the day of judgment. We would do well to remember that.
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