What did Jesus actually mean in Matthew 7:21-23?

ByTheSpirit

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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.’
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 7:21–23.

A lot of people use these verses to denounce Charismatics or the idea that the gifts have proceeded into today. They say well Jesus clearly denounces those who do such things and say that He never knew them. Well this is a major misconception of what's going on here.

Jesus didn't say what they were doing was lawlessness, Jesus say they were workers of lawlessness because they didn't know him. John in 1 John 3:4-6 says that sin is lawlessness and that those who practice sin do not know Jesus.

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 3:4–6.

Now there is no way that prophesying, healing, casting out demons is sin. Jesus did those things, the Apostles did those things and they weren't sinning. So what does he mean then? What are we saved from? Is it hell? In a sense, yes, but that's not it on base level.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 1:21.

We are saved from sin! From the power that sin holds over our lives (Romans 6-8). This is how you can tell a child of God from a child of Satan.

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 3:7–10.

This is why the New Testament is full of warnings to people to flee from youthful passions, to put to death the deeds of the body, to walk by the Spirit, not by the flesh. Because:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Pe 2:24.

Therefore:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Pe 1:14–16.

So bringing this back to where I started, when Jesus tells these people on judgement day that he never knew them. It wasn't because they cast out demons, it wasn't because they did mighty works or prophesied, it was because they never let go of their sin.

Casting out demons, prophesying, mighty works are all to be normal activities of the kingdom of God, but we can still be living in sin without an actual relationship with Him while doing so. These are not signs of people who are living purely holy lives.

The Corinthians were a church that experienced many mighty workings of God's Spirit among them, yet they had a number of awful sins they were dealing with. So again, holiness is not verified by mighty signs and wonders.

Jesus won't rebuke and deny these people because they did mighty works (or faked them as some would claim). Jesus will rebuke and deny them because they never gave up their sin and so refused him as their Lord.

Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Am 3:3.

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 6:46.

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.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 7:21.
 

com7fy8

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Do you think they did what they claimed they did?

Jesus says He never knew them. If He never knew them, may be they are lying.

So, if ones claim they did all that they claimed but were sinning, I find it interesting that they believe what workers of iniquity would claim about themselves.
 
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ByTheSpirit

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Do you think they did what they claimed they did?

Jesus says He never knew them. If He never knew them, may be they are lying.

So, if ones claim they did all that they claimed but were sinning, I find it interesting that they believe what workers of iniquity would claim about themselves.

I won't exclude the possibility that they were lying, but there's a couple of reasons to believe that they were not:
1) They are literally in front of Jesus and to think for a second that Jesus wouldn't know if they are telling the truth is a bit absurd. So why try to lie their way into Heaven knowing that Jesus would also know if they are being honest.
2) As I stated in my OP, sinning doesn't mean a person can't prophesy or cast out demons or do mighty works. The Corinthian church was full of sin, yet had many powerful works of the Spirit. The Galatian church was on the brink of falling from grace, yet the Spirit was still working miracles through them.

To me, I think a correct understanding of "works of lawlessness" and "I never knew you" was that they had never fully given themselves to Him to be free from sin, they continued in sin even as they did what the Kingdom of God should be doing, and on Judgement Day they find out that the whole time they were living in a lie. That lie is that a person doesn't have to live a holy life, as is perpetuated in most all the churches that exist today (at least in the western world)
 
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ByTheSpirit

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I don't think those people were ever Christians at all... because Jesus said he "never" knew them. I believe they had always been false, always been weeds among the wheat.

True, yet what they did made it seem as though they were in fact, among the faithful. Jesus was exposing them, but not exposing them because they did mighty deeds in his name. But because they were workers of lawlessness... and sin is lawlessness 1 John 3:4. So because they weren't holy, they were denied entrance into Heaven, and condemned as sinners. Even though, they called him lord.
 
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Mr. M

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Jesus didn't say what they were doing was lawlessness, Jesus say they were workers of lawlessness because they didn't know him.
Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam
to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according
to the likeness of the transgression of Adam,
who is a type of Him who was to come.

Before Moses, people died in sin, without a command
to violate. Their actions were guided by the knowledge
of good and evil. This knowledge, established in the
carnal mind, undermined the righteousness of the Law.

Romans 8:
3
For what the law could not do in that it was weak
through the flesh, God by sending His own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin:
He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be
fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh
but according to the Spirit.
Thus, the promise of the Spirit remains as essential
today to fulfill the righteousness of faith.
By the Spirit, we are not directed by good vs. evil,
we are directed by God/Not God.
At the judgment, many will claim to have done "many
wonderful works" i.e. based on their knowledge and
opinion of what constitutes "good".
By the Spirit, we know God by His Son, and can know
and perform His good, and acceptable, and perfect Will
for each of us at a completely personal level.
 
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Maria Billingsley

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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.’
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 7:21–23.

A lot of people use these verses to denounce Charismatics or the idea that the gifts have proceeded into today. They say well Jesus clearly denounces those who do such things and say that He never knew them. Well this is a major misconception of what's going on here.

Jesus didn't say what they were doing was lawlessness, Jesus say they were workers of lawlessness because they didn't know him. John in 1 John 3:4-6 says that sin is lawlessness and that those who practice sin do not know Jesus.

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 3:4–6.

Now there is no way that prophesying, healing, casting out demons is sin. Jesus did those things, the Apostles did those things and they weren't sinning. So what does he mean then? What are we saved from? Is it hell? In a sense, yes, but that's not it on base level.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 1:21.

We are saved from sin! From the power that sin holds over our lives (Romans 6-8). This is how you can tell a child of God from a child of Satan.

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 3:7–10.

This is why the New Testament is full of warnings to people to flee from youthful passions, to put to death the deeds of the body, to walk by the Spirit, not by the flesh. Because:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Pe 2:24.

Therefore:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Pe 1:14–16.

So bringing this back to where I started, when Jesus tells these people on judgement day that he never knew them. It wasn't because they cast out demons, it wasn't because they did mighty works or prophesied, it was because they never let go of their sin.

Casting out demons, prophesying, mighty works are all to be normal activities of the kingdom of God, but we can still be living in sin without an actual relationship with Him while doing so. These are not signs of people who are living purely holy lives.

The Corinthians were a church that experienced many mighty workings of God's Spirit among them, yet they had a number of awful sins they were dealing with. So again, holiness is not verified by mighty signs and wonders.

Jesus won't rebuke and deny these people because they did mighty works (or faked them as some would claim). Jesus will rebuke and deny them because they never gave up their sin and so refused him as their Lord.

Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Am 3:3.

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 6:46.

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.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 7:21.
The only way Jesus Christ of Nazareth does not know someone is if His Holy Spirit does not dwell in them. He makes His Home in the regenerated believer. Born Again.
Signs and wonders are not necessarily the bar in which to judge rather, it is the fruit.
Blessings.
 
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Hawkins

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From a legal point of view, in order for you to be judged by means of a covenant, you need to first nominate yourself to subject to that covenant. Once you declare in one way or another to believe in Jesus, you are thus entitled to the judgment using such a covenant. Other than this, we don't actually have the capability to evaluate anyone's faith precisely. Our faith can roughly be told to humans (including ourselves) by means of our behavior. That's why faith without work is dead.

Salvation is also a lifetime process. Even in terms of behavior, it is an evaluation of one's behavior during his life after being nominated to the covenant. You thus need to do God's will from the baseline of belief working towards holiness which is Christ-like by following His teaching and commands. In the end, Jesus who knows how to evaluate faith precisely will make the final judgment.

So it's almost meaningless for you to say "Oh Lord" at only one moment of your life but seldom truly follow Jesus' teaching and commands for the rest of your life. There are a lot of ex-Christians as well. They did everything we are doing at some point in their life. Are they still saved? I doubt that. Some of them are actively fighting Christianity now. When the judgment comes, they might well say that they did everything a Christian does, only for a moment though.
 
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ByTheSpirit

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By the Spirit, we know God by His Son, and can know
and perform His good, and acceptable, and perfect Will
for each of us at a completely personal level.

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 17:3.

Eternal life is knowing God. But how can one know God if they are living in sin?

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 3:6.

This to me is what Jesus is referencing by saying "I never knew you" "Depart from me workers of lawlessness". Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4)
 
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Mr. M

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Eternal life is knowing God. But how can one know God if they are living in sin?
By the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 5:14, John 16:9

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
You cannot gloss over "who abides in Him", and assume
that someone who claims "Jesus is Lord" is abiding in
the Spirit. If someone speaks or acts "from the flesh",
they will sin. When we are abiding, and are "slow to
speak or act", we can live a day without sin.

James 3:2 For in many things we offend all.
If any man offends not in word, the same is a
perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

There is only one day that you can abide
and not sin--Today.
 
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ChetSinger

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True, yet what they did made it seem as though they were in fact, among the faithful. Jesus was exposing them, but not exposing them because they did mighty deeds in his name. But because they were workers of lawlessness... and sin is lawlessness 1 John 3:4. So because they weren't holy, they were denied entrance into Heaven, and condemned as sinners. Even though, they called him lord.
I think I see your point, but I believe we're disagreeing on this one. Imo, the church has fakers in it. Pretenders. They go through all the public motions, yet are false brethren. I think this is who Jesus is speaking of here, because he "never" knew them. It's not like he once knew them but they subsequently failed.
 
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ByTheSpirit

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I think I see your point, but I believe we're disagreeing on this one. Imo, the church has fakers in it. Pretenders. They go through all the public motions, yet are false brethren. I think this is who Jesus is speaking of here, because he "never" knew them. It's not like he once knew them but they subsequently failed.

Fair enough, perhaps we are actually saying the same thing. Let me explain.

Those who believe in Jesus will obey Him. The true church of Christ will be holy and righteous, they will obey Him as He leads. So a true believer would not fit in the category of "I never knew you". Those who come to Jesus but do not abandon their former life/sin never met Him and thus were never born again.

Is that pretty close?
 
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Blade

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Hey BTS for me from what I read this happens when Christ returns sets foot on the earth gathers the nations that just came out of the great tribulation and splits them sheep and goats. To one group man always tries to tie that to groups today that believe and do what is written

Not sure how far I should to here. Well that NAME of Jesus which is above ever name... hmm well the preacher can be fake not know Christ and use that name. The power is not in the one speaking that name its that NAME that holds so to speak the power.. faith in that name! Our bothers Peter and John in Acts said it best.. they told them why do you look at us as if we did this by our own power. Its that name faith in that name that healed him. Its why some can give money to some not all that are fake yet when that person gives they are not giving to man but to God and GOD will bless them for they believe.

So the goats were not saved. Christ can not lie He said I never knew you. You come to Christ repent of your sins and the angels rejoice and Christ tells the Father. We think what Christ is like man and then years later "wow I thought I knew you I guess I never knew you". sorry that is not written. He can not lie. He wills say to those that came out of the great tribulation.. those days they are the ones He splits. Not all those that died and are with the Father right now. He is not judging all the believes that ever were. He never knew them they were never saved. No this is not a OSAS nor a "see you can lose your salvation".

Since we do not know the heart only He does. We never get the right to say who is and who is not saved. We only judge based on what we see and then feelings. Some if you do not obey always your not saved... its endless what man adds to Gods word. We keep trying to put in our personal belief and thats whats God is really saying. No.. maybe He just talking to you. ( not you BTS just saying)
 
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hedrick

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It basically says it’s not enough to be a Christian. You have to be the right kind of a Christian. Without more explanation than is given in that passage, every Christian group will use it to attack every other Christian group. I think it’s best to avoid that.

The overall context is false prophets, so this is not about non Christians or Luke warm followers. It is people who are enthusiastic followers, but of the wrong kind. So Allison in the ICC commentary on Matthew. It’s pretty clear that it was aimed at specific opponents. However we don’t have enough context to know who. Quite probably Jesus did intend to,condemn followers who didn’t follow through on their words. That’s the implication in Luke’s parallel (Luke 6:46) But Matthew is using it to attack someone. It’s just not clear who.
 
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Do you think they did what they claimed they did?
Jesus says He never knew them. If He never knew them, may be they are lying.
So, if ones claim they did all that they claimed but were sinning, I find it interesting that they believe what workers of iniquity would claim about themselves
.
I don't think those people were ever Christians at all... because Jesus said he "never" knew them. I believe they had always been false, always been weeds among the wheat.
Not many years ago there were two televangelists in the U.S. who were raking in millions. Their names are Jim and Jimmy. They and their families lived in what can only be called mansions. One owns a private airplane. About the same time they both came crashing down sexual misconduct. One went to prison for several years. Whenever I hear or read Matthew 7:21-23 I think of them.
 
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hedrick

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Not many years ago there were two televangelists in the U.S. who were raking in millions. Their names are Jim and Jimmy. They and their families lived in what can only be called mansions. One owns a private airplane. About the same time they both came crashing down sexual misconduct. One went to prison for several years. Whenever I hear or read Matthew 7:21-23 I think of them.
I would agree. While the original target is unclear, I think we can suggest appropriate modern ones.
 
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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.’
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 7:21–23.

A lot of people use these verses to denounce Charismatics or the idea that the gifts have proceeded into today. They say well Jesus clearly denounces those who do such things and say that He never knew them. Well this is a major misconception of what's going on here.

Jesus didn't say what they were doing was lawlessness, Jesus say they were workers of lawlessness because they didn't know him. John in 1 John 3:4-6 says that sin is lawlessness and that those who practice sin do not know Jesus.

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 3:4–6.

Now there is no way that prophesying, healing, casting out demons is sin. Jesus did those things, the Apostles did those things and they weren't sinning. So what does he mean then? What are we saved from? Is it hell? In a sense, yes, but that's not it on base level.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 1:21.

We are saved from sin! From the power that sin holds over our lives (Romans 6-8). This is how you can tell a child of God from a child of Satan.

7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 3:7–10.

This is why the New Testament is full of warnings to people to flee from youthful passions, to put to death the deeds of the body, to walk by the Spirit, not by the flesh. Because:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Pe 2:24.

Therefore:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Pe 1:14–16.

So bringing this back to where I started, when Jesus tells these people on judgement day that he never knew them. It wasn't because they cast out demons, it wasn't because they did mighty works or prophesied, it was because they never let go of their sin.

Casting out demons, prophesying, mighty works are all to be normal activities of the kingdom of God, but we can still be living in sin without an actual relationship with Him while doing so. These are not signs of people who are living purely holy lives.

The Corinthians were a church that experienced many mighty workings of God's Spirit among them, yet they had a number of awful sins they were dealing with. So again, holiness is not verified by mighty signs and wonders.

Jesus won't rebuke and deny these people because they did mighty works (or faked them as some would claim). Jesus will rebuke and deny them because they never gave up their sin and so refused him as their Lord.

Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Am 3:3.

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 6:46.

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.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 7:21.
One must read Matthew 7 in context. Jesus was not talking to the ordinary people, but to the heretical Pharisees. The Pharisees did not originate from Abraham and they did not exist before the period between the Old and New Testaments. It was a heretical Jewish sect that departed from the Torah, and compiled their own version of it with all its complicated and often unworkable laws and rules.

Jesus treated and Pharisees as total heretics, and He told them directly that their father was not Abraham but was the devil. These were the heretics to whom Jesus was speaking. Of course we have modern heretics who have compiled their own gospel based on prosperity, guaranteed healing, positive thinking and self-esteem. Their gospel is all about how their people can become their own gods who can limit God doing anything unless with their permission. These modern "pharisees" give wonderful prophecies that either say nothing, or do not come to pass, they go through the process of casting demons out of people, and they claim to do mighty works for God. But they are into just talk and speech-making, giving motivational speeches, departing from sound doctrine into myths.

These modern religious speech-makers are no different from the Pharisees to whom Jesus spoke in Matthew 7. Both have made up their own version of the Scripturesl, the Pharisees with their rules and regulations, the modern ones with their false gospel.

The Apostle John says that the person who says he has no sin deceives himself and the truth is not in him, but if he confesses his sins, God is faithful and just to forgive his sins and cleanse him from all unrighteousness, and that he who says he has no sin makes God out to be a liar. In the light of that, Jesus will never say, "I never knew you" to anyone who trusts in Him yet struggles with his own sinfulness. He will say to to those who pervert the Gospel and twist His word to teach people myths and unBiblical rules and regulations instead of sound doctrine that points people to Christ.
 
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ByTheSpirit

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Hey BTS for me from what I read this happens when Christ returns sets foot on the earth gathers the nations that just came out of the great tribulation and splits them sheep and goats. To one group man always tries to tie that to groups today that believe and do what is written

Not sure how far I should to here. Well that NAME of Jesus which is above ever name... hmm well the preacher can be fake not know Christ and use that name. The power is not in the one speaking that name its that NAME that holds so to speak the power.. faith in that name! Our bothers Peter and John in Acts said it best.. they told them why do you look at us as if we did this by our own power. Its that name faith in that name that healed him. Its why some can give money to some not all that are fake yet when that person gives they are not giving to man but to God and GOD will bless them for they believe.

So the goats were not saved. Christ can not lie He said I never knew you. You come to Christ repent of your sins and the angels rejoice and Christ tells the Father. We think what Christ is like man and then years later "wow I thought I knew you I guess I never knew you". sorry that is not written. He can not lie. He wills say to those that came out of the great tribulation.. those days they are the ones He splits. Not all those that died and are with the Father right now. He is not judging all the believes that ever were. He never knew them they were never saved. No this is not a OSAS nor a "see you can lose your salvation".

Since we do not know the heart only He does. We never get the right to say who is and who is not saved. We only judge based on what we see and then feelings. Some if you do not obey always your not saved... its endless what man adds to Gods word. We keep trying to put in our personal belief and thats whats God is really saying. No.. maybe He just talking to you. ( not you BTS just saying)

It’s all good, and I don’t bring this post up to help qualify fruit inspectors. It’s more of a self-examination of sorts, and maybe a slight defense of Charismatics. I think the key as I’ve stated in other responses here is the phrase “workers of lawlessness”. 1 John 3:4-6 is also key to understanding what’s going on here. Key words to examine between each passage are lawlessness and know/knew. I think with those in mind we can see exactly why these people were rejected and what the implication is for us today.
 
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