Matthew 7:21-23

[Snowy]

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

 

[Snowy]

It is not enough to simply state claim you believe in Christ. Once you come to Christ, your life must be transformed.

 

[Snowy]

Matthew 7:21-23. More teachings on the same topic.Jesus holds ministers to a high standard.There are popular ministers seeming to do God's work when in fact their lives are filled with sin.They will be denied salvation.The worst example that comes to mind are the two evangelists who traveled the country holding popular revival services in numerous churches.They traveled with young boys who they would regularly sexually molest after their services ended.I guess that made Jesus' teaching understandable! STAY CLOSE TO JESUS!

 

[lands21]

Mat 7:21 -

Not every one that saith ... - The Saviour goes on to say that many, on the ground of a mere profession such as he had just referred to, would claim admittance into his kingdom. Many would plead that they had done miracles, and preached or prophesied much, and on the ground of that would demand an entrance into heaven. The power of working miracles had no necessary connection with piety. God may as well, if he chooses, give the power of raising the dead to a wicked man, as the skill of healing to a wicked physician. A miracle is a display "of his own power" through the medium of another. An act of healing the sick is also a display of "his power" through the agency of another. In neither of these cases is there any necessary connection with moral character. So of preaching or prophesying. God may use the agency of a man of talents, though not pious, to carry forward His purposes. Saving power on the mind is the work of God, and he may convey it by any agency which he chooses. Accordingly, many may be found in the day of judgment who may have been endowed with powers of prophecy or miracle, as Balaam or the magicians of Egypt; in the same way as many people of distinguished talents may be found, yet destitute of piety, and who will be shut out of his kingdom. See Mat_7:21; 1Co_1:26; 1Co_13:1-3. In this last place Paul says that, though he spoke with the tongue of angels, and had the gift of prophecy, and could remove mountains, and had nor charity or love, all would be of no avail.

 

[Habermasian]

Hello all. This is my first post here. It looks like a very interesting forum!



In regards to your verses, I think it’s useful to look at the whole section that they come from.



A Tree and Its Fruit

15"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

(NIV)



Now “fruit” here does not directly relate to deeds, else he would be saying that salvation depends on deeds which would directly contradict numerous other verses (see Romans). Fruit here is pretty clearly the fruit of the spirit, which we see from Gal 5 is:



22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.



Now, we are not perfect in living by this spirit but as born again Christians we have received the spirit of Christ (that’s what being born again means) and we then have this spirit as our essential character. Yes, we struggle. We fall short. We produce imperfect fruit sometimes. We have productive years and unproductive years, but this fruit is the nature of a true Christian. When you see people who call themselves Christians who are by nature angry, judgemental, intolerant, etc. there’s a pretty good chance that that is the fruit of a different kind of tree. We must remember, however, that it is God’s job to judge, not ours.



Also note that the fruit of the good tree will make you want to do good deeds, and not do bad deeds. So good deeds do flow from a true Christian (or perhaps I should say the will to do good deeds because in our imperfection we all too often do marginal or even bad things when we were trying to do good), but the deed itself is not required or a sign of salvation. Al Capone could walk a little old lady across the street. That doesn’t make him a good guy, but it would be very difficult, in fact impossible, for Al Capone to portray the fruits of the spirit in such a way that you believed that they were his nature, (unless he turned to God and received the spirit, of course. Even Al could have been saved.)



Must run but this is an interesting forum. Good questions Snowy.