Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: ROBERT@kontu.utu.fi (Robert W. Johnson) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: MANY will say, Lord, Lord Message-ID: Date: 18 Apr 91 07:22:18 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 171 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu "Not every one who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in the heavens. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many works of power? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, workers of lawlessness." -- Matthew 7:21-23 The Bible tell us of a very serious truth. Although someone may have eternal life, he may still be rejected from the kingdom of the heavens. One verse that speaks of this is Matthew 7:21. The persons in this verse all address the Lord as "Lord". The Lord will make a distinction between those disciples who can enter into the kingdom of the heavens and those who cannot. The Lord clearly shows us here that the condition for entering the kingdom of the heavens is doing the will of God. Although some have been saved and have called Him Lord, and although they have have also done some works, without doing the will of God they nevertheless cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens. The reward of the kingdom of the heavens is based on the obedience of man. If one is not faithful while living on the earth, though he will not loose eternal life, he will loose the kingdom of the heavens. When the time comes for the heavens to rule, that is, when the Lord Jesus comes the second time, some will not be able to enter the kingdom, but will lose it instead. First, the Lord mentioned this matter in verse 21. Following this, in verses 22 and 23, He explained the matter to us in the way of a prophecy. There will be many genuinely saved believers, not only one or two, who will not do the will of God. "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, was it not in Your name that we prophesied, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name did many works of power? And the I will declare to them: I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness." Here the Lord Jesus tell us what will happen before the judgment seat. He says, "In that day." Hence, this does not refer to today, but to the future. There are many who work hard but do not see the light of God in their lives. When the time of the judgment seat comes, and when Christ beings to judge from the house of God, these Christians will have light for the first time. They will see that they are off in their standing and in their living. In that day many will say before the Lord, "Was it not in Your name that we prophesied, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name did many works of power?" Within one sentence, the phrase "in Your name" is mentioned three times. This proves that these ones are the Lord's. The fact that they say, "Lord, Lord," proves that their standing is that of a Christian. Not only do they say that they prophesy, cast out demons, and do many works of power; they do these in the Lord's name. The mentioning of "in Your name" three times tells us of their relationship with the Lord. Amazingly, the Lord tells them, "And then I will declare to them: I never knew you." Because many do not understand the meaning of these words, they think that these surely are not saved ones. But if these are not saved ones, then the Lord's word here would be meaningless. Matthew 7 is a conclusion to the sermon on the mount following the Lord's word on the Beatitudes. These words on the mount were spoken by the Lord Jesus to the disciples. After the Lord went up to the mountain, His disciples came before Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them from chapter five to chapter seven. The Lord Jesus said that they should not call Him Lord with their mouth only. If they call Him Lord, they should do the will of the Father. Even if they have the outward works of prophesying, casting out demons, and doing works of power, these works must not replace the Father's will. Doing the Father's will is one thing, whereas prophesying, casting out demons, and doing works of power are another thing altogether. Sometimes, one can prophesy, cast out demons, and do works of power without doing the will of the Father. We must remember that we should not only call Him Lord with our mouth, but we should do the Father's will in our walk as well. If the Lord were speaking about unsaved persons, this word would lose its meaning altogether, for if these are not saved ones, it would not matter much for the disciples to listen or not to listen to His word. The disciples may say that His word is for the unsaved ones, but they are the saved ones; therefore whether or not they do the Father's will, the Lord cannot deny knowing them. If this were the case, then all the unsaved ones would be those who do not do the will of God, and all the saved ones would be those who do the will of God. This would take away the highest meaning of these words. The Lord Jesus must be warning the saved ones here by speaking about the saved ones. He cannot be warning the saved ones by speaking about the unsaved ones. Suppose one has a maid and two daughters, and suppose this one were to say to the younger daughter, "Do you see that maid? She is not born of me; I am beating her. You have to be obedient today. If you are not obedient, I will punish you in the same way that I am punishing her." Is this word logical? A maid is not born of the family. If she becomes disobedient, she may be beaten. But the daughter of the family is not a maid. One cannot apply the way to deal with a maid to a daughter. The mother ought to say, "Last night I punished your sister because she was disobedient. Now be careful. If you are not obedient, I will punish you as well." The mother must take the sister as an example. The maid cannot be used for a comparison. There is no reason for the Lord to use the unsaved ones as an example to show the disciples that they ought to do God's will. If He did, the disciples would rise up and say, "They are the unsaved ones, but we are the saved ones." If they were to say this, no one could say anything further. What the Lord Jesus is saying is this: "Many people are God's children. They call Me 'Lord' and they have done a lot of works. But they are nevertheless shut outside the kingdom. For this reason you must be careful. You have to do the will of God." Only in this way will the disciples know that though they do many works, if they do not do the will of God, they will receive the same punishment. If He were speaking to the unsaved ones, there would no longer be the piercing element to His word. The Lord was warning us that only those who do the will of God can enter the kingdom. If one were to rely on his own work to come before God, the Lord Jesus would tell him, "I do not know you." Here is another example. Suppose a judge's son drives carelessly and hits another car. He is taken by the police to the court for a hearing. The judge would ask, "Young man, what is your name? How old are you? Where do you live?" The son down at the stand may think, "You should know all these things better than I do." He may answer the first few questions. But after a while, he may shout to the father, "Father, don't you know me?" What should the judge do then? He may bang his gavel and say, "I do not know you. In my home, I know you. But in the court, I never knew you." If one sees the mater of the kingdom, he will realize that in the kingdom, it is not a matter of whether or not a person is saved and whether or not he is the child of God; what really matters is his work after becoming a believer. Suppose after you are saved, you are very zealous. Although you have not carried out God's will, you nevertheless prophesy, cast out demons, and do works of power in the Lord's name. If you come before the Lord asking to be admitted into the kingdom because of these unprincipled works, the Lord will say that He never knew you. Why did the Lord say, "I never knew you?" The next sentence explains: "Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness." Please remember that the Lord did not tell them to depart from eternal life. In the original Greek, the meaning of workers of lawlessness is people who do not follow the rules, keep the law, or abide by the regulations. In the eyes of God, to do evil does not mean only to do bad things. It does not matter how much one has done; as long as he has not hearkened to God's demand, His judgment, and His sovereign arrangements, it is evil in God's eyes. If this word "lawlessness" were translated as "evil", as some versions have done, many would have the ground to argue. The problem here is not a matter of doing evil, but a matter of being unprincipled. What are the principles? The principles are God's word. But what is God's word? God's word is God's will. If you are not doing the will of God, no matter what you do, the Lord Jesus would say that you are lawless. Those who do things according to their own self will have no part in the kingdom of the heavens. My purpose in writing these things is to show the importance of a Christian's works. The Bible shows us clearly that after a person believes in the Lord, though he will never lose eternal life, he may lose his place and glory in the kingdom. If we do not do the will of God, but work according to the our own will instead, we will be shut out of the kingdom. We may think that prophesying, casting out demons, and doing works of power are most important because if we think that if we can do these things, we will be a marvelous person. But these things can never replace the will of God. All those who have never learned not to work for God are not worthy to work for God. Those who do not know how to stop their own work surely know nothing about God's will. Only those who know the will of God can stop working. God wants us first to obey his will and then to work. The more one knows about the will of the Lord, the more he will learn not to work carelessly. Thus, there is a big difference between working and doing the will of God. Today, we may appreciate the works and may be interested in prophesying, casting out demons, and doing works of power. But one day, many will be awakened. I apologize for the length of this, but I could not logically break it into two parts. ----- Robert W. Johnson Computer center, The University of Turku, Turku Finland robert@kontu.utu.fi (InterNet) robert@firien.bitnet (BITNET) The preceeding is my opinion and may not express the opinion of my employer and furthermore has nothing to do with my employment.