“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. 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?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Matthew 7: 21-23
Many years ago, this passage of scripture completely arrested me. It stopped my mouth. It stopped my witness. It stopped my confidence in myself that I was really His.
Why? Because of the particular people Jesus is speaking to. Listen to their resume:
- They called him Lord
- They prophesied in Jesus name
- They cast out demons in Jesus name
- They did mighty works in Jesus name
This sounds like the mark of a true believer. As a matter of fact, the great commission as recorded in Mark 16 identifies some of these as signs that will follow those who believe – casting out demons and doing mighty works (the mighty works are named specifically in Mark). Certainly, most of us would assume that anyone performing such deeds would not only belong to Jesus, but would be a kind of super-spiritual highly-mature Christian that we would all be amazed with.
Jesus was not amazed nor impressed. To the contrary, He commanded them to depart from Him as He pronounced them as “workers of lawlessness.”
This whole passage left me in a great quandary. The scale by which I measured people’s spiritual maturity had been completely destroyed. And I was left without a measuring stick. If the people in these verses were not good enough to enter the Kingdom, what chance could I possibly have?
It took a long time for the Holy Spirit to reveal the meaning of this passage to me. I supposed He had a lot to clean out of my corrupted way of thinking. I felt like I was hanging on the very precipice of destruction.
In His perfect timing, He so carefully and gently showed me that it is not the great and might works of men that secure for you the Kingdom. It is the great and mighty work of Jesus Christ and Him alone! No work of man -no matter how great – makes him eligible!
The clue was in the final statement when Jesus declares them as “workers of lawlessness.” I began to see that, for all their big works, they were not relying on Jesus for their very righteousness. They may be speaking Jesus’ name, in which case the demons must bow the knee, but they were not themselves fully depended on Jesus as the restitution for their sins. They were depending on their own great works being good enough to get them in. As impressive as they seemed to other men (and to their own selves), these people were simply not His. They were still guilty of their sins. On the day of judgement, they will be shocked!
This revelation shook me to the core! The thought of ever hearing those words, “Depart from me!” was terrifying. I began to test myself and be sure I was in the faith as Paul admonished in II Corinthians 13:5. What did I really believe about my salvation? Was I really His? Just what was I relying on for my salvation? Was I praying enough? Was I at church enough? Did I read my Bible enough? Was I fooling myself with a big dose of puffed-up religious piousness?
God revealed to me that none of these “works” were sufficient to counter-balance the sin in my nature. Although good works are good to do, they did not erase the guilt of the wrong things in my life. There was absolutely nothing I could do to rid me of the consequence of sin.
Only Jesus could save me from this hopeless situation. At the cross, Jesus gave me His perfect righteousness and I gave him my sin and guilt. All I needed to do was believe and be obedient to follow Him as He led me into this truth. Because of His great love for me, I was spared such a tortuous moment as to hear, “Depart from me!”
I encourage you to do the same. Test yourself and be sure that you are standing on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ and not on that of your own religious works. Better today than on the day of judgement!
Scripture of the week is designed to assist you in renewing your mind through the Word of God. We choose a scripture and include a short commentary so that you can meditate on them for the week. Please do not read it once and move on. Print it out and read it over and over during the week so that your mind can be reprogrammed (Romans 12:2) in the supernatural Word of God!
Other scripture commentaries by Marjorie Lou
Luke 6: 27-31 – Some of Jesus’ most challenging words!
Revelation 12: 11 – Did you know that you play a part in conquering the enemy?
John 6: 28-29 – Are you doing important work, or working in vain?
Ephesians 1: 18-20 – Do you know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power?
James 1: 2-4 – Steps to rejoicing in your trials
Matthew 14: 28-31 – Jesus is not the only one who walked on water!
Romans 10: 9 – Is Jesus a true master?
John 13:34-35 – Do you have this mark of a true believer?
