Anchor My Faith

Do You Belong to Jesus

Scripture: Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46

In our previous lesson we saw the importance of having a good heart to produce good fruit. In this lesson we must consider those who think their fruit is good, but in the eyes of God it is not. This may be a very hard lesson for some to understand or even accept, but we need to look at the teaching of Jesus. He continues by saying: ^{Lk 6:46} “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? ^{Mt 7:21} “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.’”

As we come to the end of this particular section, Jesus presents a very important question that many who believe they are Christian should stop and seriously think about. The question is: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you,” or not “do the will of the Father?” These are people who identify themselves with the Lord and may have been active in a local church, but as they stand before the Lord to claim admittance into his kingdom they give reasons based on their works. They say that they spoke words of prophesy, or cast out demons in his name, or did many mighty works in his name. They presented this as evidence that they were really believers and should be allowed into the kingdom of heaven.

Does the power of working miracles have any connection with being a Christian? Could God give the power of raising the dead to a wicked man, as he gives the skill of healing to a wicked physician? Yes, he could, because a miracle is a display of God’s power through the medium of another. God may show his healing power through the medium of another, or do anything he chooses through a person of his choice, independent of that person being good or evil. The Bible has many examples where God used evil people to accomplish his work. There are also examples where God gave great abilities to people and they used them for evil. Balaam or the magicians of Egypt could accomplish much, but they did evil with their gifts from God.

Paul speaks to this in 1 Corinthians 13:1 – 3 (ESV): ¹ “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” This love that Paul speaks of is God himself, for God is love. If we have not been born spiritually and have the presence of the Spirit of God living within us, no matter what we can accomplish, we will not be allowed into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus will declare to these people: “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

By their fruit you will know them. What fruit is your evidence that you are truly his? Have you been born spiritually? Does the Spirit of God live within you? Is there anything in this life that you love more than your love for Jesus Christ? With that love comes obedience to his teachings that we will be covering for the next several years in our studies. Are you learning from them and practicing them in preparation for living with him for an eternity? Is Jesus the number one person you are looking forward to seeing in heaven or is it someone else?

Prayer

Father, I fear that there are many in the western church that may hear the words “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” when they seek to enter heaven. If persecution were to come to America (and it will), how great will be the withdrawal from the Christian faith? Jesus suffered and died to purchase our salvation. Are we able and willing to suffer and possibly die before we would deny him? Father, we need to wake up before it is too late?