The third incident we want to look at is where Jesus says to the Christians ‘I don’t know you’ in MATTHEW 7:21-23 “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 Many 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?” Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”
In this incident the Christians are calling Him ‘Lord, Lord’. Again it shows a great deception of the heart. They believed they should have been welcomed into the kingdom of heaven with open arms because of the things that happened when they used His name. But Jesus told them plainly “I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers.”
The self worth of these Christians was in how God had worked through them and it temporarily fulfilled the need in their heart for acceptance and being acknowledged by others who wanted the same thing as they did. They did not have a revelation in their heart of their acceptance in Christ because they also did not have enough oil in their lamp.
They felt good about themselves because God used them and they interpreted that as spirituality. But Jesus called them evildoers. It was the rejection, rebellion and pride in their hearts that deceived them and caused them not to comprehend the situation properly.
God can use any Christian at any time to do any miracle He wants because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. He will generally not use young Christians in a big way because their pride could mess them up. However, during an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, anyone that has faith and knows the power of the name of Jesus will do miracles. Paul told the Corinthian church (I CORINTHIANS 1:7) that they did not lack any spiritual gift as they eagerly awaited for the Lord to be revealed. But he also told them they were carnal Christians, worldly and immature in Christ. (I CORINTHIANS 3:1-4)
Jesus commissioned His twelve apostles and seventy disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons. But there was another man also doing these things in the name of Jesus who was not one of them. They tried to stop him but Jesus told them not to. MARK 9:28-41
Let’s not forget that God used Balaam’s donkey to prophesy also. I don’t think we need to elaborate on that point.
In MATTHEW 7:15-20, Jesus refers to these evildoers as bad trees bearing bad fruit. In MATTHEW 7:24-27 He refers to them as people who built their house on the sand. This happened to them because they did not put these words of His into practice. These words of His refer to what He has just said in MATTHEW Chapters 5, 6 & 7, which deal a lot with developing character.
So again we see that the warnings to the church deal with our experiential love relationship with the Lord and a depth of character which comes to us as we develop that relationship and because of that relationship.
There is one more time where Jesus talks about knocking on the door but this time He is doing the knocking.
To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.
Revelation 3:14-22
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!
So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
You say, ‘I am rich, I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich: and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
This warning is also given to the church in view of His coming. I think this could be easily applied to the North American church. We see here another great deception of the heart. They lived in a prosperous area. They said “I have acquired wealth and I do not need a thing.”
They did not humbly thank God for providing the wealth. They did not prosper by the Lord’s means, but by their own abilities and the world system. This is how riches can deceive us. They thought they were rich and had their act together but Jesus said that spiritually speaking they were wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
He then counsels them to come to Him so He can make them rich in faith, holiness and spiritual discernment. He then tells them that He loves them and if they will repent and get serious, He will give them what they really need. He says, ‘I am here knocking on your door and if you will open your heart to Me, I will work with you and cause you to be an overcomer. I have a place at the table for you but you cannot get there without my help.’
Being close to Jesus is the only thing that will protect our heart from being deceived. Because of His love for us He is knocking on our door now, so we will not be knocking on His when He comes.
