![]() Yeah...Yeah... I know what you are thinking - "He is Jesus! Of course, He knows me!" Or maybe Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you..." passed through your mind. LOL I can almost hear several of you saying "Duh - even the hairs on my head are numbered and known by Him according to Luke 12:7" And all of those responses are correct, so then what do we do with Matthew 7:23 where Christ clearly says that He will declare to some, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" For many years, I would breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing the last few words of that statement. Automatically drawing comfort from the fact that I was not a "lawbreaker" or "criminal". A closer look at the entire passage though brings the need to really self-examine one's relationship with Christ carefully. So, let's dig deeper.... What is said by Christ here? What is the setting? Who is He talking to? The passage is part of "the sermon on the mount". Jesus is now being followed by multitudes of people. People from ALL walks of life gather to hear Him speak. Just before the passage we are discussing, Christ describes how broad and wide the way to destruction is compared to the narrow, difficult way leading to life. He speaks a word of caution against false prophets. We are encouraged by Him here to be "fruit inspectors". Christ assures us we will be able to distinguish teachers of truth from false by the "fruit" their life bears out. In Matthew 7:19 Jesus goes as far as to state every tree not bearing good fruit will be cut down. As if that was not interesting enough - Christ then declares in Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" LET THAT SINK IN.... There will be people who have cast out demons in the name of Jesus, declared prophesy in the name of Jesus, and/or called Him "Lord" who will be told by Christ, 'Depart - I do not know you'. These people obviously "know" Christ - they call Him "Lord". They work, serve and perform miracles in His name. Yet Jesus says He does not know them, claims no relationship to them and denies them entry into His Father's kingdom. So, what does this passage say to us? How do we apply this to our life? How can we be sure we do not fall into the group that is denied entry? How do we move past the point of us knowing Jesus to a place of Jesus knowing us? The answer is in the passage. In verse 21 Christ says, "he who does the will of My Father" will enter into the kingdom of heaven. What is the will of the Father? Do you know? Have you ever pondered (my hubby's favorite word)? We will discuss this in Part 2! Coming soon! Love you so much - God loves you so much more! Until next time, Molly Study. Share. Grow.
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AuthorMolly Sosebee Archives
July 2022
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