Matthew

Nearly every week, as I think about what to write, I stop at Matthew 7:21—23. Jesus has been teaching the people about what it means to believe in Him…what the kingdom of God is like…how one should live as a true child of God. As Jesus gets to the end of all this teaching, He warns the people. He says: don’t deceive yourself that you’re saved because of what you do. In other words, don’t think you get to heaven because of “nice or good things” you do. What’s remarkable is, in this short story, Jesus describes people who claim to have done some really good and amazing things—teaching in His name, casting out demons, and doing miracles. All that sounds incredibly good, doesn’t it? And yet, Jesus says He will say to these people, “I never knew you, depart from Me.” Yikes! Those are terrifying words—because to depart from Jesus is to be cast into hell. If Jesus doesn’t know you, hell is where you’re going. Scary stuff, right?

So, in this parable, why would things that sound good to us be meaningless to Jesus? Why would doing things like that not get you into heaven? Well, it seems there are two reasons. 1) Since Jesus is saying these people won’t enter the kingdom of heaven, these people have no real faith. Jesus knows the hearts of men (John 2:25). He’s not deceived by anything a person says or does. He knows if your faith is real or not. ”No creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). So, let’s think about this—who teaches in Jesus’s name yet would be barred from heaven? False teachers!!! Do you think that everyone who preaches and teaches from a pulpit and uses the name of Jesus is authentic? Of course not! Satan is the great deceiver and he uses false teachers to deceive others with lies. Now, listen to me. There are plenty of false teachers out there. Take Joyce Meyers and Joel Osteen as examples. They teach this “name it and claim it” religion. Totally false teaching. Did you know that false teaching was a big problem in New Testament times? Every single book in the New Testament except Philemon warns about false teachers. False teaching was a huge problem then and it’s a huge problem today. False teachers have no place in heaven, and are deceiving themselves that they are saved. But they hurt more than just themselves…they destroy those who follow them. How? Like this: followers of false teachers are also self-deceived and on their way to hell. 2) The people Jesus describes in this parable are caught up in works…their focus is on all these great things they’ve done. They believe that these good works earn them brownie points with God. Their “faith” isn’t really faith in Jesus but faith in what they do. People who believe this say this: “I’m going to heaven because I’m a good person.” What’s more, they believe that the more good stuff they do, the better off they are in God’s eyes. Jesus makes it stunningly clear that this is wrong thinking. Be reminded: He said, “I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” He calls these people workers of lawlessness. That means workers of sin…sinners who have not repented and put their faith in Jesus. They are people operating from a wrong understanding of God. You see, God desires a repentant heart. He desires a heart that loves Him, not a heart that’s focused on going through the motions of doing good or acting religious. 

What’s scary about this parable is that for these people that Jesus is describing, it’s too late. They’re dead (there is no purgatory but that’s a different lesson). Like every person that has ever lived, they had their chance to truly believe in Jesus, to put their faith in Him. But they didn’t. They only put on a show of believing while in truth, they belonged to Satan. And now, though they spoke of Jesus, they never knew Him. Though they did good things, they did it for all the wrong reasons. They didn’t do anything out of love for God but out of self-interest. So, they deceived themselves. Don’t be caught in that same trap of self-deception. Don’t be among those foolish ones expecting heaven, but winding up in hell. Put your faith in Jesus. Today. Today is the day. If you need prayer or a Bible, let me know.