“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
Matthew 7:21–23 must be some of the most humbling, sobering, and surprising verses in the Bible. To hear Jesus talk about a conversation with people on the Day of Judgment when eternity for them is set and they have done all kinds of things in the name of Jesus. They’ve prophesied, they’ve cast out demons, they’ve done many mighty works and at the end of it all, Jesus says, I never knew you.
This is a sobering passage where we see the need to know Christ. We cannot go through religious routine void of faith in Christ and expect to have a different outcome on the day of judgment.
Is that possible? Is it possible to prophesy in the name of Jesus, to cast out demons in the name of Jesus and do many mighty works in the name of Jesus and not know Jesus? And Matthew seven is teaching it’s not only possible, it’s probable. And not just for a few people. On that day many will say to me, not just a few, many. Many people. Jesus says, we’ll stand before him one day shocked to find out that though they did all kinds of things in association with Jesus, they never actually knew Jesus.
Oh, I ask you then right now, not on that day, before you get to that day. I asked you today, do you right where you’re sitting? Do you know Jesus? Does Jesus know you? Are you in relationship with him? Not do you do things in association with him? Do you go to church? Do you read Your Bible?
Matthew 7:21–23 Reminds Us To Look To Jesus
Do you do this or that? Good work like no, get through, get to the core. Do you know Jesus? Are you walking with Jesus in relationship with him, in obedience to him, in devotion to him with faith in him? It’s at the ground of it all. And do you know Jesus as the savior of your life, the Lord of Your Life, the lover of your life? Do you know Jesus as your life? And if the answer to that question is not a resounding yes, then I want to urge you to come to Jesus truly. To get through the rubbish of what you have done or aim to do in the future.
But just to say, to get through the rubbish of a lot of good things and realize the best thing, the only thing that counts is do you know Jesus? Because yes, speaking in his name and working in his name, loving in his name, and showing his character in his name will flow from that. But that’s the point. It all must flow from knowing Jesus.
This Verse Needs Us To Know Jesus
If your heart does not resound right now with a yes, I know Jesus, then I invite you to pray with me right now and just say, God, I need to know Jesus. I want to know Jesus. I don’t want to play games for Jesus. Don’t want to go through religious routine, monotonous, spiritual motion, in the name of Jesus. I don’t want to do that. Please save me from that. Please save me from my sin. Save me from my every effort to try to do things for Jesus apart from intimacy with Jesus.
Today I want a relationship with you. I want to know you. I want to be known by you. To walk with you, I want to experience your love. I turn today from my sin, my every attempt to try to do things for you, apart from you and I trust in you.
Matthew 7:21–23 Needs Us To Trust In Jesus
I trust in Jesus to save me from my sin through what he did on the cross. I trust in Jesus as the Lord of my life and I pray that you would be my life from this day forward, be my life, such that when I see your face, you have no problems recognizing me as one you know, one who has walked with you, one who has enjoyed your love and will enjoy your love for all of eternity.
Oh, God. I pray this prayer for cultural Christians all over the place, all over my country, all over the world. God, please, please, please don’t let us be deceived by cultural Christianity and shocked on this day. God, help us to look forward to that day because that will be the day when we see the face of the Savior we know who knows us in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
