Podcast I Never Knew You

The speaker discusses a scripture in Matthew 7:21 where Jesus warns that not everyone who does supernatural works in His name will enter the kingdom of heaven. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding and doing the will of God, as Jesus did what His Father did. They also highlight the significance of operating in love and seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The speaker cautions against operating with impure motives and encourages listeners to spend time in prayer and communion with God. The message serves as a timely reminder in the current spiritual climate. I wanted to talk to you today about a scripture that has actually frankly fascinated me, part of a cautionary tale, when Jesus was speaking, giving out instruction, and he was at one point warning against the wolves in sheep's clothing. And he was also talking about false prophets, etc. And you will find that in Matthew 7. But I want to direct your attention towards Matthew 7 21. Reading from the NIV, it says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name, and your name drive out demons, and your name perform many miracles? Then I will say to them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers. And it's a singing contradiction. His disciples, his followers are doing many supernatural things in his name, prophesying, driving out demons, performing many miracles. And I imagine that includes healing. And it is interesting that all this is being done in a supernatural way, which would imply that they are using in the enablement of God's power, his gifting, the Holy Spirit, in order to accomplish that. And yet he is saying very plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, evildoers. Seeming contradiction here. Looking at some other translations, the New Living Translation is saying, For the same verse, not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On Judgment Day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, and we cast out demons in your name, and perform many miracles in your name. But I will reply, I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws. Other translations are very similar, but they have interesting takes on the last sentence. For instance, the New King James says, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. I like to bring in the Passion Translation, clarity and emphasis sometimes. The last verse that we're reading here says, But I will have to say to them, go away from me, you lawless rebels. I've never been joined to you. When I was studying and looking at this, I realized there were a few keys to understanding the seeming contradiction here in his declaration that not everybody who is doing all these supernatural and wonderful works in his name will enter the kingdom of heaven. And for myself, of course, at first, when I read this, I start praying and I start studying. And I want to understand, because I do believe in our current day and age, that all the promises of the Bible in the New Testament, in terms of supernatural gifting and miraculous things that Jesus did, is available to the believer today. I've been a Christian about 40 years. From day one, it has always been a supernatural walk with him. From the age of 10, I actually audibly heard God's voice. In this day and age, you hear something, the secular world would immediately call your sanity into question. But it's a supernatural walk and it's been borne out through many, many encounters, many wonderful experiences and walk with the Lord since probably about the mid-70s. I would read this and I would want to know and I'm anxious to know that whether I am doing the will of the Father, or I am exercising spiritual gifts outside of his laws or his blessing. Yes, the first thing to look at is what did Jesus do? How did he do it? One key to understanding is in John 5.19 and reading from the New King James, it says, Studying this, I look at various translations and in the NIV, Jesus gave them this answer. Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself. He can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son does also. In order for Jesus to understand and do what the Father does, he has to have a relationship with the Father. In other words, he has to see and understand. He has to communicate with the Father. If you read and study the Gospels, you see that he did every day. He spent some time alone with the Father to pray. He was alone with the Father. He derived his strength from the Father and he saw what the Father was doing. That is one key. Going back to Matthew 7.21, it says, But only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. I think that is our model. When the Son does nothing but what he sees the Father do, it is the will of his Father. That's what he does. And our model would be that we listen, we pray, we spend active time with God to understand his will, understand his instruction. Whatever we do, we do it in not just his name, in the name of Jesus, but understanding what his will is. We can, through our mind, have our surmisings. Surely this is what God would want. But unless we actually contact him and we pray and we seek him and we gain understanding and listen to that small, still voice, we could miss it. Another key to this could be found in 1 Corinthians 13. And it says, NIV, it says, If I speak in the tongues of a man or of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, that is in part, disappears. So it is very clear the preeminence of love does not negate the fact that speaking in tongues or prophecies or any of those spiritual gifts that are operating, they need to keep on operating, but they need to operate in love. And it is a key. You listen to what the Father is saying. The Word of God is telling you as you study it that listen to the Word. Listen to the Spirit. But this is what He is. He is going to be operating in love. Going back again to our key scripture, the ones who do the will of His Father, listen to Him. They pray. They seek His will. When they do that, you know that He is going to be operating in love. This love is not the natural love for people. It is a spiritual love, what is termed in Greek the agape love. The section of scripture I read, again that was Corinthians 13, 1 and on into that chapter, it tells us that the believer is going to be operating when they are operating in the gifts, when they do these things in His name like prophesy and drive out demons and perform many miracles. It is going to be out of love. And they are also going to be listening to what the Father wants for them to do. When God gives us gifts, when He gives us those things, we operate for the good of the church. Some of the contexts around Matthew 7.21 are about wolves and sheep clothing and about false prophets. And it all seems to indicate that their motivations are impure. They placed themselves above the will of God. I have to think that some of the people that the Lord is speaking about in Matthew 7.21 are of those kind, those that are operating out of impure motive. It is interesting that you can operate out of an impure motive when exercising the gifts of the Spirit. And He will allow that to happen, at least for a time. We have to have this check whenever we operate in basically anything. It does not actually have to be a gift of the Spirit. It could be a work that is fully accomplished through our flesh. Just a warning. It is a cautionary tale. It is a warning. It is timely. I think in our day and age, the Spirit of God is rising in this world as darkness is getting darker as we have more and more conflict. People that are drawing away from churches. They are getting discouraged. They are looking for other things. But they are not necessarily looking at the authentic. I do pray that God reach out to those that are discouraged. As we are doing it, we need to do everything in love. We need to do everything listening to what the Spirit is saying to us. We need to do it often. Jesus had to spend time alone every single day with the Father. We could do no less. He is our model. If we are practicing these things, we will not be subject to the conclusion of Matthew 7.21. Thank you for listening to today's podcast. I hope by listening you have been blessed and that you will continue in your growth in Christ Jesus.