Many Will Say

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.  Psalms 33:18-21 NASB

The consequence of sin is death. Jesus took care of both sin and death. God created us, human beings, to never die. To have beautiful, absolute, unbroken relationship with Him. But we decided otherwise  and sinned against Him. Sin entered the world, and death followed closely. 

Jesus came, He chose to die, to take our sins upon Himself. And on the third day, when He rose again, He became our Savior from sin.  There will come a time when we will die biologically but if we believe in Him, our perspective of death is much different. 

Romans 5:6-10 NASB For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Hallelujah! 

In a broken world full of despair, we can rest in the knowledge that He will right every wrong. His death and resurrection accomplished our salvation, but His work is not yet complete. We look forward to His return, when death will be swallowed up in complete victory.

Matthew 7:15-23 NASB “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

Matthew 7:15-23 are some of the scariest verses in the whole Bible.  Jesus teaches that a false prophet, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, might have a public message that is spot-on. Otherwise, we wouldn’t need to look for fruit, a person, a group or organization might be producing and saying all the right stuff. They might be doing many mighty works in Jesus’ name.

BUT did you catch that word “many”? On judgement day, “many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord…” There will be many people who think that they knew Jesus. Who sang worship songs in church with their eyes closed and had wonderful religious experiences. Who went out and did some amazing things for Jesus. Who spoke the words of Jesus with power into other’s lives, who saw demons cast out at their command, who did all kinds of spectacular things for Jesus.  But none of that is the fruit that Jesus is really looking for.  And at the end of the day, what matters is not whether we think we know Jesus but whether Jesus the Christ knows us.