Matthew 7:21-23 21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but
only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that
day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons
and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away
from me, you evildoers!’
For the past few weeks, we have been studying key portions of scripture concerning the use of the name of Jesus. In addition to the name of Jesus being used in prayer we saw what Jesus teaches us in John 14:13-14, or as with miraculous results of the crippled beggar in Acts 3:1-26, and we also saw the opposition to the use of Jesus’ name in Acts 4:1-22. Now we are going to study what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 7:21-23 at the end of the “Sermon on the Mount”. What Jesus teaches here in these three verses is a very important point concerning the use of His name. However, when reading these verses there two key facts that every believer in Christ should know.
First of all, what we read in these verses should not cause true believers in Christ to question or doubt whether they are truly saved or not. The Fire Bible study notes give us the following explanation concerning this point. “This certainly does not mean that we can earn spiritual salvation by our own efforts or works. This is true for the following reasons: God’s forgiveness comes to us through faith and repentance, specifically by admitting our sin, turning from our own way, submitting to God and following his purposes. It is made possible by the grace and sacrificial death of Christ, who gave his perfect life to pay the ultimate penalty for our sins.” – Fire Bible
Secondly, just as important, theses verses do not mean that our salvation is something we must earn and need to maintain at an extremely seemly impossible high standard to be loved and accepted by Jesus, that’s legalism. What Jesus is teaching us is, “…that doing good works is a reflection is our obedience to God’s will.” – The Apologetics Study Bible
Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Jesus’ teaching in these three verses gives us insight of those who by their works or by what they did and what they said, believed that they were saved and accepted by God and therefore will enter into an eternal life with Jesus in heaven. Much of what Jesus says in these three verses is about the group who will be rejected from entering into “the kingdom of heaven”. However, the little that Jesus says about those who will be accepted into heaven also tells us much about those who will not.
Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
“Mere lip profession is of no avail if the heart and life are not subject to the Word of God.” – Ironside
First let us focus our attention on the only point of these three verses that talk about those who Jesus said “will enter the kingdom of heaven”. Jesus very clearly says it is, “only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” “The obedience to God’s will demanded by Christ is an ongoing condition for salvation; it does not save us, but it is a response and a result of true salvation.” God’s will for us are his desires and plans based on his character and purposes for our lives. When we are obedient to God’s will is the same as what Jesus tells us, “…he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”. “Once we know what God has already shown us in his Word about how he wants us to live, we must set our hearts and minds to following his will and purpose for our lives.”
Doing the will of God is the same as being obedient to the will of God. Living in obedience to God’s word and will is done because we love Jesus. John 15:10, “10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”
John tells us that when we are obeying God’s will we will be living and obeying His word, we will also be living in and by God’s truth which also demonstrates that we truly love Him. 1 John 2:3-6, 3 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
William Barclay gives us this analogy to verse 21. “Fine words can never be a substitute for fine deeds. There is only one proof of love, and that proof is obedience. There is no point in saying that we love a person, and then doing things which break that person’s heart. When we were young maybe we used sometimes to say to our mothers, “Mother, I love you.” And maybe mother sometimes smiled a little wistfully and said, “I wish you would show it a little more in the way you behave.”
Matthew 7:22
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’
Many who will appear before Jesus at the time of judgment will know who Jesus is, “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord…”. Those same people will have also used Jesus’ name in performing many wonderous things, “did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” How could those who did these seemly wonderous things be rejected by Jesus and not enter in to heaven? Jesus tells us clearly in Matthew 24:23-24 about some of these people whom he will reject. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect — if that were possible.
In addition to what Jesus said, the apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonian church in 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10 says the following, 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.
The point that we see in both portions of scripture is that there will be those who are not true followers of Christ who will have the ability to “perform great signs and miracles”.
As we read these people will perform these things using the name of Jesus. Got Questions.org explains it this way. “Can those who do not have the Spirit actually cast out demons and perform miraculous healings and spectacular signs and wonders? There are two possible explanations for the ability of the ungodly to perform such acts. One is that some miracles are done by the power of Satan and his demonic host. We know that Satan is very crafty. Could there be times when Satan “stages” an exorcism in which an unbeliever commands a demon to leave, and the demon pretends to comply, for the purpose of creating fear in onlookers and causing them to trust in herbs, incantations, talismans, holy water, and relics, rather than in God?”
Matthew 7:23
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.
Away from me, you evildoers!’
We must remember that it is Jesus speaking in these three verses. The idea of Jesus rejecting someone’s claims of the validity and worth of what they did and said using His name can seem harsh and unmerciful. However, we must remember what Jesus said in verse 21, which is only one of the many prerequisites that we studied, it is doing or being obedient to the will of God.
William Barclay ends his commentary of these verses with a comment in relation to using the name of Jesus and God’s will which can serve as an important reminder for every believer in Christ. “So often we confess God with our lips and deny him with our lives. It is not difficult to recite a creed, but it is difficult to live the Christian life. Faith without practice is a contradiction in terms, and love without obedience is an impossibility.”
As we studied in the first week of this topic in John 14:13, And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. Using the name of Jesus or saying “in Jesus’ name” is not a cliché or magic words we say. When we say these words in relation to what we pray for or do as in what Jesus teaches us in these verses, using the name of Jesus needs to be in agreement to God’s will and purpose for our lives and or situation that we use them.
Pastor John
