Post - Lord Lord

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Today we’ll look at one of the most troubling verses in the Bible. Not everyone who says ‘Lord Lord’ is a believer. In these verses Jesus isn’t talking about other religions. He’s talking about people who go to church and maybe preach or teach or sing in the choir.

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Think about that. Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’.

Jesus isn’t talking about people from other religions.

He’s not talking about people who have never heard about Jesus.

He’s talking about folks who know the Gospels and who know who Jesus is.

These people have prophesied in His name. That means they preached or taught from the Bible. These people have done great and marvelous things in the name of Jesus. They have given to the church. They have sung in the choir. They have helped setup tables and chairs for different functions. They have been active within their church. Perhaps they have handed out flyers or knocked on doors or performed other helpful things for the church. Perhaps they have been on different committees or boards and served in this fashion.

Those people:

–Believe they are Christian

–Believe they are saved

–Believe they are going to heaven

–Believe they have eternal life

–They believe; but are very, very wrong in their belief

There are people in this world who believe they are Christian; but they aren’t.

There are people in this country who believe they are saved; but they aren’t.

There are folks in this church who believe they’re going to heaven; but they aren’t.

This verse raises the question, “If they believe…, why aren’t they saved?”

Let’s look at some other scriptures to find out why.

Keep this current verse marked because we’ll return to it after a while.

1 John 5:11-13 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Testimony Or Record. Which word you read depends on your version of the Bible.

But this word is important to understand because of what it implies. Let me explain…

If you were called as a witness to a jury trial in a court, you would be seated in the witness seat and questioned by the lawyers or perhaps the judge. Everything you say would be recorded by the stenographer. It’s written down and a record of the transcript is kept for review at a later time. Depending on your testimony, this document may be read by other lawyers or judges. The point is that it’s a record of what you testified about.

That’s what the Apostle John is saying in this verse, these words are a written record of his testimony about God and Jesus Christ.

The record states that God has given…

~~NOT sold~~

~~NOT worked for~~

~~NOT earned~~

It’s a gift.

You already know this, but this needs to be mentioned again. It’s easy for us to forget because this world is so physical, so materialistic, that our lives and time are spent with the physical stuff. But Salvation is Free. It’s a Gift.

Keep in mind that this gift doesn’t come by itself. It’s IN something. At Christmas time, or on birthdays, we exchange gifts. Those gifts come wrapped in paper or are packaged in a box; maybe a gift bag. But keep in mind, the gift comes packaged.

God’s gift also comes packaged. It is IN the Son, Jesus Christ.

The verse continues to say that if a person has the package, they have the gift. If they don’t have the package, then they don’t have the gift. With God’s gift, the package is VITALLY important.

With Christmas and birthday presents, the package is most often discarded and tossed aside. With God’s gift of eternal life, the package is CRITICAL. Without the package, then there is no gift.

Let’s return to our scripture in Matthew chapter 7. What does Jesus say about these people?

Jesus said ‘I never Knew you.’ There are many verses in the Bible about Know/Knew. To know, to learn, to be aware, to acknowledge, to understand, to recognize, to realize, to remember. This involves mental agreement, mental knowledge, mental learning, the discovering of ideas.

This is NOT what Jesus was referring to. He was referring something else, another idea.

Adam Knew his wife, Eve. Gen. 4:1

Mary says to Gabriel, Luke 1:34 How can this be since I do not know a man?

It means knowledge via experience. Mary had not yet experienced a relationship with a man. But Adam experienced a relationship with Eve.

When Jesus said, I never knew you. He had not experienced a relationship with these people.

The idea that Jesus never Knew those people, carries the same connotation as Adam Knew his wife, and Mary had not known a man. This idea means to have a ‘relationship’ with.

We’ve learned two prime differences:

To know with knowledge of our minds
To know with a relationship experience

Jesus wants a relationship with people, not head knowledge about them.

Example:

I know about Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia. I can read about him. I can learn about his life, his ideas, his policies, his goals, etc. Perhaps I campaigned for him during his election. Perhaps I collected money to help him win the election. Perhaps I held rallies or attended campaign functions. All of this is head knowledge.

This would be like the people in Matthew 7,

they know about Jesus
they have campaigned for Jesus
they have raised money for Jesus
they have attended functions for Jesus.

But do they KNOW Jesus?

Not really, but they know ABOUT Jesus.

If you were to ask Brian Kemp if he knows me, he would answer, “I don’t know him.”

On the other hand:

I have met Dean, our class teacher.

I have talked to him
I have attended functions with him
I have had phone conversations with him
I have exchanged emails with him
I know Dean
He knows me
We have a relationship
We have experienced an ongoing relationship

I can always learn more about Dean, but we have established a relationship. Our knowing each other is not merely head knowledge, it is an experiential relationship.

When Jesus says, I never knew you, He’s referring to an experiential relationship. He is not referring to head knowledge. No doubt those people in Matthew 7 held head knowledge of Jesus and His works. But they had never met Jesus in a personal relationship.

Do you see the difference? Do you know the difference? Do you understand that difference?

But perhaps you may say, doesn’t scripture say that we must believe in order to be saved? Isn’t belief the requirement for salvation?

We read in scripture…

Acts 16:31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,

Mark 16:16 He who believes…will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

The Bible says ‘to believe’ and that it’s not by good works. So, shouldn’t believing be enough?

Well, not exactly. Let me explain.

James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

Whoa. The demons believe but that won’t save them. What’s going on here?

John 8:30 ff As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. … Jesus answered them, … I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father. … Jesus said to them, … Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. …

This becomes confusing if we don’t fully understand the difference. Jesus is speaking to Jews ‘who believed Him’, yet it was these very same people who Jesus said they were of their father the devil.

The answer to this question can be understood in that there are different kinds of ‘belief’.

Belief with the mind.

In our verses from Matthew, those people believed. But they believed with their mind.

So, what kind of belief is necessary for salvation?

Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

The Bible asks that we believe with our Heart, not with our Head.

Let me tell a story about the difference between Heart and Head belief.

There are two towns in the rugged mountains, one on each side of deep and steep canyon with a raging torrent of water coursing through jagged rock walls only a hundred yards apart. Though these towns were so close to each other, the only way to get from one town to the other was via a bridge five miles up-river or by a ferry three miles downriver. There had been discussions about building a foot bridge over this roaring chasm, but funds had never been obtained to accomplish this. However, there was a single cable stretched across the abyss, although the reason for this cable could not be recalled.
In each town there were lookout points that had been developed for travelers and tourists and visitors. The view from these points was absolutely fantastic. During Autumn the colorful leaves was a wondrous sight. During the Summer the winds sweeping through this canyon and down river created an astounding river of the trees bending and swaying, almost like waves in the ocean. In the Spring the beautiful blossoms on the foliage created an amazing view and travelers came from miles around. But in Winter, the ice and snow glistened from the rocks and crags below as the rushing water gurgled through this narrow gorge.
There was always crowds of folks on each side of the river admiring the view.
One day, a van pulled up on each side of the river and a team of workers began to test and secure the cable that spanned this canyon. The crowd whispered among themselves, asking what was happening.
Soon an athletic man emerged from the vehicle dressed in tights and carrying a long pole. He mounted the cable and balancing himself with the pole, walked across the cable, and walked back.
He dismounted and asked the people if they believed he could walk across the cable again.
Of course, the believed, they’d just seen him do it.
He traversed the cable again, crossing and returning.
He asked the crown if they believed he could walk the wire without the pole. A few thought he could, but others were unsure.
The man discarded the pole and again navigated across the spanning cable and returned. He then placed a wheelbarrow on the wire and walked across and back.
He asked the people if they believed he could cross the wire with a wheelbarrow. Of course, they believed, they’d just seen him do it.
For the man’s next act, he loaded the wheelbarrow with two hundred pounds of bricks and walked across the wire and back. As was his custom, he asked the people if they believed he could cross the cable with two hundred pounds of bricks.
Again, they agreed he could do such an amazing feat, they’d just seen him doing it.
He asked the crowd if they believed he could cross the canyon with someone riding inside the wheelbarrow. Most of the spectators raised their hands. This acrobat had shown he possessed an amazing talent. Therefore, sure, he could cross the canyon with a passenger in the wheelbarrow.
His next question, “Who’s my first volunteer?”

Oops. That question changed the entire dynamics.

All of the people believed (head knowledge) that the tightrope walker could accomplish what he said.

However, no one was willing to place their life in his hands. They lacked Heart knowledge. They were not willing to place their life in his hands.

Do you now see the difference?

Head knowledge verses trusting with the heart.

That’s the kind of thing Jesus is asking of you and me. Are we willing to cast aside all caution and place our lives, or entire self into His hands?

Unless you are, that might raise a question as to whether you know Jesus personally. Do you trust Him with your whole heart, with your whole life, with your entire being?

In Matthew 7, Jesus said he never Knew those folks. As I said earlier,

There are people in this world who believe they are Christians.
There are people in this country who believe they are Christians.
There are people in this church who believe they are Christians.
But they are not, because Jesus would say, I never knew you.

Each of us must examine our hearts. What is in them? What do we believe? Do we trust Jesus with everything in our lives, or do we hold back some things so we can control and maintain them as we desire?

Let’s return to one of our earlier verses.

The Apostle John wrote this testimony, this record, so that readers would KNOW they had God’s gift of eternal life.

Do you KNOW you have God’s gift of eternal life?

How do you know this? Is it because you have a heart-relationship with Jesus?

Or is it only head knowledge?

Michael R Emmert

Lord Lord

Michael R Emmert