I Never Knew You
I Never Knew You. I cannot think of any more chilling words than finding oneself standing before the Lord. From God's perspective, none of us measure up--all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
21 Not
every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many
wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 7:21-23, KJV
I Never Knew You
I cannot think of any more chilling words than finding oneself standing before the Lord, and having Him say, "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." You see, the difficulty is that it is God who defines what is good and what is evil. We have the tendency to compare ourselves with other people, and what we see in our own lives looks pretty good by comparison. However, God does not see us as other men see us. God looks upon our hearts.
From God's perspective, none of us measure up--all of us have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) Our only hope, then, is
that we are resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, for He, alone, has paid
the debt of our sins. If we are not completely resting in Christ, then
we do not have salvation, for there is no salvation in any other name.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12, KJV
Our foolish pride often chaffs against such words. We look upon people--many of whom are not professing Christians, and see some pretty good things. We see kindness, generosity, and unselfishness demonstrated in their characters. How, then, can we say that they are not believers? How can we say that they deserve the condemnation given to them by God?
What we cannot see is their hearts! In their heart of hearts they must,
of necessity, make the same choice given to all men. They must rest upon
the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for their
salvation, for there is no other name under heaven given among men
whereby they can be saved. Without Christ, all men, women, and children
are hopelessly lost. With Christ, the very doors of heaven are opened
unto us.
The very difficulty we face by not being able to see the heart of hearts
of our fellow man, means that even in the church, there will be those
who profess the Lord Jesus Christ, but do not truly know Him. The Lord
Jesus, when He walked upon this earth could see the hearts of the
people; He knew their status before God. However, we have not been given
that ability. Therefore, we must not be surprised when those whom we
believe to be children of God turn away from Him.
It is a common theme that will continue to appear as we study the very
words of Christ as recorded to us in God's Word. Jesus used many
illustrations and parables to show that not all who claim to be
believers are actually Christians.
The point for us to examine in this devotion, is this: where do we truly
stand before Christ? Are we resting upon our own goodness to save us,
or, seeing our own sinfulness, have we cast ourselves upon the Lord
Jesus Christ? Have we gone to Him, seeking forgiveness and rested upon
His shed blood to pay the awful debt of our own sins?
Christ's words of warning come to us today in this, the 21st century.
The door of salvation remains open, but the time will come--perhaps very
soon--when that door will be shut, forever! Go to Christ and fall
before Him now, before it is too late. May you never have to hear those
chilling words from Him: "Depart from me, for I never knew you!"
Devotional Reflections from the Bible
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