Therefore by their fruits
you shall know them.
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,
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!'
Matthew 7:20-23
This Greek adverb translated "never" is a strong declaration, for Jesus' statement has no other meaning than "I never", not ever have known you. This is in harmony with other such statements in Scripture. There are to be outward demonstrations of one's faith, and it is by: "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:....But anyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand....(Matthew 7:24;26). It is then, by necessity that we come to know the sayings of Jesus Christ and live by those statements no matter how hard they may seem to be. One such statement that drove many away was that we were to love Him and place Him above all, even our families. Are we living temporal or eternal? Do you believe the truth, the promise of God that He would save His chosen people, and that He never denies His promises, or is it just a hope, a desire that He would do such a thing. It sounds so good, but we do not live according to His sayings: we want it our way! This is a problem for many people when it comes to their belief in God, His Son and the Holy Spirit, they do the most unthinkable thing when it comes to translation of the Scriptures and their interpretations. What is done is isogesis, that is they make cause for Scripture to say what they want Scripture to say, or they allegorize Scripture to mean what they want to promote. This is what the Corinthians were doing and they were making all sorts of rules, and teaching things that Jesus never taught, they were not following His sayings, so they misused even the Lord's Supper, they were allowing for people to be called Christian even when their lifestyles were not in accordance with Scripture, therefore Paul had to write them and correct them, and so did Clement of Rome who wrote to the Corinthians about some things they were doing that were not Scriptural. Proper interpretation of the Bible is by means of exegesis, that is, to allow the Bible to say what it says, to mean what it means and not apply our presuppositions, or our predeterminations to be the correct interpretations. This is the problem with cultural Christianity, for they have isogesis Scripture with the current culture, a culture that is far afield of God's word, that which He said, and it is clear, that we are to follow His word, His sayings. We are to live a life of obedience to His commandments. We are to preach and teach others exactly what the Bible says, not what we say, it is Scripture and Scripture alone that is our guide leading us to live the life that God gave us, for we exist by His decree, and we are to follow Him, and no others. Yes, there are men who teach the word of God as God intended, but there are others who teach what they believe is a better way; it isn't! Only God's way is best.
It is a matter of the heart, the true state of yours, and mine, hearts. We grow in sanctification by the power of the Holy Spirit for sanctification as justification, free gifts of God's grace. We are preparing now to live eternally with Him. If we are not willing to follow Him now, how can it be expected that we would do so in Heaven? The Wisdom of God is so exalted above all things, but man holds fast to his wisdom as though it is better, but it is foolishness, it may be that they are simple-hearted in a worldly way, and then led astray by this world, it's cares, it's seductions of ambition and worldly grandeur, it's pleasures. To be simple-hearted for God is what we are to become, as children, even though we may not fully understand all things, this we can understand; Jesus Christ is God, He is the Savior of this world, and that God is love, and He will save His people, and we are to convert to Him, and believe on His Son, and then allow the Holy Spirit to guide us and direct us. In time if you search Scripture and as you grow in sanctification those hard to understand things of the Bible will become clear, just as a child does not always understand the requests, and demands of their father, in time, as they mature, they come to understand.
The basic articles of our faith is the death, resurrection, and the workings of the Holy Spirit, these are to be affirmed in us even though they may be beyond our comprehension. What is understandable is the simple truth and we can turn our attention on that truth and practice what is so simply stated. We must not do as others have done, and that is, to reduce the Gospel to a system of morality and discount the importance of the mysteries of the Bible. Don't buy into false philosophy, and vain wisdom. Christianity is not just a system of ethics, it for us to convert, not just simply believe, on the one God sent: "Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent'" (John 6:29).
It is the Spirit who gives life;
and the flesh profits nothing.
The words that I speak to you
are spirit, and they are life.
John 6:63
You are God's glory and joy
Richard L. Crumb
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