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.
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? And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye
that work iniquity.
Matthew 7:21-23
Before I begin I was off yesterday going to my doctor appointment in regards to my cancer surgery, so far no sign of metastasis (guess I have to wait for heaven). Had a great weekend before that with my children, my daughter's birthday and my sisters. Good time was had.
The opening verses should cause you to shudder as the Greek word "never" is in the perfect tense meaning, I never knew you, not now, not before, and will not in the future. What seems to be a fault in Christianity is that so many have succumbed to liberalism, socialism, and even have accepted evolution has a possibility if not fact. This has led to cultural Christianity. Some have reverted to an old heresy that they can be a force for the supernatural, even speaking of prophesying, healing, and work oriented as though this is actual Christianity. It is not! Doing the will of God is Authentic Christianity. Not what man says the Bible says about works, for it does not give warrant for the many beliefs that are promoted as truth. Yes, God does see your heart. This ought to give rise to fear! If your heart is not in line with God's will according to Scripture then your heart is misleading you. Authentic Christians understand that they are the bride of Christ and that Jesus Christ is the bridegroom and they must become the friend of the Bridegroom. All this running around attempting to be little gods by works is to attract to themselves attention and goodness and purity never should do this for our attraction is to be drawn to Jesus Christ. To maintain this friendship we must be very careful of our moral and vital relationship to Jesus Christ than any other thing, even of obedience. We must see that nothing interferes with our relationship to Jesus Christ. What happens is that if we do not care for this relationship we become amateur providences, and my work against Jesus Christ will we use His weapons.
What is purity? It is not innocence, it is much more. Purity is the outcome of sustained spiritual sympathy with God. We grow in purity. Yes, we are pure in God's sight through Jesus Christ, but we must grow in this life into purity. We must be brought into perfect accord with Jesus Christ and this means there are things we must scorn to do or to think, and some legitimate things we must scorn to touch.
All this requires a change in our character, a change from the inside/out and a habit that has developed changing your character to be in line with the will of God. Our boast should not be in ourselves, what we are doing, no matter how good it may be, our boast is: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14). Authentic Faith will always be recognized, evidenced by, changed lives. This is what Jesus is referring when He said "I never knew you," and this is because Jesus will not recognize those who will not recognize Him.
The truth is: we must understand that what is required of Authentic Christians is total dependence on the atonement of Jesus Christ. It is by this we are empowered to live a life that is pleasing to Him and this is possible by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to you so that when you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you will be led in the right direction and live a life of obedience to the commandments of God.
WHAT IS THE TRUE STATE OF YOUR HEART?
Then answered the LORD unto Job
out of the whirlwind, and said,
Gird up they loins now like a man,
I will demand of thee, and declare
thou unto Me. Wilt thou also disannul
my judgment? Wilt thou condemn Me,
that thou mayest be righteous.
Job 40:6-8
Again: What is the true state of your heart?
Richard L. Crumb
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