“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23. And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Mat. 7:21-23). Today’s selection is primarily used for Christians who are attending church but living contrary to the commands of the Bible. We use it to admonish those who claim to be children of God and say and do all sorts of superficial things but are devoid of any faith.
They are the people who loudly proclaim their faith, are there to worship every time the church doors are open, shout His name at every opportunity, teach, and even preach the word, but have no foundational belief in the Savior. They are all “show and no go,” or as another saying goes, “They talk the talk but do not walk the walk.” But today, I want us to use especially v. 21 to include another group we should all be greatly concerned for. I am convinced we all know someone like this. Maybe they are even as close as a dear friend or loved family member. They are the “I know there is a God” group.
At first glance, their proclamation affirming the existence of the Almighty is reassuring. They may live lives devoid of any heinous acts and be loving, kind, empathetic, and peaceful people. They may also be the ones who attend church sporadically, if at all, claiming that their salvation is not dependent on attending some building with a lot of sinners around them. They may say they are non-practicing Christians or that they don’t need to study the Bible to know there is a God or that they are saved. They will say things like “Of course, there is a God” when confronted with questions like “Do you believe in Him?”
Try to reason with them about the importance of attending church, and they will become unglued on you. “Who are you to judge me? Does the Bible not say never to judge another person?” Of course, they are “quoting” Mat. 7:1-5 without any understanding of 1 Cor. 5:12-13. They may not be evil, but we certainly have to make a judgment to determine if someone should be confronted for the sake of their salvation. Judging is an article for another day, but suffice it to say, we are not out of line for being concerned for them. They don’t want to hear that it takes more than mere knowledge of God to be saved.
If the devil ever has a powerful weapon to prevent someone from committing to God, that is it. Nothing is more dangerous than believing you are saved when you are not. That false understanding of what it takes to secure a place in heaven will prevent them from basking in the glory of eternity in the presence of the Almighty. There is a plethora of reasons they will live their lives in blissful ignorance of what it takes to be a faithful Christian. They may have family and friends who would persecute them for totally committing to God. Those people may also be living in sin, and the knowledge that faith beyond mere words would put them at odds with those sinners is something they are unwilling to do.
The fear of losing them outweighs their fear of God, so they compromise and say, “I know He exists,” and leave it at that. Ignorance of the law is not a defense, but ignorance of the law of God is even less of one. Being ignorant of what it takes to be saved is damning in the worst possible sense. Do not make the mistake of choosing between friends and family and heaven. I promise you, it will not be worth it on the Day of Judgment. Hell will not be a place where you are happy you have been reunited with them.
There is no love and peace there, no place to spend a few minutes hugging and comforting each other. It will be eternal torment, and the love you have for each other here and now will not exist there. That is harsh, but it is the truth. Another reason for the mere knowledge equals salvation belief is laziness. That’s right: some people are too lazy to go to church. Sundays are their “off day,” and they will not drag themselves to church at some “ungodly” morning hour. How would anyone conclude that an hour or two praising the God who gave them the life they enjoy is not worth it?
Then there is the “There are no churches near me” excuse. We have a member who happily travels an hour and a half one way to come to church every Sunday morning. People who use that excuse may want to expand their search radius a bit when looking for a suitable place of worship. And, who can forget the favorite “Churches are filled with liars, beggars, thieves and all types of sinners” excuse? To that, I say, “Yes, yes, it is. Praise God, since you and I are sinners too.” Oh, and let’s not forget 1Ti. 1:15, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”
Paradise is where people no longer sin, but we are not there yet, so we need saving, and one of the places that may help with that is the church. Let me end this by emphatically stating the following: Knowledge alone is not belief, and knowledge and belief alone have never saved anyone. It takes more than just those two things to be saved, but the only way you will know what it takes is to pick up that dusty old Bible, study it, and google the closest church of Christ.
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