Be Known

Matthew 7:21-23

A Terrifying Warning

Last week, the warning was about False Prophets, this week the warning goes out to False Professors.

Those who say “Lord Lord”

Lord, Lord - they possess enough of a knowledge of Him to call Him Lord

They will not enter - Why?

Only those who do the will of the Father - implying that those who merely cry Lord, Lord are not living in obedience to the will of God.

Describing Christians in Name Only

Those who say, “Lord, Lord we have done…”

They’ve done mighty works, prophesied, and cast out demons - They are successful, all in the name of the Lord

Away from me - I never knew you…

They served, but with no relationship to Christ

Truly terrifying - the warning is not for those the fringes, but deeply involved in the Church

It is possible to be theologically orthodox, and yet excluded from the kingdom. It is possible to exercise spectacular works, and yet be a stranger to God’s saving grace.

How can you be sure you are not running in vain?

2 Pet 1:10 be diligent to confirm your calling and election.

“How can I know that I am known?”

How to Know You are Known

Stop hiding from God

“We are only as known as the secrets we share.”

Developing strong relationships, friendships, marriages, requires an openness, a willingness to share, to reveal your weaknesses, your hopes, your fears.

When you throw up walls, always defensive, and keep yourself from those around you, are you ever really known.

Going to the Dr - Everything is fine… how can he know how to care for you if you won’t tell him what ails you?

If you want to be known by God, ask yourself, are you holding back from God?

If you are fake with God, presenting to Him a brushed up, photoshop version of yourself to try to impress God, when you stand before Him, how would he recognize you.

He made you, and He gave his Son for your salvation, He deserves to know you, can you hold anything back from Him?

If you want to be known by God, begin by asking God to search my heart…

Psalm 139:23–24 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

I want to be known by you, I won’t hold anything back from you. I will not cover anything up, I will not be anything other than what I am - because only then, when you know me, can you heal me.

Spend Time with God

The best way to get to know someone is to spend time with them. Do you spend time in with God?

Delight in His presence through the ordinary means

Word, prayer, fellowship/worship

Daily reading the word of God, constant prayer pouring your heart out to him, regular fellowship with other believers sharing in the life of the Spirit, faithful worship giving God all the glory.

Be present in these things!

Don’t close yourself off to go through the motions

I can read with my eyes shut… causes eyebrows to catch on fire - but when you open your eyes are able to learn a large amount of wonderful things

What is God’s word saying in the situation I’m facing. Do I give unto God my cares, my delights, my fears, in prayer. Am I engaged in worship, giving myself to God, or am I in receiving mode

Do God's Will

What is God’s will? The Clear Will of God

That you believe in Jesus Christ:

Jn 6:29, the work of God is to believe in the one whom he has sent

That you flee from sin:

1 Thess. 4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality - 2 Tim 2:19 Let everyone who calls on the name of Christ depart from iniquity

That you hear and obey Him:

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Known in Obedience

“No man enters the kingdom because of his obedience, but no man enters the kingdom without obedience.”

Sinclair Ferguson

It is a horrible mockery to call Him Lord while we continue to do only what is pleasing to ourselves, and treat his commands with contempt. It is obedience which marks men as His disciples and distinguishes them from the subjects of Satan.

Obedience is the fruit of your rootedness in Christ

Grace does not preclude obedience, it produces it.

Sets us free from sin, and unites us to Christ the righteous One, that we would be like him, growing in righteousness and good works.

The Holy Spirit dwelling in you will make you holy.

Our Great Hope

God Knows those Whom He Loves

When our hearts condemn us - there is One greater than our hearts 1 John 3:20 -

When I don’t love Him perfectly, when I don’t love him as I should - there is hope!

When I was unloving and unlovable, He loved me.

The fact that you love him at all is testimony to His saving grace: no unregenerate soul would love God.

1 Jn 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Those who know God have been known by God

You know Him, because He first knew and called you His

Rom 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Eph 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

1 Peter 1:18-19 - You were ransomed… with the precious blood of Christ.

John 10:14 - I am the good shepherd, I know my own and my own know me.

He knows my name

Isaiah 43:1 “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

Isaiah 49:16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

Revelation 3:5 Those whose name is in the “book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”

Our assurance, our hope, is not in what we have confessed or in the success of what we have done, but in the completed work of Christ, but in the promise of God and the working of His grace in our lives.