Warning Against Superficial Discipleship
Matthew 7:21-23
5567 Upside-Down 9
A man was making money fast by loans at 9 percent. A customer asked if he didn’t fear the Lord was frowning on such questionable transactions. “Ah, no, my friend, when the Lord looks down on the 9 it looks like a 6.”
The Lord is not speaking to irreligious people, to atheists or agnostics. Nor is he speaking to pagans, heretics, or apostates. He is speaking specifically to people who are devotedly religious—but who are deluded in thinking they are on the road to heaven when they are really on the broad road to hell. They are not unlike those in the last days who Paul says will hold a form of godliness but will deny its power (2 Tim. 3:5).
What is the problem with the profession?
The man who is truly saved and who has a genuine assurance of salvation does make, and must make, these statements, but the mere making of these statements does not of necessity guarantee, or assure, a man of his salvation” (Lloyd-Jones)
“Something more than lip service is needed before He will own anyone as a true disciple of His. It is empty and windy professors whom He here exposes … An outward profession of the most orthodox religion is useless if it be joined not with vital godliness and sincere obedience … Not only is a bare profession insufficient for the saving of the soul, but it is an insult to Christ Himself. It is a horrible mockery to call Him Lord while … we treat His commands with contempt. It is obedience which marks men as His disciples and distinguishes them from the subjects of Satan” (Pink).
What do these things look like?
Salvation and obedience to the will of God are inseparable, as the writer of Hebrews makes clear: “He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation” (5:9; cf. Rom. 1:5; 6:16; 15:18; 16:19, 26; 1 Pet. 1:2, 22).
The reason for their rejection by him is that their profession was verbal, not moral. It concerned their lips only, and not their life. They called Jesus ‘Lord, Lord’, but never submitted to his lordship, or obeyed the will of his heavenly Father.
The Defense of the Self-Deceived
Arthur W. Pink wrote, “We seriously doubt whether there has ever been a time in the history of this Christian era when there were such multitudes of deceived souls within the churches, who verily believe that all is well with their souls when in fact the wrath of God abideth on them.”
What would he say today with the presence of so many “super” churches who have filled their rolls and pews with false professions through gimmicks and promotions and claim to have won multitudes to Christ? If churches were filled with false professions fifty years ago, they must be overflowing with false professions today.
What did they claim as the basis for salvation?
This tragic and ominous sentence from the lips of our Savior, which declares the doom of all those whose profession of faith is false
Jesus’ word to the disobedient claimers will be, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. All their words of respect and honor and all their works of dedication and devotion will be declared empty and worthless. They may have had God’s name in their mouths, but rebellion was in their hearts.
His saying, I never knew you, does not, of course, mean that Jesus was unaware of their identity. He knows quite well who these persons are; they are deceived professing Christians whose lives were spent in the practice [of] lawlessness.
“To know” was a Hebrew idiom that represented intimate relations. It was frequently used of marital intimacy (see Gen. 4:1, 17; etc.; where “had relations” is literally “knew,” as in the KJV). It was also used of God’s special intimacy with His chosen people Israel and with all of those who trust in Him. In a unique and beautiful way the Lord “knows those who take refuge in Him” (Nah. 1:7). The Good Shepherd knows His sheep intimately (John 10:1–14).
Jesus therefore will say to those who claim Him but never trusted in Him, I never knew you. “I have never known you as My disciples, and you have never known Me as your Lord and Savior. We have no intimate part of each other. You chose your kingdom, and it was not My kingdom.” Depart from Me is the resulting final sentence to hell, and is identical in thought to the judgment of Matthew 25:41 at the Lord’s return: “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” The lake of fire awaits all false professors (Rev. 20:15).
Here is the awful sentence upon those who are guilty of a false profession. This sentence speaks of the abhorrence of God for these sinners. All sinners of whatever kind will experience the same sentence. It is called elsewhere the “second death.” (Revelation 21:8). The first death is separation of body from soul and the second death is separation of soul from God. The second death involves the great suffering of “fire and brimstone” (Ibid.). The unsaved “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). “From” the presence of the Lord is such an ominous statement. Those whose profession of faith is outward and not inward will be cast into the lake of fire in spite of the fact that they spoke the right words and did many “wonderful works.” They were not saved was their problem, and so they will be sentenced to eternity in hell. “They may have been highly respected in the churches, but they are objects of the abhorrence to the Lord Christ” (Pink).
What a terrible thing to be abhorred of God. What a terrible thing to have God say He does not want you in His presence. But the unsaved have no complaint; for in rejecting Christ as Savior, they have literally said they do not want God in their presence. Our nation is pushing God out of more and more places. They will one day experience the reverse when God will tell them to get out of His presence.
How can we examine ourselves?
The Lord knows well that even His most faithful disciples will fail, stumble, and fall into sin. Otherwise He would not have told us to pray, “Forgive us our debts” (Matt. 6:12). And when “we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). No Christian is sinless, but the fact that we continually confess our sins, seek the Lord’s forgiveness, and long for righteousness (Matt. 5:6) is evidence that we belong to Him. God’s will may not be the perfection of the true believer’s life, but it is the direction of it.