Text – Matthew 7:22-23 (read 20-23)
“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21 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.22 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?23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:20-23 (KJV)
INTRODUCTION –
“I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. “ Some say that this is the most devastating verse in the whole Bible! Can you imagine spending years, or even a single day doing all these “Good Works” in Jesus’ name only to find out that Jesus never even knew who you were?
Many of us think that it is easy to spot a perpetrator of the gospel. It should be for the mature Believer, because the mature Believer is living by the word of God. Between what the word of God has written and the teaching, leading, guiding, and directing of the Holy Spirit, the Believer is going to be made aware of a counterfeit Christian.
But just like a counterfeit bill, there are some that appear to be real and they are not so easy for the untrained and inexperienced eye to see. What makes it even more difficult is that there are “counterfeits” out here who display such confidence (thus the term CON MAN) because they actually think they are the real thing. There are some counterfeits out here who know full well that they are not real. These are going to have a lot to answer for when they appear before the Lord. This brings us to our subject for today . . .
“DON’T FOOL YOURSELF!”
POINTS –
- “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.“ (v. 20) – A person can say they are one thing, but what they yield will expose what they are. We just recently finished talking about Balaam (expound)
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven“ (v. 21) – Just because a person calls on the Lord, this doesn’t make them a Believer. It is one thing to recognize that Jesus is Lord, but it is another thing to recognize Him as YOUR Lord (expound).
- “He that doeth the will of my Father . . . “ (v. 21) – Don’t allow yourself to be fooled here Beloved. I know that there are some of us who are babies in our Christian walk, but if you remember what we just mentioned last week; “every Believer should be doing their part to uphold the Great Commission. This goes for anyone who says they are part of the kingdom of God. This one of the “tells” of a Believer (expound).
- “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?“ (v. 22) – Some of these counterfeits don’t realize the power that is in the name of Jesus and His word! They don’t realize that prophesying, casting out devils, and other miracles can be done in Jesus name by counterfeits as well as true Believers (Balaam again is referenced. Expound).
CONCLUSION –
My sisters and my brothers, don’t allow yourselves to be so into your daily occupations and circumstances that you forget what you have been commissioned and commanded to do. As you are out here building up the kingdom of God, remember the wolves that the Lord said He was sending you out to be among. DON’T FOOL YOURSELF! Don’t become arrogant or blind to the fact that there are counterfeit Christians out here.
If you put and keep your trust in the Lord, He will allow you to see these counterfeits, and you will be able to check yourself and make sure that YOU are not a counterfeit. As for those who out here who are counterfeit, you don’t have a heaven to take them to or a hell to put them in, vengeance belongs to the Lord. The LORD is the righteous Judge and this what He has to say about them . . . “DEPART FROM ME, YE THAT WORK INIQUITY! “
Imagine standing before the judgment seat of GOD and hearing those words! Knowing that you are now sentenced to be eternally separated from GOD. Knowing that you are doomed to spend eternity in HELL! Knowing that all the time you spent fooling people you were only fooling yourself. You may have been a counterfeit, but when the Lord saved people in spite of you, they were real.