What is their lawlessness?

[Bistra]

What is their lawlessness?

" Not everyone who says to Me,"Lord,Lord"shall enter the kingdom of heaven,but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.Many will say to Me in that day"Lord ,Lord,have we not prophesied in Your name,and done many wonders in Your name?"And then I will declare to them," I never knew you;depart from Me,you who practice lawlessness!" Matthew 7:21-23



Many times when I read these words I exclaim "Wow!I wish I had the same daring, boldness and could work so enthusiastically for My Lord as these people !!"
But the next minute I am pazzled and bewildered.
"How can it be possible?!Aren't all these people have worked and served to My Lord?!Where is the problem then???"
There are some keys:
1. who does the will of My Father in heaven
Like Saul we have thought many times that God will be very impressed from the great number of things.
1Samuel 15:22-23
I think all these people have given with them only the great amount of their concept , views and imagination of HOW they have to serve God.
God wants we belive in His Son Jesus and understand that He is the only way to Heaven.
These people have brought their own ways-through many doings and efforts.
2.There are many verses in Revelation where are written the words of other people,who will enter to Heaven.
"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.."Rev.5-12
This sound so different!!!
I can't hear anything about their doings or prophesis...
Only words for The Lamb!!
Oh!There is such great difference!
All these people know what is the cause and price to be in Heaven.
****************************************************
Thank You Lord for Your mercy and Your will to pay the price of being with You .
Bistra

 

[MahogonySnail]

Don't think I'm saying saying you are wrong, Bistra, this is just my take on this,
there's a lot in these passages and elsewhere in Scripture we can get out of it

Lawless ones are typically unbelievers:

2Co 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship does righteousness have with lawlessness? And what partnership does light have with darkness?

Or it could be believers who practice sin, that is also lawlessness,

1Jn 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness.


Taking a closer look at Matt 7.

Mat 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.

These people knew Jesus as Lord but not as Saviour. A mere profession of Christ as Lord, but not as Saviour, will not get anyone into heaven. They tried to get in by their works! They did not try to get in by the narrow gate. Also, no one who is disobedient get enter into heaven. As the PNT commentary puts it "No one can be a citizen of the kingdom who does not obey the King."

Mat 7:22

Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works?

They knew what the Lord required in their works, but they did not do the "first works". Perhaps they had no love for their fellow man, perhaps they did these works of power merely out of show and for praise. Perhaps they had merely used the name of Christ to perform miracles but did not know the Saviour personally. Perhaps they were full of activity and business in their church programs, which God did not approve , command or sanction, and in their hearts they were lukewarm (Rev 3:15). Perhaps they had left their "first love" (Rev 2:4-5), or never found it to begin with.

Mat 7:23 And then I will say to them I never knew you!

The Saviour says, He never knew them personally, they never took time to know Him as Saviour, and He rejected them and did not acknowledge them as belonging to Him. Perhaps they had head knowledge, but no heart knowledge. Perhaps whilst being a profession Christian, Christ was so ashamed of their evil deeds that He disowns them.

Luke 13 explains this further:

Luk 13:24 Strive to enter in at the narrow gate. For I say to you, many will seek to enter in and shall not be able.
Luk 13:25 And once the Master of the house has risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us, and He shall answer and say to you, I do not know you; from where are you;
Luk 13:26 then you shall begin to say, We ate and drank in Your presence, and You have taught in our streets.
Luk 13:27 But He shall say, I tell you, I do not know you; from where you are. Depart from Me, all workers of unrighteousness!

Enter in at the narrow gate. They must know Christ as personal Saviour. If not, their mere profession of religion or the fact that they associated with Christ and His people, counts for nothing. They were still dead in their sins, were not born again, had never "entered the kingdom".

Depart from Me, those working lawlessness!

"Depart from me".

What is the issue here? A perverse heart. God says a perverse heart will depart from Him, and he will not know the wicked:

Psa 101:4 A perverse heart will depart from me; I will not know the wicked.

PNT commentary says:

I never knew you. "I never knew you" must be accepted in its deeper signification of "recognizing the disciples." Augustine says that for Christ to say, "I never knew you," is only another way of saying, "You never knew me."
Depart, . . . ye that work iniquity. In spite of all their professions they had been evil doers. Their religion expended itself in professions and prayers. Hence, in "that day" they are commanded to depart. What it is to so depart we may learn from Mat_25:41. It is evident from this passage that many are self-deceived.

Wesley says:

Mat 7:23 I never knew you - There never was a time that I approved of you: so that as many souls as they had saved, they were themselves never saved from their sins. Lord, is it my case? Luk_13:27.


Gill explains further:

I never knew you; which must be understood consistent with the omniscience of Christ; for as the omniscient God he knew their persons and their works, and that they were workers of iniquity; he knew what they had been doing all their days under the guise of religion; he knew the principles of all their actions, and the views they had in all they did; nothing is hid from him. But, as words of knowledge often carry in them the ideas of affection, and approbation, see Psa_1:6 the meaning of Christ here is, I never had any love, or affection for you; I never esteemed you; I never made any account of you, as mine, as belonging to me; I never approved of you, nor your conduct; I never had any converse, communication, nor society with you, nor you with me. The Persic version reads it, "I have not known you of old", from ancient times, or from everlasting; I never knew you in my Father's choice, and my own, nor in my Father's gift to me, nor in the everlasting covenant of grace; I never knew you as my sheep, for whom, in time, I died, and called by name; I never knew you believe in me, nor love me, or mine; I have seen you in my house, preaching in my name, and at my table administering mine ordinance; but I never knew you exalt my person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; you talk of the works you have done, I never knew you do one good work in all your lives, with a single eye to my glory; wherefore, I will neither hear, nor see you; I have nothing to do with you. In this sense the phrase is used in the Talmud :



Perhaps they were busy doing great works of power, casting out devils in Christ's name, but neglected to feed the hungry, visit the sick, those in prison,

Mat 25:41 Then He also shall say to those on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.
Mat 25:42 For I was hungry, and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink;
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; I was naked, and you did not clothe Me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.
Mat 25:44 Then they will also answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to You?
Mat 25:45 Then He shall answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.
Mat 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.



How we can prevent being lawless?

Christ gives this answer in the next verse

Mat 7:24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock.

Those who follow Christ and know Him, hear Christ's saying, puts them into practice, they "build their house on a rock".

People who are lawless, have never taken the time to know Christ, and be known by Him. They never took the time to hear Christ's sayings and more importantly, put them into practice. They may have joined a church program or something else to give them peace of mind, to help people, to do great things for God, but they never took the time to know the Saviour.

How else? Abiding in Him:

1Jn 3:6 Everyone who abides in Him does not sin. Everyone who sins has not seen Him nor known Him.


How do we abide in Him?


Joh 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you.

By faith, and by hearing and obeying Jesus's sayings and putting them into practice.

How do we know that we know Him? By keeping His commandments:


1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 1Jn 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

 

[roaringkitten]

"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." Matthew 7:21

"And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." 1 John 2:17

"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." John 6:28-29

"And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:40

The will of the Father is for people to BELIEVE on Jesus. When they do this they get eternal life(notice present possession):

"He that believeth on the Son HATH everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, HATH everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but IS passed from death unto life." John 5:24

"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;" Titus 1:2

The "hope" this is referring to, is not a future hope of eternal life for the believer(because the believer already has it) but reading it in context, "promised before the world began"....before the world began, in our sense, it is a FUTURE hope. But God is eternal and sees past, present and future at the same time(Revelation 1:8,11; 21:6; 22:13).

Eternal life is eternal life. If it could be lost, then God was a liar and a deceiver but He is not! Which is why those people who preach that God can lose Christians to hell again is calling God a liar. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but that is a Biblical truth.

 

[MahogonySnail]

Will their be Christians in hell? Yes, those who are Christian by name only, those who work lawlessness, the disobedient, the unfaithful servants, those who never took the time to know Christ personally, who are not known by Him or don't know Him themselves. Those who are or became lukewarm are in danger (Rev 3:16), ,those who are still in their sins, those who practice sin , including the Christian who lives with their boyfriend or girlfriend in a sexual relationship, including the adulterer, the drunkard, the homosexual, the liar, the cheater, the greedy , the deniar, etc.

 

[Bistra]

thanks for sharing

 

[jjkg]

What Jesus is saying is "depart from me those of you who lived as though I never gave you a law to obey." Remember Jesus also said, 'Those who love me will obey my commands." Do we do that always....absolutely not, but we also live a life of repentance of those sins. The Bible also speaks of those that use the grace of God as a license for immorality. Those that label themselves as 'christian' yet believe freedom means being able to fulfill all their worldly desires and lay claim to God's 'forgiveness' as an excuse to do those things.

 

[Cup-of-Ruin]

Greetings

Even the fallen angels know that Jesus is Lord, but their punishment will be for lawbreaking.

If one convinces themselves that Jesus is Lord yet persists in lawbreaking, then they are a unrepentant lawbreaker, no matter how many tears they shed, Esau cried, but that didn't change his fate.

1 John 5:3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous."

John 3:4 "...Whosoever commiteth sin transgresseth the law. for sin is the transgression of the law."

God's laws were in force before Mt Sinai, Abraham followed God's laws and the Abrahamic Covenant is still applicable today, the Mosaic Covenant was superseded by the New Covenant of Christ, the main difference of course is the completion of blood sacrifice and the volutary nature of the Covenant, rather than forced compliance.

The Abrahamic Covenant was voluntary like the New Covenant, Mosaic laws are not in force, but many laws that were given to Moses are eternal universal laws, so they always applied and apply still.

 

[Slepsog4]

Lawlessness: violation of express law or living as if there is no law