"Not everyone who says to Me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father. . .Many will say to Me on that Day, ‘Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness.’" Matt. 7:21-23

 According to Jesus there will be many who will stand confidently on the Day of Judgment believing that they had been His faithful servants during their life on the earth. They will testify of how they "prophesied," "cast out demons" and "performed miracles" and did it all in the "name of Jesus."

In our text we find Jesus strangely silent regarding these statements. He did not refute anything they said, nor did He question their motives. Perhaps the problem was not in what they had done but in what they had failed to do.

Many who came to Jesus called Him "Lord," yet did not follow His teachings - to those He asked, -"Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say?" (Luke 6) What did Jesus say to do? "If you wish to enter into life, keep the Commandments" (Matt.19) We see by the next verse that He was teaching the Ten Commandments.

It is a sobering fact that there may be literally billions who will face the Judgment believing that they had been faithful Christians but who will be rejected by Christ. Why would Jesus reject those who had spent their lives doing good works in His name? We need look no further than verse 23 of our text to learn the answer, -"I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness."

 To be a true Christian is to have fellowship with Jesus and God the Father. We learn from Jesus’ declaration that those who practice lawlessness do not really have fellowship with Him and He does not know them as His own, -"The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him’ and does not keep His Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1 Jo.2) "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." (1 Jo.1)

 How did these people get so deceived as to believe that they were serving God? It could only be through vain philosophy.

Paul warned the Church of this, -"See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men." (Col.2) People can be easily deceived into believing that they can "serve" God their own way - they fully expect God to follow them and bless whatever they decide for themselves to do in His name. To these, "self" is their god and they expect God to be their servant. Others are taken "captive" "according to the traditions of men."

Jesus said that this form of worship is vain, -"You invalidated the Word of God for the sake of your tradition. . .But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." (Matt.15) Saints, test your faith to ensure that it is pure and unstained by tradition.

 We are saved by grace not law, but let us not allow ourselves to be deceived into believing that we can live lawlessly and be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is not impressed with those who "prophesy," "cast out demons," "perform miracles" or any other "good works" while living in rebellion of the Commandments -"Depart from Me you who practice lawlessness."