“I Never Knew You..”
Of all the scripture that comes to mind, perhaps the saddest one of all is found in Matthew 7 and verse 23. Here, Jesus tells us that at the second coming, there will be some people who will fully
expect to ascend to heaven with Him in the clouds of glory, but He will have to tell them; “....depart from Me, I never knew you.” Can you imagine those words falling from our Savior’s lips? “depart from Me, for I never knew you!”
Well, it’s a good thing that none of us “church going Christians” will ever have to hear those words. I mean after all we are here at church worshipping God aren’t we? We do try to be “good people” don’t we? Let’s face it, we’ve given up a lot of stuff to become the “righteous people that we are” --- right?? I mean -come on!- there’s no way that Jesus would turn US away is there??
The question that we are going to try to answer this morning is; How can we have “Life Assurance”?? No-- not life INsurance, I’m talking about Life ASSURANCE--- in other words; how can we be certain that when Jesus comes back, He will not say to us; “Depart from Me, I never knew you?” To put it in simple terms, how do we know if we are “saved” or not?
I remember many years ago, my girlfriend and I were at the State Fair. And as I recall, not long after we got there, it began to rain. So we, along with everyone else, quickly sought out the nearest shelter to take cover. It just so happens that inside the tent that we chose to wait out the downpour, there was a gospel group performing. As we squeezed our way through the crowd and found a place to stand, I noticed across the tent that a young lady was headed straight for us--I thought that she was going to ask us for a ticket or something at first. But as she approached us, right out of the blue she asked us both; “are you saved?”----- Well, I’m not ashamed to admit it, at that instant, I didn’t know what in the world she was talking about! And without thinking, my first response to her was; “saved from what??”
Without so much as blinking at my ignorant comment, she continued talking. And though I didn’t get a whole lot out of what she said, I did hear her mention something about Jesus and Him dying for my sins. Anyway, after a minute or two she asked us if we would Like to be saved. Well mainly just to appease her, we both agreed. With a look of relief on her face, she led us, line by line, in a short prayer; a prayer confessing our sins and accepting Christ as our Sacrifice and Savior.
I can remember as we were leaving the fair that night, I turned to Tammy and said; “Oh well, we might have been rained out but at least we got saved!”
Now I don’t mean to make light of that nice lady and her efforts for the Kingdom, but, is that all it is to being saved? Was our place in heaven automatically and irrevocably reserved for us from the precise moment we uttered that prayer she told us to say?
Many people think so, and this is in fact one of Satan’s most effective forms of deception. He leads us into a “false sense of security” by suggesting that “getting saved” is much like getting vaccinated--a once and for all kind of thing. But I think that most of us here today realize that there is a lot more to it than that. I think that we realize that being saved involves more than the mere decision itself. You see, the decision to accept Christ as our personal Savior is only the beginning, this decision is followed by a succession of changes in our lives and lifestyles.
With that in mind, let me ask you, could it be possible to “confess with you mouth that Jesus is Lord “...and..make some real good “Christian-like” changes in your life and STILL not be “saved”? Let’s look at Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
So you see, there will be people on the Day of Judgment that are going to be expecting to go to heaven, yet instead of inheriting the Kingdom,they are going to hear those saddening words of Christ; “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” Make no mistake about it; there will be deacons, deaconesses, Sabbath school teachers, Elders, Pastors, TV evangelists, along with countless others that will be turned away--and all because they lacked one very necessary qualification; they didn’t truly know the Lord and so He will be forced to say to them, “..depart from Me, for I never knew you.”
The average person upon hearing this might think; well, if people like that are going to fall short, I know I don’t have a chance! The truth is, that a lot of people out there just don’t know how to go about getting this “life assurance”. Sometimes we fail to truly understand what it really takes to be saved.
Well, along time ago, my daddy told me something that I’ve found to be true in more than one way; “It’s not WHAT you know---it’s WHO you know!”
I guess, in a ‘round about way, this was the first “spiritual” lesson that he ever taught me. You see, sometimes we get so wrapped up in the WHAT, that we tend to lose sight of the WHO.......in fact, you can be a bonafide expert on the WHAT, but if you don’t truly and personally know the WHO......then the WHAT, by itself, will simply never DO!
The beloved Apostle tells us in 1John 5:12 that “He who has the Son has life, but he who has NOT the Son of God has NOT life.”
So, wherein is this LIFE ASSURANCE that we are talking about?--- In the Son!!! and only in the Son.
In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus gives us this invitation; “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Does anyone here today know what a yoke is? According to Webster, a yoke is a “wooden bar put across the necks of TWO animals to hold them together and to which a plow or other “burden” may be attached.” Now I didn’t have the pleasure of growing up on a farm and I kind of thought that this yoke was a device that “attached some sort of burden” to ONE animal, leaving me with the impression that Jesus was going to merely “give us moral support.” But when I realized that He was actually saying that He would be right there with me, pulling most of the load.. that changed the whole meaning of this passage for me! No matter what kind of or how heavy our burdens in the life may be, if we are truly yoked with Christ, we need not fear!
Do you see brothers and sisters? Jesus wants to walk beside us every step of the way ---- He wants to share in our joys and our sorrows, and He wants to share our burdens as well. He wants to be more than a “name” to us, He wants to be a part of us!
Listen to me, our relationship with Jesus has to be stronger than any earthly relationship we have. Now come on Dwight, you’re carrying this a little too far now aren’t you????? I don’t know, look with me at the Gospel of Matthew 10:37 (READ)
37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
And Luke 10:25-28 has this to say;
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered: ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
You see, the point that I want to drive home this morning is that we can continue to go to church, try our best to keep the commandments; we can teach and even preach.......... but these things in and of themselves are all together worthless, that is, if we don’t have that RELATIONSHIP with the Lord!! ”He who has the Son has life, and he that has not the Son of God has not life”
Friends, in ANY good relationship, one thing in particular must exist for that relationship to last; it’s called COMMUNICATION. If there is little or no communication, then the relationship will soon wither and then finally cease to exist.
In the United States the divorce rate is fast approaching the 50% mark! And why is that? ---largely because of a lack of COMMUNICATION and TRUST. And you know what? Time and time again in the scriptures, our relationship with Jesus is often compared to a marriage. Statisticly speaking, I wonder how many who profess to have a strong relationship with the Lord will be received by Him into His Kingdom.
Last week we held a very special service here; we had two more beloved souls follow Jesus into baptism. I guess one might say that our baptism is like a wedding ceremony; here we proclaim our love to the Lord and promise to Him our unconditional devotion. After this follows the honeymoon, where we are excited about our new “love”. We study and pray and give the Lord our full attention. But, as time goes by, sometimes that fire begins to die down a little and suddenly we find ourselves “too busy” to study the bible much, and our prayer life is reduced to asking the blessing over our meals and a quick rendition of “now I lay me down to sleep...” before we go to bed.
Brothers and sisters, we need to understand that, just because many people “stay together” and appear to be happily married, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they still or ever did have a true and loving relationship. A ring or a marriage license can no more guarantee true love or happiness than a baptism certificate or our name on a church membership role can guarantee that our relationship with the Lord is strong. God tells us in Genesis two that a man and woman in love will become “one flesh” and in a true love relationship, a man and woman do “become one” not only in flesh but also in spirit and purpose. It’s the very same principle with our relationship with Jesus, we must become one with Him.
It’s a given that communication has to work both ways. We have to talk, and we have to listen---right? Well, in our relationship with God, our main time to TALK is through prayer. We have to ask ourselves; just how important is prayer anyway? Well, as with all questions of such a spiritual nature, we should look to our example, Jesus. As we read the accounts of His life and ministry, the bible is clear that He Himself--even though He “was God”, had a constant need and desire to go to His father and pour out His heart in prayer and supplication. Yet, sinful as we are, we seem to have little “need” or “desire” to seek communion with the Lord through this priceless privilege!
Did you know that the average Christian spends only five to seven minutes in prayer a day!? Is that good for any relationship? especially the relationship that has to be our closest? We’ve got to wonder why Christians spend so little time talking to the Lord. The most common excuse by far is; there is so little time! Yet the average adult spends 2 to 2-1/2 hours a day watching television! Where does your prayer time rank on your list of priorities?-- How often do you seek out that place of seclusion and just have a good talk with the Lord?
Brothers and sisters, prayer is a sacred privilege by which we are drawn closer and closer to God. It is an avenue through which we are slowly transformed into the likeness of Christ. Now I know that a big reason a lot of people don’t spend much time in prayer is the fact that they really don’t know what to say.--how many of us sometimes have that problem? Most of us do, but believe it or not, that is really NOT a problem because mere words aren’t that big a deal to God anyway.
Romans 8:26 says; “... the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for , but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
You know, the book of Psalms holds many beautiful prayers, and one of my favorites is in the 139th Psalm where David says; “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
You see, that sums up what prayer really is; it is opening up our inner-most being to the Lord; allowing OUR spirit to be in communion with His Spirit. There is no doubt that prayer is a powerful and crucial part of our relationship with God and that’s all the more reason why Satan would love to give you every excuse in the book not to take full advantage of this awesome privilege. Please MAKE time to spend with the Lord in prayer, He is so looking forward to hearing from you. And listen, while you are in prayer, don’t merely be “transmitting”, have your receiver on as well because many times the Lord has answered my prayers while I was still on my knees!
Hey, I could spend the whole sermon talking about prayer, but as we know, any relationship consists of “talking” AND “listening” so let’s get to the Listening part. In Matthew 4:4 Jesus says; “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.”
This is a very powerful statement coming from Jesus, why do you suppose that the word of God is so important? Well, because it strengthens our faith (Romans 10:17), it is able to make us “wise unto salvation” (2Timothy 3:15,16), and through the word we are sanctified. Notice John 17:14,17
14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
So you see, we need to feed on the Word of God daily. God has preserved this divine collection of writings to reveal Himself and His love to us. Through this book, we are convicted of our sinful state and our need of a Savior, and through this same book, God’s beautiful plan of redemption is revealed to us and offered to all who will accept it.
In closing, I just want to say that if you have gained nothing else from this sermon, I hope that it will be the realization that Jesus truly and unconditionally loves you. And no matter who you are or what you’ve done in the past---no matter how often you’ve tuned Him out of your life, He’s still much closer to you than you can imagine. Jesus says in Revelation 3:20; “Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in....”
The only people Jesus will say He "never knew" will be those who never felt the need to truly "know Him." Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you have to master in Theology to enter heaven-- or even be able to recite the books of the bible; our "life assurrance policy" is activated when we "open that door" that Jesus is knocking on and remains as long as He remains in our life. May God richly bless you as you consider His words.
