Who Were the Folks in Matthew 7:21-23?

John MacArthur said, and I agree, that this is the most frightening passage in the Bible. A vast number of people today claim to be doing miracles and speaking in "heavenly" languages but they are hellward bound.

Matthew 7:21-23 BBE) reads, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will go into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the pleasure of my Father in heaven. A great number will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, were we not prophets in your name, and did we not by your name send out evil spirits, and by your name do works of power?' And then will I say to them, 'I never had knowledge of you: go from me, you workers of evil.'"


These "Lord! Lord!" people are those who think they serve Christ but they're really serving themselves. As Jesus said to his disciples in Luke 6:46 (BBE) "Why do you say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not the things which I say?"

Remember too that Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve. Before he betrayed Christ, he seemed like a model disciple. But Jesus wasn't fooled by his fakery. John 6:70 (BBE) proves his omniscience. "Then Jesus said, Did I not make a selection of you, the twelve, and one of you is a son of the Evil One?"


We can tell by these verses that Christ isn't fooled by fake praise. Many people act as if the Lord's name is a sort of magical invocation of power. But being in Christ's name and doing things in his name means that we've been adopted into his family. Check out what Galatians 4:4 and 5 (BBE) says. "But when the time had come, God sent out his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, That he might make them free who were under the law, and that we might be given the place of sons."

We also are assured in John 6:37 (BBE) of our acceptance in Christ's family. "Whatever the Father gives to me will come to me; and I will not send away anyone who comes to me." What an assurance that is!

But this adoption is conditional in that we must repent and surrender the running of our lives to Christ. Luke 18:17 (BBE) speaks of this total trust we must place in the Lord. "Truly I say to you, Whoever does not put himself under the kingdom of God like a little child, will not come into it at all."

This will be the main theme in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Far too many people assume they're saved but their deeds and lives betray them.

On Thursday, providing the Lord doesn't return before then, I'll post about five foolish virgins and who they were.