Matthew 7:21 – 23

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.

22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’

23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

The person who claims to accept Jesus as their master, is not accepted by God unless he or she does what God instructs them to do.

The title “Lord” means master, a faithful servant of a master does what is expected of them.

There are many who claim to be faithful followers of Christ, they claim to follow His will and obey His instructions.

These works they claim to do, are not disputed by Jesus, and they were commonly possible in the days of the miracles of Jesus and the apostles ministry on earth.

These individual were denied not because of the works they were doing for Christ, but because they were not following the instructions of Christ and His Father. They were only respecting the words of Christ they wanted to accept.

Christ called them lawless individuals. Lawless does not mean they disrespected all of the new law.

James explains lawlessness as breaking part of the law. James 2:8 – 10 (8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.)

We need to make sure our obedience to Christ is keeping all of His words, not just the ones we want to or are convenient for us.

We do not want Christ to say to us on the day of Judgment, “I never knew you; depart from Me!”