The Danger Of False Assurance Series

THE DANGER OF FALSE ASSURANCE

KNOWN OR UNKNOWN - Series (Week 3)

Matthew 7:21-23

INTRODUCTION: THE WRONG NAME ON THE LIST

I want you to imagine something with me for a moment. Picture yourself getting word, months in advance, that you are on the VIP list for the most exclusive event of the year. Someone you trust told you your name was there. You believed it. You planned around it. You bought the outfit. You told your friends. And on the night of the event, you walk up to that velvet rope with total confidence, full expectation, and a smile on your face, ready to walk straight through.

But the person at the door looks at the list. Then looks at you. Then looks at the list again. And says, calmly but firmly, "I'm sorry. Your name is not here."

You argue. You explain. You insist. You say, "I was told I was on the list. I know I was invited." But the rope does not lift. The door does not open. And you are left standing outside while everyone else walks in.

Now hear me this morning. What if that door was not the entrance to a party? What if that door was the entrance to eternity?

Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus says, "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, cast out demons 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.'"

This is one of the most sobering passages in all of Scripture, and it comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself, not from a stern prophet, not from a theologian writing a treatise on judgment, but from the Son of God who went to a cross because He loves humanity. He is telling us this not to terrify us, but to rescue us. He is warning us the way a father warns a child who is about to step into traffic. There is love in this warning. But the warning is real.

Today we are in Week 3 of our series, KNOWN OR UNKNOWN, and the question we are sitting with this morning is one of the most important you will ever answer in your lifetime. Not at an altar call. Not in a theology class. Right now, in your chest, in the quiet place where only you and God have access. Is your relationship with Jesus real? Are you known by Him? Or are you living under a dangerous assumption that feels like faith but has never been rooted in genuine covenant?

This message is for the church. Not for the streets. Not for the unbeliever who has never heard the Gospel. Jesus directed these words at people who were already religious, already active, already operating in spiritual gifts. And that is exactly why we need to hear it.

Let us pray, and then we will go deeper.

I. CLAIMS WITHOUT COVENANT

Outward religious activity, including spiritual gifts and ministry deeds, cannot substitute for a genuine, blood-bought covenant relationship with Jesus Christ.

The first thing you need to notice in this passage is the level of shock these people carry to the judgment seat. They do not come with embarrassment. They do not come with excuses. They come with a case. A full, confident, articulate case. "Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? Cast out demons in Your name? Done many wonders in Your name?" These are not trivial claims. Prophecy, deliverance, miracles. These are the very categories of spiritual activity that we celebrate in charismatic and Spirit-filled churches every single week.

And Jesus says, "Depart from Me."

Now the question that every honest believer must wrestle with is this: How is that possible? How does a person prophesy, cast out demons, and perform miracles in the name of Jesus and still end up outside the kingdom?

The answer is found in Matthew 7:21, where Jesus draws the line in the clearest possible terms. He says the one who enters the kingdom of heaven is "he who does the will of My Father in heaven." Not the one who does great things in My name. Not the one who accumulates spiritual achievements. The one who does the will of the Father. And John 6:40 tells us exactly what that will is: "that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life." The will of the Father is covenant. The will of the Father is relationship. The will of the Father is that you know His Son, not just use His name.