"DEPART FROM ME, I NEVER KNEW YOU"... WORDS A CHRISTIAN WILL NEVER HEAR
Believer,
Has this Bible verse ever caused you to fear or even doubt your salvation?
Matthew 7:23 (NKJV)
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Have you ever worried after reading this parable? Or felt anxiety, wondering if you’re doing enough for God to be accepted in the end? Could this be you? Will the Lord tell you to depart from Him?
Well, I have great news for you, believer. You can rest assured that Jesus will never cast away any of His sheep nor tell them to depart from Him. That’s you, if you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. If you have put your trust in His death, burial and resurrection - The Gospel, then you are His sheep. You hear his voice. He knows you. You follow Him. He has given you eternal life. You will never perish. No one will snatch you from His hand. (See John 10-26-28).
So then, who is Jesus referring to in Matthew 7:23? Who are these who make a practice of lawlessness (sin)?
The answer: Unbelievers.
Let’s take a closer look at the context of the passage and use scripture reference to show this. But before, let me assure you of this:
There is no verse in the entire Bible that should cause a believer in Christ to be afraid, when read through the lens of His finished work on the Cross. All scripture should be read and interpreted from a New Covenant perspective.
1 John 4:18 (ESV)
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
Fear has to do with punishment. And we would be punished for our sins, but God who is love, who is rich in mercy, while we were still sinners and headed straight to eternal punishment, sent His Son to die for us, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life (see John 3:16). He took our sins away at the Cross. There is nothing else to fear, believer. You have a perfect standing with God, through Christ in His love for you.
Back to the topic at hand. How can we be sure that Jesus is clearly addressing unbelievers when He says, “depart from Me”? Let’s take a few steps back and get a little context.
On verse 15, we see who verse 23 is addressed to: false prophets. They may call Jesus “Lord” and do works (prophesy, cast out demons, and other mighty works) using His name as a seal of approval. But did you notice why these false prophets thought they should be able to enter the kingdom of heaven? Because of ‘all the stuff’ they did.
“Lord, did we not do this and do that? You should let us in”. Do you see it? They tried to earn salvation by doing works in the name of Jesus. But they never believed in Him, which is the only thing that saves a person. These false prophets display what we know today as works righteousness - the concept that salvation can be attained and maintained by human effort. An erroneous concept of course, as we know from Ephesians 2:8-9, that we are saved by grace through faith, not as a result of works.
Now, let’s further define what a false prophet is, using Scripture:
A false prophet appears to be a sheep (believer) on the outside but is truly a wolf (unbeliever) on the inside. They do not belong to the flock that Jesus knows as His.
Matthew 7:15 (ESV)
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
A false prophet denies Jesus.
2 Peter 2:1 (NKJV)
2 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
A false prophet has an antichrist spirit. They do not confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.
1 John 4:1-3 (ESV)
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
Side note: let’s avoid impulsively calling people false prophets. Think and pray before making this serious claim, especially if you don’t truly know the individual. You may be slandering a brother, which is a sin.
Can you see it now? Jesus is addressing false prophets, clearly defined as unbelievers who don’t truly know Him. They may perform signs and wonders like pharaoh’s magicians did to match Moses. And yet they will hear, “depart from me, I never knew you”. Because they never truly believed in the Son, even though outwardly it may have seemed like they did.
Let’s go a little deeper. Who then are those who will enter the kingdom of heaven?
Answer: those who do the will of the Father (see Matthew 7:21)
So what is the will of the Father?
The will of the Father is that we would believe in the Son and have eternal life.
John 6:38-40 (ESV)
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Believer, you walk in God’s will, naturally, from the moment you first believed in the Son and received eternal life. And today, your new righteous nature is fully compatible with walking in the will of God through your actions and attitudes. This is who you are. It explains why sin never fulfills but leaves you feeling miserable, while on the other hand, walking righteously and denying ungodliness (as grace teaches us in Titus 2:11-12) brings all the fulfillment in the world. It’s all about understanding your identity in Christ. You don’t want to sin. You will however be influenced and tempted by ‘the flesh’ - the power of sin in the air, and you will continue to struggle and stumble in many ways (see James 3:2) until you get to heaven. But when you sin, you are forgiven and righteous through The Blood and Resurrection. But you don’t want to sin. You are a new holy creation, with a new heart that desires what God desires. Don’t confuse who you are with what you do or don’t do. This is the deadly mistake keeping so many Christians in bondage.
To sum it all up, “depart from me, I never knew you” are the words every unbeliever can expect. And if that’s you, I have Great News. If you look to the Son and believe in Him, He will take away ALL your sins, give you eternal life and make you one of His sheep. You will be saved from eternal punishment, and enter into the kingdom of heaven, which is Jesus.
At last, here is what believers can fully rest in:
He will never cast us out.
John 6:37 (ESV)
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
We know the Lord.
Hebrews 8:11 (ESV)
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
We are one spirit with Him.
1 Corinthians 6:17 (NKJV)
17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
JESUS DID IT — REST IN HIM