“I never knew you…….”

“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.

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?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!”                     Matthew 7:21 – 23 NIV

Of all the scripture that comes to mind, perhaps the saddest and most fearful of all is the very words of Jesus Himself found in Matthew 7: 21–23.  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 they will be left behind.

Make no mistake about it; there will be people on the Day of Judgment that are going to be expecting to go into heaven, yet instead of inheriting the Kingdom, they are going to hear those saddening words of Christ; “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”

There will be deacons, prophets, apostles, Sunday school teachers, elders, pastors, TV evangelists, along with countless others even church members that will be turned away---- all because they lacked one very necessary qualification; they did not truly know the Lord and so He will be forced to say to them, “…depart from Me, for I never knew you.”

The people who Jesus will say He “never knew” will be those who never felt the need to truly “know Him,” they did not have a relationship with Him, yet these are people who “think” they are going to heaven!