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!’
In the entire scripture, this verse is one of the verses I fear most. This passage is an indicator that one can be calling the name of The Lord without seeing The Lord the at the end. This passage translates to mean one could be displaying series of gifts of the Spirit and still lose the favor of The Lord in the end. It therefore means that manifestations of Spiritual gifts are not enough indication of heavenly destination.
And it means also that one could be full of Spiritual gifts and still miss Heaven at last. These verses also indicate that one can cast out devils and heal the sick and raise the dead and still not be recognized by The Lord God.
Today, we see a lot of manifestations of ‘signs and wonders’, including some Prophets standing on the altar and even mentioning accurately the food you ate the previous night before you went to bed, the things you thought on your bed before you slept and historical facts of your lineage.
Today, one sees miracles that confuses the mind of even the spiritually strong.
One evening, I was watching one of the Christian channels and I came across what baffled me. “Miracle Alerts”. People had been told to come with their phones and expect the miraculous provisions of God. So, as the minister of God was ministering, some people’s phones were showing incredible instant deposits from people or sources they did not know. And each of them were stepping forward to testify to the ‘wonders’ of God.
Why would JESUS say to those people He mentioned in Matthew 7:23?
‘I never knew you; depart from Me?
Because they practice lawlessness. The Bible calls them ‘workers of iniquities’. Yet they cast out devils and healed the sick. They prophesied in Christ’s name and raised the dead in Christ’s name. The dead were rising up at their commands, the sick were getting healed and demons were being expelled at their commands…yet they could not enter heaven, because…they were workers of iniquities.
Therefore, one should not be carried away with the fact that one is gifted in the things of God and many people are getting blessed. That your gift of music is extraordinary and your music is always a blessing to the church of God is never an indication that you will make heaven if you are one of those “workers of iniquities”. That your drama ministrations have set a whole church on spiritual fire and have led many people to the foot of the cross is never an indication that you will make it to heaven if you are one of those working iniquities in closet.
So a lot of choir leaders have their girlfriends amid the choir, and many female church choir members sing so beautifully and inspiringly but live a double life conveniently. The fully anointed solos of some choir members have brought tears of worship and praise into the eyes of listeners, while the personal characters of the singers have enlisted them as candidates of Hell.
When a drama minister who is living a lustful and immoral life still travels about and ministers around, bringing souls to The Lord, you wonder if he or she is laboring for another heaven apart from the one which the Bible says shall not receive anything unholy. Many drama and music ministers are making movies to heal the broken hearted and set the captives free, while they themselves are held in the captivity of their fornication, adultery, greediness and pride. Many have made movies that brought many souls to the Kingdom of God, while they themselves are on their way to Hell.
Matthew 7:19-20
19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
If casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead and displaying of Spiritual gifts, making great Christian movies and producing fantastic gospel drama and singing captivating Christian worship songs including being a gifted teacher are not enough to take us to Heaven, but our holy living, then, is it not wise for us to major on building our personal CHARACTERS before God above our SERVICES, rather than majoring on Services and ignoring our characters?
Proverbs 11:3
The integrity of the upright will guide them,
But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.
It has been the attitude, behaviors and characters of some believers that has kept some unbelievers away from the Salvation of Christ. Some unbelievers have been seriously disappointed by the attitudes and characters of the so called ‘Christians’ they were supposed to emulate. Yet they see these Christians displaying fervency in the things of God, but have been scored low in their personal characters and integrity.
Let us de-emphasize our SERVICES for now, and reflect on our personal characters. It is not this spiritual gifts, of singing, acting, teaching, prophesying, preaching, etc, that could make us miss the Glorious Home, but this Pride, Arrogance, Greediness, covetousness, filthiness, immorality, this daily unrighteousness and compromise.
Matthew 7:21
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.
May The Lord bless you as you take a second look at your daily characters and these besetting sins.
Source: Evang. Mike Bamiloye
Aphorism CITY 