At the end of last Friday’s post I ended it with the following verses from the Bible:
Matthew 7:20 – Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
I have had a burden on my heart since placing these precious words our Savior spoke nearly two thousand years ago. What I was drawn too was verse 22:
“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?”
Now in particular it is the question of “and in thy name have cast out devils?”
I am reminded of when Christ Himself was accused of being the devil. His answer was this:
Matthew 12:24 – But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. 25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
So here is the key to my point. These people in all honesty will stand before Christ and ask this question of Him and He will respond:
“And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
When we are one with God through the saving grace of Jesus Christ, He Himself made it clear, that we will be able to do anything in His name even to the point of moving a mountain. So if these people in all honestly in their hearts say that they prophesied in His name, if they cast out devils in His name and did wondrous works in His name per Matthew 12 they did. Why? For they were against Satan when they did it. They were one with God through Christ’s salvation.
Now once again I draw your attention to John 15 and in particular these verses.
1- I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
It is made clear in these verses these key points:
First Jesus Christ in the “true vine”
Second God His father is the “husbandman” which means he is the one who controls the growth of the vine, His Son, and the Body of Christ which are those that profess He is their Savior.
Third is the warning that “every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away.” It does not go to the glory but the warning. Why? To place the emphasis upon the fact that we can be removed. Remember this is Jesus Christ Himself speaking to his disciples. They are His personally chosen and yet He makes it clear that there is a cost for not staying one with Him. Did not Judas learn this?
Fourth is the counsel for those that are faithful and do bear fruit, but with the understanding that by doing so there will be times of trials and tribulation. Why? Not only to strength those that are bearing fruit for God, but also to see if you can handle the pressures that come with this great responsibility. When we show we can overcome and stay faithful unto Christ, God rewards us by causing us to bear even more fruit for His glory than before.
Fifth is the statement of purification and that is reached through knowing the words of Jesus Christ, which is the Bible. This also implies that if you do not maintain insight into Christ through the Bible you can become unclean.
Sixth the statement of commitment. “Abide in me, and I in you.”
Abide – meno – I remain, abide, stay, wait.
Stay in Christ, this implies that we can leave Him, which is a statement of free-will. Christ has made it clear that He would never leave us (Matthew 28:18-20), He never states we cannot choose to leave Him, but as this statement from Him shows it is possible. But he also makes clear in Matthew 28 that we must do this by “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
Seventh is why we must stay with Christ. “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” It makes it clear that we can ONLY bear fruit if we keep Christ constantly and continually within us every day. Not just on Sunday but 24/7/365. Yet this is not what most do that state they are “Christian.” In verse five Jesus re-emphasizes just how important that we continually keep Him within us constantly and shows that without Him there is no fruit. In fact he states clearly that without Him in our lives we can do nothing that is precious unto Him.
Finally Jesus once again returns to the warning. He starts with a warning and He ends with a warning. This makes it plainly clear that we can loss our connection with Him as is unmistakably spelled out in verse six.
“If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”
This returns full circle to Matthew 7:22-23:
“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
So there are those that were saved. They were born again. They let Jesus Christ abide in them. Then through their free-will they decided that the world was a better place for them. They left the word of God behind. They chose to follow creation over the Creator. They chose to follow and be more happy with the temporal than the eternal.
So even though Jesus loves us and wishes us to stay with Him people in their free-will can and do reject God and they do not realize it for they will be expecting to get into heaven and will confess the fruits that they once bore for Christ, but He will turn to them and say:
“I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”