I Never Knew You

I Never Knew You

Matthew 7:23 CJB
Then I will tell them to their faces, `I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!'

   One of the core teachings of Christianity is that we need to have faith in order to be saved.  But what kind of faith saves us?  Faith in our traditions or our family’s standing?  Faith in our good behavior?  Faith in our works and good deeds?  Sorry, none of the above.  Yet many who call themselves “Christian” only have faith in one of those to get them into eternity.  Yet Jesus warns us that on that day He will have to tell many people that they have been following a false hope.

   False hope number one: Believing you’re saved because of traditions or your family’s standing.
   Remember Jesus being confronted by the Scribes and Pharisees in John 8?  The scribes and Pharisees were the religious leaders of their people.  They believed in their traditions and in their family bloodlines and in their standing in their society.  They believed they spoke for God.  But whom did Jesus say they spoke for?  He said they spoke for their father the devil.  Pretty harsh words, but they needed to see the danger their souls were in and I believe Jesus was being so brutally honest with them to get them to open their spiritually blind eyes.
   Many people believe like this today. They feel because they were raised in a Christian home, or because they attend a church they’re saved.  The reality is that traditions and family will not save you.
“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.’” John 8:42-44

   Notice that Jesus says, “you.”  It does not matter if your father and mother have a relationship with Jesus.  It doesn’t matter that you attend church or even if you were born in a church.  I don’t know who said it first, but if going to church makes you a Christian then going to a barn makes you a horse.
   Notice also that Jesus said, “me.”   It’s the belief and trust that Christ came from the Father to pay for your sins and entering into a relationship with Him that makes you a Christian.  Remember the words written in John 3:16.  Also, Acts 4 tells us:  “There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
   You must have a personal relationship with Jesus or you will never have a standing with God the Father.

   False hope number two: Believing you’re saved because of your behavior or doing good works.
   Jesus tells the story, written in Luke 18, of two men who went up to the Temple to pray.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
   But the tax collector, standing back also by himself, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven.  He beat his breast and prayed, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
   Jesus said about the two men, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
   The Pharisee thinks he’s saved because of his good behavior.  This is probably the reason most people today believe they’re saved - most people feel that they’ve lived good lives.  They just can’t believe that God will turn them away if they give to charities or save endangered animals.  It’s nice that you care for the less privileged, but it really doesn’t help your salvation.
   The Pharisee compared his behavior to the tax collector, while the tax collector compared his behavior to God.  Romans 3:23 tells us that we fall short of the glory of God.  Verse 24 then tells us that we can be saved because we’re justified by God’s grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
   What people do not take into account is that the standard is not how much you give to charities or how many good deeds you can do each year.  The standard is God’s righteousness.  Being held to God’s standard is impossible to do on our own merits.  His standard is perfect, so unless our deeds are perfect, what we do falls short of His glory.  When we try to offer good works to atone for our sins, God rejects that because the sacrifice is stained with sin.
   Where our works are stained with sin, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is perfect and is accepted.  When we repent and come to Christ to be our Savior it means we’re relying on His sacrifice to make peace with God on our behalf.  When we do this God gives us salvation through His Son.  Our salvation isn’t based on who we are or on what we’ve done, but it’s based on what Christ has done.  We know we’re saved when we trust in Christ completely for our salvation.

Stephen Cram                                  June 24, 2012                               Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8