Lawlessness

Matthew 7:21-23 NASB
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

It’s interesting to note that just before Jesus uttered these particular words, He warned us about false prophets, bad fruit and prior to that, the narrow gate. 

And what are the two contrasts that Jesus gives us in Matthew 7:21-23? The contrasts would be “but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” and “I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.” Emphasis is mine.

Doing the will of God the Father as opposed to not doing the will of the Father.

One would think that understanding the practical difference between those two actions on our part, would have to be, of necessity, a pretty serious consideration that a Christian would have to give some really serious study and prayer time to. One would think.

And why did Jesus use the word “lawlessness”? Was Jesus talking about man’s laws or God’s laws? Considering that the criteria for entering into heaven is “doing the will of My Father”, I’m pretty confident that Jesus is talking about God’s Laws, God’s ways, God’s thoughts. It could be no other.

Gotquestions.org has an interesting overview on the word “lawlessness” that I recommend that you view here.

It’s also interesting to note that Jesus gave us three distinct examples of what things some might do, that in themselves, would NOT necessitate or validate their entrance into heaven.

Give prophesy in His name.
Cast our demons in His name; and
Perform many miracles in His name.

And Jesus also had this to say about those false prophets in Matthew 24:24 NASB: “For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”

Notice what these “false” prophets WILL do. They WILL provide great signs and wonders. I could easily follow up on the “false christs” aspect, but I’m going to let that one go for now. But do notice that when Jesus talks about those who are prophesying, casting out demons and performing many miracles, in His name, Jesus annotates their numbers as “many“. 

One would think, considering the consequences that Jesus draws our attention to, that this warning would be taken seriously. Do we have prophets prophesying, casting out demons and performing miracles, in His name, today? Yes we do, and they easily qualify under the “many” category. And the vast majority of the folks who are involved in the “signs and wonders” movement, are directly associated with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement. 

You know what strikes me as odd? How many of these so called NAR “prophets” have been identified as “false” prophets by the vast majority of the visible Christian church at large? Key words here are “vast majority”. And why would that be?

Practising Biblical discernment appears to be a lost skill set these days because all one has to do is post an account of the latest heavenly visitation or “thus says the Lord” prophecy and almost immediately, you have a horde of Christians identifying the latest and greatest revelation as a “sure word of the Lord”. And not only do they accept it, they also pass it around to all that they know.

What ever happened to “test all things?” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) What ever happened to verifying as to whether what is being spoken in the name of the Lord, is contrary to what we have already been given? (Galatians 1:8) What ever happened to rightly dividing the Word of truth, line upon line, precept upon precept? (2 Timothy 3:14-15)

There is a distinct difference between what we may surmise, is the will of God for us, and what God’s Word says is the will of God for us. One way has the outward trappings of spiritual enlightenment with man as the focus, and the other has Jesus as the focus and they are not one and the same. And at the root of this difference is man’s pride versus God’s provision. I WILL BE LIKE THE MOST HIGH. (Isaiah 14:13-14) I find it ironic that Satan stoops to the level that he does to confirm and foster his decision of choice, and the vehicle that he is using to accomplish this is the doctrines and practises of the New Apostolic Reformation. 

Does anyone take the time to look at the doctrines of the New Apostolic Reformation? Does anyone take the time to see the unbiblical practises that are condoned and how many are being mislead? And when we begin to see the many hundreds of millions of dollars that are taken in annually, through the wide assortment of NAR associated teaching ministries, dispersing the various “how to becomes”, does this not raise a red flag that just cannot be ignored? But it is.

Why? Because we have a tendency to want to do what we want to do, and not become obedient to the will of God, as declared within the whole counsel of God’s Holy Word.

That’s lawlessness.

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!