Transcription
There is a verse in the Bible that should stop every religious person in their tracks, and it is found in Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus looked at a crowd of people who were actively doing religious works. People who were prophesying, casting out demons, and performing mighty deeds in his name. And he said to them, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness." Not "I used to know you," not "You fell away." He said, "I never knew you." That means their entire religious life, everything they did in the name of God, was conducted entirely apart from any genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.
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And what makes this passage so sobering, so deeply unsettling, is that these were not skeptics or atheists. These were not people who rejected God. These were intensely religious people. They used the name of Jesus. They were involved in ministry. They had a track record of visible spiritual activity. And yet, on the day that matters most, Jesus will turn [music] them away.
This is not a comfortable message, but it is a necessary one [music] because the Bible teaches us that religious activity and genuine salvation are not the same thing. It is entirely possible to be deeply involved in religion, to attend church faithfully, to speak the language of faith, to perform acts that look spiritual from the outside, and still be someone that Jesus does not recognize in a saving way. The purpose of this teaching is not to cause you to doubt your salvation with paralyzing fear, but to cause you to examine yourself with honest biblical clarity. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith." That is a command from scripture. [music]
God wants you to be sure. And in order to be sure, you need to understand what genuine faith looks like and what it does not look like. Today, we are going to walk carefully through five types of religious people that Jesus described, using his own words and the broader witness of scripture, who will be rejected on judgment day, not because God is cruel, but because they never truly surrendered to him in the first place. If you are someone who genuinely loves God, who has truly placed your faith in Jesus Christ and submitted your life to him, this message will deepen your assurance in your walk. But if some part of what you hear today unsettles you, do not run from that feeling. Let it drive you to your knees. Let it drive you to the word. Let it drive you to an honest conversation with God. Because it is better to be uncomfortable today than to be unprepared on that final day.
Before we begin, if this kind of deep, biblically grounded teaching is what you are looking for, please subscribe to Faith Ablaze Network [music] and turn on your notifications so that you never miss a message. Now, let us open the word of God together.
The first type of religious person that Jesus will reject on judgment day is the person who has built their entire spiritual life on religious activity rather than personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And we see this most clearly in the very passage we started with, Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven." Notice that these people are calling Jesus Lord. They are using the right title. They are speaking the right language. But Jesus goes on to say [music] that what matters is not the verbal confession alone. It is doing the will of his Father in heaven. And then, remarkably, he describes people who prophesied in his name, [music] cast out demons in his name, and did many mighty works in his name. These are people who were deeply, visibly, actively religious. And his response is devastating: "I never knew you."
The word "knew" in this context is significant. In the Greek, it is the word *ginosko*, [music] which describes an intimate, experiential, personal knowing. It is the same word used [music] to describe the deep covenant relationship between a husband and wife. When Jesus says, "I never knew you," he is saying something profoundly personal that [music] despite all the visible religious activity, there was never a genuine, intimate, transforming relationship between them. They knew about Jesus. They used the name of Jesus. They did things in the name of Jesus, but they never truly knew him. Not in the way that comes through genuine repentance, surrender, faith, and ongoing communion with God through his word and his Spirit.
This is one of the most searching truths in all of scripture for people in religious environments. It is entirely possible to grow up in church, to learn all the right answers, to know all the right songs, to participate in all the right activities, and still never have had that moment of genuine surrender where you came before God as a broken sinner, acknowledged your need for the saving work of Jesus Christ, and received him not just as a name you invoke, but as the Lord and Savior of your life. John 17:3 defines eternal life with remarkable precision. Jesus is praying to the Father, and he says, "This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Eternal life is not a destination you reach by accumulating enough religious credits. It is a relationship, a knowing. It begins now and it continues into eternity.
So, the question you must ask yourself honestly is: Am I religious? Or do I know Jesus Christ? Not know *of* him, but actually know him. Is there a living, breathing, transforming relationship between you and the risen [music] Christ? Does he speak to you through his word? Do you speak to him in genuine prayer? [music] Has your life been genuinely changed by his presence? Philippians 3:8 shows us Paul, one of the greatest religious figures in history, before his conversion, saying that he counted all his religious credentials as garbage compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord. Religion without relationship is not just inadequate; according to Jesus, it will be [music] rejected. Make sure your faith is rooted not in your religious performance, but in a real and living knowledge of the Son of God.
The second type of religious person that Jesus will reject is the one who hears the word of God consistently but never actually obeys it. Jesus addresses this type of person directly in the very next verses after our opening passage, Matthew 7:24-27. He says, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock." But then he says, [music] "And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand." And notice, both of these people heard the words of Jesus. Both of them built something that looked like a house. The difference was not in their access to truth. The difference was in what they did with it.
This is a picture of someone who sits under the teaching of God's word week after week, year after year, and yet who never allows that word to actually govern their choices, transform their character, or redirect their life. They are hearers, not doers. In James 1:22-24, warns us about exactly this kind of self-deception. James writes, "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like." The mirror analogy is profound. [music] The word of God is meant to show you something: the truth about yourself, the truth about God, the path you need to walk. But some people look into it, feel momentarily convicted or inspired, and then walk away unchanged, living exactly as they did before.
In a religious environment, it is very easy to develop what we might call a consumer relationship with the word of God, where you enjoy sermons as content, [music] where you can discuss scripture and Bible study, where you can even teach it to others, [music] but where it never actually has the final say in your daily decisions. You know what the word says about forgiveness, [music] but you hold on to your bitterness. You know what the word says about integrity, [music] but you compromise in private. You know what the word says about how to treat others, [music] but you live for yourself. Jesus is describing a foundational problem here: not intellectual ignorance, [music] but willful disobedience, dressed up in familiarity with scripture.
In Luke 6:46, contains one of [music] the most penetrating questions Jesus ever asked: "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and [music] not do what I tell you?" The very title "Lord" means master, the one whose instructions you are obligated [music] to follow. You cannot genuinely call someone Lord and then routinely ignore what they say. That is a contradiction at the deepest level of the soul. Genuine salvation produces obedience. [music] Not perfect obedience, because we are all still growing and still fail, but [music] a genuine orientation of the heart toward God's commands, a sincere desire to please him, and a pattern of life that is being progressively brought into alignment with his word. If the word of God has no real authority over how you actually live, it is worth asking whether your relationship with it is spiritual at all, or merely intellectual and cultural.
The third type of religious person Jesus will reject is the one whose external religious presentation does not match the internal reality of their heart. Jesus reserved some of his most direct and searching words for this kind of person. In Matthew 23, he addresses the religious leaders of his day with a series of rebukes that cut to the very heart of what it means to be truly holy versus merely appearing holy. He says in verse 27 and 28, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."
The Pharisees were not casual about religion. They were among the most devoted religious practitioners of their day. They fasted twice a week. They gave tithes of even the smallest herbs in their garden. They wore their religious symbols publicly. They prayed long prayers. They knew the scriptures extensively. And they followed the religious law with meticulous external precision. And yet, Jesus called them hypocrites, a word that comes from the Greek word for an actor, someone who plays a role on a stage. The performance was elaborate and impressive. But behind the mask was a heart that was far from God.
In Matthew 15:8, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah saying, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." This is one of the most dangerous forms of religious deception because it is so socially rewarded. In religious communities, people who look the most holy often receive the most honor, the most trust, the most leadership. And there are people who have discovered that the Christian identity is a remarkably effective social costume. It earns respect. [music] It opens doors. It builds a positive reputation without requiring any genuine transformation of the inner life. They have learned to perform Christianity rather than live it. [music] And the tragedy is that this performance can become so practiced, so natural, so comfortable that the person begins to believe their own act. They confuse the appreciation of others with the approval of God.
1 Samuel 16:7 establishes a foundational principle: "For the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." You can fool your pastor. You can fool your congregation. You can fool your family. You cannot fool God. He sees past every performance, every title, every well-crafted public image directly into the true condition of your heart. In 1 John 3:20, reminds us that "God is greater than our heart and knows everything." The standard God uses to evaluate us is not how we appear to others, but what [music] we actually are before him in the secret place. In the moments when no one is watching, when there is no applause, no reputation to maintain, no image to project. Genuine faith produces genuine transformation of the inner life. It changes what you love, what you fear, what you pursue when no one is looking. If your Christianity only lives on the outside, it has not yet reached the place where God is most interested: your heart.
The fourth type of religious person that Jesus will reject on judgment day is the one who is trusting in their own religious works as the basis for their standing before God rather than [music] trusting entirely in the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. This is perhaps the most pervasive form of spiritual self-deception in religious communities, and it is exactly what Paul confronts with great urgency throughout his letters. Ephesians 2:8-9 states with absolute clarity, "For by [music] grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it [music] is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Salvation is not something you earn. It is something you receive.
The moment you begin to believe that your prayers, [music] your church attendance, your giving, your service, your moral behavior, or your religious discipline is what earns you a place before God, you have moved from the gospel of grace to a religion of self-justification. In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells the story of two men who go to the temple to pray. The first is a Pharisee, deeply religious, morally disciplined, and confident in his standing before God because of his track record. He prays, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get." Every single thing he mentions is genuinely good religious behavior. Fasting, giving [music] tithes, avoiding sin—these are biblical practices. But the fatal error in his prayer is where he has placed his trust. He is trusting in these things as the basis of his righteousness before God. He is comparing himself to others and concluding that he measures up.
The second man in the story is a tax collector, a social and religious outcast who will not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beats his chest and says simply, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" And Jesus delivers the verdict: It was the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who went home justified before God. Because the tax collector understood something the Pharisee had missed entirely: that no amount of human religious effort can produce the righteousness that God requires. The only righteousness that saves is the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to the believer through faith. Romans 3:21-22 says, "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." [music]
The person who is trusting in works for salvation has fundamentally misunderstood both God's standard and God's provision. God's standard is perfection, not [music] just being better than average, but perfect holiness. Romans 3:23 says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Not some, not most, all. Every single person who has ever lived apart from Jesus Christ falls catastrophically short of that standard. [music] And no amount of religious activity can close that gap. But here is the astonishing good news of the gospel: What we could not earn, God provided freely in the person of his Son. Jesus lived the life we could not live, died the death we deserved, and rose from the dead. And he offers his righteousness as a free gift to all who come to him in genuine faith and repentance. If you are still trying to earn your way to God, you have not yet received the gospel. [music] Receive it today.
The fifth and final type of religious person that Jesus will reject on judgment day is the one who was never genuinely repentant, who embraced Jesus as a comforting addition to their life but never surrendered fully to him as Lord. This is perhaps the most widespread spiritual issue in the modern church, and it flows from a gospel presentation that has, in many contexts, been stripped of the call to genuine repentance. But the very first message Jesus preached when he began his public ministry was not "accept me into your heart." In Matthew 4:17, we read, "From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" And in Luke 13:3, Jesus says with unmistakable directness, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
Repentance is not simply feeling sorry. It is not an emotional response to a moving sermon that fades by Monday morning. The Greek word for repentance is *metanoia*, which means a complete change of mind, a fundamental turning, [music] a turning away from sin and self-rule and a turning toward God. Acts 3:19 says, "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out." >> [music] >> The image is of someone who was walking in one direction, away from God, who stops, turns around, and begins walking toward him. That turning is not just an intellectual or emotional event. It is a reorientation of the entire life. And without it, what you have is not salvation. What you have is the name of Jesus attached to an unchanged life.
In the modern church, there are enormous numbers of people who made a decision at some point. They raised their hand, walked an aisle, prayed a prayer, but who have never shown any [music] real fruit of repentance in their actual lives. Their beliefs did not fundamentally change. Their values did not change. The trajectory of their life did not change. Sin that should have been confronted was never confronted. [music] Habits and patterns that are contrary to God's word were never surrendered. Jesus was added to their life like a religious accessory, but he was never given the throne of it. And according to Jesus himself, the evidence of genuine discipleship, of genuine saving faith, is not a past decision, but a present and ongoing surrender. In Luke 9:23, he says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
2 Corinthians 7:10 makes a critical distinction that is worth sitting with [music] carefully. It says, "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death." Worldly grief is the kind of sorrow that comes from getting caught, from facing consequences, from the discomfort of guilt. It can look like repentance from the outside and feel like repentance on the inside, but it does not produce genuine change because its goal is relief, not holiness. Godly grief is fundamentally different. It is grief that is oriented toward God, that is broken over the offense that sin is to a holy and loving God, and that produces a genuine, lasting turning away from [music] sin and toward him. This is the kind of repentance that Jesus calls every person [music] to: not a repentance that is performed once as a transaction, but a posture of ongoing surrender, ongoing turning, ongoing submission to the lordship of Christ that marks the entire life of a true disciple.
We have walked through five types of religious people that Jesus himself warns will hear those devastating words, "I never knew you," on judgment day: [music] the person who has religion but no relationship; the person who hears the word but never obeys [music] it; the person who is outwardly righteous but inwardly corrupt; [music] the person who trusts in works for salvation; and the person who never truly repented. [music]
It is vital to understand that Jesus did not describe these people to condemn them with no hope of change. He described them as a warning. A warning that still carries [music] grace in it because you are hearing it now, this side of eternity, while there is still time. If anything in today's message has unsettled you, if you have recognized patterns in your own spiritual life that reflect more religion than relationship, more performance than surrender, more familiarity with Jesus's name than genuine intimacy with his person, I want to encourage you not to defend yourself against that conviction, [music] but to let it do its work. That unsettled feeling may be the Holy Spirit drawing you to something more real, more deep, more alive than anything you have experienced before. Hebrews 3:15 says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." Today is the word, not someday, today. [music]
The good news of the gospel is that Jesus is not waiting to reject you. [music] He is waiting to receive you. In John 6:37, Jesus says, "Whoever comes to me I will never cast out." The door is still open. The invitation is still extended. If you have never truly surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, not just made a religious decision, but genuinely come to him as Lord, acknowledged your sin, received his forgiveness, and committed to walk with him, you can do that right now, wherever you are. And if you are a believer who has drifted into religious performance, who has allowed your walk with God to become routine, mechanical, and external, he is calling you back to the place of genuine intimacy. Come back to him, not to religion, to him.
If this teaching has been meaningful to you, please subscribe to Faith Ablaze Network right now and hit that notification bell because we are committed to bringing you biblical teaching that goes beyond the surface and speaks [music] to the deep things of God. Share this video with someone in your life who needs to hear it, someone who might be in church but not yet truly in Christ. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts on today's message. I would love to hear from you. Until next time, stay grounded in the word. Stay genuine in your walk, and stay close to the heart of Jesus.