Jesus is talking about a certain day when those who simply profess faith will defend themselves. But what "day" is Jesus talking about?
He is talking about the Day of the Lord, when all will stand before God in final judgment, where He will separate the wheat from the chaff (Matt. 3:12)—and will gather into Him His church, and the unsaved will depart into everlasting fire . . . where He will separate the weeds from the good seeds (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43), where He will separate the believers from the non-believers.
The Old Testament referenced it (Joel 1:13; Malachi 3:17-18), Jesus and the New Testament writers warn of it (Matt. 12:36-37; Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:11-15).
“On that day” of judgment where He will reign as judge (Acts 17:31), He says, “ . . many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?”
You can hear the tone of surprise in their voices—“Did you see what we did Lord? Did you forget? Did we not . . .” The very fact that they defend themselves is an indicator that they are not saved. Because with Jesus, He’s all the defense you need. He took your case to the cross and settled it. On the Day of Judgment, all you’ll be able to say is “By grace I was brought to faith!”
So this demonstrates that they were depending on something of their own merit, which they say: “did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many might works in your name?” Now there’s no doubt that they did these things, even Satan and his followers can perform miracles. Even Judas cast out devils in Mark 3:14-15, and he appeared to be a disciple, but it was shown that he was not. They even claim authority behind their deeds: “in your name” is mentioned 3 times.
But Jesus isn’t denying that they did indeed do these things—the paramount problem was that these sinners are trusting fully in their own merit—they are defending themselves by pointing to their works. And notice the high standard of their works—I can’t remember the last time I prophesied can you? I can’t remember any time I ever cast out a demon, can you? Those things are things that most people don’t even do or try to do in their lifetimes. But I think that’s Jesus’ point here: It doesn’t matter how great your works are, how high they are—they will not even get you near the presence of God. What if you plant a church on a foreign mission field? Nope. What if you lead thousands to Christ? Nope. What if you give up all you have and serve the poor? Nope.
On January 1985, there was a large, unmarked and unclaimed suitcase discovered at the customs office at the Los Angeles International Airport. When U. S. Customs agents opened the suitcase, they found the curled-up body of an unidentified young woman. She had been dead for a few days, and as the investigation continued, it was learned that she was the wife of a young Iranian man living in the U. S. She was unable to obtain a visa to enter the U. S. and join her husband, so she took matters into her own hands and tried to smuggle herself into the country. The officials were surprised that an attempt like this could ever succeed. She tried to get in, but it was not only foolish, but fatal.
If we try to get in to heaven our own way, it will prove not only foolish but fatal—with unquenchable fire waiting at the doorstep of our eternity. As a Christian, rest in the cross, your case is settled. Depend on Christ—that gives you true freedom (Gal. 5:1), because you fail too often. If you are a non-believer, you need to make things right with God—works will never get you to Him; depend completely on Christ.
Are you resting fully in the finished work of Christ for your salvation, or do you still think that your good works are sufficient to bring you closer to Him?
Bro. Brandon
From Those Jesus Never Knew: Listen to the full message here:
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