Matthew 7:22 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?
Examining fruit is a particularly good way to see if anyone is sincere in their walk with the Lord. Right before this is this passage, in verse 20, it says Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. But there are many that have fruits that look good but are GMO, or not organic, or simply taste bad when sampled. Their fruits have been altered to look better than they are.
Social media has allowed for any one person to magnify something that was so small, accidental, or real but done with the wrong intentions. You can post a story to make yourself look better than you really are. It happens all the time.
So, you could be an eloquent speaker, loved by many, and if your heart is not right with God, it means nothing to Jesus.
You could have great discernment, have mounds of book knowledge, and figure out some great mystery, but your relationship with the One True Savior is broken, you are not going into heaven.
You could be a “healer” or do miracles, but if you don’t love the people, are doing it for a show, it’s wrong.
You could have sold everything and given it to the poor or done a heroic deed that saved a life or many lives or have given your life for a “great” cause, and you did not personally know Jesus, He will say to you in that day, I never knew you.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity (love), I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity (love), I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity (love), it profiteth me nothing.
Charity is benevolence, which is a form of “love.” God is Love. You must have a love for God first for any of these things to have meaning or profit.
It says it will “profit you nothing.” What profit is Paul talking about? It is the profit of heaven.
(Caveat: confession and true repentance are applicable to any of these situations while on earth. Grace and forgiveness from God will abound.)
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Verse 23)
Jesus knows how you think, and how you feel, and your motives before, during and after your “good work.” He is talking about how, you, at the time of entering heaven, get in. He is the judge at the door. He will weigh out our good works, our fruits, our heart intentions. He will recognize a GMO, non-organic, painted, waxed, or adultered fruit!
If you do great works and don’t give Jesus glory for it, that could be what He is talking about here. If you do not hear God telling you to do the work, and you do it anyway, because YOU deem it a good work, that could be what He is talking about. Or even if you hear God, do a good work in His name, and then when it is time to give Him the glory for it, you snatch it for yourself and take a bow as if it were your idea, and your strength that carried it out, this also could qualify you to not get into heaven.
You see, Jesus wants a personal relationship with you. One that is intense and involved in every part of your life. Every part, period. Not just on your good days, or when things work out, but all of it.
Read Romans 12:1-2 with me. This is Paul speaking to the Corinthians: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And not be conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
In John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent.
Matthew 10:33 But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven.
If you believe on Jesus, you will do the work of the Father. But what does that mean and how do you do that?
Combining Romans 12:1-2 and this verse from John 6:29 you can have a better idea: It is truly by God’s mercies that you can do anything good. Let alone be a living sacrifice, or even holy. What is acceptable to God, isn’t’ necessarily acceptable to you. But when you find out what God wants, He calls this a reasonable service. It is again truly by His mercies that you can be transformed from what you were, which was conformed to this world, to having a renewed mind. This is a must to prove what is good, acceptable (to God), and perfect. All of this is necessary to hear that famous saying of Jesus from Matthew 25:23: His lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of your lord.
Who can be a good and faithful servant? Anyone who believes in his master, or his Lord. And who does what He tells you to do. It is possible to be coerced into making your seed better, getting creative with the watering and fertilizing, or embellishing your fruit to entice people to see your fruit and want it. But what God expects our fruit to look like might not be what we think it should look like. He does not want you to alter the seed to “perfect” it. He wants you to pray for rain to water it, and to look for the fertilizer that He provides for it. He is not into you making the pictures of your fruit to look larger more juicy or shinier than other fruit. What He says is acceptable isn’t necessarily what the world says is acceptable. Let’s ask God what is His view, what’s acceptable to Him. And be satisfied with that because He is satisfied with that. He is satisfied with our relationship with Him.
Jesus, in His question from Matthew 7:22, 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? Shows us that many people will come to Him and claim that they are good. “I’m good because I did this thing in your name.” He already knows that multitudes of people will profess their goodness before Him. He is extremely specific though in what He is looking for: relationship.
If you have rejected Him in relationship while on the earth, you have no hope for heaven. But if you have engaged in relationship with Him while on earth and did His will, heaven awaits you.
I have thought about this recently, if you were in heaven and all the saints too, would you be comfortable with someone being there that did not belong? The minute Jesus lets someone in who does not belong in heaven, it isn’t heaven anymore! It would be hell.
Are you comparing your fruit to other’s? If yours is non-GMO, as organic as possible, and you did not embellish it in any way, it still will not compare with the world’s fruit until the ultimate test. The taste will tell all and the digestibility, the way the body uses it, is the proof. It’s got to be acceptable to God, Who will ultimately know the whole truth of your fruit.
Rejection is hard.
But we are talking about the ultimate rejection. There is no recovery from this one. You will not be able to convince the Lord that you had a relationship with Him if you did not.
He has the right at that time to say, “I never knew you.”
And that would be the ultimate rejection. The rejection you cannot get over.
Ask yourself, do I think I have done something big for Jesus at any time in my life? Am I relying on this to get me into heaven on that day? Am I a hypocrite?
Then ask Jesus to help you know the truth of the matter. Do I have a relationship with Him, Who paid the price for me to be with Him in eternity?
If you have had a change of heart about your walk with Jesus after reading this, please let me know.
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