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crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Miraculous Departure

[i]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? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.[/i] Mat 7:22,23


[b]And in thy name have cast out devils?[/b] Diabolical possessions were very frequent in the times of Christ; no doubt but they were suffered, that Jesus might have an opportunity of showing his power over Satan, by dispossessing him from the bodies, as well as the souls of men; and of giving proof of his deity, divine sonship and Messiahship: and this power of casting out devils was given to others, not only to the twelve apostles, among whom Judas was, who had the same power with the rest, and to the seventy disciples; but even to some who did not follow him, and his disciples, Mar_9:38 and some did this in the name of Jesus, who do not appear to have any true faith in him, and knowledge of him; as the vagabond Jews, exorcists, and the seven sons of Sceva, Act_19:13. An awful consideration it is, that men should be able to cast out devils, and at last be cast to the devil.

[b]And in thy name done many wonderful works?[/b] that is, many miracles; not one, or a few only, but many; such as speaking with tongues, removing mountains, treading on serpents and scorpions, and drinking any deadly thing without hurt, and healing all manner of diseases and sicknesses. Judas, for one, was capable of pleading all these things; he had the gift of preaching, and a call from Christ to it, and yet a castaway; he had the power of casting out devils, and yet could not prevent the devil from entering into him; he could perform miracles, do wonders in Christ's name, and yet, at last, was the betrayer of him. These pleas and arguments will be of no use to him, nor of any avail to any at the great day. It may be observed, that these men lay the whole stress of their salvation upon what they have done in Christ's name; and not on Christ himself, in whom there is salvation, and in no other: they say not a syllable of what Christ has done and suffered, but only of what they have done. Indeed, the things they instance in, are the greatest done among men; the gifts they had were the most excellent, excepting the grace of God; the works they did were of an extraordinary nature; whence it follows, that there can be no salvation, nor is it to be expected from men's works: for if preaching the word, which is attended with so much study, care, and labour, will not be a prevailing argument to admit men into the kingdom of heaven; how can it be thought that ever reading, or hearing, or any other external performance of religion, should bring persons thither?

[i]John Gill[/i]

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[i][b]Remedy Mongers[/b] (Matthew 7:22)[/i]

[i]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?[/i]

If we are able to cast out devils and to do wonderful works, surely we are the servants of God? Not at all, says Jesus, our lives must bear evidence in every detail. Our Lord warns here against those who utilise His words and His ways to remedy the evils of men whilst they are disloyal to Himself. “Have we not prophesied in Thy name . . . cast out devils . . . done many wonderful works?”—not one word of confessing Jesus Christ, one thing only, they have preached Him as a remedy. In Luke 10:20 our Lord told the disciples not to rejoice because the devils were subject to them, but to rejoice because they were rightly related to Himself. We are brought back to the one point all the time—an unsullied relationship to Jesus Christ in every detail, private and public.

[i][b]Retributive Measures[/b] (Matthew 7:23)[/i]

[i]And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.[/i]

In these solemn words Jesus says He will have to say to some Bible expositors, some prophetic students, some workers of miracles—“Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” To work iniquity is to twist out of the straight; these men have twisted the ways of God and made them unequal. “I never knew you”—you never had My Spirit, you spoke the truth and God honoured it, but you were never [i]of[/i] the truth. “Depart from Me,” the most appallingly isolating and condemning words that could be said to a human soul.

Only as we rely upon and recognise the Holy Spirit do we discern how this warning of our Lord’s works. We are perplexed because men preach the right thing and God blesses the preaching, and yet all the time the Spirit warns—No, no, no. Never trust the best man or woman you ever met; trust the Lord Jesus only. “Lean not unto thine own understanding”; “put not your trust in princes”; put your trust in no one but Jesus Christ. This warning holds good all the way along. Every character will lead away from God if taken as a guide. We are never told to follow in all the footsteps of the saints, but only in so far as they have obeyed God, “ . . . who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways [i]which be in Christ”[/i] (1 Corinthians 4:17). Keep right with God; keep in the light. All our panics, moral, intellectual and spiritual, come on that line. Whenever we take our eyes off Jesus Christ we get startled, “There is another man gone down, I did think he would have stood right.” [i]“Look unto Me,”[/i] says Jesus.

[i]Oswald Chambers[/i] : Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

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[b]Mat 7:23 -
Profess unto them[/b] - Say unto them; plainly declare.

[b]I never knew you[/b] - That is, I never approved of your conduct; never loved you; never regarded you as my friends. See Psa_1:6; 2Ti_2:19; 1Co_8:3. This proves that, with all their pretensions, they had never been true followers of Christ. Jesus will not then say to false prophets and false professors of religion that he had once known them and then rejected them; that they had been once Christians and then had fallen away; that they had been pardoned and then had apostatized but that he had never known them - they had never been true christians. Whatever might have been their pretended joys, their raptures, their hopes, their self-confidence, their visions, their zeal, they had never been regarded by the Saviour as his true friends. I do not know of a more decided proof that Christians do not fall from grace than this text. It settles the question; and proves that whatever else such people had, they never had any true religion. See 1Jo_2:19.

[i]Albert Barnes[/i]


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[b]Mat 7:23 -
Will I profess[/b] - Ομολογησω, I will fully and plainly tell them, I never knew you - I never approved of you; for so the word is used in many places, both in the Old and New Testaments. You held the truth in unrighteousness, while you preached my pure and holy doctrine; and for the sake of my own truth, and through my love to the souls of men, I blessed your preaching; but yourselves I could never esteem, because you were destitute of the spirit of my Gospel, unholy in your hearts, and unrighteous in your conduct. Alas! alas! how many preachers are there who appear prophets in their pulpits; how many writers, and other evangelical workmen, the miracles of whose labor, learning, and doctrine, we admire, who are nothing, and worse than nothing, before God, because they perform not his will, but their own? What an awful consideration, that a man of eminent gifts, whose talents are a source of public utility, should be only as a way-mark or finger-post in the way to eternal bliss, pointing out the road to others, without walking in it himself!

[b]Depart from me[/b] - What a terrible word! What a dreadful separation! Depart from Me! from the very Jesus whom you have proclaimed in union with whom alone eternal life is to be found. For, united to Christ, all is heaven; separated from him, all is hell.

[i]Adam Clarke[/i]

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[i] ... you spoke the truth and God honoured it, but you were never of the truth.[/i] ~ Chambers


_________________
Mike Balog

 2008/5/7 9:42Profile
enid
Member



Joined: 2006/5/22
Posts: 2680
Nottingham, England

 Re: Miraculous Departure

This is so very scary. Deception and self-deception seems to be abounding.

Seems many are guilty of taking the Lord's name in vain, and not realising it.

Quote: 'You spoke the truth and God honoured it, but you were never of the truth.'

To speak the truth, and to not live it, seems unreal, and to be told by the Lord to depart from Him, what must that be like?

We cannot accept anything simply because it has a Christian label to it.

We should painfully test everything to see whether it is of God.

Thanks for the article.

 2008/5/7 10:07Profile









 Re: Miraculous Departure. Nominal Christians, tithers and pew sitters too.



I liked your post and Oswald too. Because Ministers are in the forefront, I believe the Lord used them as an archetype, as He did the ruling pharisees in His time.

In the end, this awesome and terrifying truth applies to us all. It's vastly more important in what we become, than it is in what we do. Knowing Him is always melted into "becoming like Him"; being transformed into His likeness by bearing our cross. This is the inner man's accomplishment that God honors above all else. Christ in us , the hope of Glory..


It is the great flat Holy world, where children and invalids are exalted as the prophets and apostles are exalted not according to deeds, but unto their heart purity as Jesus was and is pure.

I believe this was the message that Jesus was relating about power and position as it relates to Heaven. It matters not. The issue is "Have you learned to love, as I have loved?"

I think of what I have seen in America, and often in mainline established churches, along with 3rd wave aberrations. Religious activity, tithing, sabbath attendance; even 24 hour prayer, fasting, home group attendence and yes; Preaching and "Pastoring."[ and around the world]

All of this along side a cold and hateful heart, that would not stoop to spit on a prisoner or leper; Otherwise....merciless.


It's the exact same thing. It is a "I never knew you." either way. This is the great horror of the religious spirit. After preaching a lifetime, or attending a church every Sunday for 70 years, you find yourself naked and loathsome before a Holy and Loving God that you refused in the midst of your religion.

It does not matter your position in life. God is no respecter of persons.


If we endure unto the end, and obtain salvation in His eyes, I think we will see hundreds of millions of souls reap this terrible word and truth, from His lips. "Lord, did we not ?????etc., etc., I never knew you. Depart....!!

"As much as you have done it unto these, the least of my brothers, you have done it unto Me."

Let us fear, and live a life of repentence, that we may obtain His heart, and live in it. It is the only thing that God honors, in the end.

 2008/5/11 11:25





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