Hey there

Upon reading through the book of Matthew once a few years ago, I came to some thoughts I'm going to share with you today that are still relevant in my life, and coupled with something I read in Spiritual Authority by Watchman Nee. I am gripped with an urgency to post some of the life changing truths I learn or discover, to benefit whoever comes across these entries.

The text I will base my thoughts for this evening on is Matthew 7:21-23:

Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord" will enter into the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, drive out demons and perform many miracles?" Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers."

There are many different angles to approach this text from, and there are many different topics that could arise from it. The person who teaches that once you're saved you can't lose your salvation has a hard time providing sufficient explanation as to how these men could do things IN Jesus' name and be cast out of the kingdom, if once you are saved you can't lose this standing before God. I've also heard the viewpoint that teaches God works no special miracles in our day and that miracles ceased after the first century Church. This is mistakenly cited to erroneously say that the reason they're cast out of the kingdom on that day is directly tied to doing these miracles.

While either of those two views could necessitate a large article to refute each, the idea that this passage teaches believers don't work miracles anymore is not exegetically correct, as Jesus states that he never knew them--not "you had no right to do these things". I realize that the seven sons of Sceva in Acts attempted to cast demons out of people in the name of Jesus who Paul preached, and got their fanny whoopped, but that works against the idea these people are not really in the kingdom of God. Last time I checked, they aren't casting demons out of each other at bars and clubs, or strip joints. There's no reason to believe this is not talking about believers who were at one time rightly related to God.

Which is where I will diverge your attention now to how this relates to why we should have confidence in what Jesus said and did regarding healing, prophesying, and casting out demons.

As Watchman Nee states in his book Spiritual Authority;

"In Matthew 7:21-23 we find our Lord reprimanding those who prophesy and cast out demons and do mighty things in His name. Why are they disapproved? Because they make self the starting point; they themselves do things in the name of the Lord. This is the activity of the flesh. Wherefore our Lord pronounces them to be evildoers instead of His laborers. He emphasises that only that person who does the will of His Father shall enter the kingdom of the heavens."

Contrary to much of what I've heard and been taught, and is popularly taught out there on the subject, most view divine healing as something God will only use you to do if you are in right relationship to Him and haven't done anything bad that day or else the anointing will have been diminished. But where does the Bible teach that a minister is any more anointed at one moment than another? Romans 12 also says that the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. So if God anointed us for a work and His will is to save and heal all who are oppressed, then where do we shun away from the subject other than through our own confidence, lack of it, and feelings and emotions? We screwed up, so we figure God surely won't use us. But if that's the case, we'll never accomplish anything for the kingdom of God. Matthew 7:21-23 shows that there are people doing the miracles and healings and prophesyings, and He will still punish them and they will be cast out of heaven, so obviously the matter is not that you have to be good enough to be used by God. There was a healing revival during the 1940s and 1950s, where many of the men anointed by God who worked mighty miracles and tremendous healings, also fell into sin or ended their ministries early, but this did not nullify what God did through them. I say with soberness, that it may however be that these miracles were a stronger testimony against them on the day of judgment according to our Scripture).

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