“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:21-23.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
The next lesson in the Sermon on the Mount has to do again with the heart. The judgment is not on outward works so much as what is going on in your heart. The greatest work in your life that you can do is believe in the One I sent to save you, Jesus. And that is what gives you eternal life and opens My Kingdom to you. You cannot enter or even see My Kingdom without being born again.
The crowd running after Jesus when He had fed them amply from just five loaves and two fish, asked Him a question, which you may be asking who are seeking Me and wanting to do My works, which are wonderful. They asked Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” John 6:28-29.
And that is the core of all the marvelous works I entrust to you to do by My authority through Him once you believe and receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. Jesus loves you with the same love with which I love you and released you from your sins by His blood and He has made you to be a kingdom, priests to Me. Revelation 1:5-6. You are a royal priesthood and you are His disciples, in Him I have given you an office, a position of power and authority that should be evidenced by the fruit your life is producing.
The next teaching Jesus addresses in the Sermon on the Mount is about abusing an office of authority bestowed upon you by Me. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” Matthew 7:21-23.
Lip service but a heart far from Me. Jesus told the people to do what the priests and Pharisees taught but not to imitate their lives. Do you remember His words to them? “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matthew 23:27-28.
Now, you are probably wondering how someone can call Jesus “Lord, Lord,” and prophesy in the Name of Jesus, cast out demons in the Name of Jesus, and perform miracles in the Name of Jesus, and yet be practicing, that is, continually living, in lawlessness. For you know that everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4.
So how can you be walking with the devil, doing his works, and cast out demons? How can you be correctly prophesying in My Name or not as a false prophet? By the authority of the office. Let Me explain.
Let us start with the High Priest, a descendant of Aaron as prescribed by My Law, named Caiaphas who was in that office at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion and death. He was a man of hypocrisy and lawlessness. He paid a bribe to Judas to hand over Jesus. He questioned Jesus the night before he turned him over to Pilate and condemned Jesus to death on false testimony and then by obtaining testimony from Jesus under oath using his authority as High Priest to ask whether He was the Messiah, My Son. And when Jesus answered in the affirmative, using the prophecy of Daniel about the Messiah as referring to Himself, the High Priest called it a blasphemy, tearing his robes. And even tearing his robes was forbidden for the High Priest under the law, but it did indicate a change in priesthood had taken place for he himself stripped himself of his priestly garment as Jesus stood before him in the seamless robe signifying He was now the new High Priest forever.
And why am I telling you about Caiaphas? Because he prophesied in My Name and it was a true prophecy though he had not meant it for what it really decreed. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, many people were believing in Him as the Messiah. Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council to deal with this movement towards faith in Jesus, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” John 11:47-48. But Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” John 11:49-50.
The motives in his heart behind his reasoning were sinful, out of jealousy and a desire to be in power, like Saul in his determination to use his office to kill David, but what he decreed into the earth as high priest was bringing the manifestation of the prophesy of Isaiah from chapter 53 of the great Isaiah scroll of the one who would bear your illnesses and pains in His own body and be pierced through in satisfaction of the punishment due your sins. For Caiaphas did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one all My children who are scattered abroad. And from that day on they planned together to kill Him. John 11:51-53.
The early believers in the Church in Jerusalem understood this as they prayed for boldness to continue proclaiming the good news of Jesus, “O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.’ For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy child Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy child Jesus.” Acts 4:24-30.
If Satan had known he was crucifying the Lord of glory who would crush his head, he never would have driven the chief priests and Pharisees, as well as Judas, to do his evil plan.
Now let us consider Judas Iscariot who was a thief and betrayed Jesus.
Jesus bestowed upon Judas the office of apostle as one of the original twelve. And He gave them as apostles the authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Matthew 10:1. And, sending them out on assignment, He gave them authority to preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand,’ and to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” Matthew 10:8.
And Judas did this by the authority of the office of apostle. And yet during this time, Judas was stealing from the common purse held by Jesus and the disciples, John 12:6, the money with which holy women and men were supporting the ministry of Jesus.
“Soon afterwards, Jesus began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God. The twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means.” Luke 8:1-3.
And Judas, out of greed and offended pride, betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. And I tell you that the devil had entered his heart. And yet in the office of the apostle he had preached the good news of the Kingdom prophecies, cast out demons, and worked miracles all in Jesus’ Name. My Son said it would have been better for him if he had never been born and called him a devil. At the last supper, Jesus told the disciples, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” John 6:70.
And consider Moses, I put him in the office of prophet, intercessor, and leader, and I authorized him to work miracles, signs and wonders like had never be seen or known before or since. He was the humblest man on the earth. I revealed all that had taken place from creation to his day so he was able to write the first five books of the Bible, the Torah. And yet he was pulled into an act of lawlessness when he became angry with My people and disobeyed Me by striking the rock instead of speaking to it and he did not consecrate Me before the people but showed them anger, calling them “rebels,” and stated he had to get the water out of the rock for them. He was no longer qualified to lead but I honored the office and the water came out of the rock. And he is with Me and came with Me to see the promised land at the time of the transfiguration for I see the heart and his heart was right though he got pulled into lawlessness through anger at the complaining and rebellious Israelites. But it disqualified him from the office.
I honor the office but when those in the office do not honor Me and feed My sheep, I remove them to protect My people. This happened with Eli the high priest and his sons at the time of Samuel. It also happened with Saul as king of Israel when he started disobeying My Word, seeking his own glory, and became so jealous of David that he had the whole army of Israel wasting time pursuing David to kill him.
I give you some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the believers for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until you all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13. Each one is an office of dignity and a high calling to benefit all. But if the one appointed abuses the office, I must remove him.
Paul loved the office of apostle that I gave him and he told the people that he performed all the signs proving I had given Him that authority by signs and wonders and miracles, 2 Corinthians 12:12, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, and preaching the unfathomable riches of Christ, but he was very strict with himself saying he did not want to preach and save others and himself be lost. “Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air. No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:26-27. He understood the honor and the responsibility of the office. His only desire was to please Me whether he was in or out of the body. He honored Me and I honored him. I performed extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.
Jesus explained, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” Mathew 7:21. Do not be a mere hearer of the Word but an effectual doer. And “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:22-23.
It is a matter of your heart. For if you speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, you have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If you have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if you have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, you are nothing. And if you give all your possessions to feed the poor, and if you surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. I look for hearts like Mine. I am love. All the great works mean nothing if done without love, but if anyone loves Me, he is known by Me. 1 Corinthians 8:3.
I love you. You are a royal priest by the blood of My Son. It is time you walked in the authority of that office. I have authorized you to do the works Jesus did and greater. Are you?