Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Can Unsaved People Do Signs, Wonders And Miracles In Jesus Name?







Who Were The People Jesus Was Addressing To In Matt 7:21-23?


Question : We see in the Gospel of Matthew 7:21-23 which says the following, "21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" Who are the people whom Jesus is addressing here? I mean were they saved, unsaved, got saved and lost again because of practicing lawlessness which is sin, saved only for a period of time and after that have fallen from grace to go to hell or they were actors who acted as though they were saved and started doing signs, wonders and miracles to validate how godly they were to people around them? I would say they lived a sinful unsaved life but wanted to appear to be Godly. They did not do what the Lord commanded. They just played the part...so to speak...without accepting the Lord as Savior. What is your take on it? Thanks for your answer in advance! God Bless you and the ministry.

Answer : Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! We will try to understand who Jesus is talking to in the day of the judgment in Matt 7:21-23 in this following post.

Were they saved people? If they were saved people, Jesus must have said, 'I knew you in the beginning but because of your lawlessness later I forgot you, that is why I now do not know you,' but rather Jesus said, 'I never knew you...' which means to the best altogether he never knew them at all at any time in their earthly lives. In other words, Jesus was saying that He never knew them at all at any time because they were never saved at all.

Were they saved and then lost again their salvation because of practicing lawlessness which is sin? Actually a yes to the above question seems to be a great interpretation and looks very close to the context, but it misses the very basic component that we are not saved by our works, but by His grace so that we cannot boast about our salvation we have received as though we have earned it by our works (Eph 2:8-9). If salvation was earned by us, we could lose it when we again become debtors by lawlessness and sin. When we have received salvation as a gift from God and in God, we ourselves cannot unsave ourselves as God is the one who has saved us and keeps our salvation safe by keeping it in His safe hands (John 10:27-29). Above all God has sealed every believer by the Holy Spirit until the rapture day in which they will rise up in a glorious body without sin nature (Eph 1:13-14). Not even one time in the Bible, Jesus or apostles have ever told that the believers could get unsealed of the Holy Spirit and lose God's guarantee of eternal salvation because of their bad behavior. Rather all believers are told to walk worthy of the great salvation they have received out of gratefulness for receiving it freely (Eph 4:1). So this choice of Jesus speaking to an audience who were saved and then lost again their salvation because of practicing lawlessness of sin is an impossibility.

Were they unsaved people? But you are very much right in this, they were never saved at all. They did much miracles, prophecy, demon driving which the Lord said would follow them if they believe God can do it because of His promise (Mark 16:17-18). But the sad state of their lives is that they were called to preach and teach the word of God, and so they did it all and preached the gospel for others to get saved, but they themselves were not saved. Just like Judas and Balaam who were the greatest examples of this type of people who did great signs, miracles and prophecies which in fact can be done without themselves being saved. Because of their supernatural manifestation people might have been deceived that they were godly people, that is why Jesus here says to watch out for these people's lives through their character that they express, and accept them by the fruit which they bear in their life and ministry. Jesus has always admonished his saints to watch people's character and then decide to follow a minister of the Word of God, even whether they are a apostle or prophet who is called to such honorable office (Rev 2:2; Matt 7:15-20; Heb 13:7; Eph 2:20-21).

Yes you are right, they played a part in God's eternal plan without themselves being saved from sin and be a part of it for eternity ahead rather than just over in this earth temporarily. Because of not being saved at all, they have gone to hell fire even though they might have been powerfully used by God in this earthly life. That is something scary to hear, but that is the truth. Why God allowed them to be used in such a powerful way to save others? Because God is a good God who does not take back the gift [i.e. in the above case the gift of a apostle with Judas and a prophet with Balaam] which He has planned to give even before they were born (Rom 11:29; Jer 1:5). Isaiah the prophet prophesied that Cyrus will be born anointed to subdue nations even 150 years before He was born, even though he was gentile who had no knowledge of God in a heathen land until God made Him realize his awesomeness by stirring His heart to do His will through him (Isa 45:1). God used a donkey to speak to the unsaved prophet Balaam to make him realize that God can use even a donkey to do His job for Him, and Balaam proved that He was worse than even a donkey by being unfaithful to God to go after money rather than the God who called Him and wanted Him to be faithful to Him by being saved from sin unto righteousness (2 Peter 2:15-17). That is why Jesus said that the greatest joy we should have in this earth is not that we are used mightily in a anointed way as a apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist or pastor, but rather we are saved and that our names are written in the Book of Life to have a assurance that we are a child of God (Eph 4:11; Luke 10:20). First we should get saved first and then do great things for God so that at the end of our lives we can look forward to receive the reward for our work from Jesus (Matt 16:27). What if we lose our soul and gain the whole world to become saved, it is finally useless to us because anyway at the end of our lives if we are not saved, we will go to hell (Matt 16:26-27). A very thoughtful guess you have given in your question itself and I appreciate it.

Much Blessings...




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