“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one 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 and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Matthew 7:21-23
How do you know if you are saved? It’s an important question that deserves a good answer. In Matthew, Jesus encountered some men who thought they were doing everything right. They believed they were on their way to heaven. They called Jesus “Lord” and they had an impressive resume of ministry. Many of us are in this category. We would call ourselves Christians and say we do our best to live a good life. Is this good enough?
When a person genuinely repents of their sins and believes that Jesus is the Son of God sent to die to save sinners, the Bible says that we are born again. This is a spiritual birth where our hearts are changed. We have a new desire to follow and obey Jesus, and we no longer want to disobey God like we did before salvation. We’re far from perfect, but we’re in a place to start growing in Christ.
Back to our text, Jesus told the false disciples, “I never knew you.” In other words, these false disciples had no relationship with Jesus. A genuine Christian has a growing desire to pursue Jesus. We begin to read the Bible, we want to pray, we want to gather with other believers in worship, and we look for opportunities to serve Jesus in this world. If you want to know if you are saved, how is your relationship with Jesus?
