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In The Garden Daily Devotional
Series: A Walk Through Matthew (Mathew 7)
Jesus The Teacher - Pt 8
"The Profession of Jesus Concerning You!"
Pastor Wayne Clabaugh
Scripture Reading: Matthew 7: 21-23
Scripture Text: "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew
you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Mat
7:23
(KJV)
I don't think there could be a worse statement
coming from the lips of the Lord Jesus than to
say, "I
never knew you; Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity".
That WORD "profess" means more than just a
statement; The Greek word likens it to a
DECLARATION of LAW! For Jesus to say that he
never knew you or that he never knew me - He
would have to have given up on us.
But who is he speaking about here? If we go back
to verse 22 of Mathew Chapter 7, you will find
that
he was speaking to the "so-called" Christians of
the Laodicean church. For all intents and
purposes he
was speaking to you and me today: we are the
members of that church. As a church we have
found
ourselves vacillating between righteousness and
the status quo for years now - and what we have
to
show for it is the emergent church who desires
to do all kinds of things in the Name of Christ
- as long
as it fits the new criteria.
What is the new
Criteria? It means toleration for the Gay and
Lesbian
Lifestyle. It means funding for abortions on
demand and accepting the premise that the fetus
is nothing
more than tissue even though they can hear a
heart beat at or around 9 weeks of conception.
It means
never praising the Lord in public or singing Christmas Carols in the Public Schools for fear
you may
offend someone. That is the status Quo today,
and the rider on the white horse is whinnying at
the gate
even as we speak - for the false prophet's
church is lining up - ready to take the WORLD by
force.
Groups like Tony Blair's Faith Foundation and
the World Council of Churches are using the Name
of
Christ, yet they deny the power of His Name to
save, heal, and restore.... and HE CERTAINLY
CANNOT BE LORD - for there is no room for Him
with the "in- crowd".
Yes, I know that this may not seem to you to be
like a "conventional devotional" but we're not
living in
conventional times. Jesus is warning us here in
this text to get right or he will deny that He
ever knew
us and turn his heads while Satan claims another
life to spend eternity in Hell's flames
Paul puts it like this in Rom 1:28
"And even as they did not like to retain God in
their knowledge, God gave them over to a
reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not
convenient;"
Ho many do you know in this day and age that
have a reprobate mind? What does that mean? That
refers to a vain empty mind, filled with
thoughts that are worthless: good for nothing -
devoid of all true
knowledge and judgment and incapable of
approving what is truly good, jet alone
disapprove of that
which is evil. It is a mind that has lost all
conscience of things, and is disapproved of by
God, and all
good men:
In plain English Paul tells us that a reprobate
mind is someone who is "...filled with all
unrighteousness;
fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness; People who were full of envy,
murder, debate,
deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters,
haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil
things, disobedient to parents, A Reprobate mind
is someone who is "without understanding,
covenant breakers, without natural affection,
implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment
of
God, that they which commit such things are
worthy of death, not only do the same, but have
pleasure
in them that do them." Romans 1:28-32 (KJV)
Answer the question for yourself. do you have a
reprobate mind? Are you on the verge of losing
your
grip in Christ and just going off the deep end?
O Friend, "Let not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts
thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves
unto
God, as those that are alive from the dead, and
your members as instruments of righteousness
unto
God. For sin shall not have dominion over you:
for ye are not under the law, but under grace."
Rom
6:12-14 (KJV)
Let's pray...
Lord these last couple of days - the WORD you
have given me to share has been more intense and
has seemingly left the green pastures of
solitude to an alert status. It's as though you
are gathering us
together for a pending storm just across the
Horizon. I have never felt such an urgency in my
spirit to
prepare the WAY of THE LORD... to lay it all on
the line to let people know that we are at the
brink of
those days you were speaking of here in our text
today in Matthew 7:23. Oh Father may not one of
us
ever hear the words, "I never knew you: depart
from me, ye that work iniquity." Save us O God. Turn
our hearts and minds to things about you. Help
us to get up out of our easy chairs and come to
your
House to pray and to get filled up with the
fullness of Your Spirit, so that signs and
wonders will be
done in the Name of Your Holy Son Jesus. Deliver
us from evil today O Lord, and release your
anointing upon us for revival fires to begin to
fall - even now. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
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