Love for Our Unseen Saviour (cont.)

In his book, The True Christian’s Love to the Unseen Christ, author Thomas Vincent notes, “Without (supreme) love to Christ, you remain under guilt of all your sins; neither original sin nor any of your actual sins are pardoned.

He notes that apart from true love for Christ, we remain under the curse and condemnation of sin, and despite any pleadings of love for Christ that come from our self-centered, unconverted heart, we remain an enemy of God, under the curse of sin, subject to His wrath and condemnation forever (1 Corinthians 16:21-22).

This is most clearly illustrated in one of, if not the most jarring, most disconcerting, most frightening passages in the Bible.  It is found within Jesus’ most comprehensive teaching on the characteristics of a person who is truly part of His eternal Kingdom, in what is typically referred to as the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew Chapters 5-7).

In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus tells us that on the day of our judgement, many will stand before Him, believing themselves to be true Christians, who enthusiastically address Him as Lord, and proclaim to Him all the good, wonderous and even miraculous works they have done that they anticipate will gain them acceptance into His heavenly kingdom.  He then tells of what He will declare to that many in response: “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Hebrews 9:27) (Romans 2:16)

I cannot think of a more shocking, more horrifying experience in the soul of a man or woman than to believe ourselves to be Christians, destined for Heaven, destined to hear Well done good and faithful servant at our death (Matthew 25:21), only to hear Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).

This reason for Jesus’ exclusion of them from the kingdom of Heaven, and His judgement of them as lawless, does not appear to be a direct repudiation of their confession of Him as Lord (which we all must do in sincerity if we are to be saved) (Romans 10:9-10), nor of their good and wonderous works. It is found in His statement; I never knew you.

Jesus is not saying here that He was ignorant of their existence, as He is omniscient and knows every aspect of the life of everyone He has created (Psalm 139:1-4).  It is a judgement based on the absence of intimate, personal relationship with Him, the glorious relationship with God that was lost in the beginning because of sin; the relationship for which Christ came and died for our sins to restore us to (John 10:10).

This relationship is referred to in Romans 6:23 and 1 John 5:11 as eternal life and is granted as a gift to all who believe in Jesus, who live by faith in the Son of God, and in His love for them. (John 3:16) (Galatians 2:20).  Jesus clearly defines for us eternal life in John 17:1-3 when He proclaims; And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. The emphasis here is not to know about, but to know.

The Bible uses the word know, known or knew, depending on the context, to denote intimate relationship.  In Genesis 4:1, we have described for us the most intimate of human relationships, when we read, Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain….

In Jeremiah 9:23-24, God calls the people of Israel, who are under His judgement, and by extension all mankind (Psalm 14:2-3), to make intimate relationship with Him the preeminent pursuit of their lives when He proclaims;  “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might,  Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.  For in these I delight,” says the Lord.

In Amos 3:2, God, through the prophet Amos, speaks regarding His unique relationship with Israel when He proclaims, you only of all the families (nations) of the earth I have known.  He then pronounces judgement on Israel for their abuse and ultimate rejection of that relationship.

In Exodus 6:7 and Leviticus 26:12, God rehearses His purpose for rescuing Israel from slavery in Egypt, namely that He would be their God and they would be His people. However, Israel never abided by the covenantal conditions of that relationship as presented in the Old Testament writings in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and which are summarized in the one great commandment found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

This commandment is reaffirmed by Jesus in Matthew 22:34-40, when the religious leaders, who hated Jesus, ask Him to identify the greatest commandment.  More importantly, it is the answer given by Jesus in Luke 10:25-28, when another religious leader inquires of Him as to what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Thus, love for God that consumes the totality of our being and motivates all we do in relationship to God and our neighbor is the will of the Father in Heaven, which apparently the many whom Jesus damns in Matthew 7:23, ignore.

It is true that a profession of Jesus as Lord, repentance, and good works that evidence our faith in and submission to Him as Lord and Savior are called for throughout the New Testament (Acts 17:30-31) (James 2:14-17).

However, if they are not motivated by a supreme love for God and for the furtherance of His glory, they amount to nothing more than a form of self-righteousness that the Bible calls out as filthy rags, and Jesus condemns (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) (1 Corinthians 10:31) (Luke 18:9-14) (Isaiah 64:6).

Christian pastor and theologian Martin Lloyd-Jones in his commentary on Matthew 7:21-23 writes, It is possible for a man to preach the gospel of Christ in an orthodox manner, to mention the name of Christ, to be right in doctrine and zealous in preaching of the Word, and really be doing it the whole time for his own self-interest and his glory and self-satisfaction.

Lloyd-Jones further notes that Christ does not want merely our profession of Him as Lord, or zealous good works done in His name, but that He wants us, meaning our hearts and lives, fully submitted to Him and His will, fully devoted to Him as the object of our deepest love and the source of all of our present and eternal joy (Psalm 16:11).

If we truly love Christ, we sincerely want to do His will, to keep His commandments, and we will delight in doing so (Psalm 40:6-8) (John 14:15-21).  It is within such a relationship we know and are known by God (1 Corinthians 8:3) (Galatians 4:8-9), and as such begin to experience the fulfillment of the promise of eternal life (Titus 1:1-2).

In my next post we will look at Vincent’s insights into the evidence of the true Christian’s love for the unseen Christ.

Grace and Peace ×