To any believer who is terrified to hear Jesus tell them the phrase “Depart from me, I never knew you.” 💗

I really want to bring some peace and good news with this post to any believer who is struggling with this passage. But I first have to clarify what I believe to be true about the gospel that saves because there are so many different doctrines out there.

You should only be afraid of Him telling you this if you have NEVER in your life put 100% faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross and if you think that even a sliver of your good works can earn u a place in Heaven. As I hope you already know,(many professing Christians don’t agree with this following point) believing in the death, burial, and resurrection & trusting that Jesus’ blood was sufficient enough to cover ALL your sin(past, present & future) is the ONLY thing we MUST do to be saved. Doing this seals us with His Holy Spirit, saves us from the eternal punishment of sin: everlasting death/hell, and ultimately guarantees our inheritance in heaven. Being born of God is a one-time event and does not require you to maintain anything. It has nothing to do with you at all, actually. It’s all about what Christ did for you on that cross. For salvation, you do not have to: keep the law, practice obedience, be water baptized, serve at a church, read your Bible every day, pray three times a day, go to confession, turn away from ALL of your sins(impossible for any human to do. If it were, what did Jesus really die for?), etc… It’s belief alone to be saved. Obeying God and doing good works are what we SHOULD be doing after being saved to live profitable, fruitful lives and ultimately to bring more souls to Christ. But those things do not get or keep us saved.
NO AMOUNT OF WORKS WILL EVER GET YOU INTO HEAVEN. We only get there by Jesus’ imputed righteousness. Credited to our account once we believe, and it can never be lost. This is the good news and the promise God makes to us when we believe. And God is not a promise-breaker.
If you could lose salvation, that would be terrible, terrible news and we all would surely lose it.

So now that we’ve established what it means to be a believer, let’s move on to the so-called most terrifying passage in Scripture. (Hint: if the “gospel” you have is causing fear in you, you may have the wrong gospel. The true gospel brings peace, not fear and condemnation.)

I’d say with bold confidence that the people whom Jesus is addressing in Matthew 7:21-23 are UNBELIEVERS. A true, born again Christian will NEVER be told to depart from Jesus. You have been SEALED with His Spirit unto the day of redemption.

Let’s read carefully through the passage and harmonize Scripture to better understand together:

Matthew 7: 21-23

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (the will of the Father is to believe in the son: found in John 6:40.)

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? (They’re addressing Jesus as Lord but have never had a saving faith. They’re clearly boasting in their works to get to heaven instead of first saying, “didn’t we believe in You?” Haha after all, out of the abundance of the mouth, the heart speaketh.)

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

Jesus says he NEVER knew them.. not that he knew them once upon a time and then they lost their salvation. He NEVER knows them because they never actually put their complete faith and trust in Jesus. Instead they’ve been trusting in themselves and their efforts.
A lot of professing Christians will twist “will of the father” to mean keeping the law and practicing obedience and they teach other professing Christians that if they’re not doing those things, then Jesus could possibly tell them to depart from Him one day… ain’t that terrifying.

But thank God that all Scripture harmonizes and you can find what it actually means to do the will of the Father in John 6:40:
"For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day"

Jesus is telling an unbeliever to depart from Him because they never did the will of the Father which was to BELIEVE that Jesus’ sacrifice was enough to cover all their sin.
Just because they say “Lord Lord” (like many false Christians do today) doesn’t mean they’re truly born again believers.

So friend, if you’ve ever come to the realization that you cannot make it to heaven on your own and that you desperately need Jesus to extend His hands forth and save you out of the literal pits of hell because you know there’s nothing you could physically do to save yourself, (aka believed on Jesus 100%) then you have no hell left to fear. Please don’t forget that Jesus has done away with ALL of your sin at that cross. There is nothing(and I mean literally nothing) you could do to ever lose salvation. Jesus dying for all my sin = no sin left to send me to hell.

I know my position (Eternal Security) can be a little controversial, but I ultimately just want whoever’s reading this to have peace and to know that if they are a true, born again Christian, then they never have to fear Jesus saying, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”