What part of "I NEVER KNEW YOU", do we not understand. Saying we have become a Christian is not the evidence that we were born again.
Matthew 25:1-12
"Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. "Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. "For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,
but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. "Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. "But at midnight there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' "Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. "The foolish said to the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' "But the prudent answered, 'No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' "And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. "Later the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, lord, open up for us.' "But he answered, 'Truly I say to you, I DO NOT KNOW YOU.'"
Matthew 7:21-23 "21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"
I believe the virgins who had no oil in their lamps, were those who did not have the Holy Spirit. The oil represents the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 25:1-12
"Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. "Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. "For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. "Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. "But at midnight there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' "Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. "The foolish said to the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' "But the prudent answered, 'No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' "And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. "Later the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, lord, open up for us.' "But he answered, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.'"
Those who did have the oil were those who were prepared by being in the Holy Spirit. No one can be saved, or will know the voice of God without the Holy Spirit.
John 10:26-28 "…26 But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe. 27 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will NEVER perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand."
John 6:63
"63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the FLESH PROFITS NOTHING. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."
Luke 4:18
18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;"
1 John 1:7
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
The devil cannot stand for truth to be spoken, the more we stand for truth openly, the more we will see clearly the hearts of those around us.
Most people who claim to be Christians avoid open honest communication, they are more comfortable with the superficial things, flattery and praise is their desire.
My guess is that the shallower things are the safer they are, safety is far more concerning to these people than truth.
When being accepted by the crowd around us is more important than truth, we can get along with everyone, or so many think. It is the truth that people hate and fight against.
Those that know truth and remain silent are attempting to ride the fence, they think if they say nothing the truth teller will still like them and the one who rages will still like them. They think they will be accepted by all men.
When someone is refusing to take sides, they have facilitated and tolerated evil. There is no fence sitting as a believer, we must decide which side we will be on, get there openly and take the lumps that come with standing for righteousness.
Even those who remain silent while someone rages at the one speaking truth, have evidenced that the silent one either hates or is afraid of the truth, otherwise they would speak in support of the truth-teller.
The more someone is silent the more they build confidence in the evil one. Evil people love to intimidate and manipulate, they believe they are successful when they have managed to silence others in the room. They actually believe those who remain silent are on their side.
Zechariah 8:16
"'These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates."
Ephesians 4:25
"Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another."
Proverbs 12:17
"He who speaks truth tells what is right, But a false witness, deceit."
Oh course, those who love the world will be loved by the world.
Luke 6:25-27 "…25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers treated the false prophets in the same way. "
Remember that the condition of the believer in Christ is opposite of that of the one of the world.
Matthew 10:22-24
"22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes."
It is the practice of the devil to accuse others of what the devil is doing but the others are not. If a narcissist tells you that you are a liar, then we know that the narcissist is either going to lie to us or has in the past, unless of course if we have lied, then we are guilty.
I cannot count the number of times I have been accused of something that was not true, but the one accusing me was guilty of the very thing they accused me of.
The devil does this to cause frustration, if he can get us to become frustrated, then he can, if we are not strong, get us to sin because of our anger.
Ephesians 4:26
"26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,"
Those who live in a world of self exaltation want to cause others to become beneath them. If they can cause us to sin in word or deed through covert manipulation, it affords them the luxury of feeling superior.
1 Peter 5:7-9 "…7 Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.…"
Learning the tactics of the devil neutralizes him. He has no power over someone who is powered by the Holy Spirit. The more we seek Christ in us, the more we trust His Word and obey it, the greater power we have over the devil and his tactics.
Remember that we are living in the end times, we will see more of the tactics of the devil being employed by those who have no defense against him, those used by him to aggravate his targets, that is the born again believer as his favored scapegoat.
1 John 5:19
"19 We know that we originate with God, but the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one."
Ephesians 6:11
"11 Put on the complete suit of armor+ from God so that you may be able to stand firm against the crafty acts* of the Devil;"
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
"13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.+ 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps disguising himself as an angel of light.+ 15 It is therefore nothing extraordinary if his ministers also keep disguising themselves as ministers of righteousness. But their end will be according to their works."
Luke 11:24-26
"24 “When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through waterless places in search of a resting-place, and after finding none, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I moved.’ 25 And on arriving, it finds the house swept clean and adorned. 26 Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and after getting inside, they dwell there. So the final circumstances of that man become worse than the first.”
1 Corinthians 10:20
"20 No; but I say that what the nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers with the demons."1 Timothy 4:1
4 However, the inspired word* clearly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired statements and teachings of demons,
1 Timothy 4:1
"4 However, the inspired word clearly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired statements and teachings of demons,"
We will find the tactics of the devil EVERYWHERE, even in the buildings where many people purport to worship God. Many who darken the doors of church buildings today have never been born again. They are pretenders, perhaps even believing they are saved, but lacking the fruit of the Spirit, which is the evidence of salvation.
Galatians 5:22-23
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
Matthew 7:21-23
"21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [a]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"
It cannot be stressed enough that those who claim to be Christians need to go to God and ask Him if they have ever been born again. The time is short, Christ is coming soon and one day it will be too late for those who heard the truth and refused to make sure of their salvation.
Anyone who still believes they can lose their salvation, anyone who believes they have obtained salvation by works on any level, anyone who has words about God but lacks the fruit as mentioned in Galatians 5, need to go to ask God if they have ever been born again.
Anyone who would become angry at a challenge like this, might very well be lost. When we know our salvation is secure in Christ, we have no reason to be defensive. We can boldly and confidently state, with joy, that we are born again by faith in Christ through the shed blood of Christ.
