 If you know him and he knows you, then you're good. The worst thing that you can ever hear in life, you haven't heard it yet, and hopefully you never will, but some have, they're no longer here, is when Jesus would say to you, depart from me, you work of iniquity, and here it is, I never knew you. We find this passage in Matthew chapter seven. As a matter of fact, we find other passages that are sort of related to this as well, and we'll get a couple of those as well. But in Matthew chapter seven, verse 21, Jesus says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, that means not everyone who calls himself a believer, who says they are a follower of his, who would even say that he's Lord, not everyone is going to enter the kingdom of heaven. Just because you say you know him, just because you think so, just because you claim to be a believer, because you profess that, doesn't mean that you are. And what does he say? But he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven, that is the one who will enter. He says, many will say to me in that day, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? In other words, we gave revelation in your name. We are serving you, Lord, and cast out demons in your name. Interesting that he brings up these two to highlight, but there could be others. But let's go back to what he says. And in your name performed many miracles or many wonders. And look what he says. I would declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice law, to know a couple of things. One, it is possible to serve on behalf of the Lord and not know him. It is possible to do things in church, to be of use, to be of a benefit, but then you yourself also find yourself in hell, because as he says, I did know you. You did all those things, served in the church, sang the choir, ushered, taught, whatever. But if you don't know him, that's the key. He says, I never knew you. Now, the wonderful thing about this is that he says, I never knew you. Implicit in that is meaning that he didn't say, I used to know you. At one time, I knew you. I knew you for a short while, maybe four a year, maybe for five years. And I stopped knowing you. That is not what he says. He says, I never knew you. There was never a time that I did know you. Why is that important? Well, because if he knows you, then you're his. This comes up again in Luke chapter 13, 27. Jesus is passing through some villages and is brought up. He says in verse 23, And someone said to him, Lord, are there just a few who are being saved? And I think that's very important, this word. So some may know which those who are being saved, he said to them, strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, Lord, open up to us. Then he will answer and say to you, I do not know where you are from. There is, again, I don't know you. I don't know where you're from. I don't know you. You and I know, obviously, God knows everyone. The Lord will be able to say, I actually know of you. He knows all your thoughts, all the things and we're going to have to give account of that. So he's not saying that I have no clue as to who you are. You are an absolute stranger to me. That's not, that's not his point. His point is, I don't have this relationship with you. I don't know you. I don't, I don't know you where you are from. Then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets. So I was there at church or as they would say, I was there with you. I went to your services, ate and drank and so forth, but you don't know me. So obviously he has an understanding of who they are, but it doesn't know them in the way they're supposed to be known. He says, then he will say to you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me all you evildoers. So the same thing that's being stated in Matthew is being stated in Luke. And so for us though, as I said, if I know you, if I had known you at one point in time, then I will know you forever. Jesus is saying, I never knew you. And where we get that from is to give us further clarification in John chapter 10. Verse four, notice what he says. He says, speaking about his sheep, we are to be his sheep. He's our shepherd. He says, when he puts forth all his own, his own sheep, he goes ahead of them and the sheep follow him. Why? Why do they follow him? Because they know his voice. Why is that important? Because to know him is to know his voice, which is why it says he calls us or his sheep his own. And then in verse 14, notice what he says also. He says, I am the good shepherd and I know my own and my own know me. So his sheep know him, he knows them. And what does he say? None of those sheep will I ever lose. Now, by the way, the Bible says in John 647, that's truly, truly I say to you that whoever has faith or those that believe the believing ones, hop his door and he says, those, if you have faith or you believe in him, at that moment, he has, okay, present tense life into the ages. So he is living now for ever. And notice what he says also. John says this in 1 John chapter 5, starting verse 20, he says, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him. Notice what he says. He has given us, the Lord has given us, and by the way, this is perfect tense, and it's him that's doing it. He is the one that has given us understanding so that the word that she was here in Henna, in order that we may know him, canoes come in so that we will, that we may know him who is true and we are in him who is true in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is true God and eternal life. So notice what he says. Knowing him is eternal life and who gave us the ability to know him, he did. As a matter of fact, the Bible is clear that those of us who are born, he's speaking to those who are born again. Well, again, who caused us to be born again? He did, and so this is an act of him doing so. And anyone that knows him, he will never ever in any way cast him out. And so the key is not to make sure that you're doing things, not to see who's the busiest, not to see who attends the most events or who preaches the most or who serves the most. All of those are wonderful. All of those benefit the kingdom. But for you yourself, the most important thing, whether you are doing X, Y, or Z, is to know him. Make sure you know him so that he won't have to say to you, I never knew you. Because there is no such thing as him saying, I used to know you. No, it's that I never knew you. But if you know him, then you know Christ and he keeps all of his own. Amen.