Does Matthew 7:21-22, prove that a person can lose their salvation?
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord,
did we not prophesy in your name and
in your name drive out demons and
in your name perform many miracles?’
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I NEVER KNEW YOU.
Away from me, you evildoers!’.“
First off, a works-based perspective will tell you, “There you go! You’re saved by your works, and you must do the will of the Father in order to be saved.” Now let me submit to you today, if you are saved, YOU WILL do the will of the Father. You don’t do the will of the Father in order to be saved; doing the will of the Father is actually a natural fruit—a product of being saved.
For example, scripture says, “We are saved by grace through faith, not by works, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-10, paraphrased) However, it does say you are saved unto good works—God’s works—which God hath preordained for you, with God working in and through you. In other words, WORKS ARE A MANIFESTATION OF GENUINE FAITH AND GENUINE SALVATION. However, you are not saved by them. When you are saved, God will use you and you will do great works, and you’ll see the manifestation of true salvation.
Now, Matthew 7:21-22 further says:
“…Of my father who is in Heaven,
many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord,
DID WE NOT PROPHESY IN YOUR NAME?'”
Now, a person who’s got works-based perspective will tell you, “Now listen, this scripture refers to saved people. These are people who are prophesying. These are people with faith and belief in God’s name. These are people who are driving out demons, and these are people who are performing miracles in God’s name. Now you can’t tell me that these aren’t saved people.”
Well, I can tell you that THEY’RE NOT SAVED PEOPLE, and I’m gonna show you what the Bible says, and we are going to fulfill the totality of all of God’s promises for your life and for my life, and saved children of God. We’re gonna let our hearts rest, because if our hearts condemn us, we will not receive anything from the Lord. You see, Satan is after your faith, because he knows that it’s by faith you receive everything and every blessing from Him. Then the text says:
“I will tell them plainly, I NEVER KNEW YOU. Away from me, you evil doers.”
Because of the acts of prophesying, driving out of demons, and performing miracles, many assume right off the bat that this verse is speaking about people in the church, that is, Christians who are saved, who have been walking with the Lord and doing their thing, and yet somehow, they will miss God and will lose their salvation. But, is this true?
Well first of all, let’s put this scripture in context. The majority of the time this scripture is preached out of context, and it’s usually preached in support of you somehow having to work for God’s approval. Even though the Bible says that we’re made righteous, approved and accepted by God by grace through faith, preachers shift the interpretation, and now the burden of responsibility is back on your works, rather than His works and your faith in what His works have done.
It’s a slight shift that keeps you in works and performance, rather than trusting and resting in what God has already promised He’s gonna do through you, and that He’s already prepared for you, and that He’s already preordained the works He’s gonna do through you. Now that’s the good news.
So.. in context, let’s backup about 5 verses, to see who he is speaking about in “context.”
Matthew 7:15-20
15 WATCH OUT FOR FALSE PROPHETS. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruits you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Thus, BY THEIR FRUIT YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM.“
This comes prior to that scripture in Matthew 7:21. Now, in the context, Jesus Christ is talking about false prophets. He’s not talking about true prophets or saved people. Now see this: “They come to you in sheep’s clothing.” He’s not talking about the sheep, He’s not talking about saved people. He says, “But inwardly, they are ferocious wolves.”
Jesus is talking about people who are PRETENDING to be saved and of God, and that are using the mechanics of God’s name, and even the gospel of Jesus Christ, and are using the mechanics of all that they’ve learned, and are now trying to apply those in order to build a ministry, do their good works, and perform for God, so they can be accepted by Him.
Literally, they’ve never received the finished work of Jesus Christ, they have never received the fullness of the Spirit, and they are now using the mechanics of His name to do good works. Literally, they may have a spirit of charisma, they might even have a demon. They are “ferocious wolves.” The Bible says that Satan sometimes comes as an angel of light. So anyways, this verse doesn’t refer to saved people, but by their fruit, you will recognize them.
However the saved children of God are mentioned in the mix of these verses, where it says…
“Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit.”
Now, if you are saved, you are a good tree; and naturally, you will bear good fruit. But a bad tree bears bad fruit. Someone who’s not saved cannot bear good fruit, they will bear bad fruit.
“Now, the fruit of the spirit is love,
peace, joy, gentleness, kindness, goodness,
faith, temperance, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23)
That is the fruit of the Spirit, and those who are born of God will manifest the fruit, and the Holy Spirit will operate through them in signs and wonders. However, as noted earlier, those using the mechanics of God’s name and Word, can counterfeit the signs and the giftings, and the miracles and the external manifestations, but they cannot counterfeit the fruit of the Spirit.
The Lord says, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit; and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” So if you are saved, you cannot bear bad fruit, for the Bible says…
1 John 4:1-6
“…everyone born of God overcomes the world,
and everyone born of God no longer continues to sin.
Everyone born of God abides in Him, and no longer continues to sin.
That means that if you are born of God, you will eventually overcome. Now, I submit to you today, you may need a lot of help. You may need deliverance. You may be struggling with a sin that you feel like you can’t overcome. Believe me, it doesn’t mean that you’re not saved. It doesn’t mean that you’re condemned. You cast that away.
It just means that you have not found, nor released or received the power. No one has helped you; no one has supported you; no one has brought healing and deliverance to your life yet. But if you continue in faith, God will deliver you, He will set you free. He will empower you, He will bring you around people that will help you; and in due season and due time, you shall overcome.
Now see this in Matthew 7:19:
“Every tree that does not bear good fruit
is cut down and thrown into the fire,
and BY THEIR FRUIT YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM.“
It doesn’t say that by their signs, you’ll recognize them or by their giftings, you’ll recognize them—BUT BY THEIR FRUIT. If you are a good tree and born of God and have received Jesus Christ and His finished redemptive work, and all that He’s done for you, and have been filled with the Spirit, YOU ARE A GOOD TREE BEARING GOOD FRUIT.
You do not have to worry about losing your salvation. You do not have to enter into condemnation, but you can have faith and confidence before God, so that anything you ask, it shall be done. And you shall receive anything you ask, because you enter with faith and confidence, knowing who you are, and knowing that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
So you’re still not convinced? Well, possibly you are thinking, ‘They were prophesying and they were doing this and they were doing that. This text has gotta be talking about people in the church.’ Is it possible to cast out demons in Jesus’ name without being a saved person? The answer is, yes.
Luke 9:49-50
“Master,” said John,
“WE SAW SOMEONE DRIVING OUT DEMONS IN YOUR NAME
and we tried to stop him, BECAUSE HE IS NOT ONE OF US.”
“Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
So if your ministry is going after and attacking people whom you feel may not be of God because they’re preaching the kingdom with selfish motives, I submit to you today, that is not a ministry from Christ. Can an unsaved person cast out demons? Yes they can. We just showed you Luke 9:49.
So the next question remains…
IS IT POSSIBLE TO PROPHESY AND NOT BE SAVED?
Yes, it is.
Now, here is Paul’s experience Acts 16:
“Once we were going from a place of prayer where we met a female slave WHO HAD A SPIRIT BY WHICH SHE PREDICTED THE FUTURE. And she followed Paul, and the rest of them shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God who are telling you the way to be saved.“
Now, there are demons that can tell the future. There are demons that can speak, and even know all about you. They know your name, phone number, and address; they know this and that, and literally, they know all about you, like the Spirit does.
Literally, the gift of prophecy can be counterfeited. See, the spirit of prophecy is not only foretelling, which means telling about the future, but it’s also forth-telling, that is, prophesying what God has done or what God is gonna do. This girl was doing both, by an evil spirit, not the Spirit of God.
Later, Paul cast the demon out of this girl. She was even doing a good thing. She was prophesying what was coming. She was literally foretelling the future, and literally people would place their trust in her because she was telling people about what was to come. She was foretelling. She was confirming the message of the Kingdom. We could say she was literally doing the work of God using her giftings and supporting the work of gospel, or the work of God in Paul’s life.
She was literally prophesying the future. She was telling the truth about Paul, and still Paul knew something wasn’t right about this girl. He had to discern this, that the girl had a demon and did not know the Lord, but Satan. She was prophesying by demons, and Paul cast the demon out. I’m sure once the demon came out of this girl and she realized there was a demon in her, she gave her life to the Lord, having trusted in Him for her salvation, and she received the fullness of grace.
She became a good tree; and by a GOOD TREE cannot bear bad fruit. It can only bear good fruit. A saved person cannot bear bad fruit, but will always bear good fruit, because the Spirit of God overflows within them. Once they drink, they will never thirst, and they will always produce the power and the presence of God that flows from inside a born-again spirit. Let’s go on with another experience.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO PERFORM MIRACLES AND NOT BE SAVED?
Yes it is.
Acts 8:9-25
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and AMAZED all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.
HE AMAZED THEM. That’s actually similar to performing a lot of miracles. The people were filled with amazement, with wonder. Simon amazed them by his miracles, signs and wonders. Signs will amaze people, whether they’re of God or not of God. Performing miracles does not mean the person is of God, that God is with them, or that they are saved.
It could even be of God and it could be God doing miracles, if it’s done in His name. He will use unsaved people. Don’t get me wrong; if there are saved people sitting in a congregation, and you have a man up, who’s preaching the gospel, he still literally could preach the gospel and not be saved. God will use him to bless the audience, because he’s preaching the gospel. It’s very possible.
Now, this scripture—Matthew 7:21—is not talking about born-again children of God. It’s definitely not supporting loss of salvation and is definitely not supporting that you, who are born again, will become ‘unborn again.’ So do not allow self-condemnation. Receive the gift of salvation and cast condemnation out of your heart.
Simon is rightly called the “power of God” and the people followed him, because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. There are people who operate in signs and wonders and may even amaze you. It does not mean they are born again. They could even still be used of God. The Word says, “Get away from me you evildoers. I NEVER KNEW YOU.” Both the demon-possessed girl and Simon fit into the people to whom this statement might be applied.
Now, the Bible prophesied the coming of the New Covenant—everlasting covenant that was to come, not like the Old Covenant. Discern it. Differentiate it from the old covenant.
Jeremiah spoke a lot about the covenant that was to come. Jeremiah says:
Jeremiah 31
33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD,….34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for THEY WILL ALL KNOW ME, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Now, that also confirms what 1 John 2:20 says that the anointing abides within you BY WHOM YOU KNOW ALL THINGS. You do not need anybody to teach you, for that anointing teaches you all things. It speaks of the New Covenant, the anointing that abides within, not the Holy Spirit coming upon, not even having the Old Covenant of righteousness and acceptance by the law. Now, “this is the covenant that I WILL MAKE, the new covenant that I will make—THEY WILL ALL KNOW ME.
I submit to you today, God knows you, and you know Him since you have a covenant with God, through Christ Jesus and you’ve accepted the Father through Christ Jesus, YOU BELIEVE IN THE SON, you believe in the Father, and you believe in what He’s done for you.
The New Covenant has come to you, if you’ve rested your case and said, “I can’t work. I can’t save myself. I do need salvation. I’m jacked up. I know there is something not right about me. I’m skewed. I got issues. I mean, I’m not perfect. I realize that I need help, why not have God and let the Spirit of God fill me with His Presence? Why not receive the Spirit of God? I realize through Christ I can receive the Spirit of God, because He was the God in the flesh, and God said that’s the way. In receiving Him, I received the Father. As a benefit of that, I’m filled with the Holy Spirit and I’m born again.”
The Spirit that comes to live inside of you, regenerates your spirit. I submit to you today, that if that happens, YOU WILL KNOW THE LORD and the Lord will begin speaking to you. In fact, He’ll begin teaching you and speaking to you. You will become born of God and born from above, not of men. You will know the Lord, and you will operate under grace and love Him and you will bear good fruit. This is the gospel.
What is His will? HIS WILL IS THAT YOU RECEIVE THE LOVE OF THE FATHER. And the full manifestation of what He’s done for you, so that you don’t have to perform for God, in order to gain acceptance. You can trust in what He’s done, and know that you’re accepted, based on what He’s done.
You can rest your case and be justified and be made righteous by faith and receive the gift of righteousness, and say, “I CAN’T do it. I’m not good enough and I’ll never be good enough for God, but I know Lord, that you’ve done it for me. I receive your power and your presence, so that I can be changed by grace, and so that I can be accepted by grace, instead of trying to prove myself to you, which will always end up in pride.”
Let’s sum it up.
You can, you will do the will of God, if you’re born again. Every good tree bears good fruit. It cannot bear bad fruit. If you go around telling people that you’re gonna bear bad fruit when God has made you a good tree, it’s not the gospel. Every good tree bears good fruit. On the other hand, you can prophesy, cast out devils, and even be used of the Spirit in places, even in church, and still not receive the fullness of God’s finished work on the cross—the finished work of what Jesus has done.
Yes, you can use the mechanics of the gospel; you can prophesy in his name, cast out devils, and you can do all these things, but if you have not love, and have not received the fullness of God’s love.
Therefore, Matthew 7:21 does not apply to born-again children of God, but those unsaved people who operate in the things of God, and are ferocious wolves who come in sheep’s clothing, but are not good trees that bear good fruit. He is not talking about you, who are born of God.
If you feel like you haven’t received the fullness of what God has done, and you’ve been doing good works without being saved, all you have to do, is TRUST IN WHAT GOD HAS DONE THROUGH HIS SON JESUS, and stop trusting in what you think you need to do in order to be accepted and approved by God. Receive His forgiveness and only do the things that you do, because you’re already approved and accepted of Him.
Ephesians 2
8 For it is BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED, THROUGH FAITH—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
and then