{"id":649,"date":"2026-01-07T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=649&2026"},"modified":"2026-01-05T17:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:01:26","slug":"excluded-from-heaven-matthew-7-21-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/excluded-from-heaven-matthew-7-21-29\/","title":{"rendered":"Excluded from Heaven: Matthew 7:21-29"},"content":{"rendered":"
Focus Passage: Matthew 7:21-29 (GW)<\/div>
\r\n

21\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord!\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the person who does what my Father in heaven wants. 22\u00a0<\/sup>Many will say to me on that day, \u2018Lord, Lord, didn\u2019t we prophesy in your name? Didn\u2019t we force out demons and do many miracles by the power and authority of your name?\u2019 23\u00a0<\/sup>Then I will tell them publicly, \u2018I\u2019ve never known you. Get away from me, you evil people.\u2019<\/p>

24\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cTherefore, everyone who hears what I say and obeys it will be like a wise person who built a house on rock. 25\u00a0<\/sup>Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and beat against that house. But it did not collapse, because its foundation was on rock.<\/p>

26\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cEveryone who hears what I say but doesn\u2019t obey it will be like a foolish person who built a house on sand. 27\u00a0<\/sup>Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and struck that house. It collapsed, and the result was a total disaster.\u201d<\/p>

28\u00a0<\/sup>When Jesus finished this speech, the crowds were amazed at his teachings. 29\u00a0<\/sup>Unlike their experts in Moses\u2019 Teachings, he taught them with authority.<\/p>\r\n

Read Matthew 7:21-29<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n

Out of all the challenging things Jesus told the crowds while He preached during His life on earth, I cannot think of a passage that is more sobering in how it depicts the final judgment. At the beginning of this passage, which is Jesus\u2019 closing words in His famous \u201cSermon on the Mount\u201d, He shares a very sad truth.<\/p>\r\n

Jesus starts out by saying, \u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord!\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the person who does what my Father in heaven wants.<\/strong>\u201d (v. 21)<\/p>\r\n

We might think Jesus will then tell us what God the Father really wants \u2013 but He doesn\u2019t. Instead, Jesus tells us some things that these people will claim to be things that God wants: \u201cMany will say to me on that day, \u2018Lord, Lord, didn\u2019t we prophesy in your name? Didn\u2019t we force out demons and do many miracles by the power and authority of your name?\u2019<\/strong>\u201d (v. 22)<\/p>\r\n

While prophesying, casting out demons, and performing miracles are all positive things, Jesus is telling us in this verse that these are not at the heart of what God the Father wants from us. Instead, in His farewell to this group of people who don\u2019t get access to the kingdom, Jesus hints at what God really wants: \u201cThen I will tell them publicly, \u2018I\u2019ve never known you. Get away from me, you evil people.\u2019<\/strong>\u201d (v. 23)<\/p>\r\n

The two things that define this group is that they are evil, and that Jesus doesn\u2019t know them. While everyone alive has sinned, by calling a group of people evil, Jesus is drawing our attention onto their actions and the focus of their lives. These people are moving in a direction that is counter to God\u2019s will. They might think they are moving towards God, but the god they have chosen is not God the Father \u2013 or even His Son Jesus.<\/p>\r\n

By saying that He has never known them, Jesus draws our attention to the absence of a personal relationship. If these people joined a religion that claims the name of Jesus or Christ, they would have joined a religion for only social reasons \u2013 and perhaps \u201cfire insurance\u201d. But they stop their faith at simply showing up to church on occasion; they think that attendance equals a relationship.<\/p>\r\n

Having a relationship with Jesus is so much more than a two hour event one day a week.<\/strong> Jesus wants to be so much closer to us than just some guy who is also at a place that we are at occasionally (i.e. church). Jesus wants to walk with us through all seven days of our week; He wants to help us with the challenges we face each day; and He wants to lead us into being more like Him \u2013 and more like the person God originally created us to be. When we are reflecting Jesus, we truly can say we know Jesus and that He knows us!<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p>

Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Out of all the challenging things Jesus told the crowds while He preached during His life on earth, I cannot think of a passage that is more sobering in how it depicts the final judgment. At the beginning of this passage, which is Jesus\u2019 closing words in His famous \u201cSermon on the Mount\u201d, He shares […]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"\nExcluded from Heaven: Matthew 7:21-29 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/excluded-from-heaven-matthew-7-21-29\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Excluded from Heaven: Matthew 7:21-29 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Out of all the challenging things Jesus told the crowds while He preached during His life on earth, I cannot think of a passage that is more sobering in how it depicts the final judgment. 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