What Does Jesus Mean by ‘I Never Knew You’?
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:04.000 | We close the week with a good question from Singapore, from a listener named Gia.
00:00:09.000 | Dear Pastor John, thank you very much for this podcast.
00:00:12.000 | I would like to ask a question, following up on episode 1304 about the parable of the ten virgins.
00:00:18.000 | In Matthew 25, 11 and 12, Jesus says, "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us.'
00:00:26.000 | But he answered them, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.'
00:00:31.000 | Do these two verses imply to us anything about salvation, particularly so when the bridegroom said, 'I do not know you?'"
00:00:40.000 | Pastor John, what would you say to Gia?
00:00:42.000 | So, do these verses, in the words, "I don't know you," imply anything about salvation?
00:00:49.000 | The answer is yes, they do. They imply exclusion from salvation.
00:00:56.000 | Now, let me step back and give a little reminder. This is a parable, okay?
00:01:01.000 | Ten virgins, in the story that Jesus made up, ten virgins are assigned to welcome the bridegroom when he comes to the feast,
00:01:13.000 | to go in and enjoy the bride.
00:01:17.000 | So, to welcome him when he comes. Five take this seriously and stay ready.
00:01:23.000 | Five are careless and don't have what they need to be ready.
00:01:28.000 | At the last minute, they run away to try to do a last ditch effort to be ready, and it fails.
00:01:36.000 | It's too late. And so, here's what we read.
00:01:39.000 | "While they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
00:01:49.000 | Afterward, the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!'
00:01:56.000 | And he answered, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.
00:02:03.000 | Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.'" Matthew 25, 10-13.
00:02:09.000 | The point is, watch. Not stay awake at night looking up into the sky because all ten slept.
00:02:17.000 | They all slept. The wise ones and the foolish ones, they all slept. That's not the point.
00:02:21.000 | But stay awake to your Lord and to your calling.
00:02:26.000 | Be spiritually alert. Awake to your calling and awake to your Jesus, the way of life in Christ.
00:02:33.000 | Stay awake to it. Stay spiritually alert and alive.
00:02:37.000 | Because if you treat the Lord like he's unimportant, you won't enter the feast.
00:02:44.000 | You won't enter salvation.
00:02:47.000 | Here's the closest analogy to that language.
00:02:50.000 | Matthew 7, 21. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven."
00:02:58.000 | This is why I talk about exclusion.
00:03:00.000 | "But the one who does the will of my Father who's in heaven, on that day many will say to me,
00:03:05.000 | 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name
00:03:10.000 | and do many mighty works in your name?'
00:03:14.000 | And then I will declare to them," here are the words, "I never knew you.
00:03:21.000 | Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."
00:03:24.000 | So "I never knew you" means I don't recognize you as my disciple.
00:03:31.000 | I don't acknowledge you as my follower.
00:03:35.000 | You are a spiritual stranger to me.
00:03:40.000 | Judas would be the best example here from Jesus' life.
00:03:46.000 | Three years he cast out demons and did many mighty works with Jesus.
00:03:52.000 | And in the end, he was driven by money, not by love for Jesus.
00:03:58.000 | We know that from John 12, verse 6. He's called a thief.
00:04:02.000 | He was excluded at the end of all that time with Jesus.
00:04:09.000 | So what's with this odd use of the word "know"?
00:04:13.000 | I do not know you. I never knew you.
00:04:17.000 | Now there's a back story here. There's background to this.
00:04:21.000 | For example, in the Old Testament, it was used almost interchangeably with "choose."
00:04:27.000 | I didn't choose you. For example, Amos 3, verse 2.
00:04:31.000 | "You only," God says to Israel, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth."
00:04:39.000 | That didn't mean Jesus wasn't aware of the other nations.
00:04:42.000 | Many hadn't chosen them. They weren't acknowledged as his.
00:04:45.000 | They weren't recognized as his. He hadn't chosen them.
00:04:50.000 | Or here's Genesis 18, 18.
00:04:52.000 | "Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation,
00:04:56.000 | and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him,
00:04:58.000 | for I have known him, that he may command his children."
00:05:04.000 | And it's translated usually "chosen."
00:05:07.000 | It's just a plain old word "know."
00:05:08.000 | "I have known him, that he may command his children and his household after him
00:05:12.000 | to keep the way of the Lord," etc.
00:05:15.000 | So when we come to the New Testament, we read things like this.
00:05:19.000 | This is Galatians 4.9.
00:05:21.000 | "Now that you have come to know God, or rather be known by God,"
00:05:29.000 | so being known by God is expressing the initiative that God has taken
00:05:35.000 | to enable you to know him.
00:05:37.000 | "Now that you have come to know God, or rather be known by God,"
00:05:40.000 | how can you turn back to the weak and worthless elementary principles?
00:05:46.000 | Here it is again in 1 Corinthians 8.3.
00:05:49.000 | "If anyone loves God, he is known by God."
00:05:55.000 | Wow.
00:05:56.000 | That means being known by God is the precondition and enabling
00:06:02.000 | of how you come to love God.
00:06:05.000 | So loving God is evidence that you're known by God, that he's chosen by God.
00:06:10.000 | Now back to our parable.
00:06:12.000 | "The foolish virgins came too late to the feast of the bridegroom and his bride,
00:06:18.000 | and they cry out, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!'
00:06:21.000 | And he says, 'Truly I say to you, I don't know you.'"
00:06:26.000 | That is, I don't see in you the marks of faithfulness to me.
00:06:31.000 | There's always a correlation between my choosing people
00:06:36.000 | and their belonging to me and the marks of obedient faithfulness.
00:06:41.000 | We see this in 2 Timothy 2.19.
00:06:44.000 | "God's firm foundation stands bearing this seal.
00:06:48.000 | The Lord knows those who are his,
00:06:52.000 | and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity."
00:06:57.000 | Those are the two marks of the seal.
00:06:59.000 | I know them, I chose them, and they depart from iniquity.
00:07:04.000 | So Jesus is saying to the five foolish virgins,
00:07:08.000 | "I don't see in you the life, the evidence of loving my name and departing from evil.
00:07:16.000 | You're not mine. I don't know you."
00:07:19.000 | And Jesus concludes, "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."
00:07:25.000 | Meaning, stay alert spiritually.
00:07:29.000 | Keep my greatness, my beauty, my worth always before you.
00:07:33.000 | Don't slip into a greater love for the world.
00:07:38.000 | If you do, I won't know you.
00:07:41.000 | Incredibly sobering and humbling.
00:07:44.000 | There is nothing cavalier about Christian assurance.
00:07:48.000 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:07:49.000 | Well, as we talked about this recently,
00:07:52.000 | Pastor John and Noel are packing up and getting ready to head out to South America right now.
00:07:57.000 | That trip is fast approaching.
00:07:59.000 | And before they leave, we have two more APJ episodes to share with you on Monday.
00:08:04.000 | We hear from a boyfriend who has a girlfriend who believes homosexual practice is not sinful.
00:08:10.000 | Is that a marriage deal breaker?
00:08:14.000 | Wow.
00:08:15.000 | Looking forward to that.
00:08:16.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:08:17.000 | We will see you on Monday.
00:08:18.000 | Have a great weekend.
00:08:19.000 | [end]
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