Why Did Jesus Say “I Never Knew You”?

In Matthew 7:22-23 (NASB), Jesus gives this warning:

“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 miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'”

What does Jesus mean by “lawlessness”? John gives a simple answer in 1 John 3:4 (NASB):

“Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.”

So lawlessness is sin: living as if God’s commands do not apply to us. And to “practice” something is to keep on doing it, as a habit and a way of life.

This does not mean that a true follower of Jesus never sins. John also writes, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). The difference is this: when a follower of Jesus sins, he turns back to God and confesses it (1 John 1:9). The people in Matthew 7 were different. They called Jesus “Lord,” but they lived as if His commands did not apply to them.

Who Are These People?

Just before these words, Jesus warned about false prophets in Matthew 7:15-16 (NASB):

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.”

On the outside, false prophets look like sheep. But their fruit, the way they live, shows what they really are. The people in verses 22-23 are the same. From the outside, they look like followers of Jesus.

They are not people who openly reject Jesus. They call Him “Lord, Lord.” They tell Him they prophesied, drove out demons, and performed miracles — and each time they say it was done in His name.

Jesus does not question what they say they did, and we are not told whether all of it was real. He warned that false prophets would “perform great signs and wonders to deceive” (Matthew 24:24), and that some people do good things in front of others “to be seen by them” (Matthew 6:1). But even real power does not prove that a person belongs to Jesus. Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve to whom Jesus gave authority to drive out evil spirits and heal every disease (Matthew 10:1-4). Yet he betrayed Him.

So why does Jesus say, “I never knew you”? The answer is in the verse just before, Matthew 7:21 (NASB):

“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.”

So what is “the will of My Father”? Jesus answers that in John 6:40 (NASB):

“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

The Father’s will begins with believing in His Son. And believing in Jesus is more than calling Him “Lord.” It means listening to Him and doing what He says.

Luke records the same idea in Luke 6:46 (NIV):

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

The issue is deeper than religious activity. The question is whether the life matches the claim.

Their Confidence Was in What They Had Done

What makes their answer so unsettling is how confident they are.

Their confidence was in their works. They believed those works showed that they belonged to Him.

Jesus gives another picture of this in Luke 18.

He tells a parable about two men who go to the temple to pray: a Pharisee and a tax collector. Before telling the story, Luke explains who Jesus was addressing.

Luke 18:9 (NASB) says:

“And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt.”

That tells us what Jesus wanted to expose: confidence in our own righteousness.

Then come the two prayers, in Luke 18:11-13 (NASB):

“The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'”

The Pharisee points to his religious record: what he avoids, what he does, and how much better he is than others. The tax collector has nothing to point to. He simply asks God for mercy.

And Jesus says that it was the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who went home right with God (Luke 18:14). One trusted in what he had done; the other depended on God.

Close to Jesus, but Not His

Jesus does not say, “I knew you once, but not anymore.” He says, “I never knew you.”

They believed they belonged to Him. But their confidence rested on what they had done, not on knowing Him.

Jesus gives a similar warning in the parable of the five foolish bridesmaids. They were part of the wedding party. They carried lamps like the others and were waiting for the same bridegroom. But when the bridegroom arrived, they were not ready. They went to get oil, and by the time they returned, the door was closed.

When they knocked, we read what happened in Matthew 25:11-12 (NASB):

“‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.'”

Luke gives us another picture of people who assumed that being close to Jesus was enough.

In Luke 13:26-27 (NASB), they say:

“We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.” And He will say, “I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from Me, all you evildoers.”

Notice how similar the response is. These people had eaten in His presence and heard Him teach in their streets. Yet He still says, “I do not know where you are from.”

Being near Jesus is not the same as belonging to Him.

Hearing His teaching is not the same as following Him.

Using His name is not the same as knowing Him.

So What Does It Mean to Be Known?

Jesus knows everything about every person (John 2:24-25). So when He says, “I never knew you,” He does not mean that He did not know who they were. In the Bible, to “know” someone often means more than knowing about them. It means a close, personal relationship.

Jesus explains this with the picture of a shepherd and his sheep. A shepherd calls his own sheep by name, and they follow him because they know his voice (John 10:3-4). Jesus says in John 10:27 (NIV):

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

So to be known by Jesus is to belong to Him, the way sheep belong to their shepherd. It is not about a list of things we have done for Him. His sheep know His voice, they listen to Him, and they follow Him.

Paul says the same thing in 2 Timothy 2:19 (NIV):

“Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.'”

The Lord knows those who are His. And those who are His turn away from sin. The people in Matthew 7 called Him “Lord, Lord,” but they kept on practicing lawlessness.

None of this means that our works earn us a place with God. But real faith does not stay in words only. It changes the way we live.

Remain in Him

So how does a life bear good fruit? Not by trying harder. Jesus says in John 15:5 (NIV):

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

A branch does not bear fruit by its own effort. It bears fruit because it stays joined to the vine. In the same way, the good fruit in our lives comes from staying close to Jesus.

Ephesians 2:8-10 explains the order clearly. We are saved by grace through faith, not by our works. But we are also created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Works are not the foundation of our relationship with Christ. They are the fruit that comes from it.

The Christian life is not about building a religious record and then presenting it to Jesus. It is about knowing Him, listening to Him, following Him, and remaining in Him.

How Can I Be Sure Jesus Knows Me?

If you are reading this and wondering whether Jesus knows you, that concern matters. The people in Matthew 7 were not questioning their relationship with Him. They came confidently pointing to what they had done.

Their confidence was in their record.

But Scripture repeatedly brings us back to something deeper than our record: knowing Christ, listening to Him, trusting Him, and walking with Him.

The answer is not to work harder or produce more.

It is to come to Him — not with a list of achievements, but as you are, trusting His promise in John 6:37 (NIV):

“Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”

The people in Matthew 7 came pointing to what they had done.

Jesus invites us to come to Him simply trusting in Him.

Last updated 2 November 2026