The Call to Genuine Faith
“Results Don’t Equal Relationship: The Call to Genuine Faith”
INTRODUCTION
[Walks to the pulpit slowly. Grips both sides. Looks out.]
Give honor to God – who is the head of my life! Give honor to our Bishop, our Presiding Elders, our Mothers of the Church, our Deacon board, and every saint covered by the blood in this house today!
I need somebody to pray for me this morning – because what God put on my heart to preach might step on some toes. And I want you to know – it stepped on MINE first.
Before I read the text, let me ask you something. And I want you to really sit with this question.
[Pauses. Looks slowly across the sanctuary.]
Have you ever met somebody who could DO everything right – and yet you still felt like you didn’t really KNOW them?
They showed up every time. They said the right things. They performed all the right moves. And yet… something was missing. Something deep. Something REAL.
[Voice drops.]
That’s what Jesus is talking about this morning.
Turn your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 7, and verse 23. And when you find it – I want you to read it like your eternal life depends on it. Because it does.
“And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
[Steps back from the pulpit.]
JESUS said that. The LAMB of God said that. The One who healed the sick and raised the dead looked at a group of people who had done mighty works IN HIS NAME – and said…
“I. NEVER. KNEW. YOU.”
[Long pause.]
Not – “I forgot you.” Not – “I lost your paperwork.” Not – “Check back with me later.”
He said – I never KNEW you.
This morning, the Holy Ghost sent me to preach on: “Results Don’t Equal Relationship: The Call to Genuine Faith.”
Somebody say – Relationship!
PART ONE: THE WARNING – BUSY FOR GOD AND STILL LOST
[Opens Bible wide.]
Stay right there in Matthew 7. Back up to verse 21. Let’s get the full picture.
Jesus says: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
Then verse 22: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?”
[Voice rises.]
Now STOP right there. These people PROPHESIED. They cast out DEVILS. They did WONDERFUL WORKS. In His NAME. They used the NAME OF JESUS to do miracles!
And Jesus said – Depart from me. I never knew you.
[Steps away from pulpit and walks the floor.]
Church, that ought to shake something loose in you right now. Because these were not people sitting in the back pew doing nothing. These were ACTIVE, VISIBLE, PRODUCTIVE people in ministry. By every outward measure – they looked like champions of the faith.
And Jesus said – I don’t KNOW you.
[Points finger.]
Now go to Luke 6:46. Jesus asks the most painful question in the Gospels. He says: “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
In other words – you give me the TITLE but you won’t give me the THRONE. You call me Lord with your LIPS but your LIFE tells a different story.
And saints – James 2 reminds us that faith without works is dead. YES. Absolutely. We need works. We need action. We need FRUIT. But works that flow FROM relationship produce life. Works performed TO REPLACE relationship produce nothing but spiritual exhaustion and a false sense of security.
Activity without intimacy leads a person straight to a dangerous confidence. And Jesus came this morning to warn us.
PART TWO: THE DISTINCTION – RESULTS VERSUS RELATIONSHIP
[Walks back to pulpit. Speaks slowly and deliberately.]
I need to make a distinction this morning that I believe the Holy Ghost wants planted deep in your spirit.
RESULTS – those are the outward things. The visible things. The things people SEE and applaud. The programs you ran. The positions you hold. The ministry you built. The number of people you brought in. The sermons people talk about. The gifts on display.
RELATIONSHIP – that is something altogether different. Relationship means you KNOW Him. You spend TIME with Him. You hear His voice. You surrender to His will even when it COSTS you something. He knows your name and you know His heart.
[Voice intensifies.]
Now look at the Pharisees in Matthew 23. These brothers had RESULTS. They tithed down to the last mint leaf in the garden. They prayed long prayers on the corner. They wore religious symbols on their clothing. They had a SYSTEM. They had a STRUCTURE. They had a FOLLOWING.
And Jesus called them whited sepulchres – beautiful on the outside and DEAD on the inside.
[Congregation stirs.]
Results can make you look alive when your relationship with God is bone dry.
Now look at the Apostle Paul. This man had EVERY reason to boast in results. Educated under Gamaliel. Hebrew of the Hebrews. Blameless according to the law. And then he met Jesus on that Damascus road – and everything changed. He wrote in Philippians 3:10 – “That I may KNOW him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.”
Paul said – I want to KNOW Him. Paul didn’t just want to work FOR Jesus. Paul wanted to walk WITH Jesus. Paul wanted intimacy. Paul wanted relationship.
[Quietly.]
That’s the question for this house this morning. Are your spiritual activities flowing from intimate knowledge of Jesus? Or have your activities BECOME a substitute for actually knowing Him?
Take your time answering that. God sees your heart.
PART THREE: HOW TO ASSESS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST
[Holds up Bible.]
The Word gives us four checkpoints. Four ways to examine where we really stand.
Checkpoint One – Are you ABIDING?
John 15, verses 4 and 5. Jesus says: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches… for without me ye can do nothing.”
NOTHING. Jesus said NOTHING. Not a little something. Not a reduced version of something. NOTHING of Kingdom value happens apart from abiding in Him.
A branch that detaches from the vine can still LOOK like a branch for a while. It still has the shape. It still has the form. But it carries no life. And eventually… it withers.
[Pause.]
Some of us have detached from the Vine and we’re still performing on momentum from last year’s anointing. God says – come back. ABIDE.
Checkpoint Two – Are you walking in LOVE?
John 13:34-35 – Jesus says: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you… By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
Love is the evidence. Real love – sacrificial, inconvenient, costly love – that kind of love only grows from a connected relationship with Christ. You can PERFORM love for a season. But GENUINE love flows from a genuinely transformed heart.
Checkpoint Three – What motivates your OBEDIENCE?
First Samuel 16:7 – “The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
God searches the motive. You can do the RIGHT thing for the WRONG reason and God sees straight through it. True relationship transforms the motive. When you know Jesus intimately, you obey Him out of LOVE – not performance, not reputation, not fear of what the church folk will say.
[Voice rises.]
Checkpoint Four – Are you walking in REPENTANCE?
First John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
A living relationship with God requires ongoing confession. Ongoing humility. Ongoing reconciliation. People in a real relationship with God keep SHORT accounts with Him. They go to the throne – regularly, honestly, openly – and say, Lord, I missed it. Forgive me. Restore me.
Pride keeps people performing. Humility keeps people in relationship.
PART FOUR: HOW TO MOVE FROM MERE RESULTS TO GENUINE RELATIONSHIP
[Steps down to floor level. Pastoral tone.]
So how do we get there? How do we move from a results-driven religion to a real, living, breathing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Let me give you five practical moves.
Move One – Seek the PERSON, pursue the encounter.
Carve out daily time to sit before God. Real time. Quiet time. Time where you put the phone down, close the laptop, and say – Lord, I’m here. Speak to me. Let your prayer life become a CONVERSATION – honest, transparent, relational – every single day.
Move Two – Prioritize PRESENCE over presentation.
Every time you walk through these doors – every time you enter a worship service – come with one goal: ENCOUNTER JESUS. Carry that hunger into every service. Seek His face. When the presence of God shows up, stay in it. Linger. Let Him touch the real you.
Move Three – Examine your MOTIVES.
Before you serve, before you preach, before you sing, before you lead – ask the Holy Ghost: Why am I doing this? Am I doing this to be seen? Am I doing this because it’s my turn? Or am I doing this because I love Jesus and I want to honor Him? Let the Spirit search you and give you an honest answer.
Move Four – Practice daily DEPENDENCE.
Begin every assignment with surrender. Every morning say – Lord, I need You today. I lean on Your strength. I trust Your guidance. Dependence on God keeps the relationship active and alive.
Move Five – Welcome ACCOUNTABILITY.
Invite trusted saints – your prayer partner, your Elder, your spiritual mother – invite them to speak truth into your life. Accountability reveals gaps that we can’t always see in ourselves. Surround yourself with people who will tell you the truth in love.
PART FIVE: WHAT THE WORD CONFIRMS
[Returns to pulpit. Voice builds.]
I want to make sure this sermon stands on solid ground. So let me walk you through the Word one more time.
Matthew 7:21-23 – the primary text – confirms that outward works without relationship carry no weight on Judgment Day.
Luke 6:46 confirms that calling Jesus Lord carries the weight of actual obedience to His commands.
James 2:14-26 confirms that genuine faith produces works – but the works flow FROM faith and relationship, they serve as the evidence of it.
John 15:4-8 confirms that abiding in Christ produces fruit – and fruit can only come from a living, connected relationship with the Vine.
Galatians 5:22-25 confirms that the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance – grows in a life surrendered to the Spirit of God.
Romans 12:1-2 confirms that genuine relationship transforms the mind, the priorities, and the behavior – not just the Sunday morning presentation.
And First John 4:12 and 16 confirm that when we love one another deeply and genuinely – GOD ABIDES IN US. His love reaches its completion in a heart in real relationship with Him.
[Voice at full.]
The WHOLE BIBLE points to the same truth: GOD WANTS YOU. He wants YOUR heart. He wants YOUR fellowship. He wants to KNOW you – and He wants you to KNOW HIM.
CONCLUSION
[Quiet. Deliberate. Standing center floor.]
Church, I want to close with this.
Jesus warned us. He looked ahead to that great day – Judgment Day – and He described people who would stand before Him SHOCKED. Shocked that their results didn’t get them in. Shocked that their activity didn’t purchase their access. Shocked that their title – “Lord, Lord” – carried no weight without a real, living, surrendered relationship behind it.
[Voice breaks slightly.]
I don’t want anybody in THIS house to be shocked on that day.
The good news – the GOSPEL news – the news that makes me want to shout right now – is that Jesus still invites us. Today. Right now. He says – COME. Abide in me. Know me. Let me know you. Confess where you’ve drifted. Return to the Vine.
Trade the counterfeit assurance for the REAL security of knowing the One who knows your name, knows your struggle, knows your history – and STILL calls you His own.
[Steps forward.]
So I’m asking you today – not about your gifts. Not about your ministry record. Not about what department you serve in.
I’m asking you: Do you KNOW Him?
Does He KNOW you?
Come to Christ afresh this morning. Abide in Him. Confess freely. Pursue that living, breathing, transforming relationship – and let everything else flow from that place.
Because THAT is the faith that endures. THAT is the faith that holds. THAT is the faith that walks through the gates on that great day – and hears the words we’re all longing to hear:
[Slowly, with weight.]
“Well done… thou good and faithful servant.”
[Congregation rises.]
CLOSING PRAYER
[Music begins softly underneath.]
Lord Jesus – search every heart in this place right now. Search mine first.
Where we have substituted activity for intimacy – forgive us, Father. Where we have performed religion in Your name while keeping You at a distance from our real lives – have mercy on us, Lord.
Draw us in. Draw us CLOSE. Let us know You the way Paul longed to know You – the power of Your resurrection AND the fellowship of Your suffering. All of it, Lord. We want ALL of You.
Let our love be REAL. Let our obedience flow from a changed heart. Let every act of service in this house rise from a living, breathing, daily relationship with the Risen Christ.
We surrender our results to You today. We surrender our reputations. We surrender our records. And we ask You – make us KNOWN to You. Make us people who truly KNOW You.
In the name of Jesus – the name above every name – we pray.
Church say – AMEN!
Closing Song: “I Want to Know You” / “More of You Lord” / “Draw Me Nearer”
[Final Words at the mic.]
Go today as people in RELATIONSHIP with the living God. Carry His presence with you. Stay connected to the Vine. And let everything you do – every word, every act, every moment of service – let it flow from that place of truly knowing Him.
God loves you. God KNOWS you. Make sure you know Him back.
Be blessed. Go in peace. And stay in the Vine.
AMEN.
“I never knew you…” – Matthew 7:23 | “That I may know him…” – Philippians 3:10