Tag Archive | father

No man can come except the Father draws him, John 6:44?

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me DRAW him: and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:44)

If there are Bible verses that mention conditions for salvation and other verses that do not, then it is not fair to ignore the verses with conditions. John. 6:40 clarifies which conditions that apply for being raised up and that is that we SEE and BELIEVE. We must have these conditions in mind when we proceed to v. 44 above. Verses should never be read in a vacuum, separated from the information before and after.

Only those who come to God are raised up (not those who do not choose to come) and those who are drawn can (dynamai) come, but not necessarily do come. Other verses in the Bible show that ALL men are given enough light to believe in God, and in the rest of John 6 we can read that the conditions for salvation are that we BELIEVE, COME, SEE, REPENT, EAT HIS BREAD, etc. We can also read that Jesus draws ALL men elsewhere in the book of John:

John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will DRAW ALL MEN unto me.

John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.—11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.12But AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM, TO THEM GAVE HE POWER TO BECOME THE SONS OF GOD, even to them that believe on his name:

John 3:¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.¹⁸He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.²⁰For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.²¹But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Ask yourself if you truly believe that our Lord prevents people from coming to him and believing in him, and if he also sends people to eternal hell for not believing in him. If God truly wants people to seek him and believe in him, why would be cause so many unfortunate people to be “non-elect” from the creation of the world and cause them to be damned before they are even born? Would it not be better to read John 6 in context in order to not end up with a position where God walks hand in hand with the devil?

John 6:²⁷Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.²⁸Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? ²⁹Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Jesus asks his disciples to not labor for meat which can perish but for meat which lasts for ever, indicating that there was a risk for that his disciples would select the wrong kind of meat. This shows man’s free will and the need for warnings. Moreover, God is not doing the laboring for them. The text does not say that God does the work of causing man’s believing. When the disciples ask what the work is that God wants them to do Jesus does not answer “You can do NOTHING, since God does everything for you and salvation is all of God”, but he explains what they must do which is “that ye believe on him whom he hath sent“. The Greek makes it clear that the work of God is TO BELIEVE. Thus, Jesus is specifically answering that in order for one to do the work of God, one must believe.

We can also read that Jesus, the bread of life, has given life unto the WORLD and not just a select few. We can read the conditions for never being hungry/thirsty, and that is that we must COME and BELIEVE, and that is in Greek continuous tense:

John 6:³³For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and GIVETH LIFE UNTO THE WORLD. —³⁵And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: HE THAT COMETH to me shall never hunger; and he that BELIEVETH on me shall never thirst. ³⁷All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

We are assured that if we choose to COME to him, we will not be cast out. The question is of course if we will choose to come and also if we will choose to STAY. I believe God the Father knows who will be the ones who will endure to the end, and those are likely the ones that he “gives” to Jesus. Jesus must have known that his death would be beneficial for those who choose to accept his offer and believe in him. If they endure to the end they will be in the final edition of the book of life and they will be the ones coming to God as per his foreknowledge. We can read that Jesus knew that some indeed would refuse to believe. He said:

John 6:64 “But there are some of you that believe not”. FOR JESUS KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING WHO THEY WERE THAT BELIEVED NOT, and who should betray him.

John 6:39 below is usually more popular to quote than the verse right after which is John 6:40 since the “inconvenient” CONDITIONS for salvation are listed in v.40 which explains v.39 in more detail:

6:³⁹And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

6:⁴⁰And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which SEETH the Son, and BELIEVETH on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

“this is the will of Him who sent me, that every one who IS BEHOLDING the Son, and IS BELIEVING in him, may have life age-during, and I will raise him up in the last day.” (Young’s Literal Translation).

The conditions for salvation are thus that we SEE the son and BELIEVE in him, just like the requirements for the Israelites in Exodus to walk up to the brazen serpent to behold it in order to be cleansed. They were not dragged to the serpent and forced to behold it! THEY themselves had to do it. It’s also the Father’s WILL that no one shall perish. Does anyone perish? Yes, so this means God’s will is not even always done.

I have learned that the purpose of the subjunctive mood (as in “should lose nothing”) is usually to imply some uncertainty and “generally represents the verbal action as uncertain but probable”. “I should raise him up at the last day” is a statement of intent or purpose. The Father’s desire is that Jesus would eventually raise up all who saw him and believed on him. These verses do not state what absolutely will occur. Another example can be found in John 1:6-7

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe“.

The context indicates that God’s intent for sending John was so that “all through him might believe”. Yet, not all did believe but actually only a minority did, and “all” here could not mean only the elect because we read “That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world“ (v. 8-9).

Right after v. 44 we can read that those who come are those who have HEARD and LEARNED of the Father. It is up to us to listen carefully to the gospel message and seek wisdom. Two persons can listen to the same message, and yet one might choose to close his ears and the other one might take what he hears into his heart: hearken4

6:45It is written in the prophets, And they shall be ALL taught of God. EVERY MAN therefore that hath heard, and hath LEARNED of the Father, COMETH unto me.— 47Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. –51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of THE WORLD.⁵³Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. ⁵⁴WHOSO eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Learning, eating, drinking, believing, seeing and coming are things WE must do. God is not going to do this for us but he has promised to not cast us out if we do accept to learn from him and come to him. We can read that “WHOSO eateth” shall be saved. That is an offer to all, and we already know that Jesus died for the WORLD. Naturally we are also free to leave if we are free to come, and we are not promised that God will prevent us from sinning ever again. We must take all the context into consideration and not just select exactly those verses where the conditions are not listed and ignore those verses where they ARE listed. All men are taught, but it is only those who go on to hear and learn who come/are drawn.

John. 6:⁵⁶He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.⁵⁷As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.⁵⁸This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever

Note the conditions again: ⁵⁶He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. God is not going to eat and drink for us.

John. 6:⁶⁴But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.⁶⁵And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.⁶⁶From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

6:⁷⁰Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?

Here we can read that “chosen” ones does not equate to being saved. People can be chosen for a service and they can also reject their task either from the start or later on. Israel was once chosen, and of course not all Israel is saved.

Gal 1:6 I marvel that you are so soon REMOVED FROM HIM that CALLED YOU into the grace of Christ.

Compare the above with the parable about the King who made a marriage banquet for his son in Matt. 22

People who were on the guest list still chose to decline the invitation, and yet others who were randomly invited instead of them accepted to come (and they all took on wedding clothes apart from a certain fellow who was thrown out despite his arrival), and the latter were called CHOSEN due to their own wise decision to show up at the wedding.

Matt 22: ³And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. ⁴Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. — ⁸Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. ⁹Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. ¹⁰So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. —¹²And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. ¹³Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.

Here are a couple of other examples of that God’s will does not always happen. Paul recognized that some Christians could reject the “will of God,” and that God’s will for them could be thwarted by their disobedience despite the convicting power of the Holy Spirit:

1 Thess. 4:3-8 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit

1 Tim. 2:³For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;⁴Who will have ALL MEN to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:⁹The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance

Acts. 17:³⁰And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent

Mark 3:³⁵For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Eph. 6:⁶Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart

Hebr. 10:³⁶For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise

1 Peter 4:1Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;²That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.³For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

1 John 2:¹⁷And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

1 Peter 5:2Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind

In summary

A resistible drawing agrees with John 3 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up”, i.e., so that whosoever believeth i him should not perish. Nowhere must we take the word helko (draw) to mean something irresistible. The Father does not drag a man irresistibly in some spiritual sense. The passage does not say that the drawing guarantees the “coming”. All it says is that no one can come unless drawn, and it then says that the one who comes (as a result of this drawing) will be raised up. It nowhere says that all who are drawn also come, but the one who is “raised up” is the one who is both drawn and comes.

Jam. 4:¹⁰Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

The prodigal son went from being alive, to lost, to alive again – Luke 15

Apr4

Some suggest that since the prodigal son never stopped being the son of his Father, this means that his life was never in real danger. But is this true? There are parents who have indeed disinherited a child for various reasons. Maybe there are parents out there, hoping their son will return back to them and ask for forgiveness for having rejected them, but if not they might decide to disinherit him. Some also suggest that this parable is about jews/gentiles, but parables can have double meanings. We can learn a lot by this parable:

The prodigal son was spiritually DEAD during his absence, but he still made a good moral decision to return to his Father. No one forced the son to return, but he made this own decision.
The prodigal son REPENTED and this is what the parable is all about. He realized he had sinned and planned what he would say to his Father when he returned back home, which he also effectuated. His Father accepted his excuse and forgave him which he was always prepared to do. Even if our sins are red as crimson they can be white as snow. Just before the long parable about the prodigal son, we can see the two previous parables ending with:

⁷I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
¹⁰Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
The prodigal son went from being 1) alive, to 2) dead, to 3) alive again since we can read: “for this thy brother was dead, and is alive AGAIN; and was lost, and is found”. His own Father declared his son lost and DEAD while he was away living in sin, so it didn’t help this son at all to still be the physical son of his Father when he was still lost and dead while away.
Naturally a person who lives in unrepentant sin, such as fornication and idolatry, can’t be on his way to heaven. The prodigal son obeyed sin, which means he was a slave to sin and thus a SINNER. We are slaves to whom we obey and nothing impure shall enter heaven. Sinning will always separate us from God and the only solution is repentance.
The Father didn’t travel around to look for his son or forced him to come back. He stayed at home, hoping he would return. The son was the one who took the initiative to return and not the Father, but when the son did return the Father rushed out to meet him. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth!
The other brother didn’t lose anything financially by the return of his brother, because everything that his Father owned was already his. He could have taken the chance to be joyful about the return of his brother and that he came back to life.
Surely we must agree on that the prodigal son is a good example of a person who was sowing to his flesh while he was away living in sin with prostitutes? What does the Bible say about the spiritual state of such a sinner? :

Galatians 6:⁸For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap CORRUPTION; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap LIFE EVERLASTING.

Corruption is contrary to life everlasting so we should not deceive ourselves into thinking that we are still saved even though we live according to the flesh. The prodigal son sinned together with harlots, so if he had died while still being unrepentant he would never have made it to heaven. Unless you believe unrepentant sinners can enter the Kingdom of God.

The entire parable

24For this my son WAS DEAD, and is ALIVE AGAIN; he WAS LOST, and is FOUND. And they began to be merry.

32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother WAS DEAD, and is ALIVE AGAIN; and WAS LOST, and IS FOUND.

Luke 15:¹⁰Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.¹¹And he said, A certain man had two sons: ¹²And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. ¹³And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. ¹⁴And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. ¹⁵And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. ¹⁷And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ¹⁸I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, ¹⁹And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. ²⁰And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. ²¹And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. ²²But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: ²³And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: ²⁴For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. ²⁵Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. ²⁶And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. ²⁷And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. ²⁸And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. ²⁹And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: ³⁰But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. ³¹And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. ³²It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

Can the leopard change his spots? Not if it has no desire to change

Dec18

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil (Jeremiah 13:23)

Jeremiah 2::32 asks “Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Well, no – what bride would forget her wedding attire? That is simply out of the question, so the answer should then be “NO WAY” and yet we read on:

“—yet my people have forgotten me days without number”.

So the answer is YES after all. Jeremiah 13:23 is a question and not a statement, and it’s like God wants to show Israel how difficult it is for people who are accustomed to do evil and who have hardened their hearts, to change their behavior. But we can be delivered from our sins and spots. We must choose to come to God so he can change us and help us to change our bad habits. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. What else does Jeremiah 13 tell us? We can read about a group of evil people who refuses to obey God, which is very disturbing to him. Due to their rebellion and their refusal to listen and obey, God will punish them. We can read about a people who have forgotten about God and trusted in FALSEHOOD. Does God want his chosen people to trust in falsehood? Clearly not. We can read that it’s due to their wickedness that God will put them to open shame. It’s due to their own actions which they themselves are responsible for, because God certainly didn’t cause them to perform adulteries, neighings, lewdness of whoredom and other abominations that we can read about. God is mighty upset with his peoole for constantly acting against his will. See for yourself:

¹⁰This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.¹¹For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the LORD; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

¹⁶Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. ¹⁷But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive.

²²And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.

²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness. ²⁵This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD; because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood. ²⁶Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear. ²⁷I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?

We are told we can keep ourselves unspotted from the world

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

1 Timothy 6:14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 Peter 3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

Why would God take the time and give so many warning to Israel in Jeremiah (and elsewhere) not to do evil if He knew they were destined to do evil because their nature was evil? A change requires serious effort because of being accustomed to do evil. Jeremiah tells the people to correct their behavior. How can man correct his behavior if he can’t change it and doesn’t have a choice? Man defiles himself by sinning.

Mark 7:²⁰And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,²²Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:²³All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Rom. 2:¹³(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.¹⁴For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: ¹⁵Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

Rom 1:¹⁹Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. ²⁰For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: ²¹Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Jesus said “I NEVER KNEW YOU” to workers of iniquity in Matt. 7:23

Jun8

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? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, YE THAT WORK INIQUITY. (Matt. 7:22-23)

Some understand this passage to mean that works do not have much to do with salvation because the people in the passage did many good deeds in the name of the Lord (prophesying, casting out demons and other wonders) and they still weren’t saved. Some even suggest they weren’t saved because of an attitude where they thought works in general are needed for salvation instead of relying on “faith alone”. However, it wasn’t the good things they did, nor their attitude about works that prevented them from being true christians, but that they were evildoers (“you that work iniquity” = you who SIN) and didn’t have the right heart before God.

Notice that Jesus didn’t say “Depart from me because I didn’t want you/I didn’t die for you/I didn’t choose you” but he asked them to depart from him because they were workers of iniquity. The whole section starts out with Jesus declaring that God REQUIRES work from us! Not as in meriting or earning salvation but as a condition.:

Matt.7:²¹Not 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.

Who will get to heaven according to Jesus? Those who DO the will of the Father. Doing! (A horrible word for many.) Just believing that Jesus died for our sins is not enough to be saved – not even if you combine it with confessing it with your mouth and go to church on Sundays. You must also make sure you are cleansed from your sins and that you DO THE WILL OF THE FATHER. The people spoken of practiced lawlessness according to another translation so “work based salvation” was not the crime. Jesus did not have a negative attitude towards them because they added works to go with their faith but because they were SINNERS, and sins separate us from God. We can not have our sins and our salvation too, so obeying the commandments is important for our salvation. The moral law did not start with Moses but has always existed, and it’s always wrong to murder, lie and steal. Jesus said “I never knew you” which indicates that they had been workers of lawlessness (iniquity) all along. They were never considered either fake or true followers of Christ, but no followers of Christ at all. Compare also with

Matthew 25:12 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I KNOW YOU NOT.

This is an indication of that the bridegroom did know them at some point (like when they had oil in their lamps) but not at that particular point when it was time to go to the wedding. Also in Luke 13:27 we can read:

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I KNOW YOU NOT whence ye are; depart from me, all ye WORKERS OF INIQUITY.

Jesus doesn’t say “I never knew you” here either but “I know you not”, and also here we can read that this is likely because they were “workers of iniquity” – i.e. sinners..

Hebr. 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord