Can you call Jesus “Lord” and still be lost?

[David]

Jesus said you can. In Matthew 7:21–23 He said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Then He described people who would stand before Him and say they had prophesied in His name, cast out devils in His name, and done many wonderful works in His name. Yet Jesus said He would answer them, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

That is a serious warning, because these people were not denying Jesus. They were calling Him “Lord.” They were using His name. They were doing things that looked spiritual. If you had seen them from the outside, you might have assumed they were genuine believers.

But Jesus knew the truth.

That means saying the right words about Jesus is not enough. A person can know Christian language, go to church, talk about the Bible, serve in ministry, and still never truly belong to Christ.

At the same time, we need to be careful not to turn this passage into salvation by works, because Scripture does not allow that either. Ephesians 2:8–9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

So what is Jesus showing us?

He is showing us the difference between a profession of faith and real faith.

Just a few verses earlier Jesus said, “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). Fruit does not make the tree alive, but it does show what kind of tree it is. In the same way, good works do not save us, but a life that has truly been changed by Christ will produce evidence of that change.

James said, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (James 2:17). Paul said, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

That does not mean a Christian never sins. We all still struggle with the flesh. But there is a difference between stumbling into sin and living comfortably in rebellion against God while claiming Jesus as Lord.

Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

One of the things that stands out most to me in Matthew 7 is that Jesus did not say, “I knew you once.” He said, “I never knew you.”

That matters.

These people had a profession, but they never truly belonged to Him.

They knew His name. They called Him Lord. They could point to religious things they had done. But Jesus said He never knew them.

That should make every one of us examine what we are really trusting in.

Are we trusting in a prayer we prayed years ago? Are we trusting in baptism, church membership, ministry work, Bible knowledge, or the fact that other people think we are Christians?

None of those things can save us.

Jesus said in John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life.”

Salvation is in Christ.

We are saved by grace through faith, not by our works. But when that faith is real, it does not leave a person unchanged. There will be fruit. There will be conviction of sin. There will be a desire to obey Christ, even though we still fall short.

That is why Paul said, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

The question is not simply, “Do I call Jesus Lord?”

The people in Matthew 7 did that.

The real question is whether our faith is genuine and whether we truly belong to Him.

There is a big difference between knowing about Jesus and being known by Jesus.

And according to Matthew 7:21–23, that difference is eternal.