Good works that are lawless deeds?

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
Matthew 7:21-23

There are two additional observations on this passage that I should like to comment on.

First, good works that are lawless deeds. The people insisting that they performed good deeds and/or engaged in religious practices were said by Jesus to be practitioners of lawlessness (KJV “workers of iniquity). What is up with that? Virtually everyone understands and agrees that a person’s bad deeds count against them. How is it that some good deeds count against a person as well?

Isaiah 64:6 says that “our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” before God who is holy and who commands us to be holy as He is holy. Because our best is never perfect, it falls short of God’s standard of judgment, which is perfection. Therefore, not only do our bad deeds count against us, so do our good deeds that are not done perfectly, including with pure motives (for God’s glory).

The only good deeds God approves of are those done by those who are “in Christ” that, though still imperfect, are done as acts of grateful and obedient worship in response to God’s grace in Christ. Therefore, no good or religious acts of non-believers can be considered righteous. Likewise, sadly, many righteous acts performed by the redeemed fall short as well.

Let us, therefore, seek to perform the good works Christ as prepared for we, the redeemed, to walk in (Ephesians 2:10).

Second, separation from God. Next time.