What does it mean when Jesus says, "I never knew you"?

I had this posted on another blog and thought I'd just put it on here for reflection. I wrote it back in December (although I edited it a bit just now... oh well)

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 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.'" (Matthew 7:21-23)

I've had these verses in the back of my mind for a long time. Because of these verses, I had wondered whether my relationship with the Lord is "genuine enough" or "strong enough" so that He would not say, "I never knew you." I wondered, "gee, if these people who did all these things in Jesus' name and still Jesus said, "I never knew you," then... what about me? I mean, I do a lot of stuff for church; I am involved in apologetics; I know the main Creeds; I confess that Jesus is my Lord (though, gosh, I fail and fail at the daily application of that... maybe that will be my next blog: Mark 8:38); I aim to follow Him daily; I accept the sacrifice made on the cross and am very thankful for it. But still there was that nagging question: Is it enough?

I've heard some sermons on these verses, but after doing my own study, though my study was short time-wise, I think what the pastors said was slightly misleading. One said that if you believe in Jesus as your Lord then you have nothing to worry about. But it never really answered the nagging question in the back of my mind: those people who perform miracles in Jesus' name, use His name, and perhaps even believe in Him (for all I know), what does it mean for Jesus to say, "I never knew you."

Granted, what the pastor said was true... but there's the other part of the salvation message that was seriously missing (though at the time I didn't realize it): the repentance of sins. Without the repentance of sins, there is no forgiveness. Without the repentance of sins, there is a serious gap between us and the Lord. If we are not pure in heart and spirit, we can't know the Lord, and that purity can't be manifest without complete repentance to the Lord.

So.. how does this all tie together? When Jesus said, "DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS", the verse He was referring was Psalm 6:8. Whenever a passage in the Old Testament was quoted, I pretty much assume that Jesus wasn't only talking about that single verse, but the whole context. (A friend once said that when Jews used to quote the O.T., they were referring to the whole passage, so that's how I got that hermeneutic.) The whole Psalm is about David's serious repentance. He realized in his sin he was "pining away" (remind you of the song "Oh Holy Night"?), his bones were dismayed, he is weary from sighing (what emotions might cause one to "sigh"?...regret, negative memories, mental tiredness, frustration), he "dissolves his couch with tears", making his bed "swim", his "eye has become wasted in grief". David is the one who wrote "depart from me, all you who do iniquity" just after stating that his grief has become old because of his adversaries... his adversaries keep practicing lawlessness.

Then, here's the key: "The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping, The Lord has heard my supplication, The Lord receives my prayer." I take that last part as to perhaps be a sign of the restoration of the relationship with the Lord. We know from Psalm 40 that the Lord lifts David out of the miry clay, the "pit of destruction", and sets his feet on a firm rock and gives a new song in his mouth. I see this Psalm showing a similar idea. The Lord sets his feet on a rock; the Lord receives my prayer; etc.

I realized that when you come to realize how holy God is, then you realize it's only by repentance, seriously regretting and turning away from your sin that leads to God granting forgiveness (yes, I know it's a question as to whether God is the prime mover in causing repentance or if it's of our own volition), accepting that forgiveness through Jesus Christ that you are brought back to a right relationship with the Lord where He has promised that He will not deny you.

We know that works can't cover transgressions; only turning away from our transgressions and repenting of them to the Lord solves the problem.

So perhaps in this passage Jesus is talking about those who do miracles & works, but don't repent of their own sins. They basically use Jesus' name in vain without truly following Him.