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1 John 2:28 ¶And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
The way for us not to be ashamed before Him at His future, Second Coming is for us to repent from our sins now, and confess them to God. For:
1 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.
But if we as Christians do not repent from our sins or confess them to God, then we could not only be ashamed before Him at His future, Second Coming, but even hear His awful words:
Matthew 7:23 . . . I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
For here the "I never knew you" part could be hyperbole, like the "swallow a camel" part of Matthew 23:24, and like the hyperbole of the tribe of Levi not even knowing its own children in Deuteronomy 33:9. Compare also how Judas was Jesus' familiar friend before he betrayed Him (Psalms 41:9, John 13:18). For Matthew 7:22 could refer to true Christians, true believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, John 20:31), who had repented from their sins (1 John 3:6) and performed many wonderful works for Jesus to the end (John 15:4-5). But at some point subsequent to their initial repentance, they had fallen back into some unrepentant sin (Matthew 7:23b; 2 Peter 2:20-22), so that they had to be rejected by Jesus in the end despite their continued faith and good works (1 Corinthians 9:27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Hebrews 10:26-29).
