"Let me guess, you're coming to talk about context again?"
Absolutely.
This statement was made in what is called The Sermon on the Mount where the truth of the context is that Messiah Y'shua is talking to His new disciples. He's just gave a hard lesson that instructs them they are to live differently than the world and differently than the religious people. Chapter seven moves into the conclusion of His teaching and He recognizes that His teaching is a hard lesson and says theirs two paths, a wide and easy path that leads to destruction and a hard and narrow path that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14). Many people believe or teach that Messiah Y'shua is talking about the church versus the world but that's not the context of the statement. The context is either following His instructions or not. This is why He also concludes with a lesson of wise and foolish builders who either hear and do or hear and don't do (Matthew 7:24-27). This context of either following His instructions or not following is explaining these two roads.
Now that we understand the two roads, Messiah Y'shua starts talking about "false prophets". The Greek word here is pseudoprophētēs which can be translated "prophet" as in a foreteller but the definition of the word is one who is an imposter, a false prophet, false teacher, one who is false in the priesthood of God. Any and all of these apply to this text. Notice that He does not tell us that we will know false teachers by their teachings. He says we will know them by their fruits, by how they act. When we look at fruits in Galatians 5 (there are other portions of Scripture explaining others) we see sexual immorality which means those who are hooked into porn or having unBiblical sexual relations are "false prophets". We see "fits of rage" which says those who have a bad temper and show it without restraint are "false prophets". We see those who cause separation (factions) which are "false prophets". In 1 Corinthians 5 we see greed as evidence of a "false prophet" or even false christian. Those who slander others are "false prophets". There is so much evidence given to us that we need to take heed. We need to stop giving our own excuses and follow Scripture and the warning straight from the mouth of God because, unfortunately, He's describing most of the pastors standing in pulpits today and the statement that follows should shake us to our core.
From the warning of the two roads and the false prophets comes His statement that many will cry Lord Lord. We have two warnings and a statement and there is a common word we find repeating - many.
In the warning of the two roads we see that MANY find the wide road while few find the narrow. We then see the warning of false prophets and then the statement where we see MANY will cry Lord Lord. When understanding the difference between many and few we understand the many are the majority while the few is the minority. And in this, we understand that our Messiah is telling us that many who think they are following the correct path are no and most of the church will not make it. Could this be true?
In the statement at hand we see the response to not making it in verse 22, "have we not". This is the modern day equivalent to "but…" and then they start to tell Y'shua everything they were doing in His name. In His name is a key statement here. They thought they were doing things correctly, they were following all the teachings of these "false prophets". Unfortunately, these false teachers led the people down a wide and easy road that leads to destruction.
I've heard some say that these people were trying to be saved by works but notice that this is not the context of the statement. In fact, everything prior to this statement is telling us what to do and what not to do and not anything about grace, faith, and not following the law. The context of this statement actually contradicts the popular teaching of grace only and faith only salvation as it's easy while Messiah Y'shua said His path is DIFFICULT.
The two statement of Y'shua in verses 21 and 22 is in a parallel structure. By putting verse 22 directly under verse 21 we find out what "the will of the Father" is. Directly under this statement is "you who practice lawlessness". The purpose of the Law was to show us our sin so we would repent and bring us back into the Image of God intended in Genesis 1. By forsaking the Law that shows us our sin, that is the school master that teaches us what not to do, we reject God's will of living in His image.
When we look at this portion of Scripture we learn we need to study Scripture and not blindly follow denominations and people. We need to judge those we listen to by the fruit their bear and move away from those who produce bad fruit. We need to understand God's will is for us to reflect Him, to be His image in the world, and live that life despite what society and religion tells us for Messiah Y'shua also warned that the religious is the ones who come to steal, kill, and destroy.