Do you really know Jesus Christ?

No Compromise Radio. Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

The Fear of Final Judgment and the Need for Rescue

I don't know if you've ever been frightened. You may ask yourself the question, what's the most frightening thing that has ever happened to you? Maybe it's medically related, you had a heart attack, maybe it's one of your kids, some kind of accident, maybe you've seen someone tragically die, maybe you are waiting for some news from the doctors regarding a test.

I don't know what you think the most frightening thing would be, but I can assure you that if you're not a Christian, the most frightening thing that will ever happen to you is yet future. It is yet future.

The scariest thing of all lies at the great white throne judgment where God will judge sin. It's one thing after all to say, I know I'm going to hell and I can't wait to get there. Some kind of masochistic Anton LaVey, satanic Bible author, some kind of rock and roll star, oh, I can't wait to go to hell to party with my friends.

It's quite another thing, isn't it, to think to yourself, I think when I die I'm going to heaven and I get to see my loved ones and I get to see the Lord and I get to be out of this body racked with pain.

And then as John Bunyan would describe in Pilgrim's Progress, only find out that there's a porthole to hell at the gates of heaven. That's the scary thing. God has so designed human beings as they are made in the image and likeness of God that they are eternal.

You will live forever. And at that great day God grants the unbelievers even bodies to be able to suffer the torments of the dam forever, forever, forever. And we come to a passage in the Bible today in Matthew 7 where Jesus wants to make sure that you're not deceived into thinking you're going to heaven and then you're not going.

He wants to make sure that you're not self-deceived and if you'll turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7, you'll see how Jesus wants to make sure his listeners understand that there's only two roads. One leads to heaven and one leads to hell.

It's one thing to have a false teacher come alongside and say, you know, I'm going to try to trick you. But here Jesus is trying to say there's another false teacher lurking and he lurks within. It's your own heart.

The false teacher could be within you. And if you're a Christian this morning, you are certainly standing with the group that says I have no right to get into heaven. I've been redeemed by the work of another.

I've been saved. It's a small illustration with some problems but if I think of rescue, I walked out to the car the other day. We have a small little apple tree and I thought there was some kind of animal going up into the robin's nest going to eat the robins.

I saw this flash of something big and I walked over and peered underneath the apple tree and there was a robin hanging upside down. It had gotten a little piece of string for its nest but that string was entangled around the tree and then entangled around its foot.

It was flying around on this little tether. It couldn't get released. And I could say to it now, come on little robin, get on out of there. Way to go. Do better. Try harder. And you could see its foot was kind of getting rubbed raw by the rope.

And so I said this is, of course for the unbeliever it would be a dead robin. The illustration can only go so far but the point is I had to rescue that robin. It could not release itself from its own peril.

It would have died there. And so it took somebody from the outside to come and say, I'll redeem you, I'll rescue you, I'll take the scissors and I'm trying to hold you down. You're still going to try to bite me but I will cut that thing loose and then let you fly away.

Christians have been redeemed. We have been rescued. We couldn't save ourselves. We couldn't pay for our own sins. God is too holy. God is too just. God is too righteous. And we've been redeemed. God, the son bore the wrath.

We just sang and we've been supplied the grace. We know we have a risen savior and he's going to come back one day. But there are some who aren't going to heaven and Jesus wants to shake them up. I've been in the operating room before and they've had defibrillators.

When do you need a defibrillator? Heart stops and you can just see and I'm just standing there and when they say clear, I'm clear, I'll tell you that. I'm way back. Literally, I'm against the wall. I just go straight back against the wall and here comes the defibrillator pads and it's three, two, one.

That's exactly what this passage is. This passage is to shake people awake. Jesus is preaching the sermon on the mount and pretty much the sermon's over. He's now to the point in chapter 7 verses 13 and following where he's going to try to apply it.

Well, he does apply it but he wants to let people know, here's what I've taught. You can't just say, well, that was a fine sermon, Jesus. He's applying these paddles that really are scary. If you thought 7, 13, and 14 was difficult, wait till you hear Jesus in this section.

Jesus comes along and says, if there's a scale here and the righteousness of God is on one of these weight scales, is there enough evidence in your life to convict you to be a Christian? How can you get this scale that's tilted this way with the weight and the gravity of the glory of God, the kavod of God?

How can you balance it out because your eternal doom is at stake or your eternal pleasure is at stake? What can we put there? Our good works, our baptisms, our church service, what can we put there so this is leveled out?

Jesus said some people have insufficient weight to put on the other side. And Jesus comes along, when I watch him preach here, he doesn't come along saying, you know, I'd like a surrender but it could be a conditional surrender.

You can keep some of the land, you can keep some of your generals, you can keep some of these other bits of information, but that's not what he does. It is unconditional, complete surrender. Jesus isn't coming to some kind of public relations man.

He comes and he has an ultimatum. We don't hear preaching like this today. We don't hear politicians talk this way today. We don't hear press agents or diplomats talk this way. There's always some kind of negotiation.

It's give and take, but not with Jesus. If you look at your text, Matthew 5, 6, and 7 is what we call the Sermon on the Mount. And in chapter 7, verse 13, he begins to apply this. He begins to say, ignore it at your peril, obey it by the grace of God for your good.

And he gives four warnings. The first warning we saw two weeks ago was found in verses 13 and 14. Do you remember it? Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. The first warning Jesus says after I've taught this Sermon on the Mount about the righteousness of God is you can't just ignore what you've learned.

You have to do something about it. You have to enter. You have to believe. You have to repent. All kind of language that we're used to. You must turn from your sins and believe this. You can't just come see, come saw, kind of blasé about this.

He gives another warning that we saw last week found in verses 15 through 20. To compound this problem, there are false teachers like carnival hawkers standing at the door of heaven and hell, as it were, saying, you know what?

Jesus isn't all that concerned about your sin. Don't worry about it. You're okay. They look like sheep, though, but they're really wolves. Verse 15, beware of false prophets, Jesus says, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

And he goes on to talk about how we could spot them. And now we come to warning number three today found in verses 21 through 23, probably the most horrific, scary passage in all the Bible. False prophets influence, but there's a heart, a human heart that also can trick us.

Some people, by the way, will not allow the Sermon on the Mount to be for today. They will be in a hyper-dispensationalist mode, and they'll say the Sermon on the Mount will be for the kingdom, it'll be for the millennium, but it can't be for today because of passages like this.

They want to get rid of this kind of passage. It's too sharp. It's too hard. You came here to feel good today, not to get whacked by this sharp, pointed edge of Jesus, right? So they want to take it out.

It's not even for today. But he says in verses 21 through 23, watch out, don't be self-deceived, examine yourself. If verses 13 and 14 had the keyword of enter, and verses 15 through 20 had the keyword beware, the two keywords here are, well, I guess it's not two keywords, I was going to say don't be self-deceived.

That's quite a few words. Self-deception are the two words that distill down this truth. Well, he doesn't say those two words, that's what this is about, self-deception. You don't want to be self-deceived, do you?

I read that 500 ,000 Americans today have false credentials, false diplomas for some kind of upper academic institution. They say they're a doctor, they say they've got a master's degree, they say they've got a bachelor's degree, and they have nothing but a piece of paper.

How much more horrible would it be for us not to be Christians, but we think we are? You can't just say this is a moral message. You can't just be the president and say, well, let me quote from the Sermon on the Mount, every president does it, or Gandhi, this is morality, no, this is your soul is at stake.

The Bible says there are false gods, there are false prophets, there are false Christs, there are false gospels, there are false brethren, there are false teachers, there are false apostles, and there are false, in this passage, converts.

You don't want to be one of them, do you? Who wants to be on that list? Let me give you several exhortations this morning to try to snap you out of your self-delusion if you're not a Christian. If you are a Christian, we have the same application we had a few weeks ago, and that is the only way we can be saved is by the grace of God.

We are redeemed by the work of another, we are saved by the blood of the Lamb. God has reconciled us, the Son has reconciled us to the Father based on His perfect work at Calvary, confirmed by the resurrection.

But I'm especially wanting to talk to people today who think they're Christians but you might not be. Let me give you several exhortations so that you are not going to be self-deluded. They're almost like goads, everyone's a goad, so that you're not going to be self-deceived.

The Danger of Self-Deception

Number one, the first exhortation is this, you are not beyond self-deception. You're not beyond self-deception. These are the words of Jesus and He tells these to disciples and those who are in and those who are out, and we have to be careful, we're not so prideful to say, oh I could never be self-deceived, oh many others could be, but I never would be self-deceived, not me.

Let's read verses 21 and 22 of Matthew 7. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter, makes you remember back in verse 13 and 14 doesn't it, 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? What's the first word of verse 22? My translation shows many, 722, many will say to me, there's a danger that lurks within people in their fallen, fragile hearts, self-deluded, they think they're going to heaven, you don't want to be in that crowd, don't let pride eternally ruin you, Jesus says, watch yourself, check yourself, Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 13, didn't he?

Examine yourself to see if you're in the faith, when I go to football fields, I go to a Patriots game, never been to a Patriots game, but if I would go, Nebraska football game, Celtics game, I've said it many times before, and I see the people, 80 ,000 worshipers singing their praise anthems, I just think to myself, many and few.

Most aren't going to heaven, most are deceived, most are deluded, the hordes are going not to heaven, but to hell, Jeremiah 17, 9, you know the verse, the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick, who can understand it?

That's what the heart is, forget the Disney movies, trust your heart, you got to go with your heart and all that stuff. The Bible says, you can't trust yourself, the heart is insidiously deceitful and is desperately sick, compounding that problem, adding fuel to the fire, there's someone who's called the deceiver and he's real and his name is Satan, our own hearts can trick us and Satan kind of adds kerosene to this fire, Satan deceives Eve who was without sin, J. Verna McGee tells the story, the devil had a meeting with his demons to decide how to persuade men that God was non-existent, since the demons themselves believe in his existence, they wonder just how to do it.

One demon suggested that they tell people Jesus never really existed and that men should not believe such fiction. Another demon suggested that they persuade men that death ends all and there's no need to worry about life after death.

Finally, the most intelligent demon, according to McGee, suggested that they tell everyone there is a God, Jesus Christ, and believing in him saves, but that you can get into heaven by simply professing faith and then go on living in sin as you used to.

That's the idea. If there's been a change in your status before God, there will be a change in your life. John 2, many believed in Jesus' name, but Jesus did not commit himself to them. Many, John chapter 12, many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him.

There is a false faith, a fake faith. Those that have a root for a while, but then they don't believe anymore. And we're not helped by mainstream Christianity's definition of evangelicalism, are we? What's a Christian?

How do we determine a Christian? If we go by Jesus' words, the numbers dramatically decrease than if we go by Barna's polling data. People have to believe on Jesus Christ on his terms, not their terms, not the masses' terms.

There was a pastor, I won't tell you his name, but there was a pastor and he began to preach. And there was an older woman in his congregation and she had a little idea, she had an inkling that his faith was not real.

So she arranged a meeting with him and her suspicions were correct. He was not a believer and she preached the gospel to him and Abraham Kuyper got saved. If a pastor can preach the Bible and be deceived, can other people be deceived?

This particular man, who am I? He lectured on the Psalms verse by verse, Romans verse by verse, Galatians verse by verse, Hebrews verse by verse, and Titus verse by verse. Who is this person? If you'd ask this person, do you believe in the divinity of Christ?

Yes. Do you believe in the full humanity of Christ? Yes. Do you believe in the virgin birth? Yes. Do you believe in a physical resurrection? Yes. Do you believe in a substitutionary atonement? Yes. Do you believe in the soon return of Christ?

Yes. But Martin Luther was not a Christian and he believed all those things. People can be deceived. Are you deceived? There's a little Proverbs that's tucked in chapter 30 that you might not soon forget.

Proverbs 30, 12 says, there's a generation who are pure in their own eyes and are yet not cleansed from their own filth. That's the society we live in. And we have the jackhammer of Jesus come along to say, in love and in kindness, this is the truth, don't be self-deceived.

Arthur Pink said, never were there so many millions of nominal Christians on earth as there are today. And never was there such a small percentage of real ones. Many can be deceived. You don't want to be like the church of Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3.

I am spiritually rich and in need of what? Nothing. Can you imagine the last breath of a person on earth who thinks they're going to meet their savior and their Lord and their master? The angels are going to come and get me and to bring me to Abraham's bosom and I'll see Christ face to face for the rest of my life.

Sweet fellowship. But Jesus says, many who think that are not going. Number two, the second exhortation to make sure you are not self-deceived, besides examining ourselves is a healthy thing. Number two, you must admit that there's a real judgment day coming.

You must admit that there's a judgment day coming. Don't fall into this, how could a loving God do that? We are helped when we realize there's a pay day one day. And look at the passage here from Jesus' own words in Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 and following.

By the way, normally when I preach I have a little post-it and I put it on the top of my messages and it usually says watch and that means take off your watch. And the second thing I always write is smile because I want people to think I'm nicer than what I probably really am.

I'm trying to fool you or something. I didn't write smile today. I love you and if I greet you afterwards I'll smile, but this isn't one of those kind of smiling messages. This is important, this is serious.

And here this particular judgment day is serious. Notice the passage, I'll read in verse 21 and 22 again. 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 what? That day. Judgment day. Not a technical reference to judgment day, but very common. It's common usage to call judgment day that day. That bone chilling day. That day of days.

That horrible day. That horrific day. That judgment day. That day. They're going to say on that day, that last day, where all the other days are less than this day. The day of days. The day where Jesus himself, the judge, decides who enters and they enter on his terms or no terms at all.

Listen to Jesus, the judge in John 5, for not even the Father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He does not honor the Father, the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

It's good for us to realize there's a judgment day coming, because it motivates. Just like for Christians, they're motivated when they know Jesus could return at any time. It creates holy living. For an unbeliever, if they realize judgment day is coming, it can also spur them on to say I want to run from that day, like I want to run from hell, and then by the grace of God run towards the cross.

See if you can hear the refrain, that day, in these verses, 2 Timothy 1, 12, for this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard me, able to guard, excuse me, what I have entrusted to him, until that day, 2 Thessalonians 1, when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who believed, for our testimony to you was believed.

Here Jesus is giving this heart-piercing application. There's going to be a judgment day, and that judgment day will reveal everything. No kind of fake, fraud, costume, tricking other people, it will expose everyone.

Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 25, just skip ahead a few chapters, many chapters, Matthew 25, and I want to again show you Jesus, how he's certainly love incarnate. But he's more than love, he's a just judge.

What would we think of some judge who just let criminals off the hook? We'd think he was unjust. And Jesus will judge, he's a patient judge, he's a kind judge, but he is a just judge. And look at Matthew 25, 31.

If there's a rottenness in your religion, Jesus will expose that. Matthew 25, 31, but when the Son of Man comes in glory, and all his angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

He will put the sheep on his right, and the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in. Naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.

Then the righteous will answer him. Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe you?

When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you? The king will answer, say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.

And now for this horrific description in verse 41 of Matthew 25, then he will also say to those on his left, depart from me, same language in Matthew 7, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.

I was hungry, you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, you did not invite me in. Naked, and you did not clothe me. Sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.

Then they themselves will also answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, did not take care of you? Then he will answer them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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