The Horror Of Horrors - [Matthew 7:21-23]

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. But 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 wracked 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 damned 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 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, you know, 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, you know, this is, of course, for the unbeliever, it would be a dead robin.

You know, 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. When 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 until 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 as 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.

He goes on to talk about how we can 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. 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 verses 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 it 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. I've never been to a Patriots game, but if I would go to a

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, 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've 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 could trick us, and Satan kind of adds kerosene to this fire.

Satan deceives Eve, who was without sin. J. Verna McGee tells this 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 wondered 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's 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 had asked 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 bring me into 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 was 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.

And 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.

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.

I would say, beloved, there is a theme, that there is a judgment day coming. The Great White Throne.

For Christians, hallelujah, I might add, no judgment day of sin, because that judgment day was 2 ,000 years ago at Calvary, correct?

Never to stand before God saying, what about this sin? Oh, Christians may stand before God and be judged for our works, 2

Corinthians 5, verse 10. But there has been a judgment day for Christians for sin, once and for all, it was at Calvary.

But for the unbeliever, the Great White Throne judgment is future. After the

Millennial Kingdom, judgment of the heavens and earth, we have the judgment of the wicked.

And I read the descriptions of this judgment, Eternal Fire, Matthew 25, Pit of the

Abyss, Revelation chapter 9, Outer Darkness, Matthew 8, Torment, Revelation chapter 14,

Eternal Punishment, Wrath of God, Second Death, Eternal Destruction, the list goes on and on.

And then there's descriptions as well in the Bible about probably inner pain, outer darkness, undying worm, degrees of punishment in hell.

I think it would be fair to say, Jesus was not a universalist. It would be unjust.

I think it would be fair to say, Jesus didn't believe in annihilationism. Just the destruction of the body and you're done.

I think it would be fair to say, Jesus didn't believe in purgatory. You get your sins purged out somehow, so you don't have to face this day.

If you're not a Christian today, there is that day coming and you need an atoning sacrifice on your behalf, in your place, or else.

Number three. Back to Matthew 7, please. You don't want to be self -deluded.

You don't want to be self -deceived. And so Jesus now applies His message. And He says, you're not beyond self -deception.

There are many who are deceived. Face the fact that a judgment day is coming. It will change your behavior today.

And number three, you must have more than just sound doctrine to be a

Christian. You must have more than sound doctrine. Oh yes, it's good to have sound doctrine.

You know, I would never minimize sound doctrine. But it takes more than sound doctrine to be justified by faith alone.

And you see, even in Matthew 7, not everyone who says to me, teacher, teacher.

No, they didn't say that. Lord, Lord. Here's this word. It's a good word.

It's a word that Jesus Himself refers to Himself saying, Lord. Referring to His divinity.

They didn't say, sir. They didn't say, excuse me, fine teacher. You say you're a prince. They know

He's Lord. Like demons know He's Lord. And you'll see people use the word

Lord regularly when they come to God the Son and they want help. They want divine assistance and so they call

Him Lord. They know He's God.

The ultimate test, the final exam to prove your faith is not do I know the right facts. I know the

Apostles' Creed. I know the Nicene Creed. I know the 1689. I know the Westminster Confession.

I know the Savoy Confession. It's do you have a relationship with God that God has so changed you that you now obey.

That's the focus. You're not saved by obedience. But saved people obey. Not perfectly.

Not completely. But they have that desire. Here's what Jesus is doing. Now let's think a big picture. Enter in, verses 13 and 14.

But now He puts a nuance to it. It's not just enter in but is there a change in your life? Is there a change in your life?

I had a friend who always used to say here was a slogan. It needs unpacking but here was a slogan. If there's no change, then there's no change.

Now how do you unpack that slogan? Here's what he meant. If there's no change in your life, there's no change in your relationship to God.

There's no change in your life. You're doing righteous deeds now because you are internally righteous and you have been declared righteous.

Then there's no change in your standing before God. You're not a child. You're an enemy.

Orthodoxy isn't enough. I'm quite sure our church is fine on orthodox faith but that's not the real issue.

You can have like the demons in James chapter 2 real, good, orthodox faith but there's no change.

John Calvin said, it is faith alone that justifies but faith that justifies can never be alone.

I told the story before. I used to go surfing in San Onofre right by Pendleton where the

Marines are trained, Camp Pendleton. Two huge nuclear reactors there and how silly would it be if I surfed there?

I told you a story. I surfed there and one of the nuclear reactors broke open and flooded all the water where I was surfing and nothing happened to me.

All the stuff just came floating all around, all the green whatever kryptonite looking nuclear waste came around.

And I go, yeah, nothing happened. Outside of these gills on the back of my neck. I said, nothing happened. It would be just as stupid to say, well,

I've had an encounter with the thrice holy and all powerful God of the universe but nothing happened to me.

There's no change in my life. I'm just the same person I was yesterday. I have two questions for that kind of approach.

Let me ask you those two questions. They're direct, they're rhetorical and they're biblical. What use is it, my brethren, if someone continually says he has faith but continually has no works?

It's no use, James 2, verse 14. Second question from the same verse. Can that faith save him?

No, that faith can't save that person. James, like Jesus, tries to get the readers and the listeners' attention.

There's no prophet to run around all the time saying, I'm saved, I'm saved, I'm saved when there's no change in your life.

Let me give you a few real definitions of faith. Vines Expository Dictionary.

To believe, also to be persuaded of, and hence to place confidence in, to trust, to have reliance upon, not mere credence.

Second good biblical definition from George Zemeck. What is faith? Faith is man's response to God characterized by a totally dependent entrustment and demonstrated through a persistent commitment to obey.

Third definition that I think is wonderful for the word faith, because we live in a culture where faith can just mean some kind of intellectual adherence.

Jay Nabor. Faith is a living, deliberate confidence in the grace of God, so sure that it would die a thousand times for its trust.

A New Testament scholar, Kistemacher. Faith in God through Jesus Christ is a certainty that flows from our hearts, emanates from our minds, and translates into deeds.

Vibrant faith of word and deed, spoken and performed out of love for God and our neighbor, saves us.

So there's no miscalculation. Works don't save anyone.

Well, I could back up. Ready for some potential heresy? You are saved by works.

You're saved by not your own works, because those would be tainted, and those would be finite, and they wouldn't be good enough.

We're saved by the works, the active obedience of Christ Jesus. His perfect work in His life, in His death, confirmed in His resurrection, yes.

We're not saved by our own works, but if you're saved, you will have works. Even if they're baby steps.

Even if you're a brand new Christian. The thief on the cross said what? He was hurling insults like a Boston Red Sox pitcher one minute, and the next minute, he's standing up for Christ Jesus, and he's on his deathbed, and he's a baby

Christian. And Jesus basically says this, so does James.

You can have the right creed, you can have the correct chatter, you can have orthodox dialogue, you can have

Christian discourse, you can have evangelical prattle, you can have Protestant conversation, you can have

Reformed communication, you can have Calvinistic articulation, but if nothing in your life has changed, you're not a

Christian. You're self -deluded. Oh yeah, but I know

Lord willing, I know God bless you, I know grace and peace to you, I know WWJD, I know have a purpose -filled life,

I know the prayer of Jabez. It's not enough. Where is the preaching like Jesus's that arrests the self -deluded?

That's what He's trying to do. It's not hatred, it's not animosity, it's not a tirade, it's not some kind of ogre preaching, it's preaching that will arrest the deceived.

You don't deceive people. You don't stroke their egos to make them undeceived.

How do you talk to people that have professions of faith that are barren of works? John Calvin said again, knowledge of God can no more connect a man with God than the sight of the sun can carry him to heaven.

Are you orthodox in creed? Are you redeemed by Christ's blood? Number four, the fourth exhortation.

The fourth exhortation. I feel like I just want to take a breath and go, just come up for air.

That's the tenor of the passage. That's exactly what's going on here. I wonder what the people who were listening to Jesus on that beautiful mount were thinking.

Jesus, please end. The Christians were probably saying, you know, those disciples that were redeemed, this is pre -cross yet of course, but the redeemed ones were saying, yes, that's a hard saying, but yes,

I agree. It is a narrow way. And the only way I can get through is by grace alone. I can't force myself through.

But I wonder how many people on the mount, if they were not redeemed, if they had watches, they were checking their watches.

If they were fidgeting around. I've seen quite a bit of fidgeting from this pulpit in years gone by on these kind of messages.

Just let me up and have a breath. Like somebody's holding you underwater and you kind of have that feeling when you go, okay,

I think I'm okay for a few more seconds. But a few more seconds later, it is urgent. It is a panic. You want up and you want air.

And here, my desire is that God would use preaching to save the self -deluded. Number four, you must have more than emotions and sincerity if you want to call yourself a

Christian. Earnestness is good. Fervency is good. Sincerity is good.

But you are not saved by grace alone through earnestness, through sincerity, through emotions.

Look at the fervency with the double word, Lord, found in verse 21 and in 22. Not everyone will say to me,

Lord, Lord. This is not blasé. This is not ho -hum. Lord, Lord. This is with feelings.

This is with verve, pizzazz. Emotions. We live in such an emotion -filled society.

Everything's got to be led with emotions. Maybe they were leading here with the emotions. We don't know. Not everyone who keeps on present tense saying to me,

Lord, Lord. Lord, Lord. Hey, Lord, Lord. This is fervent.

This is zealous. It doesn't bring you to heaven. Righteousness brings you to heaven.

The righteousness of another. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, Matthew 5 .20, you don't see heaven.

Righteousness that's as perfect as God's righteousness, Matthew 5 .48. We've all met people who have just been so emotional, you think, well, they may go to heaven, but it might take a while because they're going to zoom past it and then make a

U -turn to come back. Jesus says, some may not even make it. If they're not trusting in Christ alone,

I've had this emotional feeling. I've seen kind of a light, and my heart has swollen with a burning in my bosom.

I felt it. I've read the passages. It's like the Book of Mormon for Mormons.

I read the passage. I felt the burning in my bosom, and my assurance will lie that I felt that feeling.

And friends, could it be that you have people on the great white throne judgment that will be future to us, it would have been future to them, people like Saul, like Jezebel, like Goliath, people like that, now on judgment day, saying,

I've been in hell, I've been in Sheol, I've been in Hades, I've been in this holding place of torment, but now

I stand before the judge. I've been in prison. I don't have to get thrown in the penitentiary of the lake of fire until I stand before the judge, the great judge, the great white throne judgment.

And these people who have already suffered some of the torments of the damned, I think would have lots of emotion, lots of earnestness, lots of sincerity saying,

Lord, we've been spending time in jail for no reason. We don't deserve it.

And I think earnestness would have been the day, in their hearts, but not with Jesus'.

We've already paid for some of our sins, but we've done things. False teachers, friends, are zealous.

False teachers make long prayers. False teachers travel land and sea to make proselytites.

Proselytites? That sounds like something else. To make followers. They tithe mint.

Cumin. They have experiences. But I think of John 13.

You call me Master and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. There's no change in their life.

They don't love what Christ loves, hate what Christ hates. They don't love truth. They don't love Christ. They don't love other

Christians. They don't say no to loving the world. There could be, if you look at the words

Lord, Lord, they might even be surprised. There could be some people who think on that judgment day with surprise.

Lord, Lord, I'm surprised. Me? And on the flip side of emotions, number five, you've got to have more than experiences.

Exhortations to make sure you're certainly not self -deceived. You've got to have more than just experiences.

Look at these experiences. These happen to be charismatic experiences, but you could have your own experiences.

Verse 22, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not, A, prophesy in your name, and in your name,

B, cast out many demons, and in your name, C, perform many miracles.

That doesn't count at all. None of those count. They're not saved by any of those things.

They could be counterfeit. Satan could counterfeit them. They could be made up.

It doesn't mean anything. Sadly, I think of the Italian, the

Latin words, populis vult decipi. Populis vult decipi.

The people wish to be deceived. Judas, was he not granted authority in Matthew 10 to cast out demons?

What do you mean? Every one of the apostles can cast out demons except Judas? He would have been found out right away.

He was commissioned to heal the sick. He could do mighty deeds. Cast out demons.

Balaam, are you going to see Balaam in heaven? Isn't that Hyrulean and the sinner who did mighty things for God?

One New Testament, shortly after New Testament writing, the teaching it's called, the didache, says,

Not everyone who speaks in a spirit is a prophet except he who has the behavior of the Lord. Turn with me, if you would, to Acts chapter 19 for a minute.

Acts chapter 19. You know the passage? There's almost kind of a smile that comes with reading this.

I don't know if we were there we would smile, but especially with an intense message like this there might be a little even comic relief when we read this, but I think it will make it a point in our passage as well.

Acts 19 verses 13 through 17. Again, we're talking about there has to be more than just experiences, religious experiences,

Christian experiences, to somehow use as a foundation for why you're a Christian.

Acts chapter 19 verse 13. But also some of the

Jewish exorcists who went from place to place attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the

Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.

Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

And the evil spirit answered and said to them, I recognize Jesus, I know about Paul, but who are you?

And it gets better. Verse 16. And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them.

So they fled out of the house naked and wounded. And don't you forget it.

Verse 17. This became known to all.

You bet it did. Both Jews and Greeks who lived in Ephesus and fear fell upon them all.

And the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. Do you think those silly, stupid sons of Sceva were real?

Oh Lord, on judgment day we get to go to heaven because we talk to those demons. That can't be.

Here's what happens, and maybe you do this. Jesus requires righteousness, but we'll give him something else.

It's like if you tell your kid to clean the room and they dump the trash instead. They kind of do something else.

If Jesus' standard is righteousness, there's this kind of, you know, he'll probably be lenient. I'll just do something else.

I think this might be better. Certainly it has to be admirable. Here Jesus says total righteousness. You have to look away from your own righteousness.

You have to look to the cross for all the righteousness that you could possibly have that is in Christ. But so, you know, maybe

I'll give him something else. Christian service, baptism. No, those would be insufficient because those are not required of Jesus.

You can't prove your love by doing something opposite of what Jesus requires.

Jesus said in Luke 6, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? You're not saved by grace through exorcisms.

You're not saved by grace through signs and wonders. And lastly, for today at least, number seven, back in Matthew chapter seven.

Number seven? No. Number six. You must remember that it's more important that Jesus knows you than you know him.

Oh, it's important that you know Jesus, but it's more important that he knows you. Look at the passage again.

Remember these people say Lord, Lord. Not all of them are going. Verse 21. Specifically, some prophesy, some cast out demons, some perform miracles.

And how does Jesus respond? Atta boy. That's excellent. Good job. They're all plural too.

Plural. You did many miracles. And then I will declare to them,

I never knew you. And the text is, never have

I known you. Not for a single moment have I known you. Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.

Now Jesus knows the false prophets and who they are and what they do. He said they're false prophets.

Jesus knows knowledge. He's God incarnate.

Jesus didn't say, excuse me, what's your name again? I don't really know who you are.

This is the intimate knowledge. This is knowledge of a relationship. This is used in the Old Testament of a man knowing his wife.

I know all of you, but I only know my wife. There's different kinds of knowledge there.

As God knows only the Israelites, so too God knows only

His elected saints. Jesus said in John 10,

I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. That word for know in Matthew 7 is experiential knowledge.

It's not intellectual knowledge in the Greek. We've got a couple different words for knowledge. One knowledge, I know these lyrics.

The other knowledge, I personally know these. This is the personal knowledge, the experience. Did you know that when rabbis would banish people out of Israel, banish them away to other places, the last words they would say to these people as they banished them were,

I never knew you. Spurgeon said, there is more thunder in those four words,

I never knew you, than you ever heard in the most terrible tempest that has rolled over your heads.

There is no stamp of the foot or fire glance of the eye to accompany them. They are spoken calmly and deliberately, yet they are terrible and overwhelming.

I never knew you. Do you want to hear those words?

I don't want to hear those words. And we are thankful that if we're saved, we can never be lost.

As Titus 2 says, we are a people for his own possession. We are thankful, 2

Timothy 2. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands. Having this seal, the

Lord knows those who are His. And everyone who names the name of the

Lord is to abstain from wickedness. As one man said,

Jesus has a personal relationship with every person who's ever existed, either as Savior or Judge, but it's very personal.

Although this passage here is talking about the personal intimate knowledge of fellowship. I know you.

I love you. As the Old Testament talks about it, and the new foreknowledge, it's not knowing ahead of time, it's loving ahead of time.

I loved you ahead of time. I know who you are. I love you.

By the way, that's one thing that blows my mind continually as a Christian. I hope it does yours as well. Jesus knows me, and He knows everything that I ever would do, and He knows every sin that I'd ever commit, and He still said,

I love you. You can be self -deceived.

You can be self -deceived, and the Bible says, examine yourselves. The question is not,

I accepted Jesus in my heart, as I say many times, but has God the Father accepted you in His heart based on the

Christ and His perfect work? You know the passage that has the poem,

You call me wise and follow me not, You call me fair and love me not, You call me rich and ask me not,

You call me eternal and seek me not, If I condemn thee, blame me not. Do you personally know

Jesus Christ? Now, I'm not a big songwriter, and in my experience,

I don't know if I've ever heard a song like this. I don't even know how to sing it, so I won't sing it. But a woman named

Elizabeth Needham wrote this song to capsulize the truth on Matthew 7, and I'm going to close with that.

The title of the hymn is, I Never Knew You. I don't know why churches don't sing songs like this anymore.

We want all peppy songs, instead of laments and psalms of laments. This song is called,

I Never Knew You. When the King in His beauty shall come to His throne, and around Him are gathered

His loved ones, His own, there will be some who knock at His fair palace door, to be answered within, there is mercy no more.

The refrain goes, I have never known you, I have never known you,

I have never, I have never, I have never known you. They had known whence

He came, and the grace which He brought, in their presence He healed, in their streets He had taught. They had mentioned

His name, and their friendship professed, but they never believed, for of them

He confessed, I have never known you, I have never known you, I have never,

I have never, I have never known you. Now the righteous are reigning with Abraham there, but for these is appointed an endless despair.

It is vain what they call, He once knocked at their gate, but they welcomed Him not, and so now this is their fate.

I have never known you, I have never known you, I have never, I have never, I have never known you.

O sinner, give heed to this story of gloom, for the hour is fast nearing, that fixes your doom.

Will you still reject mercy, still harden your heart? O then, what will you do as the king cries,

Father I pray, by Your Spirit's enabling grace, and by the power that's in the

Word, that You would work mightily, in the hearts of those today, who are self -deceived.

And I pray Your Word would act like a hammer, and it would penetrate the self -righteous veneer, and shellac of self -deception.

Would you be pleased to save many, not based on a sermon, not based on just a fear of eternal doom, but based on Your saving grace,

Your wonderful plan of salvation, and how You sent Your Son, how He loved sinners, how

He demonstrated that love at Calvary, by dying in the place of sinners, and how You loved

Your Son, how You commended Your Son, and You applauded the work of Your Son, by raising

Him from the dead. And Lord, I pray that You would grant people, saving faith today.

I would pray that not one person in this auditorium, would be self -deceived. Lord, it is my desire with the elders, that everyone hearing this message today, would never hear, depart from me you who practice lawlessness.

And Lord, when this happens, and by Your good pleasure, if it happens, You certainly will be the one, who deserves all the praise and glory and honor.