Red Alert!

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Well, good morning. Please join me in your Bibles in Psalm 25.
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And as we come into God's presence, we come into the presence of a God that not only is holy and just and righteous, but that we come into his presence as sinners in need of his grace.
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David writes these words. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
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O my God, in you I trust. Let me not be put to shame. Let not my enemies exult over me.
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Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame. They shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
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Make me to know your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me.
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For you are the God of my salvation. For you, I wait all the day long. Remember your mercy,
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O Lord, and your steadfast love. For they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions according to your steadfast love.
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Remember me for the sake of your goodness, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore, he instructs sinners in the way.
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He leads the humble in what is right. He teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the
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Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
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For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt for it is great. Who is the man who fears the
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Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well -being and his offspring shall inherit the land.
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The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him and he makes known to them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the
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Lord for he will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious to me for I am lonely and afflicted.
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The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble and forgive all my sins.
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Consider how many are my foes and with what violent hatred they hate me.
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Oh, guard my soul and deliver me. Let me not be put to shame for I take refuge in you.
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My integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait for you. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all.
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And as we come to the Lord this morning, let that be our prayer. Let us come acknowledging all of the areas and the ways in which we do not submit to the
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Lord. We do not confess our sins, but we know that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of those sins and to cleanse us from all.
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So come confess your sins and taste of God's goodness. Lord, as we together come into your presence, you bless us and we praise you for your abundant grace and your mercy.
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Lord, we praise you for the fact that you do not deal with us according or as we deserve,
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Lord, but you deal with us according to your grace and the fact that your wrath does not burn against us.
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But you have seen fit to turn your wrath towards your one and only son. Let us come into the light of your presence,
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Lord, praising you for your forgiveness. And we come confessing all the ways in which we resist your will in our lives and the sins that we harbor in our hearts on a daily basis.
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Father, what a privilege it is to be in your presence. And we confess as your people all the ways in which we have turned aside from you.
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We praise you, Lord, that you deal with us not according to your justice, but your mercy.
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And Lord, we so often take that grace for granted. We so often do not esteem your nearness to us and your abundant grace that you so richly pour out into our lives every day.
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How we fail to trust you and the fact that as we draw near to you,
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Lord, you draw near to us. So, Father, this morning we come depending on your grace.
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We come confessing with our lips and our hearts that we are in great need. We come knowing,
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Lord, that we are not worthy to be in your presence. It is only by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ that we are able to stand in your presence blameless and with great joy.
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And, Father, we come confessing how great a blessing it is that you have cast our sins away from us as far as the
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East is from the West, that you have robed us in the righteousness of your Son and covered us with a love that is so great that we can be called your children, no longer your enemies, but your children.
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And so we come before you today as unto a heavenly Father, as one who showers us with untold blessings and whose goodness never ends, whose steadfast love is from everlasting to everlasting and whose mercies are new every morning.
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Father, may we consider these mercies every day, that we realize that we need these mercies and goodness every day, that without a
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Lord we are lost, that without your nearness we are lost every single day.
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Father, we ask that you would create in us by your Spirit the hunger that would cause us, more than anything else, a desire to draw near to you, to be refreshed by your
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Word on a daily basis and to be conformed to the image of your Son from one level of glory to the next.
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We pray, Lord, that this hunger and this thirst would not be satisfied by anything except for you.
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We know sometimes, Father, that this happens by our suffering and that you use our sufferings to remind us of our need of you, that nothing in this world can satisfy our needs and that nothing in this world can meet the deep need of our souls and that nothing in this world can be depended upon as you can.
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So, Father, remind us of this great truth. Remind us of this in times of great blessing as well as in difficult times and in times of affliction.
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And Lord, remind us of it in your provision for us. Teach us to call out to you, to find our comfort in you, to find peace in the midst of our circumstance.
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And so, Lord, as we come collectively together as one, let our oneness in you,
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Lord, cause us to realize our need of you. And those with whom we are joined together in the body, may we feel what they feel.
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May we experience what they experience. And Lord, as those made in your image and for those whom you have sent your son to die, who shed his blood for us, who redeemed us from the pit, that you would mold us and shape us and use us for whatever you will and cause us to be content in whatever you see fit for our lives, for we ask in Jesus' name.
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Having confessed our sins, let us now stand together and confess our faith. We often speak of going to heaven when we die.
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This, of course, for the believer is our sure hope and a truth. What is not often considered is the fact that we will not be staying there.
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Our Father is creating a new heaven and a new earth for man to live in forever. As our text says, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
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When Christ comes again, all creation will be resurrected with us and we will walk and run and live on the new earth where tears and pain and sorrow have passed away.
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So as the hymn encourages us with that blessed hope before us, let no heart remain unstrung.
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As John records for us in Revelation, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.
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And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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And when I heard, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
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He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their
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God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more.
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Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away.
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And he who is seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new.
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Therefore, Christian, what do you believe? I believe in one God, the father almighty maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible, and in one
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Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, begotten of his father before all worlds,
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God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the father by whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the
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Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man and crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.
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He suffered and was buried. And the third day he rose again according to the scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of the father.
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And he shall come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
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And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life who proceeds from the father and the son, who with the father and the son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.
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And I believe in one holy Catholic. And I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sin.
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And I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
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The text is Romans five, one through 11. Please give your careful attention to the reading of God's word.
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Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
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Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access in by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
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More than that, we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope.
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And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the
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Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak at the right time,
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Christ died for the ungodly, for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die.
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But God chose his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
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For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
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More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
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God's people said, Amen. Well, it is great to be back here.
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Do I need this mic? I believe this is about 14 years I've been preaching here.
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And I appreciate the opportunity. I think I have less spring in my step every year that I come back.
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By the way, I want to encourage you as a church to be thankful for your pastor. Do you know how rare it is to find a
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Bible -teaching pastor in the world? Since I've seen you last, I think
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I've been to Europe and Africa. And when people find a Bible -teaching pastor, how much is that worth to a local congregation?
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It's actually a blessing from God to you to have a man stand in the pulpit, like Pastor Steve does, and preach the word.
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So make sure you're thankful unto the Lord, and then maybe say thank you as well to Pastor Steve for giving you the opportunity to preach the word to God.
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What's the most dangerous thing you've ever done? What's the most dangerous thing you've ever done?
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Maybe skydive, scuba dive, bungee jump, parasail.
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Actually, this is kind of an interactive congregation today. No, no, I don't think you used to do that.
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Maybe rock climbing, sailing around the world at age 16. This morning
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I'm going to talk to you about the most dangerous thing you could ever do, especially if you're an unbeliever.
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If you're an unbeliever today, the most dangerous thing that you could ever do is to listen to this sermon and not do anything about it.
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To listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 7 and say, no, I won't believe.
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It is eternally dangerous. It is dangerous to hear preaching, even for Christians, and then say, well now
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I know the information, and then walk off with no desire given by the
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Spirit's power to obey. This passage today, I defy anyone here to not pay attention or to be bored as we listen to the words of Jesus.
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Turn with me to Matthew chapter 4 to get a little background to the passage today,
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Matthew chapter 7, the end of the Sermon on the Mount. And for me, I get excited every time
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I come to this passage because it's such a great passage. Great words from Jesus, Jesus Himself preaching, and the topic is fascinating.
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When we go down to the Santa Cruz boardwalk, like we will tomorrow night, we like to go to the Big Dipper. All my kids now, 16, 12, 10, and this year,
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Gracie, the 8 -year -old, can ride that ride. You have to be 48 and a half inches tall or something, and with thick flip -flops, she can make it.
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And so, you get on the Big Dipper, and you go down the tunnel, and then you start going up that incline.
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And what do you feel and hear as you go up the incline? Click, click, click.
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And with every successive click, the anticipation builds, doesn't it?
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And you start saying to yourself, it's getting more exciting because I'm near the top. This is one of those passages.
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As I walk through the Sermon on the Mount, working to the crescendo at the end in chapter 7, I can just feel inside of me, as it were, click, click, click, click.
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This is an amazing passage, whether you've heard it a thousand times, or this is your first time.
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We're going to look at Matthew chapter 7. At the end of the Sermon, what does Jesus do?
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Does Jesus say, applaud me, compare it to other philosophies? Or does
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He say, you've heard from God, now obey. And that's what we're going to look at in Matthew chapter 7.
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But before we do that, look at chapter 4, if you would. And chapter 4 gives us a little idea of what's going on in the
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Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has come upon the scene. John the Baptist has prepared the way like a good emissary would.
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Jesus has been tempted. And then in verse 17 of chapter 4, it says, From that time
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Jesus began to preach. What was His message? How would you summarize the preaching of Christ Jesus, the
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Anointed One? Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. And in verse 23,
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He went throughout all of Galilee teaching this message. Verse 24 of chapter 4, and His fame spread throughout all of Syria.
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And so Jesus comes, and He says to the religious establishment, He says to those that haven't basically heard from God for 400 dark years, from the end of Malachi to now
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Matthew, He has a message, and the message isn't everything's fine. The message isn't continue on as you were.
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The message is you've got to think differently. You have to repent. And Jesus then gives us
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Matthew 5, 6, and 7, known as the Sermon on the Mount. And it's really an expanded version of that one word, repent.
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If you'd like to summarize the Sermon on the Mount, you could probably summarize it with one word, repent. If you wanted to summarize the
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Sermon on the Mount with a verse, how would you do that? Well, chapter 5, verse 20 is one of those verses you need to understand and underline so you get the idea of how to unlock
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Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Here is the verse that describes it.
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What I'm doing now is just getting ourselves ready for our passage in Matthew 7, 13 and following.
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Matthew 5, 20, For I tell you, unless your righteousness, your right actions, your right thinking, your right deeds, exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
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And Jesus says this, Pick the most religious people you know of, and you have to be more religious than they are to get into heaven.
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And so people today could maybe pick, in days past, Mother Teresa, or the Pope, or Billy Graham, whoever your maybe popular icon is of righteousness, whether they have real righteousness or not, you say to yourself,
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I've got to be more holy than they are. And you say, well just how much do
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I have to exceed? Verse 48 of chapter 5 tells us. What's God's requirement for heaven?
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As God is holy, we are to be holy. And similarly, He says, Jesus does in verse 48, You therefore must be what?
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Perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. You're going to need the righteousness and the goodness of another.
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You can't do it. There's no way you can get in. Verse 49, and Jesus starts in the Sermon on the Mount, and says that's why you start by saying,
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I'm a beggar. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit. And God, if you don't grant me this salvation,
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I can't earn it. And Jesus says in the second beatitude, Blessed are those who what? Mourn.
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Out of all the words for mourning in Greek, this is the most intense. When you go to a funeral, this is the word you do.
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You mourn. I remember when my mother died, my shoulders were even shaking when
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I was crying at the funeral. That's the word. And it's not mourning over a dead person, it's mourning over that we're sinful.
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And we need to be approved by God based on the work of another. And Jesus goes to the
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Sermon on the Mount, and He just says, this is how righteous you have to be. This is how righteous you are.
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And you're going to need the grace of God in Christ, life and death and resurrection, to be able to meet it.
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And now let's move to Matthew 7, verses 13 and following for our message today.
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Our message today, let me give you four warnings from Jesus, so that you will respond to this message biblically and properly.
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Intended mainly for unbelievers, and I think we probably have many unbelievers here. Maybe it's just kids, maybe it's adults.
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But this is for the unbelievers to believe. But if you're a Christian, you can ask yourself two questions.
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Since God has saved me, and I've been able to do this by His grace, just how thankful ought
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I to be? Secondly, if you're a Christian, you ought to say this, do I evangelize like Jesus evangelizes?
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Or do I evangelize a different way? Four red alert warnings from Jesus Himself in Matthew 7, verses 13 to 27.
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Let me give one other heads up. If you have little children, and they are hurt or crying, you console them, don't you?
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I remember when Luke was sick, or any of the other kids, and I'd hold them really tightly, and I would begin to sing a song,
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Everything's Alright in My Father's House. And I would hold them just tight enough so that they still could breathe, but that they knew
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I was securely holding them. And I would sing to them. And when a child is scared, you sing them a lullaby.
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But if a child falls into the river with huge raging waters, 500 feet above Niagara Falls, I guarantee you, you don't sing them a lullaby.
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What do you do? You scream. You yell for help. You tell the kids, swim as fast as you can.
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Daddy's coming to get you. Today in churches, not this church, we always come to the passage for the day of the sermon, and we want to be consoled.
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The great old scholar Bengel said, every sermon should not end in a consolation. This is not the lullaby.
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If you're weary and heavy laden, come to Jesus. He'll give you rest. This is, you will die one day and stand before God, and then what?
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What are you going to do about it? And you can't just say, that was a lovely... Jesus is a lovely preacher. Encore.
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Bravo. Way to go. Wonderful oratory. Jesus preaches the message, and then He says, what are you going to do about it?
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Let's look at the first warning that Jesus gives at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. The sermon basically ends at verse 12.
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And now He gives, as it were, the application. The data is given, and now He says, so what are you going to do about it?
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Now, I have to tell you again before we go, I know we believe at this church, it's salvation by grace alone.
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We believe that we receive salvation by God's complete work. We understand that regeneration is not a cooperation with God.
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God makes us born again. We know salvation is from the Lord. But here Jesus doesn't say those things.
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He gives man's responsibility. He gives people's duty to respond to God.
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In conversion, God does not believe for you. Does He? God does not repent for you.
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Salvation is all of the Lord, but when there's the revelation of who God is, God demands a response.
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And here Jesus gives these four warnings that demand your response. Warning number one, you must enter the
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Kingdom of Heaven. You must enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Let's read verses 13 -14 of Matthew 7.
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Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction.
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And there are many who enter through it, for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life.
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And there are few who find it. Jesus is at the end of the sermon and He says this, you can't just coast in.
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Just because you've heard it, it doesn't mean you're in. My father used to say, son, clean your room.
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This was when I was younger. And he would say, son, clean your room, and I wouldn't clean it. And he would say to me, I heard it once,
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I heard it a thousand times. Son, your room won't get cleaned by what? Osmosis.
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You don't become a Christian by osmosis. Oh, I just listened and somehow I assented that.
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And Jesus says, with an imperative, to these listeners, enter. You must enter.
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And of course, it's a wonderful way of speaking. He could say believe. He could say repent.
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And here we're talking about a kingdom and it's like going through that door. You've got to go through that door. And it's figurative language to say you have to believe.
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Stop believing in yourself and believe. The problem is, if you look at those two verses, it's difficult.
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It is difficult to enter. The way is small, it's narrow, it's compressed.
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Make no mistake, he's not talking about sanctification here. He's talking about salvation. And it's not just difficult. In Luke, Jesus would go on to say, it is impossible.
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Just how easy is it to deny yourself naturally? To say, you know, I will not indulge myself,
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I will sacrifice myself naturally. It's impossible. It's easier for you to create yourself than it is for you to regenerate yourself.
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I always look at these verses for people who say salvation is so easy. And Jesus is saying, it is difficult.
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Walking an aisle is easy. Signing a card is easy. Getting baptized as a profession of faith is easy.
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Some people think if you're baptized you do get saved as you get baptized. Easy. Sinner's prayer, easy.
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I have a friend who wrote a book, The ABCs of Salvation. It's just easy. That doesn't seem to me how
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Jesus comes across. Does it to you? It's difficult. It's narrow. There's a broad way for the easy believism.
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There's a narrow way for those that want to come into Christ's kingdom. Lloyd -Jones says, it's like a turnstile at an airport where you go through that small turnstile and you don't have any bags that say sin and Satan and self.
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You go through alone and it's compressed. You can barely get through. It's difficult.
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The broad way on the other hand, you can imagine some highway that's about 50 lanes wide and the pro -abortion
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Christians, welcome. Gay rights Christians, welcome. Feministic Christians, welcome.
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I don't believe the Bible Christians, welcome. I live my boyfriend Christians, welcome.
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Oh, there's other saving truth in other religions, welcome. It's difficult.
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And he says when he says enter, don't delay. Isn't that built into when Jesus says enter?
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There may be no tomorrow. See the text? Enter through the narrow gate. It's an aorist imperative.
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It means urgent. It means right now. It means that you are responding, but you're responding not the way
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Jesus wanted you to. Here's what Jesus is saying. There's the door to heaven.
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You've heard me talk about heaven. You've heard me talk about my righteousness and the righteousness that you need. Don't stand there and just go...
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Enter. Enter. Spurgeon said don't stand hesitating. Enter.
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I could ask you the question. Have you... One day you'll die and stand before God and you...
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Say, well, my dad and mom are Christians. You must enter, Jesus says. Oh, I was baptized when
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I was a baby. You must enter. Well, I know the 1689 and I know the
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Nicene Creed. You must enter. You say, well,
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I'm already Christian. That was a done deal 20 years ago. And I don't want to think about that today.
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Am I a Christian or am I not? Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 13, it's a good thing, true or false, to examine to see if you're a
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Christian. It's a good thing. Have I entered? Have you entered?
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It's worth it if you enter. Look what the text says in verse 14. It leads to life. Eternal life.
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Divine life. The life purchased by Christ's death confirmed by His resurrection.
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A wonderful life. And a typical Jewish style, Jesus says, there are two options, and only two.
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The Jews did that all the time. As a matter of fact, the Greeks did a lot too. There are two doors, two gates, two ways, two eternities, which rules out
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A. Purgatory. B. Annihilation. C.
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Reincarnation. D. Some kind of second chance do -over. This is either or.
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Two gates, two ways, two groups, two destinations, two trees, two fruits, two professions. That's just the way
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He teaches. I'll show you where in the Old Testament, I'll just read it, just listen.
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Deuteronomy 30, it's the same kind of language. It's common. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse.
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So, choose what? Life. That's just the way they talked. You can hear
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Elijah, can't you, on one of those mountain ridges of Carmel. How long will you hesitate between two opinions?
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If the Lord is God, follow Him. If Baal, what? Follow Him. Enter, Jesus says.
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And by the way, you're going to have to enter in spite of the majority. Look at your text, verse 13. Many towards the end, and then in verse 14, few.
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They're the many and the few. Now, where I live now is outside of Boston, and once in a while I get some free
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Celtics tickets. So, I went with Luke to a playoff game just recently. Someone gave us some tickets, and I thought,
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I don't know where the T is. I don't know where the underground subway is. I don't know where to go. And Luke's looking at me like,
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Dad, if you don't know where to go, I don't know where to go, and you're the leader. I said, here's what we'll do. We'll leave the game, and we'll just go with the flow.
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Everybody's all jammed up, and we just all kind of went. Just kind of slowly turning, take small steps.
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And you know what? I ended up at the T. I ended up at the subway. It was perfect. And Jesus is saying, in life, in culture, and you can see it in Santa Cruz, can't you?
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The culture and the majority just brings you along. This is what you're supposed to do.
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This is what you're supposed to think. This is how you're supposed to act. And it's exactly opposite of the Bible, isn't it? The majority says, do you know what?
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You mean to tell me... I said it to a person at the Mount Hermon Pool two weeks ago. They said, do Jewish people go to heaven when they die?
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I said, no unforgiven person goes to heaven when they die. Because God's holy.
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Sin is heinous. That sin has to be forgiven. And if that Jew doesn't trust in the only
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One who forgives sins, Christ Jesus the Messiah, who bore sins on His body on the tree and was raised from the dead, they're not going.
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And when the person left, I was nice. I mean, relatively nice for me. I was sitting over by the outside and they walked all the way around up by the soda fountain dispenser just so I'm sure they wouldn't have to look me in the eye because they thought
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I was so... counter -cultural. Going against the grain.
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But Jesus said there's two ways. Two highways. You're either a saint or you're a what? A sinner.
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I was going to say ain't, but you guys are more theologically astute. How can
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Oprah be wrong? So the culture will say, I'm spiritual.
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We're spiritual, our family. We don't go for organized religion, but we're spiritual. And we believe
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God helps those who help themselves. Don't we? Did Jesus say that, by the way? It was
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Gandhi who said that. I have a verse that summarizes our culture.
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And Jesus says flee that culture and enter this culture. Here's the verse. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
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You're going to look to your friends who are unsaved, and your family who's unsaved, and your workers who are unsaved, and your schoolmates that are unsaved to give you the advice.
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They're not going to tell you to go through that small door. They're going to tell you go in through the broad gate, all welcome.
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George Barna said 51 % of Americans believe that if a person is good, they go to heaven.
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I would say, as a man who does many funerals, most people in America believe this. Salvation is by...
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He was a good person. He died. Therefore, good people who die, go to heaven. You just die.
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That's all it takes. You die and get there. And Jesus says the opposite. He says, what? Enter. You've got to believe.
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There's the many and the few. Jesus is saying this in context to Pharisees, scribes, of course to His own disciples, but others are listening.
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And He's saying, you think you have a father. Father Abraham and many sons. Whenever we sing that song to the kids,
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I always have to ruin it theologically, and I sing, many sons had Father Abraham, I am one of them, and so are you if you believe so.
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Let's all praise the Lord right on. Jesus said, oh yes, you do have a father, and His name is
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Satan. If you're not a Christian, your father's Satan, and you need a new father.
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And Jesus says, enter into that kingdom where it's just not a just king, but there's a merciful.
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You say, well, there's a way that seems right to me. And Solomon would say, but its way ends in the well.
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Are just a few being saved? Few? Many? Jesus was asked that question.
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Someone said, Lord, are there just a few being saved? It's so difficult. It's so narrow. The hurdle's so high, you need
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God's grace to jump over it. Are there just a few being saved? And what would Jesus say?
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Every one of us has asked the question. Are there just a few being saved? Maybe it was, how many angels can dance on the head of a needle?
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Maybe it was, well, just the Jews were in. Can any other Gentiles get in? Maybe it was a distraction. If you were
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Jesus and someone said, just a few make it through, what would you say? Here's what
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Jesus said. Paraphrase, and then I'll read you the verse. It doesn't matter about the few or the many.
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It matters about the many. Then Jesus says in Luke 13, 24, agonized to enter through the narrow door.
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For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. There's a constricted place of discipleship and persecution.
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Enter! He calls for a verdict. There's no demilitarized zone where you can just kind of camp out in the middle, not declaring allegiance for either side.
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Don't shoot me here. We're in the middle. Note, Jesus says, you must believe.
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Like He said to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live even if he dies.
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Do you believe this? Number two, the second warning. The first warning could be summarized with one word, enter.
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The second warning could be summarized with a word as well, beware. The first one is, it's difficult, you must enter.
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The second one is, beware of other people who are telling you the opposite of 13 and 14.
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Beware of those who stand by the door and say, it's wide. Look at verses 15 and following.
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You can probably even see in your Bible how these sections are broken up by paragraph.
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13 and 14 together. 15 through 20 together is the second warning that I want to give to you, especially if you're an unbeliever.
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Jesus is saying, here's the narrow gate. Enter. And now He's going to say, other people stand by and say wrong things.
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Just because you can download a sermon on an iPod doesn't mean they're healthy for you. Now, I looked up a bunch of bewares on the internet.
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Beware the Ides of March. Let the buyer beware.
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Let the traveler beware. Councils of the Roman Senate beware.
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I love beware of Greeks bearing gifts. That always seems to be funny to me. I don't know why.
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Beware of the dog. And I have all the Latin equivalents as well.
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But in none of the search engines popped up the most important beware that you could ever read in your entire life.
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Look at verse 15. Beware of the false. It's linked to the last passage.
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This is not some new chapter. This is not some new page. This is not some new idea even.
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He's saying here's the narrow door and there are false prophets, the saith the Lord kind of people.
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That's what a prophet was in those days. And as Jesus says it's narrow, the false prophets say, no, it's not.
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There's few. No, there are many. It's wide. It's narrow rather. The false prophets say, no, it's wide.
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They're telling you lies about the narrow gate. Watch out, Jesus says. This is
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Jesus. Many people say, well, I don't want to have the negative part of ministry calling people out by name, warning people.
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Friends, Jesus did it. And Jesus commands your elders to do it.
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To confront those who contradict. Refute them. Call them out.
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Let me just give you a resume of some of the words of the false teachers between Matthew and Revelation.
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You won't have time to write them down. I won't even give you the references. Slaves of their own appetites.
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Deceitful workers. Enemies of the cross. Apostates. Liars.
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Conceited. Depraved of mind. Depraved of truth. Rebellious men. Empty talkers.
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False professors. Factious. Perverted. Unreasoning animals.
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Unprincipled. Liars. Hidden wreaths. Grumblers. And you're going to listen to them for your eternal life?
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And they're contradicting Jesus? Jesus says, beware. And it's a present imperative which means the first one, enter.
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Urgently do it. The second one is more of a don't ever let your guard down. If you get put in a spot to watch out in Afghanistan and you're the guy who stays up all night and you have the last watch, don't you dare close your eyes.
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There's lots at stake. And Jesus says with this figurative language, hold in front of your mind this idea that there is going to be a cacophonous chorus of people saying to you, they're going to say to you, you know, if you're in the
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Middle East, if you're not a Muslim or a Jew, then you must be a what? Christian. They're going to say, oh, you can be a
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Christian without a born again Christian. He says, watch out for these people. And by the way, if you don't think of anything else
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I remember, anything else I say today, this would be a good thing to remember. It's not what the false teachers say that's so bad.
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It's what false teachers don't. They talk about sin, but it's not the kind of sin that God describes.
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They talk about the cross, but it's only an example of love. They talk about things, but they have different definitions.
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And they talk about Christianity, but they don't talk about what Jesus says. It's difficult. It's hard. It's narrow. You must enter.
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They say things like this. Oh, you can have your best life now. And they're on the TV. Be aware of false prophets.
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Did you notice the text? It's not singular. Be aware of that false prophet. Be aware of the false prophets.
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It doesn't take you very long to just start turning around the channel and you go, this is not TBN. This is
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FBN, False Prophet Network. That doesn't make sense. Or whatever the initials are.
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I don't care. You're like Robert Shuler, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer. The list goes on.
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You just turn them and they're all saying the same thing. It's not a narrow life. They're saying, forget heaven, which by the way,
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I thought that was going to be our best life. Go for gusto now. Jesus says, beware of the false prophets.
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They wear camouflage. They're like chameleons. If you want a
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Greek word for false prophets, it's very simple. Pseudo -prophetes. They're false prophets.
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And they're great marketers, by the way. They know how to sell it. For instance, the
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Emergent Church today, I think about the Emergent Church as so much more effective selling liberalism because in the 30s, the people who were liberals, they wore horn -rimmed glasses and were really crabby and listened to Lawrence Welk or something,
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I don't know. Now, sorry, the liberals today listen to cool music, wear cool glasses and drink cool coffee, but they spew the same lies.
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J. Gresham Machen said, men tell us that our preaching should be positive and not negative, that we can preach the truth without attacking error.
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Machen said, but if we follow that advice, we shall have to close our Bible and desert its teaching.
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How are we supposed to get together with those who say, it's not so narrow, it's not so straight, it's not Jesus alone.
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The problem is, they don't come across like false teachers. They come across as good teachers.
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Show me a heretic, we can deal with a heretic because they say, I'm a heretic. Show me an apostate and I'll show you someone who says,
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I don't believe that anymore, I'm done with that. Show me a false teacher that Jesus says, they're in the church, they look like us, they talk like us, and Jesus says, you've got to watch out for that especially.
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I guarantee you, if I said, I don't think anybody in this room would go, kids use the other side of the door, there's a lamb out there.
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All the kids would be jumping up. If I told you there was a wolf out there, you would call 911.
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The problem is, these people dress themselves like what? Sheep.
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They dress themselves like sheep. You have to watch out. And Jesus says, of course, if there's a spiritual kingdom we can't even see.
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Loss is at stake, mainly the Father's glory. And if Jesus is promoting this way, there will be an enemy of promoting the other way.
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Watch out. You notice the text, verse 15, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravenous wolves.
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If I think of wolves, I think of ravenous. If I think of wolves, I think of ferociousness. I did a little study on wolves so I can try to shock you into thinking this is a big deal that Jesus is talking about.
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Wolves are apex predators in the ecosystem in which they occupy. They have scent glands located on their toes so they can leave a trace of chemical markers so their pack knows how to follow.
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They don't just have teeth like a dog would or a German shepherd would. They have long canine teeth that have much more crushing power than a dog could ever have.
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Some carry up to 50 different kinds of parasites in their mouths and they love to attack animals.
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If they can get a large deer, make them run for about 150 yards, they love to just bite at their backsides and just rip it out.
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But their very favorite prey isn't a deer. is a little dog. They love to kill pregnant sheep and they love to tear out the babies in the womb of the pregnant sheep, devour them, and leave the mother carcass.
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And Jesus said some people can wear suits and dresses and hold the Bible, but they will rip you out on the inside if you don't have some sentinels up.
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Ezekiel knew it. Ezekiel 22, her officials within her are like wolves tearing at their prey.
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They shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. Good thing for us is
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Jesus says you can recognize them. Verses 16 and following. He says you can recognize them. You will know them by their what?
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They might talk a good game that might even sound orthodox, but watch their lives and you'll see complete chaos.
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Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles. Are they? You might be far enough away and say, oh that's a thorn bush and it looks like a grape.
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Some little dark berry on there, but you get up close and you can tell. Don't be enamored by what they say.
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Be careful what they do. Be careful when a false teacher tells you what you want to hear.
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Broadway musicals are a big hit in New York, of course. And a couple, man and woman who are married, got two tickets in the mail for the smash
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Broadway hit. No identification of sender, no explanation. They went to the show.
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We got two free tickets, you know, $200 face value each. They went to the show. It was a wonderful time.
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They came home and thought, this is the best. They got home. Their house was ransacked.
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Furs were gone. Jewelry was gone. And on the pillow, there was a little note. Three small words.
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Now you know. These thieves were smart and they told these people exactly what they wanted to hear.
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J .C. Ryle says, there are thousands who seem ready to believe anything in religion if they hear it from an ordained minister.
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So Jesus here in verse 17 gives a positive principle and then in 18, a negative principle that good comes from good and bad comes from bad.
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Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. Good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor bad tree produce good fruit.
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Be confident that God will judge the false teachers. Verse 19, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire.
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And then he reiterates this point so then you will know them, the false teachers, by their fruits. Enter.
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Beware. Third point. Third warning, rather. Found in verses 21 through 23.
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Wish I could give it one word, but I can't really do it, so let me just say, do not be self -deceived.
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That's Jesus' point. Do not be self -deceived. Enter. Believe. Beware. Watch out for others saying the opposite of what
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Jesus would say about the offense of the cross and the resurrection. Third, don't be self -deceived.
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Jesus is saying this. Jesus has just said, enter. Then he said, beware the false prophets.
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And now he basically says this, make sure you're not a false prophet to yourself. Make sure you're not tricking yourself.
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It gives you chills. You just read this and it makes you think, this is judgment day chills.
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Could this be the most scary passage in all the Bible? The most haunting? Not everyone who says to me,
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Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter.
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Many, verse 22, 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?
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And then I will judicially and solemnly declare to them, I never knew you.
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Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. You could be deceived.
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You could have maybe bought into what the false prophets have said. And Jesus says, don't do that.
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It's one thing to say, I'm going to hell when I die. You know, Anton LaVey or Marilyn Manson, I can't wait to go to hell when
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I die when I party it up. I think they'll be shocked by the severity of it, but they're not going to be shocked that they're in hell.
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But what if you're hoping to go to heaven? What if you're a John Bunyan -like character, like Christian, who said, at the gates of heaven, there's a porthole to hell.
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I had somebody in our church say, I thought I was a Christian until I heard this sermon. And I said, that's the right response, because we ought to examine ourselves to see if we're in the faith.
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You notice the text? The text doesn't say, well, I'll declare to them, you did religious works in My name, you made a profession in My name, you accepted
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Me in your heart in My name. It doesn't say any of that. He said, you who practice lawlessness, bought into this unrighteous behavior, you're counterfeits.
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The Bible says there are, I did some research, false gods, false prophets, false Christs, false Jesuses, false
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Gospels, false brethren, false teachers, false apostles, and there's also false faith.
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Our world says believe, but it doesn't really have the import of with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength.
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It's like John Payton, who was trying to figure out a cannibal word in the New Hebrides, on Anika Island, where he saw the chief who got saved come in and he sat down on the chair and went, oh, and then mumbled a word.
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John Payton said, what's that word? What do you mean, what's that word? Ah, you know, it was some other word he said after that.
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And it was a word where you throw your whole weight on something expecting there to be support. That's the trust.
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That's the belief that's spoken of in the Bible. I read the other day, 500 ,000
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Americans have counterfeit diplomas or credentials that they can generate on the
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Internet. Now, if the scales of heaven were there and your profession of faith is here, and here's the righteous, holy
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God here, without Christ's righteousness, without Christ bearing our sins, without the confirmation of the resurrection, you're going to be undone.
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You must enter. You must not be self -deceived. Do you notice in verse 21, two times the word enter?
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That's the whole passage. Believe. It's just the language of the kingdom. Believe. There's danger, but it's not necessarily the false teacher.
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It could be you, self -deluded, self -deceptive, self -deceived rather. The heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick.
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Who can understand it? In the garden,
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Eve, no sin. No sin in the garden outside of Satan.
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And she was deceived, wasn't she? I think we could be. J. Abraham McGee tells a story, the devil had a meeting with demons to decide how to persuade men that God was non -existent.
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Since the demons themselves believe in His existence, they wondered just how to do it. One demon suggested that they tell people
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Jesus Christ never existed. Don't believe that fiction. Another said, well, let's tell them that death ends all.
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Don't worry about life after death. Finally, the smartest demon, McGee says, came up with this.
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Tell everybody there is a God. Jesus is the only God. In believing Him saves.
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But that you can get into heaven simply by professing faith and then go on living in your sin. Friends, John 2 says, many believed in His name, but Jesus did not commit
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Himself to them. John 12 says, many believed on Him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess
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Him. How many people here know Abraham Kuyper? Know of him? Great Reformer.
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He begins to be a pastor hundreds of years ago. And there's a woman sitting close to the front. She tended to be a senior saint.
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She knew what the Gospel said. She said to herself after a few weeks, my pastor's not saved. Now, I'm not trying to say
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Steve Watkins isn't saved. That's not where I'm going with this point, okay? So, hang in there with me. She said,
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I'd like to meet with you after the sermon. Preached the
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Gospel to him. Abraham Kuyper got saved. Luther!
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How about Luther's self -deception? How many books of the Bible did he teach through? He would have believed the doctrinal statement of this church, but it wasn't saving faith.
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Proverbs says, you may have run by this proverb too fast, Proverbs 30 .12. Just write down the reference.
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There are those who are pure in their own eyes, but are yet not cleansed of their filth. Can you imagine your last breath thinking that you've entered, but you're self -deceived?
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And you're thinking it's going to be glory and bliss and Christ Jesus. Jesus doesn't want you.
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In kindness and love, He says, don't be deceived. Arthur Pink said, never were there so many millions of nominal
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Christians on earth as there are today. And never was there such a small percentage of real ones. This is 60 years ago
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He said this. We seriously doubt whether there has ever been a time in history of this Christian era when there were such multitudes of deceived souls in the churches.
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And then I love this. And we know of no single thing better calculated to undeceive than a faithful exposition of these closing verses in the
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Sermon on the Mount. Verse 22, Matthew 7. I draw your attention to that day.
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That's the judgment day coming. And with common language, but not technical, judgment day here by Jesus is called that day.
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That day of day. That terrible day. Do you see it? Many will say to me, on that day.
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On that final judgment day. Which there will be. The Father doesn't judge.
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He's handed all judgment over to the Son. John chapter 5. And Jesus will judge.
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And without honoring the Son, without entering, it will be a horrible judgment. If I look at that,
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I don't think Jesus was a universalist. Do you? I don't think Jesus believed in annihilationism.
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Do you? Here's what Jesus is after. Not just have you entered in, but by the grace of God, is there a change in your life?
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That's what He's after. Has there been a change? If there's no change in your life, there's no change in your status. You mean to tell me the
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God of the universe that speaks the world into existence now indwells a person and there's no change?
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I'm not saying perfection. I'm not saying there's not immaturity. I'm not saying there's some carnality. But there is a change.
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You take a compass and you just shake it all up and set it there and eventually what will happen to that thing? Whatever way north is,
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I have no idea. It'll go to north. People just want to say the language.
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Oh, we've got sound doctrine. We're saved by grace through faith, not sound doctrine. He says in verse 21, some will say,
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Lord, Lord, with enthusiasm, with unction. That's like a title. You're the Son of Man.
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You're the Son of God. Jesus is saying there's a faith that justifies, but that faith also sanctifies.
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I have a question for you. Two questions. What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works?
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Second question, can that faith save him? It's from James 2, verse 14.
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When I was younger, I used to surf by San Onofre, down by Trestles. It's by a military base between LA and San Diego.
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What if one of those huge nuclear reactors, there was two of them, broke open, and the millions of gallons of water that come out by the minute, four miles out, come out by the shore break, but it's not just warmed water that was heated, it's the nuclear waste water with nuclear radioactive materials in them.
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And I told you that I surfed that thing for 30 years while that happened, and nothing ever happened to me, and I was fine.
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Would you believe the story? No man can come to faith in Christ and remain the same way more than one can come in contact with a nuclear reactor and stay the same.
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And Jesus says, you can have Christian verbiage, you can have evangelical dialogue, you can have conservative discourse, you can have fundamentalist prattle, you can have reformed conversation, but don't be satisfied with a bare profession.
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You say, what is faith? Let me give you a couple definitions. Vine's Expository Dictionary, to believe, to be persuaded of, and to place confidence in, to trust, to rely upon, not mere credence.
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And if you want something less technical, an old author wrote, faith is a living, deliberate confidence in the grace of God, so sure that it would die a thousand times for its trust.
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These people here say, Lord, Lord, but their lives don't show it. Jesus is not saying, you're saved by what you do.
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He's saying, if you're saved, you'll respond with acts of obedience. Again, there can be baby steps, there can be maturity issues.
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You call me Master and Lord, and you say I am. Good. You say, but I had an experience.
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I must be saved. Look at the text. Does anybody here have an experience? They prophesied in Jesus' name, they cast out demons, they performed miracles.
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Experience is done saved. The cross saves. You say, well, I've accepted Jesus in my heart.
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Well, I've got a question for you. That doesn't matter. I've accepted Jesus in my heart. How about this?
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Has God the Father accepted you in His heart based on the perfect work of Christ? You can accept
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Jesus in your heart a million times. Does God accept you? And do you see the text? He says there in verse 23,
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I never knew you. What do you mean He never knew? Well, this is new information. I never knew this person existed.
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Well, of course He knows they existed. But this is intimate knowledge and intimacy of a husband and wife.
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Knowledge. God doesn't know those people who just say, oh, I am a Christian, but their lives don't show it.
01:00:41
I'll never forget the time I'm driving in Los Angeles and I'm going to church and I was going to church just probably to meet girls.
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I actually met this one girl, her name was Kim, but that was a different story. And so this particular girl, Kim, couldn't go that day, so I had to go with all these other guys.
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That was kind of a bummer, but we were driving home and I said, well, I'm a Christian and the guy looked at me and he goes, you're a
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Christian? I wanted to hit that guy. I felt like I was
01:01:09
Howard Hendricks who when he got spit on for preaching the gospel, he went back to hit the guy who spit on him and the big
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Philadelphia Eagles football player grabbed his hand and said, don't hit him. I wish
01:01:24
I could go back and meet that young man who's now my age probably and say, thank you.
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I'm running off the cliff with a blindfold on and you tackled me hard enough.
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I lost my breath and I didn't like it, but God used you to save me. That's the same kind of emphasis that Jesus is doing.
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The Surgeon said, there's more thunder in these four words at the end here, I never knew you, than you ever heard in the most terrible tempest that has rolled over your heads.
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There's no stamp of the foot or fire glance of the eye to accompany them. They are terrible and overwhelming.
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I never knew you. Most of the time, guys write these kind of songs, but in this particular case,
01:02:11
Elizabeth Needham wrote this song, I never knew you. When the King in His beauty shall come to His throne and around Him are gathered
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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.
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The refrain is simple, but devastating. I never knew you. I never knew you.
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I never, I have never, I have never known. And then finally, number four, we must hurry.
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The final warning, fourth warning from Jesus. Number one, enter. Number two, beware. Number three, don't be self -deceived.
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And number four, you must hear and obey the words of Jesus, not just hear and disobey.
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In other words, the words of Christ cannot be overestimated. Let me read the passage. You know it very well because it's a song.
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We have a young man in our church. He's dying of cancer. He's seventeen. He's a special needs kid. And so I went and I visited the family and I said, tomorrow
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I'm preaching this passage and I usually read the Bible to those in the hospital and instead of reading you the
01:03:17
Bible and telling you my sermon, I'm going to sing the sermon to you today, Blake. And then
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I sang this well -known song that comes from Matthew 7.
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Therefore, everyone who hears, write that down, these words of mine and acts, that's the key, hear and act, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
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And just with great language of the Middle East and you can just picture it, the rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and slammed against that house.
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Yet, it did not fall. It had been founded on the rock. These words of Christ. Everyone who hears, underline this, this is the opposite, verse 26, these words of mine and does not act on them, hears and acts, hears and does not act, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
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The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and it fell in great water.
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Jesus says it doesn't matter what Oprah says, what Buddha says, what Confucius says, these words of mine, hear and obey, hear and obey.
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So all these are just kind of words, I like Moses in Deuteronomy 32, it's not an idle word for you, and indeed it is your life.
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Eternal ramifications, not because obedience gives you eternal life, but because God has saved you and you will respond with obedience to be confirmed in your mind,
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I have eternal life. Sadly, when it says, great was its fall, in verse 27, there's no time to rebuild because this is on judgment day.
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And so Jesus says this, don't be stupid, don't be a moron, don't be foolish, be what?
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Wise. Foolish isn't a person who's in the corner with the dunce cap on. Foolish is this,
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I really like to sin, and I really like to sleep with my girlfriend or boyfriend, I really like to be committing adultery,
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I really like to be doing all these other things, but it's hard to sleep at night knowing that there's a
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God who takes vengeance on the wicked. So I'll construct this thing where I kind of believe,
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I'll take Jesus for hell insurance, but I won't obey what he says. And Jesus wants to say, it's time to demolish that kind of thinking because foolish people do that.
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Foolish isn't lack of knowledge, foolish is having the knowledge, but morally saying, I can't accept it. A fool says in his heart what?
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There's no God. So Jesus uses this language to say believe. What kind of preacher is
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He? He says, I'm not just Savior, I'm Lord. Consider your end.
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Consider your final days. I wonder even if you're a
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Christian today, when Jesus says these words of mine, could some of you possibly in this church, even this church, get around and work around an architectural schematic better than you could get around the
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New Testament. I wonder if some of you know the inside of a shopping center, a grocery store, better than they know the
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Bible. They know cookbooks better than they know the Bible. Video games better than they know the
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Bible. Sports scores and batting averages. And Jesus says, these words of mine, and if they're good for salvation, aren't they good for sanctification?
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So Jesus says, hear and do. Jesus didn't want anybody to listen to a sermon and then do nothing.
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So He said, enter, beware, don't be self -deceived, and make sure you're a hearer and a doer.
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Could you possibly now walk out of this message today and do exactly opposite of what Jesus is wanting?
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And that is saying to yourself, I've got more knowledge now, I know more about the Bible, Jesus is an excellent preacher here from Matthew 7, and I'm good for the day.
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Thank you, Father, for our day today. Thank you for Your Word, the words of life. Thank you that just like in Psalm 1 with David, You've set before us the way of life and the way of death.
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Help these dear people today choose life. I pray for the unbelievers today that You would not give them one moment of rest, of sleep, of comfort, until they have entered into the
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Kingdom. We know that it's by Your grace, and so I pray that You'd use these words to open their hearts just like You did of grace opened
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Lydia's. And for the Christians today, I pray that they would increase in their love for Christ Jesus, His preaching.
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I pray their thankfulness would abound, because who could enter without Your grace? And that they would be wonderful evangelists, not content with mere professions, just like Jesus wasn't content.