It certainly is wonderful to be here together.
We have a wonderful crowd and we're so thankful.
As has been already mentioned, we're thankful for our visitors.
Please come back and you're welcome.
Every time that we assemble. You are honored guest.
And as always is the case, I do consider it an honor to teach
concerning the Word of God. This afternoon we now come in
this series of gossip in the series of sermons on the great
Sermon on the Mount. We now come to Matthew Chapter 7
and verses 21 through 23. And that's going to be our
lesson today where Jesus is going to talk about some really
sobering things. I realize these are very
sobering and sad words that the Lord is going to say.
He actually is talking about the end of time, and he's talking
about the day of judgment and the judgment scene.
As we begin, we begin in verse 21 where Jesus says this, not
everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of
heaven, but he who does the will of my Father, which is in
heaven. You know, these words are
actually very closely linked to the previous section.
Remember we talked about last time Jesus says we're going to
be known by our fruits, and that was in connection with false
prophets. He said there's going to be
false prophets that come into the world.
There's going to be false prophets that come in among you,
and they're going to be in sheep's clothing.
But inwardly, be very careful. They are ravenous wolves.
But by way of context and just kind of a scene and setting
here, remember this was one continuous sermon.
So let's just very briefly back up to Matthew chapter 6.
In Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 19, Jesus tells us that
man's existence goes beyond this life.
And I'm going to tell you, I'm so thankful that man's existence
goes beyond this life. The very aspect and the very
idea that we have hope is a wonderful thing.
It makes life bearable. It makes all the difficult
things in life endurable when we know that this isn't it, that
there's more. But then in Matthew Chapter 7
verses 13 and 14, Jesus says that that existence eternally is
in one of two places. That's why he said we got 2
choices here. They are only two.
We choose the narrow path, which is the difficult Rd. that leads
to life. Or we choose the broad path or
the Broadway, the easy way that leads to destruction.
It's one of the two. That's why Jesus emphasized you
got to stay on that path even if it's difficult.
You can do it and there's room for every Christian so long as
you file and you follow in a single file line.
The Master, our shepherd, our Lord doing it his way.
But then he said this right after that.
Beware that there's false prophets that would come in and
do their very best to derail you and pull you away from God.
How you going to know who they are?
If they come in sheep's clothing?
Jesus says you'll know them by their fruits on after Jesus said
all that, He said this in Matthew Chapter 7 and verse 21
he said this. It's very important because not
everyone who says to me, Lord Lord shall enter the Kingdom of
heaven. OK.
Confessing the Lord's lordship and confessing Jesus Christ as
the Son of God is mandatory in order to be saved.
It's not all that we have to do, but it is mandatory.
And confessing Jesus and accepting Jesus as Lord is
mandatory for our salvation. That's true.
But that in itself does not guarantee that we're going to go
to heaven just because we confess Jesus as Lord or him as
the Son of God, or even recognize that he is King of
kings and Lord of Lords. There's a lot of people that
recognize that, but they deny him with their actions.
So let me just ask the question very important.
When is Jesus Lord of your life? It's a very simple answer.
He's the greatest one that ever lived.
He paid the greatest sacrifice ever paid for the sins of the
world. But when does he actually become
the Lord of your life? He becomes the Lord of your life
only when you give your life totally to Him.
He can only have lordship over my life if I willfully choose to
give my life to Him in all aspects of it and all that I do.
That's why Jesus says this. Not everyone that says to me,
Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of heaven.
And then he says, but he who does the will of my Father,
which is in heaven. So the real test of discipleship
is action. In fact, Jesus demands that we
have a working faith. James illustrated it like this.
Notice is what James said in James chapter 2 and verse 17.
Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
He further says that an inactive faith, this is kind of spooky.
I think it's kind of scary. He says an inactive faith makes
us know better than the devils or the demons.
Can you imagine such a thing? James says that if we have an
inactive faith, that is a faith where there is no works.
And by the way, I'm going to spend some time talking about
grace, faith and works. There's no, I hope there's not
going to be any confusion when we're done because there's a lot
of confusion about how all that works.
But first of all, understand this principle.
James says that if we have a faith that does not accompany
works, which means an inactive faith, we're no different than
the demons or the devil's. Why?
Because the Bible says the devil's believe and tremble and
I don't think they're going to heaven to you, not the devil's.
Just a quick word about grace, faith, and works from a couple
of passages that sometimes people think contradict
themselves, but they don't. Let's notice first of all what
the apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter 2 beginning in
verse 8. He says, for by grace you have
been saved through faith and not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not of works.
Lest anyone should boast, let me just break this down very, very
clearly, if I may. First of all, the idea or the
foundation or the basis of our salvation is grace.
We need to understand it's by grace.
In other words, grace is unmerited favor.
It's something you did not deserve.
It is something that you get without your own personal merit.
In other words, I didn't earn it.
That's what that means. That's what grace is.
Salvation is by grace. Grace is unmerited favor.
It is not on our self, in other words, not by our own merit.
It is the gift of God. OK?
We understand that as a premise for our salvation, Our salvation
in heaven is not based on our own merit.
It is based upon God's gift. Through what?
Through faith. So in other words, God's part is
grace, Man's part is faith. What's faith?
Well, first of all, and I'm going to talk more about faith
in just a moment, but let's just get the basic definition and
we'll get to application in a moment.
But the basic definition of faith according to Thayer in
this passage means this. It is conviction and belief in
God. Here's the problem that some
people have, and I say this very kindly and respectfully, but
this is the problem that people have in misinterpreting and
misunderstanding. They understand that salvation
is a gift, unmerited favor. That gift is not based upon our
own merit. That's all true.
It is the gift of God. That's all true.
And it's through our faith, which is belief in God.
And they stop right there and say nothing else is required.
It is through faith. But what's that?
What's involved in our faith? More on that just a moment.
Stay tuned. Then Paul says this not of
works. Salvation, in other words, is
not the result of works, meaning I've earned it.
Salvation is still grace. It is still unmerited favor.
OK, the idea that salvation can be based on anything else except
a gift or by grace was actually deliberated by the great apostle
Paul in the book of Romans. Notice this passage here.
Now, to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as
debt. OK, quick illustration.
Everybody in this room either has a job or you have had a job.
Probably in your life, you've probably had a job.
Maybe you're retired, but there was a time when you had a job,
OK, When you go to work for your employer at the end of the day,
when the employer owes you money, or when it comes to the
end of the week and it comes time for paycheck time, that
paycheck is not a gift. That paycheck is a debt that is
owed by the employer. Why?
You've earned it. We all understand that's the
case when it comes to our wages. That's the case when it comes to
our jobs. But when it comes to salvation,
it is not. It is all about a gift.
So what Paul is saying here is if a person believes that his
own personal works of merit turn him a spot into heaven, then
salvation to him is not grace, but it's a debt that God owes
you. And that's not the case.
I'm going to tell you something, don't you think?
A little sideline here, Don't you think that we would live a
more humble, service oriented life committed to Jesus Christ
if we could just get it in our minds that God, no matter what,
owes me nothing? God does not owe me a thing, but
I owe him everything. If our mindset would get there,
man, I'm going to tell you what, we'll be better Christians.
We'll have things in proper perspective.
God doesn't owe me a thing. I owe God everything because of
what he's done for me through Jesus Christ.
OK, Heaven is not for those who earn it by merit, but stay with
me. That's when Paul said this.
It's not of works of merit like you earned it.
And then he said, lest anyone should boast, I like what Mr.
Bowles said about this. He said this.
When men do try to work their way into God's favor, one of two
things happen. You got to the sincere, honest
man will despair of ever succeeding.
In other words, that's the guy, by the way, that says this.
That's the guy that's trying real hard to do that his best,
but realizes his shortcomings. Because you know what?
That's every one of us realizes his shortcomings and realizes he
will never measure up. It's discouraging and you just
quit. That's what happens when you
think you can earn it because you can't #2 what about the
smug, ignorant guy? He's going to boast.
The Lord owes that to me. That's what Paul is addressing
in the second situation here, showing that God's way of
salvation eliminates human boasting.
OK, So what is works play in our salvation?
We look at the very next verse. Do works apply and do we have to
work? We absolutely do.
We look at the very next verse, Ephesians 2 and verse 10, for we
are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus.
For what good works? That's what you're created for.
Good works. What kind of works is that?
Works of merit, No. Works of obedience, works of
sacrifice, works of service, works of duty.
You used to have a sermon, you'd have it somewhere.
I'm sure it's in, as you call it, the archives, and it's
called my duty or something like that.
And Terry used to teach that sermon.
He used to say, I'm going to teach it once a year.
And I appreciated that his concept was this.
It's my duty. If we would wrap our minds
around the concept that our service to God is our duty, man,
I'm going to tell you what, we're going to be better
servants for the cause of Christ, right?
Makes sense, right? Why?
Because we are a creation created in Christ.
For what? For good works.
OK, what is good works? I love this Bruce.
Mr. Bruce said it this way. Good works are the fruit, not
the root of what? The tree of salvation.
It is the fruit and not the root.
That's what good works are. So even though our salvation is
not based on meritorious works, our faith will not save us if we
do not work. In James 2 and 22, do you not
see that faith was working together with his works?
Notice. And by works, faith was made
perfect. This is talking about Abraham,
right? And it's reflecting back on
Abraham. Abraham was told by God to offer
your son Isaac, your only son, the one that you love, and take
him to a place that I would tell you and offer him as a sacrifice
unto me. And the Bible says he does that
was on a three day journey, takes him to the place, puts him
on the altar. He's going to take his life
because that's what God said. And God stayed his hand and
understood his faith and understood his demonstrated
faith by what his obedient works.
And this is what James says. By works, faith was made perfect
or complete. Works do matter.
Our faith and our works are not meritorious.
It's a demonstration of our obedience to God.
So remember this salvation is a gift.
Yes, it is, and it's from God. And that's grace.
Faith is on our part. What is it though?
What actually is faith? It's not just believing in God.
What is faith? Faith is a choice and a
conviction. It is not a feeling.
It's an act of obedience. That is what faith really is.
That's why our faith must be demonstrated in action by works
of obedience. And that's why James said this.
So then you see that a man is justified by works.
Now get this, and not by faith only.
No contradiction here. What he's saying is this.
What is the faith that he's talking about here?
Faith only here We already talked about what faith is.
It is conviction. It is a choice.
It's obedience to God. Faith alone, by the way, is what
it is. Mental assent without
responsibility I have to tie my shoe is driving me nuts.
OK, It is mental assent without responsibility.
Do you know what happens when you have no responsibility?
When you have no responsibility, you have no accountability.
If you have no responsibility and no accountability, guess
what else you don't have? You have no credibility in the
eyes of God as one of His faith alone is mental ascent without
responsibility. Then Jesus says this in Matthew
Chapter 7 and verse 22, the very next words He says many will say
to me in that day. Now what's he talking about?
He's talking about the day of judgment.
He's talking about the end of time.
The Lord emphasizes the final judgment that day, talks about
the day that all of us, all of us are going to have to stand
before God and give an account of the things that we have done
in our life. We got to give an account to
what we've done in our life, every single one of us.
That's everyone. In Revelation chapter 20 and
verse 12, notice this. And I saw the dead, small and
great, standing before God, and the books were opened and
another book was opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged according to their works by the
things which were written in the books.
I want you to notice something here.
Notice books were opened and we're going to be judged
according to things that were written in the books.
So it's mentioned twice, books. Here it is talking about books,
or in other words, it's talking about things that are we're
going to give an account for it. I'm just going to make this
point here. Don't think for a minute these
are literal books, OK? There's not going to be literal
books on that day. It's not going to be a situation
where all of a sudden these volumes are going to get pulled
out like encyclopedias off the shelf.
Here's Frank's volume. Let's see how, Frank, did you
think God needs that? You think God needs some kind of
a mechanical book to know exactly what I did in my life,
all of my life, or you or anybody else in this world.
These words are used metaphorically or as a symbol.
What's he talking about? He's talking about books of
remembrance. In other words, in God's mind.
And by the way, I can't even wrap my mind around God's mind.
I can't even fathom God's mind. But we all understand this.
We forget stuff, right, left, right.
We all do. Things slip our mind, right?
Not God. There's absolutely nothing that
leaves the mind of God. So when the books are open, it's
talking about books of remembrance.
There's actually a Bible passage that talks about books of
remembrance from the Old Testament, and it's found in the
book of Malachi verse chapter 3 and verse 16.
Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the
Lord listened and heard them. So a book of remembrance was
written before him for those that fear the Lord and who
meditate on His name. So once again, not literal
books. These are words that symbolize
or impress upon the idea of talking about God's knowledge of
what we've done. That's it.
God knows everything. Not literal books, right?
But you know what the other book is and I'm so glad about this
one. Verse 12 talks about the book of
life, the book of life. In Revelation chapter 20 and
verse 15, it says anyone not found written in the book of
life was cast into the lake of fire.
This is talking about the names of the faithful Christians,
faithful servants of the Lord that are going to be found in
that book of remembrance. Not a literal book, but in the
mind of God through Jesus Christ that phrase by the way, that
idea of book of life is found in a number of other passages.
I'm going to give you 3. Here we go Revelation 21 and 27
but there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles
or causes an abomination or a lie, but the only those who are
written in the Lamb's book of life Luke chapter 10 and verse
20. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in
this that the spirits are subject to you.
That's what Jesus said. But rather rejoice, because what
your names? Are written in heaven.
Final passage Philippians four and three.
And I urge you also true companion, help these women who
labored with me in the gospel with Clement also, and the rest
of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.
So upon the basis of this information, we conclude that
the books are the actions of every man.
It's in the Book of Remembrance of God, and the Book of Life
contains all those that are saved.
Who are they? They are those that have obeyed
the Gospel, that have been baptized for the remission of
their sins, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and have lived a
faithful Christian life so that their names are not blotted out
of the Book of Life. Revelation chapter 3 and verse
five. He who overcomes shall be
clothed in white garments. And I will not blot out his name
of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my
Father and before his angels. OK, so Jesus says in that day,
the day of judgment, last day, people are going to say this.
They're going to say, Lord, Lord, you know, this is really a
heartbreaking scene. Many people are going to say,
Lord, Lord, Some people are going to stand before the Lord
and by earthly standards are really good people.
But they repetitiously cry, Lord, Lord, And you know what?
I'm not the judge. Jesus is the judge.
And I didn't say it. Jesus did what he's saying is
there's going to be some wonderful people by worldly
stand standards that are going to say Lord, Lord.
But Jesus says they're lost. Notice what their plea is.
Here's their plea. Have we not prophesied in your
name? Have we not cast out demons in
your name? Have we not done many wonders in
your name? OK, this passage is very
difficult to understand. In fact, if you look up
scholars, there are four basic interpretations regarding what
these words actually mean. In other words, who these words
are referring to, Who's going to be saying these words?
There's four interpretations. I'm going to notice them briefly
with you and I'm going to tell you three of them really have
are problematic. Three of them are problematic,
and I think the last one really makes the most sense.
But here we go. The first interpretation, while
some of these things have merit, is this.
Some believe this, these individuals may be the evil
individuals that God uses in order to accomplish some
specific purpose. And here is the example that's
given to support this position in the Old Testament.
Balaam, the false prophet who spoke God's truth in Numbers 23
and verse five. OK, that is one example.
Here's another example. How about old Caiaphas?
You know he was a real creep. Every time you read about
Caiaphas, he's either plotting the death of Jesus or doing all
that he can to carry it out. When Jesus raised Lazarus from
the dead, you know what Caiaphas said?
He didn't say Jesus didn't raise him from the dead.
He said Jesus did raise him from the dead, But he said we got to
do away with Jesus. Why he spoke unwittingly
prophesying that Jesus would die for the people in John Chapter
11 and verse 51. He said it's better that one man
die and a nation be spared. In other words, we, we want the
nation of Israel to stand. We want Judaism to stand.
Let's get rid of Jesus unwittingly.
Was it what he was saying was this?
It's better that one die, That's Jesus Christ, God's lamb and let
the world be spared of their sin.
All right, well, it's problematic to say that this is
the interpretation that's proper because here's the point.
If the evil that are the evil men here that are in this
category, if that's what he's talking about, why would they
say on the day of judgement? Have we not done many wonderful
works when they were only used in a limited sense and it was
only used by God through them, they didn't do anything.
So that's number one. OK, limited sense doesn't make
sense. So I think this interpretation
is problematic. And that interpretation is that
God was using some wicked men that did some things through
them. God did.
And therefore they're saying, wait a minute, have we not done
all these things? So I think that's a problematic
interpretation. Let's go to #2 some say and some
scholars say what that's talking about.
It's these people here, those that whose power comes from
Satan. You know, Jesus warned about
false prophets in Matthew 24 and 24 before the destruction of
Jerusalem. We talked about that last time.
He warned about that. Paul foretold of a lawless one
who will perform signs and lying wonders.
Second Thessalonians 28 through 10.
So all those things are true. The problem with such an
interpretation, though, is this. How they going to cast out
demons by the power of Satan makes no sense, right?
Do you remember in Matthew chapter 12, it's the passage
that deals with the unpardonable sin of blasphemy and the Holy
Spirit. That's a whole nother sermon.
That's a whole nother explanation.
So I'm not going to deal with that right now.
But when Jesus cast out that demon, do you remember what they
said about Jesus? They said, now obviously He did
it by the power of the Holy Spirit, the wonderful deity,
Holy Spirit of God. That's what he did it by the
power of the Holy Spirit. You know what they said?
He did this miracle. He cast out this demon by the
power of Beelzebub, which is the devil.
In other words, they were saying you did this by the power of
Satan. You know what Jesus brilliantly
said? He said this, If Satan cast out
Satan, he's divided against himself.
How that will his Kingdom stand? Oh, brilliant, impossible.
Satan cast out Satan. If that's true, then how can his
Kingdom stand? So it's problematic to accept
that that's what this is talking about.
What else? Here's a third position.
The third position are those who whose claims are simply false.
In other words, their good works are simply fake and they were
able to deceive their fellow man, but not God.
In other words, some people believe that what this is
talking about, or these are the people that are going to try to
give a defense, are the people that faked out people, you know,
the false healers, the fakes, all that.
OK, but they knew the whole time they were a fake and a fraud and
they knew that they weren't faking God out at all.
Here's the problem with that. If that is the case and that is
these people here, then why on the day of judgement would they
stand before the Lord and make a defense knowing they were fakes
and frauds and say have we not done all these great things for
you and lie to God a second time?
Really. I don't think that's what that
means either. I think the final option, please
get this has the most merit. Who are the ones that are going
to say Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name?
Have we not cast out demons in your name and done many wonders
in your name? They are these, I believe.
These are the people who sincerely think they were
followers of Jesus. But we're mistaken.
The people that view themselves as part of the Lord's flock,
perhaps, but in reality, they're part of the masses that Jesus
talked about in Matthew 7 and 13.
Jesus called it the many. He called it the many.
There's a lot of folks that are going to profess the name of
Jesus. There's a lot of folks that are
going to live good moral lives. There's a lot of folks that are
even going to view themselves as doing many wonders for the cause
of Christ, but in reality, they're sadly deceived.
In other words, here's the problem, when you deviate from
what the Word of God says, they deny Jesus by following the
doctrines and commandments of men.
And I'm going to give you Bible for that.
I didn't come up with that. Here it is Matthew 15-8 and
nine. This is Jesus himself.
He said, these people draw near me with their mouth and honor me
with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain they
worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of
men. Very sobering.
I get it all right, but I got to say something else, Kay.
These words are very, very appropriate for the church too.
It's possible to call Jesus Lord.
It's possible to be theologically correct.
It's possible to do everything what the Word of God says in
pattern, in assembly, in manner of life, but have a heart that
is not convicted and converted in Jesus Christ.
It's kind of like going through the motions, Folks, I'm going to
say this. I don't know how it is with you
because I can't judge your heart and I'm not trying to, but I
want to ask you a question. You are here in the pews today
on this Lord's Day. I want to ask you, how's your
heart? The Lord got you to come here
and assemble, but did the Lord have your heart?
I'm just going to say yes. Got all of you, got all of your
hearts. Only you can answer that though.
Does the Lord have your heart? The Lord won't accept anything
less than everything we got. He wants our heart.
And I know that's a growth process.
I get that. And there's going to be more as
you grow. I get it.
The bottom line is He wants your heart.
He wants a heart that is totally submissive to Him.
Jesus, not us, must be Lord of our lives.
You know what that means? That means it's not what I think
it's not, doesn't mean what I prefer.
It means what the Lord wants from my life.
That's what that means. And he only becomes, as I said
before, Lord of my life when I give my life totally to Him.
OK, unfortunately on the day of judgment, there's going to be a
sad day for some who thought that they knew Jesus but their
relationship was one sided and based upon human standards.
Remember, it's not what we get, it's what we give.
As our brother said before we started our services today,
please get that. It is not what we get, it is
what we give. Have you ever heard somebody
say, you know, I just quit going because I just, I just wasn't
getting anything out of it. I've said this to you before.
The question right after that should be this.
If you weren't getting anything out of it, were you putting
anything in it? Because that's what it's about.
It's about putting something in it.
It's all about God. Oh, we get a lot from it though,
man. We feel good when we worship in
spirit and truth. Oh, we feel great.
Oh, and by the way, we get the ultimate thing.
It's kind of like years ago, my father-in-law wrote Johnny
Elmore an e-mail when I decided I wanted to preach.
You know what Johnny said? He writes back, and he said
this. He said, I'm so glad that he
wants to devote his life to preach in the gospel.
That's wonderful. But I'm going to tell you he's
going to wear many a ragged coat.
But then he said, but the retirement is out of this world.
Oh, we're going to get something.
We're going to get something great.
It's just going to be over there.
That's what we're going to get. But our service as we live as
Christians on this earth needs to be about our service to God,
what we give and not what we get.
You know, when John F Kennedy said, ask not what your country
can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country, I
thought about that driving down the road and I thought, man,
I'll tell you what, man, that when it comes to the church,
isn't the same thing true? Ask not what the church can do
for you, but what you can do for the church.
Ask not what the Lord can do for you, ask what you can do for the
Lord. That's what our mindset should
be. I don't know if I'm going to do
this. I'm thinking about it.
I'm almost done. We have one more sermon, by the
way, on the Sermon on the Mountain.
I'm going to do some other stuff but haven't decided yet, but I
may preach either a sermon or a series on our relationship as
members of the church and our responsibilities as members of a
body. What is my responsibility to the
body of Christ? I haven't decided yet, but I may
do that. We all have a responsibility and
it's what we give and not what we get.
Jesus said this in the next verse though.
Then will I declare to them? He said I never knew you.
That is a very, very sad, sad phrase.
I never knew you. That phrase right there, by the
way, is a Hebrew idiom that means to have an intimate
relationship with what he's saying is he's not saying I
never knew who you were. That is a mistranslation of that
passage. What he was saying is I never
had an intimate, excuse me, two sided relationship with you.
It's got to go two ways. The Bible says the Lord knows
them that are his. So those that are his, we got to
depart from iniquity. We got to keep his commandments.
We got to Part 2, right? It's a two way St. in our
Christian life when Jesus will say I never knew you, he's
saying I never had an intimate relationship with you.
And by the way, that phrase new is the same phrase that goes all
the way back to the book of Genesis when it talks about the
marriage relationship, the intimate relationship.
Well, you know what? We have a marriage relationship
with our Lord too. We are the bride of Christ in
the Lord's church. We are his bride.
OK, Those outside the bride, Jesus will say, I never had a
relationship with you in that way.
In other words, Jesus is saying that they live their lives
thinking they know Jesus but their relationship is 1 sided
and not based on the Lord's terms.
And then Jesus said this. I will say to them, depart from
me you that practice lawlessness.
You know very sad folks will be castaway because not because I
got to make this point. Please don't leave here
discouraged if you're trying your best to live a Christian
life because you know what these are not words that are going or
reflecting upon a person that is doing their best and sometimes
stumbles with occasional faults and occasional sins.
That is not what we're talking about.
Jesus says depart from me those that practice lawlessness.
What is that? Well, first of all, everybody's
going to stumble. I don't care who you are.
Every Christian is going to stumble.
And we all find comfort in the Lord's continual healing.
That's why first John chapter 1 and seven says, but if we walk
in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with
one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us
from all sin. We all enjoy or benefit from the
blessings of the continual cleansing of Jesus Christ, his
blood, when we sin. OK, So what are we talking
about? When we're talking about
lawlessness? We're talking about
disobedience. What kind of disobedience is
that? Here it is.
It is constant, unrepentant rebellion.
And the Greek phrase here, the Greek tense here indicates a
continuous regular action representing a pattern of life,
not somebody that just makes mistakes here and there and does
everything they can to get things right.
The point is this, those that practice lawlessness are those
that are in continual sin, and continual sin is incompatible
with God's plan for our lives. You know God provided the blood
of Jesus that we contact initially at baptism, but we
also have the blood of Jesus Christ for the rest of our lives
and we must strive to ever walk in the light.
So what do we got to do We're going to be perfect.
Nope, going to mess up absolutely.
This is what we got to do. Here it is.
We have to be willing to repent and confess our sins.
James 516 Confess your faults one to another and pray one for
another that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of
a righteous man avails much very familiar passage.
Here's another one. First John chapter 1 and verse
9. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. No, you're not going to be
perfect. Yes, you are going to mess up.
But you confess those sins to God with repentance in your
heart, and the blood of Jesus washes those sins away.
And you know what? You are not living a lawless
life. By the way, lawlessness is
someone that is not keeping and upholding the law.
We're not under the law of Moses.
We are under the law of Jesus Christ and that's given to us in
the last will and testament of Jesus That is bound by the New
Testament. That's what we are bound by.
Makes sense. So here's the flip side and I'm
finished. But notice going to say
something really encouraging. Now, this is not very
encouraging. This is a little bit scary.
It's going to be some people that try to do it on their own
way and don't follow what the word of God says and don't
follow the Lord the way the Lord says to follow him.
And unfortunately when that happens, Jesus is going to say,
I never had an intimate relationship with you, so
therefore depart from me, You who practiced lawlessness.
Let me talk about something that's really, really great.
How about this passage though? His Lord said to him, well done,
good and faithful servant. Oh, I love that one.
You've been faithful over a few things.
I will make you ruler over many things.
Enter into the joy of your Lord, who gets to hear the words.
Enter into the joy of your Lord, good and faithful servant.
That's it. You want to go to heaven, become
a Christian, be baptized for their mission of your sins, and
then just be a good and faithful servant.
What's the big deal? Do that and you will never hear
the words. Depart from me you that practice
lawlessness. Why?
Because you're following what the word of God says, You're
following the Lord. You're following the shepherd on
that difficult path that leads to life.
It's all about choice and it's all about conviction.
I can't imagine any greater words ever spoken to my ears.
Then one day if the Lord would just say, Frank, get in here,
come on. And you know what the Bible
talks about when it talks about making it into heaven.
I've said this before. I said, man, if I, if I, if I
got to be a street sweeper in heaven, I just want to get in.
I've said stuff like, man, if I just squeak in, I don't care.
Just let me squeal in. You know something?
If I, if I make it, if you make it, we ain't squeaking nothing.
We're blowing the doors off. The Bible says we're going to
have an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom.
What do you got to do to have an abundant entrance to the
everlasting Kingdom? Be a good and faithful servant.
That's it. Let's go try to do that.
Let's go try to be better than we've been in the past.
Let's go put the Lord first. Let's leave here with the
determined resolve that our lives are a life of service and
sacrifice. It's not about us.
It's about it is about God and Jesus Christ.
And I'm going to tell you what, like Johnny Elmore said, man,
the, the, the retirement will be out of this world.
Great stuff. I'm through this this afternoon.
Thank you for your kind listening.
We never close a time when we teach from the word of God
without extending an invitation. It's the greatest invitation in
all the world, and that is the invitation to become a
Christian, to be saved. It's very simple.
The first thing you got to do, you got to hear the word of God
in Romans 10/17. So then faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. After you hear the word of God,
you got a choice to make. You got to believe with all your
heart. Hebrews 11:00 and 6:00 But
without faith it's impossible to please him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those
who diligently seek Him. Then what do you got to do?
Hey, I got to change some stuff. I got to repent of my sins.
Acts 1730. Truly, these times of ignorance
God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.
That just means I'm changing my mind.
I'm changing my direction, which is the greatest thing ever.
I'm going to change my relationship with the Lord,
because guess what? I'm about to have one now.
Then what say the greatest thing you will ever say, Confess Jesus
Christ as the Son of God. Acts 837 Then Philip said, if
you believe with all your heart, you may.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. Upon taking those steps, you are
now a fit candidate to go down to the point of salvation, and
that isn't baptism for the remission of sins.
Mark 1616. He who believes and is baptized
will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.
If you've never taken those steps, we would love to assist
you in doing that today. Become a Christian today.
We'd love to assist you in that. We can fill this baptistery up
really fast. Maybe you have taken those
steps. Maybe there's something in your
life that just isn't what it should be and it's of a public
nature that you feel like you need to get off your chest.
If that is the case, then repent of those things.
Confess those things, and we'll pray with you and for you, and
God will forgive and restore. If you want to be the class,
come forward while we stand and while we see.