REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain: moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Key verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).
TEACHING GOAL: To show that religious activity and confession in Christ’s name does not guarantee eternal salvation.
REVIEW: Some key ”SO WHATS?” from previous lessons.
1. “The will of my Father”: Since the Father commands us: “This is my Son, hear him!” then we need to listen to what the Son is saying in SOM. The SOM is a concise statement of how Christ wants us to live in this world. Listening to and obeying what Christ is saying in the SOM is truly doing the will of the Father.
2. Self-Delusion: Satan seeks to deceive us and keep us from the narrow way but we also need to be aware of self-deception, self-delusion. Millions of American “evangelicals” are deluded because they are hoping in a salvation based on intellectual assent to the Gospel but that does not include repentance nor produce the fruit of obedience. We help ourselves avoid delusion by rigorous self-examination of our spiritual state.
INTRODUCTION:
J.C. Ryle: The Lord Jesus winds up the Sermon on the Mount by a passage of heart piercing application. He turns from false prophets (wolves in sheep’s clothing) to false professors, from unsound teachers to unsound hearers.” (Expository Thoughts on the Gospel: St Matthew, London: James Clarke, 1965, pp. 69-70)
Don Carson: It is true of course, that no man enters the kingdom because of his obedience; but it is equally true that no man enters the kingdom who is not obedient. It is true that men are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ; but it is equally true that God’s grace in a man’s life inevitably results in obedience. Any other view of grace cheapens grace, and turns it into something unrecognizable. Cheap grace preaches forgiveness without repentance, church membership without rigorous church discipline, discipleship without obedience, blessing without persecution, joy without righteousness, results without obedience. In the entire history of the church, has there ever been another generation with so many nominal Christians and so few real (i.e., obedient) ones? And where nominal Christianity is compounded by spectacular profession, it is especially likely to manufacture its own false assurance.
Martyn Lloyd Jones: “These, surely, are in many ways the most solemn and solemnizing words ever uttered in this world, not only by any man, but even by the Son of God Himself.” [The Sermon on the Mount, II, 261, 272].
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Mt. 7:21-23)
OUTLINE:
THE LIFE & DESTINY OF EVIL DOERS
1. On That Day
2. Many Will Say to Me
3. Evaluating the Full Profession
4. Lord, Lord
5. Did We Not Prophesy
6. And Drive Out Demons
7. And Perform Many Miracles
8. Then I – The Lord Jesus, the Judge
9. Will Tell Them Plainly – I Never Knew You
10. You Evildoers
11. Away from Me (Depart from Me)
THE LIFE AND DESTINY OF EVIL DOERS
I. ON THAT DAY
“That day” refers to the Day of Judgment. His Jewish listeners would automatically know that he was talking about the coming of the Messiah and what will happen before He sets up his earthly kingdom.
“The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.” (Isa. 2:11)
“In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.” (Isa. 4:2)
“In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on him but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.” (Isa. 10:20).
TABLE ACTIVITY: Read the following verses (by no means exhaustive) and develop a short description of “That Day.” Psalm 1:5, Isa. 2:12, Joel 2:1, Mal. 4:5, Mt. 25:31-32, Mt. 25:42, Acts 17:31, Romans 2:5, I Cor. 3:13, II Cor. 5:10. I Thess. 5:2, II Pet. 3:10, Rev. 20:11-15.
He will come with clouds, every eye will see him, all peoples will mourn because of him, more because of the fact that he missed them (Rev. 1:7). Millions of people, billions will be gathered at the great white throne judgment, from all nations. It is a heavenly throne. Angels will be there, and the Son of Man, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, will judge the world.
The Lord Jesus Christ let some very good people live a life of service only to discover on “that day” that all of their efforts and service were meaningless in regards to their eternal salvation.
II. “MANY” WILL SAY TO ME
He did not say that a “few” would be lost due to self-delusion but that “many” will be lost because of self-delusion. We would understand if he said “few” ….. but “many” seems off base.
There were 8 saved at the time of the flood, there were 3 saved from Sodom and Gomorrah and there were only 2 of 12 that finally entered the Promised Land.
Our Lord taught that only a few would be saved:
“. . . small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Mt. 7:14).
“Someone asked him, ‘Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?’ He said to them, ‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.’” (Luke 13:23-24)
III. EVALUATING THE FULL PROFESSION
QUESTION: What are some of the positive descriptors we can use to describe this profession? – ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’
John Stott: public, polite, orthodox, fervent, spectacular. Others: upbeat, encouraging, sincere, enthusiastic.
Did they ever think that they had deceived themselves, that they were deluded? Maybe they did but then they would say to themselves, “We shouldn’t doubt. That is sin. We shouldn’t be so introspective and search our hearts. That is doubting God and doubting grace and it only disturbs our peace and causes emotional distress.”
These people were incredulous when they saw that they were not accepted into the eternal kingdom of God.
TABLE ACTIVITY: Have different class members practice at their table saying the profession/question with a tone of incredulity. Have each table pick a winner and then have a run-off in front of the whole class. (Incredulous: disbelieving, in shock, strong doubt about the truth of something, the state of being in disbelief, seeing a thing as incredible, not possible, flabber-gasted)
QUESTION: What is wrong with this profession?
It is very clear that habitual profession, verbal acknowledgment concerning Christ, His teaching, however explicit, however public and how often repeated does not open the door to the kingdom for any of us.
These people who are the “many” are the fruit of the false teachers (wolves in sheep’s clothing) who failed to teach the whole counsel of God (In short the Five Solas of the Reformation).
The activism of preaching / prophesying, the mysticism of exorcism, the pragmatism of miracle working equal nothing.
Profession and productivity are not proof of relationship.
Some dangers we all face:
(1) Getting a religious character without having a renewed heart.
(2) Doing religious activities without really being born again.
(3) Learning the language of the New Jerusalem without taking out citizenship.
(4) Involved in kingdom work before we possess a kingdom heart.
IV. LORD, LORD
CORRECT BELIEF IS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION
Verbal confession is indispensable for salvation.
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (Romans 10:9-10)
READING: “The words before us obviously imply, what is very distinctly stated in other parts of Scripture, that a profession of discipleship and acknowledgment of our submission in mind and heart to Christ Jesus is absolutely necessary in order to our enjoying the privileges of discipleship. No person who does not call Christ ‘Lord, Lord’ can enter into the kingdom of God: no man who is ignorant of His claims, who treats these claims with neglect, who rejects these claims, or who though he may be all but persuaded that these claims are just, yet from worldly motives does not acknowledge them—no such person can participate in the peculiar blessings of His disciples, either on earth or in heaven.” (John Brown)
No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. (I Cor. 12:3)
Spurgeon writes that true believers must call him “Lord” because we accept His divinity. He is God. If we deny his divinity, we are apostates and the truth is not in us. We call him “Lord! Lord!” because He is our Master. If He is not our Master we are not one of His.
CORRECT BELIEF DOES NOT GUARANTEE SALVATION
Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” (Mark. 3:11)
The slave girl in Philippi following Paul and Silas cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” (Acts 16:17)
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou does well: the devils also believe and tremble” (James 2:19, KJV)
FURTHER DISCUSSION OF THE MEANING OF “LORD”
The word “Lord” (both in Hebrew and in Greek) is a word that denotes divinity. In the Old Testament, “Lord” is the word “Jehovah,” a name for God (The Jews felt that the word Jehovah, Yahweh, was too holy to utter. In the New Testament the word for “Lord” is kyrios, by which citizens of the Roman Empire were required to confess the godhead of Caesar. (Boice, 259)
So saying “Lord, Lord!” carries weight. They are standing before the Lord of the universe. The repetition of Lord! Lord! adds a spirit of zeal, demonstrates the strength of their devotion.
WE’RE NOT SAVED BY REPEATING A FORMULA: LORD! LORD!
All true Christians say “Lord! Lord!” but not all who say “Lord! Lord!” are true Christians.
Muslims like to quote this verse as proof that Jesus forbids us to call him Lord. “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” ….. “Not everyone who says, ‘I’m in the First Grade,’ will graduate from high school.”
Their confession was verbal not moral. It was intellectual. They never submitted to His Lordship. Their confession was no lower than the throat. It never reached into the stony ground in their hearts. They may be considered as externalists because they thought that having attended to the outside of godliness they have discharged their responsibility.
Luke contains a similar verse in a slightly different setting, relating to the building of the house on the rock. “Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord,’ and do not what I say?” (Lk. 6:46)
The emphasis of the text, Mt. 7:21-23, is not he who says but he who does.
QUESTION: What did G. Campbell Morgan mean with the following statement when he wrote: “The blasphemy of the sanctuary is far more awful than the blasphemy of the slum.”? (The Gospel According to Matthew [New York: Revell, 1929], p. 79).
V. DID WE NOT PROPHESY
Prophesy here means to predict, foretell future events, declare something that can only be known by divine revelation.
It is interesting that Jesus does not challenge their prophecies as being a hoax. Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. It seems that the validity of their prophecies was insignificant.
Satan is clever at producing false prophets. They look so genuine. Sound so genuine. And one of the reasons that they are so convincing is because they are self-deceived. Many really believe that they are prophets.
Balaam was a false prophet but the Bible says that the LORD put a true message in his mouth, “Go back to Balak and give him this message.” (Numbers 23:5) Balaam “knew the knowledge of the Most High” and “saw the vision of the Almighty” (Num. 24:6), yet he “loved the wages of unrighteousness” (II Peter 2:15) and perished amid the enemies of the Lord (Numbers 31:8).
Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. (John 11:49-52)
SO WHAT???
1. Religious activity and confession in Christ’s name do not guarantee eternal salvation.
2. Many will be incredulous and disbelieving on the Day of Judgment to discover that they are not members of the eternal kingdom.
3. Correct belief is needed for salvation but is never a guarantee of salvation.
4. True proof that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Master is primarily shown by our concerted effort to obey Him, and specifically obey all of His teaching on life as explained in the Sermon on the Mount.