Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. I could not
have hand-selected a more appropriate Bible study to go before this
message than the one that we just heard. I did not know our
brother's text or what he was going to say. As I was listening
to that, I thought, boy, at the mouth of two or three witnesses,
I pray that today is of the Lord. I pray that today is of the Lord.
Every now and then I'll tell you this, and every time I say
this, I mean it. And this is one of those times,
I'm saying it right now. What we are gonna look at this
morning is critical. It's critical, and I want to,
as our brother just said, in delivery, in approach, in humility,
in meekness, in fear, I want to deliver this in a way that
is honoring and glorifying to the Lord, in a way that is truly
edifying and effective for us. And I wanna encourage you, I
want to encourage every person here, if you care about these
things, if the Lord has given a care in your heart for these
things, silently, quietly, go into your heart right now and
pray to Him. It can be so short, it can be
before I finish talking this sentence. Ask Him to open your
heart to what He's saying. Do that. Go and say, Lord, would
you please open my ear to what you're saying? Open my eyes to
what you're saying. Speak to me today. Even me, even
me. Let thy blessing fall on me.
While on others thou art calling, please don't pass me by. Okay? Ask him that. Ask him that. Our Lord is called the Great
Physician. and He is telling us about a
critical condition right here. This is eternal life or eternal
death critical. This is critical. This is so,
so critical. Men and women are in a critical
condition before God, and they don't know it. All right, now
this is what I'm talking about. You think about the day before,
one day before men and women find out they have stage four
cancer. The day before that. Same condition, they just didn't
know it. All right? This is a condition
before God. This is a condition in men and
women's standing before God. And I pray the Lord will let
all of us, oh, myself included, I'm speaking to myself. I pray
the Lord will let us see, hear, understand what he's saying right
here. Because he is declaring how it's
going to go in the judgment. All right, that's what he's telling
us. What we're about to read, he
is spelling out to us how it's going to go in the judgment. All right, he said, this is how
it's gonna go. Matthew 7 verse 21. Not every one that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils and in thy name done many wonderful works. And then will
I profess unto them. I never knew you depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. Now we see how critical this
is. I have three things that I want us to consider in looking
at this. All right. Number one, who is
saying this? Is it some radical madman who's
standing on a street corner with a sign hanging around his neck? Who is saying this? Number two, what is he saying? And number three, what does he
mean by it? Who is saying this? What is he
saying? And what does he mean by it?
All right. Who is saying this? Verse 21,
not everyone that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, the Lord is saying
this. Now, if I was saying this, I
wouldn't put too much stock in it. And that's why I say that Bible
study just perfectly clarified, it's the Lord, it's not the preacher. I wouldn't put too much stock
in what I come up with on my own. Well, you know, and you'll
hear a lot of people do that. Well, I think, I'm not interested
in that. I'm not. I'm not interested in
what I think. Men all throughout time have
made radical dogmatic statements in the name of being preachers
or in the name of whatever they, that's a, that's a pretty, that's
a pretty bold statement. And men have stood up and they
make these radical statements, but they mean nothing. They mean
nothing. Only the Word of the Lord shall
stand forever. And the Word of the Lord shall
stand forever. The Word of the Lord, who's saying
this? The Word of the Lord shall stand
forever. We're here to preach the Word
of the Lord. You know, the flesh, men want
to pass over things. Well, let's just skip over that.
We're here to preach the Word of the Lord. We're not here to
skip over that. We've been in Matthew 7 for a
long time now. Next verse in line. We're here
to preach the Word of the Lord. That's what we're here to do.
If we are going to preach the truth, all we're going to do
is repeat the words that the Lord has said. This right here
is preacher school. Okay. If we want to know what
it is to preach, be a preacher of truth. All we're going to
do is we're going to stand here and repeat the words that the
Lord has said. That's it. That's it. If we do that, nothing that we
say will be a radical statement. It'll just be the Word of the
Lord. Therefore, it's critical that we understand who is saying
this. Who is saying this? Somebody
will hear these types of things and they'll say, now that's just
your opinion. You tell someone what the Lord has said. And they'll
say, well, now that's just your opinion. No. No, that's God's
opinion. And God doesn't have an opinion.
He just has a declaration. That's all that he has. And we
must hear it. When the Lord told Ezekiel to
preach to those dead bones, those dead dry bones, this is what
he said to them. He said, you say, first thing,
O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. That's what He uses,
isn't it? That's what He uses. A man wisely
said, I love illustrations. Our Lord preached with parables
without a parable. Our Lord didn't preach, but a
man said, our illustrations are not what saves people. God's
Word is what saves people. These illustrations help make
the Word clear to us and alive to us. But it's the Word. It is the Word. I need to hear the Word of the
Lord this morning. We all need to hear the Word
of the Lord this morning. We need to shut down, and this
is what I pray the Lord will help me to do and all of us to
do. We need to shut down all rebuttal. But, you know, you'll
tell people now, this is what the Lord said. Well now, but,
hold on now, wait a minute now, but, We need to shut all of that
down. And we need to hear the word
of the Lord. Who am I to reply against God? This is the word of the Lord.
The Lord God Almighty. So that's the first thing we
need to realize. This is God speaking. This is God speaking. All right, let's consider this
second question. And it seems like a simple question
at first, but I'm going to try to emphasize to us really what
I mean by this. Okay. Here's the second question.
What is he saying right here? Just word for word. Just word
for word, what is he saying right here? Let's read it together,
all right? Matthew 7, verse 21 says, not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but
he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, Have we not been drunks and harlots? Have we not been thieves and
rioters? Have we not lived our lives in
the gutter of vile immorality? Verse 23, and then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Is that what he said? That's what many people think
he has said. And that's what many people think
he will say on the day of judgment. But is that what he said? No. Verse 22, many will say to me
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? That means preached. Do we think
about the context that we've been looking at in Matthew 7,
false religion, false preachers, false messages, all right? Have we not preached in thy name
and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done
many wonderful works, works, And then will I profess
unto them? Who's he talking to preachers. I never knew you depart from
me. You that work iniquity. Now, do we understand what he's
saying? Let's understand what he is saying. What's he saying here? This is
critical. This is critical in this Bible
belt that we live in. Look at a map of the United States
of America. We live in the Bible belt. And I'm telling you, you know,
fear and trembling just struck me. It just struck me 10 seconds
ago. I say this with humility, I'm
telling you, I say this in fear. The angels of heaven fall prostrate
at his feet. That means you can't get any
flatter, as flat as you can get, face in the ground. I want to
say to preachers, I get upset with men who stand up and lie
to people. I feel sorry, sorry, sorry for
people who are being lied to and they're about to go stand
before the judgment throne of God Almighty. But right now I'm feeling sorry
for these preachers. I'm feeling so sorry because
who's saying this and what is he saying? He's saying, I'm going
to say to preachers, when our Lord uses words like many, He
means many. I'm going to say to preach, this
is how the judgment's going to go. You're going to watch preacher
after preacher after preacher. And I'm going to say to all these
preachers, you're not coming in. You're not coming in. And it's because everything that
you did was sin in my eyes. Everything you did in your flesh
was sin in my eyes. These verses right before it,
we looked at them last week, I just mentioned it. False religion,
false preachers, false messages. He said in verse 13, many are
going in that way. Many are going in this way. To
put it in plain terms, I'm just going to say it this way. I'm just going to say it this
way. I just don't know how else to say it. And either the Lord
will give us faith to understand it and believe it, or he won't. Most preachers are not saved. I just said that we don't like,
um, radical statements. That is not a radical statement. That's not a radical statement.
This is the word of God. I'm just repeating the word of
God. Most preachers are not saved. People assume that because a
man is a preacher, he's a shoe in. According to the word of
God, most likely he's a charlatan. More than likely, he's a hireling,
itching people's ears so that people will follow him and pay
him and feed his ego. And but for the grace of God,
I would be one of them. I'd be top on the list. I'm not fooling myself. If God
takes his hand off of me, I got just enough in me to be the Oh
my goodness. May God have mercy on my soul
and save me and keep me. but for the grace of God, all
of us." Are we saying these things boastfully and arrogantly? And
what's wrong with you people? No. But for the grace of God,
all of us would hear him say, depart from me, I never knew
you. You're a worker of iniquity.
And the reason is because all of us are workers of iniquity.
In my flesh, all I have done is iniquity. I'm no different,
but for the grace of God, I'm no different. Man at his best state is altogether vanity. The best we have to offer God,
it is still empty worthlessness in His sight. And in Him saying,
I never knew you, all right? Who's saying this and what is
he saying? What is he saying? In him saying,
I never knew you, he's not saying, I don't know who you are. What's
your name again? He's not saying that. All souls
are his in the sense that he made them and he gave them at
their appointed time. He knows all things, nothing,
and no one is outside of His knowledge. Nobody. In the same way that the book
of Genesis says that Adam knew Eve and she conceived and bear
a son, what that's saying is He loved her and He joined Himself
into a union with her. And for our Lord to say, I never
knew you, what He's saying is, I never loved you. And I never joined into a union
with you. Now believe me, I know that's
tough to hear. That's tough to hear for those
who God has given faith to believe it. It's like, oh. I know that's
tough to hear, believe me, but we must hear it. We must understand
it. We must believe it. Why? This
is God's word, not mine. It's not my word. It's not your
word. We can't take responsibility
for this. All we can do is repeat it, and
we must repeat it. because a sinner's day of judgment
depends on it. Our Lord has chosen to use the
means of preaching. He has. He has chosen to use
the means of preaching the truth of His own Word to open the blind
eyes of His sinful people. The ones that the Father chose
and gave to Christ, they're going to hear the truth, and that truth
is going to set them free. from all of their error and all
of the lies they've been told. So we must declare this. We must
hear this. We must believe this. This is
in the hands of God Almighty. Now, I also know that this is
the exact opposite of what the flesh naturally wants to hear.
It's difficult to hear. This is the opposite of what
the flesh wants to hear. But again, this is the truth
from the mouth of the truth himself. And he's saying to all mankind,
be warned. Be warned. God does not love
everybody. Christ did not die for everybody. And that's the lie. When we talk
about false preachers preaching lies, there it is. That's the
lie that they're, well, God loves everybody and Christ died for
everybody. Our Lord is telling us that is
not so, and we will find that out on the day of judgment. We
will find that out. Now, in addition to that, the
Lord is saying, enduring the judgment. If a sinner is going
to endure the judgment and enter into glory, it will totally depend on what
God does for a sinner and not what a sinner does for God. That's
what he's saying. It's going to totally depend
on what God has done for a sinner in and through the person and
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Verse 22, he said, many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we? Have we? This is our testimony.
We have preached in your name. We have cast out devils in your
name. We've done many wonderful works.
Verse 23, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work.
Iniquity. What's he saying here? Do we
see what he's saying here? It's all gonna come down to we
or I, meaning us or him. They said to him, we did this
and we did this. And I just told you this recently,
I'm gonna tell you again, I don't know exactly what it's like to
cross over. for this body to lay down and
for our soul to enter into eternity, that spiritual state. But I can
tell you this, based on the Word of God, if that happens and you're
in the presence of God, plead Christ alone. Whatever question
is asked to you, just say, I plead Christ alone. I plead the blood
of alone. I'm begging for mercy alone.
Not me, not I. Him alone. You know, this is what we did,
this is what we did. That is not going to be received. He said, here's the problem for
you. I did not do what you needed
to be done, needed to have done. Throughout this scripture, we
can look at story after story after story of how God saves
sinners. This man receiveth sinners. People
who cry to him, you know, think about David in Psalm 51 and think
about different stories of men who cried, Lord, I am so sorry. I have not done what I should
have done. I did what I shouldn't have done.
I am not. And he says to them, no, you
haven't, but I have. I have. And in what I've done,
you're saved. If you think about, read all
through Isaiah and Jeremiah and these places where he said, I
sought you. I found you. I called you. I took out your stony heart and
put in a heart of flesh. I redeemed you. I saved you. Look unto me and be ye saved.
I the Lord do all these things. It's all gonna come down to who
does what. That's what it's all gonna come
down to. And that's what the Lord is telling us here, and
that's what He means by what He's telling us here. Who's saying
this? God is. What is He saying? He's saying man's work will not
be the determining factor on whether or not he is allowed
to enter in. Man's works will not be the determining
factor Am I against obedient works to the Lord? No, I'm not.
God forbid. Let me be a follower. Let me
be a servant. Conform me to your image. No,
I'm not against the works that God produces in his people, but
please let me never plead them for my hope of salvation. Let
me reject them. Let me deny them. They are not the determining
factor. Here it is. This is what he means
by everything that he's saying. If you look at the end of verse
21, or just verse 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth
the will of my father, which is in heaven. That's who's going
to enter in, whoever does the will of the Father which is in
heaven. That's going to be the determining
factor. Only those who do the Father's will. I thought you just said it's
not in what we do. Exactly. That's exactly right. What in
the world do you mean? What does He mean? What is doing
the Father's will? What is the Father's will? Just
comes down to that. What is the Father's will? This
is what people will naturally say. Stop sinning. That is not the Father's will. That's not the Father's will. What? You mean it's not stop
sinning and be perfect, as perfect as you can be so that God will
look at you and think that you're good enough to come in? You mean
that's not it? No, that is not it. That is not
the Father's will. Turn with me to Galatians 2. We're gonna read this scripture
to set up the Father's will, okay? Galatians 2, verse 21,
it says, and oh, may the Lord open our ears, eyes, and hearts
to this right here. Galatians 2, 21 says, I do not
frustrate the grace of God. That happens all the time. among
false preachers. Mixed in with grace, they just
can't leave works out of it. They frustrate it because they
just cannot leave works out of it. It's either works so that
grace will come, or it's grace so that works will come for salvation. But if you don't
see works, you can't be saved. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. If a man or a woman's own earned
righteousness, goodness, perfection, obedience, worthiness, if their
own goodness and their own righteousness, making themselves worthy enough
and perfect enough to enter into glory on their own, if that was
the will of the Father, do we really believe He would have
sent His Son to die in vain? If we could accomplish that on
our own, do we really believe He would have just, well, just
in case, let's kill the Son? If we could clean ourselves up
and had the ability to make ourselves spotless before Him, do we really
believe He would have shed the blood of His own Son to cover
something that was already perfect? Us producing our own goodness
and us producing our own perfection, that is not the will of the Father.
All right, what is it? Turn with me to Matthew 17. Matthew 17, verse 5. While he
yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold,
a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Hear ye Him. Listen to Him. Look to Him. Wait on Him. Believe on Him. To do what? To accomplish the will of the
Father for His people. Our brother just read Psalm 40
for us as a scripture reading, where the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I delight to do thy will. And oh, He read to us the agony
that He went through, accomplishing the Father's will for His people. Look with me at Matthew 26. Matthew 26 verse 39, it says,
and he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed
saying, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. In the garden of Gethsemane,
the Lord said, Father, I have come to this place to accomplish
your will. Thy will be done. Verse 42 right
here. He went away again the second
time and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass
away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. Father, this
is your will. and thy will be done. Turn with
me to John 6. John 6 verse 37 says, All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will,
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the
last day." He said, this is the Father's will. that I do all
the work of saving and raising up my people
and they see me as the doer of all the work and believe on me
as the author and finisher of all the work, all the work of
their salvation. He said, that is the Father's
will. Christ does all the work and
we say, amen. That's the Father's will. According
to the word of the Lord, the judgment is all gonna come down
to this. Whoever tries to enter in on their own merits will hear,
depart from me, there's no acceptance for you. But whoever begs to
enter in on the merits of the work of Christ alone, and if
a sinner does, that's called faith. Faith is not of ourselves. It's the gift of God. That's
God choosing to put faith in a person and creating that faith
in that person. It's still the work of God. It's
not in our hands. But it's the evidence of who
God is going to have mercy on. And every soul that He has mercy
on is going to cry, I don't plead my work. I plead the work of
Christ alone. How about just a few of them? Don't you just want to plead
it? Nope, not one. I count them all, Donk, that
I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having any righteousness
of my own, but His alone. God revealing this to a sinner
is his mercy to that sinner. That sinner will hear you are
accepted in the beloved. God revealing this is his mercy
to a sinner. People spend their whole lives,
and I'm done, I've gone way over, I'm done. But people spend their whole
lives in false religion. And whatever, you know, we're
a product of how we were raised. My parents taught me some things
and I'm a product of that. And maybe another set of parents
did something differently and another person is a product of
that. And we grow up our whole lives hearing things and believing
things. And people spend their whole
lives growing up in false religion, hearing that it's about man and
you got to look to man and it's all about what man does and man
and If God in mercy ever comes with
his spirit, with his gospel, with his word, with his truth,
and reveals Christ like a two-edged sword, just pierces the heart
with Jesus Christ. Oh, and if a sinner ever sees
the man, he will cry, it is not my works, oh God, it is Christ's
alone. It is Christ's alone. And that's the difference. That's
going to be the difference in how the judgment goes for a sinner
standing before God. May God put that cry in me and
in all of us, believing on Him, looking to Him, pleading Him. That's the will of the Father. That's the will of me. Thy will
be done. Create that in me. I'm going
to just stop. I've got two more pages of notes
and I'm just going to stop. But you know, I'll close with
this, that thief on the cross, that was a vile, wicked man.
He never went to church, he never was baptized, he never gave a
tithe, but the Word of God was hanging next to him. The gospel
himself, the preacher, the prophet, the great high priest. and then
God's mercy revealing Jesus Christ crucified. That man, what a vile,
wicked sinner. And he looked to his right or
left and said, I see Jesus Christ crucified for the sin of his
people. I see the spotless Lamb of God.
And he said, would you remember me? Would you do it when you
come into your kingdom? And he said, today, you're gonna
be with me Plead His work alone. And may God have mercy on all
of our souls. Alright, Brother Eddie, you come.