hard to find, and hard to get
through a place. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat." In Luke chapter 13
verse 24 and 23 and 24 it talks about the same gate and there
the question was posed to Jesus, Lord are there few that be saved So here the Lord says it's the
way to life in verse 14, because straight is the gate and narrow
is the way which leads to life, and few there be that find it.
In Luke it's a way of salvation, here it's the way to life. So
it's a very difficult to find and difficult to enter gate.
And then in verse 15, to show us the truth. Frequently in scripture, the
truth is set forth to us in the contrast of the error. For example,
in Galatians 2, verse 16, it says, knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law, and then it goes on and
says how a man is justified. Here, beware of false prophets
which come to you in sheep's clothing. They look good on the
outside. That's what a sheep looks like.
Someone the Lord would say, but here, They're not, he says, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits you
shall know them." Right away, I don't know if it occurs to
you, but it sets up for me a concern because it seems to be pointing
me to looking for things about me to give me confidence before
God. And so the Lord addresses this
here because he's speaking to false prophets. And he's telling
us that we know them by their fruits, and it's helpful to know
that. And then, in fact, in verse 21 and through 23, the Lord tells
us about what's going to happen. He's describing to us history
before history unfolds. There's no possibility that this
will not happen. Verse 21, he says, not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord. And when he says not everyone,
we might think he means But that's not what he means.
Actually, he's talking about most people won't enter in. He 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 prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name
done many wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work
iniquity. These men are standing before
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, they will say to him
in that day, Lord, Lord. They're calling on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Their eternal destiny hangs in the balance. And they're
arguing for their lives. And so I've entitled this message
The answer, the answer, because it says in Romans chapter 14,
verse 12, we all must stand and give an account of ourselves
to God. And that troubles me. I don't know if it troubles you,
but there's nothing that gives me greater concern than standing
before the judge of all the earth who knows everything about me
and has never forgotten one thing in terms of what I do. And so
I wonder, how can I stand before this judge and give an answer.
How can I answer for myself? What account can I give? And
I want to ask it this way. What will be your answer when
you stand before the Lord Jesus Christ on the day of judgment?
These men had an answer, but their answer didn't work. Their
answer was a bad answer. And so I want you to think about
this. a professor who always used to
give us pop quizzes. And one of the things he said
before he gave us the quiz was, I have a gift for you. And it
was meant to show us whether or not we were ready for the
test. So in that way, it was a gift. But no one ever welcomed
it as a gift. And so really, this sermon is
a gift for you because it's meant to put the test, put the question
to you now in sort of a pretest. What will we say in the day of
judgment? What can you answer, the Lord Jesus Christ? God's
answer is the answer key. What we turn in is our answer. And so I want to make sure that
the answer that you give matches the answer key. I want to make
sure my answer matches that answer key. A lot of times I took tests
in college and there were a lot of questions. This test only
has one. only one question and only one
answer but this is the answer to every question and that's
why I know it's the right answer. In fact this is the answer that
I am basing my eternal salvation on and I hope that you are too. The Sabeans came and took them
away. He lost his sheep. Fire fell from heaven. And he
lost his children, all of his sons and daughters. The house
collapsed. A wind came and the house collapsed.
And the rest of his life was miserable, too. And in Chapter
8 of Job, Bildad, one of his, quote, friends, unquote, speaks
to him in chapter 1, and he said this in verse 2, I'm sorry, chapter
8, verse 2. He says, How long will thou speak
these things? How long shall not the words
of thy mouth be like a strong wind? Doth God pervert judgment? And the answer is, it's a rhetorical
question. Of course not. The judge of all
the earth will do right. When we stand before God, He's
going to do right. We can't do wrong. Will God pervert
judgment? This man is giving advice to
Job who is suffering from his affliction, all the loss. Or
does the Almighty pervert justice? And then he does something very
cruel here. If thy children have sinned against
him, and he hath cast them away for their transgression. He's
really an implication there. Your children died because they
were make your supplication to the
Almighty. And then in verse six, if thou
were pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee and
make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. So here, the old
dad is telling Job, the problem is your sin. It was a problem
with your children and you yourself are a hypocrite. Look at verse
13. He talks about this reed that grows up, this rush that
grows up in the mire. It looks green, but then it's
bent over. He says in verse 13, so are the
paths of all that forget God. And the hypocrite's hope shall
perish, whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be
like a spider's web. His implication, his joke, everything
he said is the words of a hypocrite. The reason you're cut down is
because you lived not really who you said you were. Isn't
that the concern you have? It seems like most of the struggles
that I have inside of me are the fact that my life doesn't
seem to square with the confession that I profess to believe. But
here he says in chapter 9, in verse 1, it says, Joe answered,
he says, I know it is so of a truth, but how shall man be just with
God? Here's a man who has been afflicted,
and he has nowhere to look, and he doesn't know why the Lord
has afflicted him. But he does know this, that he's
a sinner. And he asks this question, I
know what you said is true. God does not pervert judgment.
If I were perfect, then he would prosper my way. But how shall
man be just with God if he will contend with him? He cannot answer
him one of a thousand One question of a thousand. Look
down a little bit in verse 12. He says, Behold, he taketh away
who can hinder him. Who will say to him, what doest
thou? If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers
do stoop under him. Whoever those proud helpers are,
I think it would be the kings of the earth, maybe the angels
who fell. They stoop under him. If God
doesn't withdraw his anger, choose out my words to reason
with him, whom though I were righteous, yet would I not answer,
that I would make supplication to my judge? And then look over
at verse 19. He says, If I speak of strength,
lo, he is strong. And if of judgment, who shall
set me a time to plead? If I justify myself, mine own
mouth shall condemn me. If I say I am perfect, because
I have to be perfect, to enter into heaven, it shall prove me
perverse. Though I were perfect, yet would
I not know my soul, I would despise my life. So you see this. This is the way Job responded
to this man. But back in chapter 7 of Matthew,
I refer to Job to show these are the two ways that people
come to God and try to answer. Bildad's answer was, you have
to be pure. Trouble comes because of your
transgression and you need to set things right. And Job said,
but how can I answer God? I cannot go to Him. I can't plead
with Him. What am I going to say? I can't
answer one of a thousand that He says to me. So he says here
in Matthew 7 verse 21, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven." Who is it that's speaking here? The ones saying,
Lord, Lord. It's people who stand before
Christ. They're standing at the gate.
They're standing at the entrance of heaven. The judge is there.
They're answering him. He has put the question to them.
And now they're giving their answer. They're giving their
best defense. And how do they speak? Very reverently. Lord. Lord. They call Jesus the Lord. And then it says, Jesus says,
not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father, which
is in heaven. The whole issue here is about
doing the will of my father. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not, three things, prophesied in thy name,
and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
works, These people were teachers and preachers. They were the
ones who had cast devils out. At least they thought they had.
Maybe they had. I can't tell, but that's what
they claimed. They asked the Lord Jesus Christ, go look at
the evidences. Search the book of records. Find
whether or not what we're saying is true. What are they doing? They're contending. with Christ
for their own life. They're trying to give an answer.
And the answer they give is they refer back to what they've done. We taught, we preached, in your
name. They weren't Buddhists. They
were Christians, so-called. In your name we cast out devils.
In your name we did many wonderful works. The things we did, we
thought we were doing them. They didn't use the word thought.
They thought they were doing them by the grace of God. But
they looked to those things. They trusted in those things.
Then Jesus says, I will profess to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work
iniquity. Iniquity? How could they be working
iniquity after all these things? Who can compare it to what they've
done? Look at Romans chapter 10. What kind of iniquity was
he referring to? Well, in Romans chapter 9, verse
31, he begins, this is how the nation of Israel, this is how
those who trusted in their works came to God. It says in verse
31 of chapter 9, but Israel, which followed after the law
of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness,
wherefore? Why didn't they attain to the law of righteousness?
Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the
works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling
stone, as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone
and a rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed." Brethren, verse 1 of the next chapter, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God,
just like these men. A zeal even of Christ. We prophesied,
we cast out devils, we did miracles by the grace of God. But this
zeal was not according to knowledge, for they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God."
The iniquity that these men worked was they used God's law unlawfully. They tried to come to God by
keeping the law. And they pointed back to what
they had done. anything that they could think
of that could be accepted by God. That's what they brought.
That's what they trusted in. They didn't have an answer. The
answer key has an answer on it. Their answer didn't match. Therefore
they were rejected. Depart from me, I never knew
you. What a chilling thing that is
to say. But the Lord says, only those who enter are those who
do the will of my Father which is in heaven. How can we do that? How can we enter because we do
the will of God? What is the righteousness of
God that we must have? And what is the will that we
must do? Look at John chapter 6. The Lord gives us this truth
here in John chapter 6 in verse 37. He says, John 6, 37, 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. I came down from heaven, not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. Christ came
to do the will of God the Father, 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 he did that will. But look at verse 40. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth
the sun And believeth on him may have everlasting life, and
I will raise him up at the last day." We know that this is the
will Christ is speaking of doing because all who do this will
have everlasting life and he will raise them up at the last
day. So now I want to take you to the answer the Bible gives
to the ultimate question. This is the only answer. The
only answer that the Bible gives to the question that we must
have, that we must answer God. But before I turn to this, and
give you this, which by the way is my favorite scripture. I want
to ask several questions because as I read scripture, as I think
about what God has done in the Lord Jesus Christ, his only begotten
son, I realize that this answer answers every question. How do
we know the love of God, for example? How can we measure the
love of God? of my heart? Who will ultimately
be saved? And how can I know if Christ
died for me? How can I know I am His and He
is mine? Aren't those good questions?
When will this world end? When will it end? Isn't that
a question a lot of people look forward to? They look for the
end of the world. They look for the time when the
Lord's going to return. What should we preach? Who rules this world anyway?
What will be done in every circumstance of our life? Whose prayers ultimately
will be answered? What is important in life and
in death? Are there any barriers that remain
between my sinful soul and the Lord God? What does God in scripture
point to? servant, every dying servant,
and every sinner needing repentance. What is it that God says? What
is the answer to all of these questions? Look at Romans 8 and
verse 34. Here is the answer. The question
is raised by God Himself. Who is He that condemneth? The
answer is right here. How do we measure the love of
God? It is Christ that died. How holy is God? It is Christ
that died. How evil is my sin? It is Christ
that died. What is the one thing God points
every doubting sinner to? It's not to yourself, if it's
the Lord. What's the answer? What's the
answer on God's answer key? It is Christ that died. And to
every sinner who comes before Him and God says, give me an
account of your life, how will you answer the judge of all?
I only have one answer, Lord, if the answer that you gave at
the cross is not the answer that you accept now is not the answer
that answered for me before time began in my conscience now and
at judgment day I have no answer. Lord if you don't answer for
me and if your blood is not enough then there is no answer because
God is holy and though I were perfect my own mouth would condemn
me before the judge of all. He finds sin even in his servants
and his angels. So this is the one answer. What
is, of all of your life, if you could paste a banner over all
of your life and say, this is the one thing that matters, how
do I want to be remembered? It's not me. It's Christ that
died. You see, I've always thought,
this is what I want on my tombstone. People walk by, 1956 to whatever
that date is going to be, Who died here? It was Christ that
died. Because my life doesn't matter.
You see, when you come before the judge, if what's on your
answer sheet is the only answer God has on his answer key, the
only one he accepts, it's not about you. It's about what he
thinks of his son. It's Christ that died. And then
he goes on. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
because his Therefore God raised him from
the dead, who is even at the right hand of God. God has put
him in absolute authority and control over everything in this
world, so that all that happens is because of him who died, and
who also maketh intercession for us. His prayers will be heard.
His answer is the answer we must have. It's the only answer I
have, and it's the subject call upon him. They pleaded what
they thought he would accept about them. And that's what religion
does. It's all about me. It's about
my experience, about what I said, what I did, what I decided. My
resolve, my tears, my sorrow, my commitment. People come into
our area homeless and addicted and and miserable in their lives. And without any exception, they
always say to this to me, I just need to get my life back in order.
Yeah, you certainly do. But the fact of the matter is,
haven't you learned anything that you can't, you cannot get
your life in order? You'll never make yourself presentable
to God. It's Christ that died. God has to give us that answer.
And when that answer is the only answer I have, then my answer
is acceptable to God. And that's called faith. God
persuades us that what He has done in His Son is all that matters. All that matters in my standing,
all that matters in life, is what Christ answered with Himself
when He answered as our surety for every accusation and every
requirement. What a wonderful thing it is
to have the Lord Jesus Christ answer for us.