If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. My text will
be found in verses 21 to 23. And I've entitled this message,
Oh what a great day. Oh what a day. Oh what a day. Let's begin our reading here
in Matthew chapter 7. We'll begin in verse 13. We'll
read on down through our text. Our Lord Jesus Christ here speaking
says, 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. Because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it. Beware of false prophets, which
come to you in sheep's clothing, 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 ye
shall know them. 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, listen, in that day, in that day. Many shall say to me in that
day, Lord, Lord, Have we not preached in thy name, 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. In that day. Oh, what a day. Oh, what a day. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, having set forth in these first verses here, the way into
eternal life. He said, enter in the straight
gate. Why? Because broad is the way and
wide is the way. Broad is the gate and wide is
the way that leads to destruction. And there's going to be many.
There's going to be many people going that way. But He gives
us the way of life. He says, because straight is
the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life and few,
few there be that find it. That way of life, that gate we
know is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that way is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Faith in Christ is the only way
by which we are accepted in the Beloved. The only hope that anyone
would ever have. is to be in Christ, in that way. And so in the next place he says,
beware then of false prophets. He here gives a warning concerning
false prophets that would turn us from the straight gate and
the narrow way, which is faith in Christ alone. They would turn
us to the broad way. They would turn us to the wide
gate. that says there is many ways
to God, that there are many paths by which we get to glory. Isn't
that the consensus of the world? That you go your way, I'll go
my way, and then we'll just all get to heaven together. Our Lord
Jesus Christ says that's a lie. And many false preachers try
to turn people into the broad way and the wide gate. And He
says beware of them. Beware of them. Remember, Preachers,
false prophets, they're difficult to point out. They're difficult
to see. Why? They use the same Bible. They use the same words we use. Our Lord Jesus Christ says they
are wolves not dressed as wolves, but as sheep. They are wolves
in sheep's clothing. They confess to have Christ as
their Savior. But truly, He is not their Savior. These people are not found out
by their way of life, by their actions. You're not going to
find them out by what they do. They're moral people. Most of
them are very moral people. You never could find a more moral
person than a Pharisee. A Pharisee was a moral person. But you know that they were not
saved. They did not believe in Christ. So you're not going to
find out by watching their actions. That's what most people believe,
that you're going to know somebody by what they do. Look at David
in the time of his sin and tell me you could see he was a Christian.
Look at Samson in his life and tell me you can find out that
he was a believer. No. There were many more moral
people than those two. Yet they were the saved. They
went in the straight gate and the narrow way. You're not going to find them
out by what they do, but listen, you'll find them out by this,
by what they say, by their doctrine. Their doctrine will resemble
the truth. They may even preach good things. But they will always neglect
this. They will always neglect the
way of salvation which is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. that
salvation is by grace through faith alone and not of ourselves,
not of works, not of the free will of man, not by religious
deeds. They negate that. Actually, they
preach salvation by works. They'll preach Christ, but then
they'll preach what you must do in addition to what Christ
has done in order to be saved. And now Jesus tells us the end
of those that preach such heresy and the end of them who would
not follow Him. Look at verse 19. Every tree
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast in
the fire. This good fruit, friend, is not
outward works. It's a spiritual fruit. It is the fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, meekness, temperance, faith. All of these are spiritual
fruits. You'll know a good tree by the
good fruits it produces. You know what man's problem is?
It's not his works. It's the tree. He needs to be...
You make the tree good, the fruit will be good. Man's tree by nature
is evil and all he can produce is evil even though it looks
good. You ever bit into a piece of
fruit, looked good on the outside, and it's just rotten off? That's
the fruit of man. It may look good on the outside,
but it's not good because the tree is not good. His nature
is not good. So believers, let us not be then
deceived by their smooth voice. Let us not be fooled by their
talk of unity. That's what everybody wants to
say, let's just get along. You name Christ, I name Christ, we
all just get along. No. If you're not preaching the
straight gate and the narrow way, I'm sorry. We cannot. Cannot abide by that. So when
you see a false prophet, you should mark him out. You know
what you'll do, what this world will do when you do that? They'll
call you a bigot. They'll call you narrow-minded. They'll call
you foolish. To think that not all that name
the name of Christ will go to heaven. But friend, isn't that
what our text says? Just because you name the name
of Christ does not mean you're going to heaven. Look at what
our Lord said. Go look at your text, verse 21.
Not everyone that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said not everyone that
says, Lord, Lord, is going to enter the kingdom of heaven.
In fact, there will be many people in that day That day when Christ
comes again, there'll be many people in that day that profess,
that made some profession of faith and say that Jesus Christ
is their Lord, that will not enter in, because that's not
enough to say the Lord is your Lord. It's not enough to profess
to be Christian. Do you realize, I just Googled
this up just a minute before we came, 2.3 billion people in this world
profess to be Christian. How many of those are actually
Christian? It doesn't matter what they profess.
It doesn't matter what they say. Jesus said, many shall say unto
me in that day, Lord, Lord. And He'll say to them, I never
knew you. It's not enough to profess Christ with your lips. Not enough to profess to be Christian.
Yet Jesus tells us it is not enough to confess with the lips,
but you must do this. He that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven. This is the key by which we are
able then to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And praise God there
is a way. Praise God there is a way to
heaven. And it is doing this. The will
of the Father. Now what is the will of the Father?
That's an important question. If anybody's going to heaven,
they've got to know this. What is the will of the Father?
Jesus plainly tells us what the will of the Father is in John
6 in verse 40. He said, and this is the will.
You want to know what it is? And this is the will of Him that
sent me. And of all He had given me, I
should lose nothing, but raised up again. And this is the will."
I think he said that three times in that passage there, in 37,
38, 37, 40. He said, this is the will, that everyone that
seeth the Son. And what does he mean by that?
Because I ain't never seen the Son of God. What he means is,
everyone that is by the power of the Holy Spirit, seen Him
through the gospel of Jesus Christ with the eye of faith. That is
what it is to see the Son. And he follows that up and says,
and believeth on Him. This is the will of the Father,
that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on Him hath
everlasting life. And listen to this, I will raise
Him up when? At the last day. At that day. Many will profess
and be found lost. Oh, but there in that day when
He raises them up, there will be some who will be raised up
and received into everlasting life. Why? Because they did the
will of the Father. What is the will of God? It is
that you believe on the Son. That is the will of the Father.
Faith in Christ is the will of the Father in heaven. But all
who come to Christ, for all for whom Christ died, they shall
come to faith in Christ, and they shall continue in faith
to Christ until that day. And in that day, they will be
allowed in. They will enter in. But some,
like Satan, have transformed themselves into the angels of
light. Some of these false prophets deceive many. All the while they
profess Christ, but in their heart is nothing but darkness
and death. Listen what Paul says about false
prophets. He says, having a form of godliness.
Isn't that something? They have a form of godliness
where it's outside. It's all outside. It's a show.
Having a form of godliness, but what's the fruit? Denying the
power of godliness. Denying that salvation is completely
of the power and the will of God. It is denying that salvation
is completely accomplished by Jesus Christ. That is the power
of God. It is denying the gospel. Paul
said that the gospel that we preach, it is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And so they deny the
gospel. They deny the power of the gospel.
They deny that salvation is by grace. Now friends, we are living
in perilous times, if you haven't noticed. We are. We're living
in perilous times. And these false prophets, these
followers that have a form of godliness, but inward are lovers
of pleasure rather than lovers of God, They confess that Christ
is their Lord, but truly they are ruled by the pleasure of
this world and the covetousness of false religion. There are many that profess faith
in Christ but have not love for Christ nor His gospel, but rather
would hold on to their works, religion, rather they would hold
on to the things of this life, rather than to believe on Christ
alone. Like that rich young ruler. He would rather have His riches
and His power than to simply throw it all away and come to
Christ. Many of those that preach and
believe that salvation is begun by Christ but made perfect by
the flesh and the works are false prophets. Do you hear that? Anybody that preaches grace plus
works is a false prophet. These men, the scripture says,
are ever learning and never able to come to the truth. What's
the truth? Faith in Christ alone. The narrow
way, the straight gate is simply faith in Christ alone. That's
a stumbling block to them. Believers, we are warned not
to follow them. We must not let our hearts draw
nigh well-slip or envy their prosperity, but rather look and
see their end. That's what we should be doing
with false prophets. We should not envy them in any
way. They will prosper in this world.
They do prosper in this world. They're heard by millions, believed
by billions. But what is that to them if in
the end they're lost? Jesus said, listen, Many, not
a few. Many shall say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in thy name? And in
thy name cast out devils. Didn't we do many wonderful works? Didn't we feed the poor? Didn't
we go to these poor countries and build them homes? Did we
not prophesy? Did we not speak in tongues?
Did we not cast out devils? Did we not do miracles in your
name? And what does Jesus say? I will
profess. Now they made a profession and
Christ is now going to make a profession. Here it is. I never knew you. Depart from me. You that what? Work iniquity. Your preaching,
your miracles was all iniquity. Your house building, whatever
you were doing, iniquity. Iniquity. Jesus reveals the end
of those that will not believe in Christ alone, the end of those
that profess faith in Christ with their lips but hearts that
are far from Him, the end of all those that claim to believe
on Him but in their doctrine, in their religion, they have
kept part of their salvation for themselves. In that day He
professes to them, I never knew you. And so then we hear of this in
that day. Jesus here is telling us of a
day that's fast approaching. A day of judgment in which all
will be exposed for who they really are. This day will be a day of great
separation. God will separate His elect from
those vessels of wrath that are fitted from destruction. In this
day, he will divide the sheep from the goats, the wheat from
the tares, the lost from the saved, those who are known of
Christ, and those who only make a profession to know Christ.
What a day. What a day that's going to be. I want us to spend some time
then looking at this evening at that day. At that day, and
I pray the Holy Spirit to give us some clarity to see the reality. Behold, listen, these two things,
if you've got to behold something, behold this. Behold the goodness
and severity of the Lord. Goodness to the sheep. Severity
to the goats. So first of all, I want you to
know that this day is this day He is speaking of, in that day
is the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His second coming. When the Lord came the first
time to be the propitiation for the sins of His people, how did
He come? How did He come? He came in humiliation. He came in humility. He was born
of the poorest family. He was born of a dry seed. You know that the root of David,
He says He shall come out as the root of David. What's a root? It's a dried stump. That line
seemingly was dead. And He comes out of this line
of David in humility and meekness. But when He comes again, He is
not coming in humility. He is not coming in obscurity. He is coming where every eye
shall see Him at one time in all the world. Everyone will
see Him when He comes again. This is the day that He will
come with His holy angels. Listen to what the Word says,
taking vengeance. Now you say, well, that doesn't
sound like Jesus. It is Jesus. When He comes again,
He will not come as a meek and lowly Savior. He will come as
an executing judge, taking vengeance on all His enemies. He will come
again. He humbled Himself and He died
on the cross. And let us remember that He did
not stay in the manger. Isn't that where men want Him? in the manger. Why do you think
they have these little idols of babies in a manger? That's
where they want Him. Why do you think they hang Him
on a cross and stick it on the wall? Because that's where they
want Him. They want Him in the tomb. They don't want Him on
the throne. But that's where He is. He's
on the throne. He's seated on the throne of
God. This man, Jesus Christ, whom
God raised from the dead, God made Him what? Both Lord and
Christ. God made Him Lord. God made Him
Christ. God announced He is Lord and
He is Christ. And we as His servants declare
to all men there is none of the name given among men whereby
we must be saved. He is now the only hope for sinners. He alone by His blood and righteousness
can pardon sinners. He can pardon sinners because
He is exalted. Now listen, as of this moment,
the door is open, isn't it? Jesus said, come unto me, you
that weary and heavy laden, you shall find rest in your soul,
for I am meek and lowly in heart. You shall find rest. He is now
meek and lowly in heart, and he will receive you. Come sinners,
he will receive you. But there is coming a day. the meek and lowly shall come
in vengeance." When this man, when a man comes to death, I
want you to see that when a man comes to death there is no more
hope for salvation. It's at this time that mercy
is passed, and nothing remains for that man except a fearful
looking of the great day when his body and soul will stand
before Christ and be judged. There is some living, some living
in that day when he comes, and when he comes, he'll come suddenly. The dead in Christ shall rise
first, and those believers shall be caught up in the air to be
with him. And on the rest will fall the wrath and vengeance
of God. Now friends, let me be clear
about this truth. Jesus Christ is coming. He is
coming. He is long-suffering with men
until that last one of His chosen race is brought in. When that
last one is saved, when the shepherd shall have brought the last sheep
into the fold, that gate will be shut and there will be no
more hope of mercy. You remember the parable of the
foolish and wise virgins. Our Lord said there were five
foolish and five wise. And the wise they took with them
as they went out to meet the bridegroom, they took with them
their lamps with what? Oil. But the foolish only took
their lamps without any oil. What is that? It's a picture
of faith with the Holy Spirit, true faith, and faith without
the Spirit of God, natural faith. True faith is that with the oil.
In other words, true faith continues. Why? It has the oil of the Spirit
constantly giving it energy to burn, like the oil. But if, you
know, when the other people didn't have any oil, as soon as the
wick burned out, guess what? That was it. That was it. And
then the message came. They both slept, didn't they?
They both sinned. They're both sinners. God's people are just
as much a sinner as the other one. But when that call came
in, that message came, Behold, the bridegroom cometh. And all
of them rose, and they trimmed their lamps. And the foolish
said to the wise, Give us of your oil. You know what? I can't
give you faith. I can't give you the Holy Spirit.
And you know what happened? foolish ones went to buy oil. It was then the bridegroom came. And you know what the scripture
says? And the door was shut. That's the point. When it comes,
when he comes, the door shuts. There is no hope at death and
there is no hope when he comes. The door will be shut. And Jesus said, many in that
day when the door is shut will cry unto me, Lord, Lord, open
to us. But then it will be too late
for mercy. The door will be closed. This is why we preach this message
today is the day of salvation. Why? He's not come and you're
alive. You're alive. Better is a living dog than a
dead lion. Why? Because in life there's
hope. Are you living? There's hope. Come in while there's
room. Come in. Believe on Him. Trust in Him. Believe on Him
alone apart from your own righteousness and self-worth. Cast away your
filthy garments of works religion and your obedience and embrace
the Son of God by faith as all your righteousness, as all your
salvation. Enter ye in the straight gate
which is Christ. How? Only through faith. Through
faith in Him. Why? Because there is a day coming
when He will come not in meekness, but in vengeance. We that believed
on Him, let us fix our eyes on this. On what? That day. I want
you to fix your eyes on that day. You that believe. Is that
not going to be the greatest day? It will be for you. Let us fix our hearts then and
be encouraged and rejoice that our Redeemer liveth and that
He is coming for us. The Apostle said that we are
to be looking, looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing
of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us
that He might redeem us from all iniquity. that he might purify
unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. That day
is set. That day is sure. He's coming. He's coming. He's coming. Mock
it if you will. He's coming. The second thing
is this. All men must appear before him
in that day. All men must appear. Go to Revelation chapter 20.
Look over here with me. Revelation, the apostle John
saw this in his vision that the Lord had given him. In Revelation
chapter 20 and verse 11, the apostle said, And I saw a great
white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth
and the heavens fled away, and there was found no place for
them. And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God, and the books were opened, And I
like this one, another book was opened. What book is that? He said, that's the book of life.
And the dead were judged out of those things which are written
in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up their
dead which were in it. And death and hell delivered
up their dead which were in them. And they were judged every man
according to his works. Notice, this is referred to in
another place, this great white throne. It's referred into another
place as the throne of the Lamb. or the throne of God. But here
it's called the Great White Throne for a very specific reason. When
He comes and you see Him on this Great White Throne, there's a
very good reason why. First of all, I want you to see
it's great. It's great because of His authority. This King who
sits on this throne has no boundaries. We have no king in our country. senators, representatives, we
have a president, we have... Do you realize their power really
doesn't really stretch past this, our borders? They're only ruling
for this country. They like to think that they
rule other places. They don't rule anything. If
you have a king and he is a king of a country, he has borders.
His power only extends so far. But this throne, this king has
all power and he has no boundaries because all is his. He has authority
over all things. Jesus Christ said this, all power
is given unto me in heaven and earth. In other words, everywhere.
Everywhere. Now you may not see the All things
are under his feet, but they are. Paul said that in Hebrews
chapter 2. He said this. He said, Thou hast
put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he
put all things in subjection under him, he left nothing that's
not put under him. But now, we see not yet all things
under him. Look around. Do you see all things
under him? It doesn't appear that way, does
it? But it is. It is. And right now, it may not appear
that He is ruling all things, but you make no mistake, in that
day it will be made plain. In that day when He comes, all
will be called to stand before this great white throne, and
it will be manifest to them that all things were put under His
feet. At that moment, when He comes,
everyone's going to see it. That He was King the whole time.
That He was Lord the whole time. That even when they did not see
it. How foolish is man to think that Christ is powerless or helpless. When in actuality He is controlling
all things. Everything. You see the vandalism and things
that are happening in our country at this particular moment. Do
you not think that was in their heart six months ago? Why now
was it unleashed? Because Christ unleashed it. It was already in their hearts
to do it. He just gave them opportunity and desire and the place. He
opened it to them. He did that. He's doing this. All things are in His power. All things are under subjection
to Him. And how arrogant is it of a man
to shake his fist in the face of his Creator and say, I will
not have this man to rule over me. I will not have Christ to
rule over me. I will have my way. When in actuality,
you are still under Him. How ignorant, how foolish is
man to suppose that he can do his own will, when in actuality,
in doing his own will, he's doing the will of God. And yet, in
the end, he'll suffer for the sin that he committed. All things are under him. I will
not, because they are blind, they cannot see that he already
rules everything. They do not see His power. And
unless He opens their eyes to see Him high and lifted up, they
won't. Not until that day. But in that
day when He comes in great power, they will see, and they'll see
it like this. He's going to call everyone. Everyone that has ever
lived and given breath, He will call them to stand in judgment
before Him. He will call them from the sea,
from the tomb. He'll bring their souls from
hell to unite with their bodies, and they will stand in judgment.
None will be able to refuse His voice. There will be none able
to reject Him in that day. All will come, both small and
great, both saved and lost, sinners and saints, righteous and unrighteous,
and all will be gathered before Him and be judged by Him. He said, not then foolish for
natural man to think the grave would hide him. Isn't that something
that people think the grave is safe? They think if I just, you
know, I get this that people in their mind, they can be so
damaged in their brains as to think suicide is the answer. Listen, if you're not Christ,
it's not going to help you. It just ushers you into His judgment. It's foolish to think that death
would save people from their troubles, but rather, if they
come to death, it will not save them, but usher their souls into
torment. Isn't that what happened to the rich man? The rich man
has been in hell now for 2,000 years, crying for one drop of
water on his tongue. What a great throne. It's a great
throne. It's a great white throne of
judgment. Number three, all will be judged
by Jesus Christ. The Father, Jesus said in John
5 and verse 22, for the Father judges no man but has committed
all judgment to the Son. So, when all are assembled before
Christ and the books are opened, and these are not literal books,
friends. figurative, showing therefore that God has written
down in meticulous account of every thought, every word, every
deed, either righteous or sinful. He has taken account. He has
taken account. And every man will be judged
based on his deeds done in the body, whether good or evil. Every action, every lie, every
covetous thought, every lustful emotion is naked and open before
Him. Those things may be hidden from
man. Those false prophets may be unaware
to us, but they will be exposed by Him. Those that confess Him
to be Lord, but if not truly bowed to him
and believed on Christ, at this day will be exposed. Friends,
if we are disciples by lip service only, listen, you may deceive
yourselves and you may deceive everybody else and you may be
a good actor. In that day, what you are will
be fully revealed. Why? Because it's not hid from
God. You can hide it from everybody else. You can't hide from Him. And this throne in that day is
also called a white throne. What does this mean? It is a
holy throne. It is a just throne. And make
no mistake about it, if you are not righteous in that day, when
He comes, you will never be righteous. There will be no mercy given
to those at this judgment throne who are not righteous. There
will be no righteousness imputed. There will be no grace bestowed. There will be no pardon given.
If you are not found completely righteous according to the just
and holy eyes of God, if there is one sin found in the books
of God's justice against you, you listen, in that day you will
be cast out from Him. You will be cast into eternal
hell forever. Look at verse 11 in Revelation
22. Revelation 22, look at what it
says. He that is in this day, when He comes, He says, He that
is unjust, let him be unjust still. He that is filthy, let
him be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy
still. Behold, I come quickly. My reward
is with me to give every man according to what? As his work
shall be. In that day will be judged based
on our works. You got that? All of us If we are righteous,
we will be righteous forever in that day. If we are filthy,
we will be filthy forever. Is that not a most solemn thing
you ever heard? What you are when you meet God
is what you'll be forever. Is this not then an important
thing to hear? That whatsoever state a man finds himself at
Christ's coming or his death, that he will never be able to
change it. Do you think that you may have hope after
death? There's a lot of religions based on that, isn't there? That
after death you can go to purgatory. The Catholic, they think that
you can go to purgatory and somehow your family can pray you out
of it. That's not what the Scripture said. He that is unjust, let
him be unjust still. If he's righteous, he'll be righteous
still. If he's not, he'll be unjust still. No such thing as
purgatory. This message is one of eternal
proportions. Those who will continue to profess
that Christ to be their Lord, but still claim to have part
in their salvation, they will be surprised in that day. They
will have thought themselves to be gathered as sheep, but
sadly divided as goats. Let me then ask each of us, if Christ will judge you based
on your works, where will you stand? When the books are open, what
will be recorded of you? Will you be righteous or will
you be unjust? Will you be holy or will you
be filthy? Friends, the only hope then for
us is to be found in Jesus Christ. The only hope for a sinner is
that you be covered by His blood. The only hope for our souls is
then to believe on Him alone. Righteousness is found only by
imputation and not by the labor of the law or morality. In Romans chapter 4 and verse
5 it says, But unto him that worketh not. Now here's something. Isn't this good? To him that
worketh not. but believeth on him. You see the contrast? Works and
faith. There's a contrast here. He that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. Here we go. Any ungodly. Is there
any ungodly? Because he justifieth the ungodly. Anyone that believes on Him that
justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Not the act of faith, because
there are many that have an act of faith, but this is not an
act of faith, it is rather the object of faith. It is the object
of faith that is counted for our righteousness. It is Christ's
righteousness that is counted as our own righteousness. to
everyone that believeth, not works, but faith. So then, all who are saved by
Christ alone, apart from their works of the law, have this hope
that in those books, when they are opened and the eternal eyes
of God are cast upon the books, there will be no sin found. only perfect righteousness. When God opens the book and He sees my name, there'll be
nothing but a red blot covering all my sins. And then on the
side it says, see the other book. That's the Lamb's book of life.
Because all my works and all my righteousness are His. His are counted as mine. That's what it is to be justified.
It is to be declared completely innocent. Not like you were innocent,
but actually innocent of all charges of sin. It is to be declared to be justly
innocent before the eyes of God's justice. This is what Christ
has done for His people. All those named in that other
book, the book of life, this is what He has done for them. By His blood He has taken on
their sins upon Himself, and God punished their sins in Him. Therefore, all the sins of those
that believe on Him are blotted out, as the Scripture says, as
a thick cloud. So thick is this cloud that God
can't see through it. Listen to what this says. This
is in that day. If you are found in Christ, listen
what's going to happen. God's going to look and he's
not going to be able to find one sin. Now, can I find a scripture
that tells me that? Yes, I can. Jeremiah chapter
50 and verse 20. Listen what it says. In those
days and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for and none. and the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found." Now why? Are we not sinners? You who believe,
are you not a sinner as well? Yes. Why will you be pardoned? For God says, I will pardon them
whom I reserve. Those He set aside for Himself. In that other book, He will pardon
them. Oh, what a day. What a day. What a great day to those that
are found in Christ that God would ever search by searching
can never find their sins. Never find our sins. Believers,
is this not the greatest joy then that should move us to look
forward to that day? To look forward at that time
when He should come? When we should rid ourselves
of the presence of sin in this mortal body and be clothed fully
in body, soul, and spirit in His perfect righteousness ever
to be with Him? When I stand before the throne
dressed in beauty not my own, when I see Thee, As thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then how much I owe, when I stand in beauty not my
own. Praise God for such a grace that
accomplished salvation. Praise God that Jesus Christ
was taken all my sin upon himself and laid down his life in my
stead. Praise God that I might be made
the righteousness of God in him. And all who have this confession,
all who have the spirit of the living God in our hearts crying,
Abba Father, All who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit, which is to live by faith in Christ, listen to what it
says, there is therefore now, right now, an ever-present, never-ending
now. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. There's a day coming, friends.
And in that day Christ will come taking vengeance. All who are
found in their sin will be judged. All who are found in the righteousness
of Christ will never be condemned. And so then we must confess that
in that day there is going to be a separation. Now listen,
people like to divide in groups. Am I not right? Group here. You're in this group. You're
in that group. You're in this group. You're in that group. There are
only two groups. God only has two groups here. In that day
there will only be two groups. Sheep and goats. Wheat and tares. Lost and saved. Righteous and
unrighteous. Sinners and saints. Only two
groups. How do you know that? Go to Matthew
chapter 25. Jesus is going to talk about
this day. He talks about it in Matthew 7. He speaks about it
again in Matthew 25 in greater detail. In Matthew 25, He said
this in verse... Let's look at verse 31. And when the Son of Man shall
come in His glory, and His holy angels with Him, He shall sit
upon His throne in His glory. Now what I've been saying, And
he said, Before him shall be gathered all nations, and he
shall separate them one from the other. Two groups. As the
shepherd divided the sheep from the goats, and he shall set the
sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Now listen,
these two groups. Here's one, the sheep. The sheep. In that day the Lord will gather
them and He'll separate them. And on His sheep, this is what
He'll say to them. Verse 34, and the king shall
say unto them on his right hand, come, you blessed of my father
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For when I was hungry, you gave me meat. When I was
thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you took me
in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison, you came to me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered and fed thee,
or thirsty and gave thee? When saw we thee a stranger and
took thee in naked and clothed thee? When saw we thee sick and
in prison and came unto thee? Now God here says this great
thing. He says, come. Come, you blessed
of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared.
You know what that is, prepared? It was purposed kingdom. It was
a purchased kingdom. Purchased by the blood of Christ.
Purposed in election. Purchased by the blood of Christ.
And applied, seen by the grace of the Holy Spirit, through faith.
It is a kingdom prepared, ordered in all things ensured, for all
who, the sheep, all those that the Father gave to Christ, all
that He redeemed from the foundation of the world. Why? Why would
He grant such a reward to those that believe on Him? Why are
we to inherit a kingdom prepared before the world began? Only
one word is given in Scripture as a reason. Very simple word. Grace. Unmerited favor. The only reason
that we should ever inherit the kingdom of God is simply grace. The grace of God. There's no
difference in nature between us and the goats. The only difference
is the grace that God has given us life and faith in Christ alone,
that separates us from them. And notice the attitude of those
sheep. They say this, Lord, when did
we ever do this? Come you righteous. You notice
they said that, look, then He shall say the righteous. The
title is already theirs. Why? Because they're righteous.
And He says, then shall the righteous say. When did we do these things? When did we ever do anything
for you? Were we not altogether unprofitable?
Did we not fail thee in this life? How many times have we
had unbelief and doubts? How many times have we doubted
the perfect offering that you made? How many times did we doubt
the power of your keeping us, the supplying of all of our needs,
or to deliver us? How many times have we doubted
thee? But listen, Jesus said, when
you've done it to the least of these, you've done it unto me.
You know what this means? Whenever I did it, you did it. When I did this for the least
of the saints, you did it. All my righteousness is yours. This is why you should inherit
the kingdom prepared for you. And so when He died for our sins,
we died in Him. When He rose again from the dead,
we rose with Him and sat on the throne of God. We sat together
with Him in His throne. This is how we can be clear of
all sin in that day because He was our scapegoat that bore away
our sins. He was our atonement. And by His blood, He forever
removed every spot and stain. The Scripture says He was made
sin for us who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. But there's another group here,
the goats. Now these goats, those, how do they differ? He says to
the goats, listen, in verse 41, Then she saith unto his left
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels. For while I was unhungered, ye
gave me no meat. I was thirsty, ye gave me no drink. I was a
stranger, ye took me not in, naked, and ye clothed me not,
sick, and in prison ye visited me not. Listen to their answer.
And they shall say, Lord, when saw we thee unhungered, and thirst,
and stranger, and naked, and in prison, and did not minister
to you? What were they trusting in? They were trusting in what they
did for Him. Whereas the righteous have no
confidence in themselves. All of our righteousness is in
Him. Their righteousness was dependent
upon them. They thought they did these things. And sad will be the case, my
friends. And he shall answer them, saying,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to
one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall
go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal
life. Depart from me. Can you imagine
any more horrific words than those coming from the Savior?
Depart from me. Now friends, I don't know very
much about hell at all. But I know this, there is no
way for us to ever experience it in this world. Because every
pain in this world has some point of relief. I know you've had heartache,
I know you've had pain. But I know this, you don't continually
feel that. There's always some reprieve.
There's always some levity. There's always some relief. You
can torture a man, but eventually, he'll either pass out or die.
So there's an end to the suffering in this life. But in that eternal
damnation, there is no reprieve. There is no end. There is no mercy to be had. The rich man is still begging
for one drop of water. Men may mock this if they will,
but when he comes, if you are not in Christ, this will be your
reward. In that day, many shall say to
me, many, many shall say, Lord, Lord, And because they did not believe
on Christ alone, they added something to His work. They defiled His
sacrifice by adding some work or will to His offering. He shall
say to them, Depart from Me, I never knew you, and all your
works are iniquity. And they shall go away in everlasting
torments. Oh, but in that day there is
good hope for some. I'm so thankful that that's not
all. I'm so thankful there's not just one group, because we
all deserve to be goats. That's just so. But there is
that group of sheep, and praise God there is, that there is hope.
And therefore, we who are in Christ, let us hold fast by faith
to Christ. Let us by faith long to be found
in Him. Isn't that what Paul said? He
said, I long to be found in Him. I desire to be found in Him.
Not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but the
righteousness which is of the faith of Christ. I desire to
be found in Him. Don't you? I desire that I be
found all in Him. and not anything of myself. Nothing of myself. All Him. All Him. I want all His righteousness. I want all His sacrifice to cover
me. And in Him, I'm covered. And in that day, I will stand
complete in Him. Listen, I know you doubt. I know
you have fears. You know who don't have any fears?
Those who don't know Christ. They don't have any concern about
this. They may be concerned about hell,
but that just goes away. When a man comes to know his
need of Christ, and he finds his all in Christ, he doesn't
desire anything else but to be in Christ. I like this hymn from whence
this fear and unbelief. Hath not the Father put to grief
his spotless Son for me? And will the righteous judge
of men condemn me for that debt of sin which Lord was charged
to thee? Complete atonement thou hast
made to the utmost farthing paid, what e'er thy people owed. Nor
can his wrath on me take place, If sheltered in thy righteousness,
And sprinkled with thy blood. If thou hast my discharge procured,
And freely in my room endured The whole wrath divine, Payment
God cannot twice demand, First at my bleeding surety's hand,
And then again at mine. Turn then my soul unto thy rest,
The merits of thy great high priest have bought thy liberty. Trust his effective blood, nor
fear thy banishment from God. Why? Since Jesus died for thee. So then, when he comes again,
where will you be found? He is coming. He will judge. Enter you the straight gate,
Christ, the narrow way, faith alone in Christ alone. And all who are in Him. We sing
this when He comes again. What a day that will be when
my Jesus I shall see and look upon his face, the one that saved
me by his grace, when he takes me by the hand and leads me through
the promised land. What a day. What a glorious day that day
will be. Will it be glorious for I pray
that you'd come to Christ. Oh, that you'd come. That you'd
come and find in Him all that you need. Gracious God, dismiss us with
your blessings. Pour out your Spirit upon us. Give us grace to see our need
of Him and find in Him all we need. So in that day when you come,
we might be found in you and not outside of you. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen.