Matthew chapter 7, tonight we'll
be looking at verses 21 through 23. Matthew chapter 7, verse
21 through verse 23, and the title of the message is, In that
day. In that day. Matthew 7, verse 21 says, 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 shall 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? And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
Now last week we looked at the Lord Jesus Christ warning us
concerning false prophets. We saw that these false prophets,
that their mission is to drag us, to sway us from the way of
faith in Christ. The idea of the false prophet
is to bring in our works, to bring in some kind of merit by
which we would enter in with Christ and be accepted with God. And we remember that these false
prophets are not easily detected. wolves in sheep's clothing. These
are people that are not found out by their life, by their actions,
but by their doctrine. By their doctrine. They will
preach many good things, but the thing that they will be missing
in their message is the gospel of Jesus Christ And the message
of grace, the message of salvation by grace alone, through faith
alone, in Christ alone, and not of ourselves. They'll miss that.
They'll miss Christ in their message. They'll come right next
to the truth, but they won't enter in. They won't talk about
Christ alone. as the only hope for sinners.
And now Jesus, after His warning us of these people, He now in
this text begins to tell us of their end. And when I thought
of that, I thought of Psalm 73, when you think of the Psalm of
Asaph. You know how he was so distressed by those false teachers. He was so distressed by false
religion. And then he said, when I came
into the house of the Lord, the sanctuary, he said, I understood
their end. I understood their end. And the
Lord here is giving us the end of all of those that preach such
heresy as Christ plus their works, Christ plus their will, Christ
plus the knowledge of doctrine. And He also gives us the end
of all those that follow them. Believer, let us not be deceived
or taken in by them, and let us not be fooled by the talk
of unity. When you see a false prophet
and you mark him out, make note of this, the world, when they
hear you, they will hate you. They will despise you for saying
such things. They'll call you a bigot. They'll
call you narrow-minded to say such things. They'll think you're
foolish to think that not all that name the name of Jesus will
go to heaven. I mean, is that not what the
religious world thinks? That if you just name the name
of Jesus, everything's okay. I heard a man saying, well, if
you have ever loved God in your life, if you have ever, ever
had a feeling of love toward God, don't worry, He loves you
too. Well, that's a lie. That's a
lie. Friends, the love of God never
saved anyone. It's the blood of Christ that
saves. The love was the motive by which
God saves us. But love never saved. It is the
blood of Christ that saves. And friends, when someone tells
you that just because they name the name of Jesus, they're going
to heaven, that's not true, because that's not what Jesus here in
our text said. Look at that in verse 21. He said, Not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Now, is that not plain? Is that
not clear? Jesus said, not everyone that
says, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. There
are many religious people in our day that say that Jesus is
their Lord. But friends, saying it is not
enough. Saying it is not enough. What is enough? Jesus said, but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. What
is the will of the Father? Isn't that important? If Jesus
says only those that not only hear, but do the will of my Father,
what is the will of the Father? That's an important question.
John 6.40 tells us what the will of God is. And he said, this
is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth
the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life. What is the will of the Father?
Believe on the Son. That's the will of the Father,
that you believe on the Son. Faith in Christ is the will of
God. And all those for whom Christ
died shall come to faith and continue in faith until He comes
again. But friends, only those who come
to Christ in faith shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Only
those that come to Christ in faith and continue in faith shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven. But I'll tell you, some, like
Satan, have transformed themselves into angels of light while their
hearts are full of darkness. In 2 Timothy chapter 3, the Apostle
Paul warns us, he says, there shall be perilous times. There shall be perilous times.
They'll be men who are blasphemers, lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God. They'll be disobedient to parents. They'll be heady, high-minded
people. And he said they'll have a form
of godliness. Now friends, if false prophets
and those that followed them, if they went through all of those
traits of deceivers, liars, heady, high-minded, we could see those
people, can't we? But friends, these people will
have a form of godliness about them. But how shall we know them? Because they deny the power of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. They deny the power of Jesus
Christ and His salvation. From such, turn away. Get away from them. For of this sort they creep into
houses and lead captive silly women, laden with sins, led away
with diver's lust, ever learning and never coming to the knowledge
of the truth. And men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the
faith." Friends, we are in these perilous times. And friends,
religion has a form of godliness, but because they deny the power
of the gospel, they are to be avoided, turned away from. They may confess Jesus to be
their Lord, but truly they are ruled by the pleasures of the
flesh. There are many that confess faith
in Christ, but have not love for Christ or His gospel. Bob and I were talking about
this to begin with before y'all got here. We were speaking about
these little groups that pop up. You know, they come out strong. They come out of the gate saying,
oh, I want to hear the gospel. And they invite preachers to
come for a while. But what happens? Usually, if
they're not seeking a pastor, if they're not seeking someone
to worship God in God's way, usually these groups end up to
nothing. They end up coming to nothing. And it's sad. Because, see, they
don't mind a preacher coming, they just don't want to support
him. They don't want to commit themselves
to him. They don't mind coming to hear
the gospel cheaply, but they don't want to support the man.
They don't want to take care of a pastor. And so they just
invite pastors to come. They come out and they preach
to them, but they don't last long. Why? Because they are not
willing to give up this world to hear the gospel. They're not.
Now friends, I know that this offends many of those people
who say, I love Jesus! Oh, I love Jesus! But they're
not willing to give up anything for the worship of Christ. Now
there's something wrong with that kind of faith. There's just
something wrong with it. And I'll tell you, we live in
perilous times like that. Many people will do this. Many people are doing this in
our day. They're ever learning, but they're never bowing before
Christ. Believers, we are warned not
to follow them, and we must not let our hearts draw what nigh
well slip because of the prosperity of the wicked either. Friends,
you cannot tell me that religion is not a profitable business
in this world. It is. Religion is a profitable
business. And every time I drive, I can't
help but see the massive buildings and structures. But we're not
to let that bother us. We're not to let that bother
us. Don't let the prosperity of the wicked bother you. Because
Christ tells us their end. And I don't want part of their
end. I don't want any part of their destruction. Look at this,
in Matthew 7.22, "...many will say to me in that day, Lord,
Lord, have we not done this? And have we not done that? And
He will say to them, Depart from Me, I never knew you." That's
their end. And tonight I want to talk to
us about this day. I want to spend the rest of my
time talking about this great day that the Lord is speaking
of here in verse 22. In that day, in what day? In
what day? Friends, this day that the Lord
is speaking of is a day of judgment. It is a day of great separation. There will be a great dividing
on this specific day. Just as there was a day ordained
of God when the Son of God would come down and take the form of
a man, just as there was a day that God had determined that
the Son of God would take all the sins of His people on the
cross, just as there was a certain day that the Son of God was risen
from the dead, there is a certain day of judgment. That is to come. And the first thing I want to
talk about of this day is that that day of judgment is the day
Christ comes back. The day of judgment is the day
of Christ's return. When Jesus came into this world
to be the propitiation for sins, He came as a man and humbled
Himself and became obedient unto death. He Himself claims to be meek
and lowly of heart. But friends, when Jesus comes
back, He will not come in the same manner He came the first
time. Scripture says He will come with
His holy angels taking vengeance. And Scripture says when He comes
that they will say to the rocks and to the mountains, fall on
us and save us from the wrath of the Lamb. Friends, when Jesus
comes back, it will not be in a meek and humble manner, but
He will come back in all of His glory, taking vengeance on the
ungodly. He who humbled himself and died
on the cross will not come back in the same manner because when
He died, He was risen again. And what the Scripture says about
when He was risen again? He was risen to the right hand
of the Majesty on high. This man Jesus was raised up
by God to be both Lord and Christ. And that's exactly what He is
right now, both Lord and Christ. And we His servants declare to
all men that there is none other name given among men whereby
we must be saved." I tell you and declare to you that Jesus
Christ is the only hope for sinners. He alone by His blood and righteousness
can pardon sins. And that's the only way any one
of us who are sinners will ever be saved is by Him. and Him alone. But friends, this message will
only be preached in your ears for so long. And every one of
us will face death. Every one of us will face death.
And when a man comes to death, When a man comes to die, know
this, there is no more hope for salvation at that time. When a man dies, that's it. There is no more preaching to
him. There is no more witnessing of
Christ to him. It is at that time that mercy
is passed and nothing remains for him but a fearful looking
of the great day when his body and soul will meet together before
the Lord Jesus Christ in judgment." And I'll tell you, there'll be
some living when he comes back as well. And when he comes, it'll
be sudden. There won't be any warning. Don't
pay attention to any of these so-called prophetical preachers. Don't pay any attention to them. They don't know when Christ is
coming back, and if anyone says so, they're lying. They're lying. They don't know when He's coming
back. I only know this, He's coming back when He said He is. I don't know when that is. When
God tells Him to, He'll come back. Other than that, we're
not given any word as to when. But when He comes back, He will
come all of a sudden, and the dead in Christ, those of us who
have died in Christ, we will rise first. Or if we're alive
when He comes, after they're risen, we'll be risen with Him
to meet Him in the air. And the rest of men that are
left, when He comes back, God says
that He'll destroy them with fire. He'll destroy them with fire
and vengeance. Friends, let me be clear of this
truth. Jesus Christ is coming again. He is long-suffering with
men until all of God's chosen race are saved. And when that
last one is called, when the last one is called to Himself,
it is then He will come. and claim us for His own. Go to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew
chapter 25 and verse 1. Matthew 25 and verse 1, he's
talking about the ten virgins. He says, And then the kingdom
of heaven shall be likened unto ten virgins, which took their
lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them
were wise and five were foolish. And they that were foolish took
their lamps, but took no oil with them. But the wise took
oil in their vessels with their lamps. And while the bridegroom
tarried, they all slumbered and slept, and at midnight there
was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose
and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the
wise, Give us your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise
answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and
you, but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the
bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to
the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterwards came the other virgins,
saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily
I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know
neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh."
Friends, there is coming a day when the Lord Jesus Christ will
come, and when He comes, the door is shut. The door of hope is shut. There's a cry going out tonight. Here it is, the bridegroom cometh. The bridegroom cometh. And I'll tell you this, there
are two type of people that will hear that message. Wise and foolish. True believers and professors
of faith. without actually knowing Christ.
You see, these wise virgins, they had the Spirit of God in
them. But these foolish ones did not.
They only had a profession of faith. That's why we preach today, if
you will hear His voice, harden not your heart. This is why we
preach, come, behold the Lamb of God, believe on Him now. Because one day the door will
be shut and there will be no hope. And we that have believed, may
we fix our eyes on this day. Let us fix our eyes on this day. Let us know that this day is
coming. Let us not be discouraged that
our Lord tarries. Let us not be asleep, but let's
wake up and realize that the day is fast approaching when
the door will be shut. Let our hearts be encouraged
by this and let us rejoice in this. Our Redeemer liveth and
He is coming for us. He's coming for us. Paul says to Titus, who gave
himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
purifying... I'm sorry, looking for that blessed
hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Titus 2.13. That day is sure,
friends, that day is set, and that day will come suddenly.
Number two, all men will appear before this judgment throne. Go to Revelation chapter 20.
Revelation 20, verse 11. Revelation 20, verse 11, it says,
I saw a great white throne and Him that sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was no place
found for them. And I saw the dead, both small
and great, stand before God. And the books were opened, and
another book was opened, which was the book of life. And the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them. And they were judged, every man,
according to their works." Notice that this throne, this
throne is said to be a great throne. a great throne. What does that mean? That means
it is speaking of the authority of this throne. This throne that
comes in judgment, in that day when Christ comes in judgment,
He will be sitting on a great throne. And this is the throne
of His power. You see, a king's throne is only
great within his boundaries, right? A kingdom only goes to
its boundaries. Well, see, Christ's throne has
no boundaries. His kingdom spreads to all creation,
to every man, woman, boy and girl. Jesus Christ, His throne
is great and has authority over all creatures. He says, all power
is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. And He rules all things
right now. Hebrews tells us that all things
are put into subjection to Him, but it doesn't seem that way,
does it? We look out there and we see
all of these things and it seems to us like chaos. It seems like
that there's no rhyme or reason for why things happen. But friends,
we know this, that all things are under the control of Jesus
Christ. Everything. There is nothing
outside of His control. Nothing. And when this day comes,
when He calls all men to stand before Him, who then will refuse
His call? Which one of us will not stand
before Him? Every person that has ever lived
and ever shall live will be called before this throne. Every one
of us. And none will refuse his voice.
It's foolish for natural man to think that the grave would
hide him. Isn't that what some people think
when they commit suicide? Isn't they think that's the answer,
that's the way to get peace is to go to the grave? No! That
ushers a man into the waiting arms of hell! And as he's there, you remember
that rich man, as he died, he was there 2,000 years ago and
he's still there. And what is he there waiting
for? He's waiting for that day when his body and his soul will
come together and stand before Jesus Christ. He's in torments
until that time. And so are all the saints. The
saints are in heaven with Christ. Their souls are there. But what
are they waiting for? They're waiting for that judgment
throne to come so that their bodies and souls would be together
before Him. And friends, when He calls, number
three, all men will be judged by Christ. For the Father judges
no man, Christ said, but hath committed all judgment to the
Son. So when all are assembled before
Christ, the books will be opened. And these books, they're not
literal books. They're just to show us that
God meticulously writes in His mind, in His heart, He writes
all sin. He knows every thought, every
word, and every sinful deed that every man has committed all of
their life. Friends, I'm a sinner and I can't
tell you how many times I've sinned. He had it. He knows. He knows every sin. Every sin has been marked. And on that day, every thought,
every deed, every action, every lie, every covetous feeling and
lust will be brought out and exposed. Those things that man have hidden
here, those false prophets who come in unaware, it's then that
they will all be exposed for what they are. Friends, if we
are disciples by lip service only, we may deceive others,
but Him we will not deceive. This is because His throne is
great. And friends, His throne is not
only great, it's white, it's holy, and He will not allow any
sin to go unpunished. Make no mistake about it, if
we appear before this throne and we are not righteous, friends,
we will be punished. If a man is not absolutely perfectly
righteous, God must punish his sin. And think about this, if
you're not righteous on that day, you never will be. Jesus says, he that is unjust,
let him be unjust still. And he that is righteous, let
him be righteous still. In that day, we will all be judged
according to our works. And all of us, if we are righteous,
we will be righteous forever. But if you are filthy, you'll
be filthy forever. There's no changing at this time.
There's no way of hope to change out of what you are. You are
either righteous or you're not. There's no middle ground. And those who continue to profess
that Jesus to be their Lord and still claim to have a part in
their salvation, friends, they will be very surprised to find
themselves unrighteous. Friends, this is a very sobering
thought, and I should ask each of us before I close, if Christ
is to judge all men, by their works, how then can
any of us stand? I tell you again, the only hope
is found in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The only hope for the souls of
men is to believe on Him alone. Righteousness is found only by
imputation and not by labor of law or morality. Romans 4, 5
says, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. So then we, If we are to be saved,
it must be by Christ alone, apart from every work that we have
ever done. If we are to have any hope when
these books are opened, it must only be found in Christ. I want you to go to Jeremiah
50 and I want you to mark this because this is a very important
verse. Jeremiah chapter 50. Jeremiah chapter 50 and verse
20. Friends, I want you to get, I
hope to get our minds around this great and wonderful salvation
that's found in Christ. Look at this in Jeremiah 50 verse
20. In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve." Friends, when God opens the books
of sin, do you know what He'll find next to those who believe
in Christ? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! I can't get my mind around it,
but God, when God searched for my sins, he could find none. This is the hope of all of us
who believe in Christ when we stand before this great white
throne in that day. Our hope will be found only in
the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ when Scripture says,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ. Why?
Because all of our sins have been swept away by the blood
of Jesus Christ. God says, I will remember their
sins no more. So when this day comes, there
will be a group of us, there will be a group of people who
will rejoice for this day of judgment. We long for this day
of judgment. We long for this day because
it will be a day of vindication. It'll be a day when God will
declare to all that these are my children and there is no sin
in them. Oh, what a glorious day that'll
be for those who truly believe in Christ. He shall say to us,
come ye blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from before the foundation of the world. Why? What made
you different? Why will I be found in that group? There's only one word to describe
it, grace. Grace, grace, all of grace and
nothing else. It was the grace of God that
gave us such a wondrous gift as salvation of our souls. But friends, there will be the
other group. There will be another group. And sad to say, this group, my
friends, will not have such a joyous day. All those that profess faith
in Christ, but still hold on to something they can do. Something they can add to the
work of Christ. In that day, He will say to them, depart from
Me. Depart from Me. Depart from my mercy. Depart from my kindness. Depart from my longsuffering. And they will enter into the
wrath of God. Friends, there's not much I can
say about that. I know very little about that. I can't wrap my mind around an
eternity of no mercy. But I don't want to be in that
group, do you? I want to only be found in Christ. And those that are found in Christ,
you have a good hope in that day. And God says, comfort ye,
comfort ye, my people. Friends, it is your father's
good pleasure to give you this kingdom. It is your father's good pleasure.
And so let us keep our eyes fixed that there is a day that he is
coming. And that will be a glorious day for us. who are found in
Christ alone. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.