Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 51. Hymn number 51. Praise the Savior, ye who know
him, who can tell how much we owe him. Gladly let us render
to him all we are and have. Jesus is the name that charms
us, He for conflict fits and arms us, Nothing moves and nothing
harms us, While we trust in Him. Trust in Him, ye saints forever,
He is faithful, changing never, Neither force nor doubt can sever
Those he loves from him. Just as the Lord, O keep us cleaving,
to thyself and still believing, till the hour of our receiving
promise joys quickly. Then we shall be where we would
be, then we shall be what we should be, Things that are not,
now nor could be, soon shall be our own. Be seated. On page 31 in our course books,
we'll sing Zion's Hill. 31 in our course books. There waits for me a glad tomorrow
Where gates of pearl swing open wide And when I've passed this
veil of sorrow I'll dwell upon the other side Someday beyond
the reach of mortal kin Someday God only knows just where and
when The wills of mortal life shall all stand still And I shall
go to dwell on Zion's hill Someday I'll hear the angels
singing beyond the shadows of the tomb. and all the bells of
heaven ringing while saints are singing home sweet home someday
beyond the reach of mortal kin someday only knows just where
and when. The wills of mortal life shall
all stand still, and I shall go to dwell on Zion's hill. all the dark clouds be rifted, all the troubles be over. Start at verse 13 and go down to verse 23. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate, 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 fruit she
shall know them. 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? Then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Our blessed, blessed Savior,
our great and blessed God and Father, we cry, Abba, Father,
we're grateful that we're your sons. You made us sons of God. You made us to be your children,
made us to be your elect. And Lord Jesus, we're so thankful
and we bless your name. that you made us to know our
calling, made us to understand by some degree what you did for
us in eternity, what you did for us in time, and what you're
doing for us for eternity and in the future. Oh, God, how we
bless you for that. And our Savior, we pray that You'd be with us today, of all
our needs today in this service. We need the presence and power
of our Lord Jesus Christ, presence and power of the Holy Ghost,
so we can hear and I can preach and the gospel go well and the
gospel go with power, go into the hearts and minds and be a
blessing to the people of God. And Lord, for those that don't
know you, never, ever been May to know you, Lord, may this be
the day that hearts be opened, understanding that that understanding
be turned on, the light come on in the mind. And Lord Jesus,
we pray now for this people. Lord, there's people here got
heavy, heavy hearts, still grieving, and we pray for them, God, that
you'd, we know your grace is sufficient. So far, your grace
has upheld them, and we're thankful for that. We're thankful for
our brothers and sisters in Christ, thankful for those who listen,
thankful for those who are faithful and keep the work going here. But Lord, we all know that it's
your work and your support to your work and keep your work
going to your glory and our good. And our Father, we ask for your mercy and grace
today. and acknowledge our great need of you. Be with us. Bring glory to yourself for Christ's
sake. Amen. Let's stand together and
sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin. We'll sing the first verse of
Abide With Me before we go into it. Abide with me, fast falls the
eventide. ? When other helpers fail and comforts
flee ? ? Help of the helpless, O abide with me ? ? O let the
praises of God be heard ? be thine. For Christ has died that I may
call him mine. that I may sing with those who
dwell above, adoring, praising Jesus, King of love. He is my refuge in each deep
distress, the Lord my strength and glorious righteousness. Through floods and flames He
leads me safely on, And daily makes His sovereign goodness
known. My every need He richly will
supply, Nor will His mercy ever let me die In Him there dwell. all divine and matchless grace
has made the treasure mine. Oh, that my soul love and praise him more his
beauty's traces majesty adore in him i live He stays from death and sorrow and
despair. Back with me in Matthew 7. Make a few comments, but my subject
today is going to be four terrible words from Christ. Four terrible
words from Christ. But our Lord makes a distinction
all the way through this chapter between His people and people
that are not. He first makes a distinction
in The gates. The gates. There's a broad way
that leads to destruction. And that's where the most of
them go. Many go in there. That's where most everybody goes.
The straight is the gate. And when he says straight, that
means that it's a very narrow way. And narrow is the way. And this
way leads to life. And few there be that find it. And I want you to notice this,
beware of false prophets. Now the false prophets are right
at the gate. That's where they hang around.
They want to be around the gate. And they're hanging around those
gates and they're saying, boy, this is the best way to go in
right here. There's a big broadway here. You know, you don't have
to, you don't have to, it's not so, it's not, it's not God's
sovereignty you gotta worry about. It's not election you gotta worry
about. It's not depravity you gotta
worry about. Just make your decision, join
the church, and come on in. Come on in. And I tell you, watch
what he, but anyway, they're wavering wolves. And then he
makes a distinction between the fruits. You're gonna know the
false prophets and those that enter the straight gate by their
fruits. When you get ready to go get grapes, you don't go to
a blackberry bush. When you get ready to get figs,
you don't go and find a bunch of thistles and try to get them
off of a thistle. And he makes such a distinction
here, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit. That's just
a matter. Every tree which my fatherly
father hath not planted shall be rooted up, our master said.
Even so, every good tree brings forth good fruit. But a corrupt
tree, those that come in by the broad way, those that listen
to false prophets, bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot
bring forth evil fruit. It's impossible for him to bring
forth evil fruit. And a good, a corrupt tree cannot
bring forth good fruit. That's just impossible. It's
impossible. And every tree that bringeth
not good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. He said,
now by their fruit, you shall know them. And oh, listen to
this. Now, you know, then he talks
about the different houses and the different floods. And he
goes down there and he makes such a distinction between the
two. But now look what he says here. 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, 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 will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart
from me, ye that work iniquity. Our Lord gives us here a picture
of how it will appear in that day. Ain't that what he says
in verse 22? Many will say to me in that day,
that day, that day when we all have to appear before Christ,
that day, and when God calls us all out of this world, or
calls us one at a time, in that day. One of the best tests of
everything is how it will appear in that day. The best test of
everything is how it will appear in that day. What will our wealth,
what will our property, what will our possessions, What will
our honors, what will our pleasures, what will our successes be in
that day? How will they appear in that
day? How will it appear in that day?
Talking to a young man the other day and I said, you know, when
I leave this world, I said, I won't take a thing in the world with
me. Job said, I come naked from my mother's womb and naked I'm
going to go back. And everything has, how will
it appear in that day? In that day, huh? Oh, may God
put it in our hearts to set everything in light of that day. Now I want
you to keep Matthew 7, look over in 2 Timothy with me. 2 Timothy. In chapter one, chapter four,
excuse me, but chapter one, 2 Timothy chapter one. 2 Timothy chapter 1. How will everything appear in
that day? Look what Paul told about in
verse 16 of 2 Timothy chapter 1. The Lord give mercy unto the
house of Onesiphorus. He oft refreshed me and was not
ashamed of my chain. Wasn't ashamed of me being in
prison. But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently
and found me. The Lord grant unto him that
he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. That's what I asked. He said, I want God to give him
mercy in that day. This man brought forth good fruit.
This man had good fruit. This man had love. This man had
the grace of God in him. And he sought out Paul, who was
in prison, been held a prisoner. And he went off there often,
and he refreshed him, and done things for him, and done whatever
he needed to be done. And he says, now when it comes
to that day, that day, may the Lord give him mercy in that day. in that day. And how many things
he ministered unto me at Ephesus thou knowest very well. Oh, may
God put it in our hearts to set everything in light of that day. All of our religious professions and all religious professors
and religious duties should be put to this test. That day will
reveal it. That day will reveal it all.
It'll reveal it all. And I want you to know the distinction
here. There's some very religious people. These people are very,
very religious. And the Lord Jesus disowns them
in that day. He disowns them. They thought
sure, sure that they was sure for heaven is if they was already
there. They thought, sure, if anybody's
going to be accepted the Lord, if anybody's going to get a great
reward, if anybody's going to get any stars in their crown,
it'll be us. It'll be us. But the Lord Jesus
disowned them in that day. The people our Lord is speaking
to here were not open, gross sinners. No, no. To the outward
eye, They were very, very good people. Very good people. Very
religious people. And they were dedicated to their
professions. They were dedicated to their
professions. Oh, they were so dedicated to
me. To their profession. And our Lord said in verse 23,
back over in Matthew 7, then I'll make a profession to
about them. They've got a profession about
me, I'm gonna make a profession about them. But oh, it's how
Christ views things that matters. How does Christ view things?
It's not how we view things, it's how he views things. You
know, these people went a long, long way in religion. Shirley
and I were out here the other day and doing something, I forget
what it was, We've seen two or three people that they wore their
religion very publicly. Very, very publicly. One woman
had on a t-shirt, you know, said, Jesus gives me my strength to
make it, you know, or something like that. But she had a t-shirt
on letting everybody know about her relationship with Christ.
And then there was another one come by. She had on all the long
clothes and the long dresses and the hair done up and all
the religious paraphernalia that lets people know that they're
religious. People, if they have got religion, they want people
to know it. And they had a religion has to
let folks know that they've got it. If they have a profession,
they want people to be able to look at them and say, yes, they
believers. And that's what these people
were. They made an open profession. Look what they said. In verse
21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord. They weren't
just ordinary professors. Look what he said about them.
in verse 22, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, look
what they did. They were an ordinary professors
of religion. They prophesied in the name of
the Lord. They prophesied. They would go
to the book of revelations. They'd go to Daniel and they
could tell you, they could tell you every prophecy. They could
tell you what's going to happen. They could tell you when it's
going to happen. They can tell you when the day the Lord's coming
back. They can set the calendar and they do all these things,
make all these prophecies and tell you what it all understands
and what they know about it. They can tell you all about it.
They got big posters telling you, come and hear us. We'll
tell you that this arrow means that, and that arrow means this,
and that arrow means this, and that arrow means that. Points to this and points to
that. They can tell you when the millennial reign's gonna
start. And they've got a half a dozen
judgment seats you have to face instead of facing the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. They were prophesied, and look
what else it says about them. They were preached in his name,
and then look what they said, they cast out devils. These fellas,
I mean, they was dead earnest. Have you ever seen these fellas
casting out devils on television? You ever seen these people in
these fundamentalist churches and Pentecostal churches and
holiness churches cast out devils? They worked miracles, and look
what else they said about them, and done many, many wonderful
works. Our works were just wonderful,
and people just stood in wonder that what we did. Oh, I've never
seen nobody so zealous, never seen nobody so dedicated, never
seen anybody so devout. Oh, they served the Lord, rolled
up their sleeves and went to work. And they had obtained great,
great success. Devils on their power, cast out
devils, they said. Oh my, known for their practical
energy, active in many ways. The scripture says there they
done many wonders. Oh, let me tell you, they were
diligently Orthodox. And look what it says. They did
everything in the name of Christ. They mentioned the Lord's name
three times in verse 22. Mentioned the Lord's name, in
thy name, in thy name, in thy name, in thy name, in thy name. Oh my, they had great success.
They went a long, long way in religion. A long way in religion. a long, long way, and they kept
it up for a long, long time. Nobody suspected for a second
that they were false. Nobody. They didn't think that
they were false. Nobody saw their inconsistency. Nobody found out their hypocrisies. Nobody seen how inconsistent
that they were. They were very, very religious.
Nobody found out their inconsistency. In fact, the Lord himself didn't
openly disown them in their life. He let them go on their way.
Let them go on their way. You know, he didn't disown them
during their life. He didn't. He didn't, he didn't,
you know, they didn't, the other 11 apostles did not know Judas. was a betrayer. Did not know
Judas was the son of perdition. Did not know Judas that had a
devil. Did not know Judas was not one of Christ. They did not
know that. He was with them for three years
and they had no, they did not suspect for a second that what
he would do to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now they didn't suspect
it for a second. They weren't made of laughing stock. They were used in our Lord's
name, but without result, devils were cast out. Keep Matthew 27.
Look with me in Acts chapter 19. Look in Acts chapter 19. In Acts chapter 19. Look, I'm just
going to show you what happens to people like this. Look in verse 13. God used special, you know, God
wrought, verse 11 said, 11 and 12, it says that God wrought
special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that by, from his
body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and
the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out
of them. I mean, God used Paul in a miraculous, miraculous way.
And then here come these certain vagabond Jews, exorcists, took
upon themselves to call over them which had evil
spirits, the name of the Lord, which had evil spirits, they
called over them the name of the Lord Jesus. saying, we adjure
you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches. And there were seven of them, seven sons of a Jew named Sceva,
chief of the priests, which did so, seven of them. And the evil
spirit said, Jesus I know, Paul I know, but who are you? And the man in whom the evil
spirit was leaped on them, overcame them and prevailed against them. So they fled out of that house
and naked and wounded. Fear fell on them because of
that. Because of that. Oh my. They weren't made a laughing
stock. They were using the Lord's name.
And I tell you, it appears like something's happened. And they
expected, back over in our text again, they expected to enter
the kingdom of heaven. They expected to enter into the
kingdom of heaven. They expected to go to glory.
They expected to go to heaven. And they clung to that false
hope right to the very end, right to the very end. They dared to
say, Lord, Lord, to Christ. himself at the last day. Ain't
that what it says? Verse 21, many will say unto
me, Lord, Lord, that we shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven, neither doeth my will of my Father. And oh my. And then look what he said, many
will say to me in that day, in that day, many will say to me,
They'll face the Lord Jesus Christ himself and argue with him and
say, Lord, you really don't know us. You made a mistake here. Then he will say to me, they're going to face Christ
and start saying me. Don't you know who I am? Don't
you know what I've done? Don't you have any idea how dedicated
I've been? You know, I use the name of Jesus
every time I spoke. You know, I use the name of the
Lord. I use the name of Jesus every place I went. Oh, listen, there's nobody like
us. Nobody like me. I preached and preached and preached
and preached. I preached, Lord, I preached,
Jesus, that You was the Savior of everybody. I preached that God loved everybody. I preached, Lord, that Your blood
was sufficient for everybody. And our priest, that man, he
had a will, and he had rights, and he had power of himself. And they came, and I'll tell
you what, they were changed. They made a great change. They
joined the church. Got them a Bible. Got them a
cross to wear around their neck. Got them some pictures of Jesus
to put on the wall. And they, oh listen, they wanted
a good name. I tell you a lot, everybody gave
me a good name wherever I went. They thought we was, they bragged
on us in the churches, they bragged on us, said you're the most holy
spiritual people we ever seen. You know, there's a place in
this song book, it's called Challenge. And every one of them talks about
what we have to do for Jesus, how we have to live a holy life,
how we dare to be a Daniel, all the things that we're supposed
to do. And that's what these folks was
interested in and what they're doing. They're doing what they're doing.
And they'll say to me, To me. Can you imagine talking to the
Lord and questioning Him? Say, Lord, you've made a mistake
now. Listen, we did this. Don't you know? Don't you remember?
Oh, my. Oh, they were fatally, fatally,
fatally mistaken. Their lies betrayed their tongues. They said, Lord, Lord! Ain't
that what they said in verse 21? Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But now
watch this. Here's a qualifying thing. But
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Now
what in the world is the will of the Father? What do you reckon
he's talking about? Huh? You keep Matthew 7 and look
with me. And now you keep it in one hand
and with your left hand and your right hand, turn with me to Matthew
12. Matthew chapter 12. Look in verse 46. Matthew 12, 46. While he yet talked to the people,
behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak
with him. Then one said unto him, Behold,
thy mother and brethren stand without desiring to speak with
you, your mothers and all your brothers. But the answer said
unto him that told him, Who is my mother? Who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hands
toward his disciples, toward his people. And this is what
he said, behold, my mother, behold, my brethren, for whosoever shall
do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same is my
brother and sister and mother. Now look in John chapter six,
in John chapter six, Look down at verse 37. Our Lord just got through telling
a bunch of people, you've seen me and you believe not. There's
some people that also saw him and believe not. And this is
what our Lord said, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise, under any
circumstances, ever cast him out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And listen now, this is the Father's
will, which has 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." Now watch this right here now. That everyone which
seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life
and I'll raise Him up at the last day. Did you see that? This is the Father's will that
everyone that sees the Son. Now I said up there some people
seen Him and said, you've not seen me. You're looking at just
a man. You're just looking at Jesus
of Nazareth. You're looking at Joseph's son and Mary's son. But it said, he that seeth the
son. What does it mean to see the son? It means it seems as he is, not
like you want him to be. You see Him as Lord of Lord and
King of Kings. You see Him as God and you see
Him as man. You see Him as the only Savior
that there is to save a sinner in this world. You see Him as
the only righteousness you can have. You see Him that He's the
only hope that you've got in this world. You see that in Him
is the only way in the world you can be accepted of God. And
in Him you see that you are nothing and He's everything. You see
Him as Christ is all and in all. Now there's people that looked
at him. And these people here that we're talking about, all
they said was, can't you see Jesus in us? Jesus is in us. We want everybody to see Jesus
in us. Well, let me tell you something. They look great at
Christ. And they said, how can this man
say he's the bread of heaven, which came down? Well, what is
he talking about? How can He be bread? How can He come down from heaven? How can He do the miracles? How
can He preach without authority? Where did He get this wisdom?
Where did He get His learning from? They questioned everything
about Him. But we don't question anything
about Him. We know who He is. This is the
Father's will. If you see the Son, See Him in His glory. See Him
in His power. See Him in His sovereignty. See
Him with all power in heaven and earth vested in Him. See
Him in His power. See Him sitting at the right
hand of God Almighty with all power vested in Him. And that
all souls, everybody is in the hands of Christ to dispose of
them as He will. My children, your children, my
dad, my mother, your granny, your mama, your granny, your
granddad, everybody's in the hands of God. And once they leave
this world, that's where they'll stay. Oh, I tell you, these folks,
they're gonna say to the Lord in that day. In that day. Oh my. Oh. Oh, I'm so good. He that seeth
the Son, that's the Father's will. You know, and when you
see Him, you know what you'll do? If you ever really see Him,
you'll believe Him. You'll believe everything about
Him. And the only grief that you'll have is that you don't
love Him, that He's worthy to be loved. Huh? Oh my. And oh, look back over
in Matthew 7. They used the name His disciples
used. Lord, Lord. But they didn't possess
the nature of His people. They didn't possess the nature
of those who only sought to do His will. And not only sought
to do His will, but love His will. Love His will. Oh, I'm
gonna show you something again. Look in Luke chapter six with
me. Keep Matthew now. Look in Luke
chapter six with me. And he's saying the same thing
over here, all about the corrupt tree, the good tree, and the
good treasure out of the man's heart and that. And then he said,
got down to verse 46, and he says this, Luke 6, 46. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord,
and do not the things which I say? Don't do what I'm telling you
to do. Not doing it, not doing it. And I'll tell you, I want
you to see something else in John chapter 8. You know, I want you to see John chapter
8 and verse 41. Well, I must have put down the wrong. Well, I wrote down the wrong
thing. Well, the thing is, is that it
says, and I, let me see. Oh, I'm, you know, what he says was that,
you know, a man seeks honor of his own, seeks his own honor. Look at that again. I know it's
there. I just, you know, you all have to forgive me. I've
done this lots of times over the years. Sometimes it gets
worse than others. Oh, verse 54. That's what I want
to look at. Verse 54. John 8, 54. That's what I want
to look at. Jesus answered, if I honor myself,
my honor is nothing. It is my father that honors me,
of whom he say that you is your God. But you don't honor me,
so you don't honor my father. That's what Bruce Crabtree puts
on his bulletins. He that honors the father, honors
the son. And he that honors the son, honors
the father. Oh my, but hold back over here
in Matthew. They used the name that his disciples
used, but they didn't have the nature of his people. The Lord's people not only seek
to do his will, but they love his will. We delight in the will
of God. You know, God has his way in
the world, and we see things happen in this world, and people
just, and it's sad. I mean, all the things that happens
to people, but we don't apologize for what God does in this world.
If he wants to tear somebody's house down, that's his business.
If he wants to tear down a whole town and pass by another one,
that's his business. If he wants to destroy a nation,
that's his business. And I ain't gonna question him,
I ain't gonna argue with him, I ain't gonna debate with him.
If he wants to come in my house and tear it down brick by brick
by brick with a storm, that's his business. My business, my
heart and soul is concerned with one thing, the glory of God and
doing His will and submitting to Him in this world. Whatever
comes or whatever goes, it is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth
good. And that's all we're interested
in. But these people prophesied, but it didn't say anything about
prayer. Didn't say anything about prayer. It says back over in
our text that they cast out devils, but the devils were never cast
out of them. Never, never cast out of them.
They were interested in marvels and miracles. They were really
interested in marvels and miracles. Call people up front and lay
hands on them. Oh my goodness. But they weren't
interested in the essentials. They weren't interested in the
essentials. Repentance, faith, the new birth. They were calling
out devils but not calling on Christ. Keep Matthew 7. Look back with
me again in Matthew 23. Look what our Master said over
here in Matthew 23. Verse 23, look what our master said here
to some people. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you pay your tithe, your 10% of mint. You
pay your anise and your cumin and have omitted the weightier
matters of the law. Judgment, mercy, faith, these
ought you have done, and not to leave the other undone. You
bind blind guides, strain at a gnat and swallow a camel."
Oh, my. He said, oh, these folks loved,
they loved the way they lived, delighted in the way they lived,
delighted in the way they dressed. And then our text, it says this,
they work wonders. But they were really, look what
our Lord said about it. Verse 23, I'll profess unto them,
I never knew you depart from me, you that work iniquity. Everything they did, he said,
is a work of iniquity. And you know what iniquity is?
It's inequality. It means lawlessness. You know,
there's the transgression of the law, it's sin. But when you
talk about iniquity, that's absolute, utter lawlessness. That's lawlessness,
that's telling God that we're more equal than other people. And we're not lawless, but iniquity
means lawlessness. Disregard for word, disregard
for authority. And that's the way these people
were. And oh my, they found out, they found out just how wrong
they were in an awful, awful, awful way. And you know what,
when they found it out? In that day. In that day. In that day. And they found it
in an awful, awful way from the day the Lord called them. And
look what he said. I never knew you. I never knew
you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. I never knew you. Four awful
words. I never knew you. Now what in
the world is he talking about, I never knew you? I never knew
you. You know he know who they were.
You know that he know they were false professors. You know that
he understood everything they said and everything that they
done. And they all done it in his name. He knew who they were.
He knew what they did. He knew why they did it. He understood everything there
was about him. But when he said, I never knew
you. that I never had communion with
you. I never had fellowship with you.
You never knew me. I did not elect you. I did not choose you. I did not,
you know, I knew my people. I knew my people, but I don't
know you. Oh, I never knew you. You know, he'd been left out
of their religion. He'd been left out of their religion. Oh, our Lord knew everything
about him. And this is one thing that's a blessing to me. I've
told you this how many times over the years. I am thankful. I am thankful that God knows
me. I know him. And I may get to
the day, and I tell you, there's a lot of people that knew the
Lord and knows the Lord, and they get in such a shape that,
you know, every one of us walk into a room wondering, why in
the world did I just come in this room? I put that thing up and I know
exactly where I left it, but I can't find it for the life
of me. Do you know where that's at? Do you know where I put that?
And if we're that bad now, ain't you grateful that God knows you? And I mean he knows your heart.
He knows that your desires, he knows your motives. I'm grateful
that God can look right dead in the depths of my heart and
the depths of my soul. And every one of us pray, Lord,
oh Lord, if there's any way in me that's not in tune with you,
that's not in tune with your will, save me from it. Please save me from it. Oh, I
want to be saved from it. And now I remember where that
place was I'm looking for. Keep Matthew 7, look in John
5. John chapter 5. Now look down in verse 41. Our Lord told him to search the
scriptures, because they tell of Christ. And he said, you will
not come to me. You will not come to me, that
you might have life. And watch what he says. I receive
not honor from man. You know what he meant by that?
He said in one place, he never committed himself to man, because
he knew what was in man. He knew exactly what was in man.
He said, I receive not honor from men. Now listen to this
now, but I know you. And this is what I know about
you, that you have not the love of God in you. And I am come in my father's
name and you receive me not. If another shall come in his
own name, him you will receive. Let him come in his own authority.
Let him come in his own power. Let him come in his own glory.
Let him come with all the works that he's got. Let him come with
all of his degrees. Let him come with his theology
degrees and philosophy degrees. Let him come, the doctor sounding
brass, let him come. He comes in his name and you
will receive him. And oh, this is what, how can
you believe? Which receive honor one of another. And that's what these fellas
did over here, they seeked honor. And he said, oh, how can you
believe which receive honor one of another? And seek not the
honor that comes from God only. And listen to what he says now.
Do not think that I'll accuse you to the Father. I ain't gonna
do it. There is one that accuses you,
and you know who it's gonna be? Moses. You trust Moses. You trust Moses. You trust your
ceremony. You trust your works. You trust
your law keeping. You trust your merit. Oh, but
look what he said. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you believe
not his writings, you won't believe my word either. You won't believe
mine either. Oh, my. They just found out. in an awful, awful way, how awful
they were. Depart from me, I never knew
you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. You know, it talks
about, people find this hard to understand, but any religion,
any religion, I don't care what it is, if it's not the free and
sovereign grace of God in Christ, if it's not the gospel of the
grace of God, if it's not the gospel of Righteousness, if it's
the gospel that we're not ashamed of and the power of God under
salvation. It's anti-Christ. It's anti-Christ. Any religion
that does not make Christ to be everything, everything, and makes him be all in all is
anti-Christ. People say, well, you know, that's
another thing these people prophesy about. They talk about when Antichrist
shall appear. John said there's many Antichrists
in the world right now. Many of them. And he said in
another place that they would not give God, they repented not
to give God the glory and God shall send them a strong delusion
that they should believe a lie and be damned. And men were owed of ordained
to this condemnation. What condemnation? That there'd
be men who denied the Lord Jesus Christ, who turned God's grace
into filthy living, made it an excuse to live like hell in this
world, and still think they go into glory. Oh, my. And oh, the terror of
what it meant. And he says, depart from me.
I never knew you'd depart from me. You know how many people
told the Lord to depart from them? Henry Mahan's got a message
on all the times that people said, the people told the Christ
to depart from me. Depart from me. Now here the
Lord says, depart from me. Depart from me. And the awful
truth of what they said, they depart from all hope. They depart
from all salvation. They depart from anything that
could possibly do them anything any good. He knew them, but they
didn't know him. Oh, I hope I'm not taking too
long. He had not chosen them. He had
not communed with them. He had not approved of them.
And he didn't care for them. Didn't care for her. And the
solemnness of what he said, I never knew you. Depart from me,
you workers of iniquity. What he said is, your eternal
state is fixed for eternity. All it does is made you fit for
hell. Their sentence is fixed for eternity. And his sentence will never be
appealed, or recalled, or altered, or ended. And this stood for
all eternity. You all remember the five wise
and the five foolish virgins? There were five wise. They were
looking for the Lord. They was looking for their master.
They was looking for the bridegroom. And they know that one of these
days he'd come knocking. One of these days he'd come opening.
One of these days he'd come. And they was ready for him. Their
lamps were full. They was shining bright. But
it also says they all slumbered and slept. And then there's,
when he come and they got up, they were ready. But there's
five over here, they weren't ready. He said, give us of your
oil. They said, oh, no, too late. Too late. We ain't got enough
for you. All we got's what we got. We ain't got enough for
you. We just got what's enough for us. Those five foolish. Oh, my. A man's a fool. I'm telling
you, a man's a fool. Let anything come between him
and Christ. But oh, bless his holy name,
I'm about done. Bless, bless, bless his holy
name. There are some people he knows,
and you know who they are? He said, I know my sheep. I know my sheep. And guess what
he says? They hear me. When I speak, they
hear my voice. I lay down my life for the sheep.
I know my sheep. And he said over 2nd Timothy
119, he says this, the foundation of the Lord stand is sure. The
Lord knows them that are his. His, he knows them that are his. Oh, I tell you, let me show you
the closing in Hebrew chapter two. I want to show you this. Hebrews chapter 2. Somebody,
I think, I think one of the men in our conference used this. Hebrews chapter 2. Oh my. You know why God calls us his
sheep? Calls us vessels of mercy, vessels
of honor. But look what it says here in
Hebrews 2.11. For both he that sanctifies,
that's Christ that sanctifies, and they who are sanctified are
one, all of one. And listen to this now, for which
cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. These are my brethren. That's
what he said over there when he told his mother and father
when they was looking for him. But our Lord Jesus Christ, he
calls us sheep, he calls us vessels of mercy, he calls us vessels
of honor, he tells us people that he foreknew, people that
he loved, people that has no condemnation. And let me close
with this one statement, and see if you don't think it's so.
We never ever talk of what we've done for him, never. All we talk about is what he's
done for us. We never talk about what we did
for him. We only talk about what he's
done for us. That's the big difference, ain't it? Oh, four terrible words. I never
knew you. Oh, I never knew you. Lord Jesus, blessed be your holy
name. Thank you for your gospel. Thank
you for your truth. Thank you that there's a people
on this earth that you knew, and you know them intimately. You foreknew them, and you called
them, and you justified them, and you glorified them, and you
took away all their condemnation. You took away all their sin,
took away everything that would be against nailed it to your
blessed, blessed cross. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Blessed
be your name. God bless this gospel today to
the hearts of your people and to those that are listening.
And please continue to bless your people that has great sorrow,
grief, whose bodies are weak. Lord, we know your grace is sufficient
and I know it will always uphold. Lord, bring glory to yourself
through us in this life. Christ's sake I pray, amen. Let's sing a couple of verses
of 268. 268. Everybody knows this. We'll stand
together and sing this 268. How firm a foundation you say
to the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word. How firm a foundation, he says,
of the Lord, is laid for your faith. In His excellent Word,
what more can He say than to you He has said? To you, who for Jesus to refuse
hath fled. Down verse 3. When through deep waters I call
thee to go, The river of woe shall not thee overflow. I will be with thee thy troubles
to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deep. When through fiery trials Thy
pathway shall lie, My grace, all-sufficient, shall be Thy
supply. The flame shall not hurt thee,
I only design, By dross to consume, and by gold to refine. The soul that owned him. I will not depart, and I will
not desert. Desert to his foes, that soul,
though all hell See you tonight, six
o'clock, God willing.