Okay, Matthew 721. I believe that as we conclude
the Sermon on the Mount, and I'm not going to conclude it
today, but next week, these are some of the most eye-opening
and profound verses that you'll find in the Bible concerning
the issue of final judgment. The Lord had been talking about
the straight and narrow way that leads to eternal life, and that's
the way of Christ. It's the way of the gospel. It's
the way of God's grace. It's the way of the cross. It's
the way of the blood, his death, to put away the sins of his people. It's the way of righteousness,
which justifies us before God, the very righteousness of God,
all those things. as opposed to the way, the broad
road, the broad way that leads to destruction, and that would
be every other way. And right after he'd said that,
he talked about wolves in sheep's clothing. Beware of false preachers
who come to you in sheep's clothing. And what he's talking about there,
specifically, now we're to beware of all false preachers, no matter
how they come, no matter how they appear. but especially those
who come in sheep's clothing, but who are inwardly ravening
wolves. And that's those who come in
the name of Christianity, under the name of Christ. And like
I told you last week, when you talk about signs of the second
coming of Christ, we're not looking for signs, but Christ has given
us some signs. And the main sign of the nearness
of his second coming is false gospels, false Christianity is
widespread. And he said that in Matthew 24
and Mark 13. It's recorded in those two passages. And so he says, you'll know them
by their fruits. And I made this observation last
week that the fruits that he's talking about is their converts.
There's good fruit that comes from the Spirit of God, from
Christ through the Spirit of God in the preached word, and
that's a sinner saved by grace. That's a sinner who has been
convinced of sin and of righteousness and of judgment to know that
he or she has absolutely no hope of salvation. No hope of being
declared righteous at judgment, but the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's grace. If I'm to stand
before God, the God who is holy, God who is just, God who is righteous,
if I'm to stand before Him at the judgment and be absolved,
be declared righteous, then I must stand there in the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If I stand there on my own, no
matter how much I try to do or how I appear, I'm going to hear
the same thing that these people hear in this passage. And so I've entitled this lesson,
The Tragedy of Judgment Without Christ. Because that's what this
is all about. So the good fruit has to do with
what Christ produces. in the preaching of the gospel.
He's the good tree and he cannot produce evil fruit. Christ cannot
produce evil fruit. Now I had this caught as to what
I'm saying. That doesn't mean that a person
cannot sit under the preaching of the true gospel and leave
unsaved, unconverted, because they can't. But Christ didn't
produce that. You say, The gospel doesn't produce
that. But now these false preachers
who preach a false Christ under a false gospel, all they can
produce is evil fruit. And here's an example of the
evil fruit. Look at verse 21. This is what
the false gospels that come under the name of Christianity produce.
And Christ said in verse 21, not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Now here's
the evil fruit. Verse 22, many will say to me
in that day, in the day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
or preached in thy name? Now whatever they're saying,
they're doing it in his name. That means they're seeking to
glorify him. in their own minds. And in thy
name have cast out devils. Now I've never cast out a devil
that I know of. But they did, they did and said
in thy name. And I've heard preachers say
well they didn't really cast out devils. Well how do you know
that? How do you know that? All right,
and in thy name done many wonderful works. Now whatever these works
they did, they did it in his name. That means they sought
to do it for his glory. Well, what's wrong with this
picture? And listen to what he says in verse 23. And then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye that
work iniquity. Now Christ, he was cognizant
of who they were. Not only did he know who they
were, not only did he know their names, he knew their hearts.
So the knowledge that he's speaking of here is not the same kind
of knowledge that we have. You know, I say, well, I know
you, I know who you are and all of that. The knowledge that he,
when he says I never knew you, that word knowledge there refers
to that intimate knowledge that exists between, that describes
the relationship, the intimate grace relationship between Christ
and his church. Christ and his people. It's almost
saying that God never elected them. God never loved them. God never saved them, never graced
them, you see. That's what it's saying. I never
knew you. And so he says, depart from me.
They're cast out, you see. He says, you that work iniquity.
Now he calls these fellows workers of iniquity. And I want you to
think about that. Now again, these verses show
the vast difference between sinners saved by grace who are on the
straight and narrow way, who have been placed there by the
grace and power of God on the straight and narrow way, the
gospel way, and those who are on the broad road that lead to
destruction. And here they are at the final judgment. What's
the problem? Well, go back to verse 21. He
says, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord. Now, we
know just words mean nothing. Just saying words mean nothing.
Lord, Lord. I remember back in, what it was,
the 70s or the 80s, you had that PTL club. You remember that? Praise the Lord, you know. That's
all it was. It was just words. There's a
modern movement that comes under the name of Christianity called
the Word of Faith Movement. Have you ever heard of it? They
say, if you just speak a word, then it's going to come true. That kind of thing. And they
cover themselves, you know, with all kinds of religious garbage,
you know, because you know everything you say is not going to come
true. But they call it the word of faith movement. You know about religions that
involve themselves in chanting, Mantras, repetition, well that's
all false religion, you know that. People talk about prayer
chains today, you heard that? That's not biblical. You remember
Christ, when we studied that in Matthew chapter six, he says
don't do like the heathens with their much repetition, as if
you're going to talk God into something that he doesn't want
to do. or you're going to change his mind, or if I can get a hundred
thousand people to do this prayer." Huh? That's not Christianity,
folks. That's all carryovers from the
natural man's views of a God who is not the God of the Bible. So, but these said, Lord, Lord.
And it was more than just words, because they backed it up with
their actions. But he says, not everyone that says unto me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. What does it take
to enter the kingdom of heaven? It takes the grace of God through
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It takes the blood
of Christ to enter the kingdom of heaven. The only thing that's
gonna get me or you into heaven is the righteousness of the substitute,
the surety, charged to our account. Nothing else is gonna do it.
Christ is the door. He's the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Him. Christ
is the door. He's the one way. Everybody's talking about Billy
Graham, who died. And of course, you know, at the
end of his ministry, he denied that Christ is the only way.
He said there are other ways. The Bible says there's one way.
One way. Now that's what the Bible says.
And you say, well, you shouldn't talk about such and... Listen. Who is he or who am I compared
to the Word of God? That's why didn't Paul say, though
we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel? Let him be anathema, accursed?
You see, This is a straight and narrow way. But it's a way of
God's mercy. It's a way of God's grace. It's
a way that God has shown clearly in his book. And it's preached. And if people refuse that way,
that way alone, where does that leave them? It leaves them, depart
from me, you that work iniquity. I never knew you. He says this
in verse 21, who shall enter the kingdom of heaven? He that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Read the Bible.
What is the will? Now what he's talking about is
the revealed will of God by way of commandment. You know, when
you think about the will of God, God has a secret will. Mainly
involving providence and things as they unfold in history. That's
why in Deuteronomy 29 it says the secret things belong to God.
There are things God has not told us. But I know whatever
comes about is His will. You know, we say, well, I don't
know the day of my death. But I know God does. He hasn't
let me in on it yet. I'll know after the fact. All
right? That's God's secret will. But
it is His will. And it's his sovereign will.
But now God has a revealed will by way of commandment. And what
does he command his people to do? All right, somebody says,
well, okay, it says here in verse 21, he that doeth the will of
my Father. In the book of 1 John, we see
over and over, he that keepeth my commandments. Next week in
the message, it's his commandments are not grievous. Now what are
his commandments? Well, Some people say, well,
that's talking about the Ten Commandments. And so we've got
to keep the Ten Commandments. Well, let me ask you this. Where
in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation do you see God commanding
you to keep the Ten Commandments in order to gain access into
heaven? Where is that in the Bible? It's
not there. Anywhere. Not even during the
1,500 year period of time that the Ten Commandments was in force
over the Jewish people in the Old Covenant, Law of Moses. In
fact, I can show you where God forbids people to do that. And I quote so many verses on
that, but I'll just give you Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by
grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, not
of works. What are works? Trying to keep
the law. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. It's forbidden for me... See,
in fact, God tells us as sinners, we cannot keep the Ten Commandments.
The law was given to do what? To show us our sinfulness. Our depravity. So what does God command us to
do to enter heaven? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you shall be saved. That's
what he means by doing the will of the Father, which is in him. Follow Christ. Rest in Christ.
Plead His righteousness alone. Not what you've done, and listen,
not what you think you do in the name of the Lord. Now right
now, I'm standing before you, and you know what I'm doing?
Now listen to what they said here. Verse 22, many will say
to me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied or preached in thy
name? You know what I'm doing right now? I'm preaching in his
name. I'm preaching truth, not in my
name. In other words, what I want you
to believe is not because Bill Parker says it, or Billy Graham
says it, or C.H. Spurgeon says it, or somebody
else that you hold in high esteem. I don't want you to believe it
because I say it. I want you to believe it because
it's the Word of God. I'm preaching in His name, under
His authority, which is His truth. I'm just a voice, and that's
all. I have no authority at all except
as I can show it to you in this word. So I'm preaching in his
name. So why couldn't I stand before
God and say, well, I'm preaching in his name? You know, a lot
of people, they go to these verses here, especially verse 22, and
they'll say things like this. They say, well, those fellows
were not sincere. Well, let me ask you a question. Is that what it says here? And secondly, you think I'm gonna
go before God and say, I preached in your name sincerely? I hope
what I'm doing this morning is sincere. I'm trying to be as
sincere as I can. But let me ask you this question.
Where in the Bible do you find the degree of sincerity that
you must attain in order to enter heaven? Because I don't know. I would say, that it's perfection. Wouldn't you? I tell you, I'm not hoping and
expecting to enter heaven's door based on my sincerity. I want
to be the most sincere person I can be, but I'm not expecting
to attain heaven based on my sincerity. So it's not what you do, it's
not what God enables you to do. God has enabled us to do a lot
of things that we could not do naturally. Because he's given
us a new heart, new eyes. We see things now that we didn't
see before. But what do we see? Now think
about this. I had a fellow up north challenge
me on this. making this statement. And maybe
I wasn't as clear as I should be on this, but let me just make
it clear. Let me make this perfectly clear. All right. I've said this. You know, when you talk to unbelievers,
you don't want to deny the truth, but sometimes you have to come
down on their level and think about their understanding and
how they see things. All right? So you know the doctrine
of total depravity, the total depravity of man, okay? Now you
look at these fellas here in Matthew 7, 22, or 23, yeah, 22. They said, Lord, Lord, have we
not preached in your name? We cast out devils, and in thy
name done many wonderful works. There's two things, these are
totally depraved sinners. And I mean totally, 100% depraved
sinners. That's what we all were by nature.
Totally depraved. There's no degrees of depravity. Now what does depravity mean?
Well, depravity means this. You can find several definitions
of it in the scripture, but I always go to Romans 3, 9 through 20,
because that's a good definition of it. Here's what depravity
is. Depravity means that by nature
we don't have righteousness. All right? That's depraved. We don't have
it by nature. Secondly, we cannot work righteousness
no matter how good we try to be. That's depravity. I mean, listen, if I could set
out Monday morning, say I'm gonna be the best I can be, and could
do that, which I can't, not always, not 24-7, I would still be unable
to work righteousness. And then thirdly, here's the
real kicker of depravity. By nature, we don't want righteousness
God's way. Now why is it we don't want it
God's way? Because of the greatest sin that a person can commit,
self-righteousness, which is unbelief. We won't believe God's
way because we want it our way. Why did these fellas imagine
that preaching in his name, casting out demons, and doing many wonderful
works was their ticket into heaven? Because of self-righteousness.
Oh, but I did it in His name. Well, didn't the Pharisees say
the same thing in Luke 18? I thank God I'm not like other
men. I thank God I don't do this. I thank God I do that. Well,
what's the problem with it? Well, here's the problem. Even
in a believer, whatever God enables you to do, even for His glory,
does not equal or attain righteousness for you. And you know what anything
less than righteousness is? Iniquity. I'm preaching in his
name right now, but my preaching in and of itself does not measure
up to the righteousness that Christ alone worked out on the
cross of Calvary. You see what I'm saying? If I
were able to cast out demons by the power of God, my casting
out a demon does not measure up and equal the righteousness
that Christ alone worked out on Calvary's cross. If I did many wonderful works
so that people looked up to me like they do some of these other
preachers, All the wonderful works that I could ever do, put
together, do not equal the righteousness that Christ alone worked out
on Calvary. And if it doesn't measure up
to Him, what is it? In and of itself now. If I expect
that to be my ticket into Heaven, it's iniquity. Acts 17.31. God has appointed a day in which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
and that he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath
raised him from the dead. The only thing that a sinner
can stand before God at judgment and plead as his right and title
to salvation and eternal glory and fellowship with God is the
righteousness of Christ. It's not my preaching. It's not
my casting out demons. It's not my wonderful works that
get me there. There's only one thing that's
going to pass the test, and that's his righteousness imputed. That's
the problem with these fellows. Now how do I know? Because look
at the context. And the context continues on
in next week's lesson. You're either standing on the
rock or you're sinking in the sand. Now what is the rock? It's the rock Christ Jesus. It's
the rock of his righteousness imputed. It's a rock that can
never fall, never fail, never be broken. Now I told you before, I said
I've been challenged on this statement, and this is proof
that I do preach the gospel, but it's proof that my preaching's
not perfect. Because sometimes I have to come
back and explain things to these fellas that want to challenge
me, although I know they're wrong. But I have to do that anyway. But here's the statement that
I made that I was challenged on. I made this statement. I
said, when we talk to unbelievers about total depravity, we have
to make them understand that total depravity doesn't mean
that everybody is as bad as they could be. And that's the statement
they challenged. Well, here's the thing. What
I'm talking about when I say that is this. Everyone is not
as bad as they could be in the eyes of men. Okay? Now you have to understand. See,
you always have to make a distinction between how God looks at things
and judges things and how man on this level, especially unregenerate
men. For example, you have in the
Bible John chapter 3 and John chapter 4. All right, now here's,
in John chapter three, you have a man named Nicodemus, who was
a very religious man, a very sincere man, I believe, concerning
what the Bible says about him, a very moral man. All right,
in John chapter four, you have an adulterous woman who'd been
married five times, and she couldn't even show up at the well to get
water with the rest of them, because they didn't allow that
kind of person around them. Very infamous sinner. Now in
the eyes of the world, Nicodemus was better than that woman. In the eyes of the world, the
world would say, Nicodemus is not as bad as that woman. And
that's true. But in the eyes of God, they're
equally depraved. Nicodemus, in all of his religion
and morality, was no closer to attaining righteousness by his
morality and religion than the woman at the well was. If either
one was going to be saved, it had to be by God's grace through
the righteousness of another, the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you
understand that? Because in God's sight, it's
a different, you see, there's none good, no, not one in God's
sight. That doesn't deny the fact that
a Nicodemus was not as bad as the woman at the well in the
eyes of men. Not everybody is an Adolf Hitler or a Jack the
Ripper. Isn't that right? Now what you
attribute that to, you can argue about and fuss over, that's all
right. I call it the restraining hand of God. I know this, if
God removed his restraining hand from all of us, we'd be in a
mess, wouldn't we? I know in my view of myself,
I could be a lot worse than I am. I know what God sees. He sees
me in Christ. Well, here's the thing. Look
at verse 23. He says in verse 23, then will
I profess unto them I never knew you. Again, that's the relationship
that Christ has with, he knows his people. The Lord knoweth
them that are his. What is that, 2 Timothy chapter
two, I believe? He knows his people. It's just
like, I know my wife, and she knows me in ways that you all
could ever know us. And that's the way it is with
Christ and his bride. He knows his bride. It's a grace relationship. It's a love relationship. It's
a redemptive relationship. And it's a legal relationship,
too. He died for her sins, imputed to him, and she stands in his
righteousness, imputed to her. And then it's a spiritual relationship
because he brings his bride to himself. He draws her with cords
of love by showing her depravity, her sin, her filthiness, and
showing her that God, by his grace, has washed away her sins
and made her righteous. And so when he says, I never
knew you, to these people, he said, you don't have any part
in that relationship. And so he says, depart from me,
that's alienation. You that work iniquity. Now here's
the issue that I want to leave you with, and I'm going to pick
up on this next week as we close out the sermon on the map. The Bible says in Psalm 5, and
essentially the same thing in other places, that God hates
the workers of iniquity. Now that means that God's just
wrath is upon the workers of iniquity. But aren't we all workers
of iniquity? We're all sinners, aren't we? David said this in Psalm 130
in verse 3. He said, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? You know what that means? That
word mark means charge. If God were to charge me with
iniquity, I wouldn't stand because nothing I do measures up to righteousness. So here's the question of questions.
Here's the issue. How can I, a sinner who deserves
and has earned nothing but God's wrath, how can I appear at judgment
before God and not be charged as a worker of iniquity like
these folks? How can that happen? And the
answer is the mysterious glory and grace of the gospel of God. Now, God says in Proverbs 17,
15 that those who justify the wicked and condemn the just are
an abomination to him. Well, the Bible says God justifies
the ungodly. How can God do that and not be
an abomination to himself? Well, man cannot figure that
one out. In fact, man doesn't even ask the question. Because
that's not an issue. Man can't figure that. Only God
has that answer. And that's the glory and the
mystery and the wonderfulness and the amazement of grace. And
how is it? Well, turn to Romans 4. And this
is what we'll conclude on today. You look at Romans 4. Here's
the answer. And it's the answer that you
can only find in the gospel of God's grace, his free and sovereign
grace. It's the answer that you can
only find on the straight and narrow way. You're not going
to find this answer on the broad road that leads to destruction
where they're preaching a false gospel. Because like I said,
this issue is not even raised on the broad road, let alone
answered. The question is not even raised, not answered. That's why the evil tree can
only produce corrupt fruit. Well, look at Romans 4 and verse
6. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. There's your answer. Back over in Psalm 32, David
said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. The answer to that mystery that
we cannot solve, that only God can solve, is the grace of God
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ to whom God
charged, imputed, accounted, reckoned all the iniquities,
all the sins, all the debt, to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was
made sin. God can justly punish His holy,
harmless, undefiled Son based upon the sins of His elect, imputed,
charged, accounted to Christ. And it's just because God did
it, and it's just because Christ freely and willingly went under
the wrath of His Father to save His people from their sins. He
wasn't forced. He willingly did. The Bible says
he loved his own until the end. He loved his father. He loved
his people. And he said, put it on my account. I'll repay it. And then God can
be just to save and judge righteous a sinner like me based upon Christ's
righteousness charged, imputed to my account. That's the answer. the great exchange. God made
him to be sin. Christ, who knew no sin, for
us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
To stand before God at the judgment without Christ, here's what you'll
hear, depart from me, you that work iniquity. To stand before
God at judgment in Christ, here's what you'll hear, enter in, you
faithful, Come in. Welcome. That's what you'll hear,
isn't that right? Because God accepts us through
the merits of His Son and His Son alone. All right.