All right, recognize me. I don't know, I combed my hair different, I guess. That's what it is, I got a different tie on, and it didn't recognize me. We'll start it over. Okay, thank you, thank you. All right, well, I cut it off. I'm glad I looked at it. I just trust you, I didn't cut it off. It's on now, okay. Well, it's not wanting to recognize me, hold on a second. Well, I'll just have to reboot it, that's all right.

I got another one in there in case this one goes out, so we'll see. We'll begin the message. We do want to go to God in prayer again. I do ask your prayers for me as I preach this gospel to you. You know, I don't like to sit on a message, but I have this one for a little while. I've been thinking about it quite often. I think it's something that the Lord has laid on my heart and something that needs to be spoken to God's people.

And obviously we read the text concerning false prophets. There are many false prophets. John said there are many antichrists. Many have gone out in the world that are against Christ. But you're not going to see it by their works or their morality or their deeds and you're not going to hear it again. We're going to deal with the confession of a false prophet. You know, you're going to see it by their confession. But there it is. It winked at me now. So good news. But I've been praying about this message for a while.

So I hope the Lord will bless it to us. Pray that God would give me the liberty and the heart for it. God would give me a heart of compassion and love for his people that we would not be sucked in. And the moment we think we're not gonna be able to be sucked in, when you say, not me, and that sound familiar, Peter said, I know if everyone forsakes you, I won't. And so it is incumbent upon us to know that we are susceptible to be duped. And that's why the Lord warns us here. So I pray that the Lord give me the liberty that I need and open this message to your heart.

Pray for the churches. I preached at Danville last night. They send their love and appreciation. We had a wonderful service last night. I really was blessed. People just so they just love the gospel. I love going to a place and preaching the gospel. And you just you just see their faces as they hear it. And it it's so wonderful. It's so wonderful to see. And we're not alone. We're not alone. God has a people. and I'm thankful for it.

Also, be in prayer about this. It's a long ways off, it seems, but I should be preaching in Crossville, April 26th. So be in prayer about that, and Donny's asked me to come out and preach for him as he has to travel. Hope the Lord will bless that, so ask the Lord's blessing on it. Remember Moose in your prayers. I have to call him tomorrow. I want to see, haven't heard from him. Have you heard from him? Thank the Lord for that. That's good news. Good news. Has he passed the quarantine, everything, I guess? Is he out of the quarantine? Okay. I don't know if he's still by himself or not. Okay. All right.

Well, pray for him and pray for that church. Let's go to him in prayer. Let's go to God in prayer. Our gracious Father, again, we bow ourselves before you. We need you. We confess our need of your strength. our need of the Holy Spirit tonight, that you would send him forth into the hearts of every believer, that the gospel might go out in power and demonstration of the Spirit, not in the wisdom of man, but definitely in the power of the Spirit, convincing men of sin, righteousness, and judgment, testifying of Jesus Christ, and then in power giving them faith to believe. And Father, for us who you have called, we pray that you would comfort our hearts with this message, that you would strengthen our hearts, that you would set all our affection, all our hope upon Jesus Christ tonight.

I confess my need of you, Father. I have no strength in myself, no power, no wisdom in myself. I do not desire to stand here. in my own strength, Father. I pray that you would stand, I stand only in the power of thy spirit to preach the word. Use it, Father.

Use it for the glory of Christ, I pray. Use it for the furtherance of this gospel. Shine this light into the darkness, though the darkness comprehend it not. I pray that you would command the light to shine in the dark hearts of sinners that they might see the glorious light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ and believe on Him. Bless those that are sick. We think of those who are struggling in the body, those who are struggling in their minds, afflicted, depressed, cast down.

Oh, Father, that we would see the surety that we have in Jesus Christ. And I pray that you would do these things in the name of Christ and for His glory. Amen. All right, take your Bibles and turn back with me to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. I've entitled this message, The Confession of a True and a False Prophet. the confession of a true and a false prophet.

Look what our Lord says. Not everyone that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. And the preceding verses, I preached this message a few messages ago concerning false prophets. Our Lord warns us about false prophets. He says in verse 15, beware false prophets.

They come to you, not openly, but in sheep's clothing. They don't come with horns and pitchforks and cursing God. No, they come in deception. They come subtly in. These false prophets, they come in the name of God. They claim to speak for God, but they are only vain actors. They are pretenders.

They don't know God and they weren't sent of God. Jesus says there is only one way by which these men are detected. Only one way. And it is not morality. It is not their use of religious words. Their use of the Bible. Nor is it their confession that Jesus Christ is Lord.

See, false prophets may be as moral as the Pharisees. Now, we look at the Pharisees as evil people, but if you watch them in their lifestyle, you would not be able to see it. They were moral. They had a standard of morality that you and I could not even hope to attain to. False prophets quote the Scriptures.

They use the Bible. They use words like grace and faith. redemption, justification, sanctification. They use the Lord Jesus by name. They use His blood, His righteousness. Well, listen to this. Even so do true preachers. True preachers are moral. True preachers, they use the Bible. They preach the Word. True preachers confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every true preacher, you cannot tell a true preacher from a false preacher by these standards.

How shall you tell them? Verse 16. You shall know them by their fruits. Again, these fruits are not moral characters. That's what religion will tell you. Religion will tell you you're going to know a false prophet and a true prophet if he's moral. But what the Lord is speaking here is concerning their message. The fruit is their message. The fruit of their lips, what comes is what comes out of their heart. He said, can. Look at it in verse 16, you should know them by their fruits.

Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? No, you don't go to a thorn bush to try to find a grape. Get a fig from thistles? What he said, every good tree bringeth forth what? Good fruit. But a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. See, a corrupt tree can only bring forth one kind of fruit. A false preacher, regardless of his morality, regardless of his confession, regardless of his use of scripture, he can only produce one message. The fruit of a false preacher is always works salvation. It's always the same. Why? Because that's all he can produce. That's all he can produce. Even because this religion, works religion, is natural.

Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Look what Paul says about this. Paul in this chapter, he says, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, him crucified. He said, that's all I'm all I all I preach to you is Jesus Christ, him crucified. Now, why? He said this.

In verse five, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man, but the power of God. You see, you believe not by the wisdom of man. We preach the gospel to you, but you know this, your faith did not come by the wisdom of the preacher, by the power of the preacher. It came by the power of God.

He said, how be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, or the prince of this world, the wisdom of this world, nor the princes of this world that come to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom of God, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Paul said, Listen, we preach this gospel to you. It's perfect to you. It's it's glorious. But to the world, it's a mystery. It's a hidden mystery. Why? Because they can't understand it. They can't know it. Look at verse 10, but God revealed it to us. Isn't that why you know it?

I mean, you believe salvation. Do you believe salvation is by works? Well, no. Well, who showed you that? How do you believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone? How is it? God revealed it to you. That's it. By his spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Listen to this.

For what knoweth the things of man save the spirit of man which is in him? Now what can a man know except what is in him? He can't know anything else. A corrupt tree can only bring forth one kind of fruit, corrupt fruit. A false prophet can only do one thing, no matter how moral, how good, or what his confession is. He can only bring forth a false message. He can't do anything else.

So this gospel, only those that are born of God can know the gospel. He says, even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words of man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." Listen to this, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

A corrupt man can only bring forth a carnal message. That's all he has. He cannot bring forth a spiritual message. But we who are taught that salvation cannot come from will or works. Because man is spiritually dead, you were taught that. Not only were you taught that, you experienced that, you know that to be true. We are taught that salvation can only come by the power and will of God through faith in the merits of Jesus' blood and righteousness. So then what can a natural man preach? He can only preach what's in him. A false prophet can only preach what's in him. He cannot preach what's not there. Now he can academically confess it, and I've seen men do this. I've seen men come in and academically obtain knowledge of the sovereignty of God, the grace of God, that salvation is by grace. But you know what I've noticed? None of them stay. By and by they either go away or they move from grace to law. Why? Because that's all that's in them. They can't stay because it's only academic. It's not real to them. It's not made known to them.

So what? This is because of man's depravity. Look at verse 14 then. It says, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Why? For they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them because he is spiritually judged. He's spiritually condemned. And so how do you know a false prophet? You'll know him by his fruit, by what he preaches. He can only preach carnal works. He can only preach something that is, why do you think that their churches are full?

Because a carnal man can relate to another carnal man. Well, they preach on how to have friendships and how to have good relationships and all of those things are what? They're carnal. Isn't it not a surprise to you that that appeals to a carnal man? But when the gospel is preached, it doesn't appeal to him, does it? Why? It's not in him. It's not in him.

But notice this, Jesus says in our text, now go back to your text. Jesus shows us something else, not just. This. Jesus exposes in our text that their profession and confession is not a way of detection. He said, Not everyone that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Now, the reason I brought this message is because This is obvious to me, that in this time there is right now a spiritual movement. A spiritual movement. There are many in this generation, many of our rulers, many political commentators, many actors and entertainers, all of a sudden are boldly confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord.

You're not going to be able to escape it. They're all over. And they're very vocal. They're very zealous about this. That Jesus Christ is Lord. That Jesus Christ is King. But is this not the confession of every true believer? Is it in yours? Is this not your confession tonight? I mean, when I say Jesus Christ is Lord, you that believe, is that not right?

Would you change any word of that? That's so. We believe that. With all of our soul we know this. Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is King. He is the Christ. We know this. So again, we see both this. True and false confess the same. They have the same confession.

This is why Jesus said, not everyone. I'm glad he didn't say not anyone. But he said, not everyone that say it to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But here in the difference, how do we know the difference? Here it is. But He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. This is the distinction. This is the difference. And so the question is, what does that mean?

I mean, isn't it incumbent to know if we are vainly professing Him? I want this to be personal, not just out there, but ourselves. Is our profession real? Is our confession real? So what does it mean to do the will of the Father which is in Heaven? And how does one perform that will?

Because only those will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those. Now, according to the Word of God, I'll give you this, that the will of the Father is plain. It's very simple. It is to believe on His own. That is the will of God. Plain and simple. Go to John chapter 6. Look at what he said in John chapter 6. Our Lord Jesus makes this plain. Verse 40. In verse 37 we see the election of God there, right?

All that the Father giveth me, they're going to come to me. And when they do, I'm not going to cast them out. Why? I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. Which is what? To save them. That was His will. In verse 39, this is the Father's will. That of all He had given me, I should lose nothing. That's Jesus performing the will of the Father. Now notice this. Here's the experience of every elect. Every elect child. And this is the will of Him that sent me. that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day. It is the will of the Father for everyone that seeth the Son and believes on him to have everlasting life. It is the will of the Father that you should believe. You that believe.

Isn't it so that you only believe because of the will of the Father? And so our belief is nothing less than obedience to the will of the Father. And we know that Jesus is not speaking about obeying the law here. He is not saying, He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, and then false religion will take that verse and refer you back to the law.

See, they'll tell you what the will of the Father is, that you don't lie, that you don't cheat, that you don't steal. They'll quote the Ten Commandments to you. They'll quote the Golden Rule. They'll quote all kinds of religious laws and they'll put them on you.

That's not what our Lord is saying. How do we know He's not talking about works? We know He is not talking about works because when they go before Him, this is why they're rejected. Look at what He says in verse 22 of our text. Look at your text. He says, 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? We know he's not talking about works and law because that's what they trusted in and were rejected.

They trusted in their zeal to preach, to publish his name. They trusted in the power to cast out devils, to wage war against evil. They trusted in their many wonderful works. Their hope of acceptance was based on their confession, their works, their public preaching, and their miracles.

What is Jesus' profession of them, though? What is Christ's profession? Now, they made a profession. They professed He was Lord. And they professed to trust in their works. But Christ makes a profession. Look what He says. He says, And I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work iniquity. See, what Jesus says in His confession is that all their preaching and all their working and confession of Him as Lord was nothing but sin. Now, how can that be?

Good works, religious zeal, be called iniquity. Even because they did not do the will of the Father, which was what? To believe on His Son alone. To trust in the righteousness and blood of His Son without their works. Without their confession. You that confess Him to be Lord, are you leaning on that confession? Are you trusting in that confession? You that love the Lord and do good works, are you leaning on any of those things? No. Why?

It's the will of the Father that I lean totally on Him. Salvation by works of the flesh or by some unholy fusion of grace and obedience to the law, that's the religion of carnal man. That's the only thing a carnal man can produce. In this vain wisdom of man that God's favor can somehow be earned. That somehow their vocal confession of Him earns His favor. Well, I confessed you. I professed that you were Lord. I professed you were Christ. I preached in your name. I did wonderful works for you. What does our Lord declare of those works? He says they're nothing but iniquity. They're useless. All their confessions and all their works and all their zeal and all their sacrifices are useless. They're worthless. And so what does the Word of God declare concerning then salvation? Is salvation by grace or by works? Is salvation by the will of man or by the will of God? Is salvation all of God or a cooperative effort? If we can answer that, then we know this. We can know who is true and who is false.

Because I really don't care what men think about this. When I ask those questions, those are rhetorical questions. I really don't care what... You don't care what I think, do you? I hope you don't care what I think. We don't care about the opinions of men concerned.

What does God say about salvation? I'll give you a couple of passages. We know that salvation is not by law. That's just so. Go to Galatians chapter two, Galatians chapter two. Whole book of Galatians. Is a testimony that salvation is by grace and and none of the law. That's the whole book But I'm not gonna go through the whole book Okay Galatians chapter 2 look at verse 16 He says let's see Well, if I get the right chapter, that would be right. There it is. Knowing. Paul says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. Listen to this. How is a man justified?

By the faith of Jesus Christ. And I want you to see that it is not faith in Jesus Christ that justifies it. It is the faith of Jesus Christ that justifies us. Even we believed in Jesus Christ. Now there's faith in Jesus Christ. Now you can't be saved without faith in Jesus Christ. But faith in Jesus Christ believes the faith of Jesus Christ. We don't trust in our works or merits. We trust in the faith of Christ that by which we are justified before God. We believe in Jesus Christ. That, this is why we believe. You that believe, why do you believe? That we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law.

For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Now anybody, any man that professes Jesus is Lord. Listen to me. If he is preaching salvation by law, he is a liar. It doesn't matter who he is. It doesn't matter how good he is. Doesn't matter what good he does. None of that is proof that his profession is real. Why? Because salvation is not by law. No man is justified by the law. Matter of fact, he goes on to say, if you are under one law, you are under all the law and you are cursed.

That's chapter 3 and I believe verse 10. Yes. Galatians 3 and verse 10 tells you that. So this is what the scripture testifies of us who confess Him to be Lord. We know this. We believe this. Salvation is not by law. It's by the faith of Jesus Christ. Our faith is in His faithfulness, His obedience, His death, His blood, His righteousness, His resurrection, His ascension. His mediation. My hope is on Him alone. Why? He is Lord. He is Lord. Secondly, we see this. Salvation is not by law, then it's what? It's by grace. Go to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8. For By grace are you saved.

I don't think you're just getting clearer than that. How can you get clearer than that? Remember Paul said this? He said, if it's of grace, it's not of what? Works. Otherwise, grace doesn't mean grace. And if it's of works, then it's not of grace. Otherwise, work don't mean work. You cannot mix these things.

It is by grace. The unmerited favor of God by electing grace, by redeeming grace, by calling grace, by quickening grace, by keeping grace. You are saved by grace. If you're saved, you're saved by grace. Now what do you contribute to that? Nothing. Notice this, through faith, never apart from it, no man is saved by grace. except through faith. And people say, ah, see, cooperation. Nope. See, man's gotta have something to contribute. So they say, well, he's got to contribute faith. Notice this, and that, not of yourselves.

You don't even get to contribute faith. Faith, if you believe, it's not of yourself. Isn't this the most glorious, wonderful thing? Isn't this the most liberating thing that you can imagine, that your faith is a gift of God and not of works? That your faith is not of yourself? You know, if I had to keep my faith, I tell you what, my most troubling times When my faith is weakest and I'm trying to grab a hold of it, I'm trying with all my strength to maintain this faith. And you know what I can't do? I can't maintain it. But you know who does? The one that gave it.

We're still here. And we still believe the same gospel, the same Christ. Why? Because faith is not of myself. It is a gift of God. And listen to this, not of works. See, he's putting those two things again in opposition to one another. Salvation is not by grace and works. Not of works. Faith is not a work. It's a grace. It's a gift, not of works. One, lest any man should glory. If you could produce faith, you could glory in it. But you can't, and we don't. Look at this, for we are his workmanship created.

Don't you see that salvation is a creation? Before you believed, you had one nature. You were a corrupt tree and all you could do was bring forth corrupt fruit. You could only believe a corrupt gospel. You couldn't believe this gospel. You couldn't embrace this gospel. You didn't know it. You couldn't produce it. Until what? Until He created in you a new nature, a new heart. He said, A new heart will I give unto them.

That's what He does. He gives us a new nature. We are His workmanship created, listen, in Christ Jesus unto good works. That's where they come in. That's where they come in. They're just a product. They're a byproduct of what God has done on the heart of His people. Religion always works. Works produce something inside. If you do this, you'll have joy. If you do this, you'll have peace. If you do this, God will love you. It's outside in. No. It always comes by the grace and power of God on the inside, and you can't help but do the other on the outside. Can you help believing? You that believe, can you help it? You want to do anything else? You want to believe in someone else? Do you want to mix your words with his? Do you want to contribute? Do you want to add?

No. God, no. True faith only wants him. True faith only clings to him. True faith is constantly abandoning myself, cutting off myself. We believe He is Lord, and it's true, because we believe that salvation is by grace, that it's by the power and grace of God through the offering of Jesus Christ. Therefore, a man who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord with all his heart and sincerity and calls Him King, and yet will not believe on Christ alone, Believing on his works and obedience, that man shall not enter the kingdom of heaven, because he is not doing the will of the Father which is in heaven, which is what? To believe on his son. To believe on his son. Jesus says he shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus will say to them, regardless of how many good works they've done or how many good deeds You know, I mean, these people confessing that Christ is Lord in our generation are doing many good things. They're very open about all the good things they do. They'll tell you. They publish it. They'll tell you all the wonderful things they're doing for Jesus.

Not ashamed. But listen to me, if that's what they're trusting in, they're not doing the will of the Father. Let us not then be duped by this religious age believer. It seems to be popular in vogue to confess him. Jesus is now being made popular by movies, actors, musicians, famous people. They are calling him Lord and yet If you listen to their message, they deny Him in every way. They deny Him in every way. By their gospel, you shall know them, friends, by their gospel. If they are not believing in Christ alone for all their salvation, their profession is vain. Now, our Lord, in this, go back to your text. Go back to your text. Now our Lord then gives a parable here to show the distinction. He gives a parable, a very simple parable.

Verse 24, Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon the house, and it fell not because, this is why it didn't fall, it was founded upon a rock. Everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, he should be likened to a foolish man which built his house upon the sand. Upon the sand the rain descended, the floods came and winds blew and beat upon the house and it fell. And great was the fall of it.

Jesus here compares the two, both confessing Christ as Lord. The distinction is this, one is wise and one is foolish. Now, notice the similarities, because both built the house. Both of them built houses. Now what is a house for? A house is a refuge. Our Lord is making this house to be what it is, a refuge from storms. Both built a house. Both in the house had storms. The winds blew, the rain descended and beat on both houses. One stood. endured and the other one fell. Now what was the difference? It wasn't the house, it wasn't the storms. What was it? It was the foundation.

The wise man built on a rock and the foolish man built his house on the sand. Now we know according to scripture Jesus says, the wise man is one that heareth and doeth these sayings of mine. The wise man who built his house upon the rock is one that heard and obeyed.

Now again, what is it that we hear? How does one hear? We know this, that it is only by the Spirit of God anyone's going to hear. We know this, no man can come unto Christ except the Father which hath sent me draw him. No man can hear the gospel except God reveal it to him.

We went over that in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. He said, but God revealed it unto us. What did he reveal? He revealed the rock. In scripture, who's the rock? In every place in scripture, the rock refers to Christ. He is the rock on which the church is built.

Go to Isaiah chapter 28. Isaiah chapter 28. Look at verse 16. Verse 16, therefore thus saith the Lord, behold, you put down everything you've got and you listen to me. That's what God says. He said you don't listen to anybody else, you behold this, you stop and you listen.

Behold, I lay, I lay in Zion, For a foundation, what? A stone. Not just any stone. A tried stone. One tested, one proven stone. A precious stone. A precious corner stone. A sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste. We know this tried stone is Jesus Christ. He was laid by God from the foundation of the world to be the foundation of His church. You that rest on Him, rest on this. God put you on this foundation before the world was founded. God laid this stone. Who can disacknowledge? Who can dig it up? This is the foundation of the church. I lay in Zion a stone, tried stone.

When he came, what was he done? He was tried. Has anybody tried more than him? Anybody tested and proven more than him? No one in the history of mankind was ever proven and tested more than him. By Satan, by men, and by God, he was tested and proven to be the Christ. Notice this, a precious Oh, how precious was this stone to God? The only reason God loves me is because I'm in Him. He's a precious, notice this cornerstone.

We don't build stuff on cornerstones, I don't think, anymore. We had that old church building on Zoran had a cornerstone, didn't it? Over in the corner, built in the early 1900s, late 1800s, something like that. And it had a literal cornerstone over there. You know what a cornerstone is meant to do? It's meant to bear all the weight. When they built the building, all the weight of the building was pressed on that cornerstone.

Our Lord says, all the weight and salvation of my people will be pressed to Christ. Isn't it wonderful that this weight is lifted from us? It doesn't have anything to do with our ability, our works, our power, our will. Nothing. It's all on Him. A precious cornerstone. And listen to this. He that believeth shall not make haste.

You want to go anywhere else? You either own this stone, any other stone you want. You want another stone? You want to add some stone to this one? No. No, I don't want to move from this one. This is all I got. This is a wise man. A wise man builds his refuge solely on that stone. Now you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord because you know he's Lord. And you know this, He is not only your Lord, He is all your salvation.

But a foolish man, foolish men can't hear the Word of God. You know, don't you, aren't you amazed when they don't hear it? I mean, sometimes I forget that I too was in that condition, you know, where I could not hear it. There was a time I remember I could not hear it. I remember begging God at times. I can't understand. I don't, I can't believe. I just can't. You know, someone, someone came to me one time and says, I just, I just can't.

I said, where else are you gonna go? Keep asking. Keep begging until he gives it to you. Or if he don't, that's up to him, isn't it? And you know what? It was wonderful. The Lord did give them faith. And they said, yeah, I see what you're saying. But a foolish man, he can't hear this. He can confess Jesus as Lord. Isn't that easy to say? It's easy to say. Jesus is Lord. Jesus Christ, I believe it. But what is it? He can't hear that salvation is not by word, can't hear it. That's all he knows. That's all he can do. So this sand, his refuge, a foolish man's refuge is built on the shifting sand. Of what?

Morality. Isn't morality shifting? Tell me, is morality the same as it was 100 years ago? 50 years ago? 20 years ago, is it the same? No, morality shifts like sand. And if you build your house on morality, guess what? It's always changing. It's always the do's and don'ts always change. Foolish man builds his house upon the refuge of his works, of his own salvation.

Now look in Isaiah. The Lord describes these foolish men in Isaiah 28. Notice this. He said in verse 14, Hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men that rule the people which is in Jerusalem, because you have said, we have made a covenant. They just said it. Isn't this what free will religion is? They say it, therefore it's so. I willed it so. That's what they said.

We have made a covenant with death and with hell, and we are at agreement. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Look what God says to them in 17. He says, Judgment also will I lay to the lion, and righteousness to the plummet, and hell shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place, and your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand, when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, when you shall be trodden down by it. From that time it goeth forth, it shall take you, for morning by morning shall it pass over, and day and by night, and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report." Here's the report.

The bed is shorter than a man could stretch himself on, and the covering narrower than a man can wrap himself in it. What is it? A man's works is too narrow. It can't cover him. His religion is too short. It's not big enough. His holiness, his righteousness is not big enough.

And when God comes in the day of his judgment, when the storms of God's judgment come to the false professor, Our Lord said this, his refuge will fail. And it will not matter one bit what he confessed in his life. Not one of his good works will count.

I think in another place he said, and great will be the fall thereof in another gospel. Can you imagine the greatness and the fall of one man who thinks when he dies that he's going to be accepted? Expects to be accepted. Anticipates Jesus Christ embracing him for all the wonderful things he did. And opens his eyes and hails. What a glorious thing for the wise man who leans totally, solidly on Jesus Christ. Because we're going to be surprised, too. You know, when the Lord separates all men, in that parable, he separates the sheep from the goats. You know who's most surprised? The sheep.

He starts talking about doing stuff for him. He says, you know, when I was hungry, you fed me. And when I was naked, you clothed me. When I was sick in prison, you visited me. Can you imagine the mind, your mind? When in the world did we ever do anything for you? Oh my, if this is my hope, I'm doomed. He said, no, you did it. When I did it, you did it. And listen, when you do it for each other, you've done it for me. The wicked will be surprised that they're not accepted.

What is your foundation? Regardless of your confession, what's your foundation? My hope is built on nothing less in Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

I pray God will bless this to us. Let's stand and be dismissed and pray. Our gracious Father dismisses with your own blessings and mercies. Father, pour out grace upon grace upon grace. We who have been called by thy spirit understand our need of mercy and grace to keep us and sustain us. I pray, Father, that you'd let grace shine the light of the gospel into the dark hearts of men, that those who only make mere professions of faith might even this night wholly believe on Jesus Christ, so they might have a true confession that he is Lord. Forgive us our sins and lead us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Okay. Yeah.