Matthew chapter 7. We will finish
this chapter up this morning. Our Lord is now drawing to a conclusion with His sermon on the mount. And I say, what a sermon. God of heaven and earth, the
creator of heaven and earth, our creator, came into this world,
came bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, and preached the
gospel to us. I thought this sermon is a perfect
sermon because the Lord gave it. You know, when men like ourselves
When we preach, we stumble. There's times I go home, I kid
you not, I like to cry. There's been a few times I have.
There's been a few times I've just thought, well, what in the
world? But our Lord gave a perfect son. And it would do us well to read
it often. And give heed to what he has
to say, really, of what he has to say from Genesis to Revelation. I titled this message, The Wise
and the Foolish. He's going to give, I should
say, these are the two last solemn warnings that he gives in this
closing part of his sermon. Now he says, not everyone that
saith unto me." I don't know a more sobering portion of Scripture
than what our Lord has given us here. But this jumped out at me last
night. Not everyone that saith unto
me. Everyone's going to answer to
me. When he was talking to that crowd, he's saying to that crowd
and to us and to everyone that's ever been on this earth, Not
everyone that saith unto me, he's the judge. This is the judge
of the quick and the dead. This is the Lord. This truly
is the Lord. He's the one speaking here. The
Lord is speaking. And not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. He that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven. Now our Lord has been speaking
back in a few verses of false prophets. He said, Beware of
those false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. Inwardly
they are ravening wolves. And the only thing that a false
prophet can produce are false professors, even though they
use His name, even though they call Him Lord, Lord. That's probably
the favorite phrase of Kenneth Copeland. Jesus is Lord, and
that's all he says all the time. He's got it written up there.
Jesus is Lord, but he knows nothing of his Lordship. Listen to his
message. I've listened to him a couple
of times over the past two or three weeks. There's no gospel
in what he's saying whatsoever. But he says Jesus is Lord. Many
this morning, many this morning will be calling him Lord. They
say he's the Lord. He says not everyone that says
that shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Not at all. They use his name. They use his
book. They might even use doctrine,
right? Doctrine. But they don't know
Him. They don't know Him. And He does not know them. He
doesn't know them. Therefore, He says, they shall
not enter the kingdom of heaven. But He's not turning away serious
sinners who seek Him Believe Him and want Him, and He ain't
going to say, no, I don't know you. No, everyone who knows Him
truly, and He knows them, shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
He knoweth them that are His. He's talking here about lip service. Lip service. You know, we can
say a lot of things. A man can say. A man can say,
Lord, Lord. That mean nothing by it. It'd be as empty as empty can
be. It's not what I say. It's who
I belong to. It's who I'm joined to. It's who I'm in union with. It's
a living union with Christ. It's more than lip service. It's
Christ in you. And he says here, those who,
not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth, He that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven. Let's look over in John chapter
6, talking about doing the will of the Father. Let's look and see what that
is. In John chapter 6, our Lord says,
But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
What is that will? What is it? Well, he says here in verse 39,
And this is the Father's will. You want to know what the will
of the Father is? He said, Everyone that doeth it shall enter the
kingdom of heaven. Well, here it is. And 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. Here it is. that everyone which
seeth the Son, you see Him by faith, you see Him as your righteousness,
you see Him as all your hope, you see the Son, you see the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He's real to you. You
see the Son, not with these eyes of flesh, but by faith. He that
seeth the Son and believeth on Him, committed to Him, sold out
to Him, may have everlasting life. And I'll raise Him up at
the last day. Here's the will of the Father that everyone that
seeth the Son believe on it. It's to believe on it. Now he jumps down here in verse
22. You see, in life, they say, Lord, Lord, in their prayers,
in their pulpits, they say, Lord, Lord. While they're on this earth,
they go around talking about Jesus is Lord. Now in verse 22,
he comes to judgment. He comes to judgment. Many will
say to me in that day, that day of judgment. Look what they say. Have we not
prophesied, preached in thy name? Did we not do this in thy name? You watch some of these religious
programs on TV and they do their healing services in the name
of Jesus. They wear a name out. Paul said
they'll come preaching another Jesus. They're talking about
another Jesus. But they use his name. They use
his book. He said, Have we not preached
or prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works. Many, he
says. Many. You see, there are many
false prophets, and they produce many false professors. And they're
going to say, have we not done this in thy name? Are we not
preached in thy name? You know, where God has one preacher,
where God has one preacher of the gospel, Satan will have a
thousand. He'll have a thousand liars lying
on God, lying on Christ. It's like Samson. I thought of
Samson last night when I was going over this. I thought he
was surrounded by those Philistines. Here's one true servant of God
surrounded by all those Philistines. And where God has one true servant,
Satan has many more thousands. But know what they say. They
say, Lord, Lord. They call him Lord. Well, the
devil's calling that. The devil's calling the Son.
But we know who you are. The Son of God. You come to torment
us before our time? And notice here what they mention.
Here's what gives them away. This is what gives them away. We preached in thy name. We, priests in thy name, we've
cast out devils. We've had religious services.
We've cast out devils. People have been delivered from
drugs and drinking and this and that, and their morals are better.
Oh, look what we've done in thy name. Look what we've done. Cast
out devils. You know what? They probably
have. Satan will cast out his own if it will promote his own
agenda. He'll cast out his own. When the unclean spirit is gone
out of the house, man makes a profession, straightens up, gets religious,
does all that. And then when he says, then they
come back, that unclean spirit comes back. And what does he
find? What does the unclean spirit
find when he comes back? Empty, swept and garnished. Christ's
not there. He wouldn't be empty if Christ
was there. They find it swept, decorated. Man looks good. Man,
he just looks like a Pharisee now. Just outstanding. Community
person. Swept and garnished. That's what
that spirit finds when he comes back. And he comes back and he
brings seven other spirits. He says that man is worse than
the first before they went out. The last state of that man is
worse than the first state of him. I suspect he's not more,
when those seven evil spirits come back, he's not more openly
wicked and immoral. I think he's more religious.
I think he's just obnoxiously religious. You've been around
some of those that get that way. Unclean spirit. He'll cast out his own if it'll
promote his own agenda. It'll make it look good to do
what he's wanting to accomplish. Judas cast out devils. When the
twelve went out, they came back rejoicing. They said, Lord, the
devils are subject to us. He said, don't rejoice over that.
Don't rejoice that devils are subject to you. Rejoice that
your name is written in heaven. Rejoice that it's written in
heaven. They said, we cast out devils
in thy name. And many wonderful works, many
wonderful programs. You should see the programs we've
got for our children. We've got many wonderful programs,
very good religious programs, many wonderful works, and we
did it in thy name, using your name. Aren't you impressed? The works of religion. That's all it is. The work of
religion. Miracles are not infallible proofs
of Christ's presence. I tell you what the proof is,
the gospel of grace preached in the power of God's Spirit,
and men and women are brought to true faith and living union
with Jesus Christ. But miracles are not. The Bible
proves that, of His presence. But notice here, it's what they
did, not what He did. I know you've picked up on that.
I know you've picked up on it. They said, we priests in Your
name, we cast out devils in Your name. No. It's not what I have done, It's
not what I'm doing. It's what He did. And it's always
what He did. It's what He did for us, not
what we do for Him. Never what we do for Him. What
He did for us. Not one of them, not one of them
said, did you not die for me? Not one of them said, Lord, did
you not die for me? Not one of them said, Lord, Are
you not all my righteousness? Lord, are you not all my hope? Oh, I tell you what, if they
had, if one of them had said that, he would never say depart. He would say enter in, thou good
and faithful servant. But they didn't say that. They
spoke of what they did. They will say we did this. We
did this. Our hope is what he did. Our
hope is who He is, what He did, who He did it for, and where
He is now. Let me show you something over here in Revelation. Revelation,
let me turn to chapter 1 first. And verse 5. Here's the hope
of a believer. It's not that I preached in His
name. It's not that I cast out devils in His name. I've never
saved anybody. No preacher has ever saved anyone. Christ is the one that saves. He says here in verse 5, And
from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first
begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth,
unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. There's our hope. There's our
hope. Look over here in chapter 5. In verse 9, And they sung a new
song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open
the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us unto
God. Well, what if somebody had said
that? What if one of them would have said that? Well, they wouldn't
have been in that number if they had believed that. He said, Thou
hast redeemed us unto God by Thy blood out of every kindred,
tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld
and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne,
and the beast, and the elders, and the number of them was ten
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying
with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
power riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing. They
gave all of it to Him. They gave all the glory and all
the honor to Him. But these false prophets and
their false professors, their fruit, the fruit spoken of there
earlier, the grapes, that's the converts. The fruit of a man's
ministry is the converts. And those false professors can
produce nothing but false professors. That's all they can produce.
That's all of it. Then he says here in verse 23,
And then will I profess unto them, I will profess unto them,
I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Our Lord will have the last word,
and His judgment is just. His judgment will be right. He will not argue with them.
He knows them. He knows the heart. He knoweth
them that know Him. He knoweth them. So the scripture,
He knoweth them that trust in Him. He's not going to cast anyone
out that trusts in Him. These are hypocrites. These are false prophets. These
are people that don't know Him, do not love Him, do not want
Him, but they use His name for benefits. Use His name for benefits. He's going to strip them of all
their falsehood, and He's going to expose their hypocrisy. All
this is going to be done And many of these are going to, many,
they're allowed to go through their whole life in this false
profession, this falsehood, all the way to judgment. All the
way to judgment. Then they're going to find out
who He really is. Sobering, isn't it? That's absolutely
sobering. He's going to say to them, I
never knew you. Now he knew their existence.
He knew that. He knew their lives. He knew
their black hearts. But he never knew them in covenant
mercies. He never knew them by new creation. And he never knew them in love.
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. I never knew you. There was no
relationship between me and you. There's no union between me and
you. He's going to say, depart from me. Depart from me. Oh, how terrible. How terrible. This is real. What
I'm talking to you about is real. And it's going to happen. He's
going to say, depart from me. On that day. The day of judgment. Spurgeon
said in one place, The day of judgment is going to be a day
of surprises. Look over, I think it's Matthew
11. Let me look over here at Matthew 11. See if this is what I'm looking for. Look in verse 21. Or verse 20. Then began he to upbraid the
cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago of sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you,
it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of
judgment than for you, a day of surprises. No one would have
thought that. And here's an even greater surprise.
And thou, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shall be
brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which
had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have
remained unto this day. But I say unto you that it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment
than for thee." Oh, what a day of surprises that's going to
be, a day of surprises. Depart from me. And here's one
of the most chilling thoughts I've had on this. When he says
depart, that's it. Let's talk about this. Let me have another chance at
this. Let me have another shot at it. No. When he says depart,
you have to depart. There's no talking about it.
It's final. It's final. Oh, it's final. Then he says here, verse 24,
Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, he's giving
us an example here now. Our Lord always gave us examples
in His message. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these things of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise
man which built his house upon a rock." He's giving us an example here
to go by. And the first hearer, the first
example, the first man he talks about is this wise man. Who's
the wise man? He's the man that's born of God.
Every man, every woman that's born of God are wise. They've been made that way in
Christ. They are indwelt by Christ who is the wisdom of God. They're
wise. God saved you, you're wise. He's
made you wise. That man becomes wise because
the wisdom of God's in him. Now notice here, this man heard
the gospel. Whosoever heareth these sayings
of mine, these teachings of the gospel, he heard the gospel of
Christ when it was preached. He heard it in power. And he
believed. He obeyed the message. He obeyed
the Lord. He searched the scriptures. He
learned of Christ. This man learned of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This went into his heart. It
was his life. Christ is our life. He heard and he learned and he believed
and he followed on to know the Lord. This is that poor in spirit. This wise man is that one he
described over in chapter 5 when he said, Blessed are the poor
in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
That's the wise man he's speaking of. That's the wise man. And he did something. He built
his house upon a rock. This shows his wisdom. Wisdom
is going to leak out on you. It's like grace is going to leak
out on you through faith. It's all going to leak out on
you. And this man built his house upon Christ. Everything he did,
his whole life, surrounded Christ. It had to do with Christ. He
didn't work Christ around his job. He worked his job around
Christ. That's what he did. Everything
revolved around Christ. He built his house upon the rock.
His whole confession was real. It was genuine. His faith was real. This man
was not a pretender. And he proved it. He built, he
spent his life building upon that foundation, which is Christ.
No other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid,
Christ Jesus, the Lord. He built on that foundation.
That rock upon which his whole religion, there is a true religion
and there's a false religion. There's only two religions, one's
true and one's false. And he built his whole religion,
his whole hope upon Christ crucified. He built his house upon a rock.
And you and I know that Christ is the rock. He is that rock. He heard of the rock and then
he built his house upon the rock. Over here in Exodus chapter 33,
in verse 21, this is what this man heard and he understood. God revealed the gospel to him.
And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt
stand upon a rock. And he come to understand who
that rock is. And it shall come to pass while
my glory passes by that I will put thee in the cleft of the
rock. How did you get in Christ? God puts you in Christ. You understand
that, don't you? You understand. He heard of the
rock and He understood. He understood. I wrote down several
verses, but at the same time I won't turn to all of them.
But if you go over here to Luke chapter 6, I want to show you something about
this man, this wise man. Luke chapter 6. And look in verse 46. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord,
and do not the things which I say? That's the one to say, Lord,
Lord. He's going to say, depart from
me. You don't know me. I don't know you. They don't do the things he says.
Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I'll
show you whom he's like, I'll show you who he's like. He's
like a man which built a house, and listen, dig deep. This man, this wise man, he's
like a man which built a house, and dig deep, and laid the foundation
on a rock. You got to get rid of all this
earthly garbage and all this religious garbage and refuge
and get it out of the way and build on that rock. But this
man was serious. I tell you what, if you're serious,
if you're going to dig deep, you're serious. That's hard work. Digging deep is not easy work. And this man dug deep. Our Lord
said, Strive to enter in. Strive to enter in at the straight
gate. Straight gate and there was a
way. He said, Strive to enter in there. This man digged deep
and he laid that foundation. He built on that foundation.
God laid the foundation. He built on it. He never moved off that rock.
Never moved. And now listen. And the rain descended. Verse
25. The rain descended and the floods
came and the winds blew and beat upon that house. Beat upon it. Like I think of the ark when
it was in the flood. You know that ark took a beating.
It took the flood of God's wrath. And it beat upon that house and
it fell not. That house didn't move. That
house did not crumble. It was founded upon a rock. Rain,
trials sent from God. Rain comes down from heaven,
trials sent from God. Floods, I think these are the
trials that we all experience every day living in this world,
this sinful world. They're just a flood of trials
that we face every day just living here. Just living here. And then the winds blow. These
are mysterious. The wind is always spoken of
as mysterious. It's mysterious trials. Inward
trials. Trials going on within you. Trouble,
depression. These are mysterious trials.
These things, all these things, beat upon this house. And it did not fall. It did not
crumble. It took a beating. It took a
beating. I've seen over the years, I've
seen some of God's saints take a beating. I've seen some of
them take a beating. And they're still here. They
still believe. Still. And why? Because it stood on
a firm foundation. It stood on a foundation that
God laid. Christ crucified is a foundation
that God laid. We didn't lay it, He laid it.
And He, by His grace, enabled us to build on it, to live on
it. It fell not because it stood
on a firm foundation. It stood on a rock, it stood
on that rock, not a rock, it stood on that rock that never
changes and never moves. Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He never changes. This rock also,
this house did not fall because this rock on which it's built
has withstood all the storms that you and I will ever come
our way. It's already withstood the storms.
Tried and tested. Tried and stoned. Those who are
built on Him, they're not going to crumble. They're not going
to fail. Their house is not going to fall
apart. No, it's not. The strength of every believer,
the strength of every believer is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He's our strength. And then every
one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not to
be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the
sand, He hears, listen, he hears the same gospel. He hears the
same, everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does not
do, this man hears the same gospel. He hears it. But it's received
into different ground. It's like a stony ground here.
It's received into different soil. You know what he hears? Now listen. Here's what he hears, these sayings
of mine. He hears doctrines. Boy, I thought
about this last night. He hears doctrines, but he doesn't hear the person.
He hears the messenger. He hears the messenger, but he
doesn't hear the message. He doesn't hear the voice of
God in the message. He just hears the message. Impressed
with the messengers. But he doesn't hear the message. The seed does not penetrate his
stony heart. He makes salvation. Now listen. He makes salvation out of the
doctrines that he believes and not the person. There is a real true difference
here. He makes salvation out of the doctrines and not the
person, not Christ himself. He perverts the gospel so to
use it for his own gain. Like Simon Magus. Simon Magus
heard the gospel. He heard the gospel preached
by the apostle. And he made a confession. And
then when he saw him doing these miracles He offered some money. He pulled out his wallet and
said, I want to, you know, this is a real opportunity here to
make some money, some gain. He revealed his heart. He revealed
his profession was empty. This man builds on shifting sand. You know, one thing about building
on sand is easy digging. You don't have to dig deep. It's
easy. Your children can help you. Your
children can help you dig this one. It's just sand. You just
put up these little sandboxes for your kids to play in because
it's so easy for them to play in it and dig around in it. And
this man, his religion is nothing but shifting sand. He goes with
the flow. He really does. He's like the
politician, always checking to see which way the wind of favor
is blowing. That's what he's like. Unstable
as water. There's nothing more unstable
than water. And there's nothing more unstable than a false professor. He professes godliness. But as
the scripture says, he denies the power thereof. He denies
that life-changing power. that comes with the gospel when
it comes in power. He denies it by his own life,
by his own message. He denies it. This man receives
the same trials. The rain descended, floods came,
wind blew, beat upon that house. This man wasn't tried any harder. He didn't suffer any worse trials
than the believer. It was rain, it was floods, it
was wind. Same trials. But that house failed. It failed. His whole religion was a failure. This man no doubt becomes offended
through these trials and floods and these conflicts. Because he built his house on
sand. He doesn't understand the gospel. He doesn't understand
the providence of God. He doesn't understand how all
trials come from God. He doesn't understand that. Why
me? Why me? Why not me? Change that rap. Why not me? Who would you rather
be? Anybody besides me. He doesn't understand that. He's
a hypocrite. Sand. He's built on sand. He's
built on hypocrisy. His whole religion is built on
lies. God knows this. We can't see the heart. God does.
God does. And great was the fall of him.
Why was that fall so great? Because his final departed from
him. He's sobering. He's sobering.
Last two warnings here are very sobering, aren't they? And it was great because it's
eternal. Eternal. That house will never
be built again. And then it was great because he lost his soul. What would a man give in exchange
for his soul? And then it was great because he took many with
him. Look over in Matthew 23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense ye
make long prayers. Therefore ye shall receive the
greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte,
and when he is made Here's what you've made out of him. You've
made him two-fold more the child of hell than yourselves. Great
was the fall of him because he took many with him. And it came to pass when Jesus
had ended these saints, the people were astonished at his doctrine,
astonished You notice it doesn't say here, astonished at his doctrines. I know we call them doctrines
of grace, but it's really doctrine, just one doctrine, one teaching,
one truth. Christ said, I am the truth,
senior. They were astonished at his doctrines,
at his doctrine. Astonished. The truth is astonishing. when told by the truth. But I
tell you this, being astonished is not salvation. He doesn't say anything about
any of this crowd coming forth and bowing before him. It's after
he leaves this mountain in the next chapter, a leper comes to
him. We can be sat here astonished
as can be, but I tell you what, salvation is entering. It's entering. Enter in the straight gate, the
narrow way. Enter in. And they were astonished, for
he taught them as one having authority. And another translation
of this, and I liked it, it said, for he taught them as authority. He is authority. He is authority. Not as the scribes, just reading
the book to them. He is the king and what he taught
belongs to him. It belongs to him. And I pray, I pray that God be
merciful to us and make us wise men and women. Make us wise men and women. Enable us to enter into this
straight gate, that narrow way. And enable us to build on that
rock. To build on that rock. I sure
don't want to hear Him say depart from me. I know that Christ Himself is
all my hope. I know He is. He's the only hope
a sinner has.