Today I would like you to turn
in your Bible to the Gospel recorded by Matthew. Matthew chapter 7.
Take your Bible and let's read a few verses together this morning.
Matthew chapter 7, verse 21. Our Lord says, 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 unto 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? Then will I profess unto
them, I will say unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye
that work iniquity. Now these words are the conclusion
to the Lord's Sermon on the Mount. He gives to us this very powerful
statement concerning the Day of Judgment, in which the righteous
judge shall reveal the secrets of men's souls and divide the
sheep from the goats. In that day, that last great
day, that awesome, terrible Day of Judgment, how will the things
you consider precious appear in that day? How will they be
valued in that day? Your riches, your successes,
your popularity, the pleasures you enjoy should all be viewed
in the light of that day. We should regard and esteem everything
in this life as it will appear in that day. Now this is a great
acid test of our religion. All those who choose to stand
upon their own merit, works and deeds will be terribly disappointed
in that day. He will say to them, I never
knew you, even though they proclaimed that they had good works and
done many things in the name of the Lord. He said, I never
knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. All those who by God's almighty
grace, who were made new creatures in Christ, who were made willing
to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ in the day of His power, to look
to Him, to love Him, and to trust Him for salvation, righteousness,
and spiritual life, are those who have been made to do the
will of the Father, who shall enter into glory in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He says, Those who doeth the
will of my Father which is in heaven, they shall enter in."
Now, my friend, this is a very serious subject this morning.
I hope you will prayerfully consider the Day of Judgment. I want to
be accepted of God in that day, don't you? I want to stand before
God and hear Him say, Enter into the joy of the Lord. I don't
want to hear Him say in that day, Depart from me, I never
knew you. It says in verse 21 of our text,
He that doeth the will of my Father. Not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but
he that doeth the will of my Father. Now I want to know what
that is, and I want to do His will. I think we have a good
indication of what that is in John chapter 6, if you'd like
to turn over there. John chapter 6, verse 40. Our
Lord said, This is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone
would seeth the Son. with eyes of faith, with eyes
of understanding, being enlightened of God. Everyone that seeth the
Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I'll
raise him up at the last day." That causes me in my heart to
cry out unto God, Lord, give me faith. Give me eyes that I
might see the Lord Jesus Christ. If you by His grace esteem the
Lord Jesus Christ to be all your salvation now, He certainly will
be made unto you salvation in that day, and present you before
God holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated, separated from
all sin, being made perfect in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now this
text reveals unto us at least three things. The first one is
this, there will be many in that day to whom the Lord will say,
I never knew you, depart from me, who were very religious,
who went a long way in religion, and who were very successful
in their religious efforts. Now let's look at several things
on this first point. We see here first that these
people made an open profession of him. They said, Lord, Lord. They were not ashamed to own
Him as Lord. But sadly, they only confessed
with their mouth, Him to be Lord, but never bowed to Him and owned
Him in their heart as Lord and Master. You see, my friend, salvation
is a heart work. Let us be careful that we have
not made this fatal mistake. Religion without Christ in you,
the hope of glory, is condemnation. I just don't want to be religious
outwardly. I want to know Christ in my heart,
in my soul, and have Him dwell within me. in the Holy Spirit.
Secondly is this, these people had performed religious works
in His name. Now notice what they say in verse
22 of Matthew 7. And then He was saying to me
in that day, have we not preached in your name? And in thy name
cast out devils, and in thy name I have done many wonderful works. Now, you see their performance
before men in the name of the Lord. Now, they said that we
have preached in thy name. Now, if preaching could save
a man, Judas would not be damned. Our Lord said this, though I
speak with the tongue of men and angels. This is Paul in 1
Corinthians 13. He said, though I speak with
the tongue of men and angels. And have not the love of Christ,
have not love, or have not Christ, I am become as a sounding brass
or a tinkling cymbal. Preaching is no guarantee of
glory. But you say, well, I've preached
to thousands in the name of the Lord. The fact that we've been
preachers is not a ticket to salvation. Judas was a preacher,
wasn't he? Went out and hanged himself.
Here's something else these folks said that they did. Not only
did they preach, they said, Lord, we've cast out demons, devils
in thy name. A man may be given power to cast
out demons. I know the sons of Saba had a
measure of that here in the book of Acts chapter 19. A man may be given power to cast
out demons, yet himself be demon-possessed. Judas, I'm sure, cast out demons,
yet he was the son of perdition himself. So casting out devils
or having a measure of that is no success, no guarantee for
salvation. And thirdly, they said, in thy
name have we done many wonderful works. They were zealous and
busy, they had an iron in the fire day and night, night and
day, they were zealous of all their religious activities. Now
listen to me carefully. Being justified freely by the
grace of God will bring a man to glory without works. But works
will never bring a man to glory without grace in his soul. You
see my friend, we're justified not by works. not even by the
works of the law, were justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, notice carefully,
these people put the whole of their confidence, the whole confidence
of their salvation upon what they did. It's what we have done. We have preached, and we have
cast out demons, and we have done many wonderful works. They
put the whole of their confidence upon what they did rather than
boasting and resting and bragging upon the person and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice they didn't say what Christ
has done, how he earned salvation for us, how Christ had put away
our sin with his blood. They were rather confident of
what they had done, rather than resting in the person and the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, they went a long way
in religion. but they didn't know the gospel. Secondly is
this, they kept up this disguise of false pretense and false religion
a long time. They clung to their false hopes
right to the end. They were so blinded by their
own self-righteousness that they never considered that they might
be lost. And we're instructed in the Word of God to examine
ourselves whether we be in the faith. Peter said, make your
calling and election sure. Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. My friend, if I'm deceived, I
want to know now, don't you? I don't want to live a life being
deceived and die defending a false profession of religion and die
deceived and face God in that terrible day of judgment. Proclaiming
all the works that I have done, and hear him say to me, Depart,
I don't know you. Now lastly, let's consider this,
thirdly. These false professors had their
refuge exposed in a most terrible way. Look at verse 23. The Lord, He said, Then I will
profess unto them, those who bragged on their works, who bragged
on their deeds, who bragged on themselves. He said, I will profess
to them, I never knew you. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. Now the Lord of glory, under
whom all judgment is committed, publicly, openly, before men
and angels, pronounces and passes judgment, eternal judgment, upon
these men. Now he says three things, and
I'll give you these three points in closing. The first thing he
says, I never knew you. Now what does this mean? Certainly
as God, omniscient, And that means he knows all things. He
knew all about their person. He knew all about them. He knew
their works. He knew their thoughts. He knew their motive, how they
viewed all things. Nothing is hid from all, mighty
God. We read in the book of Hebrews
that in chapter 4, verse 13, all things are naked and open
unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. He knew all about
them, their works, their motives, their thoughts afar off. But the meaning here is this,
now he knew all about them, but when he says, I never knew you,
here's what this means, this means I never loved you, I never
had intimate, competent relationship with you as a son of God, I never
saved you, I never redeemed you, I never died for you, I never
knew you as my sheep, I never knew you. as my elect. I never married you in the covenant
grace. I never died for you. I didn't
die to put away your sin. This is what he's saying. I never
knew you. and that covenant intimate relationship
as shepherd and savior. The second thing he says, depart
from me. Now this is eternal separation
from the very presence of God. Isn't this an awesome judgment
of God? I never knew you and depart from
me. This is eternal separation from
the very presence of God and any hope of any further blessings
being cut off from God. It is his presence that makes
heaven to be what it is. Even so, it's his absence that
makes hell so awful. Depart from me. I never knew
you. And then lastly, here's the reason. You that work iniquity. You say, well, they preach. He
calls it iniquity. They bragged on casting out devils
and doing good works. He said, away with it. its iniquity. You know, we read in scripture
that all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, in Isaiah
64. How good does one need to be
to be accepted of God? You ever consider that? How good
do I need to be to be accepted of God? who shall ascend into
the hill of the Lord, who shall stand in his holy place, either
had clean hands and a pure heart, who's never lifted up his soul
to vanity, who has never sworn deceitfully, we read in Psalm
24. How good does one have to be to be accepted of God? Let
me tell you, friend, listen to me carefully, as good as God
himself. We say that's impossible. With
you and I in the flesh, I hope you know it so. I hope you know
that in the, with the deeds of the flesh, no man can please
God. No man can satisfy God. I hope
you know and realize in your heart that salvation is not by
our works. You see, with God only is salvation
possible. We only And our only hope of
salvation is being accepted in the Beloved, accepted in another,
being found in the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul said, Oh that
I may count all things but dung and lost that I might win Christ. and be found in him, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ." My friend,
the only hope any sinner has in a day of that awesome and
awful judgment is to be found resting in the person and work
and under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this
scripture. And here's the believer's hope.
I'll close by reading a portion of Romans chapter 4. What shall
we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the
flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For
what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God. And it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is a
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also described
the blessedness of the man unto whom the Lord imputeth righteousness
without work, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now that's the sinner's only
hope, to be found in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.