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 the
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 creatures, 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 would
like to turn over there. John chapter 6, verse 40, our
Lord said, This is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone
which 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. Nanny 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've 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, ìThough I
speak with the tongue of men and angels,î this is Paul in
1 Corinthians 13. He said, ìThough 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.î 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 are justified not by works, not even by the works of the
law. We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. 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 are 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 am 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. 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, unto whom
all judgment is committed, publicly, openly before men and angels,
pronounces and passes judgment, eternal judgment. 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
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 are far 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, covenant 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 a 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 in 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 preached.
He calls it iniquity. They bragged on casting out devils
and doing good works. He said, away with it. It's 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? Did you ever consider that? How
good do I need to be to be accepted of God? Who shall ascend unto
the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who has 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's so. I hope you know that with a deed
to 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 is 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 work, 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.