Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:21-23)
Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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21 Not every one 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. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we looked at this matter of judging deceivers or false prophets.
Jesus told His audience that the key to outing a false prophet is to examine their fruit.
Today, though we are going to examine how fruit plays a part in another form of deception.
This time, however, the deception is self-inflicted.
Jesus reveals to His listeners the sad reality of what will happen at the gates of heaven.
Jesus reveals to His listeners the sad reality of what will happen at the gates of heaven.
There will be those who approach heaven seeking admittance into the kingdom.
They will recognize Jesus.
They will have a desire to enter into His heaven.
They will even refer to Him as Lord.
These seem to be good ingredients for a disciple or a follower of Jesus.
I would even go so far as to say that every disciple of Jesus should display these qualities.
But, these are not the requirements for going to heaven.
Jesus says that there will be those who say these things that will not be permitted to enter into heaven.
Who gets to enter into heaven?
Who gets to enter into heaven?
There is obviously a stipulation for who gets in and who doesn’t.
Jesus states that the prerequisite is simply those who do the will of His Father.
Those who do the will of the Father will then be known by the Son who acts as judge.
These truths are more fully fleshed out in the rest of the New Testament.
The will of God is that all men would come to repentance.
This is what Peter said in 2 Peter 3:9 “9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Throughout this study of the sermon on the mount, we have tried to repeatedly emphasize what I believe Jesus was emphasizing.
All of these traits that we have seen, these fruits of discipleship, these are not fruits that we can produce on our own.
The purity, the forgiveness, the reliance on God, these are all the results of Jesus working in us.
The Sermon on the Mount is meant to push us to the end of our strength and the beginning of His.
The Sermon on the Mount is the message of the gospel.
He can do what I cannot.
This is most clearly seen in the matter of salvation.
When we repent of our self-sufficiency and sin and cast our hope on Jesus our Master, then we become known by Him.
Jesus died on the cross because we could not.
He took upon Himself the penalty for our sin.
He experienced the anger of God for us.
If we want to be known as His disciples, then there is nothing we can do to except receive what He has already done.
Amazingly, not everyone likes to hear this.
Jesus tells us that there will be those who try to argue their way into heaven.
Jesus tells us that there will be those who try to argue their way into heaven.
They will try to convince Jesus of what they have already convinced themselves.
They deserve heaven because of the fruit their life has produced.
Good works should be the outflow of a disciple’s life.
Good works do not make us disciples.
Many people have deceived themselves of this very thing.
They look at their lives and deceive themselves into thinking that they are Jesus’ disciples because of the things that they do.
This is exactly what Jesus has been combatting throughout His message.
Jews who have convinced themselves they are innocent of sin because they keep the pharisees’ version of the law.
Jews who have convinced themselves that they are good because they give to the poor, pray, and fast.
Because they are self-deceived by their own “fruit” they debate with God when He says “I never knew you.”
They claim to have prophesied in His name.
They claim to have cast out devils in His name.
They claim a great many wonderful works all done in His name.
All done to merit entrance into His kingdom.
No one can merit entrance into Heaven.
These people that try to earn their entrance to heaven will turned away.
They will experience the second death, the wages for their sin.
We see this in Jesus command that they depart from Him.
Death is separation.
Separation of the Spirit from the body.
Separation of the Soul from its Creator.
The greatest torment of dying in your sins is having to be separated from God for all of eternity.
No amount of good works can prevent this.
Only those who are known by Jesus will be allowed into heaven.
So, the question is not, what have you done for Jesus; it is are you known by Jesus?
The danger is real that people could be deceived by the false teachers from the previous passage.
There is also a high degree of risk that people could be self-deceived by their own religious activity.
False teachers pose a danger to the health and safety of the sheep.
Self-deception keeps many from ever becoming sheep in the first place.
I think Jesus wants all of us to put ourselves into the passage.
I think Jesus wants all of us to put ourselves into the passage.
If you were to die today and Jesus were to ask you why He should let you into heaven, what would your answer be?
Would you appeal to the churches you’ve attended?
Would you appeal to your parents and what they did?
Would you appeal to the ministries you’ve volunteered for or led?
Would you appeal to your baptism?
Or, would you bring up the moment when you believed the message of the gospel and repented of your sins.
I just can’t imagine trying to plead anything that I’ve done as being good enough to get into heaven.
I’m a pastor.
I have a master of ministry and a master of divinity degree.
I would be ashamed to bring those up as merits for heaven.
Only a deceived person would think they could do enough to earn their way into heaven.
Sadly, there are a lot of deceived people in the world.
There may even be some self-deceived people in this room.
What are you trusting in this morning when it comes to your eternal future?
Are you trusting what Jesus did on the cross?
Are you trusting in what you’ve done in this life?