Warning!

Essentially to some of his final exhortations in this sermon He has been talking about you know The narrow way and the broad way that leads to destruction the narrow way that leads unto eternal life He then elaborated on that as he went on in verses 15 through 20 and talked talking about their wolves It would be coming in sheep's clothing False prophets that there would be you know That a good tree doesn't bring forth the evil fruit an evil fruit cannot bring forth good free a good tree Fruit whatever they bring forth, but You know how that here he's bringing these exhortations into focus in that we ought to be the ones that are looking at our life, and if God has been doing truly a work in them and and that then a good tree does not bring forth evil fruit a and an evil tree cannot will not bring forth good fruit and And and in the severity essentially of our lives really being brought into focus do we Live before the Lord as we ought to live and as he's giving these exhortations now He takes even a further step with them and saying that 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 and now we're looking here Jesus takes another step of intensity essentially as he's closing out this sermon. I mean what these are some extremely strong Statements here. I don't think it's possible to take them too.

Seriously It should never take anything like this lightly at all Nothing Jesus ever said should be lightly or casually spoken of but when there Jesus focuses in and he says some things like this Saying that many will come unto me in that day and say Lord Lord And there to realize that many will not enter and they will not respond and But here Jesus is wanting us to know the severity of what he it is that he's all about the severity of our lives being given to him the severity of us walking with him in loving and trusting him and the consequences if we do not do that and Here Jesus gives in sense this tremendous and solemn reminder that soon Every one of us will stand before God What an awesome thought I don't think there's anything quite as awesome as that to stop and think you know as it is thought such as that of standing, you know before God and Therefore anything that might lead up to that and standing actually before God and somebody's eternal issues being determined That's an important thing. And now Jesus he gets his warnings even more Explicit and it's almost kind of a heart-stopper there when he says not everyone There that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven And what a scene you can imagine For a moment what it would be like to go and to stand before God and they're actually watching The Lord himself looking and say no You'll go no further. You are not going to enter in Particularly here when there's masses of people here that actually get all the way through their life and get there with the concept And the belief they're going in These people are clearly shocked These people here that stand before the Lord and he says there are going to be some people standing before me saying Lord Lord We are not here talking about people that are of you know Far out bizarre religions or faiths or other things in the world that don't even acknowledge Or the concept of Jesus Christ being Lord We are talking here about Jesus that have a concept of Jesus Christ that they'll stand before them They'll recognize it and they won't be surprised say oh, no, it's Jesus Christ.

I didn't you know for Christ's sake You know here whatever they'll say and then then I think there are a lot of people Cussing like they did all the time, but it'll really hit home He is talking here about a lot of people that are standing Before the very one that they assumed they would stand before expected to stand before Not other you know cults or religions or other things these are people That had an understanding of who Jesus Christ is Supposedly and there they're actually standing before God expecting to enter right on in and then all of a sudden they are refused Entrance it's too late There's no further discussion here And here he Jesus is clearly speaking about a great number of people That have spent their entire life or at least a great portion of it. Assumably deceived into believing that they were Christians They were going to go to heaven not just a few he says many You know there that will say unto me at that day in verse 22 It's not just a few that imagine spending your whole life in deception a life in delusion And here in the sense that Jesus had already in these previous verses He's been talking about false prophets and these wolves that come in sheep's clothing Causing people to believe that all is well, and there will evidently be a lot of people that are false presenters of God false prophets That are out there ministering massively to a lot of people Supposedly the message of the Bible and in Christ and yet as they are up going about doing this they're actually wolves They're in sheep's clothing, and they've got all of these people that have been listening to them for great portions of their life Perhaps all of a sudden coming into the awareness It's too late They've always thought all is fine all as well. Can you imagine? Tragedy like this I mean this I suppose has got to be the tragedy of all tragedies There's agonies and their sorrows and there's pain and their sufferings that we can know in this life But I suppose with all of the lice and losses that there are in life and there can be some terrible ones There's the loss of you know of our loved ones the loss of our health the loss of our career The loss of national peace, there's great wars.

There's great suffering. There's great agonies and great losses that happen You know, we can lose the loss of you know, I mean there's the loss of law-keeping There's a loss of us the stability of a society. There's there's loss of moral stability But but the greatest losses of all is when the soul Is lost and it's over and it's done.

This is what Jesus here is talking about and It's all the way through scripture is like this it sits alone all by itself There's many warnings all the way through the Bible of such things But somehow or another as Jesus is closing off this sermon He doesn't want to leave and with all of the hope and the promise and the way he we can work within our hearts in Our lives in our homes and our families in our daily walk in our thought life in our learning to you know Walk a second mile turn the city of the other cheek love and loving other people praying for our enemies Doing all of these other things and watching us grow and be nurtured in such a wonderful Sermon Encouraging filled with hope and yet as he's closing it off There is this sense there that there is also something extremely final about life and what we go about doing, you know within our life and And here he is bringing home the point here essentially that either you're going to live Before me on my terms as if Jesus was to say you're gonna come to me before you in the right way You're gonna come to me through the narrow gate You're gonna come to me the way that you ought to come or else I want you to know that if you do not there is no amount of sincerity There is no amount of human effort. There is no amount of personal work There is no amount of personal and righteousness or goodness or anything That that has any hope whatsoever for eternal life none Absolutely, none and here in this text Jesus shows us some of the false and almost innocent things that people rely upon and There were people actually can go through their entire life and they can trust their eternal life in a sense that if they do Certain things he gives us here a little list. We'll look at it That a lot of people actually doing them and in the process of doing them they think It'll save them But here so Jesus gives us a number of errors But the very first one that a error that is extremely important here in verse 21 He says not everyone that saith unto me Lord Lord and here the very first thing that Jesus wants to bring up here the first great error I suppose it happens when somebody goes the broad way When somebody there is listening to somebody out there telling them all as well and you're fine and don't worry about it and The the were the wolves in sheep's clothing helping them nurturing them along the broad way But essentially as they're going there's a lot of people going down the broad way Living outside of a right relationship with Christ who actually used the term for Jesus Lord Lord And Obviously everybody in the world ought to call Jesus Lord But here that there are a lot of people that do call him Lord never meant it never Comprehended the reality and the depth and the true meaning of that word.

It meant something else to them and I think a lot of people they look at Jesus and they're right about his identity. He is Lord you know in a sense and Lord of heaven and earth as we even sang tonight their doctrine is correct. They can look at who Jesus Christ is They know his nature.

They know his his name. They know his being They recognize all the right stuff about Jesus. They know he is, you know, Jesus of Nazareth born of a virgin There that on one hand though with all of that.

He's also the eternal God who came lived in spotless life of obedience Died upon the cross for the sins the world rose from the dead ascended the right hand of God is going to come back again. There is a heaven. There is a hell They believe all of these things and they can go right on down the list and yet at the same time They can even call and refer to him as Lord But yet somehow or another the word Lord is impersonal to them It's it's a label or it's a title But it is not a position that Jesus Christ has been given in their life That they look at their thoughts.

They look at their being they look at their nature. They look at their character they look at what makes them tick and their desire is to bring everything into subjection to the supremacy and the Jesus Christ as Lord That's the attitude in the heart of a Christian. I don't know will never be perfect make no mistake about it No one ever has been ever will be and this side of heaven even the Apostle Paul with all of his decades of following wholeheartedly the Lord of Meaning Lord in every possible way somebody could mean it, but he also knew himself.

He says I am the greatest of sinners. I Have not arrived But he says but this one thing I do I press on toward the mark of the prize the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Paul could look and say I Did my life is not what it ought to be but it certainly isn't what it was And he could also though say but I do with all of my being long To bring every thought into subjection to him. That's what lordship is When somebody looks and we say Jesus not just you our Lord as we sing it But when the concept therefore because he is Lord the issue is is he mine? Is he someone that I look at and say you are my Lord of my life of my behavior The amazing thing about us is we have this great capacity This tremendous capacity as human beings to turn and call Jesus Lord say he's Lord and then go right on out and right in His face do things that we know blatantly are not only you know in Rebellion to his lordship, but they're in rebellion to everything about him That we we can determine.

I'm going to live this way And that is something that ought to have every one of us truly be wondering about our life On how easily sometimes we can have the right words the right concepts right doctrine. We just don't mean them It just doesn't mean anything to us And first Corinthians 12 3 Paul writes He says wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God called Jesus accursed And that no man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Spirit Paul said the only way that a person could even say that Jesus is Lord is by the Holy Spirit now that doesn't mean that Somebody can't pronounce it can't say Jesus is Lord Anybody can pronounce it anybody can say it But in the sense of no one can say they say it in reality, but by the work of the Holy Spirit within our life That the great longing ought to be is by the realized Lord. I can't make you Lord and I can't do it But your Holy Spirit Can make you Lord? in me by the power of the Holy Spirit the indwelling of the Holy Spirit the work of the Holy Spirit the Empowering know the Holy Spirit and how we ought to be ones that we look there and say God by your spirit Make yourself Lord of my life.

We see of course true lordship is not a label. It's not a vocabulary. It's a spiritual work in the heart of every believer that ought to be going on and It's a work that goes on within the heart and hopefully every one of us tonight My prayers is every one of us that sits here that we arrest our entire case Of all of eternity on the finished work of Jesus Christ, we look and say that he died for me He paid for my sin He offered him himself on the cross and thereby gained the right to become my Lord and my Savior and so I give him my life and that We ought to long demean those words James writes in James 2 19.

He says thou believe us that there is one God Thou doest well The devil's also believe in tremble here James, you know It's one of the things James is so famous for basically the whole emphasis of his Of his epistle as you probably know James basically says I really don't care what you say Say anything you want to the issue is is do you do it you say? and Do you find something happening within your heart or within your life where those things that I say that I believe I am? Truly wanting to have them worked out in my life and here James he looks there and he says you say that he's that you know that There's good that God's there and he's real And he says what big deal the devil knows that only thing he even they even trembles about it But a lot of people how many people do you and I know that believe in God and yet there's they they say they believe And yet they don't even tremble at the thought Is who he is I'm not trying to make anybody tremble tonight, but unless you ought to if you ought to then tremble on I don't want to stop that but Essentially, there's a lot of people that Christianity is just kind of a philosophy of life It's just kind of a you know a Christian life type thing in which they live. It's a belief system It's almost cultural to some sorts of people and it isn't something that's gone all the way to the core of their being that is That is simply, you know turn their soul inside out and upside down and turn them around and where they're saying God I've got to make sure that you have the authority in the throne of my life It's merely some sort of an intellectual activity that they kind of subscribe to somewhere along the way But it leaves a person short of real salvation. That's what Jesus is talking about here This is what he's wanting to bring home And it's amazing to me on this in our culture, it's a good the great capacity that people have to separate You know, there's supposed spiritual life from their daily life There's a senator.

Well, we all know him back east. Well, and No, you don't make a difference who he is because there's many just exactly like him But on one hand he actually will say because he happens to pode quote-unquote be a Catholic That he does not believe in abortion but He it isn't but he also says that he is not there to impose his personal belief system on the rest of the country Therefore he is probably the one of the strongest and most adamant supporters above abortion in the country And nobody seems to think that's inconsistent. I mean why in the world is a person in Is he a senator is he leading people if he isn't because he has personal opinions that he believed the whole world needs to know them If I don't have anything personal that anybody needs to believe I Lead anybody If you just merely go by the collective opinion of your constituents, that's what I believe when I vote That's the wackiest thing in the world that shows that somebody is literally Supposedly subscribes to something about who God is and yes, we believe that God says this is wrong and all of this other stuff, but People say this and you got to get along with people if you want to stay in office and or whatever else they want to do in office and Which I'm afraid we know too much of what too many of them do in office.

But anyway The while it's lived totally corrupt lives, but they don't believe anything when it comes down to it This is something that a lot of people not just in that gross way nationally, but they live that way They can come and we can open our Bible and say Jesus your Lord And yet at the same time we can go right on home And at the same time maybe turn things on and watch things, you know on Television and we can subscribe to things and we can read things and we can put things in our heart in our mind That cultivate all sorts of other thoughts that are entirely contrary to everything that we know that has anything to do with his lordship we can use words and behaviors and actions and attitudes that are entirely divorced from our spiritual life and There isn't I and we just go on with it as if everything is fine and here Jesus When he is talking about a lot of people that Lord Lord what a what an awesome, you know a concept that we have here going on and For a person on one hand who says I believe the Bible and I believe that it tells us who God is and who Jesus Christ is then though I'll tell you I'm Biggest sinner as anybody. I know I don't pretend for a moment to be anybody that Wants to for a moment set myself above or beyond anybody else By saying anything and talking down anybody I'm not doing that I'm only saying though that hopefully as we study and as we look at things we find ourselves then grasping with it as to his lordship and Say he's Lord Therefore if the Lord tells me on one hand husbands love your wife as Christ of the church and I said I don't want to I don't want to Lord. You don't know my wife By the way, I'm not talking about mine.

Anybody that knows her Can't figure out why she's hung out with me for 35 years but the but so often many times we can sit before him say that Jesus is Lord and yet we can go right on out and not Have a duty within our heart before God our Eternal life our eternal hope our eternal master the power of all of heaven and earth who has loved us and redeems It's happening. I love your wife or wife submit your husband And then we say Oh Jesus, you're a wonderful Lord, but have you seen my husband, you know? or whatever else or in our and our walk in our relationships and we can detach our entire lives sometimes and Live them a secular life apart from his lordship We ought to be ones that when we are, you know In the Word of God as it says something that we realize this is from my father. This is from my Lord this is from my master and if he says something and there is a you know, there's many a slip between the cup and the Lip, they say and and and there's a lot of things when you read this and then I look at my own heart I look at my own life and said there's a big gap here But when I just oh well I'm saved so What I'm not gonna do it.

I'm gonna think about something else. This is a distraction to me I'd I don't know how to rationalize it. Yeah, I know I shouldn't live this way, but You see I'm going to change it later rather than we ought to be ones that right now.

I want to save it Sometimes I have people come and sit down and talk to me and want to get married Ask me will you marry us? And I said well, I've never married anybody yet, and I never will God can marry I can't marry only the Lord he takes two and makes them one you stand before him I can say some words that you can agree with But then I come to find is we're talking about them getting married they're already living together They're living together. The Bible says if a man sleeps with a woman he's married her and I look at them in a and I say you're living together and you're asking me to perform a ceremony of Something that it's a complete deception Why do you want to do that? Why do you want to come and ask God for one of his children that you already stole? You know in a sense you've got her now if you want to repent and put her back and say God cleanse me and forgive me And I'm sorry. I want to live with you and with your Lordship.

I'd love to marry you or help But I don't want to play along with a charade like that as if to say oh, this is fine I'm so happy for you. This is wonderful. You know and While we just kind of adjust our lives as we can to make it work With you know Christianity and with ourselves and the discomforts rather than coming in before God saying God help me God make my life right before you And here Jesus is telling us that there's a lot of people that are gonna come and say Lord Lord And he wasn't a second issue here in this that's important to see in verse 22 He says there many will say to me that Lord Lord Have we not prophesied thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and here even more Interesting almost or at least as interesting is saying the Lord Lord issue where he's not Lord is that here you have people that are very zealous Very intense in a sense of even Christian duty Christian service you might say and yet they're still not right Here actually there's Jesus talking about an awfully lot of people many Standing there at the throne entirely frustrated bewildered Confused as well as the you know, the greatest agony I suppose in the weeping and gnashing the teeth You'll ever see in all of history But here is they're actually caught up their entire life in some religious activity that appears to be quite Christian And yet they're personally not saved That's exactly what Jesus is talking about here many will come and they spent their life They spent a lot of energy there is he says that you know, haven't we prophesied in your name? We're talking about here people who have actually ministered in the name of Jesus Christ Christianity as they supposed it to be to other people and how easily that people can get caught up in Religion and think it's fine.

I'm not here to put out names or anything tonight, but You know if the shoe fits I suppose but I grew up in a Methodist Church United Methodist Church that Faithfully had little buttons on my lapel, you know for attendance and things our family went there never heard the gospel However, we celebrated Christmas every year the preacher got up the you know where there was a Christmas There was the birth of Christ. There was a baby Jesus in the manger. There was a Christmas place Sometimes we were in it had different parts in it Usually I was an animal but or something but anyway But but you're in the thing and there was Easter and there was the resurrection and there's all of this great eternal Trost that that hinged upon all of eternity that were being you know taught there there was all sorts of Jesus's values taught of his messages of his Morality of his standards of good living and good behavior In a sense all of this, you know stuff kind of you know going on, you know with it the pastor used the name of Jesus constantly It was always seemingly a part.

It wasn't like I never heard of who Jesus was But I had the slightest idea. He was alive. I Hadn't the slightest idea in my entire life that he was noble that he was personal that That my only hope was that because he had died in the cross and his personal resurrection and of his Availability for me to come and give my life to him and that he could redeem me never Was something like that? Laid out, you know the desperate need that we all have personally to know Christ There was baptism or sprinkling whatever.

However, that works out but the communion all of the other things but no Application of it in terms of that ever suggested a personal need for Christ or you're lost a personal work of regeneration of Jesus Christ within the human soul of being born again never knew anything like that and Amazingly within an awfully lot of people familiarity breeds contempt There's a lot of people, you know How many people do we all know in a sense that are in these quote-unquote? Christian churches that historically were powerful ministries at times But somehow or another the message of coming to Christ of being saved of giving your life to him Bringing your life in the subjection of him. They've lost the message. They've diluted the Word of God They've diluted their congregations and now they've just brought them lulled them into a spiritual sleep where there's I suppose Millions and I believe maybe tens of millions in our country Who are exactly in this category? How many friends and relatives and neighbors? Do you have yourself that are exactly in this place millions in this category? Tens of thousands I suppose of preachers across the country There was this wonderful man, he's like your grandfather in this church It was the pastor Byron.

I won't say his last name, but I remember him very well He is the most loving wonderful old man He's probably only about 40 when I was a kid. But anyway, he seemed old then but anyway They know he was older than that, but he was this wonderful man and yet never all these years Whatever I really have a thought of my of that pastor. Look at me said, you know, Jesus Do you know you can be saved? Do you know he died in the cross for you? Do you know you need to be born again never and how many people live in this world this very hour How many quote-unquote? Spiritual churches that there once were in this crunch once the you know The Anglican Church in England so dead now that the Episcopal Church is what it is in the United States But here the Episcopalian Church now just you know ordaining or a new homosexual bishop You know in this last, you know week or so Going on in the Presbyterians of which there's millions and millions of Presbyterians millions of Lutherans millions of Methodists and there I'm sure that there's an awfully lot of them that are born again that have given their life to Jesus Christ but there's also a huge debate in these churches over the ordaining of lesbians of homosexuals of the They have moved so far away from the the the work of Jesus Christ on the cross the need to forgive forgiveness and cleansing of sin that now they're literally Exploiting some of the grossness of human sins and they are putting these very people to lead their congregations And all the time these people carry Bibles and preach out of them as lesbians and homosexuals now I don't know that they're gonna tell you to repent of your sin and that Jesus Christ died on the cross to forgive your sin I don't think so and And here though Jesus he talks about many Many one day standing before him and literally, can you imagine but they're actually saying to him But wait a minute.

We prophesied in your name What are you doing Jesus, I mean the shock that's coming over them cast out devils done many wonderful works they say You know and in many of these services Jesus he's mentioned all the way in all the services He's just knowledge is the head of the body of Christ the head of the church the head of everything He's all the historical aspects of Jesus are preached all about sort of things constantly referred to But never are the people confronted. Are you saved? Have you been cleansed of your sin? The very first thing that happened to man that separated from God in the garden sin That there the wage of sin is death But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God Oh Every human being comes into this world outside And the only thing the only opportunity they have is just like when Nicodemus came to Jesus one night There and he said we know that thou art come from God God for no man can do the things I'll do is accept God be with him. He said I know you're from God Jesus looked at Dean Nicodemus and answered the real deep question his heart.

He says Nicodemus. You must be born again He said I know you've come from heaven, how do I get there what's going on? Where are you from? Nicodemus you must be born again Well, how can a man and when he is old enter a second time into his mother's womb and she said no That which is flesh is flesh Which is spirit of spirit the words I'm speaking to their spirit in their life You've already got a body. You don't need another body, but you but you need spiritually to be born again And here when somebody realizes that the wonderful thing that Jesus Christ simply did this whole work is to die to pay for sin And to come into our life that we may be born again from heaven and yet this message as simple as it is is ignored and What a terrible terrible thing they not only on one hand they're interestingly enough, I mean they prophesied there in his name They said but it also it says then we cast out demons in your name It gets more interesting here as you look at it because that's a rather amazing thing to think of is it possible For a person to cast out demons that is not truly a spiritual person is not truly born again Yes Most definitely that question Bible tells us there when Jesus sent the disciples out of which Judas was one of them And he told them to go preach and to cast out devils They went and they did and it's in they came back Rejoicing and marveling saying even the devils are subject to us and that included Jesus Judas Judas went out and there if he simply just used the right name the right truth The devils are subjected to him doesn't mean that the person himself is personally entered into it Jesus himself was accused even by the Pharisees of casting out in doing his miracles by the power of Beelzebul or Satan Jesus then turned and he responded He says if I by the means of Beelzebul cast out devils by whom do your sons cast them out now? He's looking there at these unbelieving hypocritical Pharisees not born again by any stretch of the imagination, but Jesus acknowledged they cast out devils Because devils must respond to eternal truth.

They must respond to God in God's name and And here is as if the name is used things will happen it's a powerful powerful name It doesn't mean that the person that uses them Sometimes you see some of these things that are go on that are very bizarre And because even Jesus the last thing he goes on he says and people will stand before him. Didn't we do many? wonderful works in thy name Here the you know, these people actually there we're talking here a lot of apparently ministers preachers We mixed within this crowd who are actually standing in totally blown away Totally in shock Wait a minute. There's gotta be a mistake here Look at the things that we have done the power of the miracles the amazing things the wonderful works and yet at the same time These people that did these wonderful where he didn't debate whether they did wonderful works He didn't debate whether they preached in his name said no you didn't he didn't debate Whether or not they cast out devils and say no you didn't you just thought you did they did and he didn't debate whether Wonderful works were done.

They did do wonderful works But yet at the same time they themselves were outside the kingdom That's not new That's not new Remember Moses when he went before Pharaoh and he took the rod of God and he threw it down it became what a serpent And then when he became serpent Pharaoh looked over and he called in his magicians He says here throw your rods down and they became serpents And there I mean he they had capacities to do powerful miraculous things Moses's rod kind of ruined their lack as he Swallowed up the magicians a little bag of tricks, you know, so they had to go get some other things, but they did it They did do it In Matthew 24 24 Jesus said in there shall arise false Christ and false prophets and shall also so great Signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they should deceive even the very elect in 2nd Thessalonians 2 8 9 it says and then shall the wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy by the brightness of his coming even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and Signs and wonders here Satan the Bible Paul says that even Satan himself when he comes He will use the name of Jesus Christ to do things in he will be working these great wonders But he will doing it be doing it in Jesus name Ultimately Jesus to me summed up everything kind of when he said in Matthew or Luke 10 20 Jesus had notwithstanding in this rejoice Here after the disciples he'd sent out the 70 and they came back so excited about the works and the preaching and the result of it Look at this. This is so wonderful people respond Demons are cast out Jesus looks at them and he sees this excitement in on how they could actually get caught up in this Not out of obedience to Christ and not out of a call into a service They could just simply look and say I could make a life out of this This is heavy stuff. I could go out and preach I could go cast out demons I can do wonderful works and Jesus responded to them and he says rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you But rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven You see Jesus making it clear in a sense a person can go through their life and actually Pick up this book and use it and awesome things can happen with it People can get saved under the preaching of a man that is entirely lost if he's preaching the truth My mother-in-law who's been in heaven now for oh about 14 15 years, but when she was a little girl She got saved did a tent meeting of a man the later She was stumbled wondering if she was really saved because it found out that the father preacher was a total, you know womanizer He was a thief.

He was a crook. He and he this is just one of the things that he did to make money And she wondered I wonder if I'm saved. Oh, she was saved because the gospel was preached and she heard it She heard it And if truth is preached and people respond to it, but it doesn't mean that the vessel is saved God spoke through a donkey in the Old Testament.

I don't think the fellows gonna be in heaven, you know I think you know, hey, I don't think the donkeys give me say hey, wait a minute. I preached now Let me in there, you know sort of a thing and Is this because somebody says the right thing? I'll have to think that one over I doubt if he'll be there But anyway, but the the issue is is here Jesus says the real rejoicing ought to be that our name is in heaven and our name is in heaven Here is Jesus then his ultimate thing of which here will close on this But Jesus in verse 23, he says then will I profess unto them? I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity Here Jesus looks and he says the thing that's gonna come down People are gonna stand before him and here's the very fundamental thing. There'll be a lot of people that said Lord didn't I? Didn't I Prophesy in your name.

Didn't I cast out devils? Didn't I do many wonderful things? It'll all be on self I Lord you should let me in because I did something and To those Jesus say it will say depart from me you workers of iniquity. I never knew you And here Jesus says it isn't has nothing to do with what you did. It had to do with did I know you? It has to do not with performance it has to do with relationships It has to do with if you entered into a personal relationship with me Do I look at Jesus Christ and realize I know him and I love him For the work that he did the sacrifice on the on the cross that he did Paul wrote to Titus and he says for we ourselves Also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived Serving diverse lusts and pleasures, etc but then he goes on and he says but after that the kindness and the love of God our Savior towards man appeared and Not by works of righteousness, which we have done but according to his mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior That's the gospel tonight.

Are you did you nice we sit or stand ears? It's something there to you say it is not by any work of righteousness, which I've done None whatsoever It's only according to his mercy that he has saved me the washing of regeneration Renewed by the Holy Spirit, which is a shed abundantly upon me by Jesus Christ my Savior That's the issue That's the most sense simple and in central thing above all else as Paul says for our great by grace Are you saved through faith? Not of yourselves. It is a gift of God lest any man should boast to me if I suppose if I was to walk out of here and die and all of a sudden find myself in heaven and there To have you know Somebody look at me and say what right do you have to be here? Yeah, and I don't plan on that happening on those terms, but if I had to make a discussion, you know the thing I know I would do nothing but immediately point right over to Jesus and say my hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus blood and righteousness. I have no right to be here Nothing know where I've been nothing.

I've done nothing. I've preached nothing I said Anything that may have you may have called me into hopefully I did it as a servant But when it comes to my business of being saved Nothing Nothing at all I can only point and say by by his hope and by the blood of Jesus Christ in that alone And hopefully tonight every one of us look there and say Jesus you are my Lord. I Give my life to you and we're also ones in the process as we look at something We're longing to bring our life in greater and greater subjection to his word In any way it is Lord take my life and be Lord of it Be king of it Well, not the Easiest missions to kind of sit and listen to but it's a one of the most important we'll ever have if you're sitting here tonight and are Well, if you're a Methodist God bless you Love glad you're here And I'm sure there's many wonderful Methodists in the world that love the Lord with all their heart I know I mean nothing I Just need to take the rest of this time and see if I can get out any holes I've dug I suppose but anyway but it comes down to that when you do if you think you go to Calvary Chapel and you're gonna go to heaven and they're Gonna say oh you went to Calvary which one Oh Costa Mecca come on in you know or something Wow Man I wish I could have gone there, but I died a long time ago or something You know as if we think coming here does it it doesn't do anything It's only hopefully we come here because we're saved Because we want to grow and we want to give our lives to him more and more and more that he'd be Lord Amen Let's stand and pray Dear Father as we come before you tonight Lord, I pray that you're the Jesus.

This was obviously a very solemn thing for you to say Nothing light about it. Nothing entertaining about it Lord something there to say these words that had your eyes had to be piercing Had to be looking and saying not everyone that saith unto me This is no casual comment and Lord. We don't want to be casual about it either Lord I just pray that tonight Maybe there's somebody here that doesn't know if they've ever truly given their life to Jesus Christ They don't know if they've ever really opened their heart and says Jesus I Hope I've been good, and I I've tried to live by the golden rule and do unto others They would do unto me and a half of these other things and I've tried to be a rawness and ethical or good and But I don't know if I've ever really Come and open my heart to you But to Jesus to realize that many people the iniquity as you say depart from me workers of iniquity.

I Never knew you that when any person would think to come to heaven on their own works You say how iniquitous can you be? How corrupt how sinful can a human being be to come to heaven? Thinking by their own works that it is a greater thing than Jesus dying on the cross Lord I pray that we would look and realize how no matter how good we've ever been How hard we've tried? How well we've succeeded it may be being good compared to others But to realize but to think of standing before God and say I'm good enough. I ought to go to heaven Lord how way beyond ignorant this is how foolish how iniquitous Jesus you call it This is the grossest of sins To think you're going to go and stand before God in your own righteousness, and you're going to argue with God About his love and his mercy and tell him he wasted the death of his son on the cross He didn't need to do it for you. Your works were good enough Lord, I pray that tonight that each one of us would know Jesus I'll only go to heaven because of you And Lord, we'll have great assurance of going to heaven tonight But we'll have it because we fully look at you and say Jesus by your shed blood The work is finished when you said finished it was finished and I thank you Lord, I pray that if there's any here tonight that haven't received you They don't know for sure if they're saved that they'll open their heart and even tonight receive you In fact, even as we're praying before we close if there's any here You're not sure I want to pray for you If you want to I'd like you just lift up your head and to say pastor Don.

I want to know the Lord Jesus I want to be saved. I'm not sure I am wherever you are. I just like to let it would you lift up your head? I'll pray for you.

Yes, God bless you There any others You want to know yes you in the back God bless you and over on the side and you any others in you over here in this side any others Jesus I want to be saved you back here to God bless you any others in you Any others I want to know I'm God's child. I'm forgiven. I'm redeemed.

I'm saved any others We're just gonna take another moment of God speaking to you And you can't with all your heart realize that his blood was shed for me And then open your heart. God bless you and you and you Just another moment if the Lord's speaking to you You respond to him now give him your life Don't waste another moment to realize he loves you with all of his heart. He died for you And with all of his heart to forgive your sin let him forgive and cleanse it Before we go and God bless you over here, too Father I just thank you for those that you've just touched tonight Lord, I just pray that each one of us Lord with absolute Peace can open our tonight's a Jesus.

Thank you for dying on the cross for me And Lord for particularly for those that have just raised their hand before you we asked Lord that you would just bring such a wonderful Sense of hope in Jesus Christ to them as they take their eyes off any work any effort any goodness Anything in their past and realize they look at nothing in themselves But can say as your word says a Jeremiah. All right. Our righteousness is his filthy rags the best things I ever done Are still filthy compared to the beauty and the holiness of God and so I just come and realize Jesus you died for me and Loved me and shed your blood for me and Lord I pray that each one that raises hand is to open their heart tonight and receive you and the forgiveness of your sins Their sins as you do your work within them.

So father. We thank you and we praise you father in the name of Jesus Christ Amen