Not Everyone that Says Lord Lord, Part 3

Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount's Conclusion

0:06 And turn with me, please, to the seventh chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew, Matthew chapter 7.

0:24 We have been some three years studying through this section of the Word of God, commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. We're coming now to the conclusion of this series of studies in which I'm sure those of us who have been here week by week have come to either the initial discovery or the fresh confirmation of the fact that the Word of God is one fabric. It's like that which is knit, and there is a relationship between the first row and the seventh row, and that which you knit, and you pull the string at one place, and eventually you'll unravel it at the other.

1:06 And we have found in our study of this section that in a very real sense, the entire body of Revelation... the revelation given in the Old Testament is found here in its purest, summarized form, and all the truth of the New Testament is found here in its germ form, and the rest of the entire revelation of the New Testament is but the development of the seed principles found in this tremendous section of God's truth.

Recap: The Startling Revelation of Matthew 7:21-23

1:36 We have been considering for two weeks now, verses 21 to 23, and we want to continue. We want to continue our studies in this particular part of the sermon. Our Lord Jesus declared in verse 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 who is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, the day that we read about in Revelation chapter 20, when the books will be opened, when we stand on the very threshold of eternity, when all the insignificant events of time

2:18 and all the greatest events of most far-reaching significance will now appear as worthless, that day when he whose eyes are as a flame of fire will look into the faces of men and call them to account for the deeds done in the body. Many will say unto me in that day, the day of judgment, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name have done many wonderful works?

2:54 Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

3:05 We have sought to come to an understanding of the words themselves. The simple affirmation of our Lord in verse 21, that lit profession of Christianity is not sufficient, that the only ones who will enter, enter the kingdom of glory, are those who are doing the will of God. And then the startling revelation of verses 22 and 23, that many will come to the judgment having not only a lit profession, but having the issue of diligent service and even supernatural works only to be discovered in that day as men and women who are utterly devoid of the grace of God.

Review: Reasons for Deception (Parts 1 & 2)

3:49 Last week we began to ask the question and seek to find scriptural answers for that question. How can people be deceived on so basic an issue as their relationship to Jesus Christ? How is it possible that our Lord would even dare to declare that many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, not just a few, but many. How could it be?

4:15 Two answers last Lord's day. The first answer being, many have embraced the false doctrine of assurance. They have rested the case of their soul's salvation upon a wrong foundation. They are assured of their state before God in Christ on a wrong foundation.

4:37 The second reason is that many who stand in that day and are discovered as utterly deceived fail to perform the duty of self-examination. It's a shocking thing to those of us who live especially in the climate of 20th century America where everything is done for us either vicariously or governmentally by Uncle Sam and where as you know pretty soon the government will be there moving the hand of the one who delivers me from the womb and will be there to pile the dirt on me when I die. It's hard for us to believe that God places upon each one of us as an individual responsibility

5:22 the duty of self-examination. God says to every one of you here this morning examine yourself whether ye be in the faith. God says to every one of us make your calling and your election sure. Just as surely as there is no magical power residing in the hands of a minister or priest who by virtue of lifting up those hands or laying them upon you or sprinkling water from those fingertips can confer the grace of God to an individual so there is no magical power in merely grabbing hold of the text of the Bible and saying since it says all who believe are saved and I believe therefore the issue is a closed issue

6:05 I'll never open it up for examination I'll never soberly search the word and say oh God am I truly yours. No we have no warrant for this for Almighty God has spoken in his word and he has laid upon us the duty of self-examination. Now this morning as time permits I want us to consider two or three more reasons why men and women will come to that day utterly deceived. Come up to the very bar of judgment expecting to be ushered into the presence of God in eternal glory only to sink into hell with the most terrible words that human ears can hear ringing in their ears for all eternity

6:50 depart from me I never knew you.

Reason 3: Resting on Religious Activities

6:57 The third reason and it's found here in our text at least there are strong hints of it is that men and women rest on their religious activities.

7:10 They place an undue importance upon their religious activities. Notice the words of these who come to the judgment in verse 22. They say Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name have done not just a smattering of works not just some sporadic involvement in the work of God but they said in thy name have done many wonderful works. You see their whole plea is Lord in the light of all of our religious activity surely we must be yours. The Lord Jesus

7:54 said all of your activity doesn't mean that much to me. You were never savingly related to me depart from me. I never knew you. You see they came to the judgment deceived because they rested too heavily upon their religious activities.

8:14 Now to amplify this principle let's try to get before us two clear principles of the word of God. Number one all who are truly saved and I'm not embarrassed to use that term and let me encourage you young men preparing for the ministry in the intellectual stuffiness of our generation don't be embarrassed with biblical terminology.

8:38 Be embarrassed purge your vocabulary of hackneyed man-made phrases accepting Jesus as personal savior and the rest not found in the word of God chuck them out but the word saved the terms the blood of Christ let's never be embarrassed to echo the words given by the Holy Ghost. Now all those who are truly saved who by the grace of God have been brought out of the state of nature into a state of grace have been savingly joined to Christ will always seek to serve their Lord. First Thessalonians 1.9 says ye know our entering in unto you how that ye turned

9:21 to God from your idols to serve the living and the true God. The principle of a genuine work of conversion is that men turn from the service of sin and self unto the service of God. Romans 6 in verse 22 the apostle Paul says ye were the servants of sin but ye have the become the servants of God. Ephesians 2.8-10

9:47 by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Titus 2.14 who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself the peculiar people zealous of good works. Now I don't mean to labor the point. These scriptures

10:13 I'm sure are sufficient to convince you that all who are truly saved will seek to serve. Now the Bible reveals another principle with equal clarity not all who apparently serve are truly saved. See the difference?

The Deceptive Byproducts of Service

10:34 Our heart truly saved.

10:43 Testimony of these. Their service rested upon a proper doctrinal foundation for they said Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in thy name.

10:59 They recognized in the carpenter of Nazareth God incarnate. They recognized in him the union of humanity and eternal deity and in the name of the God man Jesus Christ the Lord they prophesied. They saw that name work miracles. It exorcised demons. Many

11:23 supernatural signs and wonders for this word mighty works or wonderful works literally in the original powers is used of our Lord Jesus again and again when he performed his miraculous deeds. So they had a proper doctrinal foundation for all of their service. This has absolutely no reference whatsoever to men of liberal theology. People who do not serve in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but simply serve in the name of the betterment of humanity and in the name of human kindness or some other name.

11:58 These people served with the doctrinal foundation. Secondly, their service was marked with the evidence of supernatural power. Someone would come into their midst who was possessed of a demon and in the name of Jesus Christ that demon would be exorcised, cast out of the individual. Supernatural power.

12:19 They served with obvious blessing and abundance of the same. For they said in thy name we have done many wonderful works. And yet Jesus is going to say to thee, depart from me, I never knew you. You mean it's possible for me to serve in the name of Christ with a proper doctrinal foundation and with some evidence of supernatural blessing and abundance of such works and still have him say depart from me?

12:55 He said many, many, many, many will be in that case in the day of judgment. Why did these people serve in the first place? You're seeing there are many byproducts of service in the name of Christ and it's these byproducts that can be deceptive. There's the byproduct of a sad conscience.

13:23 The person sitting here this morning who knows testimony of your conscience and what acquaintance you have with the word of God that all is not well between you and your God. And when conscience would nag, you seek to stab conscience by some kind of religious activity. And there is a sense in which the activity acts as a salve upon the conscience. Even the true children of God see this again and again. You've got a

13:51 controversy with the Lord. Maybe the Lord's begun to put pressure on a certain area of your life that is not in line with his word. Maybe he's begun to impress you by his word and circumstances and the spirit that has a certain duty that he wants you to perform. And you're bucking at that. You're a donor. You're running in the

14:09 opposite direction. Or perhaps there's been some sin of which you've been guilty. You're tolerating a spirit of envy or jealousy towards some brother or sister in Christ. Or maybe you're miffed with your husband or wife and you haven't fessed up to the Lord and to her or to him. Isn't it a lot easier to

14:25 stuff a few more tracks in your pocket and give them out or spend an extra 15 minutes in your devotions than to go down before God and say, Lord, against thee and thee only have I sinned. And to really face our sin for what it is. Now if that's true of us as the children of God, indwelt by the spirit of God and equipped with the grace of God, how much more is the unregenerate man who's simply involved in a whirl of religious activity, how much more prone is he to be captured by the deceptiveness of a sad conscience simply because he's busy. And then again there's the praise of men, especially where supernatural works are involved. You

15:05 remember in the book of Acts, when Peter was the instrument of God to perform supernatural works, they wanted to fall down and worship him. And unlike his so-called successors who sit on the chair at Rome, he's immediately rose up and repulsed them and said, no, I'm but a mere man. Don't fall down and worship me. You remember when Paul, there in that heathen island, was an instrument of God for a supernatural work that some of the people fell down and wanted to worship him. And so

15:33 wherever there is the evidence of the supernatural, there is an added tendency for people to worship the instrument by whom the supernatural power has been conveyed. And so no doubt these many who cast out demons in his name, fed their carnal hearts upon the praise of men.

The Test of Stripped Activity

15:53 You know what the real test is? And they never applied this test to themselves. And I want you to apply it to yourself this morning. Take from your life every last semblance of religious activity, whether it's coming to church, this church, or any other church, whether it's reading the Bible, whether it's teaching a Sunday school class, preaching a sermon. Take from your life

16:20 every last trace of that which would come under the category of religious activity. And what have you got left? What have you got left? What have you got left?

16:36 That's the test that these never applied to themselves.

16:40 For our Lord said of them in the next verse, depart from me ye that work iniquity. Now notice the contrast. In thy name have done wonderful works, but he said you are workers of iniquity. You see, their holiness and their righteousness only went as far as the performance of their religious duties. And

17:02 the moment they left, they could think filthy thoughts with the same abandonment as the man who never darkened the door of the church.

17:12 The moment they stopped their Sunday school class, they could go home and watch the same filth that defiles the mind that the person who never taught a Sunday school class could watch. Either as they leafed through the modern magazine or sat before the TV set. You see, they worked many wonderful works, but at the same time they were workers of iniquity, for their holiness went no further than their holiness. Their religious activity.

17:40 Oh, my friend, if you're content that all is well between you and God, could it be that the Holy Spirit would send a barb of conviction to your heart this morning by causing you to face up to this question? What are you when you're not involved in your religious activity?

18:03 Are you honest? Are you pure? Are you upright?

18:13 Do you seek by the grace and power of the Lord Jesus and his Spirit to be truthful? The problem with these people, was that they allowed the abundance of their religious activities to cancel out in their minds the abundance of their sensual practices. They were workers of iniquity. Another test, and it flows out of this, what happens to you when all your activities are stripped away? What do you have left? When

18:45 you're physically unable to be here on the Lord's day, what do you do when you're home on Sunday morning? You see, the fact that you're physically unable to be here on the Lord's day does not cancel out the moral obligation and holy privilege to keep one day in seven fully unto the Lord. The Sabbath is a moral principle instituted long before God spoke in thunder and lightning from Mount Sinai, long before sin entered the world. In the original creation, God ordained his moral universe and his physical universe such that man would have one day in seven set apart from the normal involvements of life in order to give himself to worship and praise and the

19:29 cultivation of his spiritual life.

19:34 What do you do on the Lord's day when you're not able to be here?

19:39 When church and its hour and a half is stripped from your life, what do you have left? Do you know what it is to be home with God and his word and experience anything that even borders on vital heart communion with Jesus Christ? Do you know what it is to have his word speak to you and to communicate with him? Or is the whole substance of your Christianity found in the activity of coming up those eight steps and through the door and sitting here for an hour, an hour and a half and going your way?

20:16 What happens when you're sick and you're laid aside from that class and prayer meeting? What is there left of heart communion with the living God, delight in himself? Paul said in Philippians 3, 3, we are the circumcision who worship God by the Spirit, who glory in Christ's face, Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh. And Paul was a beautiful example of this. Here he was

20:46 involved to the hilt in the activity of proclaiming the gospel in a certain city, the city of Athens, I mean the city of Philippi in South Africa. And suddenly all of that activity was stopped. The authorities laid hold of him, beat him, put him into a jail. He wasn't going to do much preaching in there except to the jailers around him. All his

21:09 activity came to an abrupt stop. Now here was a test of how genuine Paul's relationship was to Jesus Christ. So what's the next thing in the record tell us? And at midnight, Paul and Silas were singing praises unto God.

21:27 Our beloved Christianity.

21:30 The activity put the relationship like a living flame. They couldn't contain it. Laying there in sweat of their own bodies mixed with their own blood at midnight. Praise to their God.

21:51 And it's as though God said, I want to show you that's real Christianity. So he said, I'm going to shake that place up and send an earthquake. What happens to you when you're suddenly cut off from all your activity? Your church going.

22:04 You're teaching. You're preaching. You're witnessing. What do you have left?

22:10 Beloved, if you don't have anything left of vital heart communion with God, you better beware because you might join this group who placed a wrong evaluation upon their they rested too heavily upon the abundance of their religious activity. The number of them, the success of them, the power diffused through them. These are no evidences of the grace of God. Absolutely none. For God

22:41 in his sovereignty sometimes takes a reprobate like Judas and through that man casts out demons and even uses him to carry the curse for his disciples.

22:56 Oh, I urge upon you today, don't take this as just so much content in a preacher's sermon. Soon all that is called time will flee from us and eternity will be upon us and you're going to stand before that Christ whose eyes are as a flame of fire. If you come to that day as one who rested upon his activity but utterly devoid of true communion with God in Jesus Christ,

23:27 you'll remember this morning when God the Holy Spirit through the word warned you and you stopped your ears. It is a third real reason why people will come to the judgment in this terrible state. The third reason is that these people refuse to accept the whole counsel of God's truth. It's obvious that they were acquainted with the truth for no one who has not heard the message of God's grace in Jesus Christ can ever preach or teach or perform miracles in the name of Christ.

Reason 4: Refusing the Whole Counsel of God

24:10 Romans 10, Paul says how shall they call on the name of one of whom they've not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher? So this passage refers exclusively to the to a problem that will be faced by people who've been under the blessings of the special revelation of the word of God and the preaching of the gospel. Now why did these people, having been exposed to the scriptures, having the word of God in their hands, how is it that they could come to the judgment deceived? Well, one of the reasons was they refused to accept the whole counsel of God.

24:45 Well, you see, the scripture is like the delicate balance in the prescription that your doctor sends in to the pharmacist and involved in that prescription that is made out for your physical well-being is this delicate balance of certain chemicals and the physician or the pharmacist who disregards that balance and simply sees that so much of potassium is needed and so much of this and so much of that and says, well, I'll just put something of each in and pays no regard to the proper proportions. He may give you something that will kill you and that's exactly what the word of God can do. Do you know that you can send yourself to hell by quoting the Bible

25:29 to yourself? Did you know that? You can dare your soul with the Bible. Say, wait a minute, that's a rather extreme statement.

25:41 I wouldn't make it if I didn't have chapter and verse to prove it. Listen, listen.

25:46 Peter said, Our beloved brother Paul hath written in his epistles things difficult and hard to be understood which the ignorant and the unstable rest or twist to their own. They take and they clean, but in their clean system inflict, and they damn themselves with the Bible. That's what these people did. That's what they did.

26:22 Because they didn't accept the whole counsel of God. The apostle Paul said in Acts chapter 20, speaking to the Ephesian elders, he said, I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. Do you get the weight of that passage? As he thought of the three and a half years or three years of his ministry to the people of Ephesus, he recognized that as a servant of God, he was going to have to give an account of his stewardship as a minister. And he said,

27:04 in that day, I know that my hands, and he's speaking figuratively, will be clean of your blood. If you perish, it will not be because I failed to declare God's truth. And I ask him and say, Paul, I also am a servant of God, a preacher of his word, unworthy to even be considered in the same breath with you, but Paul, I want to be clear of the blood of the people at North Caldwell. I want that when my ministry terminates, I'll be able to give a farewell address and say, I take you people to record that I'm clear from the blood of all of you. Paul, how is it

27:41 that you could say that? He would turn to me and say, young man, it's because I declared, the whole gasp of God's truth. I declared the whole counsel of God. I did not merely seek to woo men to Christ with the promises of mercy. I held

28:00 before them the demands of a holy God. I did not merely seek to drive men back in holy dread with the thunders of tiny eye, but I held up the sweet overtures of the gospel from Mount Calvary. I declared the whole counsel of God. And he said, I am clear from the blood of all men.

28:21 What's true of a creature in dealing with men is true of individuals dealing with themselves. Do you want to know that the blood of your soul will not be upon your hands? That you'll not join the many who say, Lord, Lord? Then, my dear friend, you've got to accept the full counsel of God.

28:39 Did you know that most of you were already exposed to two chemicals this morning that are deadly poisonous? Probably half of you here use salt in one way or another on your breakfast food. Or in it. Salt is made up of two deadly chemicals. Sodium,

28:57 chlorine, but put together in the right proportion. Makes your food taste good.

29:05 Keeps you healthy. Can check putrefaction in meat and other substances.

29:10 Two deadly chemicals, but in the right proportions, joined together. Innocent sodium chloride, common table salt.

29:18 Now that's true of the Bible. The promises of God's word are the sodium. And the demands of his holy authority. That's the chlorine.

29:32 And the promise is embraced in faith. Faith of obedience to his word. That's the sweet healing balm of the gospel. But when men will simply cling to the promises and say, God says he that believes is to be saved, I believe.

29:52 They are not bowed in subjection to the commands. They do not seek to walk in holiness and obedience. And they say that the promise is he that believes to be saved. Ah, but the promise also says he became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey him. Hebrews 5.9.

30:12 But they'll take John 3.16. Throw out Hebrews 5.9. It'll be

30:18 just as deadly spiritually as if you were to take a full dose of sodium. You'd kill yourself.

30:27 That's what these people did.

The Balance of Promises and Demands

30:30 This is what they did. Just as deadly if you take the commands and say, well, I'm obeying, I'm obeying. And when it says he that works not but believes is just, justified, and you say, no, I can't believe that God will accept me simply on the basis of what Christ did and believing the promise, I've got to add to that salvation. I've got to do some penance, whether Roman or evangelical. There's penance in our

30:53 evangelical churches as well, you know. Penance is any attempt to add to the merit of Christ by anything I do. Would you simply take the chlorine of without the sodium of to perish. A true Christian is one who embraces God. And the evidence of that

31:20 life is the glad confession, nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Thy law is within my heart. And

31:39 every true Christian can make both of those confessions with equal conviction. Can you? Can you? Oh, dear friends and visitors, some of you whose faces I shall never see again in this relationship of a teacher of God's truth, listen to me. Can you make

31:57 that confession this morning? Nothing in my hands I bring. I see myself a hopeless, helpless, destitute sinner. I see in Christ crucified, risen and glorified my only hope of mercy. Nothing in my hands

32:14 I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. Can you make that confession? If not, you'll be out of place in heaven. There'll be no place for you.

32:24 These people said, Lord, we did this, we did this, we did this. No evidence that they said, Lord, did we not cast ourselves upon you as helpless, guilty sinners and plead only for your mercy? They didn't say that. They didn't say that. Oh, my friend, regardless

32:41 of what you do, if you do not come empty, naked and stripped and clung and find yourself clinging today to the infinite righteousness of God in Christ,

32:53 you're not ready to face judgment. And I say with equal conviction, if you cannot say with David, I delight to do thy will, oh my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. If there is not within the depths of your bosom today a burning desire to walk in obedience to the revealed will of God by the power of the Spirit of God, listen to me. I don't care what you say about resting in his precious blood.

33:21 You're not saved. For all whom he covers by his blood, he subdues by his Spirit. For that's the two-fold blessing of the new covenant. God says their sins and iniquities I'll remember no more.

33:35 I will write my laws upon their hearts and in their minds will I write them.

33:42 Can you make that confession this morning?

33:46 The whole counsel of God embraced makes us confess that. You say your assurance is based upon the word of God. What word? Oh, you say John 5, 24. You can't disturb.

33:59 Me, preacher, I know. I've trusted Jesus and I can't say that I'm obeying him. I can't say that I'm disturbed when I know I've failed to keep his holy word and his law. I know I'm saved because I've trusted the promise.

34:13 Well, what promise? Oh, you say John 5, 24. He that heareth my word and believe it shall not come into condemnation. Ah, but what about the same utterance of Christ in chapter 8 where he said, If ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed.

34:30 And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. What about the words of the same Christ in John 10, 27 where he said, My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Are you following him?

34:43 If not, you're not his sheep.

34:47 He said, My sheep hear my voice. Do you hear his voice? Do you follow? If not, you're not his sheep. You see, you're taking

34:58 just the chloride or the sodium. You're arresting the scriptures. You'll damn yourself with Bible verses.

Reason 5: Failure to Prioritize Relationship with Christ

35:13 May I briefly mention this last reason why some will come to the judgment deceived.

35:21 And it's hinted in verse 22 of our text. Then will I profess unto them I never knew you. Depart. You see, they fail to realize and act upon the truth.

35:36 And oh, I trust you'll listen to it. I know it's warm, it's uncomfortable,

35:41 but we're not tormented. I've been thinking of that these past warm days. I don't want to sound trite, but I have.

35:48 I've said, and you've said probably 50 times, boy, this heat's uncomfortable.

35:54 None of us has had to say like Diogenes said, I am tormented in these flames. Thank God we're not in hell, dear ones. Let's gird up the loins of our mind. If we're physically hot and disturbed a little bit in our bodies, remember,

36:12 hell will completely overshadow the discomfort of these days. Will you listen carefully as I bring this to a conclusion? I feel this is the key point of our message this morning. These people fail to realize and act upon the truth that the only important thing was their relationship to Jesus Christ.

36:32 Jesus said, I never knew you. Now the word know there means something more than just to recognize or to have information about someone. In Jeremiah 1, the Lord said to the prophet, before you were formed, I knew you. And before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you.

36:50 In Amos 3 and verse 2, God said of the children of Israel, of all the nations of the earth, only nation that I have known. And the word know means, in this setting, to know with particular interest and with special affection. So the Lord said to these people, yes, you've preached in my name. You have served on a proper doctrinal foundation. You've served

37:15 with the evidence of supernatural blessing and power and with abundance of works. But I never knew you in the sense of special and particular interest. And peculiar affection. These people were so busy absorbing doctrine, propagating truth and doing good works that they never asked this very simple series of questions.

37:42 Has the Holy Spirit so revealed Jesus Christ to me that He is my all and in all?

37:55 They were too busy absorbing and being busy in the application of that truth. They didn't stop and ask, has the Holy Spirit joined me to Jesus Christ? Do I know Him as my prophet, my priest, and my king? Personally acquainted with the cleansing of His blood, with the renewing of His spirit, and with the directive of His word, they fail to recognize and act upon this basic truth that the only thing that matters is

38:40 your personal heart acquaintance with Jesus Christ. And I say to the many visitors, as well as to the those who frequent this assembly week by week, there's only one thing that matters, and that's the validity of your professed relationship to Jesus Christ. That you come to this church or any other won't amount to this much in the day of judgment. That you may be actively involved in the work of this assembly or any other. Here's the issue. As you sit in that

39:22 pew this morning, are you vitally joined to Jesus Christ in a relationship that's radically transformed you from the inside out? Has the Holy Spirit revealed Jesus Christ to you that you can honestly say, at least in some measure, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain? Say at least with some degree of honesty, though not with the same degree of intensity as the apostles said it. I have one ambition. I count everything but dumb

39:56 that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness of God. The righteousness which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. This one thing I do for getting to things that are behind and reaching out to the things that are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Not with the same intensity of the apostles, but with some real validity. Is that the cry and testimony

40:31 of your heart? It wasn't. The cry of these people. They came saying, Lord, we've taught in your name, but we never had a hard acquaintance with your person. We were never ravished by the revelation of

40:45 Christ crucified. Never could say would the apostle Paul, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, to shine in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Listen to me, dear ones. There are many of you in this building this morning. You've never seen an ounce of glory in Christ. You've

41:06 heard about Christ all your life. You've heard about Christ all your life. You've heard about Christ all your life. You've heard about Christ all your life. You've heard about Christ all

41:07 your life. Some of you. But you've never seen anything in Jesus Christ that has made you gladly turn your back upon this giddy world system with its sinful attachment to what is to be touched and seen and felt and experienced with the five senses. You've never seen anything in Christ that has caused you to gladly turn your back upon this world, its smiles and its frowns, and to embrace Jesus Christ as your only hope of mercy, as your saviour and saviour.

41:38 You've never seen anything such as God's Auction. You've never seen anything like that. You've never seen anything else that we can do with Christ. You've been saved and様ath saith Pupgai, theáCountry of Grace in Christ, and the Eucharist is now rewarded. You've perfolded to be protected from evil and blessed with

42:02 who técnica. They have all of theirisponsiveness. Whosoever outreacheth unto the Father does the caught up. And all but that is not the pain of rest, the anxious immeasurable飯 carried upon the face of an unhappy body. TheiveGBHQ.com.

42:11 zus & jez that wherever the kingdom of God and the grace comes to the heart of a man, it always comes to be possessing him.

42:20 Now, the outworking of that possession is the matter of Christian growth. That's a long thought.

42:29 But the basic groundwork of a submissive will and a captured heart is done whenever Christ is revealed to the soul.

42:40 What's your relationship doing?

The Three Causes of Salvation: A Historical Example

42:45 Back in the Dark Ages, there was a man by the name of Aonio Pellierio. As you know by the name, he certainly wasn't Irish.

42:55 Back in that day when the heel of Rome would crush anything that had the semblance of evangelical truth, this man, Pellierio, wrote a book called The Benefits of Christ's Death.

43:10 When the Roman Church was aware of this, they gathered together all of his books that they could find and they burned them. Then the Pope ordered this man to be brought before one of the civil magistrates. And he was ordered, the magistrate, to ask, Pellierio, three questions. Number one, what is the first cause of your salvation?

43:31 Second, what is the second cause of your salvation? And third, what is the third cause of your salvation? Now, they had hoped he would answer in this manner. Christ is the first cause, the Word is the second cause, and the Church is the third cause.

43:46 And if he'd answered that way, they would have said, all right, you're not a heretic, just don't print your books anymore, go your way. The day came when he was summoned before the magistrate. They addressed him and asked the first question. Sir, what is the first cause of your salvation?

44:05 And his answer, as they expected, was, what is the second cause of your salvation?

44:15 His answer was, they said, what's the third cause of your salvation?

44:25 And his answer was the same.

44:34 The first cause of my salvation. I, as a sinner, can make no approach to a holy God, but through the merits of the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ. The second cause, Christ and his regenerating spirit. I cannot be fit for communion with a holy God unless God changes the basic disposition of my heart from a self-loving, darkness-loving, rebel heart to a heart that will basically want to walk in the realm of light, be basically subject to his authority and to his law.

45:10 Christ and his eternal, electing grace, the third cause of my salvation. For if he had not said, sought me, I never would have sought him. If he had not initiated the work that brought me from darkness to light, I never would have initiated it, and if I would, I couldn't. Oh, I say to you, dear friends, this morning, I ask you, do you say that you're a Christian?

45:34 What is the first cause of your salvation?

45:39 Is it because you've done this and done that and are doing this and believe this and believe that? Or is it that having discovered yourself a hopeless, helpless, empty, empty sinner, you sit there this morning as one who in spirit clings to Christ and Christ alone?

46:01 Christ in his atoning blood, the first cause? Christ and his regenerating, sanctifying spirit, the second cause? Do you know what it is?

46:13 Have that rebel heart subdued so that you can say, I delight to do the will of God? Do you gladly acknowledge Christ and his electing grace as the only fountainhead out of which salvation could ever flow? For he said, you did not choose me, but I have chosen you.

Summary of Reasons for Deception and Final Exhortation

46:34 Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, and I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Why? A long doctrine of assurance.

46:48 They failed to examine themselves.

46:51 They placed an undue importance upon their own works.

46:57 They refused to embrace the whole counsel of God. Upon the truth, that nothing matters but one's relationship to Christ. All I plead with you this morning, if you're not joined to Christ, covered by his blood, then changed by his spirit, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he's near.

47:22 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and to our God, for he will have mercy and abundant pardon. We set before you this day, Jesus, Christ, as a prophet to teach you, a priest to forgive and intercede for you, and a king to rule you. What is faith? It's the whole-souled embrace of Christ as he's offered in the gospel.

47:50 And what a holy privilege to offer him today, freely, as an adequate, willing, able Savior. Oh, that you might embrace him today. Embrace him. Fall before him.

48:02 Plead his mercy. Cling to the promise of his grace. And the promise of God's word is sure. Those that call upon his name shall be saved.

Pastoral Prayer and Self-Reflection

48:15 Let us pray.

48:29 I'm going to pause for just a few moments at the close of our service,

48:35 during which time each one of us should reflect in our own hearts,

48:43 will I be part of the many who will come to the judgment deceived?

48:50 Go back over the key points of the message this morning. What do I have? When all my activity ceases? Do I have anything but the true heart communion with God?

49:05 What do I know of the holiness of life that goes beyond the mere circle of my religious activity?

49:12 Do I walk with a good conscience in the privacy of my own home, in my business ethics?

49:24 You answer in the counsels of your own heart.

49:38 Am I embracing the whole counsel of God? Or am I damning myself with Bible verses,

49:46 pleading the promises while I receive them? While I reject the implications of the duties and the command?

49:54 Or trying to keep the commands, hoping that this will bring me salvation while I reject the promise?

50:06 Am I embracing the whole counsel of God?

50:15 Then ask the last question, what's my heart relationship to Jesus Christ?

50:21 Has the Holy Spirit revealed him to my heart as my only hope of mercy,

50:29 the only source of grace? Do I this very morning embrace him? Not did I in the murky past, but do I this morning embrace him as he's offered in the gospel? Our Father, help us to face these burning questions as honestly and thoroughly now as we will be forced to face them in the day when we stand in your presence.

51:12 Oh God, we confess with shame that we trifle with our never-dying souls.

51:23 We confess that left to ourselves we are not the only ones who are in our lives. We confess that we are not the only ones that are in our lives. We confess that we are not the only ones that are in our lives. We confess that we are not the only ones that act as though we were like the brute beast who die and then are gone.

51:33 But Lord, we believe your word that we are eternity-bound men and women. We are judgment-bound fellows and girls. And oh, we pray that the sobriety of the issues we've handled may break in upon our needy hearts and that we shall not be found in that number who will say, Lord, Lord, only to have you say to them, depart from me. Oh, our God, seal your word to our hearts.

52:05 Take us from this building to reflect upon that which you've spoken to us, to walk in its light. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit abide upon each one who is rightly related to Jesus Christ.

52:28 We pray in his name.