Talkers Or Walkers? 8-25-24 AM
I. Jesus makes a surprising remark (Matt. 7:21).
a. Jesus states that not everyone that confesses Him as Lord will be saved.
i. We know there are many who state that all you have to do is believe.
ii. The New Testament teaches of unsaved believers:
1. James 2:19.
2. John 12:42-43.
b. This means there are those who believe and even state that Jesus is Lord, but are not going to heaven.
c. This is what it means by entering the kingdom of heaven.
d. The whole purpose of this sermon was to get His hearers to be ready for the coming kingdom, which we have also called the church.
i. We call it that because Jesus used the two terms in another passage.
ii. Matt. 16:18-19.
e. However, that is not how Jesus is using it in this passage.
i. The reason I say that is because of what Jesus says in the next verse.
ii. There He stated, “In that day…”
f. We need to understand this phrase that Jesus uses.
i. The kingdom is spiritual in nature (John 18:36).
ii. It began on Pentecost – up until then it was always spoken of in the future but from that point on it was spoken of in the past tense.
iii. There is a present tense in which it is used.
1. This is in reference to the church.
2. Col. 1:13; Rev. 1:9.
iv. There is also a future tense in which it is used.
1. This is in reference to heaven.
2. This is how Jesus us here using the phrase because He will say “In that day…”
3. Paul spoke in similar language (2 Tim. 1:12, 18; 4:8).
g. Jesus is concluding the sermon.
h. He has warned them to be on the right way and to produce the right fruit.
i. The purpose of doing those things is to get to the right place – heaven.
j. Jesus lets them know that there is more to getting to that right place than just acknowledging Him as Lord.
k. Those who will enter the kingdom are those keep on doing the will of God.
i. They have to walk the walk continually.
ii. James said we must be doers of the word (Jam. 1:22-25).
l. What is God’s will?
i. Jesus has been laying that out all through the sermon.
ii. We have to be the right type of person.
iii. We have to have the proper attitude toward God’s word.
iv. We have worship in the right manner.
v. We have to treat our brethren in the right manner.
vi. We have to treat our fellow man in the right manner.
m. We have to have our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
n. We can’t be going around talking a big game.
o. We have to be doing the will of God.
II. A stunned reaction (Matt. 7:22).
a. Remember that Jesus has already said many are going to be lost because many are on the broad way.
b. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that there will be many who get surprised on that day.
c. The reason they will be stunned is two-fold.
d. The first reason is stated in verse 21 – they believed in Jesus as Lord.
e. The second reason is stated here – we did these things in your name.
i. In your name carries the idea of by your authority.
ii. They claimed that the things they did were by the authority of Jesus.
f. They felt they had been empowered to do those things by Jesus.
g. This would have been the Pharisees and scribes at that time.
i. They felt that if they just did the things God said do, with no feeling or love for God, they could earn their way to heaven.
ii. They felt they had God in their debt because they did certain things God had said to do.
iii. The prayer of the Pharisee in the parable found in Luke 18:9-14 reveals this was their thinking.
h. God will never be indebted to us and owe us salvation because of our efforts.
i. Salvation is by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9).
ii. But notice the next verse – there are works that we are to be doing.
iii. Those works are done because we are indebted to God for pouring out His grace on us, not to put God in our debt.
i. Legalism will never save man.
i. At the end of the day, we will always be unworthy (Lu. 17:10).
ii. There are not enough good deeds we can do to cause God to be in our debt.
j. On that great day, there will be those who will be stunned.
i. They will have believed they were in the kingdom.
ii. They will have believed they were doing things by the authority of Jesus.
iii. The truth is, people do the right things for the wrong reasons all the time.
iv. Paul spoke about this concerning some who preached Jesus (Php. 1:15-16).
k. We need to make sure that we will not be stunned on that great day.
III. A scary reality (Matt. 7:23).
a. There are some statements that strike fear in the heart.
b. There are things that can be said that we never want to hear.
c. Of all the statements that could be said to us, this statement from Jesus ought to be the one we avoid at all costs.
d. For those who claim Jesus as Lord and did things by what they believed was His authority but were just talkers, the reality of the words “I never knew you” should strike fear at the deepest level.
e. John 17:3.
i. Jesus says knowing Him leads to eternal life.
ii. 1 John 2:3 tells us how we know Him.
f. We have to be walkers not just talkers.
g. We have to be those who live for Jesus.
h. Otherwise, the scariest words that could ever be said to us will be our reality.
i. To have to depart from Jesus is to be turned away eternally from His presence (2 Th. 1:9-10).
j. All the time spent doing what we thought was God’s will was really working iniquity.
i. Newer translations have “you who practice lawlessness.”
ii. All the things we thought were done by God’s authority, were not.
iii. Either because our hearts were not right doing them or because we did things we were not authorized to do.
k. This is not what we want to hear on the Day of Judgment.
l. It is truly a scary reality for many because so many, even those who have obeyed the gospel, are doing what they think is right or pleasing but are fooling themselves.