Word of Salvation – Vol.23 No.22 – February 1977

 

Not Everyone Who Says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’

 

Sermon by Rev. J. W. Westendorp on Matthew 7:21-23

Scripture Readings: 1Samuel 10:1-13 and 15:10-23

Text: Matthew 7:21-23 but read in context of verses 13-28

Psalter Hymnal: 120; 252 after the Law of God; 408; 410 after the Sermon; 378

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Many people consider the Sermon on the Mount to be the greatest code for human behaviour that has ever been written.  There have even been atheists, outspoken in their praise of these chapters of the gospel of Matthew.  And great humanists through the centuries have echoed the words of Jesus that we should “turn the other cheek”, that we should “love our enemies”, and that we should “not look for specks in someone’s eye when there is a beam in our own….!”

The only trouble is that these people are often very selective when it comes to the Sermon on the Mount; they take out of it what Jesus has to say about MAN’S RELATION TO MAN but they conveniently forget what Jesus has to say about MAN’S RELATION TO GOD.

When we do that… when we take out only what Jesus says about people’s behaviour to other people… then all we are left with is some moralistic good advice.  Then we lose sight of the fact that this whole sermon has to do with the KINGDOM OF GOD: How we become members of that Kingdom… How we live as members of that Kingdom.

It’s as though, boys and girls, we were talking about our Cadet and Calvinette Clubs and we made a whole host of very good rules: rules about how boys and girls should act towards one another.  BUT we never made any rules about how to become members of the club: what age; what requirements; what uniform.  Only rules about how children should behave towards other children, but no rules about how they should act towards their leaders.  That’s something the Sermon on the Mount never does.  First and foremost it deals with our relationship to the KINGDOM and to the KING of that Kingdom; and only in that context does it deal with our relationship towards each other.

This text this morning (this evening) is one of these that people would rather forget about…. because you see, it is a very hard saying of Jesus; a severe warning about who will enter the Kingdom and who will not.  As a matter of fact it is really a strong warning to those who think they are going to make it, who think they ARE members, but who in actual fact are not.  It is a warning for people who deceive themselves about Kingdom membership: “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, shall enter the Kingdom of heaven.”

A) THE DELUSION OF RIGHT WORDS.

First of all, Jesus warns against deluding ourselves about Kingdom membership, JUST BECAUSE WE USE THE RIGHT WORDS.  You see, there are people today who deceive themselves by thinking that as long as they have a certain amount of respect for Jesus, as long as they honour Him, as long as they pay Him lip-service then everything will be OK in the life hereafter.  O,Yes, they are quite prepared to call Him “Lord”, after all He is the founder of a world religion, even the World’s greatest religion; He deserves to be called: Sir… Rabbi… Teacher… Master… Lord…!

Today in Australia there is still a large percentage of people whom we could call “Nominal Christians”; and if you asked them they would be quite prepared to declare that they are Christians… after all they don’t want to be thought of as pagans… and they are certainly not Jewish… or Muslims… or Buddhists.  And haven’t they been born in a land where the prevailing religion is Christianity?  But Jesus says: “No amount of RESPECT for me is going to get you into the Kingdom of God…! You can call yourselves Christians…!  You can even call Me “Lord!”…. but you are only deceiving yourselves.  Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of heaven.”  It’s just not good enough to think well of Jesus Christ and so to call Him Lord.

Now perhaps you think that lets everyone here this morning (evening) “off the hook”.  After all don’t we take our church going seriously?  Our relationship to Jesus Christ is more than that of respect, of thinking of Him as just a great person.  We believe that He is the Son of God, the Saviour of the World.  We believe that without Him there is no hope of ever getting into a right relationship with God.  Without Him there is no hope of becoming a member of God’s Kingdom.  Surely then these words don’t apply to us?  We ARE members of the Kingdom.

Yes, but let’s just be careful!  What does it mean to call Jesus “Lord”?

It means that we are saying something that is true: Jesus IS Lord.  But just because we are saying something that is true and even if you believe it intellectually; that does not mean yet that your relationship to Him is right; that you can enter the Kingdom.  It’s a grim possibility to perish in hell with the cry “Lord, Lord!” on your lips.

You see, it’s NOT JUST people who reject Jesus Christ, who refuse to acknowledge Him as Lord, who will perish.  It’s not just those who have no beliefs, or who have wrong beliefs; it’s not just they who will be left standing out in the cold.  But it’s even possible for one who is very sound in his beliefs, very orthodox in his faith, to be cast out into outer darkness.

Do you know why Jesus says that?  Because of our ability to deceive ourselves.  Because we so often trust in the wrong things to give us right standing in the Kingdom of God.  We know as Christians that we are saved BY FAITH and we also know that faith issues in CONFESSION – as Paul says: if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.” (Rom.10:9),

But what is it that actual ly saves us?  Is it our faith?  Is it our confession?  Well, it’s neither; it is Jesus Christ who saves and He alone makes us members of God’s Kingdom.  And yet there are often Christians who depend on THEIR faith and on THEIR profession of faith… they’ve said: “Jesus is Lord” and they’ve called Him “Lord, Lord”…. and then they rely on that confession rather than on the Christ of that confession.  But then faith becomes a delusion; then we go through life with just our expressions of faith; saying: “I believe, I believe, I believe…!” and the apostle James says to us, “So what..?  Even the demons believe — and they shudder.”  “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven.’

You see this warning of Jesus is not only for hypocritical Pharisees and for modern day nominal Christians, but it’s also very relevant for the sincere believer to make him examine himself: what is it we are trusting in for Kingdom membership?  Is it our Public Profession of faith?  Is it because we say all the right words doctrinally?  Or do we cast ourselves on the mercy of Jesus our Saviour?

Notice too that these people seem to be rather zealous “believers”.  There is a certain amount of fervour about them; they don’t just call Jesus Lord, but they cry out “Lord, Lord!”.  Again we can brush off these words of Jesus by saying that we are far too zealous, far too enthusiastic as Christians for this warning to apply to us.  But take note: It’s just as dangerous to depend on our zeal and on our enthusiasm as it is to depend on our words: Let us not delude ourselves.

B) THE DELUSION OF GOOD WORKS

There is also another delusion that Jesus speaks about in our text.  You see, Jesus has been saying that you can tell true faith from a false faith by looking at the fruit of that faith.  We can distinguish false prophets from genuine ones by looking at the kind of life they live, the kind of works they do: “You shall know them by their fruits”.  So too when we examine our own lives we need to look closely; whether we are good trees bearing good fruit or whether we are bad trees bearing bad fruit.  And yet, even when we do that it is possible to again deceive ourselves.  Jesus is saying that these people who are going around saying, “Lord, Lord” are not only deluding themselves about their faith – what they trust in is all wrong but they are also deluding themselves about the fruit of their faith.  These people are saying, “Lord, Lord, our faith is genuine, just look at what we did in your name… we prophesied…. we cast out demons…. we did many mighty works……!”

Now before we again let ourselves off the hook too lightly, let’s look a little closer at these verses.  Just look at all the things that Jesus says we can be actively involved in and STILL stand outside the Kingdom.  Not every preacher…. not every miracle worker is going to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

On the day of judgment there will be preachers who will stand up and say, “Lord, Lord, I’ve been preaching to your people every Sunday, in your name.”  Preachers who will point to their box full of sermons; Evangelists who will mention their great stack of “decision cards”, but Jesus will say to them, “Depart from me.”

There will be elders on that day calling out, “Lord, Lord, what about all those home visits I went on and those reading services I took…?”  And Jesus will call them “evildoers”.  There will be youth leaders and Sunday School teachers, crying out, “Lord, Lord, in your name we taught children about you…… in your name we helped the young people.”  And Jesus will say, “I never knew you.”

Let’s not overlook the fact that these people were not doing these things in their own name, but it was in the name of Jesus that they were doing these mighty works.  Do you find that hard to believe?  People who are sound in doctrine, they call Jesus “Lord”; they are faithful workers, busy in Jesus’ name: and the Lord just leaves them standing outside.  No actually he doesn’t, it’s worse, He tells them to clear off: “Depart from me, never have I known you!”  Incredible isn’t it?

Let’s never delude ourselves that just because we are busy in the church, that just because we are active in the things of God, that we have got it made.  There is no justification BY WORKS.

We need to remember that Judas too said, “Lord, Lord” and Judas too received power to do many wonderful signs.  And what about King Saul?  God’s anointed… King of Israel…And the Spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied and he preached.  God gave him ability and power, and he led the army of God’s people to victory.  And yet… his ultimate fate… REJECTION!… Depart from Me, I have rejected you.

Do you know what has happened brothers and sisters?  These people have done good things, correct things; Jesus does not deny that and yet something is missing.  Paul once put it this way:

“If I speak with the tongue of men and angels (if I am ever so gifted as a speaker and preacher) BUT HAVE NOT LOVE, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers… but have not love… I am nothing… nothing…!”

If there is no love relationship to Jesus Christ then our works are nothing.  Don’t be deluded by your good works and your faithful activity in the church.  In itself these things are not good enough; not even if you do them in His name and with the cry “Lord, Lord” on your lips.  It’s not enough.

C) THE WAY OF OBEDIENCE

Congregation, Jesus does not only condemn our self-delusion, but He also shows us the right way to a right relationship to Him and to the Kingdom of heaven.  Jesus says that the true condition, the only condition for Kingdom membership is doing the will of His Father in heaven.

Now, that does leave us with a little problem: after all, weren’t these people doing exactly that… doing God’s will?  Isn’t it true that God’s Word must be proclaimed by prophetic utterance?  Isn’t it God’s will that demons should be cast out in the name of Jesus?  Doesn’t God want mighty works done to the glory of His name?  Weren’t they then doing God’s will?  No!  Not really..!

Perhaps I could illustrate the situation for our boys and girls: If Mum or Dad told one of you boys or girls to go and tidy up your room… make the beds… dust the ledges… sweep the floor.  Then would you be obeying your parents if you went and did exactly that????  Of course you would, wouldn’t you?  But now, just say that the night before Mum and Dad had been talking about painting the house, and they had said that your room in particular needed a new coat of paint really badly, as a matter of fact the paint and brushes were already in a cupboard in the hallway all ready for making a start.  Now, Mum or Dad tells you to tidy up your room… and you come in and see those walls that badly need painting and you know the paint is in the cupboards….. and so you decide to start painting the walls.  Half way through the first wall Mum comes in… and, well, I’ll just leave the rest of the story to your imagination.  But the question is this boys and girls: were you being obedient???  No!  But wasn’t it Dad and Mum’s will that that room be painted?  Of course it was, BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT YOU WERE TOLD TO DO.  You were told to tidy up your room… that’s all.

That is exactly why Jesus can call these people in our text, “evildoers”.  Not so much because of the things they did, not at all.  Those are good things, things that needed doing, just like that wall that needed painting.  But Jesus calls them “evildoers” because of what they haven’t done.

You see, when Jesus says we must do the will of our Father in heaven, then He demands TOTAL and PROMPT obedience to God’s commands.  God’s will is that men and women should repent and believe, to turn from selfishness and sin and to submit their lives to Jesus Christ.  God tells us to go and tidy our rooms up, or rather to let Him tidy our rooms up, not to paint the house.  God tells us to love Him with all our soul, heart, strength and mind; and as long as we are not doing that, then what ever we may be doing we are being disobedient – we are, as it were, painting the house when our room is still in a mess.  O Yes, once we’ve tidied up our rooms then God may call us to help with the painting of the house too.

That is what King Saul’s big mistake was too; he thought that the worship of the people, the sacrifices were more important than personal holiness and personal obedience.  He disobeyed God… he kept some of the animals alive to sacrifice them to God.  Samuel’s warning to Saul is still relevant for us: “Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.”  To obey is better than painting the house, better than prophesying and casting out demons, better than all the mighty works that anyone could do.

Brothers and sisters, boys and girls, we need to take these words of Jesus seriously because Jesus is speaking here against the background of the final judgement.  We need to examine ourselves to see whether we are deluding ourselves.  Do we do God’s will by trusting only in Jesus Christ for salvation or do we trust in our own works, our own activities?  Have you tidied up your room by asking King Jesus to rule there as Lord… OR are you perhaps too busy painting the house…..?

Amen.