Matthew 7:21-23 “Not
everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but
he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done
many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you;
depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” NKJV
The writer of the Book of Hebrews says, “Faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” This is
the faith in God (as He is revealed in all the Scripture) required for a soul
to enter into Heaven. Matthew Chapters 5-7 are most commonly referred to over
the many centuries as the “Beatitudes”, which mean a state of supreme
happiness. Now we already looked at what our Lord considers true blessings and
to human standards the list the Lord Jesus gave seems far from a state of
supreme happiness. To be hated by other people for Christ sake, to hunger and
thirst after only that which is right like a starving person for earthly food
and the others appear to be the opposite of happiness to the finite mind.
Our Lord even declared that He is the fulfillment of
what the Jews knew to be the Law of Moses which also included the Ten
Commandments. Now during the Old Testament days the Israelites could never keep
the Ten Commandments perfectly and lived in constant rebellion, but many of the
religious leaders declared themselves blameless according to the law. The
Apostle Paul was one of those types of men before his encounter with the
Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus road.
Philippians
3:4-6 Though for myself I have [at least grounds] to rely on the flesh. If any
other man considers that he has {or} seems to have reason to rely on the flesh
{and} his physical {and} outward advantages, I have still more! Circumcised
when I was eight days old, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew [and the son] of Hebrews; as to the observance of the Law I was of [the
party of] the Pharisees, as to my zeal, I was a persecutor of the church, and
by the Law's standard of righteousness (supposed justice, uprightness, and
right standing with God) I was proven to be blameless {and} no fault was found
with me. QAB
Now here comes our Lord raising the Ten Commandments
to an even higher level than they were previous. Our Lord equates anger in the
heart with another for no just cause to be equal with murder and He says that
to look at a women desiring in the heart to have sex with her is equal to
adultery. Well, if the Israelites could not keep the Ten Commandments as they
were written initially, how in the world could anyone ever be capable of keeping
their heart/mind or thoughts clean and pure from these things? This sounds
humanly impossible. This is exactly the purpose of our Lord to show men where
their acts of sin come from and it is every human heart is the breeding ground
for all outward acts of sin.
Therefore, He wanted them and us to see the utter
impossibility of changing our own heart desires and cry out to Him for healing.
Now our Lord concludes this discourse with warnings to all the people that were
listening with a word picture that they could all easily understand and make
reference to as a guide when they were confronted by people that claimed faith
in Him. In essence He said all fruit trees bear or shows forth fruit of its own
kind going back to Genesis Chapter 1 where everything God made produced after
its own kind. Our Lord speaks to all true believers and warns them to beware of
those who are not regenerated or transformed on the inside in the heart. Their
desire for sin and all the allurements from sin and greed has not been removed
by the regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. The
Apostle Peter speaks of them as well as the Apostle Jude and listen to what
they had to say.
2
Peter 2:14-15 They have eyes full of harlotry, insatiable for sin. They beguile
{and} bait {and} lure away unstable souls. Their hearts are trained in
covetousness (lust, greed), [they are] children of a curse [exposed to
cursing]! Forsaking the straight road they have gone astray; they have followed
the way of Balaam [the son] of Beor, who loved the reward of wickedness. QAB
Jude
1:4 For certain men have crept in stealthily [gaining entrance secretly by a
side door]. Their doom was predicted long ago, ungodly (impious, profane)
persons who pervert the grace (the spiritual blessing and favor) of our God
into lawlessness {and} wantonness {and} immorality, and disown {and} deny our
sole Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). QAB
The false professions of faith in our Lord that have
taken place over the many centuries have not taken Him by surprise. I think of
a scene from the movie entitled “The Encounter” that I have on DVD and have watched
it many times now. The actor playing Jesus in the film speaks to this lady and
says to her won’t you join your husband in believing in Me. Her response was, “I
go to Church every Sunday and even teach Sunday School.” Jesus said to her, “I
know you walked down an isle in Church and signed a card and was baptized but
it takes more than that it requires real, true, genuine repentance (changing
your mind and turning from sin).”
Unlike this movie, in that day, as our Lord refers
to it, it will be the real deal and no chance for purgatory or any second
chance at all and it will be tragic for these many to find out that their faith
was false and not real. Also unlike us our Lord is a Holy and Righteous Judge
who will not be swayed by vain arguments of what was done in His name although
none of it was for His Glory because they were void of His nature. Notice the
glaring two statements in this passage, the first from those with false faith
was have we not done these things in Your Name. They did not desire to fall at
Jesus’ feet to worship and adore Him expressing love for Him, but only to speak
of what they did for Him and not what He did for them. Second our Lord did not
even respond to the supposed things done by them, but He said, “you who
practice lawlessness or sin.” The faith that does not deliver from the dominion
of sin is not faith given by Jesus Christ. It is faith without works of righteousness
accompanying it and that faith is man-made and not God given.
1
John 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who
practices righteousness is born of Him. NKJV
2
Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal:
“The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of
Christ depart from iniquity.” NKJV
“The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to
obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith. The two are at opposite sides
of the same coin.” A. W. Tozer
“It is not my aim to introduce doubts and fears into
your mind; no, but I do hope self-examination may help to drive them away. It
is not security, but false security,
which we would kill; not confidence, but false confidence, which we would overthrow; not peace, but false peace, which we would
destroy.” Charles Spurgeon
“I hold to the doctrine of sudden conversion as I do to my life,
and I would as quickly give up my life as give up this doctrine, unless it can
be proved that it is not according to the word of God. Now, I will admit that
light is one thing and birth is another. A soul must be born before it can see light
A child must be born before it can be taught; it must be born before it can
walk; it must be born before it can be educated.” D. L. Moody
“The teaching of a false prophet cannot withstand scrutiny under the divine
light of Scripture.” John MacArthur
“The early Christians condemned false doctrine in a way that
sounds almost unchristian today.” Vance Havner
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you
Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus
Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and
Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple
I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader,
Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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