We'll continue today in studying the Word of God from Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 to 27. We'll also read the parallel passage in Luke chapter 6, verses 46 to 49. And please notice carefully the words there.
Now last week we studied the very important matter of how to discern between a true prophet, a true teacher and a false teacher. And we saw too that eventually the Lord's teaching in that section did not limit itself only to false and true teachers, but to every Christian. As we read from verse 19 onwards: every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down. Now today we continue to study our Lord's teaching, and His teaching is truly wonderful and remarkable.
Here also the Lord Jesus from that last section speaks about fruit. He says, what determines whether a tree will be cut down or not? Is the fruit that it bears or the lack of fruit? What does fruit mean? Fruit is your conduct, your behavior. That is to say, the works that you do in your everyday life. That is why in Galatians chapter 5 verse 19, it speaks of the works of the flesh. And then in verses 22 onwards, it speaks of the fruit of the Spirit. It speaks of two contrasting kinds of conduct.
Now there is no difference whatsoever between works and fruit. I know some expositors try to make some distinction, that one is the works of the flesh, the other is the fruit of the Spirit, and fruit is not the same as works. But that is a failure to understand what fruit means in the scriptures. Some people want to say that fruit is the result of God's work in us producing that fruit, as though you are doing nothing but God produces the fruit. This exposition sounds very attractive at first sight. But when carefully examined, it proves false. For we need only look back into the Old Testament to see that fruit in the Bible does not refer necessarily only to good fruit, but also to bad fruit.
And of course this point comes out already here in this passage. Thorns don't produce figs, but they do produce berries of their own. Thorn bushes also have berries. They also have a certain kind of fruit. But they are not figs. And so too in Jeremiah, for example, you read about fruits. In Jeremiah 12 verse 2, Jeremiah 17 verse 10, Jeremiah 21 verse 14 and so forth. Where in all these places they speak of fruit as the Lord Jesus does here in Matthew 7. But there it does not always refer to good fruit, also to bad fruit.
In short, fruit is simply your behavior expressed in what you do. And that of course is in no way to deny that the fruit of the Spirit is produced by the power of the Spirit. But the works of the flesh is produced by the power of sin in the flesh. And just as in the case of the flesh, the person is not in any way passive as these works of flesh are produced, in the same way, the fruit of the Spirit is not produced in a way that we are passive, doing nothing, and the fruit somehow automatically produces itself. This kind of wrong teaching has had very damaging effects. It produces a very passive Christianity which always sits back doing nothing. On the contrary, the scriptural teaching is always the opposite. It is always encouraging us to move forward, to work, to strive to enter in at the narrow gate.
Now here in verse 21 onwards, the Lord Jesus says some very surprising things. The first is that not everybody who says to me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven. You only call Jesus "Lord, Lord" if presumably you are some kind of Christian. And the Lord Jesus tells us though that there are many people who call Jesus "Lord, Lord" who will not find entrance into the kingdom of heaven. No, He says only one kind of person enters the kingdom of heaven: that is the person who does God's will.
And He goes on to say these surprising things. He says it doesn't matter if you have prophesied in Jesus' name. Or you may have cast out demons in Jesus' name. Or you have done mighty works, which generally means works of healing. So we have prophecy, exorcism, and miracles of healing. All these amazing and mighty works. But Jesus says if you do these things, it is no evidence of your spirituality. This is very important for us as Christians to understand.
Your spiritual experiences are not a guarantee that you are on the right and narrow road. The fact that you have these spiritual experiences are precious. But these spiritual experiences do not guarantee your spiritual quality, your spiritual life. Now this needs saying in these days. Precisely because there are many people who imagine that because they have had some kind of spiritual experience, that therefore proves them to be Spirit-filled Christians. Brothers and sisters, your spiritual experience proves nothing of the kind. All that it proves is that you, right now, have a spiritual experience.
Now this spiritual experience comes by the power of God. This prophesying may be by the Spirit of God. This casting out of evil spirits will be by the Spirit of God, since Satan does not cast out Satan as the Lord Jesus taught us. And your doing mighty works can be by the power of God. But none of this proves that you will enter the kingdom of God. And that's the point you need carefully to understand.
Now think for a moment. If one day you are sitting there and suddenly you begin to prophesy — what an exciting spiritual experience. This is something wonderful. You might be even speaking, prophesying in tongues. And somebody else is translating. You get so excited with this experience. You'll say, "Wow, I'm a super Christian now. I've joined the ranks of the prophets." You see, Isaiah was a prophet. Jeremiah was a prophet. I am also a prophet. I can prophesy too. And you might say, "Certainly if Isaiah is in the kingdom of God and Jeremiah and all these mighty men in the kingdom of God, I will be there too because I'm also prophesying. And I might even do one better than they. They never prophesied in tongues. I prophesy in tongues."
No, no, no. That may certainly be evidence that God is using you at that particular moment. It may be that God is using you — that is to say, He may be using you to fulfill a particular job that needs to get done. It means that you put yourself in His hands and act in His name. But again, the Lord Jesus makes it very clear to us that that is not the guarantee that you will enter the kingdom of heaven. And we should also always remember that there were not only true prophets but also false prophets. And these false prophets also prophesied in the name of God. Jeremiah in chapter 14 verse 14 mentions this very fact too.
So you might say, "Well, if prophecy is not so certain about my spiritual condition, then casting out demons must be much more certain." Because the Lord Jesus said it very plainly that Satan never casts out Satan. Therefore if I cast out a demon from a possessed person, then certainly the Spirit of God is working through me. You are right. God's power is working through you. But that still does not prove that you will enter the kingdom. That is what the Lord Jesus is saying so clearly here.
And then you may go on to say, "Well, if so, I can go on to do mighty works, works of mercy, helping sick people, healing those people by the power of God. That surely is the merciful power of God working through me." And so you think, "I am sure to have a seat in heaven." As I said, it's so surprising. The Lord Jesus' reply to that is no.
Today, we have people who go around doing miracles, and no one will deny that these miracles are genuine. Many people even have it attested by the doctors that they have been genuinely healed after being prayed over in the name of Jesus. And many people are very impressed with these faith healers. I say to them, be impressed with the power of God, but don't be impressed with them. Because it's not their power that does it. It is God's power that does it.
But I would say further than that, in the Lord's teaching: don't be impressed with miracles. Because in Matthew 24, which we shall come to in due time, if the Lord permits, is this: in the last days there will come great deceivers, as we saw also last week, who will do signs and wonders to deceive many people.
In a small way, I myself have done all of these things — prophesied, cast out demons, and done works of healing. Therefore, shall I say to myself, "Oh, Eric, you're all right now. Your seat is guaranteed for you in heaven. You're among the prophets"? If I think like that, I'm being very foolish. Rather, like the apostle Paul, I need to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. Notice those words that Paul uses: work out. Exactly how do we do this? How may I be found to be able to enter into the kingdom, to work out the salvation, to strive to enter in at the narrow gate?
Yet the Lord Jesus goes on to say, "He who does the will of my Father" — that is the person who will enter the kingdom. Now, any of you who have been at the Bible studies and followed this series of teachings will now be very clear what the Lord's teaching about salvation is. You'll know and understand what the Lord's teaching about salvation is.
Is the Lord Jesus teaching us that we will be saved through our works, through our own efforts? Certainly not. What He is teaching us here is the definition of faith. We are saved by faith. But the important question is to ask: what does faith mean? And faith, on the definition of the Lord Jesus, as indeed in Paul and everywhere else, as we have seen in Romans, means this: faith means to obey Jesus.
Now it is immediately obvious to you that unless you have faith, you would not obey Him. How would you want to listen to what He tells you to do? It is faith that makes you want to listen to Him, to obey His will. It is faith that gives you the spiritual understanding to realize that Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does its successive journeys run. It is faith that enables you to see that He is the judge that is to come. It is faith that enables you to see the wonder of His person. It is faith that enables you to see that only He can save you. And therefore that is why you need to listen to Him. It is faith that enables you to realize that nobody in this world can save you from sin and from the judgment to come. Now if you haven't got faith, you don't believe in the judgment to come. If you don't believe in the judgment to come, you won't bother to obey Him. Because if there is no judgment, it doesn't matter whether you do good or bad.
All this goes to make it very plain to us that there is no way that unless you have faith you can be saved. Faith then is what the Lord Jesus is talking about. But when the Lord Jesus speaks about faith, He is not talking about some mental perception. He speaks about a spiritual understanding. That is why you may be quite an intelligent person, but spiritually blind. You don't understand spiritual things. That is why on the spiritual level everyone is equal. Everyone has the same start. Your PhD will give you no advantage in the spiritual world whatsoever. In fact, it might be a disadvantage because it might blow your head up and you think you are something very important in spiritual things, when in fact you are nothing much in God's sight.
Faith is spiritual discernment, which once it perceives the truth, acts upon it. So salvation then has to do with obeying Christ. That is what faith means. And on this point then, the Lord Jesus says — however, these people who did these mighty works, do they not have some kind of faith? Can it be that you would prophesy in the name of Jesus if you did not have faith? Could it be that people could cast out demons without faith? Certainly they have faith.
You remember the disciples tried to cast out a demon and they couldn't cast him out. And they say, why? Because the Lord Jesus said to them, "Because your faith is too small." Which goes to show that you need to have faith to do these things. Now these people have done these things. They have faith.
Now you can see how dangerous the term faith is if it's not properly defined. If you say that salvation is based on faith in Jesus, these people have faith. Who would care to deny that these people have faith? Which shows that whenever you preach about salvation by faith, be sure to define what you mean by faith. And the tragedy of the teaching in the churches today is that faith is not defined. People are simply told, "Believe in Jesus, you are saved." Do these people also believe? Do these preachers want to deny that these people believe? That's why I say the Lord Jesus said some surprising things here.
So don't say to yourself, "You have faith." I cannot say to myself, "See, I have faith. See, I have done these things. That's the proof that I have faith. You see, you don't have faith as much as I have. I have done it, you haven't done it. You see, I have superior faith. So if you can't be saved, then at least I have a good chance of being saved." That's wrong. This whole thing is wrong.
You can have faith without being saved. That is the striking thing that the Lord Jesus says here. This is the point that the apostle James labors to make clear in his letter. He said, "You have faith, you are doing well. But the devil also has faith. You say you believe in God, he also believes in God. In fact, he believes God more than you do. Because he trembles every time he thinks about God."
The striking thing then, I would like you to remember, brothers and sisters, today is this: your faith may not save you. And whenever you quote any passage from the apostle Paul, make sure you quote his whole context, not just one sentence. Did Paul say we are saved by faith? Certainly he said so. But if you quote him, don't forget to quote the next sentence or the next after that too. He says we are saved by faith, and that through grace. Not of our own striving. Not of our own works. But then he goes on to say, "But persist in good works whereunto you were ordained." You were appointed to the good works. And then immediately he goes on to speak about the will of God exactly as the Lord Jesus does. Into chapter 2, he goes on to speak about the will of God working in us. We saw also in Romans 12 how he's concerned to speak about the will of God. What the apostle Paul speaks of as that good and perfect and acceptable will of God. How do you know it? You know it by offering yourself as a living sacrifice.
So now we can see that there is a faith — and I ask you all, each one, I beg of you to remember this — there is a faith that does not save. And there is a faith that saves. What is the faith that saves? It's the faith that does God's will.
Now here comes another striking thing that the Lord Jesus said. You can do things in the name of Jesus which may not be according to His will. The fact that you do something in the name of Jesus does not mean that that becomes the will of God. What does it mean to do something in Jesus' name? It means to act as His representative. To act on His authority. Therefore, for example, if you ask me to visit somebody or to look at a property you want to buy, and I go there in your name — I am not buying the property. I am acting on your behalf. So to act in His name is to act as Jesus' representative, as His ambassador, as His agent.
But the fact that I act in His name does not necessarily mean that what I do meets His approval. For example, you ask me to look at this property, and I go there in your name, and then I decide to buy the property in your name. And the next thing you realize, you've got a property on your hands, and now you've got to find the money to pay for it. Because I'm acting on your authority, especially if you give me that right to use that authority, you will have to own up to it. But you see, just the fact that I act on your authority does not necessarily mean that it's according to your will. It will only be according to your will if I communicate with you and ask you, "Is this your will? Is this what you want me to do?"
This takes us to the point to realize that you only act on His will if you are in constant communion with Him. Now these people, they did these things. They used Jesus' name. They called Him Lord, but they did not do His will. And what does the Lord Jesus say to these people? He said, "I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers."
Now if you ever do anything in the name of Jesus, make sure you are acting in His will. Otherwise, you are an evildoer. The word "evildoer" here means literally a lawless person who does just what he likes. Now that tells us again exactly what the important point we need to know. You are an evildoer if you are simply doing whatever you want to do. That is to say, if you claim to be a Christian and you live just in your own way, doing whatever you yourself want to do with no regard for the will of God, you are an evildoer.
The important thing to notice here in the Lord's teaching is that an evildoer is not necessarily somebody who commits murder or adultery or robbery or any of these things. Just doing what you want to do — that is what makes you an evildoer. Notice these people are called evildoers, yet no charge of this kind is laid against them at all. They are not accused of committing any of these sins. So don't sit there very comfortably saying to yourself, "Well, I have not committed any major sin, so I am quite alright. I am righteous before God." Like so many non-Christians — you preach to them about Christ and they say, "Well, I didn't murder, I didn't do this and that," as though that was the thing that condemns a person.
Listen. The point here is this: that sin originates in the heart. Whether you have actually committed the murder or not doesn't matter. God looks in your heart. The fact that you didn't commit murder or robbery is simply maybe that you neither had the courage nor the opportunity to do these things. And how many times you might have committed murder if you didn't think of the consequences? Because in your heart there was a hatred against a certain person. Oh yes, we could commit murder if there was not the pressure of external circumstances holding us back. The word of God goes much deeper. It looks into your heart. And looks at the root of all these sins which is there in the heart. And the root of it is that you want to do things your way.
How many times I have noticed when we preach about the Lord Jesus turning the other cheek, immediately there is a sense of rebellion. "I don't want to behave like this. I don't like this way of doing things." We think that God's way is not sensible. It's not practical. "If I don't stand up for myself, nobody stands up for me. If I don't defend myself, who will help me to defend myself?" That's what leads to murder. That's what leads to this kind of sin. We want to settle the score. And we want to have the pleasure of settling the score. You may say, "God will settle the score one day." "That's too long. I can't wait for it. I want to enjoy settling the score." So we go our own way. Now, in the Lord's teaching, that is evil doing.
That means to say, let's speak about the faith that saves and the faith that does not save. How do you know which kind of faith you have right now? I'm sure almost everybody here has faith of some kind. You have faith. But is it the saving faith? That is the question we want to ask. How do you know that your faith is the saving faith? And don't make the mistake again of saying, "Ah, I have spiritual experiences. I spoke in tongues or prophesied or cast out demons. Yes, I have done all these things." It's precisely to these people the Lord Jesus says, "Depart from me, you evildoers. I never knew you."
The only way we can know whether you have the saving faith is whether right now you are loving to do God's will. Is it your attitude to delight to do God's will? It's not to say, "Okay, all Christians have to do God's will, so let's get on with it. Otherwise, I can't be saved." No, the child of God, the person who has this saving faith, is the person who just loves to do God's will. He knows that God's will is the best.
A guide is calling you out to serve Him. How many people have fought against that? You will feel the leading, the drawing, drawing you out. You will find that is God's will. But immediately, you also struggle with your own will. Think about it. Your income will be cut to one third what you are getting. You will lose your pension. You've got no security for the future. So hard to do God's will. But never mind being called into full-time service. Everyday living is so difficult. And when we were talking about the narrow way, we saw why it's difficult. It's because we always want to go our own way. Because we go our own way, we don't do God's will.
Do you have faith or don't you have faith? If you want to have the saving faith, you should have come to see that God as a loving Father, His will for you is always for your good. It may not be so nice for you at this present moment. But He is offering you an eternal good. Now if you haven't got faith, of course you can't see that.
Now this is the faith that these people did not have, you see. The striking thing is this. You can have one kind of faith, but your faith stops at the point where it's necessary for salvation. You can have the faith that can prophesy. Or do mighty works. But you may not have the faith to realize God's love for you. Isn't that surprising? In other words, you have faith in God's power, but not in His love. That is why so many who are least in the kingdom of God will turn out to be the greatest.
# Depart from Me, You Evildoers — Matthew 7:21-27 and Luke 6:46-49 (Part 2)
But not in His love. That is why so many who are least in the kingdom of God will turn out to be the greatest. Because they have faith in God's love. That no matter how the storm blows, they know "My God loves me, He'll never let me down." Now that is a saving faith. And because they know that God loves them, therefore they delight to do His will. So don't imagine that you have faith in God when you have only faith in His power. That faith is incomplete. Because the person who has faith in God's love also has faith in His power. Because he knows that God will not let him down and has the power not to let him down. Now you can see what Paul means when he says "the greatest of these is love." He compares faith and hope and love. And love is greater even than faith.
So we can see now whether you have this saving faith or not. What is your attitude towards God? If you think of God as a severe tyrant sitting on His throne, I'm sure you have great confidence in His power. But you have no confidence in His love. Like that bad servant in the parable of the talents. He said, "I knew you were a severe man," he said to the master. He never knew that his master is also a loving master. Not until you know God as your Father — and a Father that you love, and that you love so much that you want to do His will with joy — then you will have saving faith.
And then the Lord Jesus goes on to say this. He says, "Everyone who hears my words and does them is like one who built his house on a solid rock. But the man who hears my words and doesn't do them, he builds his house on sand." Now all of you who have been to Sunday school are so familiar with this picture. But today we had a longer time in our program and so we have to close for today. And we shall continue to see the richness of what the Lord Jesus means in these words. And we are going to see next week how the Lord expounds the meaning of this precious passage. We have many times said that the apostle Paul is the finest commentator, the best teacher of the Lord's teaching. And I want to show you how he expounds these particular words.
But today it is sufficient for us to see then whether or not we have saving faith. Certainly nothing will be more terrible than those people who will be disillusioned on that day, as the Lord Jesus says. Verse 22: "On that day." Which day? That of course is the day of judgment. Are you sure you will be on the right side of the judgment? Are you sure that because you say you have faith, you've got the right kind of faith?
You know, this message needs to be broadcast through all the churches today — the teaching of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I weep for those people when I think of that day, the day of judgment, when the Lord will turn to them and say, "Who are you? I don't know who you are." On that day these people will say, "But Lord, I was in church every Sunday. Surely you know me. I was baptized in such and such a church. You know, the one with that pastor there. He was quite a good man. You know me." Or that pastor who is so famous — "Lord Jesus, I don't know who you are. Depart from me, you evildoers."
I don't know, brothers and sisters, how many people this will come as the shock of their lives. How many people on that day this thing will happen to them, and they will have to hang their heads and walk away into the judgment. Because some preacher said to them, "Just have faith and you are saved." They quoted Paul without quoting the rest of what Paul said. Because some evangelists were more interested in counting the number of raised hands than the kind of people who can stand before the judgment of God. God have mercy upon those preachers who want to report to their headquarters of how many people made a decision for Christ. You cannot play with the souls of people. To be able to say, "In this church, so and so many people registered a decision for Christ," may be very nice for my glory. It will do nothing for these poor people when they stand before God.
I beg of you, do them the favor of telling them what faith means in the teaching of the Lord Jesus. Remember, don't be in a hurry to have the joy of saying, "I led somebody to Christ," when in fact all you have done is led him into the judgment. Make sure that he is truly in salvation.
I'd like to conclude with sharing a few words about Luke chapter 13 verse 25 that is related to this passage. Luke chapter 13, verses 25 to 27. Maybe you can read from verse 24 to verse 27. This last sentence will be very familiar to us now from Matthew. Notice these words, and you will say — oh, these words are frightening. It is almost prophetic of how many people the Lord Jesus will address in the second person: "You will say."
Now notice here. What I find is enough to make one weep are those words in verse 26. Those words in verse 26 say, "Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.'" Are those words not enough to make you weep? "We ate and drank in your presence." That's the plea. "Surely you can't say you don't know us. You have seen me before. I ate and drank in front of you." The meaning is, we sat at the same table. We were sitting at that table. "You remember me? I was sitting right opposite you."
I tell you, many people who sat at the communion table in this very church on this very Sunday would be able to say to Jesus, "But we sat at your table. We ate and drank in front of you." And Lord Jesus says, "I don't know who you are." Is that not something to think about, something to weep about? I say to you, I share so much time on this subject with you today, precisely in the hope that this will not happen to any of you. Just because you say you have faith does not mean you have the saving faith. Just because you sat at communion today does not mean that you have saving faith. Make sure that you have saving faith. Otherwise, the final tragedy would be the greatest of all. And on the day of judgment, the Lord pronounces these frightening words: "I never knew you."
As we saw in the Bible study I mentioned two weeks ago, this is the word of ban. It means it's a banishment formula. It doesn't mean that Jesus never saw you before. Of course, as your creator, as your maker, He has seen you before. But it means that it is a banishment statement which was used by the Jewish rabbis. When the Lord Jesus said — when they said, "I ate and drank in front of you," it doesn't mean the Lord Jesus' memory is so bad that He didn't remember seeing them. He means that He does not recognize you. He has nothing to do with you. When He says, "I do not know you," it means "You are not one of my own. You don't belong to me."
Oh, I beg of you to realize then. Today is the day to do His will. And to do it because you love Him. And you love Him because He loves you. He doesn't want to send you away. God has no pleasure in sending anyone into the judgment. But you give Him no alternative if you live a life of selfishness, of pride, of doing your own will all the time. The Bible tells us again and again, God does not will anyone to perish. He does not desire anyone to perish.
I think of those words in the prophet, where He stretches out His hands and says to Jerusalem, "Why will you die? Why do you choose to die? I set before you the way of life and the way of death. Why do you choose the way of death?" Now this message that we have preached today may not be a very comfortable message. But the Lord's words are not comfortable. They are true. And true words are not always comfortable.
We have now come — and next week we will have concluded the Sermon on the Mount. We are now at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. And the Lord concludes His message with a warning. And great was the fall of it — the fall of that Christian, or so-called Christian. Now this is interesting because in our human way of thinking, we like to conclude everything on a nice note. Every preacher and every pastor would like to close his message with something that sounds nice and comforting that you can take home with you. But not so the words of the Lord Jesus.
In the Jewish synagogue, exactly the same thing happens. There are four books in the Old Testament that conclude with words of severe warning. And one of these, of course, is Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, which concludes with the word "curse." The frightening words of Malachi. And in consequence of this, in the Jewish synagogue, when the Bible is read, the Jews always read the penultimate verse after the last verse. That is to say, when they have read the last verse of Malachi, they go back and read the verse before that last verse one more time, in order not to have to end their Bible reading on such a frightening word. They do the same thing when they read Isaiah, because the book of Isaiah also concludes on a severe note of warning. And they do the same with Ecclesiastes as well, and the book of Lamentations. All of these books end on a note of warning.
And the Lord Jesus does the same. He concludes this wonderful message with a note of warning. Why? Because He loves us. And so I share with you also these faithful words. I ask you again, examine yourself before God, and ask yourself: is your faith the saving faith? There is no more important question that I can ask you this day. Because your eternal salvation depends on your right answer to this question. Let us be quiet before God and pray.