The Judgment Scene | Frank Brancato

It certainly is wonderful to be here together.

We have a wonderful crowd and we're so thankful.

As has been already mentioned, we're thankful for our visitors.

Please come back and you're welcome.

Every time that we assemble. You are honored guest.

And as always is the case, I do consider it an honor to teach

concerning the Word of God. This afternoon we now come in

this series of gossip in the series of sermons on the great

Sermon on the Mount. We now come to Matthew Chapter 7

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

and verses 21 through 23. And that's going to be our

lesson today where Jesus is going to talk about some really

sobering things. I realize these are very

sobering and sad words that the Lord is going to say.

He actually is talking about the end of time, and he's talking

about the day of judgment and the judgment scene.

As we begin, we begin in verse 21 where Jesus says this, not

everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of

heaven, but he who does the will of my Father, which is in

heaven. You know, these words are

actually very closely linked to the previous section.

Remember we talked about last time Jesus says we're going to

be known by our fruits, and that was in connection with false

prophets. He said there's going to be

false prophets that come into the world.

There's going to be false prophets that come in among you,

and they're going to be in sheep's clothing.

But inwardly, be very careful. They are ravenous wolves.

But by way of context and just kind of a scene and setting

here, remember this was one continuous sermon.

So let's just very briefly back up to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

In Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 19, Jesus tells us that

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

man's existence goes beyond this life.

And I'm going to tell you, I'm so thankful that man's existence

goes beyond this life. The very aspect and the very

idea that we have hope is a wonderful thing.

It makes life bearable. It makes all the difficult

things in life endurable when we know that this isn't it, that

there's more. But then in Matthew Chapter 7

Matthew 7:13

verses 13 and 14, Jesus says that that existence eternally is

in one of two places. That's why he said we got 2

choices here. They are only two.

We choose the narrow path, which is the difficult Rd. that leads

to life. Or we choose the broad path or

the Broadway, the easy way that leads to destruction.

It's one of the two. That's why Jesus emphasized you

got to stay on that path even if it's difficult.

You can do it and there's room for every Christian so long as

you file and you follow in a single file line.

The Master, our shepherd, our Lord doing it his way.

But then he said this right after that.

Beware that there's false prophets that would come in and

do their very best to derail you and pull you away from God.

How you going to know who they are?

If they come in sheep's clothing?

Jesus says you'll know them by their fruits on after Jesus said

all that, He said this in Matthew Chapter 7 and verse 21

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

he said this. It's very important because not

everyone who says to me, Lord Lord shall enter the Kingdom of

heaven. OK.

Confessing the Lord's lordship and confessing Jesus Christ as

the Son of God is mandatory in order to be saved.

It's not all that we have to do, but it is mandatory.

And confessing Jesus and accepting Jesus as Lord is

mandatory for our salvation. That's true.

But that in itself does not guarantee that we're going to go

to heaven just because we confess Jesus as Lord or him as

the Son of God, or even recognize that he is King of

kings and Lord of Lords. There's a lot of people that

recognize that, but they deny him with their actions.

So let me just ask the question very important.

When is Jesus Lord of your life? It's a very simple answer.

He's the greatest one that ever lived.

He paid the greatest sacrifice ever paid for the sins of the

world. But when does he actually become

the Lord of your life? He becomes the Lord of your life

only when you give your life totally to Him.

He can only have lordship over my life if I willfully choose to

give my life to Him in all aspects of it and all that I do.

That's why Jesus says this. Not everyone that says to me,

Lord, Lord shall enter the Kingdom of heaven.

And then he says, but he who does the will of my Father,

which is in heaven. So the real test of discipleship

is action. In fact, Jesus demands that we

have a working faith. James illustrated it like this.

Notice is what James said in James chapter 2 and verse 17.

James 2 · chapter mention

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

He further says that an inactive faith, this is kind of spooky.

I think it's kind of scary. He says an inactive faith makes

us know better than the devils or the demons.

Can you imagine such a thing? James says that if we have an

inactive faith, that is a faith where there is no works.

And by the way, I'm going to spend some time talking about

grace, faith and works. There's no, I hope there's not

going to be any confusion when we're done because there's a lot

of confusion about how all that works.

But first of all, understand this principle.

James says that if we have a faith that does not accompany

works, which means an inactive faith, we're no different than

the demons or the devil's. Why?

Because the Bible says the devil's believe and tremble and

I don't think they're going to heaven to you, not the devil's.

Just a quick word about grace, faith, and works from a couple

of passages that sometimes people think contradict

themselves, but they don't. Let's notice first of all what

the apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter 2 beginning in

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

verse 8. He says, for by grace you have

been saved through faith and not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works.

Lest anyone should boast, let me just break this down very, very

clearly, if I may. First of all, the idea or the

foundation or the basis of our salvation is grace.

We need to understand it's by grace.

In other words, grace is unmerited favor.

It's something you did not deserve.

It is something that you get without your own personal merit.

In other words, I didn't earn it.

That's what that means. That's what grace is.

Salvation is by grace. Grace is unmerited favor.

It is not on our self, in other words, not by our own merit.

It is the gift of God. OK?

We understand that as a premise for our salvation, Our salvation

in heaven is not based on our own merit.

It is based upon God's gift. Through what?

Through faith. So in other words, God's part is

grace, Man's part is faith. What's faith?

Well, first of all, and I'm going to talk more about faith

in just a moment, but let's just get the basic definition and

we'll get to application in a moment.

But the basic definition of faith according to Thayer in

this passage means this. It is conviction and belief in

God. Here's the problem that some

people have, and I say this very kindly and respectfully, but

this is the problem that people have in misinterpreting and

misunderstanding. They understand that salvation

is a gift, unmerited favor. That gift is not based upon our

own merit. That's all true.

It is the gift of God. That's all true.

And it's through our faith, which is belief in God.

And they stop right there and say nothing else is required.

It is through faith. But what's that?

What's involved in our faith? More on that just a moment.

Stay tuned. Then Paul says this not of

works. Salvation, in other words, is

not the result of works, meaning I've earned it.

Salvation is still grace. It is still unmerited favor.

OK, the idea that salvation can be based on anything else except

a gift or by grace was actually deliberated by the great apostle

Paul in the book of Romans. Notice this passage here.

Now, to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as

debt. OK, quick illustration.

Everybody in this room either has a job or you have had a job.

Probably in your life, you've probably had a job.

Maybe you're retired, but there was a time when you had a job,

OK, When you go to work for your employer at the end of the day,

when the employer owes you money, or when it comes to the

end of the week and it comes time for paycheck time, that

paycheck is not a gift. That paycheck is a debt that is

owed by the employer. Why?

You've earned it. We all understand that's the

case when it comes to our wages. That's the case when it comes to

our jobs. But when it comes to salvation,

it is not. It is all about a gift.

So what Paul is saying here is if a person believes that his

own personal works of merit turn him a spot into heaven, then

salvation to him is not grace, but it's a debt that God owes

you. And that's not the case.

I'm going to tell you something, don't you think?

A little sideline here, Don't you think that we would live a

more humble, service oriented life committed to Jesus Christ

if we could just get it in our minds that God, no matter what,

owes me nothing? God does not owe me a thing, but

I owe him everything. If our mindset would get there,

man, I'm going to tell you what, we'll be better Christians.

We'll have things in proper perspective.

God doesn't owe me a thing. I owe God everything because of

what he's done for me through Jesus Christ.

OK, Heaven is not for those who earn it by merit, but stay with

me. That's when Paul said this.

It's not of works of merit like you earned it.

And then he said, lest anyone should boast, I like what Mr.

Bowles said about this. He said this.

When men do try to work their way into God's favor, one of two

things happen. You got to the sincere, honest

man will despair of ever succeeding.

In other words, that's the guy, by the way, that says this.

That's the guy that's trying real hard to do that his best,

but realizes his shortcomings. Because you know what?

That's every one of us realizes his shortcomings and realizes he

will never measure up. It's discouraging and you just

quit. That's what happens when you

think you can earn it because you can't #2 what about the

smug, ignorant guy? He's going to boast.

The Lord owes that to me. That's what Paul is addressing

in the second situation here, showing that God's way of

salvation eliminates human boasting.

OK, So what is works play in our salvation?

We look at the very next verse. Do works apply and do we have to

work? We absolutely do.

We look at the very next verse, Ephesians 2 and verse 10, for we

are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus.

For what good works? That's what you're created for.

Good works. What kind of works is that?

Works of merit, No. Works of obedience, works of

sacrifice, works of service, works of duty.

You used to have a sermon, you'd have it somewhere.

I'm sure it's in, as you call it, the archives, and it's

called my duty or something like that.

And Terry used to teach that sermon.

He used to say, I'm going to teach it once a year.

And I appreciated that his concept was this.

It's my duty. If we would wrap our minds

around the concept that our service to God is our duty, man,

I'm going to tell you what, we're going to be better

servants for the cause of Christ, right?

Makes sense, right? Why?

Because we are a creation created in Christ.

For what? For good works.

OK, what is good works? I love this Bruce.

Mr. Bruce said it this way. Good works are the fruit, not

the root of what? The tree of salvation.

It is the fruit and not the root.

That's what good works are. So even though our salvation is

not based on meritorious works, our faith will not save us if we

do not work. In James 2 and 22, do you not

see that faith was working together with his works?

Notice. And by works, faith was made

perfect. This is talking about Abraham,

right? And it's reflecting back on

Abraham. Abraham was told by God to offer

your son Isaac, your only son, the one that you love, and take

him to a place that I would tell you and offer him as a sacrifice

unto me. And the Bible says he does that

was on a three day journey, takes him to the place, puts him

on the altar. He's going to take his life

because that's what God said. And God stayed his hand and

understood his faith and understood his demonstrated

faith by what his obedient works.

And this is what James says. By works, faith was made perfect

or complete. Works do matter.

Our faith and our works are not meritorious.

It's a demonstration of our obedience to God.

So remember this salvation is a gift.

Yes, it is, and it's from God. And that's grace.

Faith is on our part. What is it though?

What actually is faith? It's not just believing in God.

What is faith? Faith is a choice and a

conviction. It is not a feeling.

It's an act of obedience. That is what faith really is.

That's why our faith must be demonstrated in action by works

of obedience. And that's why James said this.

So then you see that a man is justified by works.

Now get this, and not by faith only.

No contradiction here. What he's saying is this.

What is the faith that he's talking about here?

Faith only here We already talked about what faith is.

It is conviction. It is a choice.

It's obedience to God. Faith alone, by the way, is what

it is. Mental assent without

responsibility I have to tie my shoe is driving me nuts.

OK, It is mental assent without responsibility.

Do you know what happens when you have no responsibility?

When you have no responsibility, you have no accountability.

If you have no responsibility and no accountability, guess

what else you don't have? You have no credibility in the

eyes of God as one of His faith alone is mental ascent without

responsibility. Then Jesus says this in Matthew

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Chapter 7 and verse 22, the very next words He says many will say

to me in that day. Now what's he talking about?

He's talking about the day of judgment.

He's talking about the end of time.

The Lord emphasizes the final judgment that day, talks about

the day that all of us, all of us are going to have to stand

before God and give an account of the things that we have done

in our life. We got to give an account to

what we've done in our life, every single one of us.

That's everyone. In Revelation chapter 20 and

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

verse 12, notice this. And I saw the dead, small and

great, standing before God, and the books were opened and

another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged according to their works by the

things which were written in the books.

I want you to notice something here.

Notice books were opened and we're going to be judged

according to things that were written in the books.

So it's mentioned twice, books. Here it is talking about books,

or in other words, it's talking about things that are we're

going to give an account for it. I'm just going to make this

point here. Don't think for a minute these

are literal books, OK? There's not going to be literal

books on that day. It's not going to be a situation

where all of a sudden these volumes are going to get pulled

out like encyclopedias off the shelf.

Here's Frank's volume. Let's see how, Frank, did you

think God needs that? You think God needs some kind of

a mechanical book to know exactly what I did in my life,

all of my life, or you or anybody else in this world.

These words are used metaphorically or as a symbol.

What's he talking about? He's talking about books of

remembrance. In other words, in God's mind.

And by the way, I can't even wrap my mind around God's mind.

I can't even fathom God's mind. But we all understand this.

We forget stuff, right, left, right.

We all do. Things slip our mind, right?

Not God. There's absolutely nothing that

leaves the mind of God. So when the books are open, it's

talking about books of remembrance.

There's actually a Bible passage that talks about books of

remembrance from the Old Testament, and it's found in the

book of Malachi verse chapter 3 and verse 16.

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the

Lord listened and heard them. So a book of remembrance was

written before him for those that fear the Lord and who

meditate on His name. So once again, not literal

books. These are words that symbolize

or impress upon the idea of talking about God's knowledge of

what we've done. That's it.

God knows everything. Not literal books, right?

But you know what the other book is and I'm so glad about this

one. Verse 12 talks about the book of

life, the book of life. In Revelation chapter 20 and

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

verse 15, it says anyone not found written in the book of

life was cast into the lake of fire.

This is talking about the names of the faithful Christians,

faithful servants of the Lord that are going to be found in

that book of remembrance. Not a literal book, but in the

mind of God through Jesus Christ that phrase by the way, that

idea of book of life is found in a number of other passages.

I'm going to give you 3. Here we go Revelation 21 and 27

but there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles

or causes an abomination or a lie, but the only those who are

written in the Lamb's book of life Luke chapter 10 and verse

Luke 10 · chapter mention

20. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in

this that the spirits are subject to you.

That's what Jesus said. But rather rejoice, because what

your names? Are written in heaven.

Final passage Philippians four and three.

And I urge you also true companion, help these women who

labored with me in the gospel with Clement also, and the rest

of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

So upon the basis of this information, we conclude that

the books are the actions of every man.

It's in the Book of Remembrance of God, and the Book of Life

contains all those that are saved.

Who are they? They are those that have obeyed

the Gospel, that have been baptized for the remission of

their sins, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and have lived a

faithful Christian life so that their names are not blotted out

of the Book of Life. Revelation chapter 3 and verse

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

five. He who overcomes shall be

clothed in white garments. And I will not blot out his name

of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my

Father and before his angels. OK, so Jesus says in that day,

the day of judgment, last day, people are going to say this.

They're going to say, Lord, Lord, you know, this is really a

heartbreaking scene. Many people are going to say,

Lord, Lord, Some people are going to stand before the Lord

and by earthly standards are really good people.

But they repetitiously cry, Lord, Lord, And you know what?

I'm not the judge. Jesus is the judge.

And I didn't say it. Jesus did what he's saying is

there's going to be some wonderful people by worldly

stand standards that are going to say Lord, Lord.

But Jesus says they're lost. Notice what their plea is.

Here's their plea. Have we not prophesied in your

name? Have we not cast out demons in

your name? Have we not done many wonders in

your name? OK, this passage is very

difficult to understand. In fact, if you look up

scholars, there are four basic interpretations regarding what

these words actually mean. In other words, who these words

are referring to, Who's going to be saying these words?

There's four interpretations. I'm going to notice them briefly

with you and I'm going to tell you three of them really have

are problematic. Three of them are problematic,

and I think the last one really makes the most sense.

But here we go. The first interpretation, while

some of these things have merit, is this.

Some believe this, these individuals may be the evil

individuals that God uses in order to accomplish some

specific purpose. And here is the example that's

given to support this position in the Old Testament.

Balaam, the false prophet who spoke God's truth in Numbers 23

and verse five. OK, that is one example.

Here's another example. How about old Caiaphas?

You know he was a real creep. Every time you read about

Caiaphas, he's either plotting the death of Jesus or doing all

that he can to carry it out. When Jesus raised Lazarus from

the dead, you know what Caiaphas said?

He didn't say Jesus didn't raise him from the dead.

He said Jesus did raise him from the dead, But he said we got to

do away with Jesus. Why he spoke unwittingly

prophesying that Jesus would die for the people in John Chapter

John 11 · chapter mention

11 and verse 51. He said it's better that one man

die and a nation be spared. In other words, we, we want the

nation of Israel to stand. We want Judaism to stand.

Let's get rid of Jesus unwittingly.

Was it what he was saying was this?

It's better that one die, That's Jesus Christ, God's lamb and let

the world be spared of their sin.

All right, well, it's problematic to say that this is

the interpretation that's proper because here's the point.

If the evil that are the evil men here that are in this

category, if that's what he's talking about, why would they

say on the day of judgement? Have we not done many wonderful

works when they were only used in a limited sense and it was

only used by God through them, they didn't do anything.

So that's number one. OK, limited sense doesn't make

sense. So I think this interpretation

is problematic. And that interpretation is that

God was using some wicked men that did some things through

them. God did.

And therefore they're saying, wait a minute, have we not done

all these things? So I think that's a problematic

interpretation. Let's go to #2 some say and some

scholars say what that's talking about.

It's these people here, those that whose power comes from

Satan. You know, Jesus warned about

false prophets in Matthew 24 and 24 before the destruction of

Jerusalem. We talked about that last time.

He warned about that. Paul foretold of a lawless one

who will perform signs and lying wonders.

Second Thessalonians 28 through 10.

So all those things are true. The problem with such an

interpretation, though, is this. How they going to cast out

demons by the power of Satan makes no sense, right?

Do you remember in Matthew chapter 12, it's the passage

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

that deals with the unpardonable sin of blasphemy and the Holy

Spirit. That's a whole nother sermon.

That's a whole nother explanation.

So I'm not going to deal with that right now.

But when Jesus cast out that demon, do you remember what they

said about Jesus? They said, now obviously He did

it by the power of the Holy Spirit, the wonderful deity,

Holy Spirit of God. That's what he did it by the

power of the Holy Spirit. You know what they said?

He did this miracle. He cast out this demon by the

power of Beelzebub, which is the devil.

In other words, they were saying you did this by the power of

Satan. You know what Jesus brilliantly

said? He said this, If Satan cast out

Satan, he's divided against himself.

How that will his Kingdom stand? Oh, brilliant, impossible.

Satan cast out Satan. If that's true, then how can his

Kingdom stand? So it's problematic to accept

that that's what this is talking about.

What else? Here's a third position.

The third position are those who whose claims are simply false.

In other words, their good works are simply fake and they were

able to deceive their fellow man, but not God.

In other words, some people believe that what this is

talking about, or these are the people that are going to try to

give a defense, are the people that faked out people, you know,

the false healers, the fakes, all that.

OK, but they knew the whole time they were a fake and a fraud and

they knew that they weren't faking God out at all.

Here's the problem with that. If that is the case and that is

these people here, then why on the day of judgement would they

stand before the Lord and make a defense knowing they were fakes

and frauds and say have we not done all these great things for

you and lie to God a second time?

Really. I don't think that's what that

means either. I think the final option, please

get this has the most merit. Who are the ones that are going

to say Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name?

Have we not cast out demons in your name and done many wonders

in your name? They are these, I believe.

These are the people who sincerely think they were

followers of Jesus. But we're mistaken.

The people that view themselves as part of the Lord's flock,

perhaps, but in reality, they're part of the masses that Jesus

talked about in Matthew 7 and 13.

Jesus called it the many. He called it the many.

There's a lot of folks that are going to profess the name of

Jesus. There's a lot of folks that are

going to live good moral lives. There's a lot of folks that are

even going to view themselves as doing many wonders for the cause

of Christ, but in reality, they're sadly deceived.

In other words, here's the problem, when you deviate from

what the Word of God says, they deny Jesus by following the

doctrines and commandments of men.

And I'm going to give you Bible for that.

I didn't come up with that. Here it is Matthew 15-8 and

nine. This is Jesus himself.

He said, these people draw near me with their mouth and honor me

with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain they

worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of

men. Very sobering.

I get it all right, but I got to say something else, Kay.

These words are very, very appropriate for the church too.

It's possible to call Jesus Lord.

It's possible to be theologically correct.

It's possible to do everything what the Word of God says in

pattern, in assembly, in manner of life, but have a heart that

is not convicted and converted in Jesus Christ.

It's kind of like going through the motions, Folks, I'm going to

say this. I don't know how it is with you

because I can't judge your heart and I'm not trying to, but I

want to ask you a question. You are here in the pews today

on this Lord's Day. I want to ask you, how's your

heart? The Lord got you to come here

and assemble, but did the Lord have your heart?

I'm just going to say yes. Got all of you, got all of your

hearts. Only you can answer that though.

Does the Lord have your heart? The Lord won't accept anything

less than everything we got. He wants our heart.

And I know that's a growth process.

I get that. And there's going to be more as

you grow. I get it.

The bottom line is He wants your heart.

He wants a heart that is totally submissive to Him.

Jesus, not us, must be Lord of our lives.

You know what that means? That means it's not what I think

it's not, doesn't mean what I prefer.

It means what the Lord wants from my life.

That's what that means. And he only becomes, as I said

before, Lord of my life when I give my life totally to Him.

OK, unfortunately on the day of judgment, there's going to be a

sad day for some who thought that they knew Jesus but their

relationship was one sided and based upon human standards.

Remember, it's not what we get, it's what we give.

As our brother said before we started our services today,

please get that. It is not what we get, it is

what we give. Have you ever heard somebody

say, you know, I just quit going because I just, I just wasn't

getting anything out of it. I've said this to you before.

The question right after that should be this.

If you weren't getting anything out of it, were you putting

anything in it? Because that's what it's about.

It's about putting something in it.

It's all about God. Oh, we get a lot from it though,

man. We feel good when we worship in

spirit and truth. Oh, we feel great.

Oh, and by the way, we get the ultimate thing.

It's kind of like years ago, my father-in-law wrote Johnny

Elmore an e-mail when I decided I wanted to preach.

You know what Johnny said? He writes back, and he said

this. He said, I'm so glad that he

wants to devote his life to preach in the gospel.

That's wonderful. But I'm going to tell you he's

going to wear many a ragged coat.

But then he said, but the retirement is out of this world.

Oh, we're going to get something.

We're going to get something great.

It's just going to be over there.

That's what we're going to get. But our service as we live as

Christians on this earth needs to be about our service to God,

what we give and not what we get.

You know, when John F Kennedy said, ask not what your country

can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country, I

thought about that driving down the road and I thought, man,

I'll tell you what, man, that when it comes to the church,

isn't the same thing true? Ask not what the church can do

for you, but what you can do for the church.

Ask not what the Lord can do for you, ask what you can do for the

Lord. That's what our mindset should

be. I don't know if I'm going to do

this. I'm thinking about it.

I'm almost done. We have one more sermon, by the

way, on the Sermon on the Mountain.

I'm going to do some other stuff but haven't decided yet, but I

may preach either a sermon or a series on our relationship as

members of the church and our responsibilities as members of a

body. What is my responsibility to the

body of Christ? I haven't decided yet, but I may

do that. We all have a responsibility and

it's what we give and not what we get.

Jesus said this in the next verse though.

Then will I declare to them? He said I never knew you.

That is a very, very sad, sad phrase.

I never knew you. That phrase right there, by the

way, is a Hebrew idiom that means to have an intimate

relationship with what he's saying is he's not saying I

never knew who you were. That is a mistranslation of that

passage. What he was saying is I never

had an intimate, excuse me, two sided relationship with you.

It's got to go two ways. The Bible says the Lord knows

them that are his. So those that are his, we got to

depart from iniquity. We got to keep his commandments.

We got to Part 2, right? It's a two way St. in our

Christian life when Jesus will say I never knew you, he's

saying I never had an intimate relationship with you.

And by the way, that phrase new is the same phrase that goes all

the way back to the book of Genesis when it talks about the

marriage relationship, the intimate relationship.

Well, you know what? We have a marriage relationship

with our Lord too. We are the bride of Christ in

the Lord's church. We are his bride.

OK, Those outside the bride, Jesus will say, I never had a

relationship with you in that way.

In other words, Jesus is saying that they live their lives

thinking they know Jesus but their relationship is 1 sided

and not based on the Lord's terms.

And then Jesus said this. I will say to them, depart from

me you that practice lawlessness.

You know very sad folks will be castaway because not because I

got to make this point. Please don't leave here

discouraged if you're trying your best to live a Christian

life because you know what these are not words that are going or

reflecting upon a person that is doing their best and sometimes

stumbles with occasional faults and occasional sins.

That is not what we're talking about.

Jesus says depart from me those that practice lawlessness.

What is that? Well, first of all, everybody's

going to stumble. I don't care who you are.

Every Christian is going to stumble.

And we all find comfort in the Lord's continual healing.

That's why first John chapter 1 and seven says, but if we walk

1 John 1 · chapter mention

in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with

one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us

from all sin. We all enjoy or benefit from the

blessings of the continual cleansing of Jesus Christ, his

blood, when we sin. OK, So what are we talking

about? When we're talking about

lawlessness? We're talking about

disobedience. What kind of disobedience is

that? Here it is.

It is constant, unrepentant rebellion.

And the Greek phrase here, the Greek tense here indicates a

continuous regular action representing a pattern of life,

not somebody that just makes mistakes here and there and does

everything they can to get things right.

The point is this, those that practice lawlessness are those

that are in continual sin, and continual sin is incompatible

with God's plan for our lives. You know God provided the blood

of Jesus that we contact initially at baptism, but we

also have the blood of Jesus Christ for the rest of our lives

and we must strive to ever walk in the light.

So what do we got to do We're going to be perfect.

Nope, going to mess up absolutely.

This is what we got to do. Here it is.

We have to be willing to repent and confess our sins.

James 516 Confess your faults one to another and pray one for

another that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of

a righteous man avails much very familiar passage.

Here's another one. First John chapter 1 and verse

1 John 1 · chapter mention

9. If we confess our sins, He's

faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from

all unrighteousness. No, you're not going to be

perfect. Yes, you are going to mess up.

But you confess those sins to God with repentance in your

heart, and the blood of Jesus washes those sins away.

And you know what? You are not living a lawless

life. By the way, lawlessness is

someone that is not keeping and upholding the law.

We're not under the law of Moses.

We are under the law of Jesus Christ and that's given to us in

the last will and testament of Jesus That is bound by the New

Testament. That's what we are bound by.

Makes sense. So here's the flip side and I'm

finished. But notice going to say

something really encouraging. Now, this is not very

encouraging. This is a little bit scary.

It's going to be some people that try to do it on their own

way and don't follow what the word of God says and don't

follow the Lord the way the Lord says to follow him.

And unfortunately when that happens, Jesus is going to say,

I never had an intimate relationship with you, so

therefore depart from me, You who practiced lawlessness.

Let me talk about something that's really, really great.

How about this passage though? His Lord said to him, well done,

good and faithful servant. Oh, I love that one.

You've been faithful over a few things.

I will make you ruler over many things.

Enter into the joy of your Lord, who gets to hear the words.

Enter into the joy of your Lord, good and faithful servant.

That's it. You want to go to heaven, become

a Christian, be baptized for their mission of your sins, and

then just be a good and faithful servant.

What's the big deal? Do that and you will never hear

the words. Depart from me you that practice

lawlessness. Why?

Because you're following what the word of God says, You're

following the Lord. You're following the shepherd on

that difficult path that leads to life.

It's all about choice and it's all about conviction.

I can't imagine any greater words ever spoken to my ears.

Then one day if the Lord would just say, Frank, get in here,

come on. And you know what the Bible

talks about when it talks about making it into heaven.

I've said this before. I said, man, if I, if I, if I

got to be a street sweeper in heaven, I just want to get in.

I've said stuff like, man, if I just squeak in, I don't care.

Just let me squeal in. You know something?

If I, if I make it, if you make it, we ain't squeaking nothing.

We're blowing the doors off. The Bible says we're going to

have an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom.

What do you got to do to have an abundant entrance to the

everlasting Kingdom? Be a good and faithful servant.

That's it. Let's go try to do that.

Let's go try to be better than we've been in the past.

Let's go put the Lord first. Let's leave here with the

determined resolve that our lives are a life of service and

sacrifice. It's not about us.

It's about it is about God and Jesus Christ.

And I'm going to tell you what, like Johnny Elmore said, man,

the, the, the retirement will be out of this world.

Great stuff. I'm through this this afternoon.

Thank you for your kind listening.

We never close a time when we teach from the word of God

without extending an invitation. It's the greatest invitation in

all the world, and that is the invitation to become a

Christian, to be saved. It's very simple.

The first thing you got to do, you got to hear the word of God

in Romans 10/17. So then faith comes by hearing

and hearing by the word of God. After you hear the word of God,

you got a choice to make. You got to believe with all your

heart. Hebrews 11:00 and 6:00 But

without faith it's impossible to please him, for he who comes to

God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those

who diligently seek Him. Then what do you got to do?

Hey, I got to change some stuff. I got to repent of my sins.

Acts 1730. Truly, these times of ignorance

God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

That just means I'm changing my mind.

I'm changing my direction, which is the greatest thing ever.

I'm going to change my relationship with the Lord,

because guess what? I'm about to have one now.

Then what say the greatest thing you will ever say, Confess Jesus

Christ as the Son of God. Acts 837 Then Philip said, if

you believe with all your heart, you may.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the

Son of God. Upon taking those steps, you are

now a fit candidate to go down to the point of salvation, and

that isn't baptism for the remission of sins.

Mark 1616. He who believes and is baptized

will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.

If you've never taken those steps, we would love to assist

you in doing that today. Become a Christian today.

We'd love to assist you in that. We can fill this baptistery up

really fast. Maybe you have taken those

steps. Maybe there's something in your

life that just isn't what it should be and it's of a public

nature that you feel like you need to get off your chest.

If that is the case, then repent of those things.

Confess those things, and we'll pray with you and for you, and

God will forgive and restore. If you want to be the class,

come forward while we stand and while we see.