5/28/06                             Words Don’t Mean A Thing         

Matthew 7:21-23

“Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. [22] Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' [23] And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

We finish up this triad of lessons that Jesus taught on false things.  First it was the false teacher.  Last week we looked at false (bad) fruit.  This week we finish up with false words.  I describe them as false words because they proclaim things that are not substantive, not necessarily lies, but things that Jesus says are not true. 

Jesus is quick to say that it really doesn’t matter what a person says about being related to God.  In one respect, this section of scripture could very well have fit in perfect order right after the “be-attitudes.”  Let’s rehash it again.  We do not do things to get into heaven.  We don’t make declarations to get into heaven.  We don’t fill out a card.  We don’t join a church.  We don’t get baptized.  We don’t faithfully attend a Bible study.  We don’t come to Wednesday night worship.  Blah, blah, blah.  Remember, no person is saved by good works, but every believer is saved for good works.  All these things are apart of the calling of our lives in relationship with God.  However, none of them enhance my position in Christ.  What Christ did for me on the cross cannot be enhanced or diminished by any thing that I do.   

His not knowing a person is not because the person has failed to know who He is through some kind of study or searching.  He does not know them because they are not in relationship with Him.  They have not come to know Him through a relationship with His Son Jesus Christ.  There is another reason in the “knowledge” realm that must be acknowledged, and that is because God has not chosen them. 

"For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 7:6 ) 

And Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people." So all the people shouted and said, "Long live the king!" (1 Samuel 10:24 ) 

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.

(Psalm 33:12 ) 

And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!" (Luke 9:35 ) 

"No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44 ) 

"I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.' (John 13:18 )

for whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; [30] and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30 ) 

What then? That which Israel is seeking for, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; (Romans 11:7) 

but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; (1 Cor. 2:7) 

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, [11] also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will (Ephes. 1:5,11)

And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; (Col. 3:12) 

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you

from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

(2 Thes. 2:13) 

Paul, a bond-servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, (Titus 1:1)

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen (1 Peter 1:1)

For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you (1 Peter 1:20)

There is a plethora of verses that instruct us about the sovereign work of God in choosing those who will believe.  Many have difficulties understanding/accepting this theological position because it goes against our grain of fairness and or justice.  We want a fair God.  We want a God who thinks like we do.  But God is not fair.  He is just.  If He were fair, none of us would have the hope for eternity.  "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. [9] "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  (Isaiah 55:8-9)  Would we say that it is fair for someone who is perfect, who never sinned, that this person would have to pay the penalty for those who are despots to the core?  No, it is not fair. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved).” (Ephesians 2:3-5).  Should God give us what we deserve?  Absolutely.  Would it be fair for Him to give us what we deserve?  Absolutely. 

Those whom God predestined, He calls.  And those He calls, he justifies.  So, those with whom God predestines, He give the power and the right to become the children of God.  There are none whom God has called that He will not save.  He is the preserver of those to whom He has called.  So those, who for one reason or another are trying to get to heaven to glorify themselves, Jesus says that He will say that I never KNEW (predestined or called).  Does the one created have the right to say to the one who has done the creating,

“The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? [21] Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use?” Romans 9:20-21

If I make a robot to wash my car and he is only programmed to wash my car, is that fair?  Would I be unjust in creating something to wash only my car and not everyone else’s?  So when Jesus says, “I don’t know you,” He has every right to declare them outside of His sovereign purposes.  The essence of relationship has little or nothing to do with what I say or do, but more on what He has done and what He is doing and what He will do. 

So why is it that man thinks that he can get into heaven by doing good works?  That is what he has been taught.  The theology of man says, “work hard…and when it is all over God will weigh out if you have done the best you can, have been sincere in what you have done, have not been any worse that those that you know, then God will be forced to let you into heaven.”  Doesn’t man say, “God would not be so unfair to send someone to hell?  If you say that God is love, how could He?” You see, this is a works doctrine.  When they responded to Jesus with, “Didn’t we do all kinds of things in your name,” they were not thinking of terms of “we were able to do all these things through Your power which You invested in us when we became Your children.”  No it was only what they did in their own strength (and by the way, it was really for their own glory). 

So, how do we know who is doing what in our lives?  How do we know that we are doing things in His name as opposed to our own name?  Well, it begins with your heart.  When you approach the day, are you thinking about how God wants to use you?  Are you acknowledging that the day before you really does not belong to you?  Are you pleading the blood over your life for the day’s struggles, temptations, sorrows, trials, etc.?  Are you ready to acknowledge that it will be by His power, wisdom and strength if there is any indicative glory that comes to God through you?  Or do you march into the day without “trusting in the Lord with all your heart, leaning not in your own understanding, acknowledging Him in all your ways, seeking Him to direct your paths?” (paraphrase, Proverbs 3:5,6) 

We are exhorted in scripture to examine ourselves.  Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-- unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Cor. 13:5)  And then again, there were many people in the Apostle John’s day who could easily make “religious based” statements, but whose lives were a blatant contradiction of what they were professing, i.e., one can easily say, “I know Him,” but, if He does not keep the commandments of Christ, Jesus says,

And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. [4] The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 1 John 2:3-4

What is the motivation of one’s heart when he “does” things?  Is it to attract attention to himself or to glorify God?  Does he do it out of a sense of “walking in obedience and the truth” or is it a means by which to gain justification and salvation?   

The Lord knows those who are His.  The one’s who are His know His voice and they follow (walk in obedience as a normal practice of one’s life) to Him.  The essence of their lives is to honor Christ by living in complete subjection to Him.  Living in complete subjection does not mean that the person is perfect or will never sin.  But it does mean that he will confess his sins, living a repentant life and will desire that Christ be Lord of His life.  The most important thing for us to be concerned with is not our activities or results, but in our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ.  We must remember that Christ wants our heart. (When Christ has our hearts, He has us.)  He wants a submissive heart.  This is the greatest litmus test as to whether we are His or not: if it is my deepest desire for Christ to rule my heart (my affections, emotions, desires, intentions, longings, etc.) and in all that I do my desire is that He is glorified (He gets the credit, honor and praise) and I live out the truth of His word in conscious subjection to the Spirit’s control, I can have every confidence that the words I will hear will be: Enter in, thou good and faithful servant,  not depart from me, I never knew you.