Sermon on the Mount | Part Two

Show Notes

This episode is a detailed exposition of Matthew 7:21-23 from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, focusing on distinguishing between outward religious activity and true inward transformation. Bryan Howard emphasizes that genuine salvation involves a surrendered heart aligned with God's will, not merely good works or religious deeds. The sermon warns against false assurance of salvation through works and highlights the eternal consequences of lawlessness.

What is The Vue?

Bellevue Baptist Church College Ministry

All right friends, I'll make you stop small talking and having awkward conversations. I hope you found somebody. I hope you met someone new. I really do mean this. Sometimes, you know, you can come into a ministry like this and a group like this and just kind of feel lost and especially if it's your first time. Especially since we're in a new building and we're here in this room now and so I just want you to know and you are so welcome here and this is your spot and we're really glad that you're here. So what you missed last week is that we just started a brand new series on the Sermon on the Mount and it is just a killer sermon. It's actually the most powerful sermon that Jesus ever preached and last week we started kind of in the middle of the sermon and we spoke about how love is the defining factor of a Christian. It is the defining characteristic that sets you apart as belonging to Jesus. That Jesus calls us to love radically, to love counter-culturally. He calls us to love the unlovable person. He calls us to forgive the unforgivable acts and when you live like that, then other people know that you belong to Jesus. It is a defining characteristic, love, that's unconditional and it talks about how your inward change then leads to outward change. So that was last week and this week, tonight, we're in a passage where Jesus warns us about misunderstanding the order there. That inward change leads to outward change, not the other way around. So if you have your Bibles, open up to Matthew chapter 7 and we just got three verses tonight and let me just give a little disclaimer. Hey, tonight's kind of heavy. It's only three verses but the words Jesus says are hard to understand and they are weighty on our hearts and it should be. That's exactly how it should be. So if you're feeling that, we're gonna have some time at the end where we can talk through and pray through his words and how the Lord is guiding us to respond tonight. So if you would, Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 through 23, read with me. This is Jesus saying, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. And on that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Let me just pray for us as we dive into this passage. Father, I do want to ask that you would guide my words that as we walk through these three verses that seem maybe a little scary for some of us, that make us sit a little uneasy. Father, I pray that you would soften our hearts. God, that you, that we would be open to your spirit poking and prodding maybe in places that we haven't thought about in a long time. Lord, I pray that your spirit would guide us to take a next step to be found faithful, Lord. That we would walk out of this room with clarity and not confusion. That we would walk out of this room looking more like you. God, this passage is a gift and we want to receive it tonight. Lord, we love you in Jesus' name. Amen. Guys, this genuinely is like one of the most terrifying passages in all of scripture. It really is. That you could be so close to the things of God and you could be so involved in the things of God that you become convinced that you're in the family of God when you're not. How terrifying. How terrifying. And the words of Jesus here in Matthew 7, it should make every single one of us squirm a little bit in our seats. Believers and non-believers alike in the room, you should feel uneasy when we read the words of Christ here. Because what Jesus is saying is that many people think they're saved and they're not. That many people think they're saved and they're not. And so tonight, I want every single person to walk out of this room with crystal clarity on what Christ says actually saves you and what does not save you. Okay, that is the goal for tonight. And I think Christ gives us three warnings here in these verses that he's telling us. And the first one is this, is that activity for God does not equal intimacy with God. Activity for God does not equal intimacy with God. Look at verse 22. Jesus says, On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me. I don't know about you, but I haven't cast out any demons recently. I haven't done many mighty works. I don't know many people who can. Like what incredible acts to even have the courage in today's culture to call out and claim, Lord, Lord, that I belong to Jesus. And people who do that, there are people who stand before Christ in the end days and he will say, I don't know who you are. Leave. The first thing I want you to see is this word, many. That this is not a rare problem, it's common. That lots of people, including people in this room, who call themselves Christians, are not saved. Jesus is saying that there are many people who call him Lord and yet have no relationship with him. That there are many people who do miraculous works, who do good godly things, who think they're saved, yet they're not. And Jesus is warning us that activity for him does not equal intimacy with him. That doing things for God does not mean you have a relationship with God. That being around righteous things does not make you righteous. Knowing righteous people does not make you righteous. Doing righteous stuff does not make you righteous. Friends, Jesus is making this striking clarification for us that doing Christian things is not the same as being a Christian. And let me tell you some people in the room who should be really uneasy when we're reading these verses. Let me just say, this is me, I'm describing myself here. That if you grew up in church, man, if your mom and dad are Christians, if your grandparents are Christians, if you went to all the catalysts and all the beach camps, and if you went to a Christian school, if you were homeschooled and your mom and dad, who are your teachers, are Christians, then you should feel uneasy about this passage. That you are the most vulnerable and susceptible group that Satan could convince that you are saved and yet you're not. And the reason is this, that because you know all the right answers, you have all the Bible knowledge you could ask for, you can hold your own in theological and doctrinal conversations, and you listen to sermons, you listen to Christian podcasts, you listen to worship music on your own, that you grew up with this social pressure to do the right thing, to go to Wednesday night church, to join the Bible study, to go on the mission trip, to even join the leadership team. And all your life you've been in such close proximity to God, it would be really easy to believe that you have a relationship with God. And to you, Jesus is holding up a big red flag saying, don't be fooled. Works can't save you. Works can't make you righteous. Works can't cancel your sins. Only one thing can save you, and it's me, Jesus. And in our capitalism, our American culture, our workaholic-ism, it's really easy for us to connect works with our worth, to think that our works have something to do with our salvation, and it just doesn't. That's a lie that our culture believes, which leads us to our second truth of the night. Not only does activity for God not equal intimacy with God, but I want you to see that God is not after your behavior. He's after your heart. God is not after your behavior. He is after your heart. Look at verse 21. Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the what? The will of my Father, who is in heaven. Okay, this is good news. This is some light in a very dark passage that Jesus doesn't just drop this doom and gloom statement and say, figure it out. No, he gives us ultra-clarity right here. He says the ticket to heaven is doing the will of my Father. Now, the first thing I think of when I hear that is, that sounds like works. Doing the will of my Father. And number two, what does that mean? I don't know what that means. So, let's take scripture to define what Jesus means when he talks about the will of his Father. In John 6 40, Jesus says this, for this is the will of my Father, how convenient that he describes right here, that everyone, not some people, that everyone who looks on the sun and believes in him should have eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day. So, the will of the Father, it's pretty simple. That everyone would be saved. That everyone would look upon Christ and believe in their heart that he is Lord and

be saved. Ephesians 6 says, not by the way of eye service, as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. From the heart. So we know that the will of the Father, believing in Jesus, is not an act of the mind, it's not knowledge, it's an act of the heart. It's having faith. It's trusting in Jesus. That the will of the Father is for you and me to have a transformed heart. That you don't just do the things God wants you to do, but you start to love the things God loves. And you hate the things God hates. That your heart would be synced with His heart. Guys, the University of Memphis, Rhodes College, Christian Brothers, Mid-America, and all the trade schools that I'm forgetting, Southwest, other stuff like that, they don't need more well-behaved students. They need students who are in love with Jesus. Your dental offices, your nursing staff, your cosmetology clients, your co-workers, they don't need more well-behaved friends. They need people whose hearts have been transformed, who are in love with Jesus. Now I don't want you to misunderstand me. I don't want you to take my words out of context. The way we live is really important. And our behavior matters. Our reputation matters. The way Christians treat people matters. But godly behavior is a fruit of a godly heart, not the other way around. And the scary thing that Jesus is warning us about here is that you can fake it as long as you want. You can actually fake it so long that you become convinced that you are saved when you're not. That your heart has been transformed. And out of love, here on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is saying, wake up and take a good long look in the mirror and wipe away all the spiritual makeup that you've put on, all the good works and the good people you know and the good things you've done, and let's see what's underneath. And the question we have to ask ourselves is this, is have you taken the next step from knowing that Jesus is the Lord to surrendering to Jesus as your Lord? Friends, that is the difference between a Christian and the demons. Scripture talks about this, that the demons know who Jesus is. They believe Jesus is Lord, but they don't serve him as their Lord. They haven't surrendered to his will. So don't be fooled into thinking that you're saved when you're just plain Christian. Which leads us to our final point. That if you're doing godly things, but your heart does not belong to God, that one day there will be a price to pay. And I want you to see the price of lawlessness. The price of lawlessness. Verse 23, Jesus says this, and then will I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. What a strange phrase to say. I've never said it to someone. I've never used it as an insult or anything negative. I've never called someone a worker of lawlessness. I don't think you have either. It's a weird phrase to say, and Jesus says it, and he doesn't make a mistake here. So what does he mean by that phrase lawlessness? Well again, let's use the Bible to define Bible words. I think that's very important. Side note, you can get in a lot of trouble when you use random dictionaries to define words that didn't start there. Let's use the Bible to define Bible words. 1 John 3, John defines this phrase pretty clear. He says, everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. That sin is lawlessness. Boom. Right there. Matthew 24, Jesus is talking about the end times, and he says, and many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. Do you see the relationship between lawlessness and love there? That as lawlessness increases, love decreases. That there is this direct correlation between the two. Some scholars would say like this, that lawlessness is lovelessness. That lawlessness is lovelessness. Because love is selfless, and lawlessness is selfish. That is such a tongue twister, and I've said that so many times, and I'm glad I said it, because it's such a true statement. That lawlessness is choosing your own will over the Father's will. Are you starting to connect the dots here? It is doing the works of God without the heart of God. That this is the person who does good things because it makes them feel good about themselves. Instead of doing good things out of love for God and His people. And Paul explicitly talks about this in 1 Corinthians. Chapter 13, he says, if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not what? Love. I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not what? Love. I am nothing, and I forgive all away. And if I deliver my body up to be burned, but I have not what? Love. I gain nothing. And we talked about this last week. That there's no such thing as a loveless Christian. That love is the defining characteristic of someone with a transformed heart. Someone who has surrendered to Christ. And if we miss this, if we do all the right things, but we lack love, if we fall into the category of workers of lawlessness, then what is the consequence? What happens to us? It's the worst thing you could ever fathom. That on the final day, that Jesus Christ would look you in the eyes and utter the most chilling words you will ever hear. I never knew you. Depart from me. I never knew you. Depart from me. Yeah, but Jesus, I'm a Bellevue baby. I never knew you. Depart from me. I went to every single catalyst, Lord. I never knew you. Depart from me. I went to every single beach camp. I never knew you. Depart from me. Guys, the price for lawlessness, for selfishness, for lovelessness, for sinfulness is eternal separation from Jesus. Let me just pause here. I think every single one of us is going to have the temptation to downplay this. All of us have this inward rebellion towards authority figures. We like when authority separates from us. And think about when you were in high school and your parents went out of town. I bet you were thrilled. I was thrilled that you probably stayed up super late and you played video games all night and you'd watch that show and those movies and you ate a bunch of ice cream. It was fun. And your parents were gone. Some of you crazy kids threw parties. I didn't have enough friends to throw parties like that. But it was exciting when your parents left because it felt like you had the freedom to do whatever you wanted to do. A lot of us felt like that when we went to college. You're finally not living under mom and dad's roof. You can do whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it, however you want to do it. That separation feels like freedom. For all my working friends in the room, when your boss is out of town, when they're sick or on vacation, work is fun. You don't have someone supervising you, micromanaging you, always looking out and you and your co-people can just hang out and goof off a little bit and get your work done on your own time. And it's fun when our boss is gone because that separation from authority, it feels like freedom. Separation from God is not like that. There is no good that comes from separation from God. There is no benefit that comes from separation from God. Let me tell you why separation from God is worse than you could ever fathom. Your entire life, you've been searching for something to fulfill you, to make you whole. And that's only Jesus. And separation from Christ means that you have been separated from all of goodness and love and joy and peace forever. That all of God's good gifts are no longer accessible to you. That you will never be able to see his face or hear his voice or receive his forgiveness or experience fellowship with him. Scripture describes separation from God like this in 2 Thessalonians 1, that when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel.

of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and of the glory of his might. Jesus says in Matthew 13 that the son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and lawbreakers and throw them into the what? Fiery furnace. These are Jesus's words and in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Listen to me, on the cross, Jesus paid the unfathomable price for your sins and separation from him means that you, on purpose, dismiss the price Jesus paid and now accept the consequences of sin for yourself. Meaning now for the rest of eternity, you will experience the excruciating pain of the cross and since you have chosen to reject the Father's will, he now says to you, your will be done and you receive everything you can offer apart from God, which is darkness and sadness and chaos and anxiety and unending remorse and guilt and shame and the recognition that your punishment is eternally just and that you chose this and how is physical and mental and emotional torment and you will quickly come to realize that everything good and pleasing and enjoyable in life was a gift from God and you rejected him and there's no coming back. And Jesus, out of love, writes these three verses in the Sermon on the Mount to say, don't fall into the trap of thinking your works or your behavior can save you. It can't, it can't, only Jesus. And hell is a heavy topic to cover. It's actually the most terrifying thing in the whole Bible. It's the reason Jesus came, so that you would never have to experience that and praise God that that is not the end of the story, that we just saw that the will of the Father, that the heart of God would be that no one would experience that, so much so that he gave his life so you wouldn't have to experience that because on the cross, that you would now be able to stand before the Father and be clothed in Jesus's righteousness. And so friends, the last thing I want you to see in this passage before we close tonight is Jesus's language when he addresses the fake Christians. These words, they bring damnation on non-believers, but for believers, there is joy to be found. Look at verse 23. Jesus says, depart from me, I never knew you. I never knew you. He never knew the fake Christians, that there was never a time in their life that they surrendered to the Lord and then lost their salvation. No, that didn't happen. That didn't happen. They never surrendered to God at all. And that's good news for us. So let me tell you, Christian in the room, from the authority of God's word, that if there was ever a time in your life that you surrendered to Jesus Christ and you recognize he wasn't just the Lord, but he is your Lord, that you have been sealed for eternity, that your salvation is safe, that you've been covered with the blood of Christ. Paul says in Romans 10, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified. Paul also says, for I'm sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So friends, your salvation is safe. That if you have surrendered to Christ, you have been sealed for eternity and nothing can take that away. Your name is written in the book of life, which means there is no sin. There is no amount of mess ups. There is no amount of mistakes or missteps or relapses into old sin that can wash away the blood of Christ, that you, child of God, are sealed. And that is something to celebrate. That is something to celebrate. In Matthew 7, it is terrifying when we stand on our own works, but there's actually a lot of hope to be found when we stand on the work of Christ. And tonight, we're not gonna be doing any small groups. I don't think any of y'all would wanna get in a random group with people you might not have met yet and say like, oh, that's me, I'm the fake Christian, I'm going to hell. I don't think that conversation's very likely. And so, but I don't think that the Lord would have laid this passage on my heart if there wasn't someone in the room that needed to hear this. I really believe that Jesus is describing and speaking directly to somebody in this room. For me, when I was in high school, he was describing me. And I grew up in church, I was around all the things of God, but I just, I thought I knew him, but I was just doing for him. I didn't know him. I didn't know him. And so tonight, instead of small groups, we're just gonna take an extended time of prayer. We need to be able to have room to respond to this passage. And so we are gonna spread out throughout the room. You can stay in your seat, you can get on your knees, you can stand up, you can lay down, you can go to the back, whatever you need to do, I want us to have some time just to respond to the words of Christ here. And so there's three people I wanna talk to tonight. Number one is the Christian who is saved, that you have surrendered to Christ and you are confident in Christ. You are confident that Jesus Christ paid for your sins and you are now living clothed in his righteousness. And when you read passages like this, your response should be, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for loving me enough to take that price for me, that I will never have to experience separation from you. But for the rest of eternity, I will experience all goodness and joy and peace. Thank you, Jesus. There's Christians in the room who did have a moment when you surrendered to him, but maybe for you, you've gotten lost in all the working for Jesus. You've gotten lost in the busyness and you think that busyness equals this faithfulness. And you've lost sight of your first love, who is Christ. And tonight you just need to repent and you need to ask God to soften your heart and say, Lord, would you reignite this fire in my heart? And I wouldn't think that these works add anything to my worth or my salvation. And Lord, all I want is you. All I want is you. And I think there's a third person in the room who Jesus described really clearly, that maybe you grew up in the Bible belt. Maybe you grew up going to church and you did all the things and you really think you're saved, but you actually don't know him. You believe Jesus is Lord, but he's not your Lord. You have the knowledge, but you haven't surrendered in your heart. And for instance, tonight I'll just ask that you'd have an honest conversation with God tonight. That if that's you, would you beg God to reveal that in your heart? I want us right now, we're gonna take 120 seconds and then we're gonna add a couple minutes after that. I want to spread out all throughout the room or you can stay where you are. But I want you to ask yourself these two questions. What is God telling you? And what are you gonna do about it? And then take that extra time to do the thing God's telling you to do. Let's pray.