{"id":19121,"date":"2016-09-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-04T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-030\/"},"modified":"2016-09-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-04T05:00:00","slug":"soteriology-030","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-030\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 030"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[85],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19121","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-matthew","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 030","sermon_date":"20160904","sermon_month":"9","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3916,"sermon_slides":3917,"sermon_mp3":3920,"sermon_id":"9416916456","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":85,"chapter_and_verse":"7:21-23","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSoteriology 30, Matthew 7:21-23\n\nSeptember 4, 2016\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for a new month, grateful for Labor Day Weekend, and I just pray You\u2019ll be with us both during our Sunday School hour, for all of our teachers and also during the worship service, please be with us as we celebrate communion today and fellowship afterwards.\u00a0 And I just asks that\u00a0 You would use this time to edify Your saints and to glorify Your name.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said Amen.\n\nIf I could direct\u00a0 your attention to Matthew 6:14-15, we are, as you probably remember, studying the doctrine of eternal security which is the idea that the grace of God that saves us is the grace of God that keeps us or sustains us.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve already gone through the arguments for eternal security, about thirteen of them.\u00a0 And now we\u2019re in the part of the study that separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, which is learning how to interact with the opposition, because most people when they get into these theological disputes in Christendom today they\u2019re really good at giving their own talking points, their own verses, but the problem is can you answer the verses that the other side has.\u00a0 Most people haven\u2019t gone that deep in their study where they\u2019re able to do that and where I\u2019m trying to take us is show you that not only does the Bible lay out a very clear case for eternal security, but the Bible, all of the other passages that people use to deny eternal security can be harmonized or explained in light of the clearer verses that teach eternal security.\u00a0 So really the Bible doesn\u2019t deny eternal security at all; it allegedly denies eternal security at first glance but not when\u00a0 you do your homework and learn this process of harmonization.\n\nYou might recall that we have worked through a series of Old Testament passages that at first glance seem to deny eternal security.\u00a0 If I remember right we finished that discussion last week and now we\u2019ve moving into the New Testament and we\u2019re going to start with the first book of the New Testament, Matthew, and there are several verses in the Gospel of Matthew that make it look like (at first glance) you can lose salvation.\u00a0 And I want to show you that none of the passages in Matthew teach that you can lose your salvation.\u00a0 The big one in Matthew, which we won\u2019t be getting to today, we\u2019ll probably start it next week, is the unpardonable sin in Matthew 12.\u00a0 But even before we get to the unpardonable sin you\u2019ll notice that there are several that at first glance make it look like you can lose\u00a0 your salvation.\n\nSo notice Matthew 6:14-15, which says, this is the Lord teaching the disciples to pray, He just finished that model prayer in verses 9-13, then Jesus says, \u201cFor if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. [15] But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.\u201d\u00a0 So people look at that and say oh my goodness, if I am unforgiving then (A) maybe I was never saved to begin with, or if I am unforgiving as a Christian maybe I\u2019m going to lose my salvation because it says right there in the Bible that if I don\u2019t forgive others God\u2019s not going to forgive me.\u00a0 Do you see that?\n\nThe key to the whole verse, these verses, to understand them right is verse 9 which says, \u201cOur\u201d what? \u201cFather.\u201d\u00a0 So the short answer to that is when Jesus made this statement He wasn\u2019t talking to unbelievers, He was talking to believers because the only person that has God as their Father is a believer.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 If you\u2019re an unbeliever God is not your Father, He\u2019s your creator but more frightening than that He\u2019s your judge.\u00a0 So what shifts\u00a0 your relationship with God from Him acting as your judge to Him being your Father is personal faith in the provision of Jesus Christ, justification by faith alone.\u00a0 Now He\u2019s your Father and just like with our earthly fathers we can fall in and out of fellowship with them, can\u2019t we?\u00a0 I can do things that irritate my earthly father but he\u2019s still my father at the end of the day biologically.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 But if I do things to irritate my father I don\u2019t lose my status before him as my father, positionally what I\u2019ve lost is fellowship with him or moment by moment walk with him.\n\nAnd it\u2019s the same way in our relationship with God.\u00a0 The only thing that changes your destiny with God as your judge is faith alone in Christ alone but staying in fellowship with your Father involves, as a Christian, involves multiple commands to follow under God\u2019s power.\u00a0 So if you, as a Christian, are unforgiving towards other people, which is easy to get like that, sadly, because of our old nature, then God doesn\u2019t stay in fellowship with us.\u00a0 You can exercise1 John 1:9 and confess your sins all you want but as long as we\u2019re maintaining a bitter spirit, an angry spirit towards other people you\u2019re still a Christian, you\u2019re still going to heaven, but the fact of the matter is\u00a0 you\u2019ve fallen out of fellowship with your Father.\u00a0 He\u2019s still\u00a0 your Father, you\u2019re just not walking in fellowship with Him. So that\u2019s what Jesus is getting at here, He\u2019s not getting at the whole issue of whether a person is saved or unsaved, He\u2019s talking about staying in fellowship with your Father.\n\nThere are many passages that teach sin in our personal lives damages our vertical fellowship with God.\u00a0 Psalm 66:18, says, \u201cIf I harbor iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not\u201d what? \u201chear,\u201d written to believers.\u00a0\u00a0 I think David was in that condition for about six months to a year after he committed adultery and murder and he talks in the Psalms about when he was in that condition the heavens became like brass, the Lord didn\u2019t hear him.\u00a0 There was a barrier between him and God even though he was still positionally right with God, had he died he would have gone to heaven right then and there.\n\n1 Peter 3:7 says if a man mistreats his wife and doesn\u2019t respect her as the more fragile vessel and just runs roughshod over her then it says your prayers are hindered, 1 Peter 3:7, written to believers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [1 Peter 3:7, \u201cYou husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s how I think to understand Matthew 6, it\u2019s not so much a justification verse, it couldn\u2019t be a justification verse because how it begins; it\u2019s rather a series of verses related to how to stay in fellowship with God.\u00a0 It certainly isn\u2019t teaching you can lose your salvation; you can\u2019t lose\u00a0 your salvation as a Christian but you can fall out of fellowship with your Father.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why coming to church with kind of an angry spirit, grudging spirit or you\u2019re mad about something or there\u2019s some kind of unconfessed sin in your life in another area, you know Jesus, when He was giving the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and Matthew 6 talks about how they should, the Jews in that day should just leave their sacrifice and get reconciled with their brother first, and then come to the temple and give the sacrifice.\u00a0 So worship of God is not going to do you a lot of good if the barriers are blocked because of unconfessed sin.\n\nSo nothing short-circuits our fellowship with God more than unforgiveness towards others.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because God has treated us with what?\u00a0 Grace, not justice.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 And yet we want to turn around and treat other people\u2026 I think I said that wrong.\u00a0 God has treated us not with justice but with grace, that\u2019s what I meant to say.\u00a0 And we want to turn around when people wrong us and we want to treat them not with grace but with what?\u00a0 Justice.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where unforgiveness comes from.\n\nSo how do you get over an unforgiving spirit?\u00a0 You get over it by forgiving, Ephesians 4 tells us, \u201cas God has forgiven you.\u201d\u00a0 [Ephesians 4:32, \u201cBe kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.\u201d]\u00a0 And as that happens you\u2019ll notice that your fellowship with God is enhanced.\u00a0 Hanging on to that unforgiving spirit damages that fellowship.\n\nSo it\u2019s a fellowship verse, as I\u2019ll be showing you a lot of these are fellowship verses, in other words, they\u2019re\u2026 remember we went through the three tenses of salvation, justification, sanctification, glorification, this is middle tense salvation stuff.\u00a0 It\u2019s not first tense salvation stuff, which is the mistake people make.\n\nAll right, here we go.\u00a0 Matthew 7:21-23, people have been asking me about this; I keep saying don\u2019t worry we\u2019re going to get there.\u00a0 And all the people that have been asking me aren\u2019t here this morning so that\u2019s Murphy\u2019s law at work, right?\u00a0 That\u2019s how it works.\u00a0 But praise God for modern technology, they can go back and listen if they desire.\u00a0 Probably of all of the verses in the Bible that are misquoted I find this to be probably the top of my list.\u00a0 People quote this all the time and very few people explain what it means.\u00a0 So here is Matthew 7:21-23; it\u2019s still in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, \u201cNot everyone who says to Me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.<\/em> [22] Many will say to Me on that day, \u2018Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?\u2019 [23] And then I will declare to them, \u2018I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.\u2019\u201d\n\nHas anybody ever heard this verse quoted by people?\u00a0 On one end of the stick you have Arminians quoting it; or course, Arminian (as we\u2019ve explained) is someone who thinks you can have salvation and lose salvation.\u00a0 So when it says, \u201cLord, Lord,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cNot everyone who says to me, \u2018Lord, Lord\u2019\u201d they believe it\u2019s talking about people who once had a relationship with God but lost it.\u00a0 That\u2019s kind of hard to maintain because Jesus, at the end, what does He say there?\u00a0 \u201cI never\u201d what? \u201cI never knew you;\u201d He doesn\u2019t say I once knew you but now I don\u2019t, He says \u201cI never knew you.\u201d\n\nThe other alleged side of the ledger is Calvinism which basically is the idea that if you\u2019re really a Christian then you really need to be bearing fruit.\u00a0 They don\u2019t tell you how much and how fast the fruit has to come but if you are not bearing fruit then you probably were never one of the elect and if\u00a0 you\u2019re not one of the elect you probably were never given the gift of faith.\u00a0 Now in prior sessions I\u2019ve tried to explain how faith is not a gift from God, it\u2019s lexically impossible to maintain.\u00a0 The only verse they have is Ephesians 2 and I\u2019ve gone through that passage with you and told you that that\u2019s not what it means.\u00a0 There is no such thing as a gift of faith.\u00a0 Faith is something that human beings exercise in God; it\u2019s the only thing that God will accept to usher\u00a0 us into a right relationship with God.\u00a0 Romans 4:4-5 says anything that\u2019s not of faith is a work.\u00a0 [Romans 4:4-5, \u201cNow to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. [5] But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,\u201d]\n\nSo it says to him who believes but does not work, God is not interested in giving us relationship with Him by works so the only thing He\u2019ll accept is faith.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Hebrews 11:6 says \u201cwithout\u201d what? \u201cfaith it\u2019s\u201d what? \u201cimpossible to please God.\u201d\u00a0 So faith is within the ability of the lost man to exercise, contrary to what you get from hyper-Calvinism, what they say is you\u2019re so depraved you can\u2019t even exercise faith so God has to give you faith.\u00a0\u00a0 So who gets the faith?\u00a0 Well, it determines if\u00a0 God has made you one of the elect or not; that\u2019s how they think.\u00a0 And we don\u2019t accept that as a biblical teaching.\u00a0 But what they say with this verse is this is really talking about people who have not the right kind of faith.\u00a0 And I want you to see this very carefully because in hyper-Calvinism there are two kinds of faith; there is the faith that saves and the faith that doesn\u2019t save.\u00a0 The faith that doesn\u2019t save they call a spurious faith, or an illusionary faith.\n\nSo this is William Hendrickson, not to be confused with Howard Hendricks, because he kind of looks like Howard Hendricks, I\u2019m not talking here about Howard Hendricks of Dallas Seminary, I\u2019m talking about a commentator named William Hendrickson and he lays out very clearly this doctrine of the two faiths; he\u2019s making some comments there on John 2, and he says, \u201cMany trusted in His name; i.e., because of the manner in which His power was displayed\u201d Christ\u2019s power \u201cthey accepted Him as a great prophet and perhaps even as the Messiah.\u201d\u00a0 Now watch this, \u201cThis, however, is not the same as saying that they surrendered their hearts to him.\u201d\u00a0 And look at this last line, \u201cNot all faith is saving faith<\/u><\/em>...\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s how they think.\n\nLet me say that last line again: \u201cNot all faith is saving faith<\/u><\/em>...\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is the faith that saves and the faith that doesn\u2019t save; there is the faith that\u2019s spurious and the faith that\u2019s real that God gives as a gift.\u00a0 So the faith, according to Calvinism, that God gives as a gift, which is the real faith is always accompanied by contrition, that\u2019s sorrow, surrender, brokenness, yieldedness and fruit.\u00a0 So if you have trusted in Christ but they don\u2019t see enough contrition, fruit, brokenness, faithfulness in your life then what they\u2019ll say is you don\u2019t have the real faith, you have the fake faith and therefore you probably are not one of the elect; you don\u2019t have the gift of faith.\n\nAnd from a pastoral point of view this doctrine that I\u2019m explaining here has wreaked more havoc on Christians than perhaps any other doctrine because the categories of contrition, fruit, faithfulness, they\u2019re these subjective categories that are never objectively defined.\u00a0 How much contrition is necessary?\u00a0 How much faithfulness\u2026 I notice a lot of people that are normally here are missing on Labor Day weekend, so if you miss church, if you miss Sunday School on Labor Day weekend does that mean you don\u2019t have the proper amount of works?\u00a0 And so people literally spend their whole lives wondering, do I have the right kind of faith or the wrong kind of faith.\n\nNow we have spent, in this church, three years in the Gospel of John.\u00a0 We were in John\u2019s Gospel as long as Christ\u2019s earthly ministry and you guys know the Gospel of John, probably better than most churches in the world I would think, because of the time we spent in it.\u00a0 And what it says over and over again in the Gospel of John is faith, it never defines two kinds of faith.\u00a0 What is faith?\u00a0 All it is, is confidence, or trust, or reliance, or dependence.\u00a0 That\u2019s all John says; if you don\u2019t want to build your house on anything other than John 3:16 build your house on John 3:16, \u201cFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have life everlasting.\u201d\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t define what the right kind of belief is, what the wrong kind of belief is, it just tells you believe.\n\nSo what you have in hyper-Calvinism is these people that are going to come to the Lord at the end and they\u2019re going to stand before Him at the judgment, these are people with the wrong kind of faith.\u00a0 Even though they\u2019ve done a bunch of stuff they don\u2019t have the right kind of faith and so Jesus is going to tell them plainly, \u201cI never knew you.\u201d\u00a0 This is how John MacArthur uses the verse, ad <\/em>nauseam<\/em><\/em>,<\/em><\/strong> this is how John Piper uses the verse, ad <\/em>nauseam<\/em><\/em>,<\/em><\/strong> this is how R. C. Sproul uses the verse, ad <\/em>nauseam<\/em><\/em>,<\/em><\/strong> this is what most people think the verse says.\u00a0 And the fact of the matter is this is not what Jesus is talking about.\u00a0 Now how do I know that?\u00a0 Because what are the three rules of Bible study?\u00a0 Context, context, context!\n\nSo what is the context of Matthew 7?\u00a0 Go back to verse 15, which is just a few verses before verses 21-23, \u201cBeware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are\u201d what? \u201cravenous wolves.\u201d\u00a0 Contextually this verse is not talking about believers; contextually this verse is not even talking about people that are professing believers.\u00a0\u00a0 Contextually this verse is not even talking about the body of Christ; the body of Christ is not something that gets its start in biblical history to early Acts, Acts chapter 2.\n\nSo when Jesus is saying here, let me re-read it, \u201cNot everyone who says to Me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven,\u201d what he\u2019s talking about is false teachers and the specific group of false teachers that He is constantly interacting with in his ministry and particularly in the Sermon on the Mount is which group?\u00a0 The Pharisees.\u00a0 Well, who were the Pharisees?\u00a0 The Pharisees were a bunch of people who were the religious leaders of Israel, who did a bunch of good things in the eyes of man but they never had the righteousness of God because they did not approach God the way He said to approach Him, which is by faith; they came to God through their own works system.\u00a0 That is what Jesus is talking about here.\u00a0 And they look like sheep because after all, they are the religious leaders of the nation.\n\nSo what you have in Matthew 7:21-23 is not a passage about believers, it\u2019s not even a passage about professing believers but the whole thing is about unbelievers, unbelieving false teachers who to the eyes of the natural man looks like they were on the right side of the issue because of their religiosity.\n\nNow how do you determine a false teacher? \u00a0This is what He\u2019s getting at in verses 16-20, you know them by their what?\u00a0 You guys know the verse, what does it say?\u00a0 You know them by their what?\u00a0 Their fruit, verse 16, \u201cyou will know them by their fruits.\u00a0 Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?\u00a0\u00a0 [17] So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.\u00a0 [18] A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.\u00a0 [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the \u201cwhat? \u201cfire.\u201d\u00a0 What would fire be?\u00a0 It would be hell, wouldn\u2019t it.\u00a0 [20] \u201cSo then, you will know them by their fruits.\u201d And then He goes on and says, [21] \u201cNot everyone who says to Me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 will enter\u2026\u201d [22] \u201c\u2026did we not prophesy,\u201d did we not do such and such.\n\nSo you determine a true teacher and a false teacher by their fruit; their fruit is the content of their teaching, that\u2019s how you look at a false teacher; that\u2019s how you can figure out if a false teacher is a false teacher or not a false teacher.\u00a0\u00a0 You always can figure out who is a false teacher by what they teach, by what they say.\u00a0 That is the fruit that Jesus says the disciples ought to look at and inspect.\n\nNow hold\u00a0 your place here in Matthew 7 and go over to Matthew 12 for a minute.\u00a0 I want to show you a parallel passage where Jesus uses the exact same metaphor.\u00a0 And very clearly in Matthew 12 He\u2019s talking about unbelievers.\u00a0 And this is a very important principle of biblical interpretation; the way to figure out what a biblical writer means by a certain metaphor or idea is you ask yourself how has that same biblical writer used the same motif of metaphor elsewhere in his book.\u00a0 That\u2019s how to unravel the book of Hebrews, as I\u2019ll be teaching you later on in this course, the problem passages in the book of Hebrews; that\u2019s how to unravel some of these mystery passages.\u00a0 And here\u2019s the mistake everybody makes, they run off to every part of the Bible except Matthew, who was the author of Matthew 7 and Matthew 12.\n\nSo notice Matthew 12 and take a look at verses 33-34, see if this rings a bell.\u00a0 \u201cEither make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.\u201d\u00a0 Does that sound familiar?\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s the exact same metaphor Matthew recorded Jesus using back in Matthew 7:21-23.\u00a0 Well, who is he talking about here in Matthew 12 as Matthew uses the exact same metaphor?\u00a0 Verse 34, \u201cYou brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of the abundance that fills the heart.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus is saying even though you have the appearance of religiosity, you Pharisees, I know you\u2019re false teachers and the reason I know you\u2019re false teachers and the reason everybody should know that you\u2019re false teachers is because of the content of your teaching.\u00a0 You\u2019re not teaching biblical truth; you\u2019re wrapped up in your traditions.\n\nIn fact, Jesus, in Mark 7:13, we don\u2019t have to turn there, said of the Pharisees, you have made null the word of God by your traditions.\u00a0 [Mark 7:13, \u201cthus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.\u201d]\u00a0 What became important to the Pharisees over time is traditions.\u00a0 Now there\u2019s nothing wrong with traditions when they align with Scripture but the problem with the whole legalistic maize that began to develop in the inter\u00adtestamental period through myriads of extra-biblical writings, like the Mishnah, I had to read the Mishnah in seminary; it is the most exhausting thing to read because it places people under burden after burden after burden.\n\nThe Pharisees arose in the intertestamental period because the nation of Israel had gone into Babylonian captivity.\u00a0 What sent them into Babylonian captivity?\u00a0 Idolatry and rejection of the Sabbath.\u00a0 When you study the pre-exilic prophets that\u2019s what they\u2019re always harping on.\u00a0 So they came out of Babylonian captivity, which lasted 70 years, and there arose a group of religious men that said we\u2019re never going to let that happen again.\u00a0 We\u2019re never going to let our nation go into captivity again and here\u2019s how we\u2019re going to solve the problem, we\u2019re going to pass so many rules and regulations that people won\u2019t get near an idol again, nor will they get near violating the Sabbath.\n\nSo technically what the Pharisees did is they built what is called a fence around the Law; a fence is a manmade tradition that keeps you from violating the Law.\u00a0 If you want an example of a fence around the Law it starts as early as Eden, because remember what Eve said when tempted by the serpent?\u00a0 Remember the original command in Genesis 2, you may freely eat from any tree in the garden except the tree of what?\u00a0 Knowledge.\u00a0 [Genesis 2:16-17, \u201cThe LORD God commanded the man, saying, \u2018From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; [17] but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you swill surely die.\u201d]\n\nSo Eve, when challenged on her knowledge of that command by the devil, and by the way, Adam should have counselled his wife better and taught her the Word of God, because she wasn\u2019t around when the command was given.\u00a0 Adam is created, God gives the command,\u00a0 you see all this in Genesis 2, and then Eve comes forth from man\u2019s side.\u00a0 So Eve had sort of a foggy understanding of the command an in Genesis 3:2-3 she says oh, we must not eat from it or what?\u00a0 Anybody remember?\u00a0 \u201cor touch it,\u201d well, God never said you can\u2019t touch it; He said you can\u2019t eat from it.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:2-3, \u201cThe woman said to the serpent; \u2018From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; [3] but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, \u2018You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.\u2019\u201d]\n\nSo what happened to Eve?\u00a0 She built, and Adam probably also, a fence around the law, they added a bunch of things that God never said.\u00a0 God said that tree\u2019s bad so you know what, we\u2019re going to pass a bunch of rules so we never violate that command.\u00a0 So the tradition starts off well intentioned.\u00a0 The problem is over time the tradition eclipses the Word of God and when you understand this you understand the whole conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees; there\u2019s always a conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees over which issue?\u00a0 Anybody know?\u00a0 The Sabbath.\u00a0 Jesus heals people on the Sabbath; what do the Pharisees say?\u00a0 That\u2019s a no-no, you can\u2019t work on the Sabbath in any way.\n\nSo what happened over the centuries of time is these rules related to the Sabbath and what you could do or not do on the Sabbath started off well-intentioned but eventually the rules eclipsed God\u2019s purpose of the Sabbath.\u00a0 The Sabbath was to be a blessing to who?\u00a0 For man.\u00a0 So Jesus gets back to the original intent of the Sabbath and He basically says why can\u2019t I heal a man on the Sabbath?\u00a0 Wasn\u2019t the Sabbath originally designed for man?\n\nSo what you have with the Pharisees is a group of people that promulgated all of these regulations.\u00a0 It started off well-intentioned, but eventually what happened is the tradition eclipsed the Word of God and that\u2019s the whole conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees.\u00a0 And so the Pharisees are a group of people that pled their righteousness before God by their ability (so-called) to keep not only God\u2019s Law, which is a joke because they\u2019re about ready to murder Christ, isn\u2019t one of the commands \u201cThou shalt not murder\u201d?\u00a0 And they prided themselves on the fact that they kept all of God\u2019s Law and His traditions.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Paul, who was once Saul, in Philippians 3 says when I was a Pharisee and I tried to stand before God in self-righteousness I not only kept the Law, now that\u2019s a joke because he murdered who?\u00a0 Stephen, at least he held the coats while people were throwing rocks at Stephen.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve also kept all of the traditions of Judaism. Well, what traditions of Judaism?\u00a0 Mishnah and Talmud and all of these other things.\n\nSo the Pharisees had no right standing before God because they thought they were right with God through their own religiosity.\u00a0 That\u2019s the crowd that Jesus is talking to in Matthew 7 and Matthew 12.\u00a0 It has nothing to do with someone that has professed faith in Christ but isn\u2019t growing correctly.\u00a0 Do you follow me?\n\nSo notice what he says in Matthew 12:33-34, \u201cEither make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You know these Pharisees are unbelieving false teachers because of what they teach concerning the righteousness of God, their hearts are not for God\u2019s Word, they\u2019re for the extra-biblical traditions.\u00a0 Verse 34, \u201cYou brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak\u2026\u201d how do you evaluate a false teacher?\u00a0 By what they say.\u00a0 \u201cYou brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good?\u00a0 For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.\u201d\u00a0 Look at verse 37,\u00a0 \u201cFor by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.\u201d\n\nIn other words, He\u2019s teaching the same doctrine that He taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, you can tell someone who, although they look religious they\u2019re not of God based on their doctrine.\u00a0 In this case the particular doctrine he\u2019s critiquing is works righteousness; righteousness wrapped up in tradition, not faith alone.\u00a0 This is why Paul, when he builds his case of justification by faith alone anchors his case where in the Old Testament?\u00a0 Anybody know?\u00a0 Abraham!\u00a0 Abraham, Genesis 15:6, \u201cAbraham believed God and it was\u201d what? \u201ccredited to him for righteousness.\u201d\u00a0 Paul\u2019s point is people are saved always the same way in God, by faith alone.\u00a0 So what Paul and what Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are doing is saying dump the tradition that\u2019s contrary to the Word of God and go back to God\u2019s pattern, the very first Hebrew, Abraham, from the beginning.\n\nNow look at verse 24, it\u2019s very clear that Jesus here is speaking to unbelieving Pharisees.\u00a0 He says, \u201cBut when the Pharisees heard this, they said, \u2018This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of demons.\u201d\u00a0 So this whole teaching that Jesus is giving here in Matthew 12, which is the exact same one He\u2019s giving in Matthew 7, contextually is not aimed at the professing Christians, so-called.\u00a0 It\u2019s not an analysis of two kinds of faith, faith that saves and faith that doesn\u2019t save.\u00a0 It\u2019s not an analysis of if\u00a0 you\u2019re saved and some of you can lose your salvation.\u00a0 I mean, all of that stuff that people drag into this is totally foreign to the context.\u00a0 It has nothing to do with it. What he\u2019s dealing with is unbelieving false teachers who looked like sheep or righteous to man because they were religious but they were not right with God because God always justifies people by way of faith.\n\nSo what people do is they throw this verse at you, they don\u2019t give you any of this background that I\u2019m giving you and you look at a verse like this and maybe you don\u2019t have a lot of training or study in the Bible and you\u2019re filled with fear because you think maybe you don\u2019t have the right kind of faith, or maybe you can lose your salvation.\u00a0 And we have gotten, if I could get on my high horse just for a minute here, we\u2019ve gotten so lazy with the Bible, you know, we are treating the Bible like you would never treat any other work of antiquity.\u00a0 You would never treat Shakespeare this way.\u00a0 I mean, the Shakespearian scholars would just scream and yell if you were to just pluck something out of Shakespeare, rip it out of context.\u00a0 And here we are, as evangelicals in the year 2016 with our topical approach to the Bible, where we\u2019re just ripping these verses out here and there and it\u2019s short-circuiting our spiritual growth, and it\u2019s putting God\u2019s people into a state of fear that God never intended.\n\nSo going back to Matthew 7, same author, same book, Jesus is using the exact same analogy here and He\u2019s speaking to unbelieving Pharisees, primarily. \u00a0So what are these unbelieving Pharisees going to do?\u00a0 Well, they\u2019re going to stand before the Lord on the day of judgment and they\u2019re going to hear this, \u201cNot everyone who says to Me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My father who is in heaven. Many will say did we not prophesy in Your name, did we not cast out demons.\u00a0 Now the casting out demons is very interesting because I\u2019ll be showing you, maybe next week or the week after, that there were Pharisaical exorcisms of demons going on.\u00a0 Jesus makes a reference to that in Matthew 12, I can\u2019t remember the exact verse off the top of my head, I think it\u2019s around verse 31.\u00a0 Spirit shall not be forgiven.\n\nSo you have these Pharisees doing religiosity, even casting out demons and they didn\u2019t have any relationship with God and they were even performing miracles.\u00a0 Well, if they didn\u2019t have a relationship with God how are they performing miracles?\u00a0 News flash!\u00a0 Not every miracle that happens in the Bible is from God.\u00a0 God is not the only author of miracles in the Bible.\u00a0 In our Christian worldview we believe God is the ultimate author of miracles but at the same time there\u2019s someone called Lucifer, is there not, who fell?\u00a0 Does he not have miracle working abilities?\u00a0 Well of course he does, that\u2019s why Aaron and Moses worked miracles in the book of Exodus for God and Pharaoh\u2019s magicians, up to a certain point, came along and worked the exact same miracle or a similar miracle.\u00a0 How did Pharaoh\u2019s magicians do it?\u00a0 They didn\u2019t do it through God\u2019s power, they had no relationship with God; they did it through Satanic power.\n\nSo these Pharisees who are clothed in self-righteousness, they\u2019re going to stand before the Lord and you see what they\u2019re doing?\u00a0 What are they pleading here?\u00a0 What they\u2019ve done.\u00a0 What are they pleading?\u00a0 They are pleading not transferred righteousness but what?\u00a0 Self-righteousness.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what they mean when they say didn\u2019t we prophesy, didn\u2019t we cast out demons, didn\u2019t we perform many miracles.\u00a0 Verse 23, \u201cAnd then I will declare to them, \u2018I never knew\u00a0 you;\u201d I never had a relationship with you, \u201cdepart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.\u201d\n\nSo verse 22 they\u2019re pleading self-righteousness, verse 23 indicates that they had no relationship with God\u00a0 Now do you see the word \u201cbelieve\u201d anywhere in this passage?\u00a0 It\u2019s not there is it?\u00a0 Do you see anywhere here a discussion of the two kinds of faith?\u00a0 It\u2019s not here in the passage.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t a passage about that is my point; it\u2019s about a group of people who looked like sheep because of self-righteousness and religious activity, yet never had faith alone in Christ alone.\n\nThis is why Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, same sermon, look back at Matthew 5:20, look at what He says here, \u201cFor I say to you that unless your righteousness\u201d\u00a0 what? \u201csurpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d\u00a0 Now why does He talk about a righteousness that surpasses the scribes and the Pharisees?\u00a0 Because what did the scribes and the Pharisees have as they were anchoring everything in tradition.\u00a0 They had self-righteousness, it\u2019s the same kind of righteousness that Adam and Eve tried to exhibit before God in Genesis 3:7 where they clothed themselves.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:7, \u201cThen the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.\u201d]\u00a0 God we really messed things up but we\u2019re going to fix it.\u00a0 So I\u2019m going to get involved in the church and I\u2019m going to get involved in some religious activity, I\u2019m going to pull out my do\u2019s and don\u2019ts list and I\u2019m going to work real hard and I\u2019m going to earn my way back into Your presence.\n\nThat\u2019s Adam and Eve, that\u2019s what the Pharisees were doing.\u00a0 And this is the whole significance of God killing the animal sacrifice at the end of Genesis 3, verse 21, it doesn\u2019t say he killed an animal, it says, he took \u201cgarments of skin\u201d animal skins, and clothed Adam and Eve.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:21, \u201cThe LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.\u201d]\u00a0 The implication is very clear, where did these garments of skin come from?\u00a0 Through a dead animal that was innocent that God killed and made it dead right there on the spot.\u00a0 Instead of Adam and Eve clothing themselves, Genesis 3:21 indicates that God clothed them.\u00a0 And how did He do it?\u00a0 Through the skin of an innocent animal that was killed.\u00a0 What did the animal do wrong?\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 So what is God showing there at the dawn of human history?\u00a0 Basically what He\u2019s showing is the way this is going to work is you guys are not going to earn your way into My presence because of sin.\u00a0 What I\u2019m going to do is I\u2019m going to clothe you through the blood of an innocent sacrifice and all of that ultimately points to who?\u00a0 Jesus Christ.\n\nSo what were the Pharisees doing?\u00a0 They were going the Genesis 3:7 route, self-righteousness.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Jesus said if you\u2019re going to get in your righteousness has got to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.\u00a0 Self-righteousness is not going to get the job done.\u00a0 What you need is not self-righteousness but what? Transferred righteousness, a righteousness that you do not deserve that you did not earn, that is transferred to you at the point of faith by who?\u00a0 Christ, or God.\u00a0 And this is the great revelation to Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul, because in Philippians 3, when he was unsaved he talks about all these traditions that he kept, the law of God that he kept, and then he has a revelation and in Philippians 3:9 he says, \u201cand may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from\u201d who? \u201cGod on the basis of faith.\u201d\u00a0 The great revelation in Saul of Tarsus\u2019 life when he converted to Christianity and became Paul is he moves from self-righteousness to an understanding of transferred righteousness.\u00a0 The great lesson in Genesis 3 is Adam and Eve were originally operating in self-righteousness and God shows them you have to be transferred righteousness, Genesis 3:21.\n\nThe problem with the Pharisees is they\u2019re still operating in self-righteousness, looking at tradition, and not transferred righteousness, looking at who?\u00a0 Abraham.\u00a0 \u201cAbraham believed God,\u201d Genesis 15:6, \u201cand it was credited to him for righteousness.\u201d\u00a0 I think it\u2019s called \u201ccredited\u201d there because what is credit; you all know what credit is, right?\u00a0 Those little plastic things that are fun until the payments come.\u00a0 See, running up debt is kind of like jumping off a ten story building; I mean, it\u2019s a lot of fun flying down until you hit the pavement then it\u2019s not fun anymore.\u00a0\u00a0 So procrastination and running up debt is a lot of fun until payday comes.\u00a0 Right?\n\nSo Abraham received the righteousness of God on credit because it hadn\u2019t been what?\u00a0 Paid for yet; it would be paid for 2,000 years later by Jesus Christ.\u00a0 But God knew payday was coming and so He gave Abraham the righteousness of God on credit, even though it wouldn\u2019t be paid for 2,000 years.\u00a0 So these Pharisees aren\u2019t coming to God that way, through transferred righteousness; they\u2019re coming to God through self-righteousness.\u00a0 This is what Jesus is condemning.\u00a0 This is why He said your righteousness has to surpass that of the righteousness of the Pharisees.\u00a0 And last time I checked Isaiah 64:6 is still in our Bible, isn\u2019t it, which says all of our works of righteousness are as what? \u201cfilthy rags.\u201d\u00a0 [Isaiah 64:6, \u201cFor all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.\u201d]\u00a0 If you won\u2019t come to God His way you\u2019re not coming is what the Bible is teaching.\n\nTake a look at Romans 9:30, it\u2019s an explanation of where first century Israel was at with self-righteousness and why so many of them, the crux of them missed Jesus as their Messiah; they tripped over Him.\u00a0 Romans 9:30 Paul says, \u201cWhat shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by\u201d what? \u201cfaith.\u201d\u00a0 Paul is condemning the Jews because Gentiles, non-Jews are coming into the church in droves because they are coming by faith, transferred righteousness;\u00a0 \u201cbut Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.\u00a0 [31] Why? Because they did not pursue it by\u201d what? \u201cfaith, but as though it were by works.\u201d\u00a0 This is one of the problems that they had with Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus would say things like John 3:16, [\u201cFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.]\u00a0 They didn\u2019t want to hear that.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because what was important to them was Mishnah and Talmud, and works righteousness.\u00a0 So they rejected the message of Christ, in fact, they stumbled right over it.\n\nAnd it\u2019s really the same today.\u00a0 What you have to understand about works righteousness and what makes it so lethal is we like works righteousness.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because it appeals to my what?\u00a0 My pride.\u00a0 If I can boast like Frank Sinatra did, \u201cI Did it My Way<\/em>,\u201d then who gets the bragging rights?\u00a0 I get the bragging rights.\u00a0 But God has set everything up in such a way that no man shall what? boast.\u00a0 Ephesians 2:8-9.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:8-9, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is<\/em> the gift of God; [9] not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.\u201d]\u00a0 No one is going to be in heaven proud as a peacock because the only reason they are there is not through self-righteousness but rather through transferred righteousness.\u00a0 God set it up this way.\u00a0 And a lot of people, when you tell them this, they don\u2019t want to hear it because they say well, look at my do\u2019s and don\u2019ts list, from the beginning of my youth, look at all the things that I\u2019ve done.\u00a0 And so even today people have their own private Mishnah, and when confronted with the gospel of grace they trip right over it, just like the ancient Jews did.\n\nPaul goes on in Romans 9:32 and he says , \u201cThey stumbled over the stumbling stone, [33, just as is written, \u201cBEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.\u201d\u00a0 What leads to a lack of disappointment with God is believing in God.\u00a0 Chapter 10,\u00a0 \u201cBrethren, my heart\u2019s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their<\/em> salvation.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s the Jews.\u00a0 [2] For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God,\u201d I mean these folks were zealous about the Law and they were zealous about the Mishnah and they were zealous about the Talmud to the point where they were killing people who disagreed with them.\n\nTalk about zeal!\u00a0 But just because your zealous about something.\u00a0 And the reason they\u2019re zealous is it\u2019s appealing to pride, but just because you\u2019re zealous about something doesn\u2019t make it right.\u00a0 Remember what the prophets of Baal were doing?\u00a0 I Kings 18, they were cutting themselves; that\u2019s pretty zealous.\u00a0 [1 Kings 18:28, \u201cSo they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them.\u201d]\u00a0 I mean, that\u2019s pretty zealous, isn\u2019t it, as they were calling for their god, but at the end of the day they were wrong.\u00a0 So zeal, religious fervor doesn\u2019t get the job done.\u00a0 The only thing that gets the job done is transferred righteousness which comes by faith.\n\n\u201cFor not knowing about God\u2019s righteousness,\u201d watch this, \u201cand seeking to establish their own\u201d righteousness, through a works based system, \u201cthey did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. [10] For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who\u201d what? \u201cbelieves\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s what gets you in the door; that\u2019s what gets you the transferred righteousness of God where He clothes you based on what He has done and you\u2019re no longer standing before God pleading self-righteousness.\n\nAgain I\u2019ll point out verse 23, Jesus doesn\u2019t say in verse 23 of Matthew 7, I once knew you.\u00a0 [Matthew 23:7, \u201cAnd then I will declare to them, \u2018I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 Does He say that, I once knew you?\u00a0 No, he says \u201cI never knew you.\u201d\u00a0 I never knew you!\u00a0 And the reason I never knew you is you never came to me through the method that\u2019s as old as the Garden of Eden, it\u2019s as old as Abraham and Adam and Eve.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why at the judgment they\u2019re hearing these words, \u201cDepart from me, you who practice lawlessness,\u201d because your works are as what? Filthy rags.\n\nSo this verse, Matthew 7:21-23, what\u2019s the bottom line?\u00a0 [Matthew 7:21, \u201cNot everyone who says to Me, \u2018Lord, Lord,\u2019 will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.<\/em> [22] Many will say to Me on that day, \u2018Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?\u2019 [23] And then I will declare to them, \u2018I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.\u2019\u201d]\n\nBLT, Bottom Line Time, what\u2019s the bottom line.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the bottom line.\u00a0 This verse is not about a loss of salvation.\u00a0 What this verse is about is how to not attain salvation; that\u2019s what it\u2019s about.\u00a0 It\u2019s not talking about a two kinds of faith person that believes and maybe he doesn\u2019t have the right kind of faith, that\u2019s just foreign to the context.\u00a0 It\u2019s how to not attain salvation.\u00a0 You do not attain salvation through works righteousness but only by transferred righteousness.\u00a0 Now given that background I would say probably 99% of the body of Christ does not understand what I just said.\u00a0 They have a false view of it because if you repeat a lie long enough people will what?\u00a0 Eventually believe it.\n\nAnne and I were in a church in Dallas where we had a friend of ours who was a very rigid Calvinist and he one time got on his high horse and started saying you know, there\u2019s people at our church that aren\u2019t saved.\u00a0 And I was sort of baffled by that, I said well how do you know who\u2019s saved and who\u2019s not?\u00a0 I mean, who made you judge, jury and executioner?\u00a0 And then lo and behold he starts quoting Matthew 7:21-23, many are going to say Lord, Lord, did we not do this and that and he\u2019s applying the verse to people that miss Wednesday night prayer meeting or something.\u00a0 He\u2019s applying the verse to support his two kinds of faith doctrine even though faith is not even in the passage at all.\u00a0 And he\u2019s applying the verse against believers and professing believers.\u00a0 And he\u2019s applying the verse to the age of the church.\u00a0 And yet I hope what I\u2019ve tried to convince you of is these verses have zilch to do with that.\n\nSo it\u2019s not a justification passage, it\u2019s really a passage about how not to get saved; you\u2019re not going to get saved through works righteousness.\u00a0 The whole thing is aimed at unbelievers.\n\nAll right, I\u2019ve talked a little bit too much so any questions on that.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t