Matthew 7:21-23: Talk May Be Nothing — A ‘Christian Growth’ Message

Transcript

Well, friends, we have sung a very appropriate prayer for God to speak to us, and so we’ll turn straight to the text. And if you would take your Bibles that are in front of you, you’ll find the passage is Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 to 23. There are many people you know who greatly admire the sermon on the Mount.

I wonder if they do really like these almost closing words of Jesus in chapter 7:21 to 23, where he says not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many will say Lord, Lord, and I will say depart.

Now what’s going on with these verses, these are not fun verses, they’re solemn verses. The great Welsh preacher Martin Lloyd Jones said they’re surely the most solemn words ever uttered in this world by anyone.

Even by the Son of God, that’s a striking thing to say, isn’t it?

I want to hasten to say to you that they’re also very, very loving words. We’re here at the end of the sermon on the Mount. Jesus has been teaching his disciples about having a new life and a new lifestyle, and here he is urging his disciples as he comes to the end and the crowd around to make sure they have entered in at the narrow gate. He is the narrow gate. People need to come to him. They need to give their life to him.

And then of course he urges them to watch out for false prophets who will deceive them and lead them away from the road. And then we come today to these verses which are basically check yourself. I want you to make sure Jesus is saying that you are a real believer, that you’re not just talking the talk.

There is a time, as we know, to check ourselves, check the body. Check the teeth, check the skin. Check the car. Check the house, check the finances, and surely there is a time to check our soul.

And that’s what Jesus is doing in these very important verses. These are not the words of somebody who wants people to be out of the kingdom, they’re words of somebody who wants people to be inside the kingdom.

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And so we’re gonna follow the three verses, and I have 4 brief points to make.

The first is the talk is easy. Chapter 7, verse 21.

Jesus says not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, will enter. Many will say, Lord, Lord and be turned away.

Now there’s absolutely nothing wrong with saying, Lord Jesus, in fact if it comes out of your head and your heart it’s a great sign of new life. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 10 that a person must say or admit that Jesus is Lord, if they are to be saved. We remember that at the end of John’s Gospel, when Thomas had said he wouldn’t believe until he saw the signs of the nail marks and the sword mark, and eventually there he is standing before the risen Lord Jesus, and what does he say? He says, my Lord and my God.

The point Jesus is making here is that talk can be cheap, empty, and just words.

And that’s the danger. You’ve probably seen those greeting cards in shops where you open them up and there’s some famous person’s voice coming out of the card, but there’s no person in the card. It’s a lifeless card. Or you think of those toys for children where you push a button or you pull a cord, and out comes a voice, but there’s no person in the toy, there’s no life in the toy.

And therefore, think of people who do pray to the Lord in desperate times. They may be in hospital, they haven’t prayed for years, they suddenly decide that they will call out to the Lord. Or perhaps they’re on an aeroplane and they’re going through a rough patch, or perhaps they’re beside the sick bed, or even the deathbed of a loved one, and they decide to say some kind of prayer. And why would they not pray? They’re desperate.

The problem is, you see, that they may well be calling on God as some kind of ambulance, and therefore they’re not treating him really as Lord, they’re treating him as some kind of servant.

I would have thought if you’re going to call to Jesus as Lord and continue to call him Lord, it’s going to be a permanent thing, and not just an occasional help me out thing.

And then think of people who attend religious services, perhaps a wedding or a funeral, or they come at Christmas, or perhaps even just come on Sundays. And there’s nothing easier is there than being given a service sheet and then finding yourself saying or singing or reading the words that are on a page.

But we can often see, can’t we, the vacant look on a person who doesn’t really know what they’re saying, doesn’t believe what they’re saying, and if we can see the vacant look on somebody in the building, you can be absolutely sure the Lord Jesus can see the vacant heart of the person who’s just talking cheap.

One of the most famous atheists that has ever really been around was a man called David Hume, a British man in the 18th century, a philosopher, and he was stuck once in a swamp. And the local villagers were so concerned for his soul that they said they would not come to his aid until he had recited the Lord’s Prayer. You can imagine. There he is in the swamp and he’s told to recite the Lord’s prayer, and so he’s a clever man, he knows how to say, Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, and he rattles it off to make them happy, but it means nothing. Doesn’t mean anything to hear more to them.

Or think of people who are simply religious. Their Christianity lasts for about 60 minutes on a Sunday. I don’t mean of course that they’re not decent people during the week, but the idea of knowing Jesus as Lord through the week just does not compute.

And as one writer says, it is a tragedy to meet Jesus on the last day and to say to him, you know, I went to church regularly. And I prayed a prayer or two. And actually I served the church. In fact, I became a minister and I preached lots of clever sermons, and then to have Jesus look at you and say yes. But you didn’t know me, and I didn’t know you.

Contrast that with the real believer who comes to the end and meets Jesus on the last day, and he hears these words, I know you. I remember the day that you came and you knelt down and you put your life into my hands and you put your sins into my hands, and as you put your life into my hands, I put my life into your heart. And we began a friendship, and now here you are, and I know you, and you know me. And I’m welcoming you.

Nothing could be worse in all eternity than to hear the word depart, when we come face to face with Jesus, and nothing could be more wonderful than to hear the word welcome.

So talk is easy. That’s the first thing Jesus says many will say.

The second thing is transformation is crucial.

If you look at chapter 7 verse 21B, you’ll see that Jesus is looking for the person who does the will of my Father.

Now what does Jesus mean when he says, I’m looking for people who do the will of my Father? Some people will say at this point, well, there you are, that’s the proof that all Jesus wants is for you to be a good person. Don’t kill anybody, don’t commit adultery, and you say to yourself, that’s me, therefore I’m perfectly fine. I do not need any church, religion, etc. I am a good person, that’s enough.

But my dear friends, if you read the sermon on the Mount, you’ll see that the will of God is much bigger and better and deeper and wider and longer and greater than just ticking off a couple of commandments. God’s will for you, of course, is to be transformed. We saw that in chapter 5. So that you become brand new people and you’ve got a supernatural life in your heart, and you’ve got a supernatural love in your heart. And God’s will is that you then serve Him. Because you have entered in at the narrow gate and you’re walking the road with him. And His Holy Spirit has entered into your heart.

I remember watching a movie back in the late 80s where two young men find their boss has died.

But they very much need their boss to be alive for the next few days, and so they tidy him up and they prop him up in a car and they drive around the streets in a very public way, moving his arms for him and nodding his head for him so that people will think that he is alive and well, but there’s no life in the boss anymore.

And church is a place where you can come and you can just go through the waving and the motions, can’t you? And yet there’s no life in the person.

And even when we have come to Christ in faith, and we’ve received the gift of new life, which was brought for us at the cross of Christ, at great expense, we’ll never be saying to ourselves, you know, I now really do the will of God all the time. In fact, I do the will of God so well that I deserve one day to go to glory.

Now we’ll find ourselves saying instead, even when we have come to Christ, even when we’ve put our trust in Him, even when we have been reborn, we’ll find ourselves saying something like this. God has put a new desire to do His will in my heart, but I still have the old desire to do my will. And so there is a clash of wills, and in the end, you know, my salvation doesn’t depend on me doing the will of God. My salvation depends on Jesus who died for me.

So transformation is absolutely crucial, we need to receive a new life. It’s not smooth talk or mumbled words in church that Jesus is looking for. He’s looking for a sincere disciple.

You’ll remember that in the days of Moses, there were religious magicians who basically could do miracles, but they were not serving God. And you’ll remember in the days of Jesus that there were crowds of people who walked around after Jesus, but they were not following him. You remember that in the days of the apostle Paul, there were lots of religious people, but they were not trusting Jesus.

And in the New Testament Jesus could see, couldn’t he, whether a tree was all leaves and no fruit. And Jesus can see if a person is all talk and no transformation.

So we mustn’t be fooled even when we come to church by outward things. You know, perhaps we have some feelings as we come into the building and we think, oh that must be God, or we find our conscience is pricked during a sermon and we think, oh well, that’s really happened, hasn’t it?

Maybe we look at the church and we see success, but the man who’s leading is a con artist. Now the test, the simple test that Jesus is looking for to show that we’re not just an outward public Christian, is that behind the scenes we are trusting Jesus and we are actually following Jesus and his Word for us.

Talk is easy. Transformation is crucial.

And then thirdly, true Christianity is personal because we read in verse 23, the vital clue from Jesus, you need to know me.

Or negatively, the danger, I never knew you.

Now what does it mean to know Jesus Christ? Because the same language is used in John chapter 17 verse 3, where Jesus said on one occasion, this is eternal life, to know me.

And some people get very anxious at this point and they say to themselves, even though they are Christians, they say, gee, you know, I don’t know if I really know him Maybe I only know about him.

I want to suggest to you that you do know him, if you know that he is a living person. And if you want more than just passing stuff, you want more than just religion, you want more than a building, you want more than a service sheet, you want more than an hour on a Sunday, you want him, you want a shepherd, you want a saviour, you want a lord, and you’ve heard his invitation, come to me and put your trust in me, and you’ve gone to him in prayer, and you’ve put yourself in his hands and you’ve put your sins in his hands. And he has put a brand-new life into you, and now a relationship has begun, a relationship that is by faith, not by sight.

The danger of course, is that you leave Jesus out of the equation completely and so you have everything but Jesus, in which case you have nothing really significant.

The beauty of what Jesus is saying is the relationship with him is possible, and it’s more important and it’s more valuable than anything else in this world.

Isn’t it interesting in these verses which we had read for us, that Jesus says that talk is not going to be enough, there needs to be some kind of Christian change, transformation or walk, and then he mentions some people who actually have done amazing things, so he says, I don’t want you to just talk, I want you to do, and then there’s these people who turn up at the end and they have been doing amazing things. One of them says, I was doing prophecy. Amazing.

One of them says, you know, I’ve been casting out demons, well that’s amazing. One of them says I’ve been performing miracles. And Jesus says they may count for nothing.

Because many would say that proof positive of a real faith is that you’ve been performing prophecy or exorcisms or miracles, but Jesus says they count for nothing if there’s no relationship. If there’s no connection.

Imagine if I was to go to one of my neighbours and just knock on his door and say, You may be interested to know that we’re kind of family now, you and I, we’re really sort of connected and bonded. And the neighbour says, what are you talking about? And you say, well, you know, a couple of weeks ago, unbeknown to you, I mowed your front lawn.

And a little bit later after that, you say you didn’t know this, but I washed your car for you. And then a little bit later you say I brought in the bins for you one evening as well. And the neighbour says, well, look, I’m very grateful that you did that, but it doesn’t actually make us related. It’s not as though we now really know each other, I’m very grateful that you did those things, but it’s got nothing to do with the relationship, and what God is looking for is that we will know him through Christ.

And then everything else that flows from that is the fruit of faith.

Now one person I mentioned who considered these words to be extremely solemn was Martin Lloyd Jones, the preacher of the 20th century. And it comes to the end of his sermon on these verses, and he actually addresses now the preacher.

So just in case you think I as the preacher this morning, am having a go at you, this is what Lloyd Jones says as he comes to the end of his sermon, addressing the question to the preacher, and you’ll see as I read this paragraph, what a very great preacher Martin Lloyd Jones was.

He says this, a man can be so busy preaching that he forgets and neglects his own soul. After you’ve attended all your meetings and you’ve denounced error, until you can scarcely speak, after you’ve dealt with your apologetics and you’ve displayed your wonderful knowledge of theology. And your understanding of the times and your complete map of the next 50 years, and after you’ve read all the translations of the Bible and have shown your proficiency and a knowledge of its mechanics, I ask you this question, do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? You know more than you did a year ago, but do you know him? And do you know him better?

You denounce many wrong things, but do you love him more? Your knowledge of the Bible and its translations has become quite astounding, and you’re an expert in apologetics, but are you obeying the law of God and of Christ increasingly? Is the fruit of the spirit more and more manifest and evident in your life, because those are the questions. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, and does many wonderful works and preaches many wonderful sermons, but he that does the will of my Father. That’s what he’s looking for.

So if there’s one thing Jesus is stressing in these closing verses, it’s that you would know him, that you’d know him today and you’d know him forever.

So talk is easy, transformation is crucial, true Christianity is personal, and finally, the test is in the future. The real test is in the future.

A little phrase in chapter 7, verse 22 on that day. The day we stand before Jesus, and we will stand before Jesus, and he will see, and he will say what is really going on.

Now we of course get so many things wrong in the present, don’t we? We may hire somebody who seems to be great, but turns out to be not so great.

We may reject somebody who doesn’t seem all that proficient, but turns out to have been absolutely wonderful. Perhaps we look at a person and we say we think they’re completely lost spiritually, but they’re not, or we see somebody and we think they’re found spiritually, but they’re not.

But on the last day, Jesus will make no mistakes, he will know.

And this is a very sober word to the pretender who sits in a church and just pretends, because you may fool us, you may fool yourself, but you won’t fool the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is a great comfort to the persecuted.

Because you may be feeling the weight of carrying the cross of Christ, you may be suffering for your faith. People in the present are not really understanding, in fact, they’re more attacking than understanding, but there will come a day where the Lord Jesus will vindicate you and honour you and establish you and reward you.

It’s absolutely essential that you know that you’ve entered in at the gate, which is Jesus Christ, that you’ve gone in prayer to him, that you’ve given your life, your soul to Him. And then, my dear friends, you’ll never hear the words depart.

Does that make sense this morning? If you hear the word enter and you do. You will never hear the word depart. If you hear the word enter and you don’t. You will one day hear the word depart.

And I cannot finish this morning without reminding you that in the end our salvation doesn’t really rest on us being so clever that we entered. It is of course vital that we enter. But our salvation is made possible because the Lord Jesus in a very real way heard the word depart. When he was at the cross, when he was taking our sins on himself. In a very real way, in a very costly way. The father said to him, with our sins on him – depart.

And because Jesus was made to depart, chose to depart. Into destruction. Into the judgement. You and I can hear these wonderful words, enter, enter in at the narrow gate, and we can enter his kingdom and his family freely today.

And we’ll begin to do his will. And it won’t just be talk, and there will be transformation, and we will know him personally, and we will find on the last day that he will say to us who have entered. It’s now time for you to enter into the glory.

Let’s bow heads and pray.

We thank you, our heavenly Father, that you have made it possible through the Lord Jesus and the great work of his departure at the cross, to enter into your family and kingdom in this world. And one day to enter in the next.

And we pray that you would so work in and amongst us, that each one who hears these words would not be merely a talker. But somebody who lives. And someone who trusts, rejoices. Seeks to do your will, and one day sees you joyfully face to face, we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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