on page 1506 in these church Bibles. Matthew 7 and verse 21 says this, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you, Away from me, you evil doers. Now let's pray and ask God to help us as we consider his word together. Our Father in heaven. We do thank you for this opportunity this morning to consider your word. And, Lord, although this is a sad time for many, yet, Lord, also it could be a day of great rejoicing for some because they could come to Christ to be their saviour. Lord, we would pray that by your spirit you'll speak to us all and those of us who are Christians will be encouraged and any who do not yet have faith in Jesus, you grant to them saving faith. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, I never had the privilege of meeting Obadiah, although I did know his brother Sinion, who visited the church here on quite a few occasions. And we have his niece, Bernice, here in fellowship with us as a member of this church. I also worked with his son Robert a number of years ago and it's been good to have had renewed contact with him recently through his wife Beverly's sister Jean who attends this church. It's been very encouraging to hear from Robert and also from the tributes that have been given this morning about Obadiah's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as his saviour and how he taught his children about the Lord and how a number of them have followed him in his faith. It's a great comfort to those who mourn to know that their loved one is now with Christ and is comforted. And also, for those of us who are believers, Death is only a temporary separation. But in a short time, we shall be reunited together. In paradise, first of all, and then at the resurrection of the body, we shall enjoy the glories of the resurrection together. And friends and family will be reunited, but we will also meet all the other saints that we've never met before. And we will have a most marvelous time of fellowship. Praise the Lord. Thanks be to God. Now, however, a funeral service also gives each one of us an opportunity to consider our own lives and to consider whether we are part of that group of people who will be going to heaven. And it really is important that we get this question right. So many people just assume that they're going to go to heaven. Maybe because they were brought up in a Christian home. Or maybe because they've been to church most of their lives. Or maybe because they think they live a good life. And they just assume, oh well of course I'll go to heaven. Only really bad people go to hell, they think. And so we need to examine ourselves, to ask ourselves, because it's so important. Don't just assume it. You need to check to see if this really is the case. Now the passage I read this morning from Matthew 7. Jesus is perhaps one of the most searching passages in the whole of Scripture. And it shows us that you can have a correct confession of Jesus as Lord. You can even have been involved in the service of God, even having apparently done great miracles and yet not have true saving faith. And so it really is important to consider what Jesus says here and for us to examine ourselves to see if we really are going to go to heaven when we die. So I'm going to just go through this passage and draw out some lessons for us from it. Now the first thing I want us to see is that an accurate confession of Jesus Christ as Lord is no proof of being a true Christian. You see, Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father, who is in Heaven. Now, of course, You can't be saved without confessing Jesus as Lord. To confess Christ as Lord is absolutely vital to be saved. And what does that mean? Well, it means that you're recognizing that He's God. That He's the very Son of God. Because the word Lord is the word that was used back when the Hebrews translated the Old Testament into Greek. What word did they use for Jehovah or Yahweh? They used the Greek word Kourios. So any Jew reading the Greek New Testament, they say Jesus is Lord. They know exactly what's being said. Jesus is Jehovah. Jesus is God. So it's a very strong confession. And it's a right confession. It's one we must make if we're to be saved. And if you don't confess Jesus as Lord, you certainly won't be saved. You know, there are people who say today, don't they, say, oh, it doesn't matter what religion you believe, as long as you're sincere. They say all the religions are all the same. They're like different paths that go up the same mountain. It's not what the Bible says. See, people say, oh, there's only one God. But they don't finish off the quotation, do they? There's only one God. Yes, the Bible says that, but it goes on to say, and only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. One God, but one mediator. Jesus said, didn't he, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Peter said, salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. So yes, to be sure, the person who denies that Jesus is Lord cannot be saved. You have to confess that he's Lord in order to be saved. Who is the liar, says John? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the Antichrist. he denies the Father and the Son. So the person who says, oh Jesus is just a prophet, well he's denying Christ, therefore he's denying the Father, therefore he's not going to go to paradise or to heaven. But Jesus warns us here that yes you must confess that he's Lord to be saved, to be sure, but that by itself does not necessarily mean that you are truly going to go to heaven. Do you know who made the most strong confessions of faith? The first and the most strong confessions of faith in Jesus? Do you know who it was? Read the Gospels, you'll find out. It was the demons. It was the demons. You are the Christ, the Son of God. They were the first ones to say it. Are they in paradise? No. James 2.19, you believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder. Now you see, here is a real danger for us, especially for those who are brought up in a Christian home. We thank God. We've heard great testimony of being brought up in a Christian home. What a blessing! Some of you, you know, might have a father and a grandfather and a great-grandfather. who are Christians. Thank God for that. But you see, the great danger is to say, well, I've got Christianity in my blood. It's running through my veins. Of course I'm a Christian, because we're in a Christian family. When I was young, I went to church. I went to Sunday school. I won the Sunday school prize many times over. I memorized scripture. But none of these things mean that you're necessarily going to go to heaven. Or what about the rest of us who haven't got Christian parents and grandparents, but maybe you go to church regularly. Oh, I'm always at church. Oh, I know the pastor. He's been to my house. I read my Bible every day. I know the hymns and I love to sing them. None of that means necessarily that you are truly going to go to heaven when you die. We need to examine ourselves. Now then, Jesus then goes on to the second thing which is even more searching. Because he says, the exercise of supernatural gifts is no proof that you truly are going to go to heaven. Now that's extraordinary, isn't it? If Jesus understood that, we would never have believed it, would we? But that's what he says. Just if you've got your Bible open there, just look now at verse 22. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? See, they've done these great supernatural works. And they obviously thought, well, of course I'm a Christian. I must be a Christian because I've prophesied in the name of Jesus. I've driven out demons in the name of Jesus. I've healed people in the name of Jesus and they got better. But you see the thing is that Jesus says that you can do all of these things and yet not be a true believer. You say, well how could that possibly be? Well, just think for a moment. Think about Judas Iscariot. When the disciples went out, Jesus gave them authority to cast out demons and to heal the sick. There's no indication whatsoever from the New Testament that Judas did not drive out demons and heal the sick. But where is Judas now? He's in Hades, waiting the final judgement. So we see this terrible warning. You might say, oh but I led somebody to Christ. quite possible. You could actually faithfully tell the gospel to somebody else and God might honour his word, not you, but honour his word by bringing that person to salvation and yet you yourself not be saved. Don't just assume that because you're involved in Christian work that somehow you are going to go to heaven when you die. See the element of surprise that's They say, Lord, Lord, did we, you know, did we not do these things? You know, they were absolutely, they were quite confident. No one was more surprised than they were on the final day when Jesus said, no, I never knew you. So we see then, first of all, that an accurate confession is no proof of being truly one of God's people. Secondly, we've seen that even doing great miracles and having great gifting is no proof of being a true believer. Well then, I want us to consider what was wrong with these people. Jesus says many, many will say on that day, what is wrong with these many? what is lacking? well he tells us in verse 23 he says then I will tell them plainly I never knew you away from me you evil doers so there's two problems there which all boil down to the same thing number one They never knew Jesus. And number two, they were evil doers, or the old translation says more accurately, workers of lawlessness. Just think about those. They never knew you. You see, this is the crucial thing. This is the great difference between somebody who is religious and somebody who is a true Christian. Let me give you just a little illustration. I know a little bit about David Cameron. I happen to know that he's the Prime Minister. I happen to know that he's married. And I know, you know, probably if I did a bit of research I could tell you a few more things about David Cameron. What school he went to, where he goes on holiday, etc, etc. Do I know David Cameron? Of course not. Does David Cameron know me? Of course not. If he saw, if I walked past him by, well of course I'd say hello to him because I would recognise him, but would he say hello to me? Of course not. He wouldn't have a clue who I was. I know about him, but I don't know him. There are a lot of people who know about God and who know about Jesus, who believe in God, who believe in Jesus, but they don't know God and they don't know Jesus. They don't have a personal relationship with him. See, Jesus said, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Know Now, we actually had a reading from Philippians chapter 3 and in that passage, in chapter 3, the apostle Paul who used to be Saul, remember the story, many of you will know the story, here was a man who was a very religious man. He would have been in synagogue every week, probably several times a week. He would have fasted. He would have prayed. He would have meticulously thought he was keeping the Ten Commandments and all of the other commandments in the Old Testament. But he didn't know Jesus. He had no relationship with Jesus. In fact, he hated Jesus. He was persecuting Christ and his people. And then he said later on in his life, But whatever was to my profit, I now consider lost for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ. and the power of his resurrection, sharing with him in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection of the dead. That's the essence of Christianity. It's to know Christ, not just believe in him, not just confess the truth about him, not just give an accurate account of the great doctrines of Christianity, but to know Christ. Let me ask you this question. Do you know Christ? Is He your Saviour? Is He your Lord? Is He your Shepherd? Your King? Your Friend? We sing don't we, what a Friend we have in Jesus. Can you honestly say that? Is Jesus your Friend? Do you actually depend on Jesus to get you to heaven? You see, this is the question, isn't it? The bottom line, what are you depending on to get you to heaven? So many people, they're depending on, oh I've been a good person, oh I believe in God, oh I go to church. Now just think about it, if you answer that way, Who are you really depending on? You're depending on yourself. But the true Christian says, it's not me, it's Jesus. He's the one, I just lean on Him, I just fall on Him, depend on Him to bring me to heaven. So, their problem was that they didn't know Christ. The other problem was that they didn't obey God. See, Jesus calls them, you evil doers. They claimed to believe the truth. They claimed to do miraculous works. But actually, they're still rebels. Now that's extraordinary, isn't it? But it's true. You can make an accurate confession and you can apparently serve God while all the time in your heart you've got rebellion against God. All the time you don't really love God at all. All the time actually you'd really like to be doing what your non-Christian friends are doing. You'd actually quite like to be going to those clubs and those discos and getting drunk and taking, but of course you can't because otherwise you'll lose face with your Christian friends, but your heart is there. Your heart is. And as you serve God, there's resentment. Why do I have to do all these things? No real love. No real heart obedience to Christ. Because the truth is that every one of us in our natural state is a rebel against God. That is the reality of it. Genesis 6 verse 5 says this, every inclination of the thoughts of his, that is man's heart, was only evil all the time. That's your heart and that's my heart in our natural state. Every inclination of our heart, only evil all the time. That's how we are. That's what we are, naturally speaking. Colossians says this, Colossians 1.21 says about unbelievers, they are alienated from God and enemies in their minds because of their evil behaviour. That's the condition of mankind. So our problem is that we're rebels. And being religious doesn't change it. Sometimes actually the worst rebels are the religious ones. Do you remember the Pharisees? Who were the ones who were most opposed to Jesus? It was the religious people. Because they were so proud of their self-righteousness and their sins were so subtle. Outwardly they were giving to God's work but inwardly they were full of pride and greed. They didn't enjoy giving, they wanted to keep their money. And so there was this subtle rejection and rebellion against God. That's the problem with these people, they had the show of being Christians but they weren't Christians. Paul talks about having the form of godliness but denying the power. They didn't have the reality. So then, we've seen then that having a correct confession of faith in Christ doesn't make you necessarily a true Christian. That being able to do amazing miracles doesn't necessarily make you a true Christian. Doesn't mean you're necessarily going to go to heaven. We've seen what the problem is with those who are false believers, that they don't know Christ and in fact in their hearts they're in rebellion against Christ. They're workers of evil, of lawlessness. Well what is the answer? Well, go back with me, if you've got your Bible open, go back with me to the second half of verse 21. In fact, we'll read verse 21 again. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Now somebody who knows this Bible, knows Christian doctrine, might be puzzled at that. Because you might say, I thought the Bible says we're saved by grace alone, not by works. But Jesus, he seems to be saying that it's by obeying God that you go to heaven. How do you reconcile it? Because after all, doesn't Paul say, it is by grace you're saved, through faith. And this not for yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not by works, so that no one can boast. So how come Jesus here says, The only person who's going to go to heaven is the person who does the will of his father, who is in heaven. Well, we have to understand what is the will of God. What is it that God wants you and me to do more than anything else? It's to repent of our sins and to believe on Jesus. That's what God wants you to do. That's his will for your life. People say, I want what God's will is for my life. I'll tell you what God's will for your life is. Repent and believe. Don't worry about your job and where you live and all that. That's irrelevant. The great thing is this. Repent and believe. You see, Paul said in Acts 17, he says this, in the past God overlooked such ignorance, that's the ignorance of worshipping idols, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. God is commanding you to repent. What does that mean to repent? It means you put your hand up and you say, it's me. I'm guilty. What you said about me, God, is true. You stop pretending you're not a sinner and you admit you've been a rebel. And you don't just confess your sin. but you turn from it. You say to God, God, I don't want to live this life of sin anymore. I don't have the power to change, but I trust you'll give me the power to change. I want to leave my old life behind. However I've been in rebellion against you, I want that to finish. I want to become a true servant of yours. So God's will is that we repent and that we believe. Jesus was once asked, what must we do to do the works that God requires? And he answered, John 6, 29, the work of God is this, to believe in the one he has sent. What does God want you to do? What you've got to do to do the will of God? You've got to believe in Christ. God, did you know that to believe is an act of obedience to God? That to refuse to believe is the ultimate act of rebellion against God? So God calls you, God calls me to repent and to believe and then having repented and having believed, then we go on to live a life of service to God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because you'll only truly repent and truly believe if you've been born again. And having been born again, you'll have the Holy Spirit and God will enable you to live a life of obedience to Him. And so you'll have a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. Because you now obey God from the heart. You now love serving God. You love being at church. You love telling people about Christ. You love to obey his commands. Because God is your Father. Jesus is your friend. He's your Saviour. And you want to serve Him. because he's conquered your heart. You're no longer the rebel you once were. You still fail, you still sin, you will still sin until your dying day, but there's a change that's happened in your heart. You're no longer the rebel you were. You're now fundamentally in submission to God because your heart has been renewed. And it's only those whose hearts have been renewed who will enter the kingdom of heaven. That's why Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. If you're not born again, you will not see the kingdom of God, he said. You've got to be born again. You've got to be changed. That rebellion has got to be dealt with. And you can't deal with it. But go to God and say to God, God, I've been a rebel. I'm in trouble. Please will you change my heart? And the promise of God is that he will give the Holy Spirit to everyone who asks. So, come to Him. So, what have we been saying today? We need to examine ourselves to see if we really are members of the Kingdom of Heaven. To see if we really are going to go to Heaven when we die. 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5 says this, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. So, What we've seen today is you should not rely on the fact that you can make an accurate confession that Jesus is the Lord. That does not necessarily mean that you're a true Christian. You should not rely even on having had supernatural gifting to do great miracles. You shouldn't rely on having, quotes, prayed the sinner's prayer. People who pray the sinner's prayer haven't got a clue what they're doing. They haven't got any idea. And then somebody says, now you're a Christian, now you're born again because you pre-repeated these words after me. Not at all. Not at all. If their heart has not been renewed, they're still dead in their sins. There's got to be that rebirth. So ask yourself, do I truly know Jesus? Am I truly in submission to God? Have I truly been born again? And if you're not sure, then come to God. Do you know you could be saved right now? you can go out of this room a saved person you can go to this room on your way to heaven never looking back ever again right now you can come to Christ and I would urge you to do that with all my heart because you don't know if tomorrow you might have an accident or you might be struck down by some mystery illness or Christ might come back and it'll be too late but today Come to Christ. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. Come to him. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to be saved. So I urge you, in the name of Christ, come. The door is open. Whoever you are, You know, you might have been a rebel for 60, 70 years, holding out against God. You can still come. You might have murdered somebody. You might have committed some horrible sexual sin or done some other ghastly thing. The blood of Jesus is able to pay for it. There's no sin he cannot pay for. The only sin he will not pay for is the sin of refusing to be paid. Every sin is paid for. The door is wide open, whoever you are, come and he will save you, wash all your sins away and give you a new heart. Come to him, I urge you. So what we're going to do now is we're going to just have a few moments of prayer where each one of us can just examine our own hearts before God and you just ask yourself that question, am I a Christian? and if you've got any doubts at all come to Christ, ask him to save you and if you need any help or advice try and catch me later on in the day or send an email to the church or phone the church and ask to see me, I'd be so happy to talk with you more about Christ but let's just have a few moments of quiet as we just examine ourselves