And we're gonna be looking at 2 Kings, not entirely. We're gonna be looking at 2 Kings five, and we're gonna begin reading at verse 20. We're gonna read through to the end of chapter five. In 2 Kings 5, we have a notable example of the servant of the prophet Elisha coming out and proving himself to be, I suppose we could say, not all that he appeared to be. And then we're gonna go from there to Matthew 7. coming in so I'll give people a moment to sit down. But it's a long day, so try and make me. All right, 2 Kings 5, beginning at verse 20. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman the Syrian in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. But as the Lord liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat of him. So Gehazi followed after Naaman, and when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from off the chariot to meet him, and said, is all well? And he said, all is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from Mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver and two changes of garments. And Naaman said, Be content to take two talents, and he urged them. and bound two talents of silver in two bags and two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants, and they bare them before him. And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand and bestowed them in the house, and he let the men go, and they departed. But he went in and stood before his master, and Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? servant went no whither. And he said unto him, went not mine heart with thee when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money and to receive garments and olive yards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and men servants and maidservants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and unto thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper, as white as snow. It's interesting that Gehazi here represents really sort of a good picture of hypocrisy, right? Because Elisha, after he healed Naaman, he wasn't asking for anything of Naaman. But Gehazi realized that Naaman was willing to give something, in order so that he could get something to profit for himself. It's interesting, in the previous chapter, and this isn't necessarily our subject, there's the woman whose son has died, chapter four, she comes to Gehazi. And she, Gehazi asked her, is all well? And she says, all is well. And she's not totally being honest, but it seems almost like she doesn't want anything to do with Gehazi. Because Elisha tells Gehazi to go and to try and go heal her son. He gives him his staff, right? And the woman, she doesn't go back with Gehazi. She rather waits on the prophet Elisha to go. It seems like that woman might have, dare I say anticipated or known a little something more of Gehazi's hypocrisy than Elisha did, but he certainly proves himself to be a hypocrite. And so it's just an interesting story, but if we could flip now over to Matthew chapter seven, Matthew chapter seven, the end, of course, of the sermon on the mount. And there we will read We'll read the entirety of the chapter, it's not that long. Matthew chapter 7, beginning with the first verse. Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet. it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote of thine eye, and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, First, cast out the beam, or cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moat of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you, "'Ask, and it shall be given you. "'Seek, and ye shall find. "'Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. "'For everyone that asketh receiveth, "'and he that seeketh findeth, "'and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. "'Or what man is there of you, "'whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law, and the prophets "'Enter ye in the straight gate, for wide is the gate, "'and broad is the way which leadeth to destruction, "'and many there be which go in thereat, "'because straight is the gate and narrow is the way "'which leadeth unto eternal life, "'and few be there that find it.'" Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which buildeth his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man. which built his house upon the sand, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority, not as the scribes. As the Lord would enable us, our text for this A particular talk will be Matthew 7, verses 21 to 23. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. My friends, this is a very sober subject that is before us, but it's something I think is necessary. When you're looking at the doctrine of conversion, you have to understand something, and that is that conversion is the true work of God, but Satan strives to produce counterfeits. So in the same way that perhaps we might have heard of the police looking at counterfeit money and trying to detect what makes it different, we're going to try to look at the idea of counterfeit conversion and see what makes it different. We're gonna see, hopefully, what some of the key differences are between a true work of God's grace in someone's life Now let me be very clear, I don't use that word hypocrite lightly. And I'm not trying to address you all as hypocrites or call you hypocrites. But again, when you're dealing with conversion, I think we have a duty to look at Satan's counterfeit. And I think we have a particular duty to ask ourselves, has God worked? in our lives, or could it be that we are not walking with the Lord Jesus Christ? And I know, again, that's a very sobering thing, and it's not something that's perhaps pleasant, but the Apostle Paul puts it to the church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 13, five, when he asks them, or when he commands them, really, exhorts them to examine themselves and see whether they be in the faith. And so that's what I would like you all to do this evening as we look at this, is to see whether you be in the faith first and then secondarily, to the Lord's people, to the Christians, I know that there are many problems. Let me put it this way, I know that many of you have had people that you thought were genuinely converted, that you love, that you cared for, that have seemingly walked away from the faith. All of a sudden, it looked like they were walking with the Lord, and then they proved that that was not the case. And I think we're gonna see some of the telltale signs of this, and we're gonna come away with a better idea of just why and how this happens. So we're gonna look at our text in three points. Our first point is a false profession, a false profession. Our second point is gifts but no grace, gifts but no grace. And our third point is the hypocrite told to depart, the hypocrite told to depart. So let's begin first with a false profession. It's interesting in Matthew 7 verse 21, the Lord Jesus opens by saying that not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. And the words here, when Jesus says not everyone that saith unto him, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, he's speaking of an outward profession. He's saying that there will be those that outwardly profess Him to be Lord, that profess Him to be Savior, that would profess Him, as we saw this morning, to be the Lord Jesus Christ, and they shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. And that is a very sobering thought, isn't it? It's a very sobering idea that there will be some, Congregation, I mean no offense by this, but I'm an honest man, I want to be an honest man. There are probably some even in our midst now who say Lord, Lord, and they are not walking with the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's not an ill judgment on your congregation, it's an understanding of the visible church. It's an understanding that the church visible is a mixed multitude and we have to preach to it as a mixed multitude. So Jesus says this great reality. And the first thing I want to impress upon you is this idea that those that call him Lord, Lord, will not enter into the kingdom of heaven, but those that have a profession of faith, or seemingly outwardly profess with their mouths and will not enter into the kingdom of heaven is not a foreign idea in the scriptures. It's something that is sort of throughout the scriptures. If you look later in Matthew chapter 13 and you look at the parable of the sower, you realize that the gospel is sown and that the gospel is sown by a sower, and the sower is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the gospel, of course, represents the seed. And as that gospel goes forth, as that gospel seed is sown, it's cast on different types of ground. and three of the four grounds in which that seed is sown prove not ultimately to bring forth saving gospel faith. And so we understand that in the parable of the sower, right? We see that. Another good example would be the parable of the 10 virgins, which maybe is even more terrifying because of the implication it presents. You have the Lord Jesus coming, as the bridegroom. And you have those 10 that profess to be espoused to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do we find? We find that they all have the lamp, and that is their outward profession of faith. And they are all those that Jesus, speaking of in Matthew 7, that they call him Lord. And what happens? Well, five have oil, and five Do not. And I think there's a good argument that the oil there is somewhat representative of the spirit of God. So five have the work of the Holy Spirit and five merely have the lamp, the profession. So those that Jesus are speaking of that say Lord, Lord, while it's not foreign to the scriptures, What exactly is he speaking of? So if we put it this way, what do these people that profess and say, Lord, Lord, with their mouths, what do they look like? Well, I'll give you a scriptural example. First off, We've read of Gehazi and I'm also thinking of Simon Magus in Acts chapter eight. Simon has a wonderful profession of faith. It seems that he has been converted from the darkness of basically pagan magic to Christianity and it turns out that really he was only in pursuit of what Christianity could give him. But the scriptural word for Simon Magus, Gehazi, the five foolish virgins, word for them is hypocrites, hypocrites. The idea of a hypocrite really is someone, and the word is actually based on this, someone that is playing a part, they're basically like an actor. So if you wanna think about it like this, the inward work of the Holy Spirit is not happening in the hypocrite. We've looked at how the Spirit of God comes in effectual calling and renews the sinner, how he draws the sinner to himself. This morning we looked at what it meant to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And dear congregation, The hypocrite says they've done that, but they don't have that work. And there are two types of hypocrites. The first type, and I'm getting this from William Perkins' commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. William Perkins, of course, the father of English Puritanism. Perkins gives two types of hypocrites. The first. is the gross hypocrite, the gross hypocrite. And that is the one that has no reason, really, to call themselves a Christian. They are one that if you look on their outward life, there is no, there's nothing resembling adorning fruit to their profession. They are those that would call themselves a Christian, but live like the world. But Perkins has a second category. And it's this second category of hypocrite that I think Jesus is particularly speaking of here in Matthew 7. And that is what he calls the close hypocrite. The close hypocrite. And the close hypocrite, my friends, is one that has a credible profession of faith. They give no outward appearance of ungodliness. If you were to put it this way, they are not those that are living in any form of outward sin. There's nothing by which they may be reproached. And visibly and outwardly, they appear to be those that are walking in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you think about the evidences that the close hypocrite may bring forth, there are a few. And I think they are pretty significant. For example, one who is a close hypocrite might have quite a sound and good understanding of Christian doctrine. And we see that throughout the scriptures, right? And we need to understand that all of the doctrine we know must be sanctified to us by the Holy Spirit. The close hypocrite is not ignorant of true doctrinal knowledge. Secondly, The close hypocrite, and this I think is a very sobering one, the close hypocrite can also have some counterfeit fruits of the Spirit. Now they're counterfeit, they're not true. But again, if you look back at Matthew 13, It's the one that receives the seed into stony places that receives that seed with joy. And we later see in Galatians chapter five that joy is a fruit of the Spirit, but somehow, in some way, the hypocrite, the seed that falls on the stony ground, it's met with joy. I think that's a pretty clear indication to us that the close hypocrite can bring counterfeit evidences of the Spirit's work. The third thing I would say that you can see very clearly is from Hebrews 6, that those that make this profession are not only have doctrinal knowledge, thank you very much. Not only do they have doctrinal knowledge, but they are those that would claim to have tasted of God's salvation. They are those we read in Hebrews 6, four, who have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and then tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. And I wanna emphasize that to you. That when we speak about them partaking of the Holy Ghost, they're those that the Spirit has worked on in a common way. They're those that the Spirit of God has brought, for example, some measure of conviction of sin to. They're those, for example, like looking back at Matthew 13, that have had joy when they have received of God, and they also, perhaps, know something, perhaps know something of even the goodness of God. As we read in Hebrews six, verse five, I shouldn't say perhaps, but what I'm trying to say is they've tasted of the good word of God. They have some delight in God's word. Now, I'm not saying any of this, by the way, to scare you. That's not my objective here. But I am trying to get us to soberly understand that the close hypocrite is really just that, very close to the kingdom of God. So understanding that, I think we have to go back to our theology, right? So we understand there's close hypocrites, we understand there's hypocrisy, there's those that play the act, but the question sort of rises up in our own minds if we look at Romans 10, verse 10, where it speaks about professing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and how salvation comes by that. So are we saying that it is not merely enough to profess the name of the Lord Jesus? If we could put it this way, does the exalting of Christ with the mouth, does the confession of the Lord Jesus Christ as one's righteousness and Savior, is that not enough? It goes back, if we look this morning, to those three categories. We're looking at true faith, right? So you first, you have knowledge or notions, and then you have assent. Well, it's quite possible, for one, with the first two types of that, the first two steps, if you will, in that three-fold understanding of faith, to make a It's quite possible for them to make a credible profession of faith, a seemingly outwardly credible profession. And so dear congregation, as we look at this, we have to understand that it is, again, our duty to examine ourselves, but notice What Christ is driving at here? He goes on and he says, look, you are not doing the will of my Father. And I think that's key. And it invites us to look at James chapter two, verses 17 to 18, right? Where the apostle James famously says that our faith is shown by our works. It's not to say we're justified by works, but it's to say that true, and saving faith is always accompanied by good works. As I like to say to my own congregation, where the gospel takes root, there's always fruit. Every time someone believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, there is always a resultant fruit, or there's resultant good works as fruit. It's the way that it works. But these hypocrites, they don't have true gospel fruit in their lives. They have something that looks very similar. And Christ presses this home by saying that they do not do the will of his father. Right, there are congregations where the Lord Jesus says what that, that those that go to the kingdom of heaven is him that doeth the will of his Father which is in heaven. And I think it's one of the key aspects of this is to look at things like repentance, right? So if you want to really know how the godly live their lives, they live lives of repentance. There's a cutting off of sin, there's a mortification of sin, there is a separating themselves from the world, there is a love to God's commandments. Think about it. He that doeth the will of my Father. That's the one that enters into the kingdom of God. Well, what is God's revealed will? It's his word. What is the first and greatest commandment? To love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. So in the Christian, they're stirred up. Because if we understand that if we love the Lord Jesus as he says, then we will keep his commandments. And that if our faith, true and saving faith, necessarily brings forth good works, necessarily if the gospel takes root, there's fruit. And the Lord Jesus, just before our passage, said that every tree that bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn down and cast in a fire. And he said, even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. I ask you, it's one thing for you to say, Lord, Lord, today. It's another thing for us to look and ask, do you do the will of your heavenly Father? If we were to look at the fruit, what type of fruit, frankly, is really being brought forth in your life? Because this is one of the marks that we see that the Lord Jesus gives us. And it's one of the things that we can't know if the Spirit's truly working, but we can see the fruit that is brought forth by the Spirit of God. I do think Jesus gives us a very insightful clue. This leads us into our second point, where the Lord Jesus speaks of how they will try to justify themselves. He said that they'll say, Lord, Lord, And they'll say, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. There's three things given there. And I want us to look at those three things from two different vantage points, from two different vantage points. The first vantage point is this, that they are trying So they are coming before the Lord Jesus Christ on the day of judgment and dear congregation, instead of saying that there is no good in them, that they are standing in need of the external righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rather, they look to their own good works, and they try to lay them before God. And they try to come before God, and they try to say, Lord, before the Lord Jesus Christ, I say, Lord Jesus, do you not see what I've done in your name, am I not worthy? My friend, when you think about the sobering reality that one day you will die, when you read Hebrews 9, 27, a man dies and he shall be judged. When you come before the bar of God's judgment, when you appear, as it were, in that heavenly courtroom, what do you think is going to save you? And if the question was to be put to you, why should you enter into the kingdom of heaven, what would your answer be? Honestly, what would it be? Would you say, Lord, I've been church-going all my life. I've given money to the church. I've sent my children to a Christian school. I've strived to stay away from the world and all of its works, and I donated much money to various causes for the furtherance of the gospel, and look at what I've done. Or rather, will you come before the Lord Jesus Christ and say, Lord Jesus, I am not worthy apart from the imputation of your righteousness and the free forgiveness of sins. Which is it? And you might say, oh, that's a hard question. You might say, you might even be thinking this is a church group. Is that a fair question? Well, my friend, it's frankly really the only question that matters. I mean, I'm not trying not to be fair to you. I'm not trying to scare you. I'm trying to ask you to think about eternity because this life is fleeting, it is momentary, and every one of us will die. And we do not know when the Lord will take us. Man labors now under a broken covenant of works. And what we read here is that very idea. There is the rubble, if you will, of this broken covenant of works. And these men, they come to that rubble and they try to cobble something together and to put the Lord's name on it and to bring it before the Lord Jesus and say, is this not pleasing in your sight? And really, what does the Lord Jesus see? He sees a bunch of dead sinners in their trespasses and sins bringing forth garbage to him. that will ultimately condemn them because they never looked outside of themselves to the free offer of God's grace in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second angle that we can look at what these, the three things that these hypocrites offer to the Lord Jesus Christ is from the vantage of Gifts versus graces. Gifts versus graces. And this is, I think, what is absolutely most interesting. And I confess to you, my friends, when I actually had this put in front of me, my mind was blown away. They say, have we not prophesied in thy name? Have we not cast out devils? Have we not done many wonderful works? Everything that they are listing are not graces worked in them by the Holy Spirit, but rather they are gifts. And they're either given by the Spirit of God in providence, right? So you think about prophesying, someone who's a talented preacher, that frankly means nothing. Many people are blessed to be good communicators. It's a gift, it's not a grace. The Holy Spirit can make a gift, he can sanctify it to you and use it for the edification of the church, but merely, for example, being able to preach is not in and of itself any sign of God's work in the life of someone. Secondly, we're not cast out devils. I think there's a pretty stark example here of both preaching and casting out devils, and that's Judas. Judas gave no, seemingly from the scriptural narrative, he gave no occasion really to his other disciples on the basis of the works that he did with them that he was in fact a hypocrite. He was able to cast out devils all the same. And then lastly, they say, have we in thy name not done many wonderful works? That, I think, is really them saying, have we not taken the gifts that we have and done wonderful things for you, Lord? Gifts are given by the Spirit of God, but they're common. All of humanity has various gifts. Now graces are something entirely different. And what really impressed this to me was the Westminster Divine, Anthony Burgess, he has two volumes of sermons on true and false conversion. And he's dealing with this topic of gifts versus graces, and he comes to 1 Corinthians 13, and I confess to you that I'd never really thought about this until he pointed it out. But Paul, in the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13, he says, though I speak with tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass or a tinkling He says, and though I have the gift of prophecy and understanding all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith that I could remove mountains and have not charity, have nothing. The Apostle Paul is contrasting for us graces and gifts. The Apostle Paul is saying that gifts are a wonderful thing, but he's saying ultimately, one needs this grace of love. And I've seen many Christians, and I'm sure you're familiar with it, and I tell you, when I give you the hypothetical, you're gonna say, oh yeah, I've seen it, right? Some great Christian speaker, some great Christian faith leader, it turns out to be a total hypocrite, he's an adulterer, whatever it might be, and all of a sudden, everybody's looking back and they're saying, but he was such a great preacher! You're looking at his gifts and not his graces, friends. You cannot justify someone's wickedness on the basis of the gifts that they have. You have to look at the graces that the Spirit of God works in them. So you say, all right, tell me, what are these graces that the Spirit works in you or in me? Well, understand that When one comes to faith, you're brought into union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And out of that union with the Lord Jesus Christ, you get John 15, he says, I am the vine, and his people are the branches, right? And so Christianity, think again, like a vine, Christianity doesn't grow natively in the soil of our hearts. Use that cliche expression I have, where the gospel takes root, it brings forth fruit. So the idea is this. that if one is in true union with the Lord Jesus Christ, that the Spirit of God will work in them certain graces that they otherwise could not have. Now, be warned, the devil loves to try to counterfeit these things, but what are some of these graces? For example, repentance, repentance. That is a grace that is worked in you by the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, repentance is a free gift of God's grace in that it's given, but it's not an ordinary gift. It must be God that gives it, and it's something that continues with the Christian for the rest of their life. The Christian is constantly living a life of repentance. You think also of Galatians chapter five, and there, of course, we have many gifts enumerated, the famous fruits of the Holy Spirit. And we see, for example, that there's love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith. All of these things are worked in the Christian by the Holy Spirit. Faith, of course, Paul tells us in Ephesians 2, is a gift of God. Not that it's not a grace. The distinction between a gift and a grace, by the way, is a gift exists among ordinary men. A gift is something that's commonly given to all men. A grace is a gift, but it's worked by the Spirit of God in the heart of God's people. which you see there, there are all of these wonderful graces. And notice, by the way, how Paul contrasted, right? So you have these works of the flesh in verses 19 through 21, and now the Christian, they cast aside these works of the flesh, and all of a sudden, the fruits of the Spirit become more and more dominant in their life. At least, that is the idea. Can I ask you, is your life dominated by the bringing forth of fruit, of true Christian graces? When you look at these fruits of the spirit, How do you stack up? And I'm not trying to draw you to your works. I'm not trying to draw you to your works, but I'm trying to encourage you to take an honest assessment and to understand again that true Christianity brings forth fruit. And when you think of yourself, do you see more of the ordinary gifts in your the spirit of God, things like repentance unto life, things like joy, the right kind of joy, right? Things like being long-suffering with your brethren, being long-suffering in the midst of difficult providences of God, things like gentleness, faith, of course, meekness. Those sorts of things characterize you want The Lord Jesus says very plainly, that by your fruits you shall know them. So my friend, may I ask you, if you look at the fruit that you bring forth, are you an evil tree that brings forth evil fruit, or are you a good tree that brings forth good fruit? To be honest, in a sense, I say that with no pride, because you don't have to answer that to me. To be honest, you don't even have to like me answering the question, or asking the question, but you do need to be able to answer it before the Lord, honestly. What are you bringing forth? What is your Christian life like? Now, I suppose if we move from that vantage point, we come to the very sobering fate of these hypocrites. Our third point. The sobering fate of these hypocrites. And it's really a very sad thing. I suppose in a sense. And I say it's sad because I want you to understand I see myself and you should see yourself no better than these hypocrites. It's but by the grace of God. and he tells them that he never knew them, and they are to depart from him because they are workers of iniquity, because secretly their works, the fruit they bring forth, are not the fruits of the spirit, but they're the fruits of the devil, they're evil trees, and they bring forth good fruit. If you think about what the Lord Jesus says when he says, I never knew you, to the true Christian, that's a very sobering statement. If we go back to one of the Old Testament types of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is the high priest, right? And the high priest, when he entered into the Holy of Holies, he was wearing a breastplate, and on that breastplate were written the names of the tribes of Judah, and it shows the spiritual reality that the Lord Jesus Christ has his people's names engraved upon his heart, that he knew his people when he went to atone for their sins, that he was dying for an elect and finite number, that there's an intimacy there between the Savior So can you imagine for a moment understanding that with Jesus? Jesus says, I never knew you. He's basically saying to them that you are not of my people, that you are not my sheep, that I did not die for you, and that you're trying to bring before me your good works. And your good works are nothing. And therefore, you are not workers of God's works, not bringers forth of good fruit, but rather workers of iniquity. But I would put to you that the true Christian, the true Christian has this intimacy with the Lord. And the true Christian knows the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, we read John 10, the Lord Jesus tells us that. That the sheep know and they hear his voice and they respond to it, right? The hypocrite has never heard that voice. The hypocrite has no union, no intimacy with Christ. They have their gifts and they have their works, and that's it, and ultimately, they're separated from the Lord Jesus. Now, when the Lord Jesus separates these hypocrites from himself, When the Lord Jesus sets apart the clean and the unclean, as it were, he's doing it with a sense of finality. He is doing it, and he's going to cast them into hell. But tonight, I think there's something different about this. I'm not casting or setting aside, I'm not separating clean and unclean with any sort of finality. Rather, I'm trying to illustrate clean and unclean. And here's the good news, that the Lord Jesus Christ, if any of you in our midst are unclean, he calls out to you. And he says that now that we've separated the clean and the unclean, come to me and repent. The Lord Jesus wants no hypocrites in his church. The Lord Jesus has no desire. My friend, if you find yourself not bringing forth good fruit, the Lord Jesus has no desire for you to carry on in that way, but rather he would call upon you to repent and believe his gospel, to respond to his gracious overtures in faith. He's coming to you tonight. as he does in Revelation chapter three. He's knocking on the door and he's saying, behold, if any man will let me in, I will come in and suck with him. The Lord Jesus Christ is a savior that comes to his church and he loves his church and he wants to purify his church. And he wants those that profess his name to live their lives in accord with what he presents and he gives you grace to do that. Don't stand apart from it. Don't try to stand on your own good works. Because when you do that, you will ultimately be cast aside. And going back to Gehazi, before Gehazi went after Naaman, of course. Naaman the leper was healed of his leprosy. But there's something there in that chapter that is absolutely, I think, profound. And what happens is Naaman goes to Elisha, and Elisha tells him, look, if you want to be healed, you've gotta bathe in the Jordan, seven times. And Naaman gets sort of uppity about it. He says, are not the rivers of Syria and Damascus better than the Jordan? And ultimately, it's Naaman's servants that persuade him to use the appointed means of God for his healing. But Naaman, at first blush, at first glance, he's all too content to cling to his own sinful works. He wants to go his own way. He says, there's God's appointed means, and that is bathing in the Jordan. He says, but I think, but I think bathing in the rivers of Syria are just as good I'm afraid that's what these hypocrites would have thought. They wouldn't have seen their need for the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, but rather they would have thought that their own works, that the gifts that they had been given, that that made them worthy, and instead of going to God's appointed means, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, as their Savior, and believing in Him, they clung. the covenant of works. They chose the waters of Syria and Damascus over the waters of the Jordan. They chose their own way over the Lord's way. My dear friend, don't make that mistake. Don't put your trust in your gifts. Don't put your trust in your profession and merely say that I know that Jesus is the Savior. Go to Christ as His appointed means. Close with Christ in faith. Believe on Him as He calls us to in the gospel. And then what will you see? You will see these graces that we read about in the New Testament scriptures in places like Galatians 5 and 1 Corinthians 13. These graces don't become abstract, but they become reality for you because they are brought forth by the Spirit of God. by simply saying that hypocrisy, particularly, as Perkins calls it, close hypocrisy, is a real and present danger in the New Testament church. And that's a very sobering thing. And don't think I'm standing above you saying it's as sobering for me as it is for you, because I know that I rely a lot on my gifts and very seldom on my graces when I think about myself. But it's sobering for me, it's sobering for you. So let's think about the need of examining ourselves. Let's think about what hypocrisy looks like, dear friends, and let's, if we think that there's any hypocrisy Let's pray. O Most High and Ever Blessed One, O Lord, we are sinners. And O God, we have a terrible temptation to justify ourselves. And O Lord, if we're honest, It's not always well with us. Lord, we have a sobering reminder in the scriptures of those that are called. Those that are, I shouldn't say called, Lord, but those that profess the name of the Lord Jesus and ultimately they're found wanting, they're found lacking. And may it not be the case with us. But rather, Lord, though there are many called and few chosen, may we all come in to the straight gate and enter upon that narrow way. And, O Lord, will you please have mercy upon us, and will you please, O Lord, bring out the hypocrites in our midst and save them from their sins. And we pray, O Lord, that we would understand that the work of conversion is a miracle, that it's a work that is Glorious, and therefore Satan desires desperately to counterfeit it in order to lead confusion, or lead to confusion for the sheep and to cause all manner of problems in the church. We pray that you would bless this word and you would forgive us of our sins. Thanks guys. I think dinner at six. We'll do dinner at six.