Our scripture reading this evening comes to us from Matthew 7. Matthew 7 found on page 961. As Pastor Justin and I discussed how we would address Lord's Day 7 as we work through the catechism, it was decided that trying to do all of it in one sermon would cause for either a very surface sermon or it would be very, very long. So instead, we're focusing on just question and answer 20 this evening, and Lord willing, next week we will continue on with the rest of the Lord's Day. So, Matthew 7 will be our scripture reading, and when we're done with that, we will turn in our Forms and Prayers book. Matthew chapter 7. Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, while all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do not give dogs what is sacred. Do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet and then turn and tear you to pieces. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For anyone who asks, receives. He who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" Excuse me. or if he asks for a fish, we'll give him a snake. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the law and the prophets. enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit, you will recognize them. 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 evildoers. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching because He taught as one who had authority, not as their teachers of the law. Turn with me, if you will, to your Forms and Prayers book to page 208. As I said, we'll just be looking at question and answer 20 this evening. So I will ask the question and I would ask that you all respond with the answer with me. Page 208, Lord's Day 7, question and answer 20. The question says, are all people then saved through Christ just as they were lost through Adam? The answer is no. Only those are saved who through true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all His benefits. Brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, as we come to the beginning of Lord's Day 7, we continue in the second portion of the Heidelberg Catechism entitled Our Deliverance. As we've been working through the last number of weeks, we started at the beginning, we learned about our comfort, and then we jumped right into the first section of the catechism of our sin and our guilt. As we've continued on, we've seen how because of our immense sin and guilt before a perfect and righteous God, we needed a mediator. A very specific mediator who we learned about a few weeks ago, last time I was up here. We learned about how that mediator had to be perfect God and true and righteous man in order to fulfill the necessary requirements to pay for our sins. We saw the beautiful promises woven through Scripture, how this mediator was promised all the way from the beginning, all the way back in the Garden of Eden. God was not caught by surprise by man's sin, but He had already a plan in place to provide a perfect mediator for us. Now in Lord's Day 7, the authors ask a very difficult question. Who exactly is delivered through this mediator? Who is it that is included in the salvation that is bought by Christ's precious blood? Is it the entire world? Is everybody saved just as everybody sinned? Is it just a free gift that you have to do nothing to get? Or is it just a select few people, a very specific few, who attains perfection here on earth? There are those who would say yes. They believe that as life goes on, we achieve a sort of perfection here on earth. And that's how you know that you're saved. Are we as reformed Christians, are we being too stingy with God's grace when we say that the elect are saved? This question we're gonna look at tonight is not a very joyful one at the beginning. It's not one that everybody loves to hear about at the beginning. It seems that everyone in the world has their own opinion about heaven and hell and who gets to go there. And when it comes to sharing our view, our biblical view on this, it's not very popular to go out into the world and tell people that unless they turn to Christ as their only hope of salvation, they will spend an eternity paying the price for their sins. That will not win you a lot of friends. In fact, it shouldn't even be something we take great joy in either. We should be saddened by the fact that there will be those who do not make it into heaven. So what is the proper way for us to view this Lord's Day? What is the proper way to see the scope of Christ's work on the cross? Well, it might seem like a no-brainer, but it has to be biblical. It has to be firmly grounded in Scriptures, because if we do not firmly ground our argument directly in Scriptures, then all we have done is proposed an entirely new set of man's opinions. And because man's opinions are simply that man's opinions, then they carry as much weight as everybody else's opinions. So first of all, we must have our foundation in Scriptures. And as we look at the Lord's Day, I think that we are encouraged to look at a two-pronged way of looking at it. First of all, we have to acknowledge that there is, according to the sovereign plan of God, one way. There are those who will not find it. But secondly, we keep ourselves from becoming arrogant or prideful by recognizing that we are only in through the gracious and secure work of Jesus Christ. The main theme of our sermon tonight, the point that I hope to get across is that only a biblical understanding of salvation in Christ protects against either universalism, anger, or anxiety. We're going to have just two points tonight. The first point is the righteous and the just reality of hell. The second point is a lot more encouraging, and it's the gracious security of salvation. But in order to fully appreciate the grace of salvation, we do have to acknowledge the fact that there is hell. The catechism answers this question with the first word, no. Is everybody included? No. It's a word that not many of us like to hear. I know as a child, I didn't like to hear that. I think the kids can probably agree with me on that. When you want something, you want to be included in something. Getting told no is not our favorite thing. But this no here carries even more weight than no, you can't have a candy before we go into church. Given the context that it is found in, this no carries a weight that infuriates people. It brings about anger. Incredible amounts of anger in the world. Because it carries the weight of all of our sin against a perfect and eternal God. That word means that there are sinners who will not repent, they will not turn to God, and they will spend an eternity paying for it in the fires of hell. That word means that just because somebody is a good person, who is loved by all of their friends and family, nobody has a bad thing to say about them, but they do not know Christ. That person will stand before a righteous and a just God, And they will have to give an account for every word. And they will not have the blood of Christ to claim as their own. This is an extremely heavy topic. This is not something that we bring, we just find ourselves drawn to because the comfort and joy that this specific portion brings to us. But this word is necessary. This word is a shot over the bow, if you will, to the world, saying that not everyone is in. Not everything goes. There is one truth. There is one life. There is one door. And if you choose to pursue your salvation through another one, then be warned. You see, brothers and sisters, ever since the age of enlightenment and the age of reason in our history, mankind has decided that because we have come to age, as it were, as humanity, that we now have the ability to come up with the answers for ourselves. We have the ability now to determine through our logic, through our reasoning, what it is that is true, what is right, what is believable. We don't need any more myths and fairy tales that are found in the Old Testament. Those were simply used in the old times. They were used to, you know, scare people into submission. We know better now. We have science. Science can prove to us what is true. We can test everything. We don't need this, all this Old Testament judgment and damnation stuff. That was just used to keep the children of Israel in line. It doesn't apply to us anymore. We've reached a point where we're smart enough. We know better. So let's not worry about that anymore. Mankind with his newfound ability of reason is now, we know better. In our apologetics class, we would be told that that is the magisterial use of reason. That's when we praise man's reason over God. We are never supposed to be there. We should always have what is called a ministerial use of reason, which means it is below God. When we decide that we know better, our mind is smart enough, then we need to read Romans 1, verses 21-23, which I will read for you now. Paul writes here, For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God, nor gave thanks to Him. But their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. and exchange the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. All throughout history, mankind, especially in the last couple hundred years, has decided that we can fix all of the problems that are presented by Scripture's truths. The ones that we don't like, we can explain them away through our intellect and through our scientific experiments, through our logic. We've got it covered. One of those pesky little problems that mankind has sought to get rid of is the doctrine of hell. Mankind's view of fair and just and good, when it is fallen and unregenerate, cannot come to grips with the reality that what man sees as good is not what God sees as good. Man, in his attempt to deny his sinfulness and limit his need for a Savior, doesn't want to follow the words of Scripture. The words of Scripture say that there is one way, that is through Christ. But instead, mankind comes up with a new standard, one that's more fair. It doesn't offend anybody. It is wide and it is gracious, it is open. And brothers and sisters, what does the Bible say about the way that is wide, that a lot of people find? It says that it leads to damnation. Remember what we said at the outset. What we are going to believe concerning heaven and hell and its occupants has to be found outside of man's opinions or man's preferences. What is true about who goes to heaven and hell has to be found in what is written in Scripture. What is found in Scripture is quite different than what mankind believes. I saw recently that Ligonier did their state of theology in the United States survey. The findings of it were terrifying. Over 70% of the people surveyed, this is evangelicals as well as people just anywhere. Over 70% of people think that most people are simply good by nature. Over 70% of people think that God accepts the worship of all religions equally. And over 70% of people do not think that small sins deserve eternal damnation. We live in a world where everyone gets a participation trophy, not just in sports, but also in life. That is the general consensus of the culture around us. But that is not what the Bible says. The Bible does not say you get in just because you showed up. It does not say that no matter what you have done, Jesus will accept you with no repentance needed. Should we join the ranks of all the churches we drive past who are affirming, who are welcoming with no requirement for change, no requirement to put off the old man and to put on the new? Pompton Plains Reformed Bible Church. No judgment here. May that never be the case. While we welcome in sinners, we do not encourage them to stay in their sins. We are a hospital for broken people. And that means we seek to help them get well, not keep them in the position that they are in. We do not sacrifice our identity as the body of Christ in order to be popular. If we affirm sin and we encourage disobedience to God's law, we may no longer claim the title of Church of Christ. When we ignore sin and we simply affirm the sinner, then we only serve to obscure the gospel and we hold back from them the truth that they need in order to find eternal life. The Bible calls us to something very much different. We are called to put to death the idol of popularity and being hip or woke, I think is the new word, in order to give only the remedy that can save dying sinners. We find in scripture a stark warning about the dangers of living life outside of and in rebellion to Christ. Jesus himself spoke on the matter more than anyone. In Matthew 7 verse 13, Jesus says, enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it. Dropping down to verse 22, he teaches, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy and in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? And I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers. And where do those evildoers go? Matthew 24, the parable of the wicked servant, says that he is cast out into the place outside where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In Matthew 25, when he tells the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus says they will go to eternal punishment. Mark 9 calls hell the unquenchable fire, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And Revelation 20 verse 15 says where says John recording for us. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The Bible does not teach that you have to be a good person to make it to heaven. The Bible doesn't teach that if you just really try hard not to sin. And God will help you out. It doesn't say to pray to the saints for help. You don't ask the priest to forgive you. You don't do something that'll twist God's arm and let you in. There is one way into the kingdom of heaven. And if you choose not to use the one God-ordained way, there's a clear warning that you will spend the eternity paying for your sins. Any other explanation by mankind limits our sin, and just glorifies ourselves over glorifying God. Men will say things like, well, Jesus loves me just the way I am. If God is love, he could never send someone like that to hell. Or it isn't fair for God to decide some people get to go to heaven and others go to hell. If someone ever says to you, it's not fair for God to do something, you should reply to them with, who exactly do you think that you are? You are a finite little puff of dust standing before the eternal God and creator of the universe. Who do you think that you are to say that God is not fair? If you would like to use what man's standard of fair would be, then none of us would deserve to go to heaven. That is the truth of the matter. We are all sinners. So it is purely by grace alone that anyone makes it into heaven. Yes, Jesus loves you, but he does not love you so that you can continue in your sin without repentance. You are called to repent. We are called to turn from our sin, to flee to him and seek renewal and regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives. God is love, but his love does not overwhelm and take away his justice. Remember Paul in Romans 9, God said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Who are you, oh man, to talk back to God? The absurdity of man telling God what is fair is just that, it's absurdity. That's the reality of hell. There is an eternal punishment waiting for those outside of Christ. For those who, like Eve in the garden, decide that there is their own way, they will find their own way, do it their own way. There is a horrible punishment waiting if they do not repent of that. But there is a comfort to what the Bible and the catechism teach regarding the doctrine of hell and heaven. As we continue in the answer, it says, only those who through true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all his benefits. What that says is this, those who by a true faith, faith according to Ephesians is a gift that we do not merit, are grafted into Christ, which according to John 10 means we are united to Christ by the Father, And we accept all His benefits. And if we accept all His benefits, it means that the Holy Spirit is working in us to create hearts that are seeking to obey and follow Christ. Which verse 4 of John 15 says will result in Christ remaining in us. The gift of faith was promised to us, given to us before time began. Ephesians 1 says that. We were chosen before the foundations of the world. We were predestined to be adopted as sons according to the riches of His grace. Before time was even a thing, before it needed to be measured because there was only an eternal God, our days and our lives were already determined. and our faith was guaranteed by the eternal gracious will of God. We were not chosen because we are good enough. We weren't chosen because of anything except for pure grace. Grace that flows like a raging river from the throne of God. Our God is not stingy. James 1 says, our Father in heaven gives generously. Deuteronomy 30 says that when His people turn to Him in repentance, He will take delight. He will take joy to prosper them. And James 1 also says that every good and perfect gift comes from Him. Our Father gives us all things we need for our salvation. One of those things He gives us is the faith that grafts us to Christ, and it turns our hearts to seek after Him. With hearts of flesh, we now can work out our salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is He who works in us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure. When we understand and we acknowledge that the faith that we have, which saves us, as long as it is rooted in Christ, is an unmerited gift of God, then we are kept from any prideful arrogance when it comes to our position as children. If you ever come across someone who claims the name of Christian and is arrogant, who lords it over others, you have a walking, talking contradiction. Ephesians 2 says in regards to our faith, that it is given to us as a gift so that no one can boast. May we never boast in our position as Christians. May we rejoice in our position as Christians. The only boast we have is in the Lord who did all the work for us on our behalf. We are called to humility, to lives of service, never rejoicing that someone is on the path to destruction. But instead, like the Apostle Paul, we are called to wish ourselves to be accursed, that others may be welcomed into the family of Christ. That is the life we are called to live. Knowing that the truth of our salvation in Christ, and therefore, and through that, pursuing the spread of the gospel with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength. That's what we believe to be the summary of the law, right? Is loving our neighbor as ourselves. And if we're going to show love to our neighbors, which as we learned from the parable of the Good Samaritan means anybody, including our worst enemies, then we should not be content to watch them walk happily into hell. Charles Spurgeon has a great quote on this. He says, if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped around their knees, imploring them to stay. That is the truth of the lives we are called to live in Christ. Not lives of comfortable leisure, content sitting idly by as the world burns around us. We are warned in multiple locations in Scriptures the dangers of trying to restrict the spread of God's Word. We talked about that with Jonah, didn't we? But what about Ezekiel? Turn with me to Ezekiel 3, if you will. I'll get you the page number in just a minute. Ezekiel 3 is on page 821 of our Bibles. And we're actually going to switch over to 822. In this portion of Ezekiel, God is talking to Ezekiel, giving him his marching orders, giving him his commands as he goes. It says in verse 16, all the way through to verse 21, At the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me, being Ezekiel, son of man, I've made you a watchman for the house of Israel, so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked man, you will surely die and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man, and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself. Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning. You will have saved yourself. That is a stark warning to Ezekiel that he is to share the gospel with everyone. Those whom the Lord has placed in his path, he is called to preach the word to. We are called to do the same. We are called to live lives that are dedicated in service to our brothers and sisters in Christ, our family, our friends, our coworkers, anyone we may be presented with the opportunity to share the gospel with. The Great Commission says all nations are who we're supposed to go to, every tribe, tongue, and nation, and we still have the freedom and the means to do so. There are certainly those whom our father in heaven, according to his perfect will and decree, has passed over and he has allowed them to remain in their sins. But beloved, we have not been given the list of those names. And it's a good thing we didn't. We are called to spread the gospel, to sow the seed widely, even if some of it will fall on the path and it will be snatched up. Even if some of it falls onto hard ground where it won't take root and it'll wither away. And even if some of it will fall among thorns and thistles where it will get choked out. We are not responsible for the yield. We are responsible to share the gospel. We trust in Christ for our salvation and for the salvation of those whom we meet and witness to. We have no need to fear the fires of hell because death has no grip on us anymore. Since we are grafted into Christ by true faith, we are branches that are called to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And through that, we are able to offer up our lives as living sacrifices because we have the spirit of Christ working in us. Brothers and sisters, what we have contemplated here tonight is not popular in the world, but it is necessary that we understand and we believe. May it give us urgency as we bring the gospel forth. When we look at the doctrine of hell, we ponder the reality of it, we should be reminded of the immeasurable grace and mercy that is shown to us by our God when He interceded on our behalf by sending His precious Son to die in our place. We should be overwhelmed. We should be brought to tears when we consider the sacrifice that was paid to ransom us from eternal damnation. And we should strive to live out of that. Through the Holy Spirit's work in our lives, we should have an urgency that is unmatched in the world around us in spreading the good news of the gospel, the free gift of grace to anyone and everyone who we can. We should live lives that don't joy in the fact that anyone is going to go to hell. But it recognizes the dangers of living outside of Christ. We are called to warn everyone in love of the dangerous path that they are on if they are outside of Christ. And we are pointing them. We are called to show them the great love with which we have been loved. The free grace that is offered to them as well in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Let us pray. our gracious God and our Father in heaven. As we meditate for a moment on these things, Father, would you comfort us? Would you embolden us? Where we know that we have been saved, We are held firmly, securely in the palm of your hand, and nothing can remove us from that. And because we have such confidence, may we have the boldness, may we be so filled with love and gratitude that we cannot help but overflow with the good news of salvation that is available to all in Christ Jesus, our Lord. May that characterize each and every one of us here tonight. As I ask for Jesus' sake, amen.