with me to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. We all have many experiences in life. Some experiences that I can But there are some experiences that I can say with confidence that none of you have ever experienced. I'm looking at you here today, and I know you're not dead, physically. And so you've not experienced death yet. That's the experience that you have yet to face. None of you have seen the end of the world. None of us have seen the elements melt with the fervent heat, as Peter talks about in 2 Peter. will happen at the second coming of our Lord. But the greatest experience that you have never had, and I have never had, and the most awesome experience that we will ever have, will be standing in front of Jesus Christ. There is an hour, there is a day, there's an appointed moment when you are appointed to stand before him. The Apostle Paul says we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. You know it's very common to say you know when you think about your contemplating going to heaven to say why the greatest thing I want to see in heaven is Jesus. I want to see my mother. I want to see my grandfather. I want to see those saints that have gone before me but I really want to see Jesus more more than anything. And I agree with that sentiment. I've said it myself, and I believe it. But have you ever imagined yourself before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ? Have you ever really just thought about the awesomeness of that? You know, I can think of nothing more terrifying than that. Now, I hope it'll go the way that I think it will go. But I have no real understanding or idea of exactly what he's going to say to me, whether he's going to find me faithful or not. But I don't believe I'll be condemned because I have trusted in Christ as my savior. I believed in him for the forgiveness of sins. I've trusted only in what he has done on the cross. So I do believe that I do believe and I believe that I will persevere and he will keep me until that day. The fact is the passage that we're going to look at here there are some people that are very sure of what they will hear on that day and they will not hear it. There's something far different. So. I believe that the text that the Lord has led me to preach on tonight or this morning. Is. Is very much a product of. As Paul said, knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. And he said that right after he said that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. So I have titled this sermon An Unexpected End for Many, Matthew 7, verses 21 through 23. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. but he who does the will of my father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Now, these will be the most frightening words that anyone could ever hear. And I believe this is a subject that is worth our utmost strict attention. We all love that passage in Jeremiah 29, verse 11 in the King James rendering says this. It says, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Now, that's translated to give you a future and a hope in your modern translations. Well, we learn here that there are many that will have an unexpected end, and they have a future with no hope. It's my aim to shake the assurance of those who have a false assurance, but it isn't my aim to shake the assurance of any of those who have genuine salvation. It's like walking a tightrope. And I hope that God and the Holy Spirit will guide me as I As I as I lead you to understand this text better so that I might not shake the assurance of those who really ought to have assurance but also that I do shake the assurance of those who have a false assurance. You see how we need God to help us. In fact let's pray right now and ask God to help me do that. Father in heaven as we look at this very difficult and very fearful passage of scripture we pray that your Holy Spirit would especially help me to not err on the right hand or to the left, and not to teach a work's salvation, which the scriptures do not teach, and yet not to teach that there is a salvation for those who only merely think they know the Lord but really don't. Help me to have that balance, we pray, and grant us that wisdom in Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So we've got to see the context of this warning that he gives here in verse fifteen, he talks about false prophets, beware of false prophets that come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. There are false prophets, there were in the Old Testament, there are false prophets today. Now a false prophet, we have their job description here beginning in verse thirteen, in verse thirteen it says, enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there will be many who go in by it Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. So the basic job of the false prophet is to stand in front of the wide way which leads to destruction and say, this is the way, enter in through here. And to bar people from going into the straight and narrow way and say, no, that's not the way. No, that's too narrow of a way. Don't go that way. Go this way. That's the job of false prophets, and what it ends up with here is this terrible pronouncement that Christ gives to them here in the text that we are studying here today. So the greatest deception that anyone can ever have is that deception of thinking that they truly belong to God and they truly are the Lord's servants but they're not. That's the greatest deception there could ever be. Jesus said in Matthew 16, 26, he says, what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? There's those that will lose their soul and they don't know they're losing their soul. They don't know their soul is lost. So there's three points I'd like to consider as to why these are the most terrifying words ever to be spoken. And then I'll give instruction as to how to avoid being disappointed on that day ourselves. First one is the reason these words are so terrifying is because of the one who speaks them. This is the Lord of glory. The one we read about in our call to worship. The one who holds the keys to death and hell and the one who in whom is life. Peter says to in John 6 68 after Jesus asked the disciples well will you also go away. And he said to him, he said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we've come to believe and to know that you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Peter said, you know, your teachings are real, real easy. And I, you know, it's just fun, fun, fun following your teachings. No, his teachings were hard and difficult. And a lot of his disciples turned and walked with him no more. But he said, where can we go? There's no place else to go. You're the only one that has eternal life. And that's really, we need to understand that. There is no other place to go. You can't find eternal life anywhere else. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And we live in a day which our society and many churches and many false prophets are standing in the way saying, here's the way to heaven. And it's not the way to heaven. They say there are many ways to heaven and the Mohammed can get you there and Buddha can get you there and as long as you're sincere you'll get there and that's a lie from the devil and it's meant to send you into the wrong path. The Bible says God has committed all judgment to his son in Acts 17 verse 31. The apostle Paul said this he said he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. We know who that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the man that God has appointed all judgment to. In other words, we all have to answer to him. I have to answer to him. I have to answer to him for what I say in this sermon here today. And don't think it doesn't cause me consternation and trembling. Does. But we all have to answer to him. For everything we've said and done in our whole lives. And everything we thought. He's a judge and he's a judge who needs no witnesses. He himself is a witness. And unlike human witnesses he makes no mistakes. As a witness. He needs nobody to cross-examine him in order to bring out the truth, as we do in human courts. His word is truth. He is truth. And he's a witness to everything, as I said, everything you've ever said, everything you've ever done, everything you've ever thought. He knows it all. So let me ask you, do you live with the thought that the eye of God is upon you at all times? We really should. I know I don't. But I should, because His eye is upon us at all times. Proverbs 5.21 says, He ponders all our paths. And there's no need also for a prosecutor on this day. He himself will give the charge. He charges them as workers of iniquity. That's the charge. That's the indictment. And who will oppose it? Where will you find a defense attorney? Where will you find an advocate when the sinner's only advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, has turned against them and he's now their accuser? When he, who instead of being a savior from sin, charges them with sin, where can they turn? There's no place to turn. He's a judge. He pronounces a sentence. And the sentences depart from me. It's a sentence from which there is no appeal. This is already the highest court in the universe. No wonder the Bible says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Those condemned on that day won't be going home after this terrible experience and say, well, I'm glad that's over. No, no, it'll never be over. They can never undo this awful verdict. There will never be parole. There will never be a reprieve. There will never be amnesty. They will never know hope anymore. They'll never know peace, or tenderness, or mercy, or warm spring breezes, or lazy Sunday afternoons. It's all gone. No more hope. No more peace. No more joy. No more good. Departed from God forever. The judge has spoken, and they are undone. and there is no remedy and there is no hope. The second reason these words are so terrifying is because of who these words are spoken to. These words are spoken to religious people. These words are spoken to those who think that Jesus is their Lord. They recognize him and they think that they are his followers. They call him Lord, Lord. They call Jesus Lord. Now, these are not the ones spoken of here are not. The majority of the people, they're going to hell, it doesn't seem as we look about our society, he's not talking here about the openly profane. He's not talking about the openly God hating church, despising reprobate. They'll be judged too. They'll be condemned. But they'll know what to expect when they find themselves standing in front of the one they've despised. These are not the atheists and the agnostics. They will receive their condemnation also. But they won't be surprised by his words that depart from him. They'll already know as soon as they see him. These are not those that purposely put off coming to Christ for whatever reason, thinking that perhaps they'll just take care of this at a later time in their life, a more convenient time. You know, hell is full of people with good intentions. They intend to repent. They intend to come to Christ just later, just not now. I'm not ready right now. I'm young. I've got some time left. Really? Are you sure? So people like that won't be surprised either. Because they will know that they have neglected their salvation, and they're damned, and they have no hope. So they won't be surprised. These are those that say, Lord, Lord, and they say, in your name. We did these things in your name, in the name of Jesus. They had believed, and they had identified in his name. Not the name of Buddha, not the name of Muhammad, but the name of Jesus Christ. So, this unexpected end for them will make their suffering worse than any of the groups that I have mentioned. Notice their pitiful defense. We've done many works. It is possible to do many mighty works and still be lost. Did you know that Judas did many mighty works? The Bible says he did. He went out with a 12. He went out with a 70. And they cast out demons, and they healed people, and they saw many miracles. Judas is in hell today. There'll be preachers there. There are perhaps some that have preached from this very pulpit, I can think of one. There'll be faith healers here. There'll be seminary professors. There'll be Sunday school teachers. There will be missionaries. There will be church members there. People that came to church all their lives. They sat under the gospel preaching. They were baptized. They took the Lord's Supper. There were even some who'd witnessed to others, perhaps, sang in the choir, carried placards to the Right to Life movement. But they're lost. They were never born again. Jesus says, I never knew you. Notice he doesn't say, I didn't know you, but then you walked away from me, and then I forgot you. No, he says, I never knew you. There'd be kids that grew up in Christian homes and memorized verses. large quantities of verses, perhaps, and they recite catechism questions and give the answers. There'll be Catholics, there'll be Methodists, there'll be Lutherans, there'll be Presbyterians, and there'll also be Reformed Baptists. These Reformed Baptists have fully subscribed to the 1689. And they labored for the advancement of the Reformed faith. They prayed great prayers. that in life had read and studied the Puritans. And I think the fearfulness of it being these people that will hear these words will make it far more unbearable for them. There'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Which takes us to the next reason these words are so horrifying, and I think it's the worst reason. It's the most scary reason. It's because of this one little word, one little word that has so much Fearfulness attended to it and that's the first word in verse 22. It says many Many Doesn't see a few He doesn't see there'd be a few here and there he says many Many will find themselves on the broad road that leads to destruction instead of the narrow road that leads to life the thought that they had entered through Christ and of those Many of them will be these right here. Many of them that thought that were religious people that thought they were in. If you'd only just said a few, it could lighten the load of this passage, but it doesn't. It says many. And I believe and I am convinced that there are millions of Americans living today that are among these many he's talking about here. I remember reading an article in the Sword of the Lord. I don't know how many of you remember that magazine, but many, many years ago, back in the 1970s, a prominent preacher made the statement that he believed there were X amount of millions of believers in America at that time. And I did the math, and I remember what the population was at that time. And he was basically saying that about half of the people, roughly half the people in America, are born-again Christians. That's what he said. He's a popular preacher. If I told you his name, you would know who I'm talking about. But I was a young Christian. I didn't know very much. But I knew about the rampant immorality, and I knew about the fact that abortion is not only allowed, but it's promoted in our country. And the divorce rates were high back then, too. And I didn't know much. I didn't know much theology. I just know he was wrong. Because there were that many born-again Christians in America. If half our population were born-again Christians, we would have a far greater influence on this society than what we have right now. I knew that then, and I know that now. And I thought to myself, I said, how could this man whom I respect, this prominent preacher, say such a thing? And at that time, it was confusing to me. But I grew in my knowledge of Christ and my knowledge of salvation. And as I learned sound doctrine, I believe I began to understand. And so it's very important to consider what it was that these people missed. Why it was that they'll hear these words, and if we're wise, everyone in this room, make sure that we examine ourselves in the light of their mistake and make sure that we're not partakers of this condemnation with them. There are two basic errors that bring a person to this terrible state. On the one hand, they trusted in their works to save them. Verse 22 says, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? You stand before Jesus. I got a hint. A little hint. Don't talk about all the things you did. Okay? That's what they did. Big mistake. But on the other hand, they were charged with practicing lawlessness. They promoted their good works, but Jesus charges them with lawlessness in verse 23. Now these Two things are manifested in different ways. Satan wants us to fall into his trap and disguises the trap a little differently in every generation. And there are two doctrines that will safeguard us from being found in this condition on this day. First of all, this doctrine of justification in Christ alone. Justification by faith in Christ alone. This doctrine is very important. And the second doctrine is how it is that true faith in Christ manifests itself in a person's life. How does faith in Christ manifest itself in our life? True faith in Christ does not fail to produce good fruit, fruit that does not leave us open to the charge of being workers of iniquity. Now, let's explore these two things in the time that we have left. First, when pressing their claims for being justified, before the bar of God's justice, we see where their hopes were. The ground of their hope was twofold. They believed in Christ, they called him Lord, Lord, but they also believed in their works. They believed their works had some standing before God. Ephesians 2, 8, 9 makes it very clear, by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. I'll never mention the fact I was a preacher. I'll never mention any of these things before I stand before Jesus Christ. There isn't anything I've done that merits any favor with God before the bar of His justice. It's only the blood of Christ that will put us in good stead there. It is not Christ plus your good works or plus some ceremonial observance that saves you. It's Christ alone that saves the sinner. Your work does not add anything. to your justification before God. If you try to mingle works with your faith, it ruins the whole thing. It poisons the whole cup. Galatians 5 2. If you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. That's what he said to the Galatians. They thought, oh, we believe in Jesus. We also have to be circumcised. No, he says, if you're circumcised under those circumstances, Christ will profit you nothing because you're trusting in Christ plus your circumcision. We can't trust in Christ plus our baptism. We can't trust in Christ Plus, our good works, we can't trust in Christ plus anything. It is Christ's faith in Christ alone that will carry us through on that day. There are many among, to pick on the Paedo-Baptists for a moment, there are many Paedo-Baptists that are teaching that once a child is baptized, It's not only a member of the covenant, but must be presumed to be a Christian until such a time that he or she proves otherwise by apostatizing from the faith. I tell you, that's a dangerous doctrine. The child's hope then is not in Christ alone, but also that they be baptized and that at least one of their parents are believers, that they can have the claim to be a covenant child. That's dangerous. This is serious, serious error. And it's not one whit different than the error of the Roman Catholics who pronounce that once you've been baptized as a baby, that you're justified as long as you keep from committing mortal sins. And there's a lot to say about that. But still, they're trusting in their baptism. They're trusting in some ceremonial right. That's a bad thing to do. There are still others, though, that fall into the error of trusting in shallow man-made changes and resolutions they've made as the grounds of their hope of salvation. Trusting in something other than Christ Himself. I'll give you an example. I've heard people say, you know, when I got saved, I threw away my cigarettes as soon as I got saved. But they didn't throw away their guile or their gossip. or their lack of mercy, or many other things. But they threw away their cigarettes, so they feel like they've got to change life. But because they threw away their cigarettes and their booze, they proclaim that they've been changed by the grace of God. And that's as deep as the change goes in many cases. It's just certain outward things that have been changed, and the heart has remained unregenerate. Yes, you can. You can get rid of it. I don't like cigarettes. I don't like I don't like I don't like alcoholism and I don't like cigarettes. But I tell you, if you're depending on the fact that you don't you don't smoke, you don't drink, you don't chew and you don't go girls that do. That's not going to get you in. That's not the kind of change the Holy Spirit is making in us. I mean, these changes are good, but the change that he makes is deep inside the soul of the sinner. Talk about that in a moment. There must be a changed life. But what really constitutes life that is changed by the grace of God is something that we need to study. It's something we need to look into. What is this change? We must be careful not to trust in outward changes that we've made in our lives as our ground of our hope. Those changes are never perfect and they're never unchanging. We must trust in Christ's work alone. We must expect the Holy Spirit to change us, and we must look for that. But that is only to help us with assurance, and it has nothing to do with getting us in with our justification. The second error here is seen in the fact that even though they claim to be ardent followers of Christ, he charges them with being practicers of lawlessness. These people are ones that practice lawlessness. There are many today that trust in their supposed conversion because they believe in Jesus, mistaking what conversion in Christ is all about. Their works are these. Did we not walk down an aisle? Did we not come forward at the meeting? Did we not pray the sinner's prayer? All these things can be looked upon as a work that we bring to the equation. A person can trust in their conversion experience and what they did instead of trusting in the work of Christ alone. That's why we don't have altar calls here. We do it for a reason. We do it for a doctrinal reason. We don't want anybody to be confused about coming to Christ with coming down here and kneeling at this supposed altar. It confuses people. Should a person pray the sinner's prayer? Should he say, Jesus, I want you to save me and please forgive me for all my sins? Should he say that? Yeah, he should. We all should. Should we accept Christ? Yes, we should. The answer is yes. Is everyone who responds to an altar call trusting in what they're doing and not trusting in Christ? The answer would be no to that. There are people that walk the aisle and they really come to Christ. But it's not the walking of the aisle that brings them to Christ. That changes, that regeneration, that hope in Christ. It probably happened to them before they even got out of their chair. Let me clarify these things a little bit. If we want Him to come into our lives and to save us, we must do so with true faith and true repentance. Faith and repentance go hand in hand. If we accept Christ, we need to accept Him for what He really is. We need to receive Him as Savior and as our Lord and Master. He's not our Savior if He's not our Lord. There are heretics today that are teaching that you can receive Jesus as your Savior and later on you can receive him as your Lord and you'll still go to heaven even if you don't receive him as your Lord. This is a lie from the devil and those that preach that are false prophets. That is dangerous to preach such things. If you accept Christ, you're accepting him as your Savior and the Lord of your life. There's a false evangelism that has deceived millions of people. It says we may receive Jesus as our Savior without surrendering him as our Lord. And Jesus is opposed to that message. Jesus said, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things I say? So they've done what the preacher said to do, they've given their heart to Jesus, whatever that means. In some ethereal sense or emotional sense, they've given their heart to Jesus, but they've not truly surrendered to him. And so they've not, their faith has not been accompanied by true biblical repentance. What is true biblical repentance? True biblical repentance is confessing our sins before God and truly sorrowing for those sins. You can't just confess them glibly. They gotta be, you gotta be truly sorry for them. And then there's a turning away from that sin. There's a purposing in our heart to turn away from that sin in a covenant relationship with God and and and and saying I'm through with that and now. Be careful the Bible does not teach them as perfection either. None of us are perfectly perfect. So we'll look into that a little bit more as we go along here. But. Who is a worker of iniquity? What makes a person open to the charge of being a worker of iniquity? They've given their heart to Jesus. They've supposedly surrendered to him. But he charges them with being workers of iniquity. What is a worker of iniquity? Well, a worker of iniquity is one who is not pursuing righteousness. He's not putting sin to death in his life. He's not being conformed to the image of Christ, but is instead continuing in self-will and disregarding the law of God. Jesus said another Jesus. That's why Jesus said Why do you call me Lord Lord and not do the things I say. There are many today. There are many today. I hear stories all the time of young people that that they're living in sin and they think they're they're Christians. They think they can they can just they can They can go against the laws of God and just disregard them as long as they're trusting in Jesus for their salvation. No, because that means they've never experienced true repentance. Second Corinthians 517. If anyone be in Christ, he's a new creature. All things are old things are passed away. Behold, all things are made new. That's what happens to a person when you get saved. Old things pass away. Everything becomes new. You have a whole new Look on life, you have a whole new perspective, you have whole new desires, you want to please God, you want to do His will. There are so many that have had some kind of religious experience, whether formal or informal, and they believe in Jesus in their mind, but that's all. It doesn't change their bent towards evil or their love of evil things. They still love evil things. It doesn't change them into a new creature, as Scripture says it must. But they're content to remain unholy. And there are so many of them. There are millions of them, as was in this article that I referred to earlier. And their leaders don't teach them the things that you're hearing here today, things that are straight from the Scriptures. And so they think all is well. If there's never any growth in grace, if there's never any hungering and thirsting for righteousness, if there's never any fruit of the Spirit, then there has never been any new birth either, regardless of how many prayers you've made or religious duties you have performed. These and these verses were still those whose lives were characterized as being disobedient to the law of God, even though they are professed followers of Christ. Now, the Bible, as I said, does not teach a work salvation. That's why we always have to keep that in mind. It's by grace through faith, not of ourselves. But it does teach a salvation that works. It actually does something. It actually changes us. Well, what what should we do? What should you do? What should all of us do? Well, we should do, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13, 5, examine yourselves to see if you're in the faith. We should make no presumptions. Is he our Lord in reality? Some questions that we should ask ourselves. First, is Christ and his work your only hope? Or are you adding anything of your own with it? Has that faith that you profess resulted in a life of grateful, sincere obedience to the commands of God? Or is your life a pattern of a disregard for his word? And I didn't say you need to be sinless. That'd be contrary to scripture. First John 1.8 says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But the basic question, is the Word of God, is it law to you? Is the Word of Christ law to you? I've used this illustration to some of my employees. I've said, I'm your boss. Now, if you're on the shop, you're working, I say, look, I want you to run this machine, not this machine. But in defiance of me, you run this machine and not this machine. Then I have the right to come up and say, Why do you call me boss, boss, and do not do the things I say? I'm not going to be your boss for very long. You're not going to be my employee for very long if you don't do what I say. Well, it's the same thing. Jesus is saying, why do you call me Lord and you don't do what I say? There again, I wish I did everything he said. I wish I'd never sinned. I still sin. I still fall. I still have troubles. That's not my aim. I'm trying to turn away from those things. I'm trying to conform my life to God's law. I'm trying to be obedient to his law. And I do have a hungering and a thirsting after righteousness. I want to please God. That's the fundamental thing that's changed in me since I've been born again. When a person becomes born again, they are fundamentally changed inside from a rebel against God. to one who wants to please God and wants to have fellowship with God. That's the fundamental change. If you've changed like that fundamentally inside of you, you didn't do that. And Satan didn't do that in you. The only person that can change a person in that way is the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit has changed you inside like that, well, then that's the result of the new birth. That's Christ in you. Christ living His life with you. So ask yourself the question, do you battle with sin? I'm not saying that you never sin, but do you battle with it? And is there any victory over sin? The true child of God at least gains some victory over his or her sins. Maybe not total, maybe not complete, maybe not nearly to our satisfaction, but we do gain victory over sin in our life. Romans 6.14, for sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. You see, the law of God will never give you victory over sin, but the grace of God will, and the Holy Spirit will. And we all need the work of the Holy Spirit to gain any measure of victory. Without that, it's a futile war that we fight. But with Him, there's hope for victory in our lives. Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But if you don't have Christ in you, You have no strength to really combat these sins, and they dominate your life. So the other question, are you genuinely sorry when you sin and confess your sins to God? And then with God's help and God's spirit, do you endeavor to leave those sins behind you? That is, as I said before, that's true biblical repentance. God puts within all of his people a desire to please him. When we sin, we displease him, and we feel that displeasure within ourselves. Christian, I know you can identify with this. When you sin and you know you've sinned, you don't feel good about it, do you? It eats at you. It bothers you. You can't, you can't, you can't. It's just like when you get something in your eye. Your eye can't stop watering until you get it out of there, right? Sin in the life of a Christian is like that. It eats at you until you go to God and you confess it, and you forsake it, and you turn to God and say, God, please forgive me and take this away from me. That's the way a Christian is. I heard this illustration demonstrated a true and a false believer is like a man taking a lamb and a pig into his house and cleaning them up. You take a lamb and a pig and you bring them into the house and you clean them up and you put perfume on them, put a little bow on them, make them nice and pretty and clean. Open the door and let them outside because there's a mud pit out there. Now the lamb will try to avoid that mud pit the best he can. He might slip and fall into it, but what he does, he wants to get out. He isn't happy in there. Let the pig out. What does he do? Man, he jumps in that mud. He loves it. He loves the mud. He wallows in it. See? See, that's the difference. Christian's going to sin. He's going to fall. He doesn't like it. And he can't live that way. He's got to get that sin out of his life. Another thing I would... John mentions this one in 1st John, he said, Do you love the people of God? Many today claim to know the Lord, but they have nothing to do with the church. That's a bad sign. John says in 1st John 3, 14, We know that we've passed from death to life because we love the brethren. This is one of the many tests he gives us in that little book, and I recommend that little book for anybody that's not sure where you are with the Lord. Read 1st John. Now, as I said before, I'm walking a tightrope. On the one hand, I don't want to unnecessarily shake anyone's assurance of faith. But on the other hand, I do want to shake the assurance of faith that's not justified. It's a hard balance. All Christians have a battle within them of the spirit and the flesh. It talks about that in Galatians chapter 5. The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit lusts against the flesh. So we all have the danger of slipping back into our old sins. And the world and the flesh and the devil are all constantly at work to try to draw us back and draw us away from Christ. And the fact is, our victories are never as many or as complete as we wish our victories to be. So I don't want to discourage you because the battle is not always a clear victory for you as a Christian. But on the other hand, there are, and I'm persuaded, millions of lost people that are falling short of true salvation but have been taught that they ought not to be concerned about their ungodly and lawless ways, and they've settled for an appearance of faith. As Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3.5, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. He doesn't mean by that that he says, from such turn away. He doesn't mean to shun these kind of people, But we ought to not have intimate fellowship with those that embrace this false idea of what true Christianity is. Now, I don't want to ever hear these words from Jesus that we have here in our text. Depart from me, you who work iniquity. And I hope none of you do either. But it does say that many will hear them. So we dare not just shrug these things off. And I've gotten past the idea that being a Reformed Baptist in any way insulates us from this. No, I think, I shouldn't say in any way. I think it does help us to have good sound doctrine. I remember when my son left home and he wouldn't mind me telling this. And I said, son, you know, he had faith in Christ. He said he did. But I said, you know, your real faith, the real test of whether your faith is genuine or not will be once you leave under my home and you And it'll be known by the friends you choose, the company you keep, and the way you conduct your life once you're on your own and you're able to do what you want to do. And that helped him a lot. When he left our home, he wasn't a Christian. I suspected he might not be. But his life then showed it not to be. But some years later, he remembered that he needed to come to Christ. And so God graciously did save him. And he's living for Christ to this day. But I've heard other people say about their wayward children, oh, my son, he just needs to get back to church. Oh, he's saved. He did that when he was a little boy. I remember when he walked the aisle. He's fine, but he just needs to get back in church. He needs to get back with God. But he's really probably lost, very likely lost. And then you comfort him by the fact that he's still going to go to heaven, just not have rewards. That's a dangerous thing to do. You can't do that to people. Listen, if they're living as workers of iniquity, they'll probably be condemned as workers of iniquity on this day. A Christian has that bent towards God. Well, may God save us from this great deception. May none of us here be deceived about the true state of our souls. And if I've shaken you up by this, I hope I, if you're a true believer, I hope I didn't I didn't mean any harm. I just want to, I want to, I want to shake the faith of those that shouldn't have that faith. And I, I know I've encountered many of them. I know many of you have encountered people like that. What do you do with them? How do you help them? The hardest people to win are the people that don't think they need to be one. And that's frustrating when they think they belong to Christ, but they don't. How do you, how do you, how do you make them, how do you make them see the truth? Well, I think it's, I think it's preaching on passages like this. It's important. The true Christian goes back and checks and makes sure, yeah, my trust is only in Christ. Yes, I am trying to live for God. I'm not doing it perfectly, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, I hope to gain some victory in my life. And I do see a change. He has helped me over the years. And my progress in grace, when I look back, I am disappointed. I wish I was a holier man than I am today. But I certainly am not the man I was before I came to Christ. I know that. I do know that. No question about that. So I thank God for that, and I give him the praise of that in my life. So let's pray. Our Father in heaven, this has been a very difficult passage. It's a very hard passage. But these are very fearful words. These are words that we ought to make our knees knock, to think of Jesus telling anyone to depart from him. Father, especially when we know that the heart of our Savior has really come unto me, all you that labor are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Oh, Father, we know that Jesus wants us to come to him. So we pray that there are any here that have had false assurance, any here that have not. They thought they were in Christ, but they're really not in Christ. Oh, Lord, we pray that they would truly come to you and truly repent and truly give their lives to Jesus Christ. We know you will receive them. You said you will. So please, Lord, may they come to Christ in any. that are your people that have not been living for you as they should, which I suppose is all of us in one extent or another, help us to repent of our sins and to rededicate our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.