Recently, I came across a phrase. It made me stop and think. I saw this in a picture. It was tattooed on somebody's body. It's this phrase, only God can judge me. Kind of caught my attention, so I googled the phrase and I found out this is very popular with tattoos now, this phrase. It's a quotation, actually. It's from a profanity-laced rap song. This rap song was released in February of 1996. I don't recommend the song to you nor the artist. There's a kind of music that we Christians shouldn't listen to because what we listen to in music, it shapes our thinking. But as I was reading through the lyrics of this song, it was so sad to me. Here's a selection. The artist wrote, I don't see why everybody feels as though that they gotta tell me how to live my life, you know? Let me live, baby, let me live. And then over and over again, in between profanities, there's this chorus, only God can judge me, only God can judge. The song was released in February of 1996. In September of 1996, the author of this song was shot on the streets of Las Vegas and died from his wounds. I wish I could have talked to that man, not so that I could judge him. He's right. It's God's place to judge and judgment is best left to God. But I just wish this man would have thought a little deeper about what he's saying. The man's using this phrase, only God can judge me to excuse all kinds of wicked behavior. But what he needed to think through was that what he's saying is true, that God will judge him and me and every person. You know, each of us has a date with the judge of the earth, and that reality should make us tremble. That reality should make us think, am I ready to meet God as my judge? Boy, from reading this song, I fear the rapper wasn't ready. He said his greatest fear was that he might be reincarnated and have to come back and go through this miserable life again. but the reality that he's now enduring is something much worse than the pain and injustice that he experienced here. Are you ready? We've been studying the Sermon on the Mount for the past several months here at Lamar's Bible Church, and today we have come to the conclusion of this message. And in this conclusion, Jesus makes a startling claim. He's here on the Hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee the people listening to him his followers and some others and As he's there speaking Jesus claims That he himself is the judge that everyone will have to stand before now according to the Old Testament who who's the judge of all the earth and Well, only God is judge, right? Psalm 50 verse six says, the heavens declare his righteousness for God himself is judge. And yet here in Matthew seven, Jesus sketches an image of end time judgment. Who is it that Jesus in this picture has seated on the judge's bench? It's himself, right? Verse 21, Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter many will say to me on that day and then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me Boy hundreds maybe thousands of people now they're tattooing on their bodies. Only God can judge me Jesus's response would be I am God and I will judge you Are you ready? Oh, we have a gift here in this passage today. We have the words of the judge himself, the one that you will one day stand before. And not with some other people. It's not like you can go with your family or you can be there with your mom or dad or your spouse. You are going to have to stand before Jesus. Are you ready for that? We here have the words of the judge himself telling us how can we know if we're ready? So as we walk through the passage, there's three questions we can ask ourselves. How do you know if you're ready to stand before Jesus as your judge? The first question is this. Do you do the Father's will from your heart? Do you do the Father's will from your heart or have you just been saying the right things with your lips? Do you do the Father's will from your heart or have you been saying the right things with your lips? Look at verse 21, Matthew 7, 21. Jesus starts off, and I think this is the point that he's trying to make, and then he's going to illustrate it and back it up with the rest of the verses we'll look at. Verse 21, Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter. The issue at stake here is, will you enter God's eternal kingdom? As I speak, Jesus is currently in heaven and making preparations to return. There is a day set. There's a day set when Jesus, the King, will return to this earth and bring his kingdom here, like literally conquering the kingdoms of the world and establishing his rule on earth. He's promised to do it and we believe it. When he does return to establish his kingdom, this verse makes it clear that at his return, there will be some who Jesus will allow to enter into his kingdom. but not everyone. See, verse 21, not everyone will enter. Well, what's the difference? What's the difference between those that will enter the kingdom and those that won't be allowed to? Let's start with the ones who will not enter in verse 21. These particular people in verse 21 that he says will not enter, notice they're not They're not pagans. It's not like they're from some other religion or that they reject God entirely. These people are professing Christians who are not going to enter. Do you see what they're saying? Verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord. Will enter. These people are expressing, they're on the final judgment day, they're expressing the same truth that Thomas expressed when he saw his Lord alive from the dead. He said, my Lord and my God. And here in the final judgment, there are some who are standing there and they're saying that same thing. My Lord and my God. And yet those people won't be allowed to enter. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord. Here's the principle. It doesn't matter what you say or how passionately you say it. Your words are not the standard that the Lord will use to evaluate you on your final day of judgment. A person can be convicted in a service and walk to the front, weeping even, and cry out, Jesus, you're my master. person can go to the church and and learn the doctrines of the church and stand in front of everyone and say, I'm a follower of Jesus. Person can go to a Christian concert, watch a Christian video, pray a prayer at the end of that thing and say all the right words and still be on their way to eternal destruction. Because you can say something, you can even say it passionately. Without it being true. Boy, if you're here this morning and you think that you're ready to meet Jesus because of something you said once, or if you're here today and you think that you're ready to meet Jesus because of something you say over and over again, you have to listen carefully to what Jesus says in verse 21. He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Now it's good. It's good to say Lord, Lord, but that's not enough reason to think that you're going to heaven. because what you say is not the truest test of what's real in your life. Sometimes it can be, and other times not, right? We can hide things. Look at verse 21. Jesus says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. And put Jesus' Words there, in other words, Jesus is saying you will never get to heaven if you're not obeying Jesus's words on earth. You'll never get to heaven if you're not obeying Jesus's words on earth. Now, I want to pause here and talk for a couple of minutes about the relationship between obedience and salvation. This is so important. Relationship between obedience and salvation. I want to start with the wrong view of obedience. This is not what the Bible teaches. And yet many people, maybe most religious people think this. It's the false view that obedience leads to salvation. So many people think this is what you got to do. If you want to be allowed into Jesus's kingdom and heaven forever, what you do is you obey. Right? You find out what Jesus said, and you obey, and you obey, and you obey, and you try to be good, and you listen to his words, and you obey, and at the end of your life, if you obeyed well enough, then Jesus will say, okay, good, you did great, come on in. That will never work. Obedience will not lead to salvation for any person. Here's part of the reason why. Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 5 48 earlier in the sermon. Jesus said, therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And so listen, if you want to get to heaven by obeying, that means you're going to have to obey everything your whole life. And if you're like me, like I've already not done it. Right. I've already I'm not perfect in my obedience, and so I cannot enter heaven based on my obedience. And neither can you. This won't work for any of us. Look at this second verse at the bottom of the screen there. Romans 3.20 says, by the works of the law, or you could say by following Jesus's commands, by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. You cannot obey God well enough to pass the test on the final day of judgment. But there is a way to be saved, right? It's just not through obedience. Well, how is it? Here's the correct view. The biblical view of obedience and salvation works like this. Faith in Christ leads to salvation. And then salvation leads to obedience. I'll show you a verse here. This is Galatians 2.16. Before we read it, though, the word justified is in there. It's important for us to know what justified means. Justified means declared righteous. If someone has been justified by God, here's what this means. If you've been justified by God, it means that God has said, you are perfect in my sight. I declare you perfectly righteous. Wouldn't it be great, right, to be justified, to have God say, you're perfect in my sight? This verse says how that can happen. Look, Galatians 2, 16, knowing a man is not justified by the works of the law, not justified by obeying, but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. Since by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. Have you been declared righteous? Or how would that happen? How would it be so that God would say, you are righteous in my sight. You're perfect, you can come into heaven. How could you have God say that to you? The Bible says the answer is faith. See, the way that God has worked this out, Jesus does the work, we don't do the work. Well, Jesus has come and I've sinned. I don't deserve to be in heaven. If Jesus were to say to me, depart from me, you worker of lawlessness, I'd be like, yeah, that's me. That's what I deserve. But how is it that I can get in? How can I be declared right? This is what the Bible says, that Jesus has come and he's done the work. I deserved death. Jesus took death for me and for you on the cross. And the Bible says, if you will believe, If you will put all of your trust in Jesus, who died for you, then what God will do is He will declare it, that all of your sin is transferred to Jesus. Every last dirty thing you thought and said and did, God will put on Jesus and He will take Jesus' perfect righteousness and He will say, I declare that that belongs to you. How does it work? It's not by obedience that I get declared righteous. It's by faith that God grants righteousness. But obedience still plays an important role. Someone might say, well, boy, if I just believe and then God declares me righteous, then I can just keep on being bad, right? That's not how the Bible talks about this. Look at this. Okay, the biblical view is faith, right? Faith in Christ who died for us. Faith leads to salvation, which leads to obedience. See, when I trust in Jesus Christ, more happens for me than just I'm declared perfect. But when I put my faith in Jesus Christ, God comes to live within me, right? He gives me his Holy Spirit. And he starts to change me on the inside out. He makes me new, the Bible says. And so, now that I've put my faith in Jesus Christ and I'm saved, I have new desires that God moves within me that I want to do what's right. And I start to hate those evil things that I used to do. Like, I'm a new person. And because I'm new, now I start to live differently. I don't obey every time. I don't. And you won't either. But there begins to be a pattern in your life of increasing obedience, where you see God's word Good, and you start to obey. Faith leads to salvation, which does lead, the Bible says, to obedience. See, obedience is the proof that you have been saved. Obeying God's commands is the proof that you have been saved. But obedience always comes after true salvation, not before it. Go back to our passage then. Look at Matthew 7, 21. Here's what Jesus is saying. He's saying, whether you're saved by looking at your life. Matthew 7, 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. So have you put your faith in Christ and been saved so that now you're doing His will? It's only those people that will enter the kingdom. So are you ready to stand before Jesus and be judged? Three questions we'll look at. Number one, do you do the Father's will from your heart? Or have you just been saying the right things with your lips? Don't think that Jesus can't tell the difference. Question number two, do you know Jesus personally? Or are you just doing good things in Jesus' name? How do I know if I'm ready to stand before him? Here's a question to ask yourself. Do you know Jesus personally? Or are you just doing good things in Jesus' name. Look at verse 22. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me you who practice lawlessness. If you could get into a time machine and travel to the future, would you do it? I think I would. If I could just pick where I was going to go, get in a time machine and travel, I'd say take me to eternity future. Because I would love to get a glimpse of that golden city, right? That Jesus has promised to us. The Bible says that the reason it's golden and it glows, it's the glory of God that enlightens it. How does that work? And what will life be like for us as Christians, believers, when we get there? I would love to just see that for a second. Jesus takes us here forward to a time in the future, but he doesn't do it to give us warm fuzzies. He doesn't give it to be a comfort to us here. What he's doing is he's taking us to a time in the future as a reality check for us. We read here some of the, maybe this is the most dreadful scene in scripture. Jesus takes us to the future judgment day and there's people here who thought they were good. Like they thought they're in. And they're not, like they're surprised when they get there to find that there's no room in heaven for them. Look at verse 22, he says, many will say to me on that day, that day is a key phrase that's used throughout the Old Testament. It refers to the time of the Messiah's coming. And I think specifically it's here when Jesus is looking at that day, he's thinking of a specific judgment. Jesus has promised to return and when he does, right, he's going to come, the Antichrist is going to be ruling at that time, he's going to come, he's going to defeat him and then all the people that are left on the earth are going to have to stand before Christ, like the living people. And those who are believers will be allowed into the kingdom and those who aren't will be put to death forever. It's called the judgment of the sheep and goats. Jesus refers to it again in Matthew. If you want to, turn ahead to Matthew 25. I want to show you, I think, another description of this same judgment that Jesus is referring to in our passage. But in Matthew 25, there's a little more details given. That day. Look at Matthew 25, 31. But, when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, Then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. What a glory. But now look what he says to the other people down in verse 41. Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. But down to verse 46, these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Go back to Matthew 7. Now, not all of us, we want to get in the details of this, not all of us will be at that particular sheep and goats judgment. Some of us will stand before Jesus at the Bema seat judgment that comes earlier. Some of us will be before him at the great white throne judgment that comes later. But the point here is the same. All of us will stand before this Jesus and he will declare our eternal destiny, whether it be eternal joy or not, all of us will hear from Christ. We'll either hear, come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom, prepare for you. Or we will hear, depart from me, accursed one, into the eternal fire. Boy, are you ready for that day when you'll stand before Christ? Like all of us, we're each gonna have to stand there. Back in Matthew chapter 7, there's these people and they think they're ready. Like they came into this thinking, we're good, like we're Christians. And they're wrong. See, let's see if we can see what's wrong with how they're thinking, because we don't want to be them. Matthew 7, 22, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. These people, so they're standing there in the judgment, and they're trying to establish a connection with the judge, right? And so they say, Lord, Lord, in your name, we did all these awesome things. And they start listing them. In your name, we prophesied. In your name, we cast out demons. In your name, we perform many miracles. And that's pretty impressive. Somehow these people have been involved in supernatural things, and they're doing them all in Jesus's name. And yet, those people, Jesus will say, I never knew you. Depart from me. So what's wrong? What's wrong with their approach to Jesus? These people here are viewing Christianity as a set of things to be done instead of a person to be known. The things they were doing are great, but that's not what Jesus is looking for. Jesus wants to know you and to have you know him. Do you know Jesus this morning? I'm not asking if you come to church, or if you memorize verses, or if you give money to religious causes, or if you enjoy Christian concerts and movies. Do you know Jesus? That's what this all boils down to. And there's a difference, isn't there, between knowing someone and doing stuff for them? Jesus wants to know you. He wants you to say to him, Jesus, I give you my heart. I'm not going to hide from you anymore. I'm not going to fight you anymore. I'm not trying to impress you. You know that I'm a sinner and I need your forgiveness. Jesus wants to know you. For you to say to him, Jesus, I'm yours and you're mine. So many people resist this. Right? So many people would rather do stuff for Jesus than know Jesus. And why is that? Here's my thought process on it, and I think we see it in the text. Why would I rather do stuff for Jesus than know him? I think I feel in my heart that if I'm really going to know Jesus, that He's going to mess with some of this stuff in my life that I know is wrong. Like, I really want to hold on to this sin. I kind of enjoy it, and I don't want somebody telling me not to do it, and so what I think I'll do, I'll just like, I'm going to hold on to my sin that I don't want to let go of, and I'll do stuff for Jesus. I'll do all this stuff, and then when I get to the end, I'll be like, I prophesied in your name, and I did all these wonderful things, and I gave to the church, and Jesus knows. Right? I never knew you." Right? It's easier to just do stuff for Him than to know Him. Because to know Him is to just kind of open up all of my heart and say, God, I'm yours. Will you clean this up? See, look in verse 23. Notice how Jesus describes these people, because He can see, like you just can't fool Him by just doing stuff. He can see what really your heart is. Verse 23, He says, I will declare to them, after they list all the things they did in His name, I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. So they wouldn't give Him their heart. They wouldn't submit themselves to His laws. So they didn't know Him. Boy, are you ready to stand before Jesus and be judged? How can you know? Two questions we saw. Number one, do you do the Father's will from your heart or are you just saying this with your lips? Number two, do you know Jesus personally or are you just doing good things in Jesus's name? And then thirdly, what do you do when you hear Jesus's words? You want to know if you know him. You want to know if you're ready. What do you do when you hear Jesus's words? Look at verse 24. Therefore, Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house and yet it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and slammed against that house, and it fell. And great was its fall. And there on the hillside that day, that's how Jesus stops. Boom, end of sermon. Jesus closes by painting a contrast between two builders, and what he's saying is each of us are one of these guys. I'm one builder or the other. The one builder, the wise man, he built his house on the rock. In Luke 6, where Jesus tells the same story, he expands on it a bit. He says the wise man dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock. This first man, before building his life, before building his house, he dug all the way down to bedrock and he built his life upon the immovable foundation. The other man, the foolish man, he built his house on the sand. Maybe the houses aren't that much different, right? Times, a person's life, just by looking at it, they look kind of the same, whether he really loves Jesus or not. Life might look kind of the same. The houses, it doesn't say that they're different looking, and they seem to be in the same location, because both of these houses, the one on the sand and the one built on the rock, those two, both, it's the same storm that hits them, right? It comes. It says the same thing twice. The rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house. The wise man's house did not fall. But the foolish man's house fell, and great was its fall. You can imagine, right, that house built on the sand. It's silly. Why would you do that, right? That's what Jesus is trying to get through to us. Why would you do that? So the rain comes, and there's a flood, and so you guys know how it goes, right? If you don't have grass holding your dirt, the water comes rushing through, it's gonna undermine that house, and pretty soon, all at once, the house goes down, and it crashes. But, okay, that's the picture. But what's Jesus saying? When he talks about this, there's only one difference between those two men that he says. Both of those guys heard Jesus's words. The wise man, he says, he heard my words and acted on them. The foolish man heard my words and didn't act. The bedrock in the story, what's that stand for? We're to build our lives on the bedrock. The bedrock in the story stands for the words of Jesus Christ. the things that he has said, right? Because those who build their lives upon his words, who act upon them, they're going to be firm, established. So if the bedrock of the story stands for the words of Christ, the one who's going to endure the storm, built his life on what Jesus has said. The one who's going to wash away, what's he doing? Well, he's building his life on anything else. Maybe he trusts in some other expert or he, you know, any other source of wisdom. I'm going to build my life on what that guy says or what I think instead of what Jesus said. Jesus said, look, there's only one foundation that will get you through the storm. And it's what I have said. He says it's right after this sermon. It's kind of like guys what you do with what I said today determines your eternity now What's the storm right? So we got the picture I understand like some people build their lives upon Jesus's words and some people don't And then a storm comes what what's the storm? Well, the storm is the final judgment. I As we watch through the conclusion of Jesus's sermon, this like over and over again with different pictures, Jesus keeps saying, listen, the day of judgment is coming. You have to act now. Right. And so he, Jesus said, there's, there's a broad road that leads to destruction and many are on that broad road. And he says, enter through the narrow gates because that road leads to destruction. And then he talks about the false prophets and he says, these false prophets, they're going to be chopped down and thrown into the fire. And then here, if you don't act on Jesus's words, when the final judgment comes, everything that you've built, all that good that you did for Jesus, that's all gonna wash away and mean nothing unless you have based your life on what he said. So on the sheet here, do you know Jesus? Are you ready for this judgment? Here's a way you can tell. What do you do when you hear Jesus's words? Do you believe whatever He says and do whatever He tells you? You look at your life and you're like, yeah, God's Word, that's what I do, that's what I believe, that's what I live by. Then you're building on the rock. Do you believe whatever He says and do whatever He tells you? Or do you, letter B, consider all your options and then choose whatever path seems best? You hear Jesus speak and you consider all your options and choose whatever path seems best. That's building on the sand, folks. If you just take some of what Jesus says, but you don't build your life on it, Jesus says you're not gonna be ready. All your good works are gonna wash away in the end and you're not gonna be ready to enter my kingdom. It's interesting to read the response of the people here at the end of the passage. Look there at verse 28. When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching. For he was teaching them as one having authority and not as their scribes. But when it says they're amazed, literally, they were struck out of themselves. They're taken aback by the power with which he speaks. Here's a man who's saying, I will be your judge in the final day. Let me, I will tell you what is true. You got to build your life on what I say or you don't have any hope. Like, whoa. They walk away from there like, nobody talks like this guy. They're all impressed. But as you read through Matthew, it seems that many of them walk away from the sermon without taking action. They heard it and build their lives on it. Boy, let me let me invite you today as we come to the end of Jesus's sermon to act on his words. It's so important. Right. If I don't act on what Jesus says to me, then I am not ready to meet him. might be in one of two places. Maybe as you're listening to the sermon today, you're realizing, like, in my heart, if I'm real, I'm not ready, right? Maybe you're saying, my Christianity is more about what I say than what's really in my heart. My Christianity is more about doing stuff for Jesus than knowing him. I don't know what that is. Maybe you say, I just, I don't, when Jesus speaks, I don't have it settled in my heart that whatever he says goes. Jesus would say, if those things are true of you, you're not ready. Do you know, though, you can be ready to meet Jesus before you leave today? Those words in verse 23, Jesus says, depart from me. Do you know you don't ever have to hear those words? You do not have to, you don't have to hear those words. That's not what Jesus is saying today, right? That's not what he's saying yet. It is not too late right now. Here's what Jesus is saying to you. Jesus is saying to you come to me Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Have you come to him? Right? Have you come to Him? Do you know Him? You say, well, how do I do that? Listen, Jesus is in your heart. That's what we're saying, right? You can't fake it. So just really, from your heart where you sit, if you just cry out to Jesus and say, Jesus, forgive me. I want to know you. I want to base my life on what you say. You just cry out that to God. He will hear you and He will respond. What's the Bible say? That the one who believes in Jesus, He justifies him. He will declare you righteous in His sight forever. But you have to, you can't fake it. It's got to be real. Jesus, I believe what you say. I'm trusting in you. As we close Jesus's sermon today, I want to go back and read the words that we started with, all right? So turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5, verse 3. And here this sermon started off with Jesus saying, look, for those who believe in me, there are some blessings that are yours. For those of you that have trusted in me and taken me as your own, here are things that are true. One thing is true, the kingdom is yours. Look at what Jesus says. If you're a believer, these words are for you. Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn. I think he's talking about those who mourn over their sin there. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Pray with me. Father, we thank you that because of Jesus' death for us sinners, you are offering this gift of the kingdom, an entrance into it, for free to whoever now, before life ends, will come and say, Jesus, I'll build my life on everything you say. I trust in you. Lord, if there's somebody here right now and you're working in their heart, I pray that they won't Pray that they'll respond to you, because your arms are open. Lord, for those of us that are believers, we are so thankful for what you've given to us. Some of us here, we know we know you, and yet there's some areas in our life where maybe we're not building on what you've said, and we need to right that. So will you forgive us and help us as we go in that way? We know that your narrow way is best for us, and it leads to eternity because of your gift of eternal life. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.