The Sermon on the Mount: Right Belief - Matt. 7:21-23

Introduction

Read Matthew 7:21-23

Matthew 7:21–23 (ESV)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

This is one of the scariest passages in Scripture. To hear that you might be able to believe all the right things and do the all the right things and still not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is continuing on the theme of staying on the narrow path. Only the narrow path leads to life, the wide path leads to the destruction.

Last week we looked at being careful of who we listen to and knowing that not everyone who calls himself or herself a teacher of God’s Word is leading us correctly.

This week, we are looking at self-examining and making sure that we are not fake believers headed down the wrong path.

Be Careful of Cheap Grace

“Not Everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer served as a pastor in Germany during the years leading up to World War II. Many within the German church were being swept up in the lies, propaganda, and patriotism of the Nazi regime and Hitler’s atheistic philosophy. He was quite familiar with those within the church who had a profession of faith, and good works, but where there was no genuine salvation. There was wide spread self-delusion within the German/Lutheran church during Bonhoeffer’s lifetime.

He called this kind of self-delusion, “cheap grace.”

The Sermon on the Mount: (Matthew 5–7): An Expositional Commentary (Cheap Grace)

In The Cost of Discipleship Bonhoeffer writes, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”1

Profession of faith does not save

The first thing we see from this statement is that they believe that Jesus is Lord. Now this could mean a couple of things as they say it.

The title “Lord” could mean a title of respect like sir. Or it also stood in place for the name of Yahweh, which is the name of God Himself.

They could believe that Jesus is a teacher deserving of respect.

Or they could believe that Jesus is God in the flesh.

Either way, these people believe in the reality and person of Jesus. They might even believe the right things about Jesus.

While we are called to believe in the Son of God, simple head knowledge belief is not what can save and bring us into the kingdom of God.

James 2:19 (ESV)

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

The demons believe all the right things about God, but have failed to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

cheap grace is believing without repentance and obedience.

Saying the right things does not save

These people Jesus is talking about also say the right things about Him. They call Him Lord, for so He is. They are not wrong to call Him Lord. But simple acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord will not save. Like we looked at above in James, it takes more than religious lip service to enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 15:8 (ESV)

“ ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

It is possible to say all the right things about Christ and have no love or true knowledge of Him.

I can know all the right things about the President of the United States. But knowing those things about him do not necessarily mean that I know him as a person. I do not actually know him the way his family, friends, and advisors know him. So all the things I can say about him does not actually mean that I am in relationship with him.

Cheap grace is saying the right things without truly believing what you’re saying.

Emotion do not save

There is also the deception of strong emotions for God. Notice the people say, “Lord, Lord.” When something is repeated, it shows an emphasis or a strong emotion for what is being referenced. These individuals have a strong emotion for Christ. And yet, these emotions are not enough to save.

Paul, in Romans 10, talks about his desire for Israel to come to a saving knowledge of Christ. He writes:

Romans 10:1–3 (ESV)

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

The people of Israel had a strong emotion for God. However, they did not have a true knowledge of God. So again, while knowledge and belief do not necessarily indicate true salvation, you cannot have salvation apart from true knowledge and belief. They had the emotions and zeal for God, but they did not truly know Him as He really is.

There are people who can be driven by strong emotions to pray a prayer and walk an aisle. But what are your emotions for? We should have strong emotions for Christ. But is it the true Christ revealed by Scripture, or is it a Jesus of our own invention, a Jesus to our own liking?

We have a lot of worship music today that helps to create emotions for God. And there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I believe God calls us to praise Him in song because it does engage our hearts and emotions for Him. But we need to be careful about the songs we sing. We can develop strong emotions for a god who is vague and abstract and which has only a small semblance of the God of the Bible. I have seen people get carried away with emotion in worship, and yet have no true knowledge or understanding of Christ.

Good Works do not Save

Matthew 7:22–23 (ESV)

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

However, cheap grace can also show itself in good works devoid of faith.

Good works cannot save. Jesus says there are those who prophesy in His name, cast out demons, and do mighty works or miracles in His name, but fail to truly know Him.

These individuals somehow think that doing these good things will earn them a place in the kingdom of heaven. It is cheap grace because because we do not seek to truly trust and obey the Father, but instead we trust ourselves and place ourselves in the place of God. I can save myself with my own strength and ability and I place God in my debt. Which in turn leads me to believe that I can do whatever I want because God owes me.

You know, sometimes we think that people cannot be good moral people apart from Christ. But Christ Himself actually refutes that idea. People can be very good and moral, as far as outward actions go. An atheist, a muslim, or a Hindu person can be very good and moral outwardly, but that does not mean they have entered the kingdom of heaven. In the same way, there are many people who claim Christ and who are good moral people, and yet still do not truly know Him.

It needs to be said that none of these things are bad. In fact, to be saved, we must have right belief, say true things, have holy affections and emotions for God, and produce good works in keeping with repentance. But none of these things on their own can actually save. They are signs of salvation, but are not salvation in and of themselves!

Stay on the Narrow Path of Salvation

Matthew 7:21 (ESV)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

The Narrow Path is “Doing the Will of the Father.”

Notice that Jesus tells us that only those who do the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven.

But we just looked at the fact that those who do good deeds do not necessarily enter the kingdom of heaven.

So what is the difference between doing the will of the Father and doing good works in the name of Jesus?

The will of the Father is truly believing the One He has sent.

John 6:40 (ESV)

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

So we are back to belief rather than works. But what kind of belief?

Like we have already examined, this belief is not mere intellectual assent to facts, or saying what you know to be true or experiencing a sincere emotional response to what you know.

This belief is a belief that looks on Jesus Christ as He truly is and what He has truly done and follows Him in trust and dependence upon His strength and grace.

Can you imagine a tightrope stretched over a quarter of a mile and spanning the breadth of Niagara Falls?  The thundering sound of the pounding water drowning out all other sounds as you watch a man step onto the rope and walk across!

This stunning feat made Charles Blondin famous in the summer of 1859.  He walked 160 feet above the falls several times back and forth between Canada and the United States as huge crowds on both sides looked on with shock and awe.  Once he crossed in a sack, once on stilts, another time on a bicycle,  and once he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet!

On July 15, Blondin walked backward across the tightrope to Canada and returned pushing a wheelbarrow. The Blondin story is told that it was after pushing a wheelbarrow across while blindfolded that Blondin asked for some audience participation.  The crowds had watched and "Ooooohed" and "Aaaaahed!"  He had proven that he could do it; of that, there was no doubt.  But now he was asking for a volunteer to get into the wheelbarrow and take a ride across the Falls with him!

It is said that he asked his audience, "Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?"  Of course the crowd shouted that yes, they believed!

It was then that Blondin posed the question - "Who will get in the wheelbarrow?'

Of course...none did.

(Later in August of 1859, his manager, Harry Colcord, did ride on Blondin's back across the Falls.)

The story of Charles Blondin paints a real life picture of what faith actually is. The crowd had watched his daring feats. They said they believed, but their actions proved they truly didn't.

It's one thing for us to say we believe in God. It's true faith though when we believe God and put our faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Don't worry, Jesus has carried many across to Heaven's gates. He can be trusted!

This story illustrates what Christ is talking about when He tells us that we are called to believe upon Him. While true belief certainly includes acknowledging and confessing true facts about Christ, it goes beyond that.

Throughout this sermon Christ is telling us how to find true life. He is telling us we must admit and acknowledge our sinfulness and weakness and to hunger and thirst for His righteousness. He is telling us that we must deny ourselves and take up our cross to follow Him. That we must cut off things from our lives in order to strive for holiness. That we must not look to the praise of men, but that we are to live for the honor and glory of God in Christ.

True faith is an invitation to climb into the wheelbarrow and die to ourselves so we can find the true life that Christ has come to give to us through His death and resurrection. This goes beyond mere assent and good works. It requires a complete change of heart, to admit that we cannot earn God’s favor, but that Christ’s work is sufficient for us and that He will give us what we need as we seek to trust Christ with every bit of our lives.

The Narrow Path is “Knowing Christ.”

But what happens when we place this kind of life changing faith in Christ?

When we do the will of the Father by looking upon Christ and believing in Him, Christ will take us from death to life by causing us to die to our sin and becoming alive to God.

And when we become alive to God, He is going to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law within us. Remember, Christ did not come to abolish the law, but that the law might be fulfilled through Him.

So, the will of the Father is to believe in Christ to lead us to rightly fulfill the law of God. And the law of God is summed up by two central commandments.

Matthew 22:36–40 (ESV)

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

The problem with these individuals that Christ will say “Depart from me, I never knew you,” is that everything they did was for love of self. They had correct beliefs, strong emotions, and good works, not because they loved Christ, but because they loved themselves and wanted to earn their standing before God and the praise of others. All these good religious actions were done out of self-worship rather than God-centered and Christ-centered worship. They never truly faced their own weakness and inability due to their sin. They failed to humble themselves and to truly hunger and thirst for righteousness because they filled themselves up with their own righteousness. They were lovers of self.

But true belief will lead us to truly love and worship God and also to love our neighbors as ourselves. True belief will cause us to do whatever it takes to fight against our idolatry, jealousy, hatred, and lust. It will lead us to not judge our neighbors, but rather to judge ourselves and to see ourselves as the chief of sinners. The grace that comes from true belief will give us the ability to treat others with the preferential treatment that we desire for ourselves.

Here’s how we know we know God. We know we are known by God because of the love He produces in our lives by grace through faith.

1 John 4:7–8 (ESV)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

When we truly trust in Christ, when we climb into that wheelbarrow for Him to do what only He can do by taking us from death to life, we get to actually experience and know Christ as He is and He gives us His love so we can love God and love others the way we were created to do.

Fight Against False Confidence

So how do we know we are truly saved rather than having a false confidence in the cheap grace of our own works and shallow belief?

The Narrow Path requires constantly examining ourselves while resting in the true assurance Christ gives.

2 Peter 1:5–10 (ESV)

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

Peter is telling us that because of Christ, we have been redeemed from the corruption of our sinful desires. Because of what Christ has done, we are called to make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and with love. Notice, it all comes back to love.

As such, he tells us to make our calling and election sure so that we will not fall.

How do we grow in love and godliness?

Discipleship - We need the help of each other to do this.

This is why Jesus does not tell us to make converts. He doesn’t tell us to get people to pray a magic prayer and then they will be alright. He tells us to “make disciples of all nations.”

To make disciples means that we are constantly teaching and helping each other grow in God’s grace, to grow in our love for God and for one another, to help each other fight against sin and to put it to death. We must constantly be learning about who God is and who we are and allowing Him to transform our hearts and lives to display the love that was shown to us at the cross.

Find someone whom you can trust who can speak truth to you, to grow in God’s Word and what it means to trust Him and obey Him, and to help you fight against the sin of self-love and self-worship and to grow in the love of God and for others.

Do not simply rest upon a past work or past decision you made. Are you growing now? Are you seeking to love God more today than you did yesterday or last week or last year? Do you want to love your neighbor as yourself? If not, why not?

True belief in Christ will lead us to want to know Him more and love Him more as He really is!