Mt. Zion Church of the Holy Spirit - Sermons
Will He Know You On That Day?
1 John 2:3,4 — "And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
Matthew 7:21-23 — "Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? And in Thy Name have cast out devils? And in Thy Name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity."
I want to begin by saying that as true, born-again believers, there is a wonderful rest in our position in Christ. We are truly loved by God, and we are made righteous through faith—not by our own works, but by the work that Jesus finished on the cross. As human beings veiled in this flesh, we are not perfect in ourselves, but we have the wonderful assurance that Christ’s righteousness is a perfect righteousness. As we behold Christ, fixing the eyes of our hearts upon Him, we are being changed into His image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of God. What a wonderful rest we have in the Lord, Jesus Christ.
The purpose of this message is to reveal that saving faith is an obedient faith. True saving faith produces within the heart of the believer a desire to obey God’s commandments. When individuals who call themselves by the name of Christ are living in absolute rebellion to His commandments, there are severe and eternal consequences. Grace is not a license to live in rebellion to the commandments of Christ, but true saving grace gives you a desire to walk in obedience to the Lord.
In Matthew 7:21-23, we find very sobering words spoken by Christ. In these scriptures, Jesus tells us that there will be a day when many will stand before Him expecting to be welcomed and ushered into an eternity with Christ, but to their horror and shock will be turned away. Looking at Matthew 7:22, it is so evident that these individuals thought they were saved, secure in the grace of God, but they will find out on that day that they were tragically mistaken. Upon this realization, this multitude of shocked individuals will point to their works and their ministry and declare, “I do not understand; in Thy name I have done all these wonderful works,” but Jesus will profess, “I never knew you.”
ACCORDING TO CHRIST, WHAT IS THE DETERMINING FACTOR IN THEIR LIFE THAT WILL FORFEIT THEIR ENTRANCE INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN? THEIR SALVATION IS NOT EVIDENCED BY OBEDIENCE!
“And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”
Here in Matthew 7:23, the Greek word for "iniquity" is anomia, and it means lawlessness and disobedience. The tragedy here is that many are calling themselves by the Name of Christ and are involved in the work of Christ, but at the same time there is a deep root of rebellion in their hearts against the commandments of God. Beloved, in God’s word there are many scriptures revealing great and wonderful promises to the believer and many scriptures that give much assurance and comfort to our hearts concerning God’s great love towards His children, but also in the Scriptures Jesus lays out His commandments. God’s Word says that you cannot be forgiven unless you forgive. God’s Word declares that whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and that we are to love our enemies. God’s Word says that we are to mortify the deeds of the flesh. These are the commandments of God, and to ignore His commandments, or to harden our hearts against His commandments is lawlessness and rebellion in God’s eyes. We have to understand that on the cross Jesus paid too horrible a price for salvation to simply wink at disobedience to His commandments.
Now we understand that no believer in Christ is perfect in his or her self; we all have flaws, imperfections and issues of the heart that Christ needs to work on and bring change. With these issues of the heart there is much mercy with God, because we have yielded our hearts to Him and crowned Him Lord over our lives. The Spirit of God is doing a good work in our hearts. What we are really talking about here is rebellion! “God, I refuse to forgive the people who have hurt me in my past!” “God, I refuse to love an enemy who is in constant opposition to me!” “God, I refuse to lay down an immoral sin; I am just trusting that your great mercy will excuse that sin!” Beloved, this is rebellion in God’s sight!
SAVING FAITH IS AN OBEDIENT FAITH.
True saving faith has evidence, and that evidence is obedience. True saving faith produces in the heart a desire to obey Christ.
Hebrews 5:9 — "And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him."
James 1:22 — "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."
1 John 2:3,4 — "And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
Revelation 22:14 — "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."
All these scriptures confirm this truth: saving faith is an obedient faith, and true saving faith produces a desire in the heart to love God and keep His commandments.
TRAGICALLY, ON THAT DAY, MANY ARE GOING TO BE IN SHOCK BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING TO FIND OUT THAT THEIR "SALVATION" WAS NO SALVATION AT ALL.
They were deceived in their own hearts, because what they thought was “saving grace” was not grace at all.
It is very tragic, but there are multitudes sitting in churches all across America who see grace as a means to live a fleshly, rebellious and carnal lifestyle. Many view grace as a blanket of God’s love that covers and excuses their sins and rebellion against the commandments of God. They know they are indulging the appetites of their flesh and committing acts that are very displeasing to the Lord. They comfort and excuse themselves by saying, “God loves me, and I am covered by His grace.” This is the great deception, and this is the reason why many are going to stand horrified on that day before Christ: they will hear Him say, “depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.”
TRUE SAVING GRACE HAS A TWO-FOLD MINISTRY: GRACE COVERS YOU, AND GRACE CHANGES YOU.
Let us look at this truth. First, grace covers you.
Isaiah 61:10 — "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."
This is one of the many beauties of the grace covenant. When we truly surrender our hearts and lives to Christ, it is then that we enter into His righteousness. Because we are clothed in Christ’s perfect righteousness, we stand without blame and faultless before the eyes of God. Yes, we are far from perfect in ourselves, but God has made provision for our imperfections by clothing us in the perfect righteousness of His son, Jesus. Because of the righteousness of Christ, as the prophet Isaiah declared, we can rejoice in the God of our salvation. We do not have to go through the rest of our Christian lives feeling condemned by the enemy and living under the oppression of the accuser. We can just point the accuser to Christ’s righteousness and say, “I know I have areas that I fall short in, but I do not stand by my own works of righteousness, but by the righteousness that is imputed to me by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Beloved, how wonderful and marvelous is this grace that covers the children of God.
TRUE SAVING GRACE DOES NOT STOP WITH JUST COVERING YOU, IT CHANGES YOU!
Titus 2:11-12 — "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world."
According to Titus 2:11-12, true saving grace produces something in our lives, godliness! Grace is a power working in our hearts, changing us, and conforming us into the nature of Christ. Grace is not a blanket that covers up our deeds of the flesh and rebellion against the commandments of Christ. Grace is a power working in us both to will and to do that which is pleasing to God. God never intended people in the church to use grace as an excuse not to change, but God intended grace to be a power working in our hearts to change us. If we have claimed a grace that just covers us, but that grace is not working in our hearts producing change, then we have adhered to a tragic message that excuses our sin and rebellion. We have failed to possess the true saving grace of God!
THE TRAGEDY OF THE CHURCH AGE TODAY IS THAT MANY, MANY PEOPLE WHO CLAIM TO MINISTER THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST ARE PRESENTING TO THE MASSES A PERVERTED GRACE!
Again, many have presented grace as a blanket of God’s love, where it does not matter how fleshly a person may live, God’s grace and mercy covers and excuses it. Now, because of this message of perverted grace, the church is full of rebellious hearts that have never repented. These individuals do not have a desire to repent, but sincerely believe that as long as they claim to believe in Jesus and go to church, then they are saved by the love of God. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, describes these people as those who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. In other words, they deny that grace has power to change the heart.
2 Timothy 3:1-4 — "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God."
This sounds like the world we live in today, does it not? If you read the next verse, we see plainly that Paul is not talking about the world, but he is talking about many sitting in the church. Paul goes on to say, "...Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" (2 Timothy 3:5). In other words, there are many sitting in the church who reject the truth that grace has the power to change someone who is a lover of their own self into one who truly loves God. They are denying the truth that grace has the strength to change a trucebreaker into one who walks in honesty and integrity. They are refusing the truth that grace has the ability to take someone who is highminded and work in them a heart that esteems others higher than themselves.
This is what Paul is saying: they sit in church looking like they have reverence toward God and the things of God. However they are not allowing the Spirit of grace to work in their hearts, because in all reality, they have no desire for Him to do so!
Beloved, from the beginning God was careful to reveal through His prophets the wonderful power of grace to be found in the new covenant.
Jeremiah 31:31-33 — “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers…which my covenant they brake…But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Here, speaking of the coming new covenant of grace, God says through the mouth of Jeremiah that in the new covenant He is going to write His laws in the hearts of His people. What this simply means is He is going to place within the hearts of His people a desire to obey Him; that His people will love Him with all of their hearts and keep His commandments. Beloved, if anyone preaches another Gospel, then it is not the true Gospel of Jesus Christ!
LET US END OUR MESSAGE WITH THIS TRUTH: THE EVIDENCE THAT ONE IS TRULY SAVED IS THAT THEY HAVE A DESIRE TO BE CONFORMED INTO THE LIKENESS OF CHRIST.
Romans 8:29a — “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son…”
Beloved, this is every believer’s destiny: to be made and fashioned into the image of Christ! When we are truly born again, we rest in our righteousness imputed to us by God through faith, but at the same time there is a desire to be changed into Christ’s likeness! As born again believers, this is our confidence, that God is doing this good work in our hearts. Philippians 1:6 — "being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus." As believers, we can walk in this assurance that God is working in our lives. As we are seeking Him with all of our hearts, we are changing from glory to glory, becoming more and more like Christ, because the Holy Spirit is doing the work. When we truly love the Lord, what a wonderful assurance we have, that God is giving us the desire of our heart, Christ-likeness. Blessed be the Name of our God, forever and ever. Amen.