Not every one 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.
If you take Scripture seriously, these words of Jesus, near the end of His famous “Sermon on the Mount,” may be among the most frightening of all. They evoke the impending Judgment Day where everyone must give a personal account to the Lord before being either hurled into the lake of fire or welcomed into perfect bliss. These words also portray the doom of many professing Christians. The damned here emphatically call Jesus “Lord.” And perhaps worst of all, these words raise the terrifying possibility of self-deception. And is this not fatal?
Sadly, many faithful Christians have suffered needlessly by thinking they will be among those who shall be condemned. A misunderstanding about this passage has contributed to their unwarranted fears. Jesus does not say these things to grieve the godly but to warn the wicked while they have the opportunity of repentance.
Self-deception is a horrible trap that ensnares many, and nobody is under its power as much as the many who feel very sure of God’s favor and final approval. Such were “the scribes and Pharisees” (Matt 5.20), certainly not followers of Jesus, whose false religion the Sermon on the Mount is designed to expose. They were superficial, self-righteous, self-deceived, and self-condemned. In this sermon, Jesus contrasts the pure religion that characterizes His disciples, yet He raises the specter of hypocrites, mere pretenders, even in the visible church. Among professing Christians, the sect of the Pharisees lives on.
But by the grace of God and contrary to the fears of some, self-deception is not inescapable. Full assurance of being in a state of grace and having a blessed destiny is entirely possible in this life. Christ’s reassurance is just as comforting as His warning is terrible. He also says (vv. 24–25),
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
It is a huge mistake to take the warning without the promise! The warning alone is a way of woe, but the promise is a path of peace.
Jesus’ sermon is “a lamp unto my feet, and a light to my path” (Psa 119.105). He plainly shows me the pitfalls that have been the utter ruin of multitudes. For example, they have minimized the requirements of the moral law to make them humanly achievable rather than appreciating their situational breadth and spiritual depth that conspire to convict us of our guilt and ridicule our utter inability—in other words, that we cannot possibly be good or do good to deserve God’s praise. For example, “Thou shalt not kill” is about more than murder. It also condemns unrighteous anger in the heart (Matt 5.21–27). “Thou shalt not commit adultery” is a commandment broken even when sinful lust smolders inside without blazing forth to filthy deeds (vv. 28–32). “Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain” was always aimed against even the slightest irreverence of loose talk (vv. 33–37). The Lex Talionis (v. 38; Exod 21.24) was part of Israel’s civil code; it was never intended to undermine the equally-important rule of loving one’s neighbor as ourselves (vv. 39–48; cf. Lev 19.18).
Multitudes have also been lost by imagining a merely superficial religiosity and a morality for show are acceptable with God, when these rather offend Him. Ostentatious deeds—whether giving to the poor (6.1–4), praying (vv. 5–15), or even fasting (vv. 16–18)—are all “rewarded” only by whatever admiration in this life we receive from our fellow dupes.
How, then, can we be saved and know it for certain? The answer is not hard to discover from Jesus’ sermon. We must own and confess Him as Lord, first of all. Anyone who does not believe Jesus’ exalted claims shall die in their sins except they repent (John 8.24). But we must have more than a profession of faith. To escape religious presumption, we must not only hear these sayings of His, but actually do them. By faith and with genuine sincerity, we must believe Christ’s counsel enough to put it into practice. His Word must be our aim and our rule. However short we may fall of His perfect standard, we must, out of a true sense of our sin, and apprehension of God’s mercy in Christ, with grief and hatred of our sin, keep turning to God with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience (WSC #87).
James’ epistle adds its testimony (Jas 1.22–27). Everyone who ignores the warning and continues as he or she is, being a hearer only of the Word and not a doer, is self-deceived and lost. “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (v. 25 ESV).
Some in the church say it is impossible to know for sure whether one is sincere, and so they remain troubled. If they were right and assurance were impossible, then why does Jesus assure us that whoever hears His sayings and does them will stand firm on Judgment Day? I must believe that I can be saved from self-deception if I will, by the grace of God, honestly apply this truth to my own heart and life, or else Jesus spoke for nothing. Blessed are they who hear and do. Amen.
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