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Although I don’t have the worksheets today, I’m very sorry. I like to give worksheets. Though I do not have, I highly encourage you to take a pen out, put your phone on airplane mode, take a paper out, and please write down what is being taught this morning. Matthew Chapter 7, Verses 21–23. You have been going through a journey in the Sermon on the Mount by the Lord Jesus Christ, which is recorded by the disciple Matthew under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I think for several weeks — I assume that for almost a few months — you have been camping through this sermon, and I am convinced that you have a fairly good idea of what the kingdom looks like, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, with all its extension of the now and the not
yet principle. Now as we come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount recorded for us by Matthew, the Lord Jesus Christ places, or rather concludes his sermon like a wonderful preacher, with some parables, with some word pictures. And the week prior to last week when I preached, I said the sermon concludes by three parables or three word pictures. From verses 13 to 14 you see the first parable or the first picture, where you see two ways, the narrow way and the broad way. And then after that, from verses 15 to 23 almost, which is last, the week prior to that I preached, you
see two kinds of people, one very clearly spoken about of how what they claim to be and how they live has a great dissonance. There is no connection between who they profess themselves to be and how they live their lives out. And obviously when you come from verses 20, when you come to verses 24 to the end of the uh chapter, you will find the last parable, two kinds of builders. In all these three parables we see one common thing. There is action. There is progression. And obviously there is also one destination that you will find. Now where we get kind of confused is probably not being able to pinpoint and say these are really believers and probably these guys are not believers.
But as the Lord Jesus brings this sermon to an end, he gives us very clear instructions, very clear indicators to identify who genuine believers are and who seemingly look like believers are and are not. And my dear brothers and sisters, some of you I know here, some of you, you know me, some of us don't know each other. But may I tell you this morning in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest value and the greatest valuable thing that you ever carry with yourself is not your position, is not the salary that you earn, is not the car you drive, is not the person you are married to.
The most valuable thing is your soul, my dear friend. And if you, if you deceive yourself there, you are the greatest fool. The reason I say fool is the Lord Jesus Christ says you are a fool. That is why he called the disobedient builder to a — compare the disobedient builder to a foolish builder. Randy Alcorn wrote a book called The Purity Principle, in which he equates all sin in its ultimate sense to foolishness. Oh, fool you are if you think sin is going to give you that ultimate pleasure that you think only God can give. If you are a fool if you think ultimately
sin is going to give you that ultimate eternal joy and satisfaction, you are a fool, my friend. And the Lord Jesus Christ calls us this morning, just as in Matthew chapter 5 verse 1 and 2, the context is very clear. His crowds have followed him. The disciples sat next to him. He made the distinction very clearly. And to us too this morning, if there is a member in this church who is only a member, but really not a member in the Lord Jesus Christ, then this call is for you. I have titled this sermon as the destiny of the self-deceived.
The destiny of the self-deceived. Now, why did I take this? Because I think the emphasis is truly towards where these people are heading. Now, look at this. As I said, in the two ways that the Lord Jesus spoke about, in the two claimants that the Lord Jesus spoke about, and in the two builders that the Lord Jesus spoke about, one common thing that we see is that the ultimate destination will never go wrong with who actually they were. Now three times the Lord repeatedly says that their destination is eternal destruction. You heard the sermon your pastor preached, beyond the narrow way.
What happens to those who walk in the broad way? That path leads to what? What’s the word? Destruction. That is one more word synonymously used for eternal hell. What about the sermon that I preached two weeks ago where he says, “every tree that does not bear good fruit,” what will happen to it? It will be axed and where will it be thrown? Fire. That is another reference to eternal destruction. Now again in this passage we will say that the Lord Jesus Christ ultimately said, “I have never known you, depart from me, doers of iniquity.” That is another reference to eternal destruction.
And then when you come to the foolish builder, what happens? Remember that song that we sing, right? The rains came and the floods rose. What happened ultimately? Destroyed. Destroyed. And it’s the Lord Jesus actually says, “great was its fall.” An allusion to Old Testament metaphor of ultimate destruction coming. Meaning to say, listen very carefully, if you are fooling yourself sitting here this morning, if you’re really not a born again person, my friend, this is definitely going to be your destination. You cannot go wrong. He cannot make it even more clear than what he has already made. Destruction, fire, destruction, great is the fall.
Christ is saying is this, that of all the people, one group will probably be shell-shocked on the day when they stand before the Lord Jesus Christ are the group who have deceived themselves into thinking they are born again, yet they are not. I know of many pastors who are not born again. I know my father for one. I seriously doubt if he’s a born-again person. It is better for us to assume, when you look at the life, not the words, not the doings, but the life of the — and examine and say, maybe this brother, maybe this sister, maybe this uncle, maybe this aunt
Maybe my dad, maybe my mom is not born again. Rather than assume and somehow pack them and send them to hell, here is the passage which speaks, and this should basically make us sit up and take notes and understand. And I want you to remember that the context still is verse 15. And what is the first word in verse 15? Beware. Watch out. You remember the four things? At least I want to just reiterate one of the four things that I said was that the verb is basically, it’s an imperative, it’s a command. And the command is in a continuous form, meaning to say continuously
it must be the duty of the local church, which is every member, not just the pastor or pastors. Every member should watch out for such kind of people. What happens if you don’t watch out? This is what will happen. You may not be the leader, but you will definitely be the follower of such. So you are supposed to guard your soul. You are supposed to guard the souls of your brothers and sisters in the local church, lest you can become one of those leaders or you will soon follow. And may I say this to you?
Very, very clearly, when you take a survey of church history, false preachers and teachers do not start as false preachers and teachers, particularly those who become very predominant and they actually put a dent in Christian work, appear after a certain time. Did you get that clearly? Yes, some of you are seeing through me. I hope you are not like Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings who can open the eyes and sleep into the mic. Okay, can you hear me? False teachers, false teachers, deceivers do not just start off as deceivers. They get there. And there generally are people who are very popular, who are very famous, who are very passionate, who are very zealous, who are everywhere, who do a lot of things.
And my brothers and sisters, please, for goodness sake of your own soul, do not measure the maturity of any believer, of any brother or sister, based on the action or performance. Observe the life. Watch the life. Watch the life carefully, dear friends. So here is the second parable, three parables I mentioned. Here is the second parable, the first parable is two ways, the last parable is two builders. Here is the middle part where after the parable of the bad tree and the good tree — Deepu, can you arrange some water if you don’t mind — after the parable of the good tree and the bad tree, the Lord Jesus Christ moves on to speak about a real group of people who will really appear on the judgment day, who will really say these things, and who will really receive their eternal retribution from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why am I saying really? Because so far you only see parables. Thank you. Thank you very much. So far you only see parables. But here the Lord Jesus moves on to tell us that this is no mere metaphor. Meaning to say, it was said in the past about the future for us in the present to basically buckle up and make our path straight. This is really, really going to happen. But before we get into these three verses, let me just remind you of the context and the conclusion of this entire sermon so that we basically get a panoramic view.
We get a bird’s eye view of what is happening. Now let’s just observe this. If you’re writing down, look at the beginning of the sermon and the end of the sermon to pick up some very important clues here. Beginning of the sermon we are told who will enter the kingdom of heaven. The end of the sermon we are told who will never enter the kingdom of heaven. At the beginning of the sermon we are told how one will enter into the kingdom of heaven. At the end of the sermon we are told how one will never enter into the kingdom of heaven.
No matter what they say. “I did this, I did that.” Does not matter. They are not going to enter. The beginning of the sermon, the king is inviting the subjects saying, “Repent and believe.” That’s the context in Matthew chapter 4. And then you see that the crowds have followed and the Lord Jesus Christ begins to preach the sermon. The end of the sermon, the king is rejecting the traitors. At the beginning of the sermon, the king is calling for repentance and belief. At the end of the sermon, the king is condemning the unrepentant. Now look at this very fascinating thing. The beginning of the sermon, you see the future blessings of the saved, isn’t it? That is why all the beatitudes except for two are
always in the future tense, will be, will be, will be. The only two that are in the present tense are, blessed are the pure, sorry, poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom. That means the moment you recognize your spiritual bankruptcy, repent and believe in Jesus Christ, you are in. For you and I can do nothing. That is why they are the poor in spirit, not the proud in spirit. For the now they have immediately recognized and immediately kingdom is given. But of course they have to wait for the eternity to receive the fulfillment of all the blessings that are promised. So at the beginning of
the sermon we see the future blessings for the saved. At the end of the sermon we receive the final doom of the unsaved. My friend, I want to encourage you this morning. If you are here and you are not a born again person, wake up. Listen. Let the Spirit of God convict you so that you may not be there in the final doom of the unsaved. No other book on planet earth describes hell like Jesus Christ does, like the Holy Bible does. No other. In fact, no other preacher has described hell like the Lord Jesus Christ did. Why? He is both the maker and the one who endured it for your sake on the cross.
At the beginning you see the Savior’s call. At the end you see the judge’s declaration. At the beginning you see the gospel proclamation. At the end you see the gospel distinction of separating the crowds, the false teachers, the false believers from those who are genuinely born again, genuinely born again. Let me put before you three very specific things that emerge from these three verses. Verse 21, the first thing that we will observe is the self-deceived, the self-deceived. What comes to your mind when you think of deception? Let me ask you for some answers. What do you think of deception?
If it is plainly, clearly, blatantly wrong, do you think there is a great chance for us to be deceived? Yes or no? Yes? Okay. To me, if it is plain white paper and if it is plain 500 rupee denomination, I won’t be deceived. Okay? I won’t be because I know the distinction between what is a white paper and what is clearly Indian currency note. But what if it has 16 features? Out of the 17 key features, one is missing. There I am in great trouble to distinguish between an original note from a fake note. You see, you see, it is easy for you to distinguish when an open temptation attacks on you. It is when temptation
masks itself, particularly my friend, in spiritual clothes, you will find it difficult. One good thing we can pray for every day is, “Lord, help me.” As the father tells the son in marriage, the Proverbs chapter 5, “My son, pay attention, listen to my wisdom, take care of my — take, deposit my understanding in your heart.” Why? “For the lips of a seductress woman.” Meaning to say, you must be able to stand here five years before where the temptation is going to come. You must train your senses, as Hebrews chapter 5 says, to distinguish that what is seductive and what is not. And that is why the
Lord Jesus says, “Beware, beware.” Deception will never ever come to you plainly as deception. It will always come to you in the form of good and evil. You only bite the good, you spit the evil out. That was the evil that was sold earlier. So here is the first thing: how do you recognize the self-deceived? Verse 21, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord.” Now when the Lord Jesus Christ says not everyone, he’s not — he’s obviously excluding. There are those who will say Lord, there are those who will do what is right, but not everybody who has the — so two things
I want to mention appearance of a believer is a believer. Appearance of Christian worker is a Christian worker. Appearance of passion is passionate. Appearance of zeal is actually zealous. The first thing you must recognize in a false teacher, in a false believer too, is it merely appearance? May the Lord save us, particularly those of us who are high about sound teaching, expositional preaching and reformed theology and this and that. May the Lord help us to clear this fog from our eyes and have clarity that there should not be any dissonance, my friends, any disconnection, any disharmony between what we are saying and not what we are doing but how we are living. You see, when we go to some restaurants, we go
to some hotels and the — and the places are spick and span. We — we visit some houses or we visit some places, we look at some cars or we see something very spick and span. My friends, aspire your soul to be like that. Doesn’t matter how circumstances and things around you are, inside if it is not clean you are basically living a life of dissonance, where you — what you are saying, what you profess, what is all this thing, what is that, man? You read catechisms and all of that is good, but the soul must feed, not that the lips repeat, but the soul must feed
upon it. They appear outwardly, they appear with a lot of Christianese, with a lot of Christian jargon, lot of Christian activity, lot of Christian appearances. I jokingly say it is so easy to recognize who at least belongs to religion Christianity is even in an obituary column. Definitely they won’t have bindi. Number two, they will have a cut copy paste scripture verse. I have even in an obituary column.
But that’s not how the Lord Jesus says you must recognize. “Not everybody who says Lord, Lord.” That is why when you associate with people, when you subscribe to a particular theologian, when you basically want to follow somebody because you are drawn to that person, do not let their knowledge, do not let their language, do not let their appearances draw you, my friends. That’s why Paul says, “Imitate me to the degree you see Christ-likeness in me.” Not knowledge, not anything else, life.
“Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord” — their appearance is very deceptive. But what is the actual problem? Their attitude. Look at the second part in the self-deceived. “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.” But who does it since? Can you answer me?
But only those who do the will of the Father, my Father, who is in heaven. The most supreme thing that God created, in my observation and understanding, in this entire universe, is will. That’s the most supreme thing. Why? Because when angels sinned, their eternity is sealed. Got it? And creation does not have will. Imagine sun having a will of its own. It will swing from left to right, half of us will be frozen to death, the other will be fried to death. But will given us. Now I’m not talking about free will and all those things. What I’m trying to tell you is this: once you and I are born again, it is will that must be forged into the likeness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, not our mere habits, not merely acknowledging mentally what we know about God and doctrines, our will. Meaning to say, if you listen to the sermon today or if you study the Holy Bible tomorrow morning and if your will is not slowly being put on the anvil of God’s word and being hammered every day into growing into the likeness of the Lord, it is as good as not reading the word of God. What good is studying the word of God if the picture you have is eating good food and spitting out without allowing it to go into your body? What
strength will it give you? Yes, you have tasted something, but nothing has gone into your soul. My body, my friend, that is how most studies, that is how most of our Sunday sermon listening is, that is how most of our spiritual lives are. Even a person who goes to a gym six months without fail will actually have a changed body. How is it that some of us claim to be believers for years together, but in the proportion of the amount of time we have spent as believers we see barely any fruits? Simply because it feels like we are, we are like people who are
going to the spiritual gym and looking at all the equipment there and coming back after one hour. Will anything happen to us? Nothing will happen to us. Nothing. But what you will lose in the process is time, which the devil is a master at keeping you busy with.
Number one, their appearance and their attitude basically show a dissonance. They say, “Lord, Lord.” But internally, the will is basically at loggerheads with the will of the Father. Let me ask you this question. If the Lord Jesus said they will not enter, okay, and then he connected it to because they don’t submit to the will of my Father, asking you this question, because you’ve been listening to Matthew chapter 5 to 7 sermons, who will then enter the kingdom of heaven? Those who submit. That is evident. But did the Lord Jesus Christ leave any clue to tell us these are the who will immediately enter? Let’s look at Matthew 5 verse 3.
That was the first sermon, I assume, you had listened to in this series. What’s verse 3? “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” and what will happen to them? For they will enter, for there says the kingdom of heaven. Who are the poor in spirit? I’m sure you heard a good exposition on it. The Greek word actually means those who recognize their beggarliness, those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy. They will not explore any more, you know, philosophies, ideologies, religions in the broad way. They know nothing is going to work. They will not want to plug the connection of their soul into a different socket. They
know everywhere there’s no life except in Christ. Such are the ones, my friend, who will say, “Lord, I look at all, when I go to the supermarket of gods of this world, I will find no person who offers me life, who offers me forgiveness from sins, who offers me eternal hope.” Because there’s only one who died on the cross for my sins, who rose back to life, and now he proclaims victory over death, and he says, “They who believe in me shall live just as I am alive.” Those are the people, my friend, who will enter the kingdom of heaven. Why? For they have
recognized that this is the will of the Father. John chapter 6, when the crowds follow him saying, “What is the work of God that we should do?” Jesus answers, our Lord, by saying, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him who has been sent by the Father, whose seal is on the Father.” What is the seal? That he will die, that he will resurrect. When they heard that, “This is cannibalism. How can we eat his body? How can we,” hard for us to say. Obviously the Lord Jesus was not talking about his little body, but partaking in his death, burial, resurrection by
believing in him. So what is the first thing we see, my friends? They appear, but their attitude is different. They look like, they talk like, they behave like, they act like, but internally their will is never going to be subjected to the will of the Father, which is believing in the Son. The poor in spirit will say, “Lord, we don’t deserve it. Lord, we don’t do, we don’t have it. Lord, we cannot live by your kingdom principles.” The proud in spirit will say, “No, we will. No, we will do. And in fact, you must give us access into the kingdom, not because of what you
have done on the cross, but because of our firebrand work. Check our history. Look at, this is why you should give us a red carpet welcome into the kingdom of heaven, not because of what you have done for us on the cross, but because of what we will do and what we have done.” That is the proud in spirit. That is the spirit, that is the confession and the life of those who never look into their. And such people, as they progress, from what I understand, will actually not genuinely repent, will not repent. Why? For they have never repented and believed in
Jesus Christ, and they will not grow in repentance. What is the will of the Father? John 6:28 to 29, at least write down. “Then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? The Lord Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” John 6:40, “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.” The word “your Father” in Matthew 5 to 7 is used 17 times.
Only once the Lord Jesus says “my Father,” that appears in verse 21. Meaning to say, meaning to say God’s kingdom is not a democracy. Where you are voted into the kingdom by popular views. God’s kingdom is theocracy. Where you come if the king says come in. If the king says no, you can’t. And the only way the king says come in is when you say, “King, I can do nothing,” and the king says, “Come, I have done it all for you.” Are there brothers and sisters this morning here? Are there people here in this auditorium who have never said, “King, I can’t. Please take me”? If you are being a proud spirited person who does not recognize your own spiritual bankruptcy, brother and sister, may I plead with you before that final day comes that you do not be part of the self-deceived
But you recognize and turn to him and say, “Oh, I can do nothing.” Let's look at the next thing, which is the major part of the sermon, the self-deception. We looked at the self-deceived: their appearance is very Christianish, their attitude is anti-Christian. They do not submit to the will of the Father. Number two, the self-deception. What is this deception that blinds them so much? And I want you to give me your ears now. What is this deception that blinds them so much that even on the day of judgment these people are so seeped into their deception they stand before the slain
Lamb of God and they have the audacity to say, “Not by your blood, but by our works.” What kind of deception is this? That is why hell is a irremedial place. You remember the rich man, Lazarus, the parable? Even there he does not say, “I have sinned.” Even there he does not say, this Lazarus who is now saved by the blood, he does not say, he says, “You send that man.” He does not, he still calls him father Abraham, not knowing that you only are becoming a child of God by spiritual transformation, not by racial descent. What kind of deception is this? Is the
deception that leaves people in an irremediable state, no redemption whatsoever. What is the deception that they begin to believe that their works will earn them salvation, that their works will earn their salvation? Look at this. “On that day” — which day do you think this the Lord Jesus is speaking about?
Hmm? I know it's on that day that it's going to happen, but I'm talking about, which day do you think the Lord Jesus is positing here? The judgment day. And from my little understanding, I could be wrong, you can help me, I'm thinking, this is not the Bema seat of judgment, where the believers are judged, where the believers are given rewards for how they have lived, or lose their rewards for how they have not lived. Because who we are is taken care of at the cross. Our condemnation is taken care. But how you live once you are born again will be dealt with when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ where your rewards will not be given to you, where you may lose some things, yet you will be saved from fire because the blood of Christ has saved us.
But I believe this probably is a reference to the white throne judgment or rather the unbeliever's judgment. You remember in Revelation chapter 20 verse 15 to 20 we are told the sea will give up the dead. The death will give up the dead. The great and small all alike will stand before the throne of God. And there they will be judged. And they will be reckoning. They will check if their names are written in the book of life. And whosever name is not written in the book of life. The great throne is there. The great throng is there. And ultimately the great truth will be put before them.
Their names are not written. Probably this is that scene where they stand and they are going to now receive. Now correct me if I am wrong, let's not fight about when this is, but the definite thing I want you to know is this is definitely going to happen. These people are definitely going to stand. Meaning to say, meaning to say, in every era there will be people who are false teachers who want to falsely deceive. They are, listen my friends, they are satanic agents. You say, “How dare you say that, Anna?” I am not saying, the Lord Jesus Christ is saying, you have issues, fight with him.
Because he says, these are workers of lawlessness. They are not workers of righteousness. Why? Titus says, we are redeemed from every impurity to be zealous for good works. These are not those people. Their source for power is not Jesus Christ. Let's observe now. “On that day, many will say to me” — the word many tells us basically, probably this is the collection of the bunch of these false, satanic, deceptive teachers established deviations from Orthodox Christianity, Biblical Christianity, where they want to deviate people into the, what is it, the broad way. Many will stand and again they will say, “Lord, Lord.” What are the three things that they say?
Look into your passage and tell me. Is that verse 22, my friends? Yes. What are the three things they specifically claim to? Prophesy. That probably, let's give this word. They are good prophetic word preachers, so their ministry is basically teaching ministry. And observe my friends, most people, whether you take Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons or the car right now, the lot of buffoons that are there. Let me give you the meaning of buffoon: is a person who entertains people so that he can take away their money. That's the buffoon. Again, don't say Cyril Anna said buffoon, how is he deeming? No. Buffoon literally means people to take their money, and that's what these buffoons are doing. Really, that's what they're doing. These people on the day, number one, they will, they will claim to
their prophetic word ministry. Now obviously, uh, “Did we not prophesy?” The Greek word means two things: either speaking in the name of God, or even speaking about future things. But biblically speaking, my friends, prophecy has been completed, whether in the Old Testament where all prophecy is in the messianic hope. Right? That is
scripture verses. “Every place you put your foot, that will be mine” means don't go around praying in every country, “This will be mine.” That is given in a prophetic messianic hope. Got it? There are things that are applicable to all believers in all places. But when you move to the New Testament, prophecy has been sealed. Because what will be done till Jesus Christ comes is told in the Old Testament. What will be done when Jesus Christ comes in the second coming is told in the New Testament. Meaning to say, prophecy is sealed. So when preachers speak, they must speak from the revealed, fulfilled, finalized, sealed
copy of the 66 books. So these people, whether they are preaching from this or whether they are saying their own words, they claim, number one, “Lord, we have prophetic word ministry.” What's the second thing, my friends? They cast out demons. In fact, the Greek, it says powerful works they do. So in the Christendom they go by their prophetic word ministry, right? In the demonic realm they go against the demons and they expel demons. What's the third thing? And they do many mighty works. So just putting them in in some kind of alliteration, they have words, they have works, they have wonders. Now the only
thing you need to add to make it look like a 21st century Hyderabad church is worship and many more. In the pamphlet, word, works, wonder, worship and many more. That's all. And it looks like as if the Lord Jesus preached this sermon yesterday and the manuscript has come today. These people have existed in the 2nd century, in the 3rd century, throughout the high middle ages and then during the Reformation era. And they will exist now and actually their ministry will be escalated, aggravated as the Lord Jesus Christ coming comes nearer. Meaning to say, dear friends, if there is a time where the church should be alert, it is now.
Highly alert, it should be now. What is the implication we must draw from this? This doctrinal clarity brings doctrinal purity that leads us to good, sane, healthy devotional life. Meaning if your doctrines are not clear, you will not have doctrinal purity. If your doctrines are not pure, biblically speaking, then there is a high chance that it is just a matter of time before you switch sides. And as I see many in the spiritual landscape right now switching sides, I wonder where they are going to go. Please have doctrinal clarity. And for doctrinal clarity you don't need to be a theologian with long beard and spiky hair. No. What you need is open the scriptures, take a book and
a pen, pray and say, “Lord, Psalm 119 verse 18. Lord, open the eyes of my heart that I may see wonderful things in the.” Wonderful things are there, my problem is with my closed. See what God is going to do, my friends. That's what Aquila and Priscilla did. That's what the church members at Ephesus did in Revelation chapter 2, when the Lord Jesus Christ applauded them, “You have distinguished those who claim to be apostles but are not.” It's not the pastor who did, the entire church, you did. You read the scriptures. Now let me just put these things before you. They claim all these
three things: their word, their work, their wonder. They claim that they did this in whose name? Huh? This is where we will fall. If let us say Sri Sri Ravi Shankar does these things, we won't have a problem. We know they truly do not belong to Christ's realm. But if people who claim to be taking the scripture opening and explaining, but also do things that will dazzle you, that will basically make you feel like, wow, but their lives are not living in accordance with Christ's word or Christ's will, then you will not be able to distinguish. Then you will either
be deceived or you will distinguish yourself and say, “No, something is wrong with this person,” because all of that is being done is done in the name of God, is done in the name particularly of Jesus Christ. Let me tell you this. Let me ask this question. Why do you think Jesus Christ actually perform miracles?
Except Deepu, anybody can answer because I know Deepu has all the answers. Think. Why do you think the Lord Jesus Christ really performed miracles? Because many of the people, by the way, I am not against miracles. Who am I? God can do wonders. God can do healings. God can do amazing things. It is when some people say, “I have been specially appointed to perform these miracles,” that is when the red light in our head should go on. God can do wonderful things, my friends, but that is not the gospel is far more superior than that. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
11 verse 20 to 24. Matthew 11, 20 to 24. Please read it for yourselves. I'll ask you two questions and I want you to answer. Matthew 11, 22, 24. Is this clock working? Oh, I'm so sorry, I have to start from now. Okay, because I actually came and I saw, man, this time I shouldn't mess up. This clock is not working. How things work in my favor many times. Matthew 11, 22, 24. Just skim through. I just have two questions for you.
Did you? Okay. Here is the first question. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ, where did the Lord Jesus Christ began to denounce? Which cities? What is the one qualifier of those five cities? Very good. Where he did most of his miracles or great miracles. Yes or no? Very good. Number two. Why did he denounce them?
They did not repent. Answer this question for me. What is the connection between the Lord Jesus performing the miracles and they not repenting and therefore he is pronouncing a judgment? What is the connection? Very good. Miracles are performed in the hope that they will repent. Meaning to say, every miracle is like a illustration, is like a pointer back to the Bible. And I put on my GPS, it shows me this place, but when I come to the Back to the Bible board, that is not Back to the Bible. The Back to the Bible board poster is put there to tell me that the place is inside. Every miracle is meant to point, and the message is the person and the work of Jesus Christ, that he is the Savior, you are not, that he alone is the sacrifice, you are not, so
What should you do? Repent of your sins. What else should you do? Believe in this one person, sinless, innocent, exalted above sinners, who became a sacrifice for us. Meaning to say, if any miracle makes you come and submit to more miracle, miracles and miracle receiving appetite, my friends, you haven’t understood the purpose of miracles, the purpose of every miracle. That’s why some people, you know, they’re not born again, because when you ask them for their testimony they talk about how deprived they were of love and suddenly they felt that Jesus now loves them. They never talk about, I was a sinner, and, uh, yes
God caught me in this time and God opened my eyes to see how I was looking for that in something else when I have never seen my sinful heart. They never talk about that. Or they talk about a time when they went through a great breakthrough moment. God in His grace provides those things. But they make that their salvation story. That is not testimony. That is a person who has never been regenerated, never been born again, never had genuine transformative experience.
May the Lord save you this morning. If you are also deceived by thinking, God has done these things and therefore you are born again. No, God must bring you out of your spiritual blindness to show that every miracle is merely a footnote to point you to the message and the message is the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So God does miracles? Oh yes, if he wishes to. Yes, he delivers.
But there are no men and women who claim to be as people who are specially empowered by God or what is the word? Anointed by God to do these things. For they claim, and Jesus our Lord himself said, every miracle stands as merely a pointer to the main message. Now look at this. The self-deception is in the fact that they begin to claim salvation, they begin to claim providence into eternal life, they begin to claim evidence for their salvation in the works they are doing, not in the work that has been done. Is that clear? They claim to be born again, or they claim to have to be given entrance into eternity, or they claim that the providence of God is made sure in the fact that they are doing these good works, great works
powerful works, not in the work Christ has done. On the day of judgment their deception is revealed in these things. Let me point to three things specifically in their self-deception. Number one, the Lord Jesus in his response does not call them liars. Observe that. He did not say, “You liars.” No. Meaning to say, they really are going to perform this miracle in front of your eyes. Somebody sent a video, or somewhere I saw, this is African pastor where he took some water, there’s a crowd of people standing there, where he’s basically chanting something, so in the name of Jesus doing something, and he and
here is a withered hand, a woman with a withered hand, literally a withered hand, and he begins to spray water on that, water on that, and slowly the hand became normal. So I think the person who was showing to me, or somebody, the question was, “What do you think about this?” Good! But that’s not gospel. That’s not salvation.
Jesus healed many people, who went to hell. Jesus did not heal many people, who went to heaven. What’s the answer? The answer is, just because healing has come, just because power has been demonstrated, just because some breakthrough has happened, does not mean, your eternal life has been guaranteed. Matthew chapter 10, went and performed miracles. Judas went and preached the word of God, but in his heart he never submitted to the will of God. It can happen. Do not associate power and many powerful things with salvation. That is not salvation, my friend. That is where the deception lies. Number one,
the Lord Jesus does not call them liars, probably because they were not lying. They really did it all in Christ’s name. Number two, where did they get their power from? Now this is where the buck stops. This is where people sit on two sides of the camp. One thing is definitely sure, Jesus does not in any way appreciate them. That tells us that Jesus is not on their side, very clearly. That one thing is made for sure. Some say sovereignty used as them, but probably I would want to put myself on the other side of the camp, where there are many people who believe the
source, I don’t think, is Jesus Christ. Why would I say that? Because I bank on this word, where the Lord Jesus in the judgment he pronounces says, “workers of lawlessness.” My friend, lawlessness, particularly that word, two times it appears. Now whatever your understanding of antichrist is, the point is when he comes he’s called the lawless one, and then we 1 John chapter 3, all sin is lawlessness. Meaning to say, these are people who perform works in the name of Christ, but what is going on inside is basically they subject themselves to a realm of satanic power.
So, he doesn’t call them liars. They really have performed these miracles. They really have taught these great so-called mesmerizing teachings and they have done these many great works. Number two, their power, I believe, is not from the Lord Jesus Christ. Third thing, this is interesting. Why doesn’t the Lord judge them on their day of ministry on earth? Why is it that some of these people live actually the longest lives and actually write books and propagate their theories? You go and study Jehovah’s Witnesses, okay? Forget about what’s going on now. Go and study the founder’s life. What a crook! I didn’t say this.
People who write against cults have brought out evidence after evidence after evidence after evidence. These are not my words. You go and check. But right now, when the movement is still going on, this man is deemed to be a saint. A man who has revealed what has been not revealed so far. And so on. And the same thing goes with Mormonism and other cults. Why doesn’t the Lord judge them? Acts chapter 17, you remember the sermon of Paul on the hill of the place at Athens. For God has appointed a day, a day to judge. Until then, Revelation 22 closes with these words.
“He who is being unholy, let him continue in his unholiness. He who is doing, living in a holy life, let him continue. For I am coming, my reward is with me.” Until that day, judgment will be withheld and they to the brim they will fill their sinfulness and they will receive their eternal retribution from God. So do not believe these false theological statements. “Let us not touch the anointed.” You heard that? Or “let us not judge people.” Actually scripture, the Lord Jesus tells us to judge. Not be judgmental. Be like a judge. Distinguish for your own self. Have the discernment to see who is right, who is not.
You know, I really get upset when Christian young men, women and even older people, about everything else, they are very, very specific about making judgments. Finances, where to put their money, they are very specific. They spend half their lives, half their sicknesses because of worrying about their investment. But when it comes to spiritual matters, they want to outsource. Who do they want to outsource to? Their pastors. See, it is important that you sit under the ministry of the pastors God has appointed. But do not outsource your own responsibility of studying for yourself. Do not, my friends, that you will be judged for, that you will be called into account for. Because watch, guard, study is a command given to everybody. Let’s do this. I feel some of you are a little down. Why don’t we once put our Bibles in the chairs, stand up once quickly please.
Okay. Just turn this side please once. Everybody. If you are same gender, please do some light massage. Just light. Or if you are married also you can do. But only little. Okay? This is church hall, not your bedroom. Just do little. Very good. Please sit down.
Why doesn’t the Lord... First thing, in the self-deception, they are not lying, they are telling the truth. Second thing, I don’t think the source is from the Lord Jesus Christ. Third thing, why doesn’t the Lord judge? Two reasons. The Lord has appointed a day. But the second most important reason, God has committed that responsibility to the local church. Didn’t Paul say last time when I preached, I said Acts 20 in his farewell sermon, he says, “Watch out, be on your guard. Holy Spirit has made you overseers over the local church.” For from within you, who will come? Ravenous wolves will come.
Men who will twist the scriptures and will take away the disciples. Whose responsibility it is to God to point out? To show, to distinguish, to tell people, to educate the local church. The leader’s responsibility, my friends. And the members responsibility too. Therefore the Lord will also in a way bring about his serious assessment to those who stand in leadership position, if they are sleeping, if they are themselves behave like hirelings. I think there will be a great judgment that will come. Obviously not judgment to condemn, but certainly you will be losing the rewards. This is the self-deception. The deception is because of the corruption that is there in this false preachers. They are never believers. They reject the gospel and they preach another gospel, another
christ another spirit that paul spoke in second corinthians 11 is there another gospel yes it is brought about by satanic agents. In fact, the best way Satan can actually work is by creating fake Christ. You never hear about fake Muhammad, Prophet Muhammad. You never hear about fake Buddha. You never hear about fake Krishna. Why? You create a fake for the original and not for an original 10 rupee note. It's not going to give you much. The highest denomination you take, where does the salvation lie under heaven except in Jesus Christ there's nowhere else and the way the enemy can actually create a lot of confusion is by creating false Christ's false Gospels false spirit false teachers what is their deception look at this on the day of the judgment
these people find their providence for eternal life in their works, not in Jesus Christ. These people find their confidence in their works for salvation and eternal security, and not in Jesus Christ. These people find their evidence for salvation in their works, not in the salvation that Christ provides. We looked at two things, didn’t we? Number one, we looked at the self-deceived, their appearance and their attitude has a dissonance. Number two, the self-deception. What is the deception? They believe of Christ, we can find salvation. And what is the evidence? When they source their power, not from Christ, at least from my understanding, but from the enemy, and they become satanic agents, they are deceived to the extent that even on the day of judgment, they say, “Give us access into the kingdom of heaven, not because of your blood that has been shed for
us on the cross, but because of our works, works, works.” Final thing, the third one, the Savior’s declaration. The self-deceived, the “Then will I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” And then, which means, after they have finished making their claims, in fact, the Greek word homologia actually means, he’s actually asserting what they’re saying. You’re right, you don’t belong to me. You’re right, you said you do all those things. Here is my final, full, eternal declaration. These are the last words that they hear. And these are the words that will echo all through eternity.
In the ears of these self-deceived bunch. And may I plead with you this morning. That you won’t be in that crowd. That you won’t be in that bunch. That you will fear and be frightened and will tremble and will run away from this group. Run away from this self-deception. And run to the merciful seat and throne of God, where he has offered his son for us on the cross. Turn with me to one scripture verse please, everybody. Isaiah chapter 26. Here is a biblical truth, verse 9. This is in the midst of God’s judgment that God prophesied through Isaiah, saying it will come for. Look at verse 9. Verse 9, my
soul. Isaiah 26 verse 9, Isaiah the prophet says, “Lord, my soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.” Why? “For when your judgments are in the earth,” what will the inhabitants of the world learn? “Righteousness.” My friends, most of us want to learn the righteousness of God only through the salvific work of Christ. Yes, that is where to us who are unrighteous fellows. But another place we will also see the bright blazing declaration of God’s righteousness. When is that righteousness? When the judgment of God comes. When the judgment of God is exalted, God’s righteousness is exalted. People will actually
know that the wrath of God is the righteous work of God. They will not anymore sit on the fence that day and say, “How can a loving God send people to hell?” No, my friend, they will know how did a loving God bear with them so long. That is why in the book of Revelation, when the seven bowls of judgment are being poured upon the inhabitants of the earth who are unwilling to repent, there is rejoicing and there’s a worship time in heaven: “Righteous are you, O Lord, for all your judgments are right.” My friends, it is important for the church to grow in holiness
to recognize how God is angry at sin, angry at sinners, angry and is righteous in his anger at all the judgment that he is going to bring. I think that’s why the scripture says the fear of the Lord makes us shun evil. Why is it that sometimes we want to live hot enough to make it look like we are on God’s side, cool enough to make it look like we want to have some favorite sins? Why? Like Samson, hated all the Philistine men, loved all the Philistine women. We cannot have favorite sins. We must hate sin. We must grow into hating sin, dear friends.
We must. And when will that come? Remember the Lord tells in Exodus 20, 21, they say, “Moses, don’t let the voice of God be heard. You speak, I will hear.” And what is God’s response? It is good that they fear. I have shown myself in this way so that my fear may be upon them and they will not sin. Meaning to say, it is when the fear of God increases in us that the hatred for sin will actually increase in us. So it’s like this. In your personal life, if you’re praying, saying, “Lord, help me overcome this sin,” back to that sin, one area you need to check is what is the level of fear of God in my life? What is the level of fear of God in my life? So you will not look for accountability after
you sin, or if you are caught. No, even when the thought is going to be planted, you will say, “Lord, I want you to be my accountability partner. Help me there. Bomb it there. Slice it there.” What is the word? Mortify it there. What is the Savior’s judgment? What is the Savior’s declaration? Three things. Number one, “I never knew you.” Here is the theological truth: they didn’t lose their salvation, they were never born again. And now what about the miracles? Already Jesus is saying, “Anna.” Here Jesus is very clear: “I have never known them.” What about all the power? It’s not mine. What about all
the ministry? It’s not for me. Who are they sourced by? What, sir? Or workers of lawlessness. “I never knew you.” It’s not like I knew you for a while and I lost my GPS and therefore I lost connection, and finally here you are, you appear at the judgment seat. No, “I have never known you. I have never known you.” John 17:3, this is eternal life, that they know Jesus Christ. Not as a theory, not as a historical figure, but as the one who has taken their dead spirit and has breathed life into them by the work of the Holy Spirit, by the work of
the Holy Spirit. You know, I think it is for all of us to become atheists if Jesus never stepped into history. Why? It is difficult to believe a invisible God. But the scripture says in Colossians 1 that the image of the invisible God has come down. Is right to say there’s no God had Christ not come. Okay, just take that clause. But Christ has come. The God of the Bible has revealed himself in fullness in and through his Son. And after studying properly the life of Jesus Christ, historical life of Jesus Christ presented in the scriptures, you cannot remain an atheist and you cannot subscribe
to anybody else. Why? You will never find anyone like Christ. Never ever, my friend. “I never knew you” is the gospel’s message, is the declaration of the judge on the throne. Why? Because they have never known the only true God and they have never known Jesus Christ. Galatians 4:8–9, look at this: “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not God.” Now look at verse 9. “But now that you have come to know God,” and see what the apostle writes by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,” the big question we need to ask is not if I know Jesus Christ, does Jesus Christ know
me? Because that’s going to stump you on the day of judgment if he says, “I don’t know you.” You have lived in deception. Deception. They claim to work in His name. His name didn’t work in them. They claim to wear His name. They never had His nature. Their words, their works, their wonders have never matched the work of Christ in them. Namely, turning them from self and sin to the Savior. First thing is “I never knew you.” Number two, the second part is “depart from me.” Why does he use this word? Because they have never lived a life that has drawn to him. You remember in James we are told draw near to me and I will—by the way, that is for believers,
the context there is for believers. Yes. Is there an application for gospel unbelievers? Yes. First you repent, first you come to him, receive the King. These people have never lived a life that drew near to him. Then where are to? Away from him always. All through their ministry lives, all through their preaching time, all through their pastoring time, all through their writing time, whatever they have done, throughout whichever epochs of history they belong to, they have never lived a life that drew closer to Christ. And therefore Jesus finally tells them, “I never knew you, depart from me. Depart from me.” Actually there’s another words that
resonates with this Matthew 25:41 then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me.” Why? “You cursed.” Where? “Into the eternal fire.” Why? Who is it prepared for? “Prepared for the devil and his angels.” Meaning to say, your will is similar to the will of the enemy, Satan. Your will is similar to the will of the fallen angels. For they do not want to come. You do not want to come. You have never received the gospel message of Jesus Christ. The first thing in the Savior’s declaration is, “I don’t know you.” Number two, “Depart from me.”
And here is the final thing, “you workers of lawlessness.” Here is where they have received all their source for ministry from. They were workers of lawlessness. And John very clearly says, “they have never belonged to us. Had they belonged to us, they would have remained with us.” Their going actually told us that they have never ever belonged to us. So when I was a kid, when I looked at many ministers and many people whose meetings in Vijayawada where me and my family we would go, it was like a carnival for us. We would go sit, and as kids we would play as our parents listen to those whatever boring things. We just
enjoyed. Now as I look back and how the trajectory of their lives shows me that at one point they wrote good Christian songs, at one point even though their border on not fully gospel centered, they did. But as you look at them, they appear on TVs, djs then current, and all those people appear on TVs, and they begin to claim that “I have received special revelation. I have received a signature from God.” There are many people who did that, not just one. When I look at them, I now know that they have never truly belonged to Christ. They have never truly. It looked like in
my ignorance, in my lack of understanding of Scripture, in my not fully understanding where they stand in Christ’s view, I thought they actually belong. But I was wrong. I grew, I began to understand, and so must you, my friends. They have never ever belonged. Always they have been workers of lawlessness. They start small, they bloom into bigness, and they will actually finish off on that note. But there is a day of judgment, and that day Christ will give them their retribution. For they are not just merely rejecters of the gospel, they are promoters of another gospel, another spirit, another Christ.
For great shall be their judgment. Because no one who abides in him keeps on sinning. Sin is lawlessness. So three things the Lord Jesus tells them. First, “I never knew you.” There was no gospel connection between us. Right? You may have come to what is this church called? Gospel Life Church. But gospel life has never passed on to you. “I never knew you.” Number two, “Depart.” Forever this departure will always remain. In fact, the longer you live in hell, the farther you will be from any source of light or life. For you shall never see the face of God. And those will be the final words that will echo in your ears and your soul throughout all eternity.
And mind you, if you are thinking all those, you know, car sticker, bumper sticker things, you see, you know, “I want to go to hell because all my friends are there.” You will never have any association with any person. And that’s why I wonder if Jesus never gave the name to the rich man. Why? His identity was just in those riches. Nobody will talk to you. Nobody will ever visit you. Forever and ever, sorrow, suffering and separation will only increase. There is no other avocation in hell. Even here, despite all the pain that you can endure, even if you are a Holocaust survivor, despite all the psychological, emotional, physical pain you endure, you can have a deviation in your thought because there are other things that can engage your mind.
But not so in hell. Your suffering, your sorrow, your separation, forever only will increase. Let me close with these words. These are the words that are engraved in front of a cathedral of Lübeck in Germany. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ, at least written poetically: “You call me master and obey me not. You call me light and see me not. You call me the way and walk me not. You call me life and live me not. You call me wise and follow me not. You call me fair and love me not. You call me rich and ask me not. You call me eternal and seek me not. If I condemn thee, blame me not. If I condemn thee, blame me not.” Dear young person, there are children here, young people here. Have you known Jesus as your Savior? Have you
repented of yourself? You are in a church where you constantly hear, and maybe even from your parents you hear, “Have you made a decision?” You don’t know when you will die. You don’t know when the call will come. You will not live as old as your grandfather to die at that age. You may die now. Or even if your life is given, will this chance come back again where you hear the gospel and the spirit of God wants to convict you? Repent and believe. And your parents, their older people, have you repented? Have you believed? If not, today is the day.
What is the present attitude of the self-deceived? “Lord, Lord.” What is the future appealing of the self-deceived? “Lord, Lord.” Eternal abode of the self-deceived? “I never knew you. Depart from me.” So when we look at the whole sermon, you have two groups of people. Those who receive the king, those who reject the king. Those who are saved by the love of the king, those who reject the love of the king. Are there group leaders here? I think you’ll have sermon discussion. Let me just give you two questions because worksheet is not there. I cannot give you. Let me just state those two questions.
Please write that down. Number one, one is a personal question. What are the areas in your life you can observe dissonance or spiritual disconnection between what you say and how you live, not what you do. What you say and how you are living. That's the first question. What are the areas in your life you can observe that there is spiritual disconnection between your words and your actual living from Monday to Saturday. When nobody is watching, when people are watching, what is the disconnection? Second thing, as individuals and as a corporate church, what do you think you should do, you can do, to have doctrinal distinction between those who are false and those who are genuinely biblical?
biblical. What can you do and what should you do to have markers to distinguish between who genuine, particularly leaders are and who are not? Is that clear? Second question is what are the markers you can have as a church, things that will distinguish for you in the local church saying, this is how we distinguish a biblical faithful pastor or from those who are not. What you can do, what are the steps you can take? I'm not expecting you to write down a list of 10 and start doing from next week, but at least can you identify both individually and corporately? Shall we pray? Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, this morning we thank you for your word. We all need to be aware of these things and we need to be watching out, guarding
ourselves. We need to be, we need to be highly transparent before you and open before you and the ministry of your Spirit. We shouldn't be offended when we are shown our sin. Dear Lord, this morning I pray that each one of us with our own families and the family of God together, O Lord, we will be serious in introspecting whether or not there is a dissonance in our lives between what we claim to be and who we are inside before you. Help us dear Lord to be faithful stewards of the gospel, both in living in the will of the Father, that is believing in
your Son and living by the belief, and also in identifying so that churches are protected. Thank you dear Lord this morning for speaking to us. Help us to live by this word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you.