Here now the word of the Lord from Matthew chapter seven, verses 21 through 23.

"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."

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever.

This semester. I am very grateful. I have the opportunity this semester to take a course to learn the language of Aramaic. Aramaic is a language that's very similar to Hebrew. And so when I was in seminary, I learned Hebrew so that I could read most of what's going on in the original language of the Old Testament. But there are a few chapters in the book of Daniel, and a few chapters in the Book of Ezra that are not written in Hebrew, but written in Aramaic. And I didn't have a chance to learn Aramaic in seminary. So I'm very grateful again for that opportunity to do so now. But being kind of back in school, I had to take a test this week. Um, and the test this week, we had to do very challenging, um, parsing of very rare words. So if you've never taken a foreign language course, when you parse a verb, you have to categorize it.

You have to look at not just the general meaning of the word, but specifically, how would this be used in a sentence? Is this for first person I do this? Is this for third person he does that or third person plural. They do that kind of a thing. You have to look at the various vowels and how the other letters around it are placed. And it's very difficult, especially when you're dealing with the rare words where you have to know the rules and the exceptions to the rules, and the place where rules and exceptions combine to form new rules. And I studied it very, very hard. I was working very, very hard on that section, and I got most of those questions correct on the test. I was very pleased with what I did there, but my professor had also told us that not only were we going to be tested on this challenging material, he said, we were also going to be retested on a simple subject that we had been tested before earlier in the semester. Uh, the subject of pronouns he, she, they, them, those sorts of things. Now, I had passed that part of the earlier test with flying colors, but because I was spending all of my time focused on this difficult stuff, I lost track of time, was arrogant, whatever. Didn't review pronouns in the very first question was the Aramaic word she I had to identify.

I didn't know what it was. I couldn't remember what it was. I guess he which, if you're keeping score at home, means I neither knew what she or he is. And both of those words can be for it. So just the most basic building blocks of the language. I drew a total blank on and missed the very first question on the test. I was embarrassed, but you know, life goes on. What we learned from I think situations like those, however, is that sometimes we can so gravitate on the challenging stuff, the difficult stuff, especially when we're studying the Bible. And I think the sermon on the Mount is a great example of this. Jesus speaks in ways that sound simple, but if you just start reading what he says, you know that everything he's talking about here is so challenging. What does he mean when he says that we should gouge out our eyes and cut off our hands? What does he mean? At one point when he says, do your good works before men so that God may be glorified? And another works? He says, don't do your good works before other people. What are we supposed to do there? These are challenging things, and we sort of gravitate toward trying to tackle those and wondering, how do we piece this apart and and what we shouldn't do in that sort of a situation. It's good and right to study difficult things, but we can't forget about the basics, the fundamentals.

Indeed, one of the basic principles we have for interpreting the Bible is that we must always interpret the difficult parts of the Bible in light of the simpler parts. So Jesus, again, we're in the sermon on the Mount, which is sort of Jesus's opening introductory sermon at the beginning of his public ministry. And he's almost at the end of it. We've been studying this for a long time, and Jesus is coming to the close. He wants to make sure that in all of these difficult things, he's taught us that we haven't forgotten about the basics, haven't forgotten about pronouns, we haven't forgotten about the fundamentals of the faith. And so here in verses 21 through 23, he reminds us of the core, the basics, the fundamentals that we are lost sinners and that we are in great need of a Savior. Our big idea today, then, is this that neither words nor works can atone for your lawlessness. In other words, nor works can atone for your lawlessness. So three parts to this sermon. Just one verse a piece, verse 21.

1. Not by words alone
2. Not by works alone, not by works alone
3. Christ's blood and righteousness alone

All of these are how are we saved now by words alone, not by works alone, but by Christ's blood and righteousness alone.

Not by words alone

So the first section is in verse 21. Jesus says here, 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. Now this is, I think, a little bit hard to see the contrast in English, but it's very clear in the original Greek, Jesus is contrasting the Savior versus the doer, the one who says something, namely Lord, Lord versus the one who does something, namely the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. It's very clearly contrasted the one who says versus the one who does something. Now, if you remember what we looked at last week, Jesus was talking about the fruits of people. He warned us, beware of the false prophets. And he says, this is how you will know them by their fruits. You will know them. And he said, you have to look at the external parts of their lives. Look at how they behave. Uh, their lives must produce good fruits. And if it doesn't, then you know that you are dealing with a false prophet. Now, when Jesus was warning us about false prophets, the idea of being a false prophet had to do with twisting the Word of God in some way, either not giving people something that God has said so shrinking from declaring to people the whole counsel of God, or giving to people as God's Word, something that he has not said, saying the Lord says this when in fact he has not said that.

Now here what Jesus is doing is adding a wrinkle to this is adding another element to this. Now here Jesus talks about those who say the right things. They speak truly. But what we are seeing here is that though they speak truly, they do not speak genuinely. They say, Lord, Lord, and it's true, Jesus is Lord, but they don't do so genuinely. And what Jesus is saying here is that it is not enough to profess Jesus's lordship. It is not enough to confess that Jesus is Lord. If you don't actually believe that in your heart, declaring that Jesus is Lord is not sort of a magical incantation that we can just sort of repeat with enough, uh, frequency and regularity that it just sort of works at some kind of magical charm to protect us against God's wrath. That's not the way it works, Jesus is saying. Because we are not saved by words alone. Words are important. We are commanded to give a confession of our faith. But words alone are not enough. Words must be connected to a genuine faith. Now this is where Jesus is pointing back to the fundamentals, the basics of the faith. The most fundamental question we have how can I be saved? What must I do to be saved? And it's interesting what the Apostle Paul writes about the same kind of question in Romans chapter ten, verses nine through ten.

He says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, now stop there for a moment. And that's exactly what Jesus is talking about here in Matthew seven verse 21, not all those who say, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. It's not enough to confess that Jesus is Lord. So Paul continues, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Why is that? Verse ten of Romans chapter ten for with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. So confession is necessary. We must confess our faith before other people. It's a necessary outward expression, but on its own it is not sufficient. It needs to be connected to an internal faith. So we talked about the roots of our lives versus the fruits of what our lives produce. Part of the fruits of our lives are what we say, the words that we say. If our roots are in the right place, then part of what we have in our life is the fruits of confessing that Jesus is Lord. But what Jesus is raising here is the question that there are some who will have those sorts of fruits confessing the right words, who will not do so in the right way.

Their words are not genuine. And so how do we test whether their words are genuine? Well, we have to look at their deeds. Are they doing the will of Jesus's Father in heaven? That's the fruit that demonstrates that the roots are not shallow, are not false, that this is true internal faith, that they believe in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. What Jesus is saying is that neither our deeds are obedience, nor our words are going to be something that earn us something from God. But he's saying, the roots of faith are what genuinely lay hold to what is necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven. Namely, it is faith that lays hold of Jesus so that we might enter the kingdom of heaven. Our words and our obedience simply function as the proof, the the evidence, the fruits that we have, roots that go all the way down into Jesus Christ for salvation. Now. In our household at some point with every one of our children, uh, we've come become suspicious at one point or another, uh, that our children perhaps have taken a cookie or some candy that they were not given permission to do so. So the conversation goes like this. Did you take the cookie? Did you eat the candy? And they say, no, daddy. And then you ask the follow up question, then why is your mouth covered with chocolate and your hands absolutely sticky? You see the words say something, but what you can see externally is that there is a sign.

There is evidence that something else, in fact, has happened. Uh, what you can see in their lives, on their faces, literally, is that what has happened doesn't match what they are saying. But there are other times when the cookie or candy will perhaps be missing. And we ask one of them, did you take this? And they'll say, no, daddy, notice that's the the same words that are being used. And then as parents, you get to go all CSI on your children and start investigating them, including smelling their breath to see is there chocolate on their breath. And hopefully that's all that it is. But sometimes you smell that breath and there's no chocolate on it. Ah, so you have evidence that something has not happened, namely that their words are matched up by the evidence of their breath. There's no chocolate on the breath either we've misplaced the cookie or chocolate, which can happen, or the culprit remains at large and we have to continue our investigation. Well, Jesus is saying the same kind of thing about our salvation. Just because your words say one thing. I believe that Jesus is Lord is not the same thing as having roots that go down into Jesus Christ to be nourished from him, to be transformed and justified, to receive from his righteousness that he gives freely to all those who turn from their sins, and look to him as faith.

What you say will be evaluated against the evidence of what you do. We are not saved by words alone, merely by saying that we believe in Jesus, that Jesus is Lord. Jesus insists that our works must accompany or give evidence to our words and the reliability of our words. However, when I say that, I want to immediately make sure that I'm not misunderstood. What Jesus is not saying is that works are the real thing that save you, that you have to actually, with your life, live in such a way that earns something from God by your deeds and not just by your words. No, Jesus wants to clarify that misunderstanding to. It is not by words alone that we are saved, and it is also not by works that we are saved. And this brings us to the second section, where Jesus is going to say that even works are not sufficient to save us, not by works alone are we saved.

Not by works alone

In verse 22, Jesus says, hear this. He says on that day. He's talking about the final day, the day of judgment. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord. And I notice those are the same words. We're starting off with the same words, Lord, Lord, 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? Now peeking ahead to verse 23, we see that ultimately this is an answer that Jesus will reject.

So we have to see what's wrong with this answer. Now we see that they said, Lord, Lord, they confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord. And we see that they have great works, magnificent, extraordinary works. Look at all these people are doing. They're prophesying in Jesus name. They're casting demons out in Jesus name. They're doing many mighty works in Jesus's name. All of this is in Jesus's name that they are doing all of these things, but Jesus nevertheless rejects them. What Jesus is noting here is that we are not saved by words, but also we are not saved by works. If you stand in a kind of relationship to God, where you think I will be safe because I am a good person, I will be safe because I don't do those things over there. I will be safe because I've done enough of the right things. Jesus cast that off entirely. Jesus will utterly reject that claim to the kingdom of heaven. You will not enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus says, because just as some misuse words as though they were magical, so also many will misuse works, plead their works as though they merited or earned something from God. Words are not magical. Works are not meritorious. You don't earn anything by them. Why not? Because if we work to earn or merit or to deserve the kingdom of heaven, then we are working in the wrong direction entirely.

Let me explain to you the kind of thing that I mean. Uh, Peter Brown tells this story in his book Make It Stick. It's the story of China Airlines Flight zero zero 6 in 1985. This is the flight from China to the United States. And during this flight in 1985, there was a Boeing 747 that was 41,000ft above the Pacific Ocean. Um, beginning to get close to the coast of the United States. And during that time, engine four lost power. And when that happened, the plane began to lose airspeed. Now, I am told, I understand that what a pilot should do, um, is that a pilot should kick off the autopilot, take manual control over the plane, back, descend down from 41,000 to 30,000ft, and from there try to restart the engine. But instead the pilots didn't. They just tried to stay at 41,000ft with the autopilot on, while they tried to restart the engine in the air. Now, what happened is you had a loss of an outboard engine. That meant that there was a different amount, an asymmetrical thrust on both sides of the plane, so that what happened is the plane began slowing down, but it also began to roll. Right now, at that speed and that altitude, the captain could feel that the jet was slowing down, but he didn't know the extent of how much the plane was banking.

Right. And because of the plane's trajectory, it felt like they were on level ground. And not only was the ground so far that he couldn't sort of easily judge whether he's parallel with the ground, but also there was a lot of clouds that were obscuring his vision. So at this point, not only is the plane banking right, but he couldn't tell that when the plane had gone beyond 45,000ft to the plane, flipped upside down and began an uncontrolled descent. And even at this point, with the speed they were going, they couldn't tell what was happening. They saw their gauges spinning downward and assumed that their gauges must have malfunctioned because they trusted that what their senses were, what they could feel, rather than the information that was in front of their head. It was only when they descended below 11,000ft and cut through the cloud cover that they saw how perilous their situation was, how close to the ground that they were, and they had to pull up hard. Now, by God's grace, they were able to level off the flight. But there was such thrust from having to level off before they crash landed that the wings were permanently in a bent up position, with a lot of other damage to the plane. Now, in the midst of that flight, that crew was working. And they were working hard. If you listen to the recordings of the cockpit, you know that crew is working overtime. Not sure what's going on, trying to make sense of what's going on and trying to right whatever has gone wrong.

And it was a situation where the truth was in front of them. The gauges were telling them exactly what was wrong, but they trusted their feelings about how things were going rather than their gauges. Now, when we work to merit something, when we work to earn the kingdom of heaven, when we prophesy in Christ's name and cast out demons in Christ's name, and even do mighty works in Christ's name, we do so sometimes. And Jesus is warning us against this, because this is the fundamental of Christianity. When we do these things in order to earn something from God, it's a matter of us knowing that something is wrong, but not realizing that we are in an uncontrolled free fall into certain judgment. And we're trying to make things right. And God's Word is staring us in the face, telling us exactly what's wrong, that we are sinners who cannot correct the things that have gone wrong in our lives, and yet we trust our feelings. I feel like I'm doing the right things. I feel like I'm justified in my actions. I feel like I am a good enough person. Even as we are hurtling toward judgment and perishing forever. We may work hard and feel that we're doing the right things, but we ignore what God says in His Word. We forget the basics, the fundamentals. We work in the wrong direction in ways that cannot help us.

Words are not magical. Works do not merit us anything. But if neither words nor works can atone for our sins, then what else is there? What else do we need? What can save sinners like us? And Jesus finally answers the question in verse 23. And once again, this is the sermon on the Mount. This is where Jesus gives us the edge pieces of the puzzle and doesn't fill in the middle. We have to look at the rest of the New Testament to find the answer. But here Jesus puts his finger on the problem perfectly and directly. And so in verse three we find out not by words alone, not by works alone, but verse 23, the third section, but by Christ's blood and righteousness alone we have the solution.

Christ's blood and righteousness alone

Jesus says, and then will I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. This is a terrifying statement. And Jesus has many who think that they are fine, many who think that they are good people, many who think that their lives are doing the right things, that they will be safe and secure on the last day, will not hear. Enter into my kingdom, good and faithful servant. Instead they will hear, depart from me. I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness. What a terrifying prospect. We have to get this right. Our eternity hangs in the balance of whether we take the gage that Jesus gives us seriously.

The truth that is staring us in the face. Will we listen to Jesus's warning? He says there's two problems. Number one, I never knew you. Jesus never knew these people. And number two, these people are the workers of lawlessness. Now let's start with the second thing that they are workers of lawlessness. What does that mean? It means that though they believe that their words and their works were good, that they had a magical protection by their words, or they had a maybe a merit by their works. But nevertheless, Jesus rejects those things. Just like what we read in Isaiah 64 verse six, all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We have these righteous deeds that we do, and we think that they will get us something from God. The God will look at them and be pleased with them. And God looks upon them and sees polluted garments. Because neither words nor works can atone for our lawlessness. Sin. All sin is lawlessness. And as the rest of the New Testament declares, only Jesus's blood can atone for sin. Only Jesus's righteousness can meet the perfect demands of the law. How, then, do we lay hold of Christ's blood and righteousness? It's not by mere words. It's not by mere works. It is by the problem of knowing him. To some he will say I never knew you, which implies that there will be others, that Jesus will acknowledge that he knows them.

How do we know Jesus? Well, we know him and we are known by him. The Bible says through faith. It is through turning from whatever we think will earn us something to get us into the kingdom of heaven, and instead looking to Jesus by faith. That's how he tells us to know him, to look to him, to call upon him, to ask him to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, namely, to atone for our sins through his blood and to qualify us for him, to do what is necessary for us to be merited into the kingdom of heaven, not by what we have done, but by what he gives to us from his merits, his perfect righteousness, which meets the absolute perfect standards of God's perfect law. And as Jesus been talking about through the Gospel of Matthew, the sermon on the Mount, it's the infinitely high as heaven's standard that he calls us to. So the way we apply Jesus's warning here is we go back to basics, back to the fundamentals. We don't get lost in the difficult details. We get back to basics. Is no the Lord. That's the application here. No. The Lord. Your words are not magical. We've given you a lot of words to sing today. To speak today from the Word of God. Um, not this week, but other weeks. We give you, uh, creeds and confessions, good words to confess the right faith that Jesus is Lord.

Those words are not magical. We are called to act and behave in such a way, in ways that becomes followers of Christ. And yet those obediences, those works merit us nothing before God. Neither words nor works can atone for our lawlessness. They cannot get to the root problem in our diseased, damaged, dying, decaying roots. It is only Christ's blood and righteousness that can meet our deepest need before a holy God. So I implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God for our sake. Our loving God made His Son Jesus to be sin. Though Jesus Himself knew no sin, so that in him in Christ we might become the righteousness of God. So we must trust Jesus's words and works not our own. That's interesting. Jesus came into this world to give us pure words. He came into this world as the true and final prophet. He spoke God's words to us in perfect purity and truth, and he came also to give us works. He came as the true and final priest to offer himself as the true and final sacrifice on the cross to atone for our sins. Now all sin is lawlessness. It's a rejection of God as the law giver. And the Bible says that Christ atoned for all of it. There is no sin so far removed from the blood of Jesus that it cannot heal that sin. For anyone who truly repents from his sin and looks to Jesus to be faith.

We may be healed and cleansed and purified and forgiven through what Christ has done. But Jesus also came into this world not only as our final prophet, not only as our final priest, but also as the true and final King. Now Jesus is kingship is is not yet revealed to the whole world. Certainly it has been revealed to the world. Jesus was vindicated as the King when he rose from the dead, conquering death and the devil and sin forever. And now he is exalted to the right hand of the father, where he is reigning as king. But we don't see that clearly just yet. It's been declared and announced to the world, but yet we don't see it. Not every eye yet sees it. But there will be a day when Jesus will return, when he will come as the judge of all the earth. And Jesus talks about it here. He says on that day, on the day that he returns, on that day, many will say to him, Lord, Lord, and many will appeal to their works. I'm a good person. I don't live my life like those people over there. I have done these things over here. And Jesus will reject them forever as the workers of lawlessness. Your words are not magical. Your works merit you nothing. But then will you do? How then can you be saved on that last day? It's by knowing and being known by Jesus Christ through faith.

Trusting his words, trusting his works and not your own for their salvation. And what happens is, if you believe in your heart that God has raised your Savior up from the dead, what happens is then words do come. You then do confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. You do obedient works living in a way that becomes the followers of Christ. But everything is turned around. You're no longer looking at your words and your works as the roots, as the foundation upon which you build your trust, your certainty. You don't trust them as the roots, you see them as the fruits, the evidence of what is true in your heart as you look to Christ by faith. You see as roots. Our words and our works are not powerful to save, but as fruits, they are the evidence of true roots that have sunk deeply into Christ by faith to receive his pardoning word of forgiveness through his blood, and to be qualified by his righteousness that we receive by faith. In the year 2017, about five years ago now. A small tornado passed over my house. At the time I lived in Bellevue, it was a very small tornado, the smallest classification so small that my house was entirely undamaged by this tornado. We only learned about the path and trajectory and said, wow, that's right where it was. But there was a sign that a tornado had passed over.

Namely, we had this gorgeous, majestic 60 foot spruce tree in our backyard. And while the house was entirely undamaged, this spruce tree, this majestic, gorgeous tree was uprooted and cast aside by the storm that had passed over our house. Now, I wondered, I marveled to this day, how did this happen? No damage to the house, the uprooting of such a tree. And I was talking to Brandon Schultz. And Brandon Schultz is an expert on such things, and he explained to me that God designed spruce trees differently than other trees. He designed spruce trees to have very shallow roots because he designed spruce trees to grow on the side of mountains where they just aren't really deep areas of, of soil for those roots to go down deep. And so you get a lot of growth from the tree with very shallow root system. Now, again, this tree was beautiful. We basked in its shade on summer nights for at least a couple of summers a while we were there. Uh, but in a moment on that day of the storm, it was uprooted. Such an extraordinary thing that even the former residents of this house saw the picture on Facebook or whatever, and they came to see how could this tree that had been so seemingly secure for so many years be uprooted in just a moment? It was such an incredible thing, because God didn't design the roots of that tree to withstand the day of the storm.

God did not design your words or your works to withstand the day of the storm, of the coming judgment of the King. That day is coming, and when that storm passes over, it will be a day of gloom and darkness. The Bible promises. And if on that day you are trusting in the roots of your words and your works, you will find that they are not sufficient to save. But against all of this, Jesus Christ stands forth. From the Scripture as the one who offers you roots, who gives you a rootedness through faith. And him. He is the one who has already passed through the judgment. He is the one who is the the cornerstone, the Rock on whom all who are trusting in him will never be put to shame. He is the refuge that if you call upon the name of the Lord, you will be saved. And Jesus promises that on that day he will not cast away any who come to him, all who come, or all who call upon me, all who come to me. Jesus says, I will never cast out. To turn away from your words. Turn away from your works. And turn to Jesus. This passage leaves us with two questions. On what or on whom are you trusting? Are you trusting on Christ or are you trusting in yourself? Your words and your works are what the Bible calls a broken read of a staff that if you lean upon it, it'll break and it'll pierce your own hand.

That's the only security you will get from that is pain and misery. But if you say you're trusting in Christ, what evidence is there? Do you confess Jesus with your mouth? Then what are your works say about what you truly believe? Jesus isn't demanding perfection here. He knows we fall short. That's one of the difficulties of understanding this. But he calls us once again not to trust the level of our obedience, but to trust the one in whom we are believing in Jesus Christ. You will be known by your fruits. But remember the basics, the fundamentals, that your fruits are not what you trust upon as your roots. That Christ alone, by grace alone, and by faith alone, is the only hope that we have for salvation. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we pray that you would lead us into salvation, that we would not trust in even the best of our works, that we would see that all of them are polluted and corrupted by our sin, but that instead we would trust upon Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I pray that if there are any here who were trusting in what they have done today, that they would turn from that, and they would flee to the rock and refuge of their salvation, Jesus Christ. Who has already done all that is necessary to save sinners, and they would trust in him for their salvation today. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.