Self-Proclaimed Prophet
Tom Shrader walks through the closing section of the Sermon on the Mount, focusing on Jesus' warning that many who call Him Lord will be turned away because their faith was never genuine. Drawing on Ephesians 2 and 1 Corinthians 15, he explains that salvation is by grace through faith, not through religious activity, moral behavior, or intellectual knowledge of Scripture. He concludes by offering both a list of common false assurances and a list of genuine marks of saving faith—including love for God, repentance, devotion to His glory, and a transformed life—calling listeners to examine themselves honestly.
“There are people who know the Bible far better than me—they know the Word of God, but they don't know the God of the Word.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Scandalous
Recorded: 2011 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 54 min
Themes: salvation, false assurance, self-examination, repentance, faith, grace, judgment, transformed life, doubting your salvation, longtime churchgoer, religious but unsaved, new believer, questioning faith, seeking assurance, raised in church, spiritually complacent
Scripture: Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 7:13-14, Matthew 7:15, Matthew 7:24, Matthew 5:13-14, Matthew 5:21-22, Matthew 5:27-28, Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 5:33-34, Matthew 5:38, Matthew 5:43, Matthew 6:1-2, Matthew 6:5, Matthew 6:16, Matthew 23:27, 2 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Corinthians 7:10, Ephesians 2:1-10, 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Romans 1:21, Acts 4:12, Acts 20, Acts 24, 1 Timothy 2:5, John 10:9, John 15, 1 John 3:14, 1 Peter 2:1-3, Psalm 42:1, Psalm 51, Philippians 4:6, 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Theological Themes: soteriology, saving faith, justification by grace, false profession, assurance of salvation, regeneration, works righteousness, sermon on the mount
Full Transcript
Not Everyone Is Going to Heaven
Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7, verse 21. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand and someone will bring one to you. If you get a Bible from us, it is page 526. We are in Matthew chapter 7. If you are following along in the study guides, you may be a little surprised, because we pulled an audible and changed the order just a bit. The title for today is "Not Everyone's Going to Heaven," and this is one of the hard sayings of Jesus.
We could do far more than five weeks on the hard sayings of Jesus, but I selected some of the ones I felt were most important for the people in our campuses to get down. Today's passage is obviously a huge one. Let's look at it. It's Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 through 23.
"Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter." He is saying clearly that not everybody is going to heaven. Then He gives what is, to me, a really alarming follow-up. "Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform miracles?" And then He says, "I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness."
So picture a group of church people standing before Jesus and saying, "Wait a minute, I was one of Your guys. I went to Redemption Gilbert. I was teaching a Sunday school class. I was working in different ministries. I was praying, giving, and fasting." And still He says, "I never knew you." That should grab your attention immediately. Even a casual reading of this by a non-scholar tells you this is serious. Jesus is saying not only that not everybody is going to heaven, but that there are apparently people who think they are going who are not.
Discovering You Were Never Really a Christian
Over the last month I have had two separate meetings with our pastoral staff, and then a third one this past Thursday, to talk through some things I want to address in our upcoming state of the campus address. One of the things that came out of a discussion of our distinctives — something we see as a characteristic of this campus — is that people will visit or come new to the Gilbert campus, and after a period of time they will say to me, or send an email, or tell someone they are connected with, "When I came here, I thought I was a Christian, but I discovered while I was here that I really wasn't at all."
That may be the experience of some of you in this room. You came here thinking you were a Christian for whatever reason — probably all of the normal ones. It may be as simple as "I was born in America." I have had that conversation. Someone is asked, "Are you a Christian?" and they say, "Yes, I was born in America, born in Kansas, and I drive a Chevy." Well, that makes you a farmer; it does not make you a Christian. I have a friend who was sharing with his mother, an unbeliever who was dying, and literally on her deathbed she said, "You know I'm a Christian — I've always paid my taxes." We may think those examples are extreme, but the point stands. There are people who say, "I'm a Christian, I've been in church all my life," and what Jesus seems to be saying here is that being in church all your life does not necessarily guarantee that you are a follower of Christ at all.
Examining Yourself
I noticed Susan was reading a book called *Am I Really a Christian?* A friend had recommended it to her, and we have some copies over in the bookstore. If they are not there, just ask and they will order them, and we will have them available next week. The foreword contains an endorsement that reads as follows: "Most of us think it's wise to visit a doctor every now and then for an examination. It's reassuring to gain a clean bill of health, but it's also a relief when we identify a problem before it's too late to deal with it. However, many of us who live in the world of modern Christian America and beyond recoil at the thought of examining our lives to see if God's Word gives our Christianity a clean bill of health."
This is precisely what Paul told the Corinthians, and it is a verse we have returned to over and over again: 2 Corinthians 13:5 — "Examine yourself to see whether you're in the faith or not, test yourself." When the author gets to his introduction, he says, "This book is aimed at convincing you that you may not be a Christian. I want you to ask the question, am I really a Christian? Because I'm convinced that there are a lot of people in this world who think they're Christians who aren't." Now hearing that, you may be tempted to ask what kind of self-important jerk writes a book like this, who delights in insulting people. To be honest —
The Heart Behind the Behavior
We who profess to be Christians in the world today have a serious problem. Many of us are confused about a matter that is larger than life and death, namely whether everyone who claims to be a Christian really is. In this process, what he is saying is simply: take an honest look at your life. This book is not written for those who are wondering about the faith and have questions — there are probably other books more helpful for that. But if you are someone who says "yes, Jesus is Lord," he is saying this might be a helpful tool as you do a self-examination.
He uses a helpful image: we are regularly encouraged to go to the doctor. Women seem more concerned about that annual health checkup than men, but after fifty — and more so after sixty — we all pay attention to what kind of condition we are in. It is good to catch something early. You will often hear, "this is really serious, but we caught it early." All he is saying is what we say on a frequent basis: regularly examine your life to see if you are genuinely converted. And that is exactly what Jesus is dealing with in this passage.
The Sermon on the Mount
This passage comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Turn back to Matthew chapter 5, and if you have a red-letter Bible — meaning the words of Jesus are printed in red — you will see that essentially all of Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7 are in red letters. This is Jesus teaching what many would argue is the most profound sermon ever preached. He begins with the Beatitudes, the familiar "blessed are."
When He gets to verse 21 of chapter 5, there is a section where He challenges what the people have always heard. Look at verse 21: "You have heard the ancients were told" — then verse 22: "But I say to you." Verse 27: "You have heard it said" — verse 28: "But I say to you." Verse 31: "It was said" — verse 32: "But I say to you." Verse 33: "Again you have heard" — verse 34: "But I say to you." Verse 38: "You have heard it said, but I say to you." Verse 43: "You have heard it said, but I say to you."
We could take all of those, but let us just take the first one. He said, "You have heard it said by the ancients that you should not commit murder. Whoever commits murder will be liable in court. But I say to you, whoever is angry at his brother shall be guilty before the court." What Jesus does is take all of this external behavior and thrust it down into something deeper, saying this is more a matter of the heart.
The classic example of this is the passage we will look at next week in verse 27: "You have heard it said you should not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery in his heart." There is an external behavior to be concerned about, to be sure — but He is far more concerned about the heart being in compliance than the behavior alone. If your heart is in compliance, your behavior will be in compliance. Your behavior might be in compliance, but your heart might not be. That is the point He is driving home.
Practicing Righteousness Before Men
When He gets to chapter 6, He gives three clear illustrations of this principle. The overriding theme running through verses 1 through 24 of chapter 6 is this: "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them." In verse 2, He says when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet like the hypocrites — rather, do not let the left hand know what the right hand is doing. In verse 5, He says when you pray, do not pray like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in the synagogue; instead, go away where no one will see you. In verse 16, He says when you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do — they neglect their appearance, but you wash your face.
He is not saying here: do not pray, do not give, do not fast. He simply does not want these things done in a hypocritical way. Think of the story where Jesus and the disciples are watching people give at the temple, and a little widow comes and gives the smallest fraction of a coin available to her. Jesus said she in her poverty had given more than those who gave out of their great wealth. That is exactly what He is addressing in verse 2 when He says do not sound a trumpet when you give.
What did that actually look like? Literally, giving was done very publicly. A man would give in a prominent, visible way — and then have the gift named after him, or the fellowship named in his honor. Jesus said, do not do that. When it came to prayer in verse 5, people would actually coordinate their location with the time of day set aside for prayer. They would arrange to be at a busy intersection right at the prayer hour, stop in the middle of traffic, and begin to pray — hoping everyone around them would think, "Look at how spiritual that person is." When they fasted, they would let themselves go and not clean themselves up, so that everyone would notice and say, "He must be fasting — what a man of God." And Jesus said: I want you to fast, I want you to pray, I want you to give — just not like that.
The Heart Behind the Action
God looks way beyond the action and into the heart of the actor. That is what He is addressing. We can fool each other, and maybe even in some cases — either out of ignorance or out of sin — we can begin to fool ourselves, but we cannot fool God. He looks through all of those externals and looks right to the heart condition.
When Jesus gets to verse 24, and then verses 25 through the end of chapter 6, that is a great passage for anyone looking for hope in the world they are living in. Don't worry about your life. Don't think like a Gentile. Seek first His kingdom. Don't worry about tomorrow — it has enough trouble of its own.
Entering Through the Narrow Gate
Now I want to go to Matthew chapter 7, verse 13, and give us the context leading up to the passage we have before us. This is one of those passages that is great to work through with a blank sheet of paper. Take 15 or 20 minutes and let God begin to speak to you through it, because you can draw it out and chart it very easily.
Here is what Jesus does: He gives you a command right away. He says, "Enter." It is in the Aorist tense — it is a demand, and it requires specific action. He is saying He does not want you to sit back, think about it, or ponder it. He wants you to do it.
He tells you where to enter: through the narrow gate. And then He gives you a contrast. "For the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few that find it." — Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 and 14.
All Roads Do Not Lead to Heaven
Kent Hughes writes this: "One of the worst things that can be taught in religion is that all roads eventually lead to heaven. This isn't true. And of course, which is bad enough in itself, all lies are harmful. But in addition to being false, the idea that all ways are equally good is damnable, since the one who follows any way other than Jesus will perish for all eternity."
That is dealing with the cultural command we encounter all the time. We actually talked about this last week in the context of 9/11. What happened to those who died on 9/11? What happened to the hijackers? What happened to the first responders, those in the towers, and those caught in the collateral damage of that event? We saw a great deal of theology there, and it is very helpful. You do not have to be extraordinarily smart — you just need a little common sense and the ability to connect sentences together to see how what we are talking about impacts the world around you.
I get into conversations periodically where someone asks what I do, and when I explain, they say, "Well, it really doesn't matter, because we all pray to the same God. We all ultimately worship the same God. It's like spokes on a wheel — they all lead to the hub." And they will add, "Not only does it not matter which path you take, but I am really sincere about what I believe." We looked at that last week. If sincerity is all that is required, then the hijackers would have to be in heaven — because who was more sincere than those men? But that is not how it works. What we are dealing with here is really, really important.
Saved by Grace Through Faith
Keep your finger in Matthew chapter 7, because we are coming back. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2. So many of you, your Bible almost falls open to that passage because we go there frequently. If it does not, we are really glad you are here, because this will be very important to you. If it does, then you need to be reminded of this amazing truth — because the question before us is: what do I need to do to go to heaven? What do I need to be saved, redeemed, and delivered? What do I need to do to spend eternity with God?
In Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1, Paul writes, "You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked." He is writing to the church at Ephesus, but he is speaking of all of mankind as well. We were sons of disobedience. But then, verse 4: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive with Christ." And verse 8: "For by grace you have been saved."
So how are we saved? We are saved by grace, through faith. The faith is the evidence of God's saving grace. And that is not something we conjure up on our own.
Saved by Grace, Not Works
Salvation is not something I can conjure up on my own. It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no man should boast. The question Paul is addressing is this: how does a sinful person, separated from God, move into what God calls a saint, united with God? How does one change designation from sinner to saint, and destination from hell to heaven? The reality is that this change comes by grace — unmerited favor — and it has nothing to do with us.
The evidence of receiving God's saving grace will be faith. So how do we know we have received God's saving grace? We will have faith. But is that all there is — just believe and it is done?
Here is what Paul goes on to say. That faith that truly saves produces an external change, but it is a change that happens from the inside out. It is not about conforming to certain requirements and therefore becoming acceptable to God. Rather, it is about having your heart changed, and then your life begins to look changed. Some of the phrases we have had around here for a long time capture this well: changed lives change lives, and a transformed life becomes contagious.
The Specificity of the Gospel
Let us look at another passage where we get the specificity of the gospel — 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul, the same author, talks about the gospel directly. He writes in verse 1, "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received." Then in verse 3 he defines it: "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve," and ultimately to five hundred.
There is an intellectual component to this — you can go back to Matthew 7 on that point. What I need to know is that I am a sinner, that my sin has separated me from God, that the wage of sin is death, but that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Salvation comes as the Creator God extends to His people saving grace. He opens your eyes and allows you to see the truth.
We saw the video last week when Kirsten described sitting alone, reading a Bible, with no one sharing with her, and all of a sudden the Bible became clear to her. That is a beautiful picture of salvation. Something similar happened to me — March 6, 1980 — sitting alone, and I am absolutely convinced there was a specific moment in time when my destination changed from hell to heaven, my designation from sinner to saint, and it was entirely a work of God. He opened my eyes to understand it, and the evidence that He had done that work in my life was that I now believed.
The Narrow Gate and the Broad Way
Here is what Jesus is saying in the passage before us, Matthew 7:13: enter, pass through the narrow gate. He contrasts two gates — a wide gate and a narrow gate. The wide gate leads to the broad way that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. On the other hand, He says in verse 14, "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
This stands against the popular idea that we all pray to the same God or that we are all children of God. That is not what Jesus says. Jesus says there is a broad way and a narrow way, and He calls us to go through the narrow way — and then He tells us what it is. He says, "I am the way."
Now some of you, like me, were saved or converted or redeemed as adults. I was thirty. Once that happens, people around you begin to see the change even when you are not saying much, and they start asking questions. When you begin to share, you will hear what I certainly heard: "That is so narrow. Who do you think you are?" Here is the honest answer — I really did think I was somebody until I came to understand that I am not, and yes, it is narrow. I did not make it that way. Jesus did.
One Way, One Name
Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," and if we want to get to the Father we must go through Him. He also said, "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved" — John 10:9. Peter summarizes all of this plainly: "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved" — Acts 4:12. And Paul writes, "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" — 1 Timothy 2:5.
Now here is what Jesus is really saying, because I had for a long time pictured two roads — one clearly marked "broad way that leads to hell" and one marked "narrow way that leads to heaven." What He is actually describing is two gates that both appear to say heaven. There are not many people who openly say they are on their way to hell and are unconcerned about it. Most people who give the matter any thought say there may be different ways, but they are fairly confident in what they are doing and that they are on the right path.
Jesus also points out something striking: the easy, broad way is heavily traveled — many are on it. But on that narrow way, His way — His words, not mine — there are few who find it.
The Broad and Narrow Way
When Susan and I moved, we had lived in the same house for about 22 years with our girls. I had all these books, and in the new house I didn't have a place for them. The man who came to collect them said I gave him 3,000 books. Thousands remained, and among them were all sorts of books — some good, some bad — including things like Edgar Cayce. There was always that little pull toward spiritual things.
I ended up with a particular view. Pretty much everybody went to heaven — not Hitler, not Ahmadinejad, not your ex-wife, but nearly everyone else. Even as a follower of Christ, I developed this idea that God was a little like the PGA Tour: 144 players tee off, and the low 70 and ties make the cut and go to heaven.
But then I read a passage that doesn't seem to say half go and half don't. It seems to say there is a large group who never does get it, and a smaller group who does — and there is nothing special about the small group in and of themselves. It's not that they're smarter than anyone else. It's simply that God sheds grace on them.
Jesus says there is a broad way, and there are a lot of people who love it. Those people say they're "just spiritual," and I'm not even sure what that means, but it's very attractive. It's inclusive, it's indulgent, it's self-oriented, and it's very permissive. But He says that ultimately it leads to destruction — not annihilation, but total ruin and loss. There is a way that leads to life, and it is eternal life with Jesus, absent from the body, present with the Lord.
Beware of False Prophets
In verse 15, Jesus says, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but are inwardly ravenous wolves." Whenever we see a word like "beware," we pull up short and take notice. He says to be on guard, to be on the alert, to look out for false prophets. They come as ravenous wolves, but they come dressed in sheep's clothing — and I would say sometimes dressed as shepherds. They are clever and they are deceptive.
When Paul is saying goodbye to the elders at Ephesus, recorded in Acts chapter 20, he reflects on his three years with them and how he had taught them the whole Word of God without shrinking from it. He then says to them, "Be on guard yourselves for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in."
So what do these false teachers look like? Some are heretics who openly deny foundational truths and teach things blatantly contrary to the Word. Some are men I see around who have been in church, have since moved away from it, have decided it isn't true, and want to drag people with them.
The Deceiver in Sheep's Clothing
There is another category, though — the deceiver. I want to share a quote from John MacArthur on this. He writes that the false shepherd, the deceiver, gives the appearance of orthodoxy, frequently with great declarations and fanfare. Not a liberal, not a cultist, but one who speaks favorably of Christ, the cross, the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and so on, and who associates with true believers. He may go out of his way to appear orthodox, fundamental, and evangelical. From his looks, his vocabulary, and his associations, he gives considerable evidence of genuine faith — but he is not genuine. He is a fake and a deceiver, and his speech of orthodoxy is but a living lie.
MacArthur also notes two characteristics that often mark these false prophets. First, they are almost always pleasant and positive. Second, they appear to be sincere. But that sincerity, that positiveness, that smile and cheeriness can cover up false teaching entirely.
MacArthur then raises the natural question: if they are so deceptive, how can we identify them? His answer is that most frequently they show their true colors by what they don't affirm. They are identified not so much by what they say, but by what they don't say. They usually don't openly deny Jesus's divinity, or substitutionary atonement, or the depravity and lostness of man, and the reality of sin — they simply ignore those things.
What They Leave Out
So they won't use a word like "sin" because it might be offensive. You have to be very careful here, because this is what I mentioned last week when I talk about us and our desire to be relevant. A lot of genuine believers — well-intentioned but overly concerned believers — are very afraid that for the sake of being relevant they stop using words like "sin," or stop talking about the depravity of man, or the substitutionary atoning death of Christ.
If you can manage it — not on a full stomach — watch a little Christian television. You'll get a steady parade of this every night, every day, all day. In some instances there are subtleties of theology worth engaging, but what you'll notice is an almost total absence of any teaching on the depravity of man. They rarely, if ever, speak of the sovereignty of God, and they never touch the doctrines of grace.
Instead, they major in the Old Testament, and their primary concern seems to be your physical health and your financial prosperity. You'll hear them say God doesn't want you poor and God doesn't want you sick — when in reality He may want you exactly poor and sick. What they teach is very dangerous and very destructive. At best they are ignorant, and at worst they are false teachers.
The Damage of False Teaching
False prophets sow seeds of destruction, hurt, and pain, with the ultimate goal of deceiving you and separating you from your money. If you want to see something sad, walk into a hospital room where a patient is genuinely sick and find that one of these health-and-wealth preachers has just been there, telling that person there must be something wrong with them because God would not want them there. That is simply not true.
The silliness of the health-and-wealth message is plain when you consider that we all die ultimately. What these teachers are doing is making a direct connection between your physical and financial well-being and your spiritual well-being. Now, to be fair, if there is pain or hardship or sickness in my life, I should examine my heart and ask whether there is any sin there — but that is very different from what these teachers claim.
If they are saying that those who belong to God will prosper financially, consider who that argument actually elevates. Run down the list of people in your life who do not give a thought to Jesus — they treat Him as just another thing to mention on the golf course. Are you telling me those people are spiritual giants?
Or consider Paul, who had a thorn in the flesh. Would you go to Paul and say, "Just claim that healing, Paul — speak it, believe it"? The logic does not hold.
Belief Does Not Obligate God to Heal
A pastor who loves Jesus deeply — as much as anyone I know — had a wife with cancer. He told me he was believing God to heal her. I asked him what that meant, exactly, and he did not have a very good answer. What he was really saying, drawn from the meetings he had been attending, was that if he believed enough, or if she believed enough, God would heal her.
I told him I find very little comfort in that. Number one, I do not think it is true. Number two, it is not very comforting. I believe that God can heal, but I do not believe that my belief obligates Him to heal. That is the key distinction.
The same principle applies in the area of wealth. Treating God this way turns Him into a genie in a bottle you find on the beach — rub it and believe hard enough, and you get your three wishes: close the deal, get the promotion, and so on. That is not the gospel.
Here is something huge: the same gospel you preach in Paradise Valley, you have to be able to preach in Calcutta. Watch out for these teachers, because they come along as though they are offering you freedom, but they are locking you into bondage. They are not giving anyone freedom at all.
How to Recognize False Prophets
How will you know them? Ultimately, they will be revealed. Jesus says you will see them in their fruit. If you look long enough at their lives, at the people around them, or simply listen to what they say, they will show their true colors. They will eventually say something like, "God appeared to me at the foot of my bed and told me that if I don't raise five million dollars by the end of the week, He is going to take me home." That did not move me to give, for what it is worth.
Variations of that kind of statement are all around you. In and of itself I could brush it aside, but then you see the damage it does to the people around these teachers — especially those who are already hurting financially or physically. That is when it becomes impossible to ignore.
False Professors, Not Just False Prophets
Now we come to verse 21, where J.C. Ryle writes this about the Lord Jesus winding up the Sermon on the Mount with a passage of heart-piercing application. Ryle observes that Jesus turns from false prophets to false professors — from unsound teachers to unsound hearers. This is an invitation to examine your own heart. Do not assume that because you prayed a prayer at some point you are necessarily on your way to heaven.
Here is what Jesus says: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom," and then, "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name...'" — and He will declare, "I never knew you."
Now, reading this passage, there is a natural tendency to think, "I hope the person to my left is listening. I wish Bob were here. I wish Beth were here — they really need this." But since they are not here and you are, let us assume God wants you to hear it. This is not designed to shake your faith; it is designed to strengthen it and to ground it deeper. For some of you who say, "Yeah, I'm sure" — this may be the moment you realize you are not as sure as you thought.
Seven Things That Are Not Evidence of Saving Faith
John MacArthur, at the back of his study Bible after the book of Revelation, includes a section on the characteristics of genuine saving faith. Let me take you through it. These are things that are not evidence — one way or the other — that you are a genuine believer, even though we typically assume they are. There are seven of them.
The first is moral visibility. This is precisely what Jesus says to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:27: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones." We can bring all the passages we have already examined back to this point. Just because someone prays visibly and impressively does not necessarily mean they are in the kingdom of God.
The second is intellectual knowledge. Romans 1:21 says, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened." There are all sorts of people who possess knowledge about God without that knowledge producing true faith — and I see this all around.
False Assurances of Salvation
There are people who know the Bible far better than me. They know the Word of God, but they don't know the God of the Word. The third false assurance is religious involvement. Clearly the Pharisees come to mind. In our context, it would be people who are here. You might look around and someone says, "Are you a Christian?" and they answer, "Sure. I was in church Sunday." And it isn't just that they went to church — they worked in children's ministry or on the front line, or they're leading a small group, or they're doing a sermon. So you can be doing what I'm doing.
Charles Spurgeon — one of my favorite Spurgeon stories — tells of a pastor on the other side of London who was one day converted under his own teaching. There is this wonderful moment where this pastor is preaching — and we don't encourage this in here, by the way — and somebody stands up and says, "I believe our pastor's been converted," and somebody on the other side of the room stands up and says, "This is what we've been praying for." I'm sure that there are men and women, unfortunately, in pulpits who are not followers of Christ.
Active ministry is another false assurance. Then there is conviction of sin. There is this moment in Acts chapter 24 when Paul is sharing his faith with a man named Felix, and Luke tells us that as Paul was discussing with him about righteousness and self-control, Felix became frightened and said, "Go away for the present, and when I find time, I will summon you." My guess is that at that moment he was overwhelmed by his sin.
Assurance of salvation would be another false assurance. In its simplest form, people say, "I know I'm a Christian because I walked an aisle at a Billy Graham crusade" or "I prayed a prayer at summer camp." We've been at this long enough to know that there are people who prayed a prayer at summer camp or prayed with a staff member and appeared to be genuinely sorrowful, and they would go back now and say, "I know I'm a Christian because of that moment" — and we would look at them and say there is no evidence outside of that.
That brings us to the last false assurance: a decision reduced to a day, a place, and a time — "I said this." Hell is going to be occupied by some people who walked an aisle at a Billy Graham crusade because it was never genuine, yet even to this day they may point to it. If you talk to them they'll say, "I did that — I did that in 1974 at Sun Devil Stadium." The irony drips: at Sun Devil Stadium, I came to Christ.
The Genuine Marks of Salvation
Now here is what John would say are the genuine marks, and I will give them quickly. Number one is love for God. Psalm 42, verse 1: "As the deer pants for the water, my heart pants for God." There is a genuine desire for God, a genuine love for God. Unfortunately, these things are not constant, and that is what makes this so hard — they are not constantly and continually growing deeper.
It is not a straight line moving steadily upward, nor is it that you reach a certain point and stay there. There are moments when I feel so close to Him it is as though I can reach out and touch Him, and other times I find myself thinking He is not even in the same zip code — He might as well be on Mars.
The second genuine mark is repentance for sin. 2 Corinthians 7:10: "For sorrow that is according to the will of God produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death." One of my early experiences with Larry Wright illustrates this well. Larry trained me by spending hours and hours talking with me, and we would be out together regularly.
One time he and I were at a place and a man came up, apologized for interrupting, felt he needed to confess something, and he just poured out all of this to Larry — crying, weeping, sorrowful, everything that goes with it — and then said, "I'll see you next week," and walked away. I said to Larry, "That was really cool," and Larry said, "We'll see." I thought he was being cynical, but really he was just a little further ahead of me on the learning curve.
I have since had experiences where one man comes in and goes through that kind of moment with great tears, and another man comes in and does the same — and one walks faithfully with the Lord for the rest of his life while the other you never see again and he denies Christ. Genuine repentance carries genuine humility. Psalm 51 says the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit and a contrite heart. There is a genuine brokenness, an absence — not that you are never confident again — but an absence of self-confidence.
The next mark is devotion to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31: "Whether then you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." We become concerned about God receiving the glory. Take work as an example. Where the motive for work may once have been to be viewed as the top salesman in the department or the teacher of the year, what now drives the believer is that God is glorified — that they are the very best at whatever they do, but everything is placed in its proper perspective.
The next mark is continual prayer. Philippians 4:6: "Be anxious for nothing" — pray about everything. 1 Thessalonians 5: "Pray without ceasing."
Selfless Love as a Mark of Genuine Faith
The next mark is selfless love. 1 John 3:14: "We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brother." Genuine love — genuine concern about people.
When Politics Overrides Faith
When I go to bed at night, I'll close out my email, watch a little YouTube, and check Facebook. I never post anything, but people send friend requests and I accept them. Almost all of them have a profile, and many of them are you — some of you I know a little, some a lot, some not at all. Under religion it will almost always say follower of Jesus, disciple of Jesus, or Christian. Under politics it will almost always say conservative.
Here is the problem with people like us: sometimes our conservative politics overrides our genuine Christianity. You see it in the immigration issue all the time — hardcore Bible thumpers who miss the fact that they are dealing with a sixteen-year-old girl whose parents brought her up from Mexico when she was one year old. This is much more home to her than Mexico. That is not easy stuff.
I am a conservative, fundamental, hard-nosed free market person. But one thing I have learned dealing with people is that immigration really brings it to light — you have a large number of people, especially these kids who were essentially born here, caught in a genuine mess. So what do we need to do? Love them, feed them, encourage them, educate them, give them English as a second language, do the best we can. Let the government deal with justice; we deal with love. That is what we need to do.
Separation from the World System, Not from the World
John addresses separation from the world, but let me be precise: it is separation from the world system, because Jesus does not want us separated from the world itself. To the Father He said, "Just as You sent Me into the world, I sent them into the world." We are to be engaged in the world.
You need to have people from the world all around you — but you must not absorb the world system. I understand the pull. It is a dark, scary, hairy place out there, and the temptation is to be careful and pull back. But do not retreat into a little Christian holy huddle. You are the salt and the light in the midst of that darkness.
Spiritual Growth and the Evidence of Fruit
Spiritual growth comes back to the vine and the branches: abide in Me and produce fruit. There should be fruit visible in your life. You should be able to look around and say, there is evidence of God working in my life right there — I can see it.
I was talking to somebody recently who was going to a class reunion. If since that time you have been converted, or when you get together with people you used to work with, there should come a moment when they look at you and say, there is something different about you now than there was then. That is the evidence. That is the fruit.
Now here is where it gets complicated, because you will want to point to your activity and say, look at what I am doing. But Jesus said the world will know you are His disciples not by whether you are in Bible study or in church, but by your love. All of those things are important — I build a case that church is very important — but activity is not necessarily genuine evidence on its own.
Hunger for the Word and the Transformed Life
Let me give you two more marks of genuine faith quickly. First, there is a hunger for the Word of God. First Peter 2:1–3 says, "Put aside all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, evil, slander, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word so that you may grow in respect to salvation." There should be something in you that desires to be in the Word of God and hungers for those things. That does not mean you never read another book, but ultimately you want to know what God's perspective on all of life is, and you want to be in that Word.
Second, there is the transformed life. "If anyone is in Me, they are a new creature; the old things have passed away." That transformation is the result.
A Foundation That Holds
Jesus says in verse 24, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine" is compared to a wise man who built his house on a rock. When you build on that foundation, when you hear and obey, there will be a stability in your life — no longer blowing in the wind with every reaction and circumstance.
Verse 28 tells us: "When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." They were challenged. It was brand new to them. That may be you today. You may be here and think, that is all new to me — I was not raised with that, I have never been around that. You may be genuinely challenged or even confused by this. Or you may be someone who is indeed a child of the King and God is simply working His way out in your life right now.
An Invitation to Pray
One of the things we want to do is be available to you. If you are over in the conference center when this message concludes, Neil is going to greet you. Here in the chapel, Neil is going to lead us in communion and then a time of worshiping the Lord through song. In both places — the conference room and the chapel — when we are done, there will be men and women at the front of the room who want to pray with you. It may be praying and talking about salvation, about what it means to be a child of the King, or it may be a need that you have. In either case, they are here to pray with you.
Father, thank You for these awesome, amazing truths and for Your Son Jesus, for the salvation that we find in Him and Him alone. God, I pray You take these things that we talked about and work them deeply into every life here.
About today — touch our hearts and our minds. For those who are uncertain, God, I pray that You would bring the Spirit into their life to convince them. To those who are struggling, give them comfort. Father, we love You and we worship You, and even that only because You first loved us. We pray to You in Christ's name, amen.