A truly riveting evangelistic warning to all professing Christians from Matthew 7:21.
A profession of attachment to Jesus Christ is a necessary part of true and saving religion but the mere profession of attachment to Christ is no proof of true and saving religion.
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
There is a great cry throughout the world today pushing tolerance and much of it comes from a rising spirit of godlessness in the nations. The most intolerant nations and national leaders are preaching tolerance, calling for the break down of all barriers of religion and differences.
But this is the position of the people of God- the Bible is the most intolerant book in all the world and the most intolerant teacher that ever addressed Himself to an audience was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now Jesus Christ demonstrated the vast difference between being charitable and being tolerant. Christ was so charitable that in His great heart, He was willing to weep over sinners; He took in all the people of the world and was willing to die for those who hated Him.
But even with that kind of love and charity, Jesus was so intolerant that He taught, “If you are not on my side, then you are against me; if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” He did not leave any middle ground to accommodate the neutral folks who preach tolerance. Christ leaves no middle ground, no place in between.
Hosea 5: 4, “For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away and none shall rescue him.”
Jesus isn’t just the “meek and mild” Savior that many imagine Him to be.
He is the Lion of Judah, and, as such, He shares some of the lions traits:
He powerful and strong; unrelenting and uncontrollable. He is harsh and outspoken when it comes to God’s Truth. He is prone to righteous anger when God’s interests are at stake. He is severe with those who would play at Christianity.
Jesus expects, no, demands, that He be absolutely first in your life. It is necessary, in the end, that He be the ONLY thing that matters to you. If you had to choose between Jesus and your very life, Jesus and your family, Jesus and your personal happiness and comfort, Jesus and your reputation, Jesus and your job, Jesus and your freedom…you must choose Him.
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I stumbled into the dimly lit dungeon, fell over a chair and mumbled that I needed a flashlight to read the menu. When the food came I ate it by faith and not by sight.
Gradually, however, I began to make out objects a little more distinctly. You know how it is if you sit a while in a dark room. And my friend remarked, “Funny, isn’t it, how you get used to the dark.”
And I said, “You have given me a new sermon subject, getting used to the dark.”
For one thing, we are living in the dark. We are living in the closing chapter of an age dominated by the prince and powers of darkness. And men do love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. The night is far spent and the blackness is more extensive and more intensive and more excessive as it deepens just before he dawn.
Mammoth Cave is not limited to Kentucky. It is universal today. We are all in it.
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:14).
It is interesting to notice the particular way in which the Apostle speaks of the world here. That term is a very comprehensive term and includes a very great deal. Here Paul gets right down to the spirit of the thing. You notice the context; it is well for us to take account of it:
“For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh”(Galatians 6:13).
What does the Apostle mean? They want to say, “See how many proselytes we are making! See how many followers and disciples we are getting! See how successful our movement is! See what a power we are becoming in the world! See all the marks of Divine blessing resting upon us!” The Apostle says that is worldliness in principle and spirit; that is the world. He sets over against this his own clear spiritual position. Do I seek glory of men? Do I seek to be well-pleasing to men? No! The world is crucified to me, and I to the world.
Let’s be brutally honest: most of Jesus’ teaching is completely out of sync with the mores that dominate our culture.
I’m talking, of course, about the Jesus we encounter in Scripture, not the always-gentle, never-stern, super-lenient coloring-book character who exists only in the popular imagination. The real Jesus was no domesticated clergyman with a starched collar and genteel manners; he was a bold, uncompromising Prophet who regularly challenged the canons of political correctness.
Consider the account of Jesus’ public ministry given in the New Testament. The first word of his first sermon was “Repent!”–a theme that was no more welcome and no less strident-sounding than it is today. The first act of his public ministry touched off a small riot. He made a whip of cords and chased money-changers and animal merchants off the Temple grounds. That initiated a three-year-long conflict with society’s most distinguished religious leaders. They ultimately handed him over to Roman authorities for crucifixion while crowds of lay people cheered them on.
There is a great cry throughout the world today pushing tolerance and much of it comes from a rising spirit of godlessness in the nations. The most intolerant nations and national leaders are preaching tolerance, calling for the break down of all barriers of religion and differences.
