Note

---

Matthew: On Earth As It Is In Heaven Am I a Christian? * Matthew 7:13-14; 21-23 Please take your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew 7. This morning in our study of the Sermon on the Mount we are going to attempt to answer the most important question any human being can ask. Are you ready for it? It’s a big one. The question is, “Am I a Christian?” or to use the terminology that Matthew would likely have used, “Am I truly following Jesus?” Today we are going to dive into the very last section of the Sermon on the Mount, and as we do so, we need to recognize that this is the question the entire sermon has been leading up to. Over the next several weeks we are going to see that Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount by pushing us to make a decision. He wants to know if we are in or out. He wants us to decide if we are going to follow Him. He makes this clear in chapter seven by giving us four simple choices. He says we must choose between two gates, two kinds of teachers, two kinds of disciples, and two types of foundations. And let’s be very clear as we begin, our choices make all the difference in the world. Now, with that said, let’s go ahead and read our passage for today, which is verses 13-14 and 21-23: Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.“ “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.’ (Matthew 7:1314; 21-23, ESV)

To be honest I find these two statements to be the most terrifying words that Jesus ever spoke. In summary, He says that there are many people who are convinced they are Christians, but in reality are not. There are many

people who think they are on the way to heaven, but they are really on the way to hell. There are many people who will stand before Him one day completely expecting Him to allow them into heaven, but instead they will hear, “get out of my face, I want nothing to do with you.” That’s actually pretty much a literal rendering of what Jesus says in verse 23. And what could be more frightening than that? I would have to say absolutely nothing. Now, we need to recognize that this flies in the face of what most people believe. Research from the Barna Group shows that two-thirds of Americans think they are going to heaven, and only a half of one percent think they are going to hell.1 So we can see that there is clearly a disconnect between what most people think is going to happen and what Jesus says is going to happen here in Matthew 7. What’s more, the popularity of universalism, the belief that everyone goes to heaven, continues to grow both inside and outside of the church. For proof of this, you have to go no further than earlier this summer when the pope, the leader of the largest religion in the world, stated that even atheists go to heaven.2 Now, I am not necessarily one to argue with the pope, but it does seem to me that Jesus and he don’t exactly see eye to eye on this matter. So, what does this mean for you and me? Well, I think it means we need to do what the Apostle Paul tells us to do in 2 Corinthians 13:5: Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test! (2 Corinthians 13:5, ESV) This morning we need to take the “Am I a Christian?” test. We need to do so because it’s very easy to deceive ourselves into thinking that we are good to go. It’s very easy to think we are headed to heaven, when in actuality we                                                                                                                 1

https://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/128-americans-describe-their-views-about-life-afterdeath#.UiiX1RYgZKA 2 http://www.catholic.org/hf/faith/story.php?id=51077  

 

2  

might be headed to hell. And so here is my hope today. I want everyone to know where they stand. If you are a Christian, I want you to know it beyond a shadow of a doubt. I want you to have a greater confidence in your heart that you are on your way to heaven. On the other hand, if you are not a Christian, I hope you will become one today. I want this to be your day of salvation. Therefore, whatever your answer is to “Am I a Christian?” before we leave I want you to be able to answer “absolutely” and go home with a full assurance of faith. Assurance of Salvation 1. Doubts about salvation are common. Now, all that said, let me give you some preliminary thoughts about assurance of salvation. First, doubts about salvation are common. I honestly have met very few Christians who at some point haven’t struggled with whether or not they are truly saved. I myself have struggled with this at times. What’s more, some of the greatest men and women of the faith have also struggled with this issue. For example, consider Charles Spurgeon, a 19th century British pastor. If you don’t know about Spurgeon, you really need to. Spurgeon began his ministry at the age of 19 and continued preaching in his church in London until his death at the age of 57. Long before the days of mega-churches, he preached to crowds of 6,000 nearly every week. His collected sermons from his nearly forty years of preaching fill sixty-three thick volumes and Christian History magazine asserts that there is more material written by him than any other Christian author, living or dead. In summary, most pastors would consider Spurgeon the greatest preacher outside of the Bible. However, in his autobiography Spurgeon wrote of having doubts about his salvation. Note what he wrote about this issue, “I felt at that time very weary, and very sad, and very heavy at heart; and I began to doubt in my own mind whether I really enjoyed the things which I preached to others. It

 

3  

seemed to be a dreadful thing for me to be only a waiter, and not a guest, at the gospel feast.”3 I share all of this to point out that if someone such as Spurgeon struggled with assurance of salvation, then we shouldn’t think it unusual or strange that we do. What’s more, I hope that we will see today that this struggle can at times be helpful, especially if it aids us in times where we have fallen into sin or away from a close walk with the Lord. 2. Assurance of salvation is possible. The second preliminary thought about assurance is that it is possible to have it. Let me show you this from Scripture. 1 John 5:13: I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13, ESV) An entire book of the Bible was written in order that we might have assurance of salvation. I hope this is encouraging. God wants you to know that you are saved. And since this is the case, let’s talk about how it is possible from Matthew 7. Here is how I want to approach this passage. I want to talk with you about reliable and unreliable evidences of salvation. In other words, I want to point you to things that can and can’t be trusted to show that you are a Christian. Let’s start with unreliable evidences of salvations. Unreliable Evidences of Salvation 1. A profession of faith. The first unreliable evidence of salvation is a profession of faith. The people Jesus is talking about in verses 21-23 plainly profess to be believers.                                                                                                                 3

Whitney, Donald (1994). Pg. 19-20. How Can I Be Sure I’m a Christian? – What the Bible Says About Assurance of Salvation. NavPress, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

 

4  

However, they seem to base this primarily on the fact of what they have said and done. Today this might include walking an aisle, praying the sinner’s prayer, and/or getting baptized. But Jesus makes it clear that simply calling yourself a Christian and doing certain religious activities doesn’t prove that you are saved. So get this – and I might rattle a few cages here – we shouldn’t use the fact that we have, for example, “asked Jesus into our heart” as reliable evidence that we are saved. For one reason, the Bible never speaks of asking Jesus into our hearts. It talks a lot about repenting, and believing, and following, but not once about asking Him into our hearts. What’s more, reciting words doesn’t save us – Jesus does. Our assurance of salvation rests in believing the gospel, not in asking Jesus into our hearts. Now, I am not saying that asking Jesus into your heart is a bad thing or that it can’t be a part of your salvation experience. I asked Jesus into my heart when I was six years old. What I am saying is that Jesus clearly tells us that simply professing faith – saying that we have accepted Him – is not a reliable piece of evidence when it comes to salvation. 2. Correct doctrine. The second piece of unreliable evidence is correct doctrine. As indicated by the repeated, ‘Lord, Lord’, the people Jesus is talking about in verses 21-23 are clearly Christo-centric. They do what they do in Jesus’ name. They are people who grow up in church and know all of the Old Testament stories. They go to AWANA and win Timothy awards. They are at church every Sunday and attend a Bible study or two during the week. They have all of their theological I’s dotted and T’s crossed. They know the church doctrinal statement backwards and forwards. They probably even have the church policy manual memorized. And yet Jesus says they aren’t Christians, which means they will spend eternity separated from Him. Now, let me be clear that having correct doctrine is absolutely essential. We will see why this is the case next Sunday when we talk about false teachers. And here at Harmony we are huge on doctrine. We believe God’s Word is the final authority on all matters of faith and practice, which is pretty much  

5  

everything. However, we have to be careful that we don’t get the idea that having the right doctrine proves we are saved. I’ve asked you this before – but let me ask again. Who is the best theologian on the planet? Who knows Bible doctrine better than any of us? The devil! Note what James 2:19 says: You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! (James 2:19, ESV) And here is where we have to understand that there is a difference between mental assent – believing in our heads – and true saving faith. As Jonathon Edwards taught, saving faith is light in the head and heat in the heart. For doctrine to save us it not only has to be accepted in our mind as true, it also has to transform our heart. One of my big concerns as a preaching pastor is that people will simply come week after week and get fed with Bible doctrine but will leave untransformed. Listen, if what you hear from this pulpit week after week never changes the way you live – if it never spurs you into action – then something is desperately wrong. Following Jesus isn’t simply about believing the right truths – it’s ultimately about being transformed by those truths. 3. Sensationalism (v. 22) The third piece of unreliable evidence of salvation is sensationalism. Look again at verse 22: 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?’ I think we have to admit that due to our media-saturated culture there is a great hunger for the sensational today. And so on one of the traps we can fall into is that we take the sensational to be a sign of God’s blessing. We  

6  

have a tendency to think that if someone has great gifts and God is apparently using them in a great way, then they must be a believer. But Jesus says this isn’t necessarily the case. Just because someone can preach well or does incredible things for God, that does not necessarily mean they are saved. We shouldn’t use sensationalism as a barometer of spiritual maturity or what it means to follow Jesus. Do you realize that in the entire Sermon on the Mount, Jesus only refers to these sensational things in a negative light? As He is describing what it means to follow Him, He never once mentions that it includes doing incredible things that garner lots of attention. It’s much more about the day-to-day grind of faithfully following him. 4. Family heritage Now, I want to leave Matthew 7 for a moment and add another unreliable evidence of salvation. It comes from Matthew 3, where John the Baptist tells the Pharisees and Sadducees: Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. (Matthew 3:8-9, ESV) The fourth piece of unreliable evidence of salvation is family heritage. I include this because I believe there is a real danger for those who are second and third generation Christians to somehow assume that because our parents and grandparents are Christians we are “in”. Let me speak specifically to young people. God doesn’t have any grandchildren. You can’t make it to heaven on your parent’s coattails. While being raised in a Christian home is a great blessing, you won’t be able to stand before Jesus one day and say, “I’m with mom and dad.” We all have to stand before the Lord on our own. And so I urge you not to use your heritage as evidence that you are saved. Your faith must become your own and you must choose to follow Jesus yourself.

 

7  

Reliable Evidence of Salvation So, there is the unreliable evidence of salvation. Let’s now get to the reliable evidence. Where can we look in order to gain assurance that we are truly saved? 1. Trusting in Christ alone. (v. 13-14) Well, there are two things in our text today, two things that go hand-inhand. The first is trusting in Christ alone. For this let’s look at verses 13-14: Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. I have a chart that will help us get right to what Jesus is saying here. Destruction (Hell) Wide gate Easy road Many

Life (Heaven) Narrow gate Hard road Few

Destruction, or hell, has a wide gate and an easy road. It’s not difficult to take this path and so many people go this way. In fact, this is the default path we are on when we are born. We all come into this world on the road to destruction. On the other hand, life, or heaven, has a narrow gate and a hard road. It’s not easy to enter this gate nor is the path easy to take. It’s the path that has to be sought for and found. And therefore there are few who go this way. So, that is pretty simple. But the key here is to understand what the narrow gate is. Or better said, who the narrow gate is. And so let me ask, who is the narrow gate that leads to life? The narrow gate is Jesus. He is the One through whom we must enter if we are to have eternal life. The New Testament states this over and over again.

 

8  

I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:7-10, ESV) I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6, ESV) This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:11-12, ESV) And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11-12, ESV) So let me be absolutely clear about this. The greatest evidence of salvation is having trusted in Christ alone. He is the One and only way to heaven. Despite what nearly every other voice in the world says there is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus. Now, I know this seems simple, but the reality is we have a real tendency to affirm this truth mentally but in our hearts to trust in something else. It might be good works, it might be religious activity, it might be family heritage, or a whole host of other things. And I think the best way to analyze this is to consider what you will say when you stand before Jesus and He asks you why He should allow you into heaven. And so I want you to think about that for a moment. Imagine the scenario pictured for us in verses 21-23. When you stand before Jesus, what evidence will you give that you are His? To be honest, I have asked this question many times in baptism, membership, and pre-marital counseling interviews. And most of the time the answers I get are, “well I’m not sure, but I’ve tried to live a good life,” or “you know, I think I’m a pretty good person”, or “I’ve really never  

9  

known a time when I wasn’t a Christian.” But I have to tell you that none of these answers work; Jesus is clear about this in verses 21-23. All of these answers show that the person is trusting in something other than Jesus as their one and only hope for salvation. So let me share with you the right answer. It goes something like this: Lord, on my own you shouldn’t let me in. I have nothing to offer You but sin and rebellion. But in Your Word You said that if I repented and trusted in You as my Savior, You would take my sin away and make me holy and righteous in Your sight. And so today I stand before You, not clinging to my own righteousness but to Yours, which You so graciously gave me through the cross. I think the old hymn Rock of Ages summarizes it well: Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Now, all that said, it’s important to realize that trusting in Christ alone has implications that play out in how we live our lives. Once again, if we are not careful, trusting in Christ alone can easily turn into something we simply profess rather than something that actually manifests itself in our lives. This is why the second evidence of salvation is also important. 2. Obedience The second reliable evidence of salvation is obedience. Take a look at verse 21: 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. Jesus very plainly says here that it is what we do, not what we say, that gives evidence that we are truly saved. In Luke 6 Jesus says something similar: Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I tell you? (Luke 6:46, ESV) In other words, if we don’t obey, than Jesus isn’t our Lord, and if He isn’t our Lord than He isn’t our Savior, and if He isn’t our Savior, we aren’t going to  

10  

heaven. The most objective test of whether or not we are truly saved is found in whether or not we are obedient to Christ’s commands. Note what Jesus says in John 3:36: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36, ESV) Do you see in this verse how the two reliable evidences work together? Belief in the Son results in obedience to the Son. If there is no obedience, then there is no belief. Now we might not like this, but we can’t get around what Jesus is saying here. When we truly believe in Jesus – when we trust in Him and Him alone, the result is obedience. So I would encourage you today to ask yourself a very simple question. Am I being obedient to Christ’s commands? Am I faithfully following Him? If you are, then you have great evidence that you are a true believer and have entered through the narrow gate that leads to life. On the other hand, if you aren’t obeying, you need to ask yourself some hard questions. Are you a child of God that has wandered from Him? Or does this mean that you aren’t truly saved? Those really are the only two options. If you aren’t living in obedience either you are wandering and need to return to full fellowship with Christ, or you aren’t saved and need to repent and follow Him today. Now let me be clear that I am not saying that true believers always live in complete obedience. None of us obey perfectly nor will we at anytime in this life. Even the most mature believers fail often, and we need to look no further than the Scriptures to know that this is the case. So, it’s not about perfection, but it is about desire and effort. As we have talked about over and over again in the Sermon on the Mount, following Jesus is about a transformed heart that works itself out in how we live. So, we have to ask ourselves: do we desire to obey? Do we want to follow Jesus? Do we experience conviction and a desire to make things right when we don’t obey? Where exactly are our hearts? And let me just say that in some ways struggling to obey is a great sign that you are a believer. You see, assurance of salvation is not really found when  

11  

we don’t struggle – because the only time we don’t struggle is when we aren’t seeking to obey. True assurance is found in the struggle – because it is here that we are fighting against the powerful forces that seek to keep us from obeying. So if you are struggling, take courage, this very well may indicate that you are truly saved. Assurance comes from the character of God and the finished work of Christ. Ok, let me finish with something I hope will be very encouraging. I specifically want to talk to those who are following Jesus. I know from experience that even if you trust in Christ alone and are striving to live in obedience it is still possible to struggle with doubts about your salvation. And so before we close I want to point you to where assurance ultimately comes from. At the end of the day assurance doesn’t come from what we do or do not do. It doesn’t come from evidence that we do or do not give. Ultimately assurance comes from the character of God and the finished work of Christ. And there are many places we could go in Scripture to see this, but perhaps the very best is Hebrews 6. In fact, why don’t you turn in your Bibles there with me? This is so good I want you to see it for yourselves. Verses 17-20: So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:17-20, ESV) The basis for our assurance of salvation is the fact that God has promised to save those who turn to Him in faith. And He does this through the life, death and resurrection of His Son. The key thing you need to see in this passage is that there are two things that guarantee that God will save those  

12  

who trust in His Son. First, this was His purpose even before He created the world. Before time began God decided that He was going to save us. Second, He guaranteed His purpose with an oath – in other words He gave His word that He was going to do it. And therefore because it is impossible for God’s purpose to change or for Him to lie, we can be doubly sure of our salvation. And this alone is an anchor for the soul, something to give us assurance no matter how difficult and nasty our doubts may be. You see, ultimately our assurance comes from what God has done in the past and what He has promised to do in the future. Philippians1:6 tells us this: He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6, ESV) Brothers and sisters, if God has begun a good work in you, you can trust that He will do whatever He needs to do to make sure that work is completed. If God has purposed to save you, His plans cannot be thwarted, not even by you! Now, let me give you an illustration that hopefully will tie all of this together. Many years ago when Charlton Heston was filming the movie Ben-Hur he had a hard time learning to drive a chariot. After much practice he was able to control the vehicle, but he still had some serious doubts. He reportedly explained this to the director of the movie, saying, “I think I can drive the chariot, but I’m not sure I can win the race. To which the director responded, “You just stay in the race and I’ll make sure you win.”4 Listen friends. We are responsible to trust in Christ alone. We are also responsible to obey Him. Both of those are part of holding on to the anchor. However, in the end it’s not our holding on to Jesus that saves us. It's the fact that Jesus is holding on to us. So, get in the race and then stay in the race, and He will make sure you win.

                                                                                                                4

 

Lucado, Max (2004). Pg. 123. And The Angels Were Silent. W Publishing Group.

13  

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. © 2013 by Chris Carr. You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author, (2) any modifications are clearly marked, (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, (4) you include Harmony Bible Church’s website address (www.harmonybiblechurch.org) on the copied resource.

   

 

14