Title: The Gospel: A Tale of Two Slaves Part 1
Text: Matthew 7:21; Romans 10:9-13
FCF: We often struggle understanding what salvation is…
Prop: Only those who do the will of God the Father enter the Kingdom of heaven, so we must examine ourselves to determine if this is true of us.
Scripture Intro:
[Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Matthew chapter 7. This message originally started as a sermon on the next three verses in Matthew, verses 21 through 23. By the time I finished writing the first point I had around 7 pages and over 4,000 words. To put that in perspective, most of my sermons, and you have been very gracious my flock to persevere through my 55 minute sermons. Most of this country can barely sit under 20 minutes of preaching before they are looking for their watches and wanting lunch. You are, except on the rare days when the heat is turned up a little high, you are very tuned in to what I am saying even to the end. But those 55 minute sermons usually come to around 8 or 9 pages and have around 5,500 words or so. So in finishing my first point of 3 on this sermon and finding that I had already reached 4,000 words, I knew there was little chance that it would end up being 1 sermon. And while you are a persevering congregation, I dare not take that for granted. So I have divided this sermon into two. Now for those homiletical critics out there, you might see a 1 point sermon and cringe. I’m gagging a little bit myself. But if it helps, we can see this as part 1 of a two part sermon. Perhaps that will help us square with a single point beginning.
Well we have almost made it through the Sermon on the Mount. I think a quick review is in order, just to remind us of where we’ve been.
He began by describing what Citizens of His Kingdom look like. He continues by telling them how they are to fulfill their purpose on earth. Then He discusses the law of the Kingdom and how it expands upon the law of Moses. He then discusses how that law expands into the very motives of why you obey. Then He discusses the priority of the Kingdom and how all should be seeking it above all else. He warns them about self-righteous comparisons made in superiority and tells them to approach those who are wayward in love to guide them toward holiness. Only discerning when to refrain from offering grace. But in all things to treat others as God treats them.
Now here at the end, Jesus tells them about the gospel. Up to this point He has led them to some very challenging conclusions. Telling them they had to be perfect. Telling them their righteousness needed to exceed that of the Pharisees. That they had to be pure in heart… yet, poor in spirit. How is this possible? They should have asked Him. But they were content to simply listen. So, before He finishes, He gives them one final burr to place in their saddle. One final lure to get them to come to Him and ask… Teacher, HOW CAN THESE THINGS BE?
[Slide 2] First He describes all roads of life and choice summarized in two gates. One broad, the other unyieldingly narrow. Beyond those gates are two paths, two ways of life. A perilous and treacherous way. Marked with suffering and pain. And a way that on its own would seem to be perilous, but compared to the path beyond the narrow gate, it is a path of ease and comfort. With many options and much freedom. At the end of these two paths beyond the two gates, are two destinations. As if the world is backward, the easy path, unawares to those who walk it, leads to their own doom. But the narrow and difficult path, that should seemingly lead to destruction as well, leads, instead, to life.
From this, we understood that the gospel is narrow. Few find it because few wish to find it. It is a gospel that no want wants. Because it is a path that no one wishes to tread and a gate that has far too high a cost to enter.
[Slide 3] To make matters worse, along the way there are men and women who have found the narrow gate. But out of confusion, deception or greed, they begin to point people away from it. Thinking it is too difficult to be what God designed, or worse, knowing it is the genuine path, but desiring to make money from those foolish enough to follow them. We are told that their message and their lives show us whether or not they point the way to the gospel path.
From this we concluded that the gospel is under attack. There has never been a time in the history of the world that the gospel was not assaulted. And today is no different.
[Slide 4 (blank)] Finally today, we reach the apex. The Zenith. The Climax of what Jesus has been trying to convey to the Jews on the plain.
The gospel is a tale of two gates, two fruits, and today we will learn a third layer of the gospel, for it is a tale of two slaves. I’m in Matthew 7:21 and I’ll be reading from the NET but follow along in whatever version you prefer.
Sermon Intro:
Since I have been your pastor we have gone through 2 New Testament books together, as well as, a few other topics along the way. It has been my goal to try to present the gospel as clearly as I possibly can. Because the gospel is at the core of everything we do. If we don’t know the gospel, believe the gospel, obey the gospel, and live out the gospel, then we cannot hope to ever do anything for the Kingdom. With Jude and Galatians, we saw through the eyes of church leaders, attempting to protect their flocks from false teaching. They desperately refuted the teachings and claims of these wolves, and presented the gospel in purity.
And now we come to the gospel of Matthew and hear the exact same message coming from our King Himself.
So what is my problem? Am I slow? Do I just like talking about the gospel? Am I afraid to preach on homosexuality, abortion, drinking or drugs? Am I incapable of preaching an encouraging message about the promises of God? Perhaps. All of these might be true. But I cannot escape the thought that we do not have much time left to be salt and light. I cannot get it out of my head, that time is running short. The end of days approaches. I don’t want my lamp to be out of oil. When the groom approaches, I want to be ready. And, my flock, my friends… I want you to be ready too.
And while I could preach on homosexuality being sin, I’d much rather preach about the life-changing gospel of Christ that is able to liberate someone caught in homosexuality. I could preach encouraging feel good sermons designed to get you through your week, but I’d rather preach the perilous life promising gospel to prepare you for the worst as we approach the end.
In short, I just don’t think there is much else worth preaching on during this late hour than the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified, risen and coming again in judgment.
And perhaps one day that will change. But for today, I’m not exactly sure we all understand, let alone believe the full scope of the gospel. What does it mean to be saved? Be saved from what? And how far does that extend?
Today and next week we will learn that only those who do the will of God the Father enter the Kingdom of heaven, so we must examine ourselves to determine if this is true of us.
Transition:
But what is the will of God the Father? Today to discover His will, we will first look at one thing it is not.
I.) Only those who do the will of God the Father enter the Kingdom of heaven, so we must not simply confess our need and subservience to Jesus. (21)
a. [Slide 5] Not everyone
i. Jesus is about ready to describe to us two different slaves.
ii. First He begins by telling us that there is something that these slaves have in common.
iii. But that commonality does not mean that they are the same.
iv. What He is about to gives us is not a definite indicator of which slave He is describing.
b. who says to me “Lord, Lord”
i. Both slaves will speak to Christ.
ii. Both slaves will call Him their Lord.
iii. Some have made the argument that this is them not addressing Him as Lord but only as someone of a higher rank than them. But this expression to a Jewish mind, could never mean something less than Sovereign King. Master of all things, including their life.
iv. Indeed Paul later tells us that all men will kneel before Jesus and confess with their tongues that He is their Lord, for which God the Father will receive glory. (Phil 2:10-11)
v. Furthermore, the nouns Lord, Lord are set in what is called the vocative case, or direct address.
vi. Do you know how odd it is to be called Chris by my wife? In my home I am known by many names. Daddy, Dad, Hon, Babe, Hey you! But Chris, is simply not one of them. In fact every time I call my wife Kadie or she calls me Chris we have a well rehearsed discussion about how weird it was that we used our proper names to communicate to one another. Now knowing that… If my wife was to repeat my name in quick succession, what would be your guess as to the cause? Danger, panic, or some sort of catastrophe that is imminent.
vii. In a similar line of thinking, whenever the vocative case is used in double succession like this, it communicates to us great emotions.
viii. So what are the extreme emotions that this person is experiencing do you think?
1. It is difficult to ascertain but based on context, it seems like it is talking about…
2. Fear
3. Desperation
4. Impending doom
ix. So let’s put this together then.
1. They cry out to Jesus
2. They call Him master
3. They are in some disaster of impending doom that they need to escape from and have ran out of options on their own
4. They know, to at least a certain degree, that He is able to save them from their plight
5. They beg Him to save them.
x. But Jesus is saying that NOT all who do this, who say these words, who experience these things…
c. will enter into the kingdom of heaven
i. I just felt the air leave the room. Why?
ii. Because if I call on the name of the Lord I will be saved. Right? Romans 10:13
iii. And here Jesus is saying that NOT all that say Lord, Lord for mercy will obtain it. So here we have a direct contradiction in scripture. Paul disagrees with Jesus.
iv. So following our hermeneutic, following our training on how to study the bible we must conclude that the bible is inerrant, so the only option that we have is that we have misinterpreted one or both of these passages of scripture.
v. Well let us start with this one since we are here. Let’s draw up some solutions to our problem, shall we?
1. [Slide 6a] Perhaps this is talking about the judgment day. When it is too late to call Him Lord or to cry out for forgiveness. Indeed later in verse 22 Jesus refers to a day in which all this will come about. As if it is a future event.
a. So perhaps it is not the method or motives that are wrong, but is simply the timing. They were too late.
b. Unfortunately for us, that simply cannot be the case. Well why?
c. Logically - Well Jesus is comparing two slaves. One that says Lord, Lord and another that adds to that confession something else which we haven’t quite got to yet.
d. So why is it too late for one of them and not for the other?
e. Grammatically - Another reason we can eliminate that this is a future event is the use of the verbs. Welcome to grammar class. If he says “not everyone who says” how is that different than what we find in verse 22 when He says “many will say”? What is different about those verbs?
f. Yes. You see we don’t have to guess as to when He is talking about here because He uses present tense verbs. Meaning that the activity is happening right now, not some time in the future – nor has it happened in the past. But it is happening right now.
g. So saying this is talking about a time when salvation is not available any longer is no good. Let’s think of another explanation
2. [Slide 6b] Romans says they call on the name of the Lord, these folks simply call Him Lord. They neglected to use His name or they did not actually mean what they said.
a. This also falls short for a number of reasons
i. Logically - Jesus is again comparing two slaves.
ii. Both slaves made this confession
iii. The slave who enters the Kingdom, does add something to that confession, but it is not the name of Christ, nor does He add more feeling or sincerity.
iv. Furthermore, to which name would you be referring?
1. Yeshua – Hebrew – for Joshua or Jehoshua
2. Iesous – EE AY SOUS – Greek
3. Revelation 19: 12 – A name of His that is written that no one knows but Him?
v. What happens if you call on the wrong name?
vi. What happens if it is the one that no one knows.
b. Is it simply saying the name of Jesus that makes the difference? Seems a bit… magic spelly, doesn’t it?
vi. [Slide 6c] Is there a possibility that we have misunderstood Romans 10:13? Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Isn’t that what it says?
vii. Let us leave this alone for now and finish up Matthew 7:21
d. [Slide 7] only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven
i. Perhaps your heresy senses are tingling.
ii. Perhaps you smell works based salvation here.
iii. What is the will of the father?
iv. Some say the will of the Father is to believe on Jesus Christ. That even though some say Lord, Lord – with great emotion pleading for mercy, that somehow that was not what God wanted, but instead He wanted them to believe on Jesus. It seems to me that these are the same.
v. Others say to do the will of the Father is to obey His commands.
vi. We won’t definitively prove which one of these views are correct until next week, but for now, let’s assume the most difficult. Let’s assume that Jesus is saying that without obeying God, you cannot enter heaven. Is this heresy?
vii. Ok think about this with me. Jesus just described two paths that have two destinations. He just described two trees that have two destinies. HOW DO YOU KNOW WHICH DESTINATION YOU ARE HEADING TOWARD? HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DESTINY IS?
1. Is it a prayer you prayed? A confession you’ve made? NO because not everyone who calls Jesus their Lord will enter heaven. Not everyone who confessed Christ as their Lord will eventually one day be a living tree bearing fruit.
2. How do you know?
3. You see Jesus is not describing the method for salvation; He is describing what His true disciples look like.
4. How do you know that the prayer you prayed was genuine? BECAUSE IT HAS PRODUCED OBEDIENCE. The fruit of repentance. You love and obey God. That is how you KNOW your faith is genuine.
viii. [Slide 8] So go with me to Romans 10:9-13
1. We could pick up context and start in Romans chapter 1, but I fear that it would take us several years to get back to Romans 10 if we did that.
2. Suffice it to say that Paul is coming to the end of a long explanation of how none are worthy to be God’s child. To a greater degree of regret, Paul informs this Roman church made up of Jews and Gentiles, that the nation of Israel, having been exposed to God since their beginning, have rejected Him. Ultimately this has necessitated God putting a pause on His plans for Israel while He focuses now on the Gentiles, with a motive to make the nation of Israel jealous.
3. In the midst of this Paul explains the better new covenant. A covenant of faith. Now salvation has always been through faith. But God’s previous covenant, the mosaic covenant appeared to demand perfect obedience, with a secret desire to prove to the Israelites that they need God even for their obedience. Ultimately, as we said before, that failed. They convinced themselves that they could obey without Him.
4. Now in verse 9 Paul describes this word that has been placed in the heart of New Covenant people.
5. [Slide 9] because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
a. This is ground zero for us to understand what Paul is talking about.
b. You see we read the word confess and we think – to say. Then we go back to Matthew 7 and Jesus says that not everyone who says… and we think there is a contradiction.
c. But confession is not simply to say or admit.
d. Picture a court room. You stand before a judge. The prosecutor has laid out a case against you. It is impregnable. They have laid out piece after piece of evidence. It doesn’t take long before you realize that there is very little to no hope of you coming out of this being found innocent. So you contact the prosecuting attorney to work out a plea deal. What does that mean? It means that rather than a long and expensive trial to prove your innocence, you confess your guilt and throw yourself at the mercy of the court, hoping that by your submission, you will get a lighter sentence.
e. Confessing that Jesus is Lord is saying that He has you dead to rights. That you are wretched, broken, vile and spiritually bankrupt. You cast yourself upon the mercy and authority of the Judge – the Master of all things – Jesus Christ – knowing that if He wanted to, He could find you guilty and exact the fullest scope of judgment upon you. And He would be Just to do so. Therefore you are repenting of your wickedness and submitting to His Lordship, hoping that He will show you mercy. You are asking Him to be Unjust. But because He is Just, He will not show the guilty mercy… but Paul continues.
6. and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
a. Belief is another word that we often misunderstand.
b. When we hear the words believe we think that it means to think something is true. To consider something to be fact.
c. By considering Jesus’ resurrection to be factual, we are saved? Surely not. If this were the case, then all Mormons would be headed for heaven, for they consider it a fact.
d. We also see this as a onetime experience. Once I believe the facts about Jesus’ resurrection once, then I am saved forever. Which if it is just a convincing of the facts that makes sense.
e. But what if belief did not mean about the facts of the resurrection, but meant a dependence on the entire earthly experience of Jesus, culminating in victory at the resurrection. Dependence for what? To take your place. Christ’s perfect life for yours. Your judgment by God’s wrath on Him. Christ’s resurrection so you too could be raised to walk as a new creature in Him, indwelt with the Spirit.
f. Belief is also a present and active verb, meaning, if it were not awkward to read, we should be translating this – and if you keep on Depending.
g. So translating this entire phrase we could say this…
h. [Slide 10] If you repent of your wickedness and cast yourself at the mercy of Christ, submitting to His authority and if you keep on depending on the work of Christ to be in Him losing all the judgment to Him which He bore for you and inheriting all the blessings given to Him by the Father, and you depend to the very core of who you are, not as a show but truly what you rely on.
i. THEN YOU WILL BE SAVED.
j. Well that is a bit different isn’t it. That is a bit more, shall we say, narrow.
k. So continuing on from verse 10-13, what we really have is Paul rewording or continuing to explain how all this works.
7. [Slide 11] for with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation
a. Again believes and confesses are in a present active form. So they are ongoing.
b. Continual Dependence on Christ leads to righteousness because we inherit righteousness from Him.
c. Continual Repentance from sin and Submission to Christ ultimately leads to our salvation from sin in that we are acquitted of our charges since someone took our punishment.
d. Paul then continues to prove what he is saying is valid by quoting from the Old Testament
8. [Slide 12-14] For the scripture says, Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame for there is no distinction between Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
a. Again – Dependance on Christ inherits no shame, because He is God’s Son. The Shameless One. We disappear into Him. This is a quote from Isaiah 28:16
b. Then he talks about calling on the name of the Lord – a quote from Joel 2:32
c. So then, in verse 9 he talked about confession then belief. In verse 10 he talks about belief and then confession. In verse 11 he talks again about belief … So in verses 12 and 13, which application do you think “call on the name of the Lord” is speaking to? Confession or belief?
d. Probably confession. Repentance and submission .
e. How do we know that? Let me prove it to you by two arguments.
i. First by what is meant by “call on”. What does the Greek word call on mean?
1. I think the common way we interpret this is that people cry out to Jesus for salvation.
2. A more extreme version of this, would be simply saying the name Jesus.
3. [Slide 15] But when you dig into the roots of the word it means a few things.
a. One way it is used is when a person takes a surname. So when an adopted child takes the surname of their father, or a wife takes the surname of their husband. That means they call on that name. Now this probably is not how it is used here, but it does help us to realize at the very least that it cannot simply mean to cry out the name of Jesus. It is more than that. It has to be.
b. Another meaning of the word is to appeal to.
i. [Slide 16] In Acts 25:1-12 Paul appears before Festus.
ii. The Jewish religious leaders were pressuring Festus to move Paul from Caesarea (a place where trials for capital crimes was held) to Jerusalem.
iii. The purpose of this was to set up an ambush on the road to kill Paul before he arrived.
iv. Festus wished to do this favor for the religious leaders to keep the area calm. Rome as an empire loathed dealing with rebellions. Basically their practice was to accommodate their conquered people as long as they paid their taxes it didn’t really matter what that meant. Festus, wishing to calm the bubbling insurrection, wanted to help these Jewish leaders that held a lot of power and prestige.
v. After Paul defends his innocence, Festus asks Paul if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial before him there.
vi. Paul, perhaps by the Spirit, senses something is amiss. He tells Festus, I am, right now, standing in the appropriate place to be tried for my crimes. If I’m guilty then kill me here, but if I am innocent, hear my case and acquit me here. There is no reason to take me to Jerusalem and hand me over to these religious leaders.
vii. Sensing that Festus was not moved by this logic, Paul appeals to Caesar. This is one of the oldest rights of a Roman citizen. It is to ask for direct judgment from the Emperor.
viii. There is a risk reward to this. It would be like taking our cases to the supreme court. The reward is that you get another person to judge you, especially if you feel like you didn’t get a fair trial. The risk is that their decision is final. There is no higher court. In the same way, appealing to the Emperor was final but at least it would not be with the corrupted Festus.
ix. The word appeal to is the same word, call on.
x. You are rejecting the authority and judgment capabilities of one judge, to submit to the judgment of another without any appeal. This is a last ditch effort. Full commitment to live or die based on the judge you are appealing to.
xi. [Slide 17] To call on means to abandon and surrender. It means to repent and Submit.
ii. Does that apply in the spiritual context and not just judicial? How do we know that the New Testament intends that to be its meaning?
1. Turn with me to Acts 2:14-38
2. 14-16 – Peter stands up to preach
3. 17-21 – He preaches from Joel 2 which includes the same verse Paul quotes in Romans 10:13 – whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
4. But what does that phrase mean?
5. 22-36 - Peter continues His sermon – a sermon all about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ proving Him to be Lord and Messiah. A sermon based on Joel’s prophesy coming to pass on this very day. The culmination of which is that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
6. 37-38 – Peter sermon causes great distress on the people who were hearing this. They asked Peter – what should we do?
7. [Slide 18] Peter says to repent and be baptized – Call on
8. In the name of Jesus Christ – the name of the Lord
9. For the forgiveness of your sins – and you will be saved.
iii. To call on the name of the Lord means to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ.
iv. To call on the name of the Lord is to say Lord, Lord AND do the will of the father in heaven.
v. Only those who do this will eventually be saved in the future.
vi. Again – this is not saying that the works contribute to your salvation – merely that they prove that that salvation, that faith, is real.
Transition:
[Slide 19 (blank)] So after all this comparing Romans to Matthew; Paul to Jesus. After dissecting all of the words and their meanings. After bouncing around through half the New Testament looking for answers. What have we found?
Conclusion:
We have found that Jesus and Paul not only do not contradict one another… but they speak of the same truth. The same gospel. What is Paul confirming? So what is Jesus saying?
Jesus says that confession without submission does not result in salvation. (Repeat 2X)
To a Jew who was banking on Abraham’s lineage to secure their entry, this would have been devastating.
And perhaps as a Christian who has prayed a prayer, but who rarely or ever does the will of God… perhaps it is quite distressing to you too.
Will you stand before Christ one day and say Lord,Lord – I called on your name. You promised I’d be saved! And He will say but you did not confess me – you did not repent and submit. You did not depend on me. You did not deny yourself and continue to kill off your flesh. You did not follow me and obey me. You did not love me.
But WHY WOULD HE EXPECT SUCH THINGS OF US?
Because these are effects of grace Friend.
Grace produces someone who obeys God. And Faith to believe produces Grace. So, if you are not obedient to God, you have no grace, and if you have no grace, then you have no faith.
Which slave are you? Are you like the men in Acts 2? Are you asking what then should I do?
Repent. Deny yourself and Keep on denying yourself. Place yourself at the mercy and under the authority of Jesus.
And Believe. Depend on Christ for your right standing with God. And depend on the Spirit to help you to do the will of the Father. And Keep on depending. Depend on this to the point that there is nothing else worth living for. Depend on it to the point that you obey Him.
