 |
38th Street Church of Christ 3904 38th Street NW Canton, Ohio 44718 330-492-5523 Fax: 330-493-7119 |
“The Great Delusion” |
  |
I. Introduction.
A. At the close of the Sermon on the Mount, after stating all
the great principles in that lesson, and sounding a warning
about the false prophets, Jesus says: “Now, let me warn
you about one other thing. Make sure you are not fooling
yourself about being bound for a home in heaven.”B. In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus describes the self-deception that
comes from a mere verbal profession of one’s faith.1. Jesus made demands of those who desired to enter
His kingdom. These demands can really be
summed up in one word: righteousness.2. In a very early part of the lesson, He says: “. . . I
say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you
will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven
(Matthew 5:20).3. The warning in Matthew 7 begins with a verbal
profession of faith and reverence for Christ: “Not
everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter
the kingdom of heaven, . . .(verse 21). These are
the people who say they’re disciples (Christians),
but really are not. Why? Because they “say” but
don’t “do.” Who shall “. . . enter the kingdom of
heaven. . .?” Jesus says: “. . . he who does the
will of My Father in heaven.” (verse 21).C. If we do not live a genuinely righteous life, it doesn’t
matter what we claim. We are deluding ourselves. In fact,
this is the greatest of delusions. Remember that Jesus
wasn’t speaking to unreligious people here, but to people
who saw themselves as just the opposite, very religious,
and very active.1. Just because we may feel good about God or Jesus,
just because we classify ourselves as a Christian,
does not make our discipleship, our Christianity, a
fact.2. We can rightly call this “the great delusion”
because, while we can be deceived and misled on
many things, to be deceived on whether or not we
are really a child of God and a disciple of Jesus
Christ affects our eternal destiny.3. And the end result of the great delusion is the shock
and surprise of hearing: “. . . ‘I never knew you;
depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ ”
(Matthew 7:23).II. False Pretenses.
A. To really understand what Jesus is saying here, and how it
affects us, we need to put these verses in Matthew 7 into
their proper context.B. In the verses just preceding our text, Jesus warns people
about false prophets, and how we can know one who
teaches, or promotes, false doctrines. (READ;
Matthew 7:15-20).1. The basic fruit of false teachers is self-interest. The
true, righteous, teacher cares more about others than
he cares about himself. In Jesus’ comparison of
such a teacher and a wolf you see the nature of self-
interest. The wolf only desired to satisfy his own
need. So it is with the false teacher; his interest is
not what he can give to others, but what he can get
for himself.2. In fact, he may teach solely for gain, or for prestige.
These are not strong motivations for one who teaches
to glorify God, obey His will, and practice righteousness.3. Then, some teach to advance their own ideas, their
own version of truth, rather than to communicate
to people in need of salvation the real truth of God.4. What are the “fruits” of such self-serving teachers?
a. Religion that consists mainly in the
observance of externals, like the Pharisees
of Jesus’ time. Ritual and ceremony replace
sincerity and love as most important in
being seen as righteous.b. Religion that consists of prohibitions, not
real freedom in Christ. What a person can’t
do takes precedence over what one can, and
should, do. Such negative teaching cannot
truly represent the positive love of God.c. Teaching is false if it produces an easy
religion. Any teaching that does not balance
love with discipline, that emphasizes
Christ’s appeal while minimizing His
commands and His warnings of judgment,
that makes people think too little of sin and
its consequences is false teaching.d. And, teaching is false if it separates what
we believe from how we live. Christianity
is not for the spectator, but for the involved,
active participant.C. All of this leads up to the thoughts of Matthew 7:21-23.
Jesus concedes that many false teachers do, and say,
wonderful and impressive things (verse 22). But, there are
two great, permanent, truths in this passage:1. There is only one way that an individual’s sincerity
can be proven, and that’s by what they do.
Wonderful words cannot be a substitute for
righteous actions. The only real prove of love and
devotion is through obedience.2. The second truth is the reality of what false
pretenses produce: condemnation in judgment.
(verse 23). We may, and can, deceive other people
into believing that our Christianity is genuine, but
we cannot, and will not, deceive God, who is the
righteous judge of all. That’s why the great
delusion is one with eternal consequences.III. False Assurance.
A. Jesus’ conclusion, in verse 23, is one that should awaken us
to a stark reality: so many people who think they have
salvation in Christ are going to be shocked to learn
otherwise, when it is too late.1. The false teachers of today are just as active, and
just as persuasive as they have been in all past
generations.2. People have been told that as long as they seek
Jesus, confess their belief in Him as the Son of God,
pray to God as a sinner desiring forgiveness, or
perform a simple ceremony of one sort or another,
they are safely entered into the kingdom and are
bound for a heavenly home.B. Much of the delusion regarding salvation comes from a
lack of self-examination. People are led to believe that
God’s love is all grace and forgiveness, with no real
accountability for sin. God’s grace takes care of the sin.
Just go on and live your life. But, Paul says, in
II Corinthians 13:5: “Examine yourselves as to whether
you are in the faith. Test yourselves . . .”C. Another cause of delusion, and false assurance, is putting
more emphasis on activity than on attitude. This is the
“observation of externals” I referred to earlier. I go to
church, I listen to lessons, I sing songs and read the Bible,
and attend Bible classes, and, because I faithfully do all
these things, I’m convinced that I’m a Christian and a
part of God’s family. We can be doing the right things,
but not, necessarily, for the right reasons, or with the right
attitude toward them. Something done out of obligation
may not be something done out of love and a desire to
please.D. Delusion, and false assurance, can also be maintained by
what could be called the “fair exchange.”1. When a person perceives something wrong in his
or her life, instead of confronting it directly, with
self-examination and comparison with the truth of
God’s word, they “balance” the wrong with
something that is right, and good, in their life. In
other words, they mentally, make a “fair exchange.”
They trade off positives and negatives.2. Instead of looking honestly at their life, and asking
themselves, “If I’m a Christian, should I be doing
this?”, they say to themselves, “Well, that may be
wrong, but look at what I do that’s right.” In other
words, they see it as a “fair exchange,” where one
cancels out the other.E. But, looking beyond a lack of real self-examination,
external activity, or “fair exchanges,” the question we
must ask ourselves is this: “Do I live with a desire to obey
God’s word?” That’s the goal that encourages true
Christianity, and the assurance of a welcome into a
heavenly home. Christianity is a tragic illusion if a person
is not willing to submit to the lordship of Christ as
revealed in God’s word. True assurance of a home in
heaven is for one who “. . . does the will of [the] Father in
heaven.” (Matthew 7:21).IV. Conclusion.
A. Jesus sends away those who falsely claim to know Him,
because they “practice lawlessness” (verse 23). Instead of
doing the true will of God, and living by the righteous
principles Jesus elaborated upon in the Sermon on the
Mount, they lived sinfully. What we say does not prove the
genuineness of our faith, but what we do, and the attitude
with which we do it.B. True, saving, faith is repentant. True, saving, faith
produces good fruit. We might paraphrase Matthew 7:23
this way: “Not for one single moment have I
acknowledged you as My own, or known you intimately.
You are forever expelled from My presence, because you
continue to sin.”1. This statement is all the more startling because of
the peoples’ claims in verse 22. These people
taught, and did “many wonders,” in Jesus’ name.2. But, no matter what we think we’ve done, no
matter how we feel about our relationship with
Christ, we cannot be part of His kingdom without
passing through the narrow gate (Matthew 7:14).
That’s not the easy way, but the more difficult way.
That’s not where you find the “many,” but the “few.”C. Don’t succumb to the great delusion and let empty words
substitute for true obedience.