One of the most shocking, disturbing and paradoxical truths in the Word of God
is found in Matthew 7:21-23, “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. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in
thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Notice that these people
were religious. They centered their lives around the Lord Jesus Christ. They
preached in Jesus' name. They did many wonderful works in Jesus' name. They
cast out devils in Jesus' name. They even called Jesus their “LORD” (There is
your unsaved Lordship Salvation crowd!). By all outward indicators, these
zealous followers of Jesus were Christians!
But wait a minute, the Lord Himself calls them WORKERS OF INIQUITY! Jesus said in verse 23, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Wow! Can you imagine spending your entire life living for the Lord Jesus Christ, and then being denied by Him in eternity? It doesn't seem fair does it? Our human nature suggests that these people should have been given leniency. I mean, after all, they gave everything for the Lord! They respected Jesus immensely, calling Him their “Lord,” that is, their Boss! They were willing to do whatever the Lord wanted them to do. They were willing to go anywhere that the Lord wanted them to go. They were totally surrendered. Even many genuine believers are not sold out to Christ, unwilling to do God's will. These were GOOD people! They had a right spirit about them. They did not just a few, but “MANY” good works! No doubt they gave much money to religious work and charity, just as many good people do today in America. No doubt they helped the poor and needy, as do many good people today in America.
They admittedly ministered to others in Jesus' name. And please don't miss this vital truth—doing something “in Jesus' name” means that you are doing it for Christ, because you love Him and want to please Him. This group of religious people believed with all their hearts that serving Christ would reap eternal rewards and happiness. That's why they did what they did! That was their great motivation. They never doubted for one second that God would be pleased with them, and bless them with eternal life and bountiful rewards, for their hard works and dedication, doing all their good works IN JESUS NAME! But they were, Oh, so wrong!
My heart breaks for these deceived souls. They spent their lives sacrificially
giving and living for others, all in Jesus' precious name. They weren't
selfish people. They weren't hardened sinners, rioting day and night in
wickedness. They were helping people. They were making a positive contribution
to the local community. No doubt the town mayor in Jerusalem appreciated them
and publicly praised them for their efforts. Certainly the townspeople admired
them. And most people assumed that these religious folks were Christians,
since they preached in Jesus' name everywhere they went. But my friend, they
made one fatal flaw, which was going about to establish their own
righteousness, instead of submitting to God's righteousness, which is through
faith alone in Jesus Christ. Romans 10:3-4, “For they being ignorant of
God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
Billy Graham Just Died and Went to Hell On February 21, 2018
How do I know Evangelist Billy Graham (1918-2018) went to Hell? It is because Mr. Graham taught a false plan of salvation. Instead of solely trusting upon God's righteousness, Billy taught that faith really meant following Christ. In a video presentation of a Billy Graham Evangelistic Crusade in Oklahoma, Billy says:
The word “believe” implies commitment, surrender. It doesn't mean that you believe everything, or just anything—You believe in the person of Christ. And that word “believe” means, that you commit your life to Him. You're not trusting anything for your future. The little boy that I heard about. He said, “You know, this life is short, but from what I've heard, eternity is awfully long,” and said, “we better spend our time getting ready for eternity.” So when you come to commit your life to Christ, you commit your mind, you commit your emotion, you commit your will, you commit your body. The whole person is involved in this act of commitment.
Folks, that is NOT the Gospel!!! Is this not what the workers of iniquity did in Matthew 7:21-23? Remember, they preached in Jesus' name. They did many wonderful works in Jesus' name. They cast out devils in Jesus' name. They even called Him their “Lord.” This is exactly what Billy Graham teaches! He says that to be saved you must commit your mind, emotions, will, and body to live for Christ. This is NOT the free gift of eternal life, which is without works! There is not one verse in the Holy Bible that tells a man to turn from sins to be saved. There is not one verse in the Bible that tells a man to commit his whole person to Christ to be saved. There is not one verse in the Bible that tells a man to make a full surrender to Christ to be saved.
Billy Graham, in the same crusade, stated to 50,000 people in Red River Valley, Oklahoma:
But the great decision of total surrender to the total Lordship of Christ, you must make. In which you say, “I would like today to reconfirm my confirmation vows. I would like to reconfirm what was promised at my baptism.”
...God has a set of tapes, in which everything you've ever said, and everything you've ever done, and everything you've ever thought, is there, and will be played at the Judgment; but if you come to Christ, and surrender totally to Him, He wipes out the tapes, He erases the tapes, and no one will ever hear them. Even God forgets!
...But the choice involves a price! It cost God His Son. ...
Yes, and it's a price for you to pay too! Because when you come to Christ with all your heart, you must repent of your sin, and that repentance means change—change your mind and change your way of living! [emphasis added]
What a son of a devil!!! Mr. Graham is sadly burning in Hell this moment, realizing how wrong he was, for believing that salvation required a personal price to pay! Billy Graham often talks out of both sides of his mouth, contradicting himself in his sermons. He is a two-faced preacher, a chameleon who changes colors to fit with the particular crowd he is influencing. My friend, if you think that you are required to change your way of living to be saved, or to confirm that you are saved, YOU ARE NOT SAVED!!!
Tragically, we've got a bunch of
deceived pastors in our churches today, who are serenading the Devil's modern
Bible versions, which agree with Billy Graham's damnable heresy! Case in point
is the
Easy-To-Read-Version (ERV) used by Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, and
other horrible churches. Apostasy has crept into most churches today! Billy
Graham is burning in Hell forever!!!
We Must Submit to God's Righteousness to Be Saved
You
see dear friend, the admirable religious workers in Matthew 7:21-23 were
continuing the law of God, trying to merit Heaven by fulfilling the law. But
the Holy Bible teaches that the law is ended by faith in Christ, meaning that
the law is finished doing its job when you come to Christ by faith and are
saved. Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth.” The LAW (i.e.,
about 720 moral, civil and ceremonial laws in the Old Testament) all END at
salvation. Instead, we are now under God's GRACE! God has already made two
great divisions in His Word of Old and New Testaments, or LAW and GRACE! It is
very simple when you view the Scriptures this simple way, as God intended. The
LAW shows man his sinnership and desperate need for the Savior (the sinless
Lamb of God), and then God's GRACE provides that need through the redeeming
work of Christ through the cross. The people in Matthew 7:21-23 failed to
understand this great truth. They were still stuck on law, as are many people
today.
Sadly, most religious people are not saved. This includes those religious people who use the name of Jesus. It is obvious that Muslims are not saved, because they openly deny that Jesus is the begotten Son of God, nor do they believe that He died for the sins of the world. 1st John 2:22 calls them antichrists! But the Scriptures also warn, as evidenced by Matthew 7:21-23 (which we are addressing here), that even many people who preach in Jesus' name are not saved. We see this important truth dealt with in detail in the Epistle of Galatians. The church at Galatia had become a religious cult, teaching partial faith in Christ plus works (or circumcision in their case). Either God does all the saving or you don't go to Heaven! God never saves anyone who is TRYING to be saved, He only saves those who are TRUSTING to be saved. Salvation is to the undeserving and ungodly! Few people grasp this great truth. Instead, they foolishly think that human reformation, i.e., changing one's sinful ways, is necessary to be saved. This is what the heresy of Calvinism (aka, Lordship Salvation) teaches. This is what wrong repentance teaches! I know of churches who refute the heresy of Lordship Salvation, while at the same time they are teaching the heresy of wrong repentance, which is a nothing less than a backdoor approach to Lordship Salvation!!! Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9).
The Holy Bible teaches that we are
saved by the imputed
righteousness of God. Romans 4:5-6, “But to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto
whom God imputeth righteousness without works.”
That word “counted” in Romans 4:5 is translated from the
exact same Greek word as “imputed” in verse 6. Thus, the Bible
says that an ungodly man's faith is IMPUTED for righteousness, and God's
righteousness is COUNTED to an ungodly man without works. What a great Savior
and God!!!
Please Don't Miss it! Your Works Cannot Impress God!
Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
If all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in God's sight, then why would you use those rags to prove that you are saved? You cannot! Calvinists (i.e., followers of John Calvin's teachings) believe that good works are proof of conversion. But may I say that Judas, one of Christ's very apostles, was so convincing that no one suspected him! Judas had a devil according to John 6:70. This was before Satan fully entered into him to betray Christ. Judas appeared to be a good man. In fact, Judas was trusted with the money bag. The Lord made him their treasurer. Yet Judas was a thief and Jesus knew it. Never underestimate God's will. The Lord picked a thief to be the disciple's treasurer! God had a reason. My point is that good works do not prove that a person is saved, or else Judas was saved! Judas went to Hell, not because he betrayed Christ, but because He did not trust upon Christ!
Today, the foolish workers of iniquity in Matthew 7:21-23 could be likened to the Roman Catholic Church or the Salvation Army or Seventh-Day Adventists or Jehovah's Witnesses or Pastor John MacArthur. These religious people and groups all do many good things in Jesus' name, while teaching a perverted view of the Gospel. No amount of good or religion can save a person. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again. Our churches are filled with people who have churchianity without Christianity!!! They started going to church years ago to make friends, or someone invited them, or they felt like they belonged to a family, or their children are enrolled in the church's religious school, or all of the above. But they have never come to the saving-knowledge of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are faithful to a religious club, a regular social gathering, but they are not God's redeemed child. They have never submitted to God's righteousness. Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
I am amazed every time I ponder the passage of Scripture in Matthew 7:21-23, because these people were consumed with serving Jesus, yet they went to Hell in their sins!!! As Evangelist Billy Sunday rightly said, “A man can slip into hell with his hand on the door-knob of heaven.” Will this happen to you one day when you stand at Heaven's gate? I do not claim to understand how it all works. We read in Luke 16:19-31 that the rich man went straight to Hell. I believe that every unsaved person goes straight to Hell. But we read in Luke 13:23-24, “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” So it seems that MANY unsaved people will try to go to Heaven from Hell, still thinking they have a right to enter, but will be denied entrance.
Oh, my friend, please don't be a fool. You've only got one chance to get it right. If you are confused, then I challenge you to lay down and rest, close your eyes, and listen to Alexander Scourby read the New Testament. Listen to God's Gospel tract in the Gospel of John (John 20:31). Listen to the Epistle of Galatians. Listen to the entire Word of God, and you won't hear anything about turning from your sins to be saved. You won't hear any of the theological garbage being promoted by pastors, Bible colleges and evangelists today, who pervert God's simple plan of salvation. In most churches today they preach slavation instead of salvation, enslaving the souls of men. Here is the simple GOSPEL, by which we are saved if we simply believe.
