Luke 6:46 – And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Matthew 25:11 – Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

Matthew 7:21 – 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.

Matthew 7:22 – 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?

Matthew 7:23 – And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Hey all, new blog today, and dealing with “Lord, Lord”. Because as we know from the New Testament, the biggest opposition Jesus Christ got was not from the unsaved, the harlots, the publicans, the poor, the sick, the blind, the common, ordinary people… in fact many of those received him… he got the biggest opposition from the “religious” people. And today, we are going to talk about religious people. It is actually very dangerous to grow up in a godly home, to be a church goer, to play the game. Levi’s sons were in the priesthood, they were religious, but they offered strange fire, they were fakes, and God killed them. Eli’s sons were also deadly fakes, working in the priesthood while also committing fornication, adultery, causing Israel to abhor going to the tabernacle… and God killed them. It’s not to say religious people do not have sincerity or zeal… the Pharisees were very zealous, but they had misguided zeal the Bible says. It doesn’t even matter how much integrity you can have, you can have integrity, but be WRONG. You can be well meaning, but more LOST than anyone else. You can be sincere, but SINCERELY LOST and WRONG.

And ultimately religious people aren’t all they crack themselves up to be, they put on a good show, but keep all the dirt hidden. Right from the start, sinful humanity has been in the “hiding” business, just as Adam and Eve tried hiding themselves and covering themselves up. But it was in vain. Sin is vile, selfish, filthy. Sin is why Jesus had to die on the cross, because without Jesus we all have our tickets punched straight to hell. Romans 2:16 – In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Hey, we all have dirty secrets, and lots of them, but they’re coming out. Best to get them under the blood of Christ right now. Because be sure your sin will find you out. It has, does and will. Count on it. Doesn’t matter how many and who you’ve got fooled.

David thought he got away with his sin with Bathsheba, but God brought it right out into the open, it cost him VERY dearly. It doesn’t matter how good you are (claim to be)… the Bible is true, and the Bible says all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, the Bible says there is none good, no not one, the Bible says the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things, who can know it? We are disgusting, it is no wonder Jesus said he that hates his life shall find it. We should hate sin, when God shows us our sin, our wickedness, the deep pit and mire, we should love him, we should remember the pit we have been drawn from. God knows you FAAAR better than you know yourself, he knows us, he knows your sin today. All of it. We immerse ourselves in vain deception. God knows it, and God sees through you, all things are naked and open unto him. So if you are a religious person, a church person, it’s time to be honest today. But you right now will either harden yourself and immediately put up the wall of self justification, excuses, comparing, denial, or you will (I hope) actually soften yourself to God and like the disciples on the night of betrayal… ask… Is it I? The best thing you will ever do is soften yourself to God’s word, to let your pride go, to repent in dust and ashes. Job spent a lot of time in the book of Job in pride… at the end of it he said I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes… I will lay my hand upon my mouth. All our mouths are stopped as Romans says, all the world is guilty before God.

Jesus called these people vipers. Because as we know from the Bible… a good tree brings forth good fruit, a bad tree brings forth bad. So (for example) people like harlots are “bad” people who bring forth “bad” fruit. We wouldn’t expect someone who is not saved, who does not name the name of Jesus, to behave like a Christian. That is to be expected. But … Matthew 12:34 – O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. These religious people were just as “bad” but they were producing “good” fruit. That’s why Jesus said WOE unto them in Matthew 23:25-28 – Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
That’s why they are vipers, because religious people are the most deceptive people in the world. They came to John’s baptism and John said … Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Are you a Christian living with no repentance? No fruits of repentance? Are you a false convert? Have you REPENTED? Has the Holy Spirit ploughed up your life, have you had deep conviction of sin, have you turned to the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you RECEIVED his forgiveness and eternal life? Are you changed? Is the evidence there? Or are you just a complete sham, as they were? It’s time to flee fake Christian, John said the ax is laid to the root of the tree, you will be hewn down and cast into the fire, Jesus gathers his wheat up, but the chaff is burnt with unquenchable fire. Religious people, “Christianized” people, people who can talk the talk, waffle the waffle, Christianized but not CONVERTED, are just as far, if not more so further from God in their hearts, but they put together a noble religious front. There’s no one harder to save than a religious person. They are a brick wall. Only God can do it. As the disciples said… Who then can be saved? But as Jesus said, with God all things are possible. There is hope for everyone.

The hard thing about religious people is that they think, or have convinced themselves, in that they’ve already got it all sorted. But the nature of salvation is that in order to be saved, you must be lost first. Jesus said in Luke 15:7 – I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. You must be lost first in order to be saved. Repentance precedes salvation. Repentance is not just turning for turnings sake, Biblical repentance is not turning over a new leaf, it’s not temporary, in 2 Corinthians we read that godly repentance is repentance not to be repented of. Repentance turns TO Jesus Christ. Just like sanctification after you are saved is being set apart UNTO Jesus Christ. Biblical sanctification is separation, not just us separating ourselves, but God separating us UNTO Christ. Washed because he washes us, clean because he cleansed us, purified as he purifies us, separated as he separates us unto himself, holy because he is holy. Many Christians today try being separate, but it’s self effort, true Biblical separation is something done by God, it happens just as part of the reality of being truly saved and following and cleaving unto Jesus Christ.

But in order not to digress, we see in John 9 a great truth. Because we all are lost anyway, we all start out that way, we all are lost, wicked, hell deserving sinners and need to be saved, but we need to SEE that. Do you see???? Ask Jesus right now to open your blind eyes, to open your ears, to CHANGE you, to change you DESPITE yourself, to have mercy upon you. He won’t turn you away… doesn’t matter your past, all that matters is right now. The Pharisees had it all made… they didn’t need Jesus. They professed to see, but they were truly blind. Others who Jesus saved were blind, but then Jesus miraculously made them see. We all don’t see… but do you see that? John 9:39-41 – And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. How true this is of all the religious, church going, “Christian” folk, they proclaim their own goodness. Proverbs 20:6 – Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?

There are unmistakable birthmarks of being a Christian. 2 Timothy 2:19 – Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 1 John says that he hath hath the Son hath life, he that hath not he Son hath not life. It’s not about religion, its about the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you KNOW him? Do you hear his voice? Have you RECEIVED what he has done for you by faith? Is there a vital relationship there? Are you born again of the Spirit of God? Does his blood cover you? Are you SAVED? Someone who is truly saved will produce good works… we don’t work to be saved, but good works are an outworking of the reality already there. It is not self effort, it is just who we now are as we live and walk with God by faith, the Holy Spirit renewing us, regenerating us, leading us in the path of life. Luke 6:46 – And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Many people say they are Christians, but their life completely denies the Lord Jesus Christ. You match up their life with the Bible, and it doesn’t add up. Belshazzar partied his life away in Babylon, and the night he was slain, God’s finger wrote something on the wall, the interpretation given by Daniel said in Daniel 5:27 – TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Our life is weighed in the balances, and it will be found wanting if the reality is not there. God’s Word weighs us. Proverbs 16:2 – All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits. The Lord will weigh you out, you may fool every single person in this life, but God knows his own, and what an eternal shame it will be if you say Lord, Lord, and at the last are rejected. Wouldn’t it have been better not to play the game at all?

Saul is a practical example of a false Christian in the Bible. God had given Saul a clear instruction to destroy the Amalekites and everything that pertained to them. In 1 Samuel 15:13 – And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. Saul justified himself to Samuel. And he had done part of the command, he had victory over the Amalekites… and he proclaimed his goodness… it all seemed so great… he had done the will of God!!! But he had not. He spared the king of the Amalekites, he didn’t kill all the sheep and oxen… Saul DISOBEYED God, he REJECTED God’s word. Are you a “Christian” but you REJECT God’s word in your life? You can even assent to God’s word. But what does your practical life look like? Did Saul obey God? There was a big pretence, a big sham there. He didn’t obey, he rejected God’s word… but then justified himself… excused himself!. The next verse, 1 Samuel 15:14 – And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? Saul continued to protest and justify himself. But in 1 Samuel 15:22 – And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. Read the whole sobering story in 1 Samuel 15, Sauls disobedience under the guise of obedience cost him the kingdom, as Samuel said, he rejected the word of the Lord, and God rejected Saul. Saul’s life ended up in confusion and tragedy… God had given him such enormous opportunity and blessed him, but he rejected God’s word, his life did not line up with the Bible. Jesus said in John 14:15 – If ye love me, keep my commandments. If you are truly saved, things will follow, that’s what salvation is, your life is changed, that’s not to say you won’t struggle, stumble, sin, but there’s that REALITY there that’s unfakeable. Do you have the Spirit of God? Do you submit to and obey God’s word? How can you be saved if you live and call God a liar in your life?

You can say Lord, Lord as much as you want. You can even do great things in his name. But you can still not be saved yourself. Balaam blessed Israel, but he was not saved himself. What a waste! Because as God said to him, his way was perverse before the Lord. Balaam went his own way, he DISOBEYED the clear voice of the Lord. We can say, oh! if only I physically saw God then I would obey him. No you wouldn’t, the Israelites saw the sea part, they saw manna rain from heaven… they still had an evil hard heart of unbelief… and you have the Bible, God’s clear, express written word containing his will for your life… and you reject it, you probably don’t even read the word. Has Satan completely isolated you from God’s word? If you are isolated from God’s word you are in biiig trouble. After Moses died, God spoke to Joshua in Joshua 1:7,8 – Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Don’t turn aside to the right… don’t turn aside to the left… you want true prosperity? Not the false prosperity gospel being peddled today, but true, eternal prosperity. Meditate in God’s word. Abide in him, and his word in you. Jesus said that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out the mouth of God. Job said he esteemed God’s word more than his necessary (physical) food. Jesus is the Word of God, the Bible is the written word. It is the RECORD. Read it and KNOW.

Cain had a conversation with God. But he chose to go his own way. He tried the Christian game, he brought his own sacrifice, he did it HIS way. And when God rebuked him, he went out from the presence of the Lord. God gave him a chance to repent, even after he killed Abel. But Cain hardened his heart, he went his own way. We see Christianity today which is done “my” way. Not God’s way. Don’t kid yourself. God’s word is the authority, the Bible says let God be true and every man a liar. I’m a liar. You’re a liar. We are all liars. God’s word is truth. Want your life to work out? Read this.

Matthew 7:24 – Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Matthew 7:25 – And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

Matthew 7:26 – And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

Matthew 7:27 – And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

There was another person in the Bible who claimed to want truth.  Johanan asked Jeremiah to pray to God for him and the remnant of Israel he was leading, that God would show the way for them to walk and what God wanted them to do. It’s best to read the whole story in Jeremiah 42,43 but to summarize, Jeremiah said he would go and seek God, and he did. And God showed Jeremiah what was truly going on, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah … and Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 42:20 – For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it. Dissembling means “To hide under a false appearance, to conceal, to disguise, to pretend that not to be which really is”. Johanan and the people were not the least bit interested in what God had to say, it was all a sham, they had already decided what they wanted to and were going to do. It was all a big religious JOKE. And they did just what they wanted to do, and they also reaped the consequences of their actions, they called Jeremiah a liar and did their own thing. Many Christians are like this, they are dissemblers, they are not the real deal. They say one thing, but their heart is elsewhere. As Jesus said in Mark 7:6 – He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Where is your heart today? Truly, where is it today. It doesn’t matter how much you protest, justify, fool anyone… even yourself… where are you at?

At the end of your life… when all is said and done… are you going to say Lord, Lord, open to me? Hopefully God gives you the fear of the Lord right now, because it will be the worst thing in your eternal existence to hear the words, Depart from me I never knew you. Surely you don’t want to go to hell. Surely you want to be the real deal. Why waste your life? Why live in vanity, deception, why let Satan rob everything from you? The world’s going to pass away, the lusts of the world are, everything will desert you and at the end it will just be you and God, and then you getting thrown into the lake of fire, to burn for eternity… Jesus said… where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Ask God to give you a holy fear of the Lord, it is the beginning of wisdom. Can you please just be honest with God? Why harden your heart? You can play all the religious games you want, you can immerse yourself in Christianity even, but when all is said and done, will you end up in hell fire? MANY are going to take this route. There are HEAPS of “Christians” going to hell, heaps of “Christians” on the BROAD road to destruction. Read what the Bible says about hell. Read what the Bible says about the lake of fire which is where at the end of time everyone who is not saved is going for all of eternity. Proverbs 15:11 – Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men? Proverbs 15:24 – The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.

Revelation 20:11 – And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

Revelation 20:12 – And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Revelation 20:13 – And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

Revelation 20:14 – And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Revelation 20:15 – And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

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