VERSES 21-23: KNOW THEIR FALSE PRETENSES.
VERSE 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.”
Jesus now states in explanation of what He ws trying to convey through the simile of the fruit.
“not every one”
This is a Hebraism for “no person.”—Jesus has shown that the entrance into the Kingdom is through the “strait gate.” He now begins to show what is needed to enter that gate.
The sense of this verse seems to be this: No person, by merely acknowledging My authority, or believing in the Divinity of My nature, or professing faith in the perfection of My righteousness, and infinite merit of My atonement, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, or shall even have any part with God in glory. But he who does the will of My Father; he who gets the bad tree rooted up or the good tree planted, and continues to bring forth fruit to the glory and praise of God. There is a saying among the rabbis on this subject. “A man should be as vigorous as a panther, as swift as an eagle, as fleet as a stag, and as strong as a lion, to do the will of his Creator.”
“That saith unto me, Lord, Lord,”
“Saying to Me, Lord, Lord.”–The double use of the title “Lord” is denoting zeal in according it to Christ (see Mark 14:45). Yet our Lord claims and expects this of all His disciples, as when He washed their feet: “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am” (John 13:13). Again I point out that when God repeats something, it is for emphasis.
LORD: (Grk.–κuριος)—Jesus’ use of this word implies that the disciples had already begun to use the title “Lord” in speaking to their Master (comp. Luke 5:8); but as that word was also at the time in common use as one of courtesy (8:2, 6; John 20:2).
Jesus goes on to say that many, on the basis of that profession, will claim admittance into His kingdom; and many will plead that they had done miracles, and preached or prophesied much, and because of doing these things, will demand an entrance into the Kingdom. The power of working miracles had no necessary connection with spirituality. God may as well, if He chooses, give the power of raising the dead to a wicked man, as the skill of healing to a wicked physician. A miracle is a display of His own power through the medium of another. An act of healing the sick is also a display of His power through the agency of another. In neither of these cases is there any necessary connection with moral character or spirituality.
Accordingly, many may be found in the day of judgment who may have been endowed with powers of prophecy, or miracle, as Balaam was, or the magicians of Egypt. in the time of Moses (Exodus 7:11-13) in the same way as many men of distinguished talents may be found yet destitute of an spiritualiity, and still were shut out of God’s Kingdom. See Mark 9:38; Luke 9:49. People today do not understand that in the ancient world, (a time when demonism, and its concurring activities was running rampant), miracles and signs were common happenings. Also, realize that the occurrences of such activities were really the work of demons.
“but he that doeth the will of My Father”
Literally: “But the {one} doing doing the will of My Father.” Sharp contrast between the talker and the doer.
A man might succeed in maintaining the pretences and disguises of being a “saintly” person, but there comes a day when these pretences are shown for what they really are, and the disguises are stripped away. And this often occurs when that one can least afford such an unveiling to take place. A man may deceive people, but he can NEVER deceive God.
VERSE 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?
Notice the stress laid upon the “Your,” the threefold repetition of the prominent words, “in Your name,” as expressing that by which the individuals in question think to shelter themselves from disapprobation and rejection, and make good their claim to the Messianic Kingdom. This pictures both the self-conceit and the self-deception of these persons. “Surely we have prophesied,” etc.
“Many will say to me in that day”–In what day? It is emphatically unnamed, but it may be seen in chapter 25.
It is the day when men shall learn whether they will enter or NOT enter “into the kingdom of heaven.” The great Day of the Lord (Joel 2:15)—the Judgment Day at the return of Christ to earth. That is, in the last day, the Day of Judgment; the time when the principles of all pretenders to prophecy and piety shall be tried. (See a similar way of speaking of “that day” in II Tim.1:12; 4:8).
“Lord, “Lord,”–The Greek word translated as “Lord” (kurios) can have four different meanings.
It most often is used for the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word adonai, which properly means “sir” or “master.” That is how Saul of Tarsus used the word in Acts 9:5, as “sir” but not as “God” as so many preachers so erroneously say. He did not know to Whom he was speaking. Sometimes (Grk.–kurios) is used as the Greek equivalent of Jehovah—or as “Divine Lord.” This is how the word is used here. Jesus is saying that a day will come when people will address Him as Divine Lord. In Acts 9:6 Saul uses kurios this way for by then he knew to Whom he was speaking.
“have we not prophesied in Thy name”
Literally: “Did we not prophesy in Your Name?”–They claim to have prophesied (preached) in Christ's name and to have done many miracles in His name; but here there is the implied supernatural power, but not resting in Him.
Now Jesus rises even higherll–not formally announcing Himself as the Judge, but intimating what men will say to Him, and He to them, when He sits as their final Judge.
NOT: (Grk.–ou)—Jesus’ use of this Greek word makes it one of those complicated Greek questions that expects an affirmative answer.
PROPHECIED: (Grk.–proephêteusamen)—“Did we prophesy or publicly teach the mysteries of Your Kingdom; preached excellent sermons; written edifying books; explained and enforced the doctrines of Your Word, even the prophecies thereof, and shown their fulfilment: and have we not ourselves foretold future events, and done all this in Your name?”
Jesus here is prophetically forecasting those future times when it would be worth while to assume to be a believer. A future time when hypocrisy would find it a source of profit and of honor to be attached to Christ’s service. Likewise, in these days we may well question our own motives that prompt us to serve Christ. High place in the visible kingdom is no proof of one's acceptance with God. Neither are mighty works, though successfully wrought in His name. Judas was an apostle and miracle-worker, and Balaam was a prophet, yet they lacked that condition of the heart which truly allies one with God (I Cor. 13:1-3).
Jesus says the number of false teachers is large. During the last part of the second half of the Great Tribulation, many Jews will attempt to avoid criticism from their fellow Jews (believing Tribulational Jews) by hiding in the false front of being a prophet. We must not carelessly ignore the assertion of that important fact. We should also note that Christ will not lightly pass over their errors on the Judgment Day, though they seem to have discovered them for the first time.
We have this same problem here in this Church Age. There are many of these so-called “televangelists” who are making great monetary fortunes by bilking ignorant people out of their money by “preaching the gospel” and by working “miracles” and “healing.” These are some of those preachers who will be left behind after the “Rapture” (taking out or translation) of the Church takes place. My father, himself a pastor, used to define liberal theologians as “those preachers who will be left here after the rapture of the church takes place to explain where all the Christian went.” He also had a wonderful defination of such liberal (read, apostate, preachers and theologians) by saying of them, “No one can go down deeper, stay down longer, and come up drier than a liberal theologian.”
However, it should also be understood that the ignorance of the people is their own fault. They have every means of knowing the truth, they just don’t want to be bothered to learn it. In the old days, (before strained baby foods), when mothers fed their babies they would chew up the food very fine themselves and then place it in their baby’s mouth. Unfortunately, there are many such “baby food” Christians; that is, those whose only spiritual food they ever get is on Sunday morning when a pastor “spoon feeds” them what he has already “chewed up” and feeds them from the pulpit. So, in reality, the fact that they are bilked out of their money or duped by some false preachers is their own fault. They have the means to learn the truth for themselves. They are just too lazy to do so. “None are so blind as they who will not see.”
“cast out devils”|
Literally: “cast out demons”—DEMONS are impure spirits–literally: “fallen angels”–who had taken possession of the bodies of men; done many miracles, being assisted by supernatural agency to invert even the course of nature, and thus prove the truth of the doctrine we preached?
VERSE 23:
“And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
“And then will I profess unto them”
Literally: “Then I will declare to them.” I will fully and plainly tell them. Or, I will openly proclaim, tearing off their masks.
THEN: (Grk.–tote)–When they make their presentations or protests, the Judge will make a counter presentation.
PROFESS: (Grk.–omologêsō)—This Greek word is used elsewhere of open confession of Christ before men (10:32; Rom. 10:9) and of John the Emerser’s public declaration that he was not the Christ (John 1:20); of Herod's promise to Salome in the presence of his guests (14:7). Here, therefore, is Christ's open, public declaration of Himself being the Judge of the world.
“I never knew you.”–For Christ to say, “I never knew you,” is only another way of saying, “You never knew Me.” What they used to claim intimacy with Christ is just what He repudiates, and with a certain scornful dignity.
KNEW: (Grk.–gnōn)–I never approved of you; for so the word is used in many places, both in the N.T. and the LXX, the Greek rendering of the O.T.
“Our acquaintance was not broken off because there never was any.” Whatever might have been their pretended joys, hopes, self-confidence, visions, and zeal may be, they had never been regarded by Christ as His true friends.
I never approved of you; for so the word is used in many places, both in the O.T. and N.T. You held the truth in unrighteousness, while you preached My pure and holy doctrine; and for the sake of My own truth, and through My love to the souls of men, I blessed your preaching; but yourselves I could never esteem, because you yourself were destitute of the spirit of My Gospel, unholy in your hearts, and unrighteous in your conduct.
Alas! alas! How many preachers are there who appear to be prophets or holy men in their pulpits; how many writers, and other “evangelical” (with the emphasis on the “geli”) workmen, the “miracles” of whose labor, learning, and doctrine, we admire, who are nothing, and worse than nothing, before God, because they do not perform His will, but their own? What an awful consideration, that a man of eminent gifts, whose talents are a source of public utility, should be only as a way-mark in the way to eternal bliss, pointing out the road to others, without walking in it himself!
“depart from me”—Get away from Me! The connection here gives these words an awful significance.
They claim intimacy with Christ, and in the corresponding passage (Luke 13:26) are represented as having gone out and in with Him on familiar terms. “So much the worse for you,” He replies: “I bore with that long enough; but now–BEGONE! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!”
What a terrible pronouncement! What a dreadful separation! Depart from ME! From the very Jesus whom you have proclaimed in union with Whom alone eternal life is to be found. For, united to Christ, all is heaven; separated from Him, all is HELL.
“ye that work iniquity”
Literally: “Those working lawlessness.”–Not that they “wrought iniquity;” for they are represented as fresh from the scenes and acts of it as they stand before the Judge.
INIQUITY: (Grk.–anomia)—Most often rendered as “iniquity” or “lawlessness.” This suggests a contempt for divine law. This Greek word can also be rendered as “wickedness,” but doing so here skirts the Jewish context.
During this time the antichrist will be denying even the existence of God; (and we hear this same claim even today by our “news” media, from so-called academia, and even from many politicians), likewise, antichrist’s/Satan's followers would do the same, (as they are doing even now), at least in their hearts and minds. Absence of Law; i.e., absence of the Torah. Meaning, “You act as if there were no Torah.” This confirms Jesus’ teaching on the permanence of the Torah (5:17
“Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
“When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open unto us;’ and He shall answer and say unto you, ‘I know you not whence ye are:’
“And then shall ye begin to say, ‘We have eaten and drunk in Thy presnce, and Thou has taught in our streets.’
“But He shall say, ‘I tell you, I know ye not whence ye are; depart from Me, all {ye} workers of iniquity” (Luke 13:24-27).
This indicates that false teachers are filled with a patronizing spirit toward the Lord, and with a sense of power as to His work, will be deceived by a show of success. Through life Christ appeared to them to be accepting them and approving their lives, but He now confesses that this appearance was not real. It arose from a misconception on their part and on that of others. Many works which men judge to be religious really undermine religion. The world esteems him great whose ministry begets Pharisees, but in Christ's eyes such a one is a worker of iniquity.
Before we leave the subject of false prophets, let us do a recap of the characteristics of such men. William Barclay, in his great commentary on Matthew’s Gospel, v. 1, has some quite noteable characteristics of the false prophet. He says that the false prophet:
1 May teach solely for personal gain.
2. May teach solely for prestige.
A man may teach either to help others, or he may teach to show others how clever he is.
3. May teach to transmit his own ideas.
False prophets are are out to give out their own vesion of thetruth, but the true prophet is out to put forth the Word of God. Regarding the teaching put forth by the false prophet:
a. Teaching is false if it produces a religion which consists in the observance of externals.
That is what was wrong with the Pharisees and scribes. Their religious teachings consisted of observing the Ceremonial Law. Unfortunately, many preachers today confuse religion with religious practices: observing the Lord’s Day, going to church every time the doors are open, fulfilling financial obligations to the church, and reading the Bible. But a man can do all these things and still not be a Christian, unless he has received Christ as his personal Savior and is doing these things to bring honor to Him.
b. Teaching is false if it produces a religion that consists of prohibitions.
Any religion that is based on a bunch of “thou shalt nots” is a false religion. It is little wonder that young people are leaving churches because all they ever hear are a bunch of legalistic “don’t does” and never hear about the “dos.”
c. Teaching is false if it produces an easy believism, or easy religion.
Any teaching that takes the iron out of Christain, or which takes the Cross or the blood out of Christianity and which pushes judgment way into the background and makes light of sin, is a false teaching.
d. Teaching is false if it separates religion and personal living.
Any teaching that removes Christianity from the life and activity if definitely false. That was the problem with with monasticism. The monks believed that in order to live a Christain live they must go into a monestary and cut themselves off from the temptations of life and the world.
VERSES 24-27: A PAIR OF BUILDERS
Conclusion of the whole sermon, but, as appears from “therefore” (Grk.–oun), taking the form of an inference from what is said immediately before, where admission into the Messianic Kingdom is made to depend on moral obedience.
VERSE 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:
“Therefore”—A conjunction to bring this discourse to a close.
“Every one that heareth these sayings of Mine”
Literally: “Everyone who hears these words of Me.”—Meaning the words that He has spoken in this discourse, and all His teachings. That is, the excellent doctrines laid down before in this and the two preceding chapter.
HEAR: (Grk.–akouō)—As used hear, this means more than just the act of “hearing with the ears.” Here it means not only to “hear” but even more so to take in and act upon what the hears have taken in.
“and doeth them”
Literally: “And does them.”–That is the whole point in the Parable of the Wise Builder. See James 1:22, which seems a plain allusion to these words—“Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
“I will liken him unto a wise man”
Literally: “I will compare him to a prudent man”
I WILL LIKEN TO: (Grk.–ōmoioō)—This word does not simply mean to compare with, but actually making him like to.
WISE MAN: (Grk.–andri phronimōi)–A prudent man, a man of sense and understanding, who proposes to himself the best end, and makes use of the proper means to accomplish it.
“which built his house upon a rock”
Literally: “who built his house on the rock”—Here the word, “rock” may be referring to action, while “sand” may refer to mere sentiment or intent. But also, understand that “rock” is used many times to refer to Christ, and the fact that the actual Greek text uses the article, “the” rock, may point out that Jesus was really speaking of Himself.
Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount by using a comparison of two different builders to illustrate the benefit of attending to His words. It was not enough to just hear them; they must be obeyed. He compares the man who should hear, and obey him, to a man who built his house on a rock. Palestine was, to a considerable extent, a land of hills and: mountains. When a man went to build a house in Palestine, he had to think ahead. Like other countries of that description, it was subject to sudden and violent rains. The Jordan River, the principal stream, was annually swollen to a great extent, and became rapid and furious in its course. The streams which ran among the hills, whose channels might have been dry during some months of the year, became suddenly swollen with the rain, and would pour down impetuously into the plains below. Everything in the way of these torrents would be swept off. Therefore, a house erected within the reach of these sudden floodings, and especially if the house had been build on sand, or any unsolid basis, would not stand before them.
The rising, bursting stream would shake it to its foundation; the rapid torrent would gradually wash away its base; it would totter and fall, and be swept away. Rocks in that country were common, and it was easy to secure for their houses a solid foundation. So, to a Jew, no comparison could have been more striking. So tempests, and storms of affliction and persecution, beat around the soul.
Again we see Jesus getting an illustration from His past experience as a carpenter. Don’t forget that He was a craftsman Who knew all about building a house, and when he spoke about house faindations He knew what He talking about. This is an illustration from a practical, hard-working man.