Verse of the Day
October 7, 2026
Preached at McCaysville, Georgia, Church of God
Jesus’ Words Concerning Salvation Matthew 7:21-23
Let me start by stating that “I believe that the greatest mission field in America is within the Church” and it’s because the church is guilty of watering down the standards taught by the early Church.
Believe is a verb. That didn’t mean anything to me at that time I heard it, but I remembered it when I began seeking Jesus many years later.
Believe is an action word; we must participate continually, every day.
Now, I am certainly not one to be giving an English lesson but I checked the dictionary and the word believe is a verb that expresses the action of accepting that something is true.
Believe is different from "Belief. Belief is a noun that refers to the idea, opinion, or feeling that something is true.
There are way too many folks that have a belief in Jesus.
For years the church taught, all you have to do is believe in Jesus and you will go to Heaven when you die. The problem is even the devil and his demons believe that.
Just repeat after me this prayer and you’re saved and heaven bound.
Just read Romans 10:9-10 once, confess and believe and you are saved and on your way to heaven.
The damage is hundreds of thousands maybe millions of folks truly honestly believe they're saved because they didn't believe the church would mislead them, when in reality they're no more saved than a tree stump.
When I look at the church in America I wonder, where is the power, where is the excitement, where is the anticipation, where is the action and activity, where is the forgiveness, where is the supernatural, where is the witnessing, where are the things that the early church had as normal, where are the miracles, where are the healings, where is the participation.
Look at the church and you will mainly see a bunch of spectators watching a performance, visiting God once or twice a week. I certainly don't see the early church.
1 Corinthians chapter six verse 9: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Then it lists a multitude of unrighteous acts.
For two weeks pastor has shared on the topic, Rooted in salvation.
So, since y’all were my next opportunity let’s look at Matthew 7, asking how do we know if we have eternal life?
This question comes up often in ministry.
Matthew 7: 21-23 which I think, is one of the hardest sayings of Jesus. Jesus said this near the very end of what many people regard to be the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount.
Since it comes from Jesus, it absolutely demands our attention if we’re concerned about our eternal destiny, so this evening we shall give it just that.
Now, I know it’s Wednesday and I may be preaching to the choir but there is a reason because God gave this for us.
Matthew 7:21-23: Look at it with me, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, ye that work iniquity.’”
Clearly a prophecy about what will happen on Judgment Day. So. let’s look at scriptures which seem to be apparent contradictions between this and other things either Jesus or the Bible clearly says.
Then let’s note the realities that it forces us to face, for our own welfare.
The first seemingly contradiction is: Romans 10:13 which clearly says that “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
But here Jesus says that many will come to Him on Judgment Day and call Him Lord but will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. So, what gives?
Second, Jesus and the New Testament clearly indicate repeatedly that going to heaven, being saved, inheriting salvation comes by faith or believing alone.
Jesus said this in everyone’s favorite verse: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 is emphatic that salvation comes not by good works, but by faith: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works that no one should boast.”
But here Jesus clearly says that only those who do the will of God will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. What gives here?
Third, Jesus clearly indicated in John 14:11 and other places that His miracles testified to the fact that He was the Messiah, and that if people did not believe for any other reason, they should believe on the basis of His miracles alone when He said, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”
And yet here He indicates that miracles done in His name are not infallible signs that Jesus is behind them.
He says many will come to Him on Judgment Day saying, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in your name cast out demons and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice iniquity.” Again, what’s going on here?
Fourth, one of the joys of being a Christian is knowing you’re going to heaven—the joy of absolute assurance you are right with God.
Many passages indicate you can know this. One of the favorites is found in I John 5:11-13: And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
All of these words of Jesus are clearly designed to make those of us who think we are sure we are saved to ask; are we sure?
Then there’s the chilling aspects of the concept that many, not a few, will come before Jesus on Judgment Day who sincerely believe they have known and served Jesus all their lives only to find that they are dead wrong, to their eternal regret, and will be shocked at the outcome.
And the very sobering question that Jesus clearly intended each of us here to ask ourselves, “Could I by any chance be one of those people who will face this greatest nightmare of all eternity?”
And finally, “how can I avoid this terrible mistake; how can I and all those whom I know and love come to know better?”
Before we go further, I think it’s important to note that Jesus, the one who said this, desires for all men to be saved.
II Peter 3:9 specifically says, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
So, Jesus says all this with the motivation of making sure people who aren’t really saved, think again, and consider how they might be sure they’re going to heaven, and He’s giving everyone time, plenty of time, 2000 years now since He came the first time, for everyone to come to this knowledge of how to be saved.
It’s also important to note that Jesus did everything He possibly could to ensure our salvation.
He gave His life for us on the cross to save us from our sins, came back from the dead to demonstrate He was the Way, and Has given us this miracle of salvation plus His Word, the Bible, to show us how.
Now, it is simply up to us to consider all these words, which Jesus stated in such a way that we would think and think hard about; to be sure we’re going to heaven.
It’s also important that we put this in context. Jesus comes to His people at a point in history when almost the entire religious establishment, almost all of the Jewish religious leaders, are entirely corrupt.
He comes to them at a time when the very people who are supposed to be leading other people to salvation are leading them astray, and don’t have a clue about how to get to heaven, and for the most part don’t care.
In fact, they will crucify the One who has come to tell them precisely how, because they don’t want to know and don’t care that their people don’t know.
A shocking testament to the evil of this world and just how badly even we need to consider seriously what Jesus said about this matter today.
So, we come with this question: How can so many be so sincerely deceived into thinking they know Jesus and are sure of going to heaven?
I’m glad you asked, because they haven’t thought hard enough about it, and have depended on others which have led them astray.
I cannot tell you how many people have told me they are Christian because they repeated a prayer in some church when they were 9, or 12 and the preacher told them they were saved and would go to heaven and forty, fifty years later that’s what they base their salvation on.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that merely saying words ensures salvation.
Though there is nothing wrong with this approach that identifies those who want to give their life to Christ (so people can get their names, pray with them and follow up with them), it is not the same as salvation.
Scripture is clear that both the heart and the mouth have to confess Jesus is Lord (see Rom.10:9-10) as a lifestyle, not just one time.
Paul the apostle regularly echoed the word of John the Baptist when he said to bring forth fruit proving your repentance (see Acts 26:20, Matt. 3:8).
Making an emotionally motivated “decision” to ask Jesus in your life is a good step, but a truly converted person will bear fruit, proving they really gave their life over to Jesus. (See also 1 John 3:9.)
Those same people would say someone would ask them if they were sorry for their sins? A yes answer or a shed tear would be explained as a repentant heart.
The problem with that is the word “repentance” has to do with a mindset change, a change of thinking, more than an emotional experience.
Unless a person changes the way they think about God, their hearts will never be transformed by His power.
Even Esau could not find repentance, even though he sought it with crying and tears! (See Heb. 12:17.)
So, again: How can so many be so sincerely deceived into thinking they know Jesus and are sure of going to heaven?
The first clue is found in the preceding context. After telling the many gathered on that day unless their righteousness exceeded that of the scribes and the Pharisees, they would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus concludes His magnificent sermon.
Verse 13: He says, “Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Whoa, so much for the concept that most people are going to heaven. This goes against the grain for most Americans. A 2003 Barna Group survey showed that 76% of Americans believe in heaven, but only 1 percent believe they’re going to hell.
Another survey shows that among evangelical believers—and I count myself as evangelical—64% believe that all people go to heaven when they die.
This is a pretty clear indication that 64 percent of people who are in evangelical churches are not reading their Bible and have little or no regard for what Jesus said right here.
Enter through the narrow gate, because most folks will take the broad road that leads to destruction. Few will take the small and narrow gate that leads to life.
Let’s state this clearly: The Lord Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God, who alone came from heaven and would know, says this; Most people are going to hell. Relatively few people are going to heaven. I didn’t say that; Jesus did.
Now I don’t like this anymore then you do. But it is clearly what Jesus said. And if you believe in Jesus, you must believe He told the truth, that He would not lie to you and I about such a serious subject.
Once that awful truth has sunk in, we’ll be asking another question. Why? Why is it that most people are taking the broad road that leads to destruction?
The answer is in the very next verse, Matthew 7:15: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
There’s a big part of the answer. Jesus is both answering our question, telling us why many will go to hell, and also telling us at the same time what we must do about it if we would save our souls. “Beware of the false prophets.”
False prophets are perhaps the very biggest reason why people are headed to hell. False prophets, mislead people, they mislead them to hell. Wow! That’s something we’ve got to think hard about!
Why are they so good at their deceptions that they lead many people to hell? Verse 15 provides the answer to that question as well. “Who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
In Scripture, Jesus always characterizes true believers, real Christians, as sheep. Sheep follow their master most of the time. They’re helpless without their Shepherd.
But there is a terrible, monstrous reality we all need to be aware of and beware of; Wolves, the eternal enemies of the sheep, come to us in sheep’s clothing.
They pretend to be sheep and infiltrate our lives with terrible deception, and if we’re not careful, we will believe they are real sheep and be deceived and devoured spiritually—spiritually eaten alive.
Not a pretty picture! A tragic reality that we indeed face in this world according to no less an authority than Jesus Christ Himself.
Be sure you’re not following false prophets by studying scripture yourself, doing your own research.
Did you know that we are the most biblically illiterate generation in American history?
Someone once said, “Apostasy—falling away from Christ—begins in the heart, and spreads to the head.” Once a spiritual leader begins to desire to do evil, He will begin justifying his deeds by adjusting his beliefs and his teaching to conform to what he wants to do. It has been borne out through history over and over and over again.
Joseph Smith, false prophet of Mormonism was a serial adulterer and a court-proven pathological liar who justified his multiple adulteries—he had “spiritually married” 50 wives, some as young as 14, and at least 11 married to other men—by the time he had the revelation on polygamy—that polygamy was required in order to get to heaven. (Doctrine and Covenants 132).
Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, plagiarized much of her book Science and Health from other authors, took morphine most of her life for the very physical ills and pains her religion denied even existed.
Charles Taze Russell, founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses, was proven a liar about his knowledge of Greek in a courtroom and often lied about the number of followers he had.
And we could go on.
Just remember, you shall know false prophets by their fruits. “Beware?” Jesus said.
Church, have you listened to some of these television preachers?
Finally, we come to the saying itself. And what verse 21 plainly says: Not everyone who professes Jesus, even on Judgment Day, much less in this world, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
So, Jesus tells us to watch out for false professors of Christ and false professions. Just saying you believe in Jesus or calling Him Lord does not cast the final verdict regarding someone’s salvation.
So, what does? Verse 21 gives us the plain answer: The one who will enter the kingdom of heaven is “he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 10:22 & 24:13 Mark 13:13 Jesus says “He who endures to the end will be saved.” Folks, salvation is not a one-time event, it’s a way of life, he who does the will of My Father.
Okay, don’t throw stones at me yet. For a moment here it appears that good works, namely the one who works the will of the Father in heaven, does count.
But what about all those sayings of Jesus and the Bible that tell us it’s by grace through faith, and faith alone.
Let’s take that emphatic one—Ephesians 2:8-9. but let’s go a little further—let’s read verse 8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast,” Verse 10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
What this passage is clearly saying is that faith alone is the means of salvation, faith in Jesus, but the result of salvation will be good works. It follows the psychological principle that what you believe determines what you do.
What about John 3:36? “He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him.”
We find James saying that true saving faith will always produce good works—not perfect, but good works. He says in James 2: “The demons believe and shudder.” “And faith without works is dead, being by itself.” So true saving faith is the faith that does good works.
And then there are repeated warnings by the Apostle Paul, the Apostle of salvation by grace through faith alone, that warn us that professors who continue in sin will not enter the Kingdom of God:
I Corinthians 6:9-11: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived…
Galatians 5:19-21: “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Ephesians 5:5: “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
We have so emphasized that salvation comes by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus, that we have forgotten to emphasize that the faith that saves is a repentant and obedient faith—a faith that if it’s real, turns from sin to God and generally obeys God.
This is the testimony of Scripture from the time of Abraham forward, the spiritual forefather of us all—that it is an obedient faith that saves. A life style faith.
Whoa! It has occurred to me that maybe we are preaching some form of false gospel ourselves when we don’t properly emphasize a faith that always results in good works, a faith that turns from sin and follows Jesus.
Essentially, we have to pay much closer attention to the things we say we have heard and learned. We need to think hard on this subject of salvation.
We need to think very hard about whether we really know and do God’s will—because Jesus’ warning here was intended to make us think about our own lives.
Whether we both practice God’s will and preach an accurate version of the Gospel by which people may truly be saved.
How do you know when someone, or even you yourself, is truly saved? Jesus tells us that not all who profess Jesus as Lord are saved.
Not all those who believe Jesus is Lord will be saved. Not even all those who do miracles in Jesus' name will be saved.
The ultimate test and proof of someone who is going to heaven is an obedient faith in the Lord Jesus, an obedient life lived accord to God's will and God's Word. In other words—You shall know them by their fruits.
True saving faith manifests in obedience, trust, and reliance on God. It is not merely a mental acknowledgment but a living faith that produces righteousness and perseverance in the believer’s life
Church, “a saving faith is a daily living faith, one that practices what Jesus practiced, and even greater things.
This, and this alone is the ultimate testimony as to whether someone is truly saved.
So, what about you and I? Are we merely a professor of Christ, or a possessor of Christ; a follower of Christ. A question we must ask ourselves.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen!