SERMON ON THE MOUNT
THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 7:21-23
FEBRUARY 3, 2002
There are many famous rocks in the world. Some rocks are famous because of their historical significance, such as Plymouth Rock where the Pilgrim fathers on the Mayflower landed in 1620. Some rocks are famous because of their geographical significance, such as the Rock of Gibraltar, which forms the peninsula on the southern tip of Spain. Some rocks are famous because of their religious significance, such as the Black Stone of the Kaaba at Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Also, the Rock Moriah, sometimes called the Rock of Abraham on the Temple Mount in the city of Jerusalem, is famous. It was believed that Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac on that rock as recorded in Genesis. It is believed that the Temple of David once stood upon that rock. Of course, today, the Islamic Shrine, the Dome of the Rock, covers the Rock Moriah, the Rock of Abraham.
It seems to me that there’s another rock that is even more mysterious, another rock that is shrouded in mystery. This rock is a rock called the Stone of Scone. The Scottish people called it the “Stone of Scoon.” It is the Coronation Stone in Great Britain. You see, from the 8th century to the 13th century, for 500 years, all of the kings of Scotland and all of the king of Ireland sat on this rock when they were crowned. The Coronation Stone, the Stone of Scone.
Then in the year 1296, King Edward I of England stole the Stone of Scone and he brought it down to London. It was kept in Westminster Abbey. For the next 700 years, all the kings and queens of England were crowned while sitting on this rock, the Coronation Stone, the Stone of Scone. So, for 1200 years, all the monarchs of England, Scotland, and Ireland have been crowned while sitting on this rock.
What makes the rock so special? In the year 1950, Scottish Nationalists tried to steal it from Westminster Abbey and take it back to Edinburgh. It almost caused a civil war in Britain. In 1996, Queen Elizabeth II, trying to unite the United Kingdom, returned the Stone of Scone to Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh with this provision: It must be brought back to Westminster Abbey whenever a British Monarch is to be crowned.
What makes this rock so special? Well there is a legend believed by many people in Great Britain. They believe it all goes back to the Bible. They believe in all goes back to Genesis, chapter 28, where we’re told about Jacob the patriarch. We’re told how he was traveling from Beersheba in the south of the Holy Land to Haran. He came into a region called Luz, and there he spent the night. He slept outdoors but he had no pillow for his head. He found this rock, this stone, and he used it for a pillow. While he slept that night with his head upon this stone, he had a vision wherein he saw a ladder extending from the surface of the earth up into the heavens. Above the ladder was God Himself, and upon the ladder angels ascending and descending. God, in this visionary dream, spoke to Jacob and God entered into covenant with Jacob. God promised to bless his descendants forever and ever. Jacob woke from that visionary dream, and he knew he had encountered God. He took that rock upon which he had slept, he took that stone, and he regarded it as sacred. He anointed it with oil and then he built a monument. He used that Stone of the Covenant as the top stone. He called it Bethel, which means “House of God.”
That’s all the Bible tells us, but you see, many people in Britain believe there is more to the story. They believe that that stone was then taken by the Jewish people to Egypt during the time of Joseph when the children of Israel lived in the land of Goshen. For centuries that Stone was kept there. When Moses led the Jewish people out of bondage, a Jewish remnant stayed in Egypt, and they believe the Stone remained there. When Jesus was born and Mary and Joseph fled the edict of Herod and they took the baby Jesus down into Egypt, they stayed with this Jewish remnant. Jesus saw this Stone of the Covenant and He blessed it. A short time later, the daughter of an Egyptian ruler, an Egyptian Princess, as she journeyed to Ireland, took with her this stone. The stone was then taken from Ireland to the Island of Iona off the coast of Scotland and then to the town of Oban on the coast of Scotland and finally to the village of Scone, or Scoon. There the Stone of the Covenant became the Stone of Scone.
I’m not buying it and I’m sure you’re not either. You’ve got to ask yourself why people come up with myths like this. As far as we know from the Bible, the stone stayed at Bethel and never left there. Secular history gives us no evidence that would link the Stone of the Covenant with the Stone of Scone. But the kings, the rulers, the queens of Britain through the centuries have wanted to believe that when they were crowned, they sat on something special. They wanted to believe that they sat on something of biblical significance. They’ve wanted to believe that when they were crowned, they sat on something of divine significance, something that would give them divine authority. It’s all about divine authority.
You can look at the Doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings in England and in France historically. It’s just an effort to claim divine authority. You can look at the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires and how many of those rulers took the title Theos Epiphanes, God Manifest. It’s all about divine authority. We live in a world where people want to claim divine authority. We see this ecclesiastically from ecclesiastical patriarchs to the Pope himself. You see this desire on earth for people to claim divine authority.
The Bible tells us there is really only one person who has ever walked this earth who has genuine divine authority and that one is Jesus Christ. He has said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto Me.” One day He will come again. The Bible says, “Before Him, every knee will bow, and He will sit on His glorious throne.” Jesus tells us, “The Father judges no one but has given all judgement to the Son, that all might honor the Son even as they honor the Father.”
And so, we come to Judgement Day, which is what our passage of scripture for today has to do with—Judgement Day, divine authority. Jesus Christ is King of Kings, He is Lord of Lords, and we must all appear before Him. On that day, two things are going to be of greatest importance. First of all, your relationship with Him. That’s what our passage of scripture for today tells us. If you would gain entrance into heaven, you must be in relationship with Jesus Christ. To some people, He will say to them on that day, “Depart from Me. I never knew you.” The Greek word is “ginosko.” This word is also used in John, chapter 10, verses 14 and 15, where Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me even as I know the Father and the Father knows Me.” You see, this is a word of relationship. If you would gain entrance into heaven, you must have relationship with God through Christ.
You’ve all read the story about Adam and Eve in Genesis, chapter 3. Most people in this country know that story. They know about Adam and Eve. They know about the Garden of Eden. They know about the forbidden fruit. Very few people really understand the meaning of that story. Very few people understand the theological teaching that comes from that story because it’s all about broken relationships. We see in Genesis, chapter 1 and 2, that God has created us for Himself, and He seeks communion with us. He seeks relationship with us. Genesis 3 and the story of Adam and Eve have to do with the breaking of that relationship through sin, what theologians call “the fall.” That’s why Adam and Eve seek to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees in the garden. It’s broken relationship. That’s why God cries out, “Where are you?” It’s broken relationship. The whole rest of the Bible, the rest of holy scripture, has to do with God’s dealings with this broken relationship and men’s dealings with this broken relationship.
The Jewish sacrificial system was an effort to deal with this broken relationship between man and God, as through the sacrificial system there was an effort to break down this wall of sin dividing men and God. The prophetic office was, in a sense, established so that God could speak to men and women. The priestly office was established so that the needs of people could be brought before the throne of God. They were efforts to overcome this broken relationship. But the Bible tells us, “In the fullness of time, God sent His Son.” He sent His Son to bring us back into relationship with Him.
This is the message of the gospel, and it’s what the gospel is all about. This is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s an invitation to come into the family of God, to become a child of God—a son, a daughter of God—and to receive Jesus Christ not only as your Lord and Savior but also as your brother and friend. It’s all about relationship. In the Prologue of John’s Gospel, it is written, “Jesus came in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own people and His own people received Him not. But to as many as received Him, to as many as believe in His name, to them He gives power to become children of God.” God seeks relationship with you through the gospel of His Son.
I think a lot of people have an image of God that’s just “God’s always watching us.” They think “God’s always looking for a mistake, some slip-up, because He doesn’t really want us in His family, His circle of trust. He doesn’t really want us in His family. He doesn’t really want us as His children. He’s just looking for some mistake so that He can bring us down.” That’s how some people view God, but the gospel tells us God’s not like that. The Bible tells us that God’s not like that. “He’s not willing or wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” He invites all of us to come into His family to become His sons and daughters. He seeks relationship with us through the gospel.
I know that you’ve all heard of Napoleon Bonaparte. I assume that many of you know that it was on December 2 in 1804 in the Notre Dame Cathedral or the Cathedral of Notre Dame that he took the crown from the hands of Pope Pius VII. He placed the crown on his own head, declaring himself emperor. Napoleon had an insatiable thirst for power. He himself once said whenever he saw an empty throne, he could not resist the temptation to sit upon it. And of course, that was a lie because the truth was whenever he saw an occupied throne, he could not resist the temptation to sit upon it.
He had many titles, including a few titles given to him by his enemies. There was one title given to him by an enemy that was most often used and that was the title, “The Destroyer of the Peace.” If you look at the history books, you’ll see that in many nations Napoleon was given this title, “The Destroyer of the Peace.”
You look in the Bible and you see that Jesus Christ has many titles but He, too, was given titles by his enemies. One of the titles given to Jesus Christ by His enemies was the title, “The Friend of Sinners.” You’ve probably heard Jesus Christ called “The Friend of Sinners,” but did you know this title was given to Him by His enemies, by those who did not believe in Him? By the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, who thought that they had no dealings with sinners and that they themselves were not sinners? And so, they called Jesus “The Friend of Sinners.” They could not have known how precious that title would become to us and all of us who believe here this morning. Jesus wants to be our friend.
Yesterday we had a meeting of the Presbytery of the West of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church right here at our church. We had ministers from the western United States come here and elders from a variety of churches. We had one thing in common, and that is this: We are all sinners.
As we’re gathered here this morning in this worship center, we have this in common: We’re all sinners. But praise God, Jesus wants to be the friend of sinners. He wants to be your friend. We all know that in this world it’s sometimes hard to make friends. Children learn from very early years that friendship can be hard to attain. They learn that sometimes it’s related to their looks and their appearance. They’re concerned about their looks and whether they’re pretty or handsome because they know that some people won’t accept them if they don’t look attractive. They learn this even from the children’s stories and the children’s movies they watch. They watch “Dumbo” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and they know that if you’re different from others, you might have a hard time fitting in. If you want to be accepted, you’re going to have to do something great.
They watch movies like “Cinderella,” and they know that Cinderella is beautiful, but her wicked stepsisters are ugly, and they don’t want to be wicked, and they don’t want to be ugly. They watch “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and they hear those words, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” They want to be fair. They want to look good. They watch “Sleeping Beauty,” and they know that the handsome prince transforms her through that transforming kiss. But they wonder, “Would they have kissed her if she’d been Sleeping Ugly instead of Sleeping Beauty?”
Of course, they watch “The Ugly Duckling” and they know the ugly duckling became a beautiful swan, but they know it’s just a fairy tale and it doesn’t just happen in real life. If they’re ugly, they know they are likely to stay that way forever. That’s why I love the movie “Shrek.” I love the ending of the movie “Shrek.” Some people didn’t like the ending, but I thought it was great. You had this ugly ogre who’s like a monster, and he falls in love with this beautiful princess. You know at the end of the movie that something’s got to happen. You’re thinking maybe he’s going to be transformed into this handsome prince, but no! SHE becomes an ugly ogre! Instead of them both being beautiful and living forever after, they both become ugly and live happily ever after. I like that little twist, because the way we look just isn’t that important.
Of course, we live in a world that’s fickle. It’s not just your looks that are important in friendship. It’s your personality. If you want to be the friend of certain people, you need to be a lot of fun. You’ve got to have a great personality. That’s a lot of pressure. If you want to be the friend of other people, you’ve got to be a success. You’ve got to accomplish something of significance. That’s a lot of pressure. Do you understand who Jesus is? The Friend of Sinners? He loves you as you are. He’s not concerned with your looks. You don’t need to have a great personality. You don’t need to accomplish great things. He wants to be your friend. This is the invitation of the gospel. He wants to know you. He wants you to come into His heavenly family.
When you reject the gospel… obviously there are some people throughout history who have never heard the gospel, but when you DO hear the gospel and you reject it, what a serious thing! You’re rejecting relationship with God, rejecting the heavenly family of the God who longs to commune with you. That’s what the gospel is all about.
Psychologists and sociologists tell us we live in a world where friendship is in crisis. People just don’t have time for friends like they used to. What with your spouse and your mortgage, your kids and all their activities, your own schedules, the demands of your career, your effort to take a little bit of vacation here and there, it’s just hard to find times for friends. Psychologists and sociologists tell us that one generation ago, the average person had one to two best friends, four to six close friends, and ten to twenty good friends. People just can’t maintain those numbers today. There’s just not enough time. Of course, I think we all agree we need to take time for friends.
You see, one friend is more important than any other and that one is Jesus Christ. Are you taking time for Him? Have you responded to His gospel? Have you embraced Him as Lord and Savior? Have you let Him embrace you? Are you spending time with Him each day? To some people here will He say, “Depart from Me. I never knew you”?
There’s a second teaching this morning, and that is this: When you come to Judgement Day, it’s not only going to be your relationship with Christ that is important, but it is also your submission to Christ. Do you live in submission to Christ? It’s not just about friendship. It’s about morality and obedience. That’s what makes this passage of scripture, I think, so hard for so many. Jesus says, “Depart from Me. I never knew you. You workers of evil. Not all who say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom, but those who do the will of My Father who is in heaven.”
When you look at the Bible as a whole, you understand this message. You understand that in this whole concept of friendship and obedience the two concepts are joined. You understand that to be in relationship with Christ will inevitably result in submission to Christ. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their life for their friends. You are My friends if you do what I have commanded you.”
Now, He’s not saying there that you can earn His friendship. What He is saying is that if you are His friend, you will take His commandments seriously. What He tells us in His word is, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” So, if you’re really in relationship with Christ, it’s going to affect the way you live. If I am really in relationship with Christ, it’s going to affect the way I live. That’s what this passage of scripture about Judgement Day tells us. It affects the way we live.
Well, we all know that in the aftermath of September 11, our government has sought to bring down the Taliban government in Afghanistan, and we have succeeded in that. There are perhaps pockets of resistance, but the Taliban government in Afghanistan is no more. The Associated Press tells us that that evil government sought in Afghanistan and even in Pakistan to impose shariah law. It sought to impose Islamic law. They went through villages and cities routinely and they would look for video recorders and television sets. They would bring them out into the street and destroy them and burn them. They did not want their people watching movies, which they viewed as morally corrupting.
They went through towns and villages, and they found every container of alcohol—whether it be beer, wine, or spirits—because they don’t believe in drinking even in moderation, and they destroyed all those containers in every village and city wherever they could. Of course, they incarcerated and flogged men who had shaved their beards because they viewed that as dishonoring God. They incarcerated and flogged women who did not, in their sight, dress properly or who were not covered from head to toe. They even arrested people for playing music, according to The Associated Press, in many of their towns and villages. You see, they were seeking to enforce their understanding of righteousness, seeking to legislate their understanding of holiness.
Now, Jesus gives us an understanding of righteousness. God gives us an understanding of holiness through the Decalogue and the Ten Commandments and our Lord Jesus does through the Sermon on the Mount. We have just spent a year going through the Sermon on the Mount that we might understand how Jesus expects us to live and what He means by righteousness. He’s not going to force you to obey Him. He’s not going to come into your home and take out everything that offends Him. You’re going to have to make some choices, if He’s your friend. If you’re in relationship with Him, you’ve got to make choices. I’ve got to make choices. We’ve got to make those choices every single day.
Have you heard of Burrhus Frederic Skinner, better known as B.F. Skinner? He was the psychologist who has sometimes been called “the father of behaviorism,” that branch of psychology that seeks to moderate human behavior through stimulus response reinforcement. B.F. Skinner believed that through behaviorism we could create a kind of perfect world, and he described that in his book “Walden Two,” and also in his book “Beyond Freedom and Dignity.” B.F. Skinner did not believe that human beings were free. He did not believe that we had the power to make choices. B.F. Skinner believed that all apparent choices were really the inevitable result of a complexity of genetic factors and environmental conditioning. He was a determinist. Because he didn’t believe that we could really make choices, he didn’t believe in human culpability. He didn’t believe we were morally responsible because we had no moral autonomy, and so there can be no judgement day.
But the Bible tells us B.F. Skinner was wrong. He died in 1990 and I’m sure he’s already learned that. He was wrong. We are morally culpable. We are morally responsible even as Christians. We need to make choices every day if Jesus is our friend. If we’re in relationship with Him, we need to decide to honor Him. And yes, we depend on His mercy and His grace, for we are sinners, but we don’t want to pervert grace to license. We don’t want to practice what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace,” the preaching of forgiveness without repentance. We want to walk with Christ. So, all that’s going to be evaluated at Judgement Day. Of course, the law of Christ is summed up in love, and the Sermon on the Mount is summed up in love. If we’re really friends of Christ, we want to be people who manifest love as we live every day. That involves choices every single day as well.
As we close, I want to tell you a story, one of my favorite stories. It’s about a woman named Irene Webster-Smith. Irene Webster-Smith was a missionary. Her biography has been written by a man named Russell Hitt. I highly recommend it. Irene Webster-Smith was a missionary in Tokyo, Japan. She arrived there in the year 1915. She came with the Asian Evangelical Missionary Society. She immediately went to work at the Tokyo Mission, which was created to help prostitutes.
There were many prostitutes in Tokyo in 1915, and Irene Webster-Smith worked with them. Most of them had been orphans. They had been abandoned by their parents when they were very young. Most of them had been reared by prostitutes or pimps, and they knew nothing but the world of prostitution. And so, this wonderful woman came to them with the love of Jesus Christ, came to them with the Word of God. She saw some of them accept Christ, some refuse Christ. She also saw that some of those who accepted Christ did not leave their lifestyles of prostitution—or if they did, sometimes they fell back into it because they knew no other life. They knew no other means of making a life.
Irene Webster-Smith was frustrated, very frustrated. She went to sleep one night, and she had what she understood to be a visionary dream. In that dream, God spoke to her, and God said this again and again and again: “Better to build a fence at the precipice than to bring an ambulance to the bottom.” She heard that sentence over and over again in her dream, a sentence she had never heard before. She knew it wasn’t a normal dream because her normal dreams didn’t make any sense, but this made a lot of sense. “Better to build a fence at the precipice than to bring an ambulance to the bottom.” She realized she’d been involved in an ambulance ministry, trying to rescue people who had already fallen. She realized that that was a worthwhile ministry, but God was now calling her to a fence ministry. She established an orphanage in the city of Tokyo for all these girls who were abandoned, for all these girls who had no moms and dads. She began to love them and care for them and rear them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord so they would never fall off the precipice. God blessed that ministry in power.
I think you know this church is involved in ambulance ministry and in fence ministries. We’re trying to help people when they fall, but we’re also trying to keep people from falling. We’re involved in both of these things. If you love Christ and He is your friend and you are in relationship with Him, you want to be involved in these acts of love too and in all of these things. You know we are constantly inviting you to be involved in ambulance ministries and fence ministries for Christ’s sake. When you say no, you’ve got to ask yourself, “Is He really my friend? Am I really in relationship with Him?”
If you Are in relationship with Him, you also need to ask yourself, “Am I building some appropriate fences in own life, so I won’t need an ambulance spiritually? Am I spending time in prayer every day?” What an important fence that is at the precipice of life. “Am I spending time in the Word of God every day?” What an important fence that is in the precipice of God. “Am I spending time with other Christians every week in Christian fellowship, encouraging, strengthening one another? Am I coming to church regularly?” Another fence at the precipice. “Do I avoid certain movies?” I mean, if you really love Christ and He’s your friend, there are certain movies you can’t go to, certain magazines you can’t order, certain people you just can’t hang around. It’s all about choices we make every day, and it all reflects whether or not we’ve entered into relationship with Christ and whether we take that relationship seriously.
Judgement Day is coming. That’s what this passage of scripture tells us. We are culpable. The key really is, have we entered into relationship with Christ? Have we received Him as Lord and Savior? Have we become children of God? Has Christ become our friend? The proof of that is how we live. That’s what Jesus is telling us in this passage. Let’s close with a word of prayer.