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(1) Teach Who Enters Heaven  

Matthew 7:21  Not everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.  NLT

Jesus HAMMERS home the need to "Know Who Enters the Kingdom" in the closing section of his most famous sermon, the "Sermon on the Mount "(Matthew chapters 5-7) by giving four tests we can take to see if we are on the path to enter heaven or hell. v21 is actually his 3rd test. Here are all four of his tests.

Test 1 - Take the Difficult Road to Heaven  

Matthew 7:13-14  Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. [14] But small is the gate and narrow [difficult, hard] the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.  NIV

1. Other translation translate narrow as difficult (CSB, NLT, NKJV, NET, AMP) and hard (ESV).
2. Where do the many go?
3. Where did the few go?
4. If you want to be one of the few what do you need to do?
5. From the MacArthur Bible Commentary: "Christ continually emphasized the difficulty of following Him. Salvation is by grace alone, but it is not easy. It calls for knowledge of the truth, repentance, submission to Christ as Lord, and a willingness to obey His will and Word."  While salvation is by grace alone what does it call for?
6. The road is difficult because what two things must we give up our lives for? Mark 8:35-36 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. [36] And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?  NLT
   1. If one doesn't give up their life do they go to heaven or hell? 
7. To pass test #1 what must one do?
8. The next 3 paragraphs will describe what the difficult road is.

Test 2 - Avoid False Teachings

Matthew 7:15-20  Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. [16] By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? [17] Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. [18] A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20] Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.  NIV

1. In v15 (verse 15) what are we to do?
   
2. In v15 why are we to beware of them?
3. In v19 what will happen to those who do not produce good fruit (actions)?
4. False prophets and false teachings (youtube, podcasts, radio, books) teach the wrong way to live and the wrong way to enter heaven and therefore people who follow them miss out on God's help and blessings here on earth and end up going to hell after they die.  In v20 Jesus says we can identify the false prophets by their actions (what they teach, how they live, and their influence on others). 
5. How do you protect yourself?  Acts 17:11 And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.
6. What do we need to be continually doing? 1 Timothy 4:16 Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.  NLT
   1. What are we in danger of if we don't "Keep a close watch on ..."? 
7. To pass test #2 what must one do?

Test 3 - Avoid False Lordship 

Matthew 7:21-23  Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ [23] Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’  NIV

1. What is the 3rd test?
2. Who goes to heaven? (see v21)
3. Who goes to hell? (see v23)
4. Who decides who goes to heaven or hell? 
5. From ESV Study Bible "An oral confession of Jesus as Lord does not always indicate a repentant heart."  True repentance includes making Jesus one's real Lord and Master.
6. From CSB Study Bible "True disciples affirm Jesus’s lordship, submit to his authority, and obey his commands.  Jesus insisted that a person is confirmed as a true disciple not by prophecy, exorcism, or working miracles but by living a transformed life made possible by God.  The disobedient lifestyles of lawbreakers are inconsistent with genuine discipleship. Jesus’s words, I never knew you, show that these were never truly disciples." 
7. For Jesus to be my Lord what must I surrender? Mark 8:34-37 "If any of you wants to be my follower, you MUST give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake AND for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. 36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37 Is anything worth more than your soul?" 
   1. What are the two promises Jesus gives in v35? 
8. To pass test #3 what must one do?

Test 4 - Daily Study and Follow Jesus' Teaching

Matthew 7:24-27  Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. [25] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. [26] But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. [27] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.  NIV

1. From The Gospel of Matthew by R. T. France, 2007, pg 296, 297 "has left Jesus' hearers with a simple but demanding choice: to hear and ignore, or to hear and put into practice.  It is a make-or-break choice with eternal consequences.  And as we noted in v21, it is Jesus himself who is the key to this choice; it is his words (and not, as one might have expected, God's words) which must be done.  Indeed, to do Jesus' words here seems to be the equivalent of "doing the will of my Father in heaven" in v21.  To ignore his words, therefore, will result in total spiritual disaster. … The total collapse of the house with a bad foundation probably suggests that, as in v21-23, the final judgment is particularly in view, but that setting is not emphasized, and the imagery applies equally to the testing [trials] which discipleship will repeatedly encounter before the final consummation."  
2. ESV Study Bible “The evidence of whether one is truly a believer is in whether one does the words of Jesus (cf. James 1:22–23 and 2:20–22).”

3. Proof of salvation - three quotes from A John MacArthur sermon. 

   "(1) The proof of conversion is not a past event, or a past prayer, or past experience. It’s a present righteousness. Ah, it’s not perfection, but it’s direction. 

   (2) It’s what you do with the Jesus’ words that gives evidence of your spiritual condition. ... What is the evidence of true conversion? What is the evidence of true repentance?  It is a life of obedience, submission to the lordship of Christ. It’s not a profession. It’s not empty words. It’s obedience. ...

   (3) If you love the truth and you love to obey the truth, even though you fall short, those are the evidences of true conversion."  From John MacArthur’s sermon LINK  https://www.gty.org/sermons/80-338/foundations-of-grace-part-2-the-lordship-of-christ 

   1. What is your main take away from the John MacArthur quotes?

4. How to have God's word change us - James 1:22,25  Do not merely listen to the word, and so DECEIVE yourselves. Do what it says. [25] But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will BE BLESSED in what they do.  NIV 
   1. In v25 if we want to have our lives blessed by God what four actions must we do?
   2. How does one "look intently into the perfect law"?
   3. How does one do "continues in it"?
   4. How does one do "not forgetting"?
   5. God can bless us in "what they do" BECAUSE to the degree we do these four actions is the degree that we will be doing His will, in His Way, and for His glory.
   6. When can you daily carve out some time to do these four actions so your life will be characterized by being blessed?
5. To pass test #4 what must one do?

(2) Teach Who Enters Heaven  

1. "It can’t be proved, but in my opinion, the Sermon on the Mount was Jesus’ “standard” sermon. It was the core of His itinerant message: a simple proclamation of how God expects us to live, contrasting with common Jewish misunderstandings of that life. It may be that when Jesus preached to a new audience, He often preached this sermon or used the themes from it. Yet we can also regard this as Jesus training the disciples in the message He wanted them to carry to others. It was His message, meant to be passed onto and through them. 'In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew shows us Jesus instructing his disciples in the message which was his and which they were to take to men. (Barclay)' "   David Guzik Bible Commentary
2. Jesus ended his most famous sermon by giving 4 tests so that one can know who enters the kingdom. He doesn't want us to keep it a secret but to do as his disciples did: Mark 6:12  So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God. NLT

3. We All Are to Teach Others to Obey - Matthew 28:19-20 "Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, ... (20) TEACH these new disciples to OBEY ALL the commands I have given you."  

   1. From NLT Life application Study Bible "We are to go—whether it is next door or to another country—and make disciples. It is not an option but a command to all who call Jesus “Lord.”"  
4. Who do you know that would benefit from learning Jesus' 4 tests on who will enter heaven?  
5. When will you offer to go over this study with them?
6. Next week we'll go over the 2nd key in following God, Loving God with all our heart.

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