Could your assurance in faith be misleading you from the path to heaven? We grapple with this daunting question through a deep exploration of Matthew 7:23, dissecting the haunting words of Jesus about the dangers of false assurance and the stark difference between outward belief and true discipleship. As your guide, I lead this candid discussion to unearth the profound need for surrender, repentance, baptism, and the indelible mark of the Holy Spirit's guidance in our lives. This episode isn't about sowing fear; it's an invitation to forge a sincere, transformative relationship with Christ, ensuring that when we face Him, we won't be among those He never knew.
As men, we navigate different seasons, seeking guidance to conquer obstacles while remaining steadfast. Discipleship Masterminds is the environment where you not only receive invaluable insights to overcome challenges but also gain profound guidance on the path to becoming the leader God uniquely designed you to be.
Could your assurance in faith be misleading you from the path to heaven? We grapple with this daunting question through a deep exploration of Matthew 7:23, dissecting the haunting words of Jesus about the dangers of false assurance and the stark difference between outward belief and true discipleship. As your guide, I lead this candid discussion to unearth the profound need for surrender, repentance, baptism, and the indelible mark of the Holy Spirit's guidance in our lives. This episode isn't about sowing fear; it's an invitation to forge a sincere, transformative relationship with Christ, ensuring that when we face Him, we won't be among those He never knew.
As men, we navigate different seasons, seeking guidance to conquer obstacles while remaining steadfast. Discipleship Masterminds is the environment where you not only receive invaluable insights to overcome challenges but also gain profound guidance on the path to becoming the leader God uniquely designed you to be.
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I'm your host, chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, guys. Spiritual kickoff time. I'm excited to have you here today, so let's get right into the word.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so we'll be in the book of Matthew this week. The book of Matthew, chapter 7, verse 23. It says Then I will tell them plainly I never knew you Away from me, you evildoers. That verse right there, guys, I got goosebumps. Right now, I get goosebumps every time I read that one. So let's take this.
Speaker 1:
There's a reason we're looking at this verse this week. Let's simplify it, let's apply it, let's figure out how we can use this in our life. Okay, ultimately, what Jesus was trying to teach us. So, first thing we need to know is where's the book of Matthew? Not going to take anything for granted, right? So it's the first gospel in the New Testament. So if you get to Malachi, keep you to get you thinking and the mindset. That really where we're going to be digging into this week.
Speaker 1:
Here's a question Won't all people ultimately go to heaven? I know that's innocent and depending on who you ask is going to determine the validity of the answer. Fellas, I'm just telling you and we're going to see ultimately, what does God's Word say? What does His Word say and how should we respond when this question arises in our life? Okay, because I'm telling you, depending on who you talk to, there's lots of different ways to go with this. And whenever I read the Bible, today's verse, when I look at this Matthew 7, 23, I'm telling you hair stands up on my arm because I'm trying to deal with the gravity of what Jesus is teaching. He speaks plainly to us right here because he hopes we do not miss it, because he begins by showing us right here in Scripture leading up to this, that there are some people who think they're getting in, but the harsh reality is they're never going to be on. They're going to be on the outside looking in when their time comes.
Speaker 1:
And I think about the fellas all the time that I talk to. Unfortunately, I do get to talk to guys like this who think you know what? I just got to be nice, I just got to have good morals, I just got to obey the law. Don't break the law, because if I do these things, I'm doing enough. Chris, that's going to get me in Because they're considering their behaviors here on earth and those people we see right here.
Speaker 1:
The surprise, the surprise that comes to them when he makes these comments, saying that he never knew them. Think about that for just one second. The sovereign king of the universe, king Jesus, looks at you and says I never knew you. For me, that's the scariest part of the entire Bible Scariest part.
Speaker 1:
And with the right mindset, though, this could be some extremely motivating scripture that gets you off that lukewarm path, wherever you are, because Jesus explains how we're able to take some action, and it starts with a simple command Do the will of my Father. Do the will of my Father. And defining that in its simplest form, it appears that His will is just simply for us to surrender to Him and be obedient with the Holy Spirit tells us to do, because when we do that, that changes everything about everything. Guys, let's just be real. That changes everything. We can walk with him, we can do the things he tells us to do. We start producing fruit. This is a whole circle of life moment. Everything starts happening right Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, general self-control All things start coming out of our life, out of us and we're producing the things of Him. But it starts at that moment Because it's not about the work, fellas, it's not about the work.
Speaker 1:
I want you guys to do the good stuff. Absolutely I want you to do the good stuff. I'm not anti-doing good, I'm anti-doing good with the thinking that we're going to earn our way to salvation. That's what we have to be clear of, because, inherently, doing good stuff, we should want more of that, right? We just don't think that that should do anything for us, because this is a dangerous trap for the evil one and, quite frankly, many people step into this trap without even thinking about it. They just think you know what. Well, I go to church, chris. I'm there every Sunday. I put a little money in the offering plate, but the rest of the week, what do you want me to do? I'm just living life and I get it. The evil one wants you to do that. Just live life, to think that you've done what you need to do.
Speaker 1:
But I'm telling you, until you truly surrender to the lordship of Christ, you have to be careful, because it's very clear here in God's word that it says right here, many will say to me Lord, did we not prophesy? In your name Did we not cast out demons and in your name, perform miracles? So these people were doing some of the things. He never knew them Because they never surrendered to him.
Speaker 1:
So I mean the ultimate question when you start reading stuff like this, start thinking about eternity. Just one second without God. You all I'm telling you that's too long Start thinking about eternity being separated from God. So you want to make sure? Okay, how does this not happen to me? It's very simple. You got to surrender to the Lordship of Christ, you got to repent, you got to be baptized, and then you have to start doing the. Okay, how does this not happen to me? It's very simple. You got to surrender to the Lordship of Christ, you got to repent, you got to be baptized, and then you have to start doing the stuff he tells you to do. Right, because we know that the road is narrow.
Speaker 1:
Jesus tells us that it's not going to be easy, but I hope, at the end of the day, each and every one of you hears the words well done, my good and faithful servant, because that is really that's what it's all about is trying to make sure we are serving Christ while we're here on earth. I don't want these words. I never knew you. You to ever hear that from your Savior. Never want that for you.
Speaker 1:
We have to understand everything comes full circle here in life. Right, because we need to think about would all people go to heaven, will they? The harsh reality is no, it's not, unfortunately, many funerals you'll go past. I mean, there's always kind words to be said at funerals and I don't want to disrespect that at all, but I'm just here to tell you the reality is many they're not entering the gates. They're just not. And I don't want that for you Because, for the goodness of the gospel, it's been given to all those who receive and believe. And if you're ever in doubt about your salvation, I just want to encourage you. If you've ever surrendered your life to the Lordship of Christ, you are a beloved son and or daughter of the King. You are the other.
Speaker 1:
So what you need to do now is, as a leader, step up and point others to the good news, share it with them. I mean, I'm not one for scare tactics, I'm just not right. But I can tell you one thing. I mean still, however many minutes we're into this podcast, I still got goosebumps when I read. I got it circled in my Bible right here. I never knew you that's circled. I actually wrote to the side of it Scariest part of the Bible. I actually put a whole box around this whole section. I put not works but grace.
Speaker 1:
And I'm just here to tell you, fellas, as someone who does a podcast that tries to serve Christian men, to help them be better leaders, and does our community and to lie with us and does summit leadership training to try to bring the Bible into business and to help you make better moral decisions based off of Scripture, and as a deacon in our church and teaching Sunday school and teaching kids at church and all the things right. It'd be easy to say, well, god, look what I'm doing, but I'm here to tell you none of those things, none of them. Ultimately, if I'm doing any of that for my glory, none of them matter. The reason I do those things and I try to give God all the glory at all the times is because he's called me to do it, because he could call me to stop any one of those. You know what I have to walk in obedience and stop.
Speaker 1:
So make sure that your motivation when you're moving forward, particularly as someone new to the faith that you're not motivated by self and trying to do things to bolster yourself up or for any attention, because it's not about you or me, it's about Him. Everything should start with but God. For Him, it's all for Jesus. So let these words soak in, think about it, highlight them in your Bible. Whatever you need to do. So let these words soak in, think about it, highlight them in your Bible. Whatever you need to do Again, matthew 7, 23.
Speaker 1:
Go there, read everything leading up to that, fellas. I mean, it really talks about the proof of the kingdom, life and good fruit and bad fruit, and good trees and bad trees and all that kind of stuff, and it leads up to this point. This is towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount. It's really where we're studying in the Bible and I'm just here to tell you. Look at verse 24. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. Guys, the only rock we're building our house is the rock of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:
I want you to just let these verses just sit in. Just think about it today. Are you doing everything that you can have you truly surrendered your life to the Lordship of Christ. No-transcript, because the question about won't all people ultimately go to heaven? The answer is no, they won't. But you have an opportunity today. If you've surrendered your life to Christ, ensure somebody else will never taste that, that they'll be with him. Because we never know our time. We just don't Thank the Lord, who wants to know their time right. We just don't know it. Each day, each moment is a gift. Don't waste it. Point others to Him to ensure that they will enter glory. So if you've never surrendered your life to the Lordship of Christ, today's your day as well. I want to invite you, don't keep putting this off.
Speaker 1:
For some reason, you clicked on this podcast and you're listening to my voice wherever you are, and I don't know why. There's lots of other podcasts out there, lots of better podcasters. I mean, I get all. God gets all the glory for anybody who ever clicks. Play on the line with Dennis. He gets all the glory for anybody who ever clicks. Play on the line with Dennis. He gets all the glory. But if you're listening and you've never surrendered your life to Christ, something drew you to this. Or maybe you're thinking did I ever really surrender. What's he talking about? I'm going to share it with you.
Speaker 1:
It all starts with understanding that you are a sinner in need of a Savior. That's it. You don't need some life coach or someone like that to come alongside you and just kind of pat you on your back and just pump you up with good feelings, make you feel better, right? No, we need to recognize that. I need a Savior. You cannot do this. Any sin is something that separates us from God and we all fall short of the glory of God. Therefore, there's this big gap between us and God. Compared to your neighbor, you may be okay, but compared to a holy, righteous God, you fall short. So you got to recognize that first. That's a harsh reality. That's some truth that the world is not going to typically give you. I want to give you.
Speaker 1:
Second of all, you need to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He is, he came from heaven on a rescue mission for you and for me and for the entire world, and you have to truly believe that he is the Son of God. And Jesus lived with us. He walked, he showed us the ways, he taught us many parables, many different things. He showed us the path to salvation. Then he went to that cross on Calvary and he paid the price path to salvation. Then he went to that cross on Calvary, he paid the price for our sin. The whole Levitical law doesn't matter anymore, right? He was the perfect sacrifice, he was it, the lion from the tribe of Judah, and his blood ran for you, for me, for the entire world, and they laid him in a tomb. And the difference between Christianity and everything else is that he rose, he overcame death and right now he ascended and he's right there, the right hand of the Father, and that is who we worship. That is what we believe as Christians. Is that Jesus is the Son of God, he's alive, he is. Is that Jesus is the Son of God, he's alive, he is the way, he is the path. There is no other name that has been given among men by which we must be saved. He is it, jesus.
Speaker 1:
So once you believe that it moves to the hardest part confessing him as Lord, because to confess him as Lord you have to do something, you have to surrender. And no one likes to surrender, no one wants to surrender, no one wants to give up, no one wants to say you know I can't do this, lord. No Surrendering, that's anti-who. We are, as people, right. That's the step we have to take. We have to surrender to him and say, father, I trust you. I can't do this on my own, but I know you can. I know you're going to show me, I know you're with me. I know that you love me Each and every step of the way. He's there. So maybe you're listening right now and you just feel like you're at that point, like I can't do this anymore. Sometimes you have to get to that point before you can take that step forward.
Speaker 1:
But I'm telling you, if you choose to surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and let him guide and direct you, just give it over to him, give him the reins. Father, I can't do it. I will choose to do whatever you tell me. It's going to change everything for you Truly is. And then, when you get to the gates, you'll never hear those words. I never knew you. You're going to hear the words well done, good, faithful servant, come on in, because he's right there right now, preparing a place for you. That should get you excited, that should lead you to action. That's what Unleashing the Lion Within is all about Not just sitting there and sitting on this good news, but sharing it with others.
Speaker 1:
So, if you just accept that Christ is your Savior, let's pray together. Father, just thank you so much for today, thank you for the listener out there who's just recognizing their need for you. And, father, I pray you hear their prayers and that you give them peace right now. Give them comfort, give them joy. Give them joy, show them your love. Just let them feel your presence so that they know that they are now a son or a daughter of the King. I pray you put people in their life that's going to be able to guide and direct them, that's going to be able to encourage them along their path. I pray, father, that you continue to just pour out your goodness upon them, that you give them a clear discernment on what to do next as they begin their Christian journey. We love you, jesus, we praise you, we pray all this according to your will, in Jesus' name, amen, all right.
Speaker 1:
So if you just accepted Christ as your Savior, look, congratulations. You just made the biggest decision of your life and the best I want to hear from you. Send me an email to chris at thelionwithedus. Let's jump on a Zoom call. I just want to pray with you. I want to give you a virtual high five and fist bump. I want to give you some free resources as well. It's going to help get you started on your Christian journey. So, seriously, I just want to give us, just pour some love onto you, give you some support and some resources to get you started. Okay, so send me an email. I'd love to hear from you along the way, and also, we have lots of guys that are lying within this community. We'll try to figure out where you are located. If you are in the continental US, we'll try to get you plugged in with a local church. We'll at least give you some resources to come alongside of you if that's something you're interested in. Okay, but I Lionwithmus, okay, so think about it this week, fellas, come back on Wednesday.
Speaker 1:
It's a special week this week. It is a solo week for us. We're not going to have a guest on this week, but I have a really important message that I want to dig deeper into this topic around heaven. We just touched the surface today, so come back on Wednesday. We'll drop the plow, go a little bit deeper. This was one that I taught a while back and my wife just encouraged me. She said it was a really good lesson. I think you should share that with your listeners. So we're going to do that this week, preferably. Guys. We try it about once a month. We do a solo just to.
Speaker 1:
There's lots of things that I write and work on that the Lord points to me and I want to take an opportunity every so often just to give you some of those nuggets of the things and hopefully it helps you grow. So head over to thelinewithinus. Get all our resources there, check out our way to join the community, check out the summit information that we have going on. We have lots of free resources, our 30 Days to Unleash the Line With In All that's over at the website All our podcasts, our history, our store, all the different things that are over there, fellas, as well as the YouVersion the Bible app. So if you're not a YouVersion Bible app user, highly encourage you to do it. It's the number one Bible app on the planet, fellas, and we have tons of devotions out on YouVersion. We're constantly cranking and creating, making new ones. So go check that out to see all the different things we have, because they're great ways to have your own little discipleship groups and groups like that as you get moving forward.
Speaker 1:
Ok, so hopefully, guys, you enjoyed this scripture. I know this is hard scripture to look at. It's not always easy. Spiritual kickoff sometimes could just be a spiritual kick in our pants. Right, they really can be. But this right here, this is important. We can't just gloss by this stuff. We've got to take time, we've got to see what the scriptures say, we have to learn from it and we've got to grow. Okay, all right, guys, get after it. Have a great one. Look forward to seeing you here the next time and remember to keep unleashing the lion within.
Speaker 1:
If you're a man who's looking for greater spiritual guidance into how to become a better leader, finding resources that you can trust and then implement can be daunting. For me personally, I thought it was a lost cause and I decided to take the action, knowing that I wasn't alone. It was because of this wide gap that we created our line within this community, and the areas that we're helping Christian men grow are incredible. For instance, we've built ways for guys to lean in and grow through fun events like our daily spiritual kickoff, where you get that much needed boost directly from God's word, our Bible studies that always focus on how to discern and apply what we learn, and even our amazing forum where you can speak your mind without fear of getting shut down or judged by the extreme rules of modern day social media. On top of all that, we know that many men won't help overcoming issues and becoming stronger in many different areas. That's why we created several mastermind groups where the iron truly sharpens iron.
Speaker 1:
Our community is about having a growth mindset, accountability, intentionality and transparency. In other words, just leave fake you at home and come to community just as you are. I fully believe what we feel. I see the impact it's making on men right now and I would love to have you check it out. So start your very own 30-day free trial today to see how we can help you be a better leader. On 30-day free trial today to see how we can help you be a better leader. So if you're ready to take that first step, head over to thelinewithinus and get started. Your journey begins here. Visit thelinewithinus and I'll see you inside the den.
