Matthew 7:15-20
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Announcements
Announcements
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Introduction
Introduction
Thank you so much for that wonderful message of music.
We are so glad that you have joined us this morning, to worship God in Spirit and in Truth one verse at a time.
We have come as far as Matthew 7:15, so let us open our Bibles there.
It will be on the screen, everybody, but it is a great practice to open our Bibles and take notes, so let’s let our fingers do the walking....
Read Matthew 7:15-20
Read Matthew 7:15-20
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Prayer
Prayer
Lord Heavenly Father, we praise you and give you thanks for the wonderful life that you have given us all because of Jesus. We praise you that you are a God who causes it to rain on the just and unjust, a God that there is no partiality and no shadow of turning. That you are the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Lord we are in a difficult section of scripture as we come to the end of the greatest sermon ever preached, would you speak to our hearts and give us the willingness to apply what we learn by word, thought, and deed. Help us to clearly discern who the false prophets of our day are and heed the warning you are giving us today. Not by strength, nor by power, but by My Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts!
In Jesus Name, We Love You!!! Amen!!!
Review
Review
In looking back, we learned that there are two gates, two roads, and two destinations.
Today, we are going to learn about two fruits.
Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has addressed how to enter his Kingdom
through the narrow gate and how to be his disciple, which is positive.
But he also addressed the negative, the broadway if you may.
He immediately in Chapter 5, gave us the Beatitudes and how we must come to him, broken, poor in spirit, morning over our sin with meekness and hunger and thirst after righteousness.
And if we have these in our lives, that we will be the Salt and Light of the earth, unlike the Pharisees who were self righteous and very relgious.
Jesus taught us that Murder begins in the heart and that we are called to go the second mile church and to love our enemies.
He then went on the teach us on how to pray, give, fast, and to store are treasures in heaven and not on earth, to not worry, and much, much more.
Here we are at the conclusion of this great sermon and Jesus is now warning his listeners.
It is important for us to remember that Jesus has taught us many things, the right way to worship and live for him, but yet the way the Pharisees were teaching the people which was wrong. They were mixing truth with error church and this leading people astray.
When Jesus is talks about the wide and narrow gate, which gate, which road, and destination do you think the Scribes and Pharisees were on or wen through???
Which gate have you walked through???
Remember what Jesus said:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Jesus said many go in the wide gate that leads to destruction church.
This means the crowds press in to the street called Broadway...
It is interesting to me that after Jesus teaches on the two gates that he immediately teaches on False Prophets in his conclusion.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
If Jesus gave us the thesis statement in Matthew 5:20, who do you think he is talking about here??
For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
However, it is absolutely necessary for us to realize and know that Jesus was not just talking to those on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, but to us.
This is applicable to us today.
Does anyone know about Jonestown? The Peoples Temple? Jim Jones?? Or Don’t drink the Kool Aid guy???
Jim Jones was a pastor and people were drawn to him and followed him for the following reason church:
He knew how to inspire hope.
He was committed to people in need;
he counseled prisoners and juvenile delinquents.
He started a job placement center,
he opened rest homes and homes for the retarded,
he had a health clinic,
he organized a vocational training center,
he provided free legal aid,
he founded a community center,
he preached about God.
He even claimed to cast out demons, do miracles, and heal.
But on the other hand, we find all the marks of a false prophet. He promoted himself through the use of celebrities, a very common vehicle for false prophets to gain credibility.
He manipulated the press, he wanted certain favorable stories, he was big on playing to the press.
He pretended to be a Christian.
He officiated in a Disciples of Christ church, having been ordained by them in 1964.
He used the language and the forms of faith to gain his power. He had his people sing and give testimonies as to how he had miraculously healed them.” And I might add that they later found out that he was always supposedly healing cancers, and he would have people cough up cancers and they would display them before the people, and found out that it was bloody parts of chickens that they were using with people who were planted in the congregation. “He created a warm, loving, pseudo Christian community without Christ. He demanded absolute and total loyalty. He replaced Jesus as the authority figure, and went so far as to say that he was Jesus.
Are there False Prophets today? Yes, Yes , Yes church!!!
Sadly, 909 people died as the followed him as they committed suicide church.
And you know what is tragic?
Many that followed Jim Jones to their death, were raised in various churches, there were some that even were in the ministry before they joined his church, and others had high levels of education.
They did not heed the Lord’s voice when he said Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing.
They did not heed the warning church are You?
Do you heed the Holy Spirit’s voice when he says do not go there? Do not listen to that preacher or read that book??
Sadly, many think they are too strong to be deceived, but the Word teaches otherwise:
For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.
Did you see that? Jesus said take heed, because he has told us all things before hand.
Jesus has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness
And look what else he says:
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
Where the people of Jonestown heeding the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the worlds voice???
Where they spending time with the Lord, seeking the counsel of godly leaders to ask if what they are watching, reading, and listening to Biblical?
Spiritual things are spiritual spiritually discerned and they deceived by the outward appearance church for God does not look at the outward appearance, but upon the heart!
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
Beware is in the KJV 28 times church and this is a term of warning!!!
When you walk up to a house and a sign says, “Beware of the dog,” how do you respond?
Or how about beware of ice? How do you respond?
Beware-prosechō -(pros-ekh'-o)- v. — to be on one’s guard, be cautious or wary about, or be alert to. Do not turn your mind toward, do not give heed to, give attention to, do not hold or cleave to or devote thought or effort towards.
This is written in the present tense and it is directed towards us, not the Lord.
It means that it is our responsibility to not turn our minds toward false prophets church, today we would call them false teachers.
Ravenous- harpax-rapacious adj. — excessively greedy, grasping, and thieving. An extortioner, a robber, to steal, to take away forcefully....
False prophets church, come not only to steal your money, but your salvation...
Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
So who are false prophet?
Three different types:
Heretic- this is the person who is teaching heresy, they are teaching contrary to what the Bible says.
An example of this would be, “The Love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” But I say that money is a good thing to have a happy life… We all need more money, more money, more money!!! Tele-evagelists like Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hihn fall into this category.
Apostates- these are people who once walked under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and have fallen away. These are the people once sat under the teaching of the word, but started entertaining strange doctrines and have not sought the counsel of godly leaders.
Deceivers- deceivers are clearly deceived and they think they have the truth and everyone else is wrong. These folks are very proud and struggle desperately with righteousness. The may or may not know they are teaching deception.
By the way, deception does not come up to you and say pardon me, I am deceiving you.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
Jesus does not leave us as orphans with the wolves are coming but he shows us here what the remedy is.
It’s righteous , not censorious judgement. We are to be fruit inspectors church.
And he gives us a metaphor that is not possible and then one that is.
Sadly, grapes from thornbushes and figs from thistles, come directly from Genesis 3 and the picture here is of people which are the grapes and figs, being attached to thorns and thistles which represent the false teachers.
What fruit is Jesus talking about???
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
This is the good tree mentioned in the next verses:
You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
The good fruit is Christian Character, conduct, attitudes and behavior that leads us to share the gospel and witness to others.
This certainly means that the fruit of our lips change, our hearts change, and our behavior changes church.
If nothing changes, then nothing changes...
The only way to know how God wants us to live, act, and behave is to spend time in the word.
Jesus changes metaphors here from the flock to the forest and he talks about two trees.
One bad and one good.
Who are the bad trees in this story???
Relgious leaders or the false prophets...
Church, false prophets exist today and many of them come in what I would call the feel good category.
These are the preachers who teach always about happiness or the feel good things in the Bible.
They are the ones who focus soley on the positive parts of scripture and do not teach doctrine.
They have happy messages with no conviction that the multitudes are following after.
They teach on happiness, not on holiness.
They do not teach on sin, repentance, holiness, and God’s judgement
They have a quick salvific message that does not deal with sin and once they say a prayer and are baptized they teach that they are all good.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
Fables are not truth church.
Many churches are teaching a message of happiness in Christ, when God desires holiness church.
People today are fixated on hearing about happiness so much, that warnings like this goes right over the head or our their ears if it is brought to their attenttion.
Many of the large seeker friendly churches are driving this home and the crowd is flocking there.
Sadly, they teach on temporal things , not eternal and there are many on this broadway that are headed to destruction.
It is important for us to realize that apple trees produce apples and not grapes or figs.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ”
They do not teach on the doctrine of sin and repentance, they do not teach on the doctrine of salvation and they say come here, “You can have your best life now!”
They refuse to deal with issues of the heart, but rather tickle the ears of the listeners.
And you know what is interesting? Many who follow are Biblically illiterate.
False prophets produce bad fruit:
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
This is fruit of the flesh church and notice that the Bible interprets the Bible… They will not inherit the kingdom of God, just like those who go in the wide gate.
We must know our Bible church in order to know what fruit to look for, because ultimately all the issue of life come from the heart and if you watch, you will see bad fruit on a false prophet or teacher.
Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
I close with the same warning that Jesus gave, now made by Paul in Acts:
Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
One's true nature determines the kind of fruit they will produce. No one produces fruit contrary to their true nature. And what's more, everyone who does not produce good fruit is doomed to be removed from the scene. And so, when it comes to false prophets, Jesus tells us, "Therefore by their fruits you will know them" (v. 20). In fact, He tells us this twice in this passage. It's something He clearly wants us to know.
May God help us to heed Jesus warning. It concerns the most dangerous thing in the world. May he help us to "Beware" of wolves in who come in sheep’s clothing!
Prayer
Prayer
Lord, thank you for your the boldness you have to teach your sheep to beware. Father increase our fruit inspectors and help us to clearly know the false prophets of our day. Please bring great conviction if we are reading, watching, or listening to false teachers, and help us have the humility to heed your voice and even ask for help is we are unsure. Please bless are time in fellowship as we break bread together.
In Jesus Name, We Love You! Amen!!!
Potluck to Follow
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