Listening to the Right Teacher
Notes
Transcript
Teachers of life
Teachers of life
Parents; Grandparents; Aunties & Uncles; School Teachers; Older siblings; friends; friends of parents; kids / youth leaders; growth group leaders; ministers; influencers; social network personalities; internet, radio or TV preachers; books; magazines...
So many people have an influence on our lives; so many people ‘teach’ us about life… but who is helping us to enter through the narrow gate, who is helping us to stay on the narrow way?
13 “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 the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Specifically who is teaching you?
Beware of the ferocious Wolves
Beware of the ferocious Wolves
By the teaching you will recognise them
By the teaching you will recognise them
Don’t look to false prophets!
15 “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.
1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
In Jesus’ day the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the high priests fell into this category… despite their credentials they were ravenous wolves...
33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Bad teaching comes from the false prophet. Good teaching comes from God’s true teachers… Jesus himself, the apostles, His prophets...
This means that the fruit that Jesus speaks of in verses 16- 19 is first of all the kind of teaching they bring.
But notice, with Deuteronomy 13, they could be showing all kinds of signs and wonders that tempt people to listen to them… when in fact they will bring a message that doesn’t lead people to glorify God, it leads them away from the living and true God; their message doesn’t lead to salvation through faith in Jesus; their message doesn’t lead to submitting to Jesus as Lord; their message doesn’t lead to Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.
Their message leads to the wide gate and the broad road that leads to destruction.
It will be a message that leads people away from Christ; a message that devalues who he is; a message that devalues all that he did; a message that devalues what he achieved for his people in his death and resurrection… ultimately a message that makes Jesus, the very Word of God, out to be a liar.
Which teachers will you listen to? The ferocious wolves or God’s teachers?
Examples bad teaching:
Jesus is not God
Jesus is not man
Yet, Jesus is fully God and fully man, otherwise he could not offer salvation, he could not be Lord.
works based righteousness and salvation, or
Jesus + for salvation
‘Word of faith’ teaching… if you just have enough faith, then you can be ...
Authority
Co-redemption
Which teachers will you listen to?
Outwardly they look good, inwardly they are evil.
Outwardly they look good, inwardly they are evil.
21 “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!’
Those that lead people on the path of destruction will themselves face destruction.
Think of everyone sitting here today, calling out to Jesus, “Lord, Lord.” Jesus’ own warning ...
Our true teacher
Our true teacher
24 “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.”
Build your life on Jesus!
Know the truth, so you can detect the error.
The crowds recognise his teaching and authority...
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
would they build their life on his?