The Invitation into the Kingdom.

The Simple Choice -

What if life was narrowed down to only 2 choices?

How many of you would be successful at making the right one?

Matthew 7:21 KJV 1900

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

2 Beginnings

Jesus Christ told Thomas in

John 14:6 (KJV 1900)

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Enter In - The Way

Matthew 7:13–14 (KJV 1900)

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

2 Gates

Strait Gate is Entered.

You must enter,

Enter Ye - Imperative. A Command.

You must enter this gate.

strait gate

Broad Gate - stumbled through.

Broad Gate leads to destruction.

Strait Gate is Exclusive.

You must enter this gate alone

“narrow is the way”

Strait Gate is Elusive.

You must enter this gate with difficulty

“few there be that find it”

Will you find the proper gate?

2 Behaviors

The 2nd Command is to

Beware - The Truth

The Warning

Matthew 7:15 KJV 1900

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Definition

They are false prophets, prophētēs those who speak forth or speak before, and they who spoke before in the Old Testament, the true prophets had two things upon which their office was built, a divine commission and a divine message, they spoke for God and they spoke from God. A false prophet has neither, a divine commission nor a divine message, he neither speaks for God or from God, he stands at his own authority speaking his own message and it is utterly false. They are pseudoprophētēs, pseudochristos, pseudoadelphos, false, false, false.

Danger

Matthew 7:15 KJV 1900

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

“Beware” means to hold your mind back from, don’t expose yourself to them.

2 John 7–10 KJV 1900

7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:

Deception

Matthew 7:15 (KJV 1900)

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Damnation

Matthew 7:21 (KJV 1900)

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Now that we have been warned in truth, what should we be looking for?

The Watching

Matthew 7:16 (KJV 1900)

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

You shall know is not a command but rather an assurance to the commands.

Enter in - the way

Beware - the truth

The Assurance - we can know the truth. Jesus gives us confidence.

Matthew 7:20 KJV 1900

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

How do we judge what kind of tree it is?

A tree is judged by its fruit. If you want to know what the prophet is like look at what he produces, simple enough look at what he produces.

When it comes to production, I am not an expert of identifying trees by their bark or even there leaves. But let tell you, when that tree puts on fruit.

I can identify an oak when the acorns pop out,

I can identify a hickory when the nuts shows.

I can identify a cherry, apple, orange, lemon and lime when they give fruit.

Character -

What kind of character, what kind of personality, what’s his attitude and his motive and his thinking, perspective toward life?

What kind of actions, what kind of lifestyle, what kind of pattern?

All that character involves, from what I think to what I do.

Attitude drives Character!

And you know what to look for in a false prophet?

Very simple, look for a Beatitude attitude, that’s the evidence of an internal transformation. Do they cower poor in spirit, deep humility, mourning over sin, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, longing for mercy, peacemakers, willing to be persecuted and reviled and despised and hated for the sake of Christ.

Creed -

What do they teach?

Now what sound doctrine does our Lord particularly have in mind? Go back to Matthew 7 and I’m going to show you the thrust of this and wrap it up. What is the issue here? Listen to me. You can always tell a false prophet because they have a twisted view of Christ, all right? That is His person and His, what? His work. And what is His work?Salvation. So when you get into dealing with a false prophet you want to look at their doctrine of salvation. This is where it all gets mixed up.

Now the Lord has just said this, to be saved is not easy, right? You go through a what? Narrow gate to a narrow way. “Few there be that find it.” And you must what? Strive, agonize, to enter in. Let me tell you something about the doctrine of salvation of a false prophet. It isn’t going to teach that kind of salvation. It’s going to be a great big wide broad doctrine that includes everybody, and they may say, all you have to do is believe in Jesus and they may talk about that He died and He rose again and they may give you what sounds like the Gospel but when it comesto who gets in it’s everybody.

Converts -

You can tell them by who’s following. You want to know about a leader, look at his followers, look at their lives.

Consummation -

You can tell them by how they’re going to end too,

Matthew 7:19 KJV 1900

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Ultimately you can tell a false prophet by his condemnation, his consummation.

Are you

2 By-Products

Matthew 7:21 (KJV 1900)

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 7:22 (KJV 1900)

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

We saw this same contrast in

Matthew 7:13–14 (KJV 1900)

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The Few - Do the Will of the Father

John 4:34 KJV 1900

34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

John 6:38 KJV 1900

38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

John 6:40 KJV 1900

40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Jesus came to express the Father’s will for redemption. He came to confirm in reality that God loved men and wanted them in his presence forever.

The Few - Obey the Words of the Father

Matthew 7:24–27 (KJV 1900)

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

So let’s sum those two up and just say the few are those who obey God. The few are those whose lives are marked by obedience to the will of God and the teaching of Christ. You show me a person who has little or no regard for the teaching of Christ, show me a person who has no desire to do the will of God, and I’ll show you a person who doesn’t qualify by the very standard Jesus established with his own words. And may I hasten to say to you folks, it isn’t that we always do the will of God and it isn’t that we always do everything that Jesus taught, it is that that is the burning desire that we have in our heart. It’s there and sometimes it gets clouded but when we fail to do the will of God and fail to do what we know what Jesus taught we suffer for that, the guilt of going against the grain of the new creation.

The Few - Confess Christ, whatever the Cost

Matthew 10:32–33 KJV 1900

32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Confession comes at a high price.

Matthew 10:34–39 KJV 1900

34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

May cost you your family.

May cost you your desires or dreams

For everybody that cost may be different, but when salvation is really happening God energizes the willingness to pay the cost, whatever it is.

The Few - Produce Good Fruit

Matthew 12:50 KJV 1900

50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Matthew 13:3–9 (KJV 1900)

3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

What is the seed? The Word of God.

What is the soil? Your heart.

Now the picture here is very graphic, very very graphic. There are some soils that bring forth no fruit.

Other soils bring forth good fruit, 100 fold, 60 fold, and 30 fold.

Matthew 13:19 (KJV 1900)

19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

When anyone hears the message of entering the kingdom by faith that means that the seed is the word of the kingdom, the gospel to us.

If you understand the whole of chapter 13 is to set up the disciples to understand how evangelism will work.

Jesus starts with the kind of soil you’ll have to deal with.

Then he shares the problem of tares among the soil. Here’s the essence of what is required in receiving the gospel. Beware of the fact that there’s going to be false with true. All of the elements here are part and parcel of their training in how to anticipate what’s going to happen when they carry the gospel. It’s the greatest chapter, I think, in the gospel records to train people for evangelism. It’ll tell you everything to expect as he trained the disciples to go out they needed this.

Now notice verse 44, the first parable.

Matthew 13:44 (KJV 1900)

44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

And by the way that’s what they did with their treasure in those days. Like pirates they buried it in the ground and kept a map as to where it was. That was the bank. They hid it there so it would be safe from robbers since it was virtually impossible to lock anything up at that day. They buried it in a field. So it says, “it was hidden in a field and a man, just a man found it. He stumbled across it. He wasn’t looking for it. He happened to find it. He took it and hid it and you say,

“Well that’s not right. He shouldn’t done that. That’s not ethical.” Well it is ethical in this case because it’s obvious in the parable that what he found didn’t belong to the guy who owned the field.

In other words, it was probably buried several generations before and it was no more the property of the guy who presently owned the field than it was of this guy, so he took it and hid it. If he’d been a crook he’d of just stolen it, but he took it and concealed it and because he was so joyful about finding this thing he sold everything he possessed and did what? Bought the field. If he was a crook he wouldn’t have bothered to do that. He’d just take it and run. He had so much integrity he actually bankrupted himself to buy the whole treasure to get the whole field, which was ethical in order to purchase the treasure, which was in it. That’s how much value it had to him.

Go to the second parable, verse 45.

Matthew 13:45 (KJV 1900)

45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

The difference in the two parables is the first guy wasn’t looking and stumbled across the treasure and the second one he was looking and found what he sought. He was seeking pearls. He found one pearl at such great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Matthew 13:46 KJV 1900

46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

Now let me ask you what is the common denominator to both parables? What is it? In each case the man did what? Sold everything.

And I submit to you that the pearl and the treasure are salvation and some people stumble across salvation when they aren’t even looking for it and they are found by God and a great example would be the apostle Paul.

And some people are searching for it and they find it, but in both cases get this, it belongs to those who exchange all that they are for all that Christ is.

It’s the exchanged life.

It isn’t adding Jesus to your repertoire. It isn’t like the rock singer who said I’ve been born again but don’t think it’ll change my act or my lifestyle. It’s not that. It’s an exchange of all that I am for all that he is. It’s an abandoning of all my righteousness for all his righteousness. It’s a setting aside of everything I thought valuable for the pearl of great price. I would willing bankrupt myself of all my human prizes, right?

Philippians 3:8 (KJV 1900)

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Romans 10:9–10 KJV 1900

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Are you Beginning Right?

Are you Behaving Right?

Are you Believing Right?

Are you the Few or the Many?