True and False

We have one week left in the Sermon on the Mount Series, Greatest Sermon Ever, after today. Next week is the end of our series and we will transition into a new series through the book of Micah. I'm excited for where we are going and to be able to dip our toes back into the Old Testament and see Jesus there as well. Please make plans to join us and bring a friend. Following that series we will be going through a topical series called Replant where we will be hearing about where we are going as a church as we really relaunch as a fellowship of believers here in Dixon. I hope you'll look forward to this and pray with me for God's wisdom and direction and His name to be glorified.

Last week we heard how Jesus taught that there are two roads, two ways, two gates, and two crowds that each choose one of these two paths. The narrow gate is the gate to the straight and hard way, the way of Jesus. He's the gate you must enter through. The broad way that leads through the wide gate is easy and inclusive and welcomes many on the road to destruction. But now, in verse 15 and following, Jesus shifts from talking about the path of destruction to those who are teachers of destruction.

Illustration (forget the dog, beware of owner). You don't put up a sign saying beware of dog if you have a goldfish. You do it because there is a danger and you want people to be on the alert.

Jesus warned His followers of false prophets because they already existed.

The danger of false teachers is addressed many other places in the New Testament. God repeatedly warns His followers against these dangerous false and misleading teachers.

Places of warning in the New Testament:

- Jesus -

Matthew 24:23–26 ESV

23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.

- Paul -

Acts 20:28–30 ESV

28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

- 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 12-15

- 2 Timothy 3:1-9

- Peter - 2 Peter 2:1-22

- John - I John 2:18-23, 4:1-6

- 2 John 7-11

- Jude - 25 verse book dedicated to the subject of false teachers.

Jesus refers to false prophets as wolves in sheep's clothing.

It matters which road we travel.

It matters which spiritual teachers we listen to.

It matters which moral guides we follow.

Read

Matthew 7:15–23 ESV

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Pray - Ask for the Lord's help.

I'm indebted to Danny Akin for his help in seeing an outline for this passage.

I. The Good Tree Vs. The Bad Tree

Be careful from which trees you pick fruit. Here are three principles to help us pick well which teachers to listen to.

A. False teachers are deceptive. (V.15)

Be on your guard - present imperative - keep your guard up, pay attention, be alert

condition orange/red?

even to themselves

They pretend to be sheep. They seem harmless. They wear sheep's clothing but they ARE NOT sheep. When you peel back the disguise you see they prove to be ravenous wolves. (Liam Neeson, The Grey illustration) They tear you apart. Looks can be deceiving. They may not appear dangerous at first glance.

Don Carson: "The false prophet can only be someone who does not advocate the narrow way presented by Jesus... They do not tell the whole truth, and their total message is false."

As followers of Jesus Christ, we must be spiritually discerning, never letting down our guard, and testing every teaching by the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Bible. The Word of God is our standard. It's not an issue of being eloquent in speech or entertaining as a teacher. It's an issue of faithfulness to the Bible.

B. False teachers can be detected.

We must pay close attention.

Charles Quarles notes, “False teachers disguise themselves as Jesus’ disciples in order to live undetected among the sheep of the flock and thus devour the sheep with great ease".

Jesus tells us that we can detect the false teachers by their fruit. As I read in one commentary, grapes come from grapevines, not thorn bushes. It seems so easy that we can look and see the outcome of a teacher's teaching and see what they reall are but many times we instead make excuses because they are really nice or a good communicator, or winsome.

Jesus wants us to watch how teachers behave toward God's people and then examine the fruit of what they teach.

they produce bad fruit.

There are two essential tests we can use to expose false teachers who work at slipping into our communities of faith. The doctrinal test and the practical test.

1. The Doctrinal Test

- This test asks a basic question. "Do their teachings line up with the gospel of Jesus Christ that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone? Do they, as Danny Akin says, "avoid the deadly mathematics of false teachers that add to the Bible, subtract from the person and work of Christ, multiply the requirements of salvation, and divide the people of God by a divisive and destructive spirit?"

2. The Practical Test

- The practical test asks questions like these:

- Are they legalists on one hand or completely allow anything on the other?

- Do they throw off all contrasting tot eh extreme or seek to shackle us with legalistic obligations that are in all reality, suffocating to people in the church?

We can detect false teachers by looking at their doctrine and their practice. Their teaching and their lives will tell us a story.

C. False teachers will be destroyed.

In the end they will be exposed as the very ones who traveled on that broad road leading to eternal destruction. Their destiny is sealed and settled. They do not produce good fruit. And in the end they will be cut down and tossed into the fire.

Matthew 3:10 ESV

10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Here's the huge warning: Those who follow them - experience the same fate. They have the same eternal destiny.

Daniel Doriani writes, "Many may deceive for a time, but words and deeds eventually reveal where the heart lies. . . . No one evades God’s justice forever. Bad trees, trees that bear no fruit, are cut down and thrown into the fire (7:19). But it is not enough to examine others. We must watch ourselves as well. (Matthew, 299–300)

They deceive others, but they also deceive themselves. Are you a false teacher? Repent and believe the good news of the Gospel.

II. Genuine Confession of the Obedient vs the False Profession of the Disobedient v. 21-23

These verses are genuinely terrifying. They have been called some of the most terrifying verses in the entire bible. These words flow naturally from verses 13-20. If they make you tremble when you read them, you are not alone. It's a frightening thing to thing that I could say, "Jesus is my Lord," and hear His response of, "I never knew you." Akin wrote, "To think I could preach and even do miracles in His name and have Him say to me on the day of judgement, "Depart from me, you law breakers," is horrifying." It ought to send shivers down the spine and cause our hearts to skip a beat. And these words should drive us not to ask if we know Jesus but rather ask, "Does Jesus know me?"

Dominating this passage is the idea of Lordship. Four times in these two couplets, we see the word "Lord".

What Jesus gives us is a clear distinction between a false profession and a true profession.

He again, gives us a test to distinguish between the two. Jesus's test is ironclad and works.

A. We give evidence that we know Him by our obedience.

Jesus is not downplaying our profession of Him as Lord. It's important. The Bible is clear about this in

Romans 10:9 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Paul also says in

1 Corinthians 12:3 ESV

3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

This implies that only by the Spirit's enablement can we truly and authentically declare that Jesus is Lord and that this is a sign or evidence of authentic Christianity. But as it says in the Exalting Christ Commentary, Jesus wants us to understand that we can **profess** Christ as Lord without **knowing** Christ as Lord. (Winners at the Grammys)

It is possible according to this passage, to profess Christ as Lord and for Jesus to deem that profession as inauthentic and false. So we have to ask ourselves, what is the test that tells us if a profession is true or false.

A changed life that is obedient to the Lord reveals that faith is true. Akin says, "the one who "will enter the kingdom of heaven" is the one who professes Jesus as Lord and "does the will of my Father in heaven."

An obedient life is evidence that your profession of Christ is real and true.

Charles Spurgeon said, "Nothing will prove us to be true Christians but a sincere doing of the Father's will!

B. We give evidence that we do not know Him by our disobedience.

The picture is that they stand before God in the end time judgement. They tell God that they prophesied in His name, they had driven out demons in his name, they will say they did many miracles in his name, and even with all of this, they will hear from the Lord, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers."

The word "lawbreakers" is the Greek word anemia and it connects back to this idea of them failing to do "the will of my Father in heaven."

Here's what we see... we see some people who have a very impressive resume from a human perspective. But God has a different way of seeing things than us mere humans. D.A. Carson wrote about this. He says,

_It is true, of course, that no man enters the kingdom because of his obedience; but it is equally true that no man enters the kingdom who is not obedient. It is true that men are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ; but it is equally true that God’s grace in a man’s life inevitably results in obedience. Any other view of grace cheapens grace, and turns it into something unrecognizable. Cheap grace preaches forgiveness without repentance, church membership without rigorous church discipline, discipleship without obedience, blessing without persecution, joy without righteousness, results without obedience. In the entire history of the church, has there ever been another generation with so many nominal Christians and so few real (i.e., obedient) ones? And where nominal Christianity is compounded by spectacular profession, it is especially likely to manufacture its own false assurance._

So false prophets are wolves disguised as sheep and some goats try to masquerade as sheep.

Conclusion, application, implications (Musicians)

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 6:68–69 ESV

68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

John 14:15 ESV

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

I told the boys this weekend, "life is full of choices." The most important choice is whether or not you submit to Jesus as Lord.

Recap the main points

Invite to respond. - Use questions from ECC

Prayer