SF 1640 Matthew 7

***** SERMON MANUSCRIPT*****

Melburn H. Hardin, D.Min.                Kerrville, Texas

TITLE:    Look at the Fruit!     

SCRIPTURE:   Matthew 7:13-20

TOPIC: 

SERIES TITLE:   The Sermon on the Mount   

INDEX NUMBER:   SF 1640

DATE PREPARED:   2009/01/12

DATE PREACHED:   2009/01/18

PLACE PREACHED:  Kerrville Sunrise Baptist Church

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Introduction

1.  The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Maxwell, invented and
   developed the first automobile air-conditioner. On July 17, 1946, the temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees. The four brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him that four gentlemen were there with the most exciting innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter. Henry was curious and invited them into his office. They refused and instead asked that he come out to the parking lot to their car.

1. They persuaded him to get into the car, which was about 130 degrees, turned on the air conditioner, and cooled the car off immediately. The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office, where he offered them $3 million for the patent. The brothers refused, saying they would settle for only $2 million, but they wanted the recognition by having a label, "The Goldberg Air-Conditioner," on the dashboard of each car in which it was installed.

1. Now old man Ford was more than just a little anti-Semitic, and there was no way he was going to put the Goldberg's name on two million Fords. They haggled back and forth for about two hours, and finally Lowell, Norman, Hiram and Maxwell agreed on $4 million and that just their first names would be shown. And so to this day, all Ford air conditioners show Lo, Norm, Hi, and Max on the controls. So, now you know. (!)

1. That information, together with a dime, may buy you a stick of gum. Please forget where you heard it!

1. But there are other things that are far more important to know and understand. How can I know for sure that I am a true believer in Christ? How can I know that others around me are true or are false in their professions of faith in Christ? How can I know whether or not my preacher teaches the Word of God?

1. Here in his “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 7:13-20) our Lord addressed this very issue. He gave us some good “indicators” for us to use in determining whether a person’s religion is true or false. Essentially, it all depends upon radical choices one must make.

1)      One must walk the narrow way, not the wide way.

2)      One’s faith must be based in inward piety, not outward pretense; and

3)      One’s life must yield good fruit, not bad fruit.

I.                   ONE MUST WALK THE NARROW WAY, NOT THE WIDE WAY

1. (Matthew 7:13-14) 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.

1. Everyone will choose the way he will go, i.e., the moral direction of his life. Life is not as simplistic as the country philosopher suggested when he said, “When you come to a crossroads in life, take it!”

1. You had better take the right road, the road that leads to God and salvation!

1)      Jesus presented life’s choice as one’s choosing the particular gate he will enter and the particular road he would travel.

2)      If one chooses the wide gate, upon entry he will find that the road behind it is a great broad way, heavy with traffic.

3)      If one chooses “the narrow gate,” he will find that the road behind that gate is very narrow, and it can be a very lonesome road, because not many choose to go that way.

1. Truth is always narrow; error is always broad.

1)      The correct way for us to live is to walk the narrow way. There are multiplied millions of wrong ways to do something; usually, there is only one right way to do it. Thomas A. Edison found a thousand wrong ways to make a light bulb before he found the right way to do it.

2)      Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” There are many, many religions and philosophies competing for the souls of men and women. Jesus claims to be the only way to God. I am convinced that he is right! Personal faith in Jesus is the only way to life everlasting.

3)      Jesus’ claim flies into the face of the modern multiculturalism that is being peddled in the Western World today. It may be that “all roads led to Rome” in the ancient days; it is not true that all roads lead to God and his heaven!

4)      Jesus warned us that the way of true life is not a popular way. In relation to the 6 billions of people who live on this earth, relatively few are walking with a personal relationship to Christ.

5)      Jesus warned us, in so many words: “If it seems that the whole world is walking a certain way, living a certain way—then you can be certain that is not the way to life.” 

II.                ONE’S FAITH MUST BE BASED IN INWARD PIETY, NOT OUTWARD PRETENSE

1. (Matthew 7:15) 15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  

1. The major emphasis that our Lord made here had to do with spiritual leaders. It is important for us to have spiritual teachers and leaders, but we must carefully select them.

1)      It is no accident that the chief leaders within Christianity have been communicators—apostles, prophets, preachers, teachers and pastors, evangelists.

2)      Our life in Christ involves our making choices in every aspect of our daily lives—intelligent choices, spiritual choices, choices that are matters of life and death. Spiritual leaders and teachers can be of great assistance to us in making the correct choices. We have always needed men who can communicate clearly the truth of God’s Word—they can help us understand the Scriptures and teach us to make good application of the truth in specific circumstances.

3)      But we must ever guard against the counterfeit, the false prophet. Judging the false prophet can be a difficult task. Outwardly, he may look just like a true prophet. Inwardly, his motivation may be lust, fame, greed, anything but a true devotion to the Lord Jesus.

4)      You remember the fable of “Little Red Riding Hood”? Little Red Riding Hood encountered someone in her grandmother’s bed who looked a lot like her grandmother. That someone was lying in her grandmother’s bed. That someone had her grandmother’s nightcap on; that someone had her grandmother’s nightgown on. At first glance, there was no reason to suspect that that someone was anyone other than her grandmother.

5)      But as Little Red Riding Hood looked more closely to that someone in her grandmother’s bed, she realized that things were not what they first appeared to be. “Grandmother, what long ears you have!” “Grandmother, what a hairy face you have!” “Grandmother, what big teeth you have!” That wasn’t any grandmother; that was a big bad wolf dressed in grandmother’s clothing!

1. Jesus warned us to look carefully at the lives and actions of those who disciple us in the Word of God—and those who lead us in the church and in the Christian faith. We must not only listen to what they say, even though they may be very talented and compelling speakers, even though they may appear to be very knowledgeable and successful. We must not only listen—but we must look: look at “the fruit of their lives…”

III.             ONE’S LIFE MUST YIELD GOOD FRUIT, NOT BAD FRUIT

1. (Matthew 7:16-20) 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. “Fruit” means the produce of one’s life. It means the deeds one does, the actions one takes, the example one provides.

1. God sent us only one perfect leader, only one perfect teacher—the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot expect to have a perfect pastor, a perfect missionary, a perfect deacon, a perfect Bible teacher.

1. But we must expect our teachers to strive to live up to their teachings! We must expect them to be honest and forthright in their dealings with others.

1. There is danger; we can be misled. False prophets so often appear to be the real thing; they often appear to be righteous prophets. Even a prophet’s apparent sincerity cannot decide the matter; the prophet himself may be misled.

1. Jim Jones and David Koresh had charisma. They were compelling to their followers. Not many preachers I have ever known about could lead their parishioners to drink poisoned Kool-Aid or to set fire to the building they were in and burn themselves up. Jones and Koresh were evil, false prophets.

1. We know that their life styles and habits were sinfully corrupt and their teachings were not true to the Bible.

1. One aspect of the fruit of a prophet: is his teaching true to revealed Scripture?

1)      What is the truth? The written Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. The teachings of the true prophet will be consistent with the truth of the Bible.

2)      His teachings will be in harmony with the Scriptures.

3)      He will always put Christ in the central place.

4)      His teaching will lead men, not to worship the prophet—but to worship, love and obey Jesus Christ.

1. There is one other test that the Lord gave us. We will look at that next Sunday evening.  We must not only hear one say how much he loves the Lord—but we must look and see how obedient he is to the Lord’s commands.