Matthew 7:15-29. (Outward appearance is not enough. Beware of fruit!

Matthew 7:15-29. (Outward appearance is not enough. Beware of fruit!

Jesus is wrapping up the what is known as the sermon on the mount, (As you will see in the rest of Matthew, this will not be the only time Jesus teaches, he will teach in synagogues, wilderness, villages at the around the sea of Galilee and when he meets people. We will also see how Jesus lives out his own teaching / unlike the false Prophets that Jesus wans us against in the text today.

[From last time he said to ask, seek, knock, to do on to others as we would like them to us. And to ask, seek and walk the hard narrow road that leads to life.]

Jesus warns agist false prophets, beware. That some people are not what they pretend to be, they might look and act nice like sheep on the surface, and say all the right things, but inside they are wolves that are seeking to kill and greedy for their own gain. (Jesus, Peter, Paul, James Jude all warns against this).

Jesus then gives and agricultural metaphor, gardening, - Where dose good fruit come from, a healthy tree. And bad fruit comes from a sick or diseased tree, - And what happens to trees that don’t produce good fruit? (Evil works) They are cut down and thrown in the oven.

The False prophets, and teachers might be able to keep up and appearance of a sheep, but the inward wolf, will kill and destroy, what ever it gets is teeth in to. Jesus asks us to be wise and look at what kind of fruit they produce, is it the fruit of the spirt of the flesh? Galatians 5:19-23 PPT evil and wrong teaching, that leads to death and not life in Jesus.

(Many false teachers are about them self, money, food, sex, abuse, preaching one thing but living another, Jesus has been going after our hearts and asking us to trust God, don’t be a hypocrite, know who God is and who you are… Stop acting/hypocrite, and start trusting God, and stop doing works of evil.

Sometimes we can judge fruit wrongly, that if some church or ministry is successful, and many are seemed to get to know Jesus. We might think the pastor and church is great, but God could and have saved people despite of Pastors and churches, bad/false teaching and very sinful and lacking character. Jesus is the one who is to be worshiped not the people that talk about him. It is clear in church history that Jesus is our Lord and savior and that churches and pastors and prophets have gone astray many times, to lead people astray, it calls for us to test the spirts, be discerning, and know Jesus so well that all false teaching and prophets will not fool us… Also when they seeming do great works of casting our demons and prophesy in Jesus name. And clamed Jesus as Lord.

Jesus said, just because you say Lord, Lord to him, it does not mean that Jesus knows them, if their actions are not aligned what his fathers will, they can call Jesus Lord all they want, if they don’t submit to God, they don’t know Jesus!

The same for us today, I like Jesus, but not God, -what? Yeah, Jesus is my Lord! And I do whatever I what to do, no, that is not what Jesus said, he said, if they would clam Jesus as Lord, and have cast our demons and spoke in Jesus name prophesying,( I use Jesus name to get what I want – the geany God thing), - I do my will not Gods will, I don’t submit to the will of God, I will use. Jesus for my own gain, - for what he can do, save me, give me things. But my heart and mind are not changed to give up my life and die to self, and take up my cross daily and follow Jesus, humble doing the good works that God has laid before us to walk in.

Jesus (Judges rightly and justly PPT quoite) said I don’t know you… I never did, you workers of lawlessness. (That is the opposite of what we hope to hear from God, well done good and faithful serverant. We trust in Jesus work, and obey and summit to what Jesus talked about next and the whole sermon on the mount, not just listening to his words but living them out, we build by grace true faith on the rock Christ, the teaching he as provided trusting him and accepting the invitation to true life in Jesus Christ, not with outward compliance or pretending hypiciacal, but doing the words of Jesus following his example growing in the fruit of the spirt.

Why because as like the people Jesus spoke to Matthew ends the section with saying that the crowds were astonished at Jesus teaching; because he taught as one with authority.Because he is the son, Jesus man and God the 2 member of the 3 in one God, that is why Jesus has authority, to explain what all the original commands mean, and Jesus lived them all out to the glory of the father and for our good, - in his life death, resurrection and he is coming back. Jesus is in authority over all, will we in joy submit to him, as Christ Lord, God and savior.

Building on Christ as the foundation or something ells that leads to destruction.

One commentor said, not all sermons have to end with conciliation, and that Jesus sermon on the mount was the proof. Good point. I would like us all to listen and obey the words of Jesus, - trusting in Him and his words, not in our works, but by grace living out our faith and trust in Jesus, - back to chapter 5 – as Peter say later Jesus has the words of life.