Matthew 7:15 -23 | Rotten Fruit

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Amen.

Well, as we were singing that song, I was imagining in my mind being, I don't know, eight, ten, twelve years old, something like that.

As a young boy, we we spent many many weeks in the summer camped around a small lake in western North Dakota, a small dam.

We would camp there, and the the lake was sort of set down in a in a depression from where we camped, and my dad and I would spend so much time out on the lake in a canoe fishing.

And my dad was was always one to make use of what he had.

And so the anchor that we had was a bleach container, a gallon bleach container filled with cement, tied to a thick yellow rope that was then tied to a a bar in the bow of the canoe.

And we would go fishing all around the lake, and that that anchor would would go down to the bottom of the lake whenever we stopped in a particular place to fish for a while.

But I remember one one time when in this in this lake it had lots of dead trees in it.

And one time we couldn't get the anchor up, couldn't pull it up.

And that was important because uh a squall was coming in, a small storm was coming in, and we needed to get off the lake quickly.

But we couldn't get the anchor up.

While the anchor was was there and in place, we were we were firmly kept in place, but we had to cut that rope.

I remember when we cut that rope, we got it cut just as the wind started blowing.

It was really hard to get off that lake.

We had to paddle aggressively to get off that lake.

But it reminded me of that song, When we are tied to the anchor, we're kept firmly secure.

Isn't that a great place to be?

I encourage you to take your Bible if you have one or your device and open it to the Gospel of Matthew.

As we've been working our way through Matthew's Gospel together, we are at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.

And this morning I would like to direct your attention to Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Again, that is Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

We are going to be looking together this morning at Matthew chapter 7, beginning in verse 15, and I would like to work our way all the way through verse 23.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Again, it's Matthew chapter 7, beginning in verse 15.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

The Lord Jesus says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

You will recognize them by their fruits.

Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?

So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Not every one 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.

On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?

Did we not cast out demons in your name and do many works in your name?

And then will I declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus.

This is a hard, hard passage.

It brings about some realities in our spiritual lives that we might not care to admit actually exist.

I pray that you would give us your spirit to understand what you're saying here, but also to apply it to our daily lives, to our spiritual lives, our walk with you.

Lord, I pray that you would give us a spirit of humility to maybe grasp some things that we've not been able to see before.

And I pray too that as I try to express this, especially over the medium of the internet, where we can't especially be right close to one another, that you would you would cause the inadequacies of this medium to not obscure my heart this morning and and your heart and what needs to come across to your people.

We ask that you would be we praised and glorified as we look at your word together.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

If only false teachers came with warning labels.

You know, a little bit of poison can make you terribly sick.

For that matter, a a little bit of poison can kill you.

Most of us have have probably heard of toxic elements like cyanide or arsenic.

You probably watched one of those news programs of detailing someone who used small amounts of those toxic elements to commit murder.

But there are even far more toxic elements than arsenic or cyanide.

For example, butrachotoxin comes from South American frogs.

A very small amount of that poison will kill you, so small of an amount equal to two individual grains of table salt.

The amount of batrocotoxin, the size of two grains of table salt, will likely kill you.

Now, most of us, of course, understand that we have many helpful items today that, if used improperly, could could harm us, could even kill us.

They must be used appropriately.

According to some court cases in recent years, giving someone certain kinds of eye drops orally, instead of putting the eyedrops in your eyes, will make you liable to the charge of murder.

Because some eye drops taken orally can kill you.

Perhaps most concerning are those items that we believe are actually helpful to us, that are good for us, and we take them in and they are in reality toxic.

Did you hear last fall about the Columbia University professor who canceled her classes?

She canceled her classes because she accidentally poisoned herself.

This professor is a believer in natural medicine, and so she didn't want to take the medically given flu shot.

So instead she concocted something made out of elderberries.

Well, what she did not realize is that elderberries, when when consumed uncooked or unripened, can produce cyanide.

And she did that and she poisoned herself.

And we wonder then why there are so many warning signs posted on everything that we consume.

If only false teachers came with warnings.

Passages like this are difficult to preach.

It's one of the reasons, actually, that I preach consecutively, because I can't skip a passage that is difficult without you knowing about it.

It forces me to deal with both the difficult and the simpler passages of Scripture.

I can't, in good conscience, skip over something that I might rather not talk about.

But it's also hard to preach because of what it implies.

It implies a warning.

It implies having to make a discerning, righteous judgment about other pastors, about authors, about teachers, about speakers of all kinds.

In this age of instant and readily accessible communication, God's people can hear almost anyone who wants to teach them and lead them.

All it takes is a few clicks of a mouse button and a few characters from a keyboard, and you can have any teacher you want in your living room right this moment instead of listening to me.

Now, what that means is that your pastors and your elders, even if you are not a part of Faith Evangelical Free Church, all pastors and all elders have a responsibility to make discerning righteous judgments for the good of God's people.

Maybe to put it more specifically than that, here at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, our pastors and our elders have a divinely commanded obligation to steer our people, our fellowship, away from toxins, away from false teaching, from false teachers and false prophets.

That's really hard to do.

But we want you to know that we love you enough to do that.

It's not enjoyable to say to someone, you know, you shouldn't listen to that teacher.

It doesn't bring us joy to say, that's not safe for our church.

Or that's not that's not biblical.

Humanly, that feels like we are we are acting restrictively and controlling.

But when we take a step back and we realize how great our spiritual enemy is and and how vast is his influence, warning about toxins becomes not only an issue of obedience, but an element of love and care as well.

Sometimes the word of our king is comforting.

For example, Isaiah 40, verse 1, God says, Comfort, comfort my people.

Isaiah 40:1

That's a great message to declare, isn't it?

Sometimes God's message is corrective.

If we go just a chapter later in Isaiah chapter 41, God says, Listen to me in silence.

Isaiah 41 · chapter mention

Don't don't talk while I'm talking to you, God says.

Sometimes the word of the king is a warning.

Beware of false prophets.

You know, the first the first duty of a representative of God is to speak God's word in the way that God intended.

We sometimes call that in theological circles, we call that authorial intent.

What did the author intend to communicate?

If Jesus were were here saying these words, what would he be intending in what he communicates?

How would he communicate it?

Sometimes that that will need some explanation, sometimes it will need some guidance in applying and acting on God's declaration.

But here we we clearly see this is a warning.

And so it comes with a sense of concern and care for people, but also a sense of strength.

And I want you to know that the leadership here at Faith Evangelical Free Church loves you enough to wrestle through the hard decisions.

And it's a wrestling.

We wrestle with it.

Sometimes we take hours and days to talk over issues.

We love you enough to make hard decisions, to protect us.

And sometimes, this can be the hardest thing, but to protect us from ourselves.

Now let's remember the context here.

This is the conclusion to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, right?

We've covered chapter 5, chapter 6, and now we're nearing the end of chapter 7, and chapter 7 is the end of the Sermon on the Mount.

So Jesus is wrapping things up, and this is where we are used to thinking about where or what we're going to eat for lunch, right?

See, the end of the sermon, the sermon's going to be close to noon.

We're thinking about what we're going to eat for lunch, what we're going to do with Sunday afternoon, what we're going to do once the preacher's done talking.

I'm not done talking yet, so don't start thinking that way.

This is the time in the sermon when we tune out and we and we miss some of the most important elements.

So let's not do that.

Let's take a moment and review a little bit about where we've been.

Specifically, what has come just before this, because it's important.

Last time we looked at verses 13 and 14, where Jesus talked about entering that narrow gate and walking on that narrow road instead of the wide gate and the wide road.

Enter in verse 13 and beware in verse 15.

Everything here surrounds those two commands.

Go here, watch out here.

And Jesus says that entry into the Lord's kingdom is only through one gate that heads a narrow road.

What he would often do is alliterate the main headings to his sermon, and in that alliteration, one word would be a strange word that you've likely not heard before.

So that's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to give you five P's in a pod this morning to remember last Sunday.

The command to enter the narrow gate, to walk on the narrow road is particular.

The command is particular.

There's only two ways there's a wide way and a and a narrow way.

Here's your strange word.

The command is punctilier.

Punctilier.

It has to do with time.

It happens in time.

It happens at a point in time, and it is completed at the end of time.

It is particular, it is punctilier, it is practical.

There is an easy way and there is a hard way.

There's an easy way and there's a hard way.

The command is practical.

The command is also precious.

Why do we use the phrase precious metals, referring to things like gold and titanium?

It's because they're rare.

Jesus says, many will find the way on the wide road, but only a few will find the narrow way.

It is particular, it is punctilliar, it is practical, it is precious, and the command is very pointed.

That's your fifth P.

The result of either road is life or destruction.

Life or destruction.

And now the second command, beware, is stated in light of that first command.

There's only one way, the Lord Jesus says, only one way into his kingdom, and he is Lord of His kingdom.

Therefore, he knows how to get in.

He knows the road to his kingdom.

He knows the path that his people, his kingdom citizens walk.

He understands all of that.

Jesus is the one who knows the way to his city, to his kingdom, and he knows how to lead us there.

He is the good shepherd who leads us there.

And he tells us, go through the narrow gate.

Watch out, therefore, when you encounter false prophets who point you to the wide gate and to the easy road.

Watch out when you when you hear shepherds make that that wide gate appear as though it were narrow.

When shepherds widen that that narrow gate, beware.

Now you might be sitting at home and thinking, wow, I'm glad I've I've never encountered those false prophets.

I don't know.

I don't know what I would do.

Well, I would suggest to you that you already have.

Listen to David Mathis.

The question is not whether you ever hear the voice of false teachers.

You do.

Probably every day.

The question is whether you can discern which messages are false.

If you watch any television, listen to any radio or podcasts, if you keep up on the news or interact at depth with just about anyone in modern society, you are being exposed to some form of false teaching.

If you cannot identify any voices you hear as false, it's not because you aren't being exposed, but because you're falling for it in some way.

Here's how David Mathis ends.

For most of church history, it took extraordinary energy and effort to influence the masses.

Messages had to be copied by hand, and teachers had to travel on foot and horseback.

There were no cars, there were no airplanes, there were no printing presses, websites, or Facebook pages.

But today, just about every false teacher has a Twitter account.

End quote.

In fact, that's that's why he gives us this warning.

Jesus says to us, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Why would Jesus need to give that warning?

Very simply, it's because we need to have discernment.

We need to grow up, we need to mature in our following of the king on the narrow road, and doing so will increase our discernment.

Now, when we grasp what Jesus is saying here, we have to realize that all of that begins with a massive dose of humility.

Jesus is telling us to grow up.

Now we we we we react to that.

We don't enjoy someone telling us, you need to grow up.

And that's exactly what Jesus is doing here.

He's saying, you need to grow up in your discernment.

We are not where we should be, so as to always know what is toxic to our spiritual lives.

So we need some guidance and some instruction, and that's what Jesus is giving us here.

He's saying, you won't always recognize them if you don't pay attention.

So I'm giving you some help.

I'm helping you grow up, I'm helping you mature in your discernment.

False prophets and false teachers exist, he says.

Recognize that.

And this is part of understanding the spiritual battle in which we live.

Our enemy seeks to distract us.

There are false teachers everywhere.

What kind of false prophets are these?

Well, he tells us they these are people who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

I'm of the opinion here that what Jesus is saying is that these are.

People who look like sheep, but they're people who look like shepherds.

They're individuals who come dressed in the clothing of sheep, that is, in wool.

They're individuals who come as leaders, as people of importance, as people who say, I ought to be listened to because I'm a shepherd.

I'm one who the sheep follow.

These are not people following a shepherd.

These are prophets.

These are people who give instruction.

It's the shepherd that gives instruction.

They're dressed in sheep's clothing, they look like shepherds, they sound like shepherds, and it seems as though they do things that shepherds do.

By all appearances, they look like shepherds who've been blessed by God.

If I can put that into more of a contemporary vernacular, these are pastors and professors.

These are pastors and professors' wives.

These are seminary grads and PhDs.

These are big-time television preachers and small time evangelists.

These are popular authors, Bible study writers, dynamic conference speakers.

Jesus says they come to you looking like acceptable and proper and exciting people to follow and listen to.

But inwardly, he says they are ravenous wolves.

On the outside, they look exactly like what you would want to have for a shepherd.

They're not going to show you, though, what's on the inside.

You don't have the eyesight, you don't have the x-ray vision to see that on the inside these shepherds are actually ravenous wolves.

Ravenous meaning they are starving, they are hungry, and they want to consume.

This is a pattern found all throughout Scripture.

Ezekiel chapter 22, verse 27, God speaks of Israel, and he says, her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain.

Ezekiel 22:27

These shepherds, God says, who come to you.

Jesus is saying, listen, they are there.

They exist.

They are out to get you.

They are insatiable creatures feeding upon the gullibility of human beings.

They're standing at the door of the wide gate, seeking to draw in as many as they can.

They stand at the narrow way, seeking to restrain people from traveling on the narrow road.

They're seeking to disrupt the lives of those who are traveling that narrow road.

And they work to widen the narrow way, to say, no, we can have it bigger and better than this.

Wolves dressed like shepherds make their words sound like truth.

They make their agenda look righteous and godly.

They speak encouraging words and uplifting words, words that deceptively lead on the wide road to destruction.

Why did Eve follow the serpent's word?

Because it sounded good.

It sounded right.

It was encouraging to her.

But it was just enough deception to lead right into sin.

And every false shepherd falls in the footsteps of the serpent in the garden.

We're given warnings throughout the Bible about these individuals.

One of them is near the end of the book of Romans, in Romans chapter 16.

Romans 16 · chapter mention

The Apostle Paul is writing to the church there, and he says, I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine, to the teaching that you've been taught.

Avoid them.

For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.

And by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

They're in the church.

They don't look like false prophets at all.

They look like those who should be followed, should be listened to.

Acts chapter 20 is actually a very frightening passage to consider for those who lead God's people.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.

Notice he says, here's how you care for the church of God.

Watch out for the wolves.

And the wolves are most likely going to come from inside your own midst.

Watch out for them.

Jesus says they're going to come.

The way he says it indicates that they are coming, that both now they're coming and they will come in the future.

There will be false prophets, false shepherds continually coming for the sheep.

Don't relax.

Always beware.

They will come to those who are at decisive moments in life.

When there is a place in their life when they are saying to themselves, I must choose the narrow way, and they will come and say, No, don't choose the narrow way, go the wide way.

And make it sound good.

They will come to those who are struggling.

They will come to those who are unsuspecting.

They will come to those who've already entered the narrow gate and attempt to draw them off the road if that were possible.

That's what Jesus himself says in Matthew 24.24.

He says, For false Christs and false prophets will arise.

It's how effective they are.

That means that like the tellers and the checkers that take our money and then swipe it with a marker or a highlighter to make sure it's real, we need some sort of way to identify if someone is merely wearing sheep's clothing or if they are really, truly shepherds sent by God.

So how do we identify them?

How do we know if any particular shepherd is a false shepherd?

Well, Jesus tells us in verse 16, you will recognize them by their fruits.

They're not going to be, most likely, readily identifiable because they appear as genuine shepherds.

That's what they look like.

They're like a piece of fruit that has a worm in the middle.

It looks great on the outside, but it's destroyed on the inside.

You can't tell until you get to the inside.

And here is the immediate danger, then, of these kinds of false teachers, of false shepherds.

Jesus is laying out for us this warning.

False shepherds appear genuine.

They appear to be helpful to you.

They sound as though they know the Bible inside and outside, frontwards and backwards, and they are encouraging in our walk of faith.

Jesus goes on to say in verses 17 and 18 that these shepherds are going to bear fruit.

All shepherds are going to bear fruit.

The question is, are they going to bear good fruit or rotten fruit?

So the way that they shepherd, the way that they lead the sheep, will bear fruit.

Will that fruit be righteous and godly, or will it be defective and rotten?

Their teaching will bear fruit.

Will their teaching lead people to Christ and to obedience to Christ?

Or will their teaching be rotten and lead people to walk away from Christ and to focus on self and everything about self?

You will see fruit from what they believe, their faith.

Those whose faith is genuine, they will shepherd and they will lead even through trials, focusing on Christ alone, that sugar and steady anchor.

The faith of those who are just wearing sheep's clothing but are actually wolves may disappear during time of trial.

Jesus asks a supporting question that expects a negative answer.

Grapes aren't gathered from thorn bushes, are they?

You don't pick figs from thistles, do you?

Now I know you don't need a degree in horticulture to know the answer to that question.

Everybody on the hillside listening to Jesus that day instantly knew the answers.

But before we get too far down that road, we need to understand there's an implication here.

You don't go to false shepherds to be fed and watered.

False shepherds are not the ones to go to to lie down in green pastures and to have still water, to find rest.

You don't go to false shepherds to be led down the narrow road.

They're going to give you just enough to help provide a way, a means to give you toxins as well.

But in terms of Jesus' command to beware, we need to understand that some false prophets are going to be obvious.

Some are going to stand out as clear as day.

You're going to see them, you're going to be able to spot them and say, Yeah, I need to go a different direction.

But many, maybe we could even say most, that the most dangerous ones are those whom many might not even identify as a false shepherd.

Remember, they look, they smell, they sound, they feel like a wholesome shepherd.

And it may take a long time to be able to notice their true colors.

It may be that others will be able to see what you cannot.

Sometimes we get tricked by our own feelings for a person.

They've helped us in the past.

They've said some encouraging things to us, and we've liked what they've said in the past, and so it makes us hard to look at them and see, wow, no, they really aren't true.

But the unqualified identifier is their fruit.

What do they produce?

Fruit is often used in the Bible as a metaphor for the actions of people, done as a result of who they truly are on the inside.

What we are on the inside comes out on the outside.

So Jesus says that false prophets can be identified by evaluating their fruit.

And he uses a particular word here that means to make or to do, and it's translated differently.

We see it in verse 17, bearing good fruit, bearing bad fruit.

Verse 18, bearing bad fruit, bearing good fruit.

It's the same word as verse 21, the one who does the will of my father, and in verse 22, and who do mighty works.

This is about what they do.

And Jesus is highlighting that what comes out of these people is an identifier of what's on the inside.

Healthy trees make good fruit.

They produce, they bear good fruit.

That's what they do.

Diseased or rotten trees make bad fruit.

They bear rotten fruit.

They will be obeying Christ because of what's on the inside, or they will be following their own sinful desires because of what's on the inside.

Obedience to Christ or lack of obedience generates fruit.

It displays itself on the outside, in good fruit or rotten fruit.

Now in verse 18, Jesus provides some commentary on this issue.

He says, A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a diseased tree cannot bear good fruit.

Jesus' word choice here is really interesting.

He uses a word that speaks to ability.

They are not able to bear good fruit.

That's not possible.

So if a tree is producing good, healthy, righteous fruit, it is able to do so.

But if a tree is rotten, it is not able to do so.

So if the tree is healthy, there's no ability in it to produce bad fruit.

On the other hand, if the tree is diseased or rotten, there's no power in it to bear good fruit.

And that's an important truth for us to grasp, my friends.

Even though these false teachers, these false prophets, these false shepherds appear in every way to be genuine, they are not.

They are rotten, diseased trees.

As such, they are, by their very nature, unable to produce fruit in their lives that pleases God.

That's a byproduct, really, of his work in them.

They may look healthy.

They may appear to be healthy, prosperous, fruit-bearing trees.

Their fruit may look good, but in reality they are hypocrites pretending to be faithful shepherds.

And as they produce fruit, which they will, both in themselves and in those who follow them, mature disciples should be able to discern whether that fruit is Christ honoring fruit or sin honoring fruit.

Christ honoring fruit or self-honoring fruit.

So Jesus says in verse 19, don't tolerate trees that produce rotten fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

I recently read of a farm that cut down all of their fruit trees because they all got a disease.

And they had to start from scratch, had to start from planting new trees.

That's what you do.

If you if you don't get good fruit, you cut it down and you start over.

Jesus' statement here is very cut and dried.

Pun intended.

Choosing the wide gate and the broad way leads to destruction.

The fruit of false teachers demonstrates they're all about destruction.

That's a hard truth to really process as Christians and especially as a church.

Because what it tells us is that just as we would not tolerate a fruit tree that's not producing good fruit if all of it all it produces is rotten and diseased, we're not going to tolerate that.

Jesus, in the same way, says, don't tolerate a false teacher.

Don't introduce toxic elements into your life.

Oh, but I'm sure that I would notice.

I can be okay because I'll notice if they say something unbiblical.

They'll say something and I'll catch it.

I'm sure to do that.

Well, brother or sister, if if that's your response, why are there so many warnings then?

Why are there so many warnings in the New Testament to beware, to watch out, to see to it that you're not taken captive.

Verse 20 then is this very strong statement.

Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

We are to notice the importance of making a judgment based upon wisdom, discernment, and the will of God concerning these people.

It all goes back to verse 12.

Whatever you wish to be done to others, you do to them.

So if you don't want others to give you false teaching, don't give false teaching to others.

If you don't want your brothers and sisters in Christ to have false teaching, then don't go to false teaching.

There's a judgment that comes in here.

Jesus does not eliminate all judgment.

He says to judge righteously with everything that we've looked at in this passage in chapter 7 already.

Yes, judge, but judge righteously.

Do it properly.

And notice the importance that God places on watching out for these kinds of people.

They will, if possible, keep people from going through the narrow gate.

They will do their best to distract those who are already traveling the narrow way, to make them somehow less fruitful in God's service.

And you know what?

They may not even realize that they're doing that.

Because in a little bit they will say to the Lord Jesus, look at all that we've done.

Their means of shepherding does not unite God's sheep.

It divides them and conquers them.

This is why it's one of the extremely important duties that the Lord has given the elders of the local church.

To notice false teaching, to pay attention, to guard the church from wolves pretending to be sheep.

You can see that in Acts chapter 20, in the passage that we read, beginning in verse 28.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

You can see that in Titus chapter 1 and other passages.

Titus 1 · chapter mention

Beloved, don't listen to or follow someone whose fruit indicates travel on the wide road.

It's toxic to your spiritual life.

Okay, maybe it'll only make you sick.

What if it kills you?

You see, profession does not equal possession.

Profession of Christ, profession of faith in Christ does not equal possession of faith in Christ.

Claiming the name Christian, Christian teacher, Christian preacher, Christian writer, Christian conference speaker does not necessarily mean that that individual is on the narrow road to the kingdom.

I can't tell you how many times I've I've grieved in my heart when somebody has said to me, Oh, but they're a really good person.

Oh, they're they're a Christian, they're a good person.

Beloved, many good people, many Christian people do not do the will of the Father.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does Does the will of my Father who's in heaven?

That's a narrow road.

What is the will of the Father?

Well, Jesus tells us in John 6, verse 40, he says, This is the will of my Father.

John 6:40

How can you get much clearer than that?

He says, This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

Genuine belief and genuine faith in the Son is the will of the Father.

What does that look like?

Because that's what Jesus is talking about, right?

It's the obedience that results from that faith, from that genuine trust in Jesus.

Well, James tells us all about that, doesn't he?

Believing in the Son generates obedience out of genuine love and devotion.

Who better than to tell us what genuine faith looks like than the Lord Jesus' own brother?

He says in James 1.22, be doers of the word, and not hearers only.

Because if you're just a hearer, then you deceive yourself.

In James chapter 2, verse 22, he says that our faith is active.

James 2:22

It lives itself out in what we do.

Philippians chapter 2, the apostle Paul tells us, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, because God is working in you.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

If God is working in you because of your faith in the Son, then you're going to see it in genuine fruit that isn't rotten.

As we look at these three verses in verse 21, 22, and 23, we see three different truths here about these false shepherds.

We see, first of all, that they're deceived by their own devotion.

Maybe they've committed their lives to preaching Christ, to writing about Christ, to teaching about Christ.

They come to the end of time and they say, Lord, Lord, look, look what we've look what we've done.

Look at our faith in you.

Jesus will say, your faith isn't genuine.

That's a frightening place to be.

See, Jesus is the one who ultimately determines whether a person has narrow, entered the narrow gate and walked the narrow road.

Here, the people pictured are claiming that they know Jesus.

They know him as Lord.

And what's more is that they claim to recognize his superiority to them.

And they think that because they know him, Jesus will let them into his kingdom.

You know, it's not.

Can't you let us in?

And Jesus will say, You never had genuine faith.

We can go on.

False shepherds are deceived by their own efforts.

On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?

Did we not even cast out demons in your name?

Did we not do many mighty works in your name?

Look at everything that we've done, Jesus.

We've done good things, we've been good people, and we've done good things.

Can't you let us in?

And Jesus will say, You walked the wide road.

And all of those false shepherds will face a startling reality.

Verse 23, then I will declare to them the one who has the keys to eternal life, the one who's at the end of the road to destruction or to life.

I never knew you.

Never heard you before.

Where did you teach?

What did you write?

How many books did you sell?

Sorry, I never knew you.

Get away from me.

You've only done lawlessness.

I want to spend a few minutes on some application elements here.

First, I think very clearly there's an implied warning to those who would lead God's people with false teaching.

Right?

Anyone who handles God's word to instruct or to lead others ought to take this warning to heart.

I better not be a false shepherd.

Anyone who's in a position to give shepherding care and leadership and instruction to another person ought to take this to heart.

Secondly, there's a direct warning towards the Lord's people.

If you go back to chapter 5, you will see that the first receivers, that the direct audience that Jesus is speaking to is his own disciples.

It's the Lord's people, his followers, the sheep of the Good Shepherd that are hearing the words, watch out.

Beware.

It's somewhat, well, it is kind of King James language, but I like what Puritan Thomas Brooks wrote in a section of a book he wrote called Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices.

He wrote, Satan labors, might and main.

That's basically an old English way of saying, Satan labors with everything he's got by false teachers, which are his emissaries, to deceive, to delude, and to forever undo the precious souls of people.

That's what we're up against.

How can we then not hear these warnings?

But a problem that has existed for at least hundreds of years, maybe for all of church history, is the misunderstanding of Matthew 7.1.

The minute that we start to express concern about a particular individual, especially the greater their popularity is, hey, wait a minute, don't judge.

Don't judge.

Judge not.

That's what the Bible says.

Well, as we've seen, that doesn't mean to disregard all discernment and all careful evaluation.

It means to use right judgment.

But as a result of the cultural demand to not judge, we are criticized for critiquing, for evaluating.

And that's nothing new, sadly.

J.C.

Ryle wrote almost 150 years ago of this same thing.

He said, and keep in mind, this has been going on since he wrote this, 150 years ago, there is widespread gullibility among professing Christians.

Let me say that again.

There is widespread gullibility among professing Christians.

He goes on.

Every heretic who tells his story plausibly is sure to be believed.

And everyone who doubts him is called a persecutor and a narrow-minded man.

Sad to say that I don't think Pastor Ryle would see much different if he were alive today.

Anyone who dares to suggest that Christians or churches avoid certain teachers today is likely to hear the same thing.

In Christian circles, we we don't go that far with one another generally, so we will often couch our statements in kindness and generosity, and so we'll simply say, well, you know what?

I disagree with that.

I can see where you're going, but I disagree.

You know what?

Sometimes saying that might be appropriate.

I can see situations where there might be some disagreement.

But beloved, my concern as a shepherd, actually it's a fear.

I fear that merely resorting to disagreement without considering the real potential for danger puts us in the place to consume raw elderberries or eye drops.

And if you came in late and you don't get that, go back and listen to the sermon from the beginning.

What if what if God is using somebody else to protect you from toxins?

If we knew there were going to be toxins, we would obviously take that with a huge amount of care and caution, wouldn't we?

What if it looks good?

And I want you to know, as as the shepherds of this church, our our staff and our elders, we we take that very seriously.

We work through all of those issues and say, is this toxic?

Why is it toxic?

And so if there's something that you don't understand, please come and talk to us.

We'd love to lay it out for you, help you understand.

Because we love you and we care for you and desire to protect you from the wolves that look so inviting.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, just as the most dangerous predators are those who seem the nicest to our children.

In the same way, the most dangerous predators to our souls are those who make the smallest of changes, who introduce the most minute variations to the truth that nevertheless are false.

Satan, our enemy, is called the great deceiver.

He loves to make just the tiniest of tweaks to the truth so that people will think, oh, that's just insignificant.

Satan even loves to have shepherds proclaim something that isn't quite wrong, but nevertheless is unclear.

Because if he can cloud the way on the narrow road, he's gained a measure of success.

This is one of the reasons, I think, that the New Testament says that not many should become teachers.

Because they will incur a stricter judgment.

It's also one of the reasons that God gave elders the responsibility to warn.

Don't just grab spiritual fruit from any tree.

Just because someone has a thriving, vibrant ministry that broadcasts on national TV doesn't mean that they are true shepherds leading you on the narrow road.

Just because they're popular participants in yearly conferences doesn't mean that they're healthy for us.

Just because they are massively successful publishers of popular books doesn't mean that we should consume their fruit.

Pay attention to the fruit.

Both the fruit of their own lives and the fruit they produce in others.

Does their fruit lead to obedience to Christ?

Does it lead to greater trust in Christ?

Does it lead to a right understanding of his word or to a disregard of certain passages, to certain truths, or to a kind of sense of, oh, that doesn't apply to us today, kind of attitude.

Does their fruit lead to a selfish, self-centered ministry?

My time is getting on here.

Let me speak to five different categories of people briefly.

First, the unsuspecting.

The unsuspecting.

You need to know that there is a spiritual battle going on that you cannot see.

And one side of this battle is against God and against truth.

And that side, the enemy of God, will go to any extreme necessary to get you to buy into falsehood.

Even to distract you one tiny bit from God's truth.

So watch out.

Beware.

First category of people is unsuspecting.

The second category is to the assured.

To those who are assured.

Beloved, don't think too highly of yourselves.

Don't get too proud.

Watch out.

These warnings are repeated throughout the New Testament.

And God has given certain people in the church the responsibility to watch out for the church for a reason.

It's because we miss these people so often.

So don't think that you have the eyes to see everything that you need to see.

To the immature.

It's never enjoyable.

It never gives us pleasure to feel as though someone else thinks that you need to grow up.

You know, junior hires always think that they're as mature as the high schoolers.

High schoolers always think that they're mature as the college kids, and so on.

You get the idea.

Some of us even think that we've done all the growing up that we need to do, that we've heard it all, that we've matured enough and we've arrived where we need to arrive.

Well, if that's you, then back up this video and listen to the group just before this, the assured.

But with those with the humility to admit that you have growing up in Christ to do, let me warn you that you are sitting ducks for false teachers.

You must mature in your discernment so that you don't go after just any fruit.

Don't think that just because there's one wormhole in the entire apple, that the rest of it is okay.

Go for the best fruit.

Immerse yourself in God's word.

Learn to read it accurately.

Learn to understand it and to study it appropriately and to apply it correctly.

Now to the mature in Christ, be careful not to become assured of your safety.

But be examples to the rest of God's flock of careful listening, of proper evaluation, of attentiveness to genuine shepherds and understanding what fruit is good.

Somebody might need you to be able to discern what's good fruit or bad fruit.

And to the last category, to the church, to our people, to our leaders.

Watch out.

The devil seeks whom he may devour like a hungry lion.

Don't worry, the lions and the wolves are the same.

They're just different images.

They have teeth and they're hungry.

It's the responsibility of pastors and elders to shepherd you well.

That means that they must love you well by heralding the word of the king accurately.

That means they must love you well by warning you of potential of wolves when everyone else just sees sheep and shepherds.

Hebrews 13 tells us that our leaders keep watch over our souls.

That means they have the end of the road in sight.

And they're looking at everything with the end of the wide road and the end of the narrow road.

And so, in the words of the Apostle Paul in Colossians chapter 2, therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human traditions, according to the elemental spirits of this world, and not according to Christ.

Hear the words of your king.

Beware.

Keep going on the narrow road.

And in the end, he will say, Well done.

Welcome home.

Lord Jesus, we long to hear those words.

We long to be done with this world where we need to read the warning labels.

Oh, give us insight, give us discernment, give us eyes to see, and hearts that want to obey you, hearts that are willing to say no to toxins.

Lord, it's hard.

Sometimes it's painful.

Give us grace and mercy and strength to make right choices and decisions.

Give us grace and strength to follow you, and may what is developed in us be the fruit of righteousness for your name's sake.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.