Matthew pt. 19 - Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

All right, we're in Matthew, Chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Open your Bibles. You can follow along.

Almost finished with the Sermon on the Mount.

The Sermon on the Mount was started the beginning of chapter

5. And now here we are coming up on

the end of chapter 7A. Sermon that took Jesus 1516

minutes to preach has taken us many hours to study as we've

taken our time because his words are rich, His words are deep,

his words are profound. So Jesus had started his

ministry, remember? And then he says, all right, I'm

going to call disciples unto me. And then he preaches this sermon

on the Mount as it's come to be known.

This is the bullseye. This is the target for Kingdom

living. What is it?

What are Christians really supposed to be like?

What is it really supposed to look like?

To walk after the Lord? What does it really look like to

walk in faithfulness and obedience to him?

Well, the Sermon on the Mount gives us a perfect picture of

that. Interestingly enough, the

enemies of Christ and the enemies of the Cross will most

often quote the Sermon on the Mount more than any other part

of the scripture. They don't know that it's from

the Sermon on the Mount. But every every non Christian's

favorite verse ever comes from Matthew chapter seven.

We already covered that one judge not, lest you be judged.

They don't know the context there, and I don't know what's

actually being taught, but sounds good.

So it's a good thing to bite onto.

But no, we don't want to just take one sentence.

We don't ever just take one word from the scripture.

We take what is the word of God really teach.

That's the question a wise believer wants to ask.

What is the word of God really revealing not.

Do you have a verse for that? Do you have a verse for that?

Do you have a verse for that? Well, the wise question is,

what's the word of God teaching? What's the word of God show us?

And Jesus is bringing us such wisdom, such profound truth from

heaven, bringing the Kingdom of God all the way down to be with

men, to live with us, to dwell with us, to dwell with us, to

strengthen us and to guide us in his powerful truth.

So we're in Matthew Chapter 7 this morning.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

We're going to go through verses 15 to 23.

He's just finished telling us about the Golden Rule.

And then he explains, gives an example of the Golden rule.

He says there's a narrow gate and there's a wide gate.

He's saying the golden rule. Love others as you love as you

would have them. Love you.

That's the narrow path. Every world religion, every

world philosophy we know, and we talked about this last week, has

a wide path that says if you don't want somebody to do it to

you, then don't do it to them. Jesus says all you have to do in

those religions and in those philosophies is do nothing and

you've done well. No, with Christ you must

actually give. You must actually do something.

I have to give to you the love that I would actually want to

receive. So this is the narrow path.

This is the high calling that Christ has called us to.

And now he continues to go as he's as he's wrapping up the

message, as he's wrapping up his sermon.

He 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 gathered 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.

Really simple stuff here, right? Stuff that everybody knows,

Stuff that everybody could see all the time.

Very logical, very simple. Verse 19 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 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 on that day. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord,

did we not prophecy in your name, and cast out demons in

your name and do many mighty works in your name?

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

you workers of lawlessness. Heavenly Father, this is a a

warning to us. It's something that grabs our

attention. There's a danger that we must be

aware of as as the sheep of your pasture, if that is what we are.

And we're thankful that you've brought us protection, that

you've brought us covering, and that you've brought us such

clarity. I pray today, God, that there

would not be any spirit of fear among your people, but that

there would be a wisdom, a growth, a discernment, a

strength, and a courage to stand up for your truth, to lean more

closely to you, the Good Shepherd, and to run from

anything that would growl, to run from anyone who would

devour, to run from anyone who would claim to be good while

consistently bearing the bad fruit.

God prune us of any bad fruit that's in US, and most

importantly, continue to keep our hearts soft and tender.

God make us humble if we're not humble.

Keep us humble if we already are.

Help us to walk in a deep humility as you as you started

off your sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the poor in spirit,

those who know exactly how much they need, how much grace and

how much mercy they need to receive.

Lord, that's us this morning. Hungry and thirsty for

righteousness. So we know we will be filled.

We ask and we receive in Jesus name.

Amen. Beware of false prophets who

come to you in sheep's clothing right away.

Jesus is saying beware. You know what beware means?

You've seen signs. Beware of dog, right?

You go up to somebody's fence, all of a sudden you pause.

There could be a danger here. Now maybe they're bluffing.

Maybe it's a little Chihuahua, or maybe they have a Pitbull,

and I want to be much more aware if it's the Pitbull, of course,

but I'm being cautious. The most dangerous thing to real

believers is false believers, because they're harder to

recognize, because they actually have sheep's clothing on it.

There's something there that's comforting.

There's something there that's familiar, We might think, Well,

I would always recognize that. Well, I haven't always

recognized that I haven't. I've been duped before.

I have been deceived before. I have.

I've given one of the biggest offerings I've ever given.

I gave it the direction of a false prophet.

Now, thankfully, that false prophet actually directed it was

going to a good place in this example.

But as I've looked back and assessed my life over the years

and assessed different ministries that I've received

from you might go well, Joe. Michael, was it all bad?

Of course it wasn't all bad. That's why I was.

That's why I was deceived. That's why I was able to pay

attention to some things. I would go, that's good, that's

good, that's good. That I don't know.

That doesn't make much sense. But look at the good.

So I would dismiss the thing that I should have gone.

Hang on a second. One of my favorite phrases that

I claim to have invented. Doesn't mean everything, but it

doesn't mean nothing. Right.

Doesn't mean nothing. But it doesn't mean everything.

What does that? What does that phrase mean to

you, Michael? I'm happy to tell you.

It doesn't mean everything, but it doesn't mean nothing.

So this was this was discernment that I lacked.

Now there's a there's many reasons for that.

I've gotten plenty of excuses. But the point is, Jesus said you

can know them by their fruits. So we're going to talk about how

you can know things so you don't have to be worried.

You don't have to be paranoid. You don't have to be afraid.

It does. Jesus said you'll know there's a

way for you to know. You don't have to be confused or

perplexed. So it's a dangerous thing for

believers whenever they get around false believers, because

they're everywhere. They're on your radio, they're

on your TV, they're on YouTube, they're on Facebook, they're on

Instagram. They're even in your mailbox

asking you for a certain amount of money that they tell you that

the Lord told them to ask you for.

Because it's that they they're supposed to send you this

envelope and you're supposed to send it back.

I mean it gets, it gets way, way, way more obvious.

You know when they say, hey, we'll send you this holy water

and you can rub it on the four corners of your house and your

mortgage will be paid off in 30 days.

That would be like more the extreme version.

That's a real thing, by the way, that that that false prophets

have claimed. So that would be what was.

But some of us are chuckling at that.

But if you followed that ministry for three decades and

it was faithful to you because maybe at one time it was

faithful and it was faithful and good and you actually saw good

fruit, it's hard for you to recognize that holy water

mortgage pay off thing as as as the sham that it is.

Because you're like, hey, who am I to question the Lord, right?

So then you start to then then you start to be deceived.

How can I know the difference? I'm so glad you asked.

Jesus will protect you. His word will keep you safe.

And we're going to get into all that.

But all these things are all over the place.

The world was full of false prophets when Jesus preached

this. The world is full of false

prophets now. False prophets, false converts.

Many of us have been guilty of risking our help, the health of

our soul by by lending our ears to those who do not love us and

do not protect us. And there's one of your first

clues about someone who's false. There is not a love and a

protection for you. There's an extraction from you.

So how do we recognize? How do we really know?

In verse 15, Beware of false prophets who come to you.

That's the first thing I want you to see about a false

prophet. The false prophet.

They come and get you. They will gather people unto

themselves. You can recognize the wolf

because the wolf will come to you.

The sheep will go to a shepherd, but a wolf will come to you.

They will keep showing up. A wolf will hunt you down.

A false prophet will always look for you.

And that's how false prophets behave.

That's how their ministries grow.

Whether it's your weirdo cousin who's always got a word from the

Lord for somebody, always got a word from the Lord but hadn't

been in church in 20 years. Because, you know, he's got his

own thing with the man upstairs. Wolf, Wolf.

Easily, easily. I can call that a wolf so

easily, I could say it to his face.

Are you saying he's going to heaven or hell?

I'm just saying you won't. You won't get anywhere near my

flock. That's what I'm saying.

That's a wolf. Well, can they be saved?

Repentance changes everything. The blood of Jesus changes it

all. And still, we got to be clear

about saying what's a wolf who's a taker, who's an extractor, who

wants an authority over others, who wants to be impressive to

others, who wants glory for themselves?

Look at me, The man of the Lord. All those things.

These are these are red flags. Maybe one red flag all by itself

doesn't equal wolf. Because you know what?

I'm a human being. So Jim Michael's going to make

mistakes, too. I don't want to be called wolf

every time I make a mistake. We're all doing our, oh,

faithful shepherds are still doing their best.

Faithful Christians are still doing their best.

And we all have sin. So we're not going on a witch

hunt. You know, We're not a Elijah

fan. What's the magic trick you do

where you like this? The goofy thing where you just

remove your thumb? You have all seen that, right?

Like you can show like a little child.

Like you pull your finger off. It's like Salem witch trials.

If you had done that, he'd be like, burn him at the stake.

Like, what's this voodoo? He's he's just performed.

So we're not on any kind of witch hunt, but we are going to

be discerning. And we've got to be discerning

because Jesus calls us sheep. The word of God calls us sheep.

Did you know that sheep are not very intelligent animals?

It's not exactly high praise from the Lord to call us sheep.

Now he's a Good Shepherd and that brings us comfort.

But sheep are pretty stupid. They really are.

They're they're very, very unintelligent.

There was a video I saw a couple years ago.

It's hilarious. This shepherd pulls the sheep

out of this ditch he had gotten stuck in.

And the sheep like, as soon as the shepherd gets him out, the

sheep goes bounding away from the trench and then immediately

comes back and Yeats itself right back into the trench.

You go on and somebody put the caption on there, like me.

And then the Lord, of course, like, no, no, not into the hole,

not into the pit of despair. Actually over here, into the

field where there's lots of grass and protection from me.

So you can recognize the wolf, Though the wolf will always

come. The wolf will always just keep

showing up, showing up, showing up.

And it's easier than ever now for wolves to do that because

they don't have to come into the pulpit, because a Good Shepherd

is going to be perceptive of that and not let them in the

pulpit. But they will come to you

through your phone. They will come to you through

your computer. They will come to you through

your mailbox. Another thing you you can

recognize a wolf. The wolf always hates the

shepherd. Wolves hate shepherds.

Wolves always have a reason why why they don't need a shepherd

and why you don't need a shepherd either.

Like they'll always say the thing about the shepherd that's

really true about them. So they'll say, oh, I think

they're trying to gather people unto themselves.

Interesting. How many of you felt like I had

to. I gathered you here.

I haunted you down. There's not one person in this

church that can say that. Well, well, maybe you invited

me. Sure, maybe I invited you

because I'm a Christian and I want to encourage people to be

in a local, in a local body of Christ.

But no one insult church now or ever, by the grace of God, will

be able to say, you know, Michael was corralling people

unto himself. So the wolf always hates the

shepherd. They'll always have a clever

reason why they should avoid shepherds, but they'll also,

still, interestingly enough, be good at getting around sheep.

They are not men or women under authority.

They want authority, but they'll never be under authority.

And then, most importantly, how will you recognize them?

More precisely, exactly what Jesus said.

You will recognize them by their fruits, plural.

Not just fruit. And that's where a sheep can

easily be deceived. I saw something good happen.

I heard them say they're a Christian.

I saw a good thing happen. What more do you need?

Well, it's called time and it's called fruit.

Again, we're not cynics. I'm not a cynical person, but I

have learned in my 20 plus years of walking faithfully with the

Lord and many of those years in ministry, I've just learned to

give some things some time instead of getting excited about

somebody, man. So and so look at their gifts,

let's put them to work in the let's, let's slow down, let's

have some wisdom here. Let's give it time.

Or what are you trying to say? I'm trying to say I want to see

fruit displayed over time. It's called character, and

character takes time to show up. Oh, they were super impressive

at dinner. Well, that's good.

That's not a bad thing. I'm glad they were impressive at

dinner. I'll invite them over again.

We enjoy their company. And yet time will tell me the

whole truth. Time the whole story.

I can look at their spouse over time.

I can look at their children over time.

I can look at their life over time.

And time reveals the truth about everything.

I can recognize them by their fruits.

That is, all of your character displayed over time, their

words, their actions, their life over time.

Not one piece of fruit. Look at this good grape.

I agree. It's a good grape.

It's one good grape. Could we see more?

Oh, you're just so cynical. No, not at all.

This is called wisdom. This is called discernment.

This is just called paying attention.

Or, man, maybe there was good fruit here for a long time and

then you're like, that was a little bit off.

That was a little bit weird. All right, we don't have to say

wolf yet, but it don't mean nothing.

It don't mean nothing. Well, it doesn't mean

everything. Fair enough.

But it doesn't mean nothing. And I'm not.

I don't even be totally dismissive of it.

Because this ministry was so faithful for so long, so it must

still be faithful forever. This is my soul, and I'm pretty

protective of it, actually. I actually want to make sure

it's safe. I actually want to make sure

it's protected. I want to make sure it's close

to Jesus. So in doing so, yeah, I'm not

going to apologize for being discerning.

And a Good Shepherd will will never make you apologize for

that or feel bad for that. If you're if you're cautious and

you and you have questions and you want investigation and you

want clarity, a Shepherd will never get defensive about that.

A shepherd will never get egotistical about that.

A shepherd will never just say, just trust me.

Just take my word for it, brother.

Take my word for it, sister. I walk with the Lord.

Behold. You should be so lucky as to

carry my tissue after service. Throw it away from me.

Sorry, That's a little too gross on as I wipe my nose.

I'll take your tissue. Thank you, Brother Don.

And then you'll be elevated. That's another thing.

That's another thing false prophets will do.

If you'll be a Yes man, you can accelerate quickly.

In the False Prophet's Kingdom, you can move up very quickly and

you have a position of prominence.

Why? Because you're under the control

of the False prophet. So just because a ministry was

bearing good fruit at one time, and I've seen that, I've seen a

a ministry recently online. I was watching something and it

was the most horrific, cringy thing I've ever seen from from

this ministry. And there were certainly times

where I saw good things from this ministry and good things

from this ministry and good things from this ministry.

But it was a it was a teaching and communion that was at best

super, super weird, at best. At worst, it was just

blasphemous Satanism. So like, I don't like that,

right? And again, I don't have to

follow this ministry. You know what?

There's more than one ministry out there that blesses and

edifies. So when I see something like

that, I just go, I'm out. I don't have to say wolf, I

don't have to go all the way to false prophet necessarily with

this one thing. But I'm like have some

discernment, have some discernment.

Pay attention. Don't be so, so lackadaisical

with your soul because these things are impacting and

affecting your soul. And Jesus is worth far more.

Their fruits will tell you the truth their character displayed

over time. Well, I can't get close enough

to see their character. What does that tell you?

That's another thing to pay attention to.

I can't get close enough to them.

Well, they got a Church of 10,000 people, Joe Michael.

So that's not fair. Fair enough.

I understand the the the Church of 10,000.

That pastor cannot have everybody in his living room in

the same way that maybe I could at this point, right?

So fair enough. And yet, is anybody in that

pastor's living room? Is anybody able to get close

enough to inspect? Are are there and again, are

they a man? Are they a woman under

authority? Is there safety here?

One. One thing doesn't indicate Wolf.

So again, we're not paranoid here.

We're not on a witch hunt. But we're paying attention.

We go. Things mean things, right?

It took me so long in life. So many of you have so much

wisdom that I did not have. But it took me so long to

realize and and just start to pay attention to things.

That's how I came up with the phrase.

It doesn't mean everything, but it doesn't mean nothing because

for so long in life, I would just go, huh.

Well, that was strange. And I would dismiss the thing

that should have said, Hey, stupid, this means something and

I'll just go. That's crazy.

That that happened. That's so strange that they said

that, Huh? What might that mean?

I guess nothing. No, John Michael, you're being a

bit of a sheep right now. You're a bit of the dumb animal

in the animal Kingdom. You should be more wise, You

should be more discerning. You should be more protected.

Well, I don't want to be judgmental, Oh, how holy of you,

John Michael, but what you should actually do is read the

entire passage like we did together, and learn that you

should have a judgement that is discerning, A judgement that is

accurate. Not hypocritical and not

condemning, but a judgement that is accurate and wise.

You'll know them by their fruits, by their character

displayed over time. So if you're thinking about your

favorite, your own, your favorite online ministry, you've

got to have some wisdom here to even be honest and recognize you

really can't know them. And you have to be honest with

yourself To say that I really don't know them and I can't know

them. Why?

Well, because I can only get what they've presented.

That doesn't make them guilty or innocent, But it just means

let's just be honest about the situation, right?

The family captain, my business. Like, how much can guys really

know about me? So what do I do?

Well, I bring Natalie onto things so they can see my wife

and they and I'll let her speak for herself.

And we can interact with one another, with with one another

in front of them, but they all can't come into my home.

They can't live with me. So I've got to.

I want to keep putting information out so they can

build trust, so we can build as much relationship as possible.

But there's still, they got to be honest and realize there's

still some sort of barrier here, right?

I can't really, really, really know from a distance, So we need

to just recognize this. But when I can see character now

I know the truth. It's interesting that Jesus

references the tree, right? A tree?

Does a tree bear fruit the first day you plant it?

No. It takes time.

You need to assess fruits over a season.

The false Christian will have something appealing about them.

The false prophet will have something appealing about them.

They won't be all bad. They won't be all bad, but there

will be bad in there. So Islam isn't all bad.

It's not 100%. Every single part of it is evil.

It's not. There's some stuff in like,

sure. Yeah, that's true.

That's a Kingdom principle stolen from the Kingdom used

elsewhere. We want people to use Kingdom

principles all over the place. We like that.

Judaism, it's not all bad. It's not all of it bad.

But yeah, if you follow it, you will end up in hell, just like

the Muslim, the Mormons. It's not all bad, but it'll

still take you to hell and destruction.

Jehovah's Witnesses. Not all bad, not everything in

it, but still enough to take you to hell and to destruction.

It's not all bad, but they won't have a real love for the real

Jesus or his church. These are the things that are

missing from false prophets and false believers.

The other thing about the false prophet is they won't be

fatherly, they won't be giving, they won't be sacrificial, and

they won't be serving. Instead, they will require you

to serve them and you will be a cog in their ministry.

You'll be an important part of what they're doing, but it'll

all be always about them. They will be the the thing

that's the most important, and you will just be useful the

moment you stop being useful to them, the moment they have no

need for you. Their love will not extend

beyond your usefulness to them. It won't be this fatherly care,

this sacrificial care. And again they will resemble

sheep. They are in and among the church

they are in, and among the church still in verse 15.

Y'all y'all are listening too slow.

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing

but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

So what is their motive? So this is how we can clarify

between between somebody who's off on something.

OK, he's a bit of a weirdo, but he's not a wolf.

OK, they're a little bit quirky over here, but that does not

equal wolf. How do you know the difference?

The wolf is inwardly ravenous. The wolf wants to devour.

This person is a little bit incompetent.

This person is a little bit foolish.

That's not the same thing as being inwardly ravenous and

wanting to destroy. This is why it takes

discernment, right? You've got some ministries out

there who even specialized themselves as being discernment

ministries. Oh my goodness, everybody's a

wolf. Everything's a wolf.

Everybody's a false prophet. Everybody's a damnable heretic.

Everybody, man. And I'm like, I don't like that.

I don't like what that preacher said either.

I'm like, listening to this discernment ministry.

I'm like, yeah, I'm with you. I don't like what they said.

I would have never preached that that way, and I would never be

in their church. All those things are true.

And still I cannot go so far as to say this is an absolute

heretic who who does not follow Christ.

I can't go that far. But discernment ministries are

very comfortable going that far pretty regularly.

Inwardly, though, what's the distinction?

They're ravenous wolves. Why?

The fruit shows us. The fruit shows us that they

will consume. They teach nothing that

resembles the opening passage of the Sermon on the Mount.

They don't require holiness. They the the false prophets, the

false believers. They will never preach something

like Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Blessed are the pure in heart. Those messages don't come from

false prophets. False prophets don't have a

harsh word that offends your flesh.

That's another big indicator, big red flag.

Do you always hear what you want to hear?

Yeah, that's why you go to them. That's the appeal.

It was the same thing in Jeremiah's day.

The word of the Lord was coming to Jeremiah and it was a it was

a word of correction and judgment to Israel.

And he was the true prophet. And there were all these false

prophets saying it will be well with you, Israel, saying what

the king wanted to hear, saying what the people wanted to hear.

You were blessed. You're just blessed.

You're just blessed. And the Lord said, I'm going to

destroy all of them. They will be destroyed by the

very things they say I'm not going to do.

The Lord will not bring us pestilence to the land.

He's like I'll destroy those prophets with pestilence.

The Lord will not bring drought to our landlord, said I'll make

sure they die of thirst. He's saying, and I'm you're

going to get my particular attention because the the word

of the Lord was coming through Jeremiah.

But it's a word that nobody wanted to hear, which is why the

prophets always got killed by the people.

So the true prophets who actually love you say, I do

speak for the Lord. I will tell you the truth

because I love you And they go, I hate that message.

Like, don't hate the message. Humble yourself under it.

Humble yourself under the Lord and and he'll be merciful.

But but you can't just believe what you want to believe,

because it's what you want to believe.

That's not how truth works. But people have always struggled

with that desire Inwardly, their ravenous wolves, their fruit is

consuming. They don't require holiness.

They will add to the scriptures or take away from the

scriptures. Here's another interesting

thing. They might always, always,

always say things that are true. What do you mean by that?

I mean, the table's supposed to have four legs, and they always

only talk about 1:00. So they always tell the truth.

Technically, everything they say might even be true.

But it's not the whole truth. It's not the entire truth.

Right. When you go, when you, when you

go underoath, that's what they make you say.

Do you swear to tell the truth? Yes, the whole truth.

Oh, OK. And nothing but the truth.

The entire truth. So it's not to say yes, this

happened, but you left out important details.

We want the whole truth, the whole reality.

The false prophets don't do that.

And sometimes there are some false prophets who they

emphasize and they claim. This is just me staying in my

lane. This is my calling.

It's my particular ministry to just preach this one particular

message. Bro, You don't get to have your

own particular ministry. The ministry is God's word to

his people. And if you're a minister of the

word of God, you are to minister the whole counsel of the word of

God to God's people, because he wants to feed his sheep a

balanced diet. He wants to feed them healthy

food that builds them up and strengthens his church.

Well, my personality, be careful that you don't build your

ministry around your personality.

I have that temptation like anybody else.

But preaching verse by verse by verse through the Scriptures is

a protection for you and a protection for me because it

forces me to come and face passages and to preach passages

and to teach passages that maybe John Michael doesn't have on his

refrigerator and maybe I don't want to talk about him.

But when I go through the word of God right in front of you,

you have to go, wait a second, why do you just have us jump

past 8 verses? What's in that?

Go home and read those. You better go double check

those. There's times where

contextually, maybe Paul, for example, has got one of his, you

know, enormous Paul run on sentences where that could be

useful. And you just say, hey, go here,

go to verse seven. That could be useful, but again,

not for the purpose of biblical gymnastics to dodge the truth.

So what might it look like if they're always saying something

that's true? God loves you.

God is a friend of sinners. God is rich in mercy.

Jesus died for the whole world. Jesus said Judge not, lest you

be judged. All true, right?

Should I build an entire ministry on those statements

alone? Absolutely not.

I haven't told you the whole truth and I've implied

something, haven't I? I've implied you know nothing of

judgment. You know nothing of sin.

You know nothing of penalty. You know nothing of the need for

Christ. Substitution in the big in the

1st place. God's just so merciful and so

wonderful. I guess I'm amazing.

It's the difference between what they call cat and dog theology.

Dog theology says you feed me, you love me, you take care of

me. You must be God.

Cat theology says you feed me, you love me, you take care of

me. I must be God.

It's the difference between dogs and cats.

Another jab that cats. I'm a dog.

I'm a dog like her. Not a dog lover.

But I'll take a dog over a cat. Now that I've offended everybody

over something useless, let's keep going back to the

scriptures. I'm an equal opportunity

offender because dog lover's like you don't love dogs.

I'm like, no, I like them. And cat lover's like you don't

like cats like no, not even a little bit.

So if they would like me, I would like them back.

I'm just. I hate them because they first

hated me. It's we just keep it even like

that. I want to bet them.

I want to pet them and like them but then they bite me and like

bro and they run behind the sofa before I can kick them.

They're quick. They leave out the whole truth.

They don't teach you to obey the entire sermon on the mount.

Just the part that says love others which they redefined to

mean approve of sin and they and they teach the part that says

judge not, which they also redefined to mean don't even

call it sin. They're never poor in spirit.

They don't tell you to be either.

They just continue to say rejoice and be glad because God

is gracious. Well Saints I tell you rejoice

and be glad because God is gracious and and that is because

of your repentance in response to what Jesus has done.

Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord, will

enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will

of my Father. So this is interesting because

this is where you and I get tempted.

We judge the fruit of ministry instead of the fruit of

character. This is the distinction.

Look at what Jesus does here. It seems confusing at first.

Hey look out for false prophets. You go, OK how will I know?

He says judge their fruits and immediately I go to like, OK, so

they have a powerful ministry that produces a lot of good

fruit. And she says, no, that's not the

fruit that I mean. I mean their character of their

life because they could actually drive out demons and do many

mighty works in my name. And I will say to them on that

day, I never knew you, I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

They can have powerful ministries in the name of Jesus.

Yes. Well, why is that?

I mean, my personal belief on that sense is just because God

is good and he is eager to bless people.

So he will, He will make the Kingdom come.

He can draw a straight line with a crooked stick.

So where the name of Jesus is proclaimed, where the word of

God is taught, God will bless the ignorant sheep like you and

I. Yeah, that large offering I told

you that I gave. Do you think the Clark's went

without? You think the Lord is going to

let his sheep? Could it?

Could it have harmed us? It certainly could have, I

suppose, but the But the Lord is my shepherd and I wasn't

worshipping man. I was temporarily deceived, but

I wasn't worshipping man. I wasn't caught up in some grand

scandal. It was just a simple momentary

thing that came from a heart of joy.

And I said I'm happy to give What's mine is the Lord's.

Whether or not a charlatan can convince me to do it was

irrelevant. The Lord's like that was

probably me jumping into a trench.

He's like, Oh my, OK, I thankfully I have a Good

Shepherd. Thankfully, goodness and mercy

followed me all the days of my life.

So even though Joe Michael is foolish, my shepherd is not.

He protects me. Your shepherd protects you.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will into the Kingdom

of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father doing the

will of my father. That's about character.

It's not about look at his powerful ministry, man.

They had, they had 10,000 people there at that event.

OK, that doesn't mean anything. Taylor Swift has a lot more than

10,000 people at her events. And so does a crowd equal

wholesome holiness? Does it equal the Kingdom

movement? Oh, but I see.

Good fruit. Yeah.

Well, don't confuse the fruit of character with the fruit of

Ministry, which is actually just the Lord blessing people.

Because the Lord is good. The Lord is good, And he wants

to glorify his name. And he can write.

He can draw straight lines with crooked sticks.

Some of you right now. I hope you're being discerning

already. You're like now.

I've been listening to this guy, but I have seen a few things

from Pay attention, pay attention.

Be discerning. Don't be the baby bird.

Baby birds. Wait.

Whatever Mama drops in, they're going to eat whatever Mama drops

in that baby birds. Ah, I'll take it.

It's always been good before. It's probably always going to be

good in the future. Nope.

Nor should you do that on a Sunday morning.

You're just going. Show me.

Give me the word, pastor. Show me the scriptures preach

and teach the word of God so they can cast out demons.

They can do mighty works in his name but he never knew them so

this shouldn't make you worry. This is not intended for the

humble St. to worry. Am I saved?

That is not what's supposed to happen here.

Because why? You can simply ask do I know

him? That's the question that the

that the sheep can say Oh no. Many will say Lord, Lord, on

that day. You know how many Christians

have been thrown, thrown for a cartwheel on this verse?

Like Will? Will I be one?

I don't know. And the simple thing is, do you

know Jesus? Do you know the Lord?

Yeah. Then.

Then it's irrelevant. This is this is the description

of a wolf who knows exactly who they are.

This is not the description of a a St. who stumbles and then

walks in repentance again with the Lord.

This is one who is ravenous in their heart.

They're manipulating the church for any number of reasons.

The answer for the sheep is an obvious yes.

I know him, so I'm not afraid, and Jesus knows his own.

You might fool the sheep, but you cannot sneak past the

shepherd. King Jesus, verse 19.

Therefore whoever relaxes? Nope.

That's chapter 5, Chapter 7, verse 19.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and

thrown into the fire. The tree bearing bad fruit.

Jesus will cut it down and throw it into the fire.

My Jesus would never do that. My what?

Big teeth. You have to say something like

that. That's something a false prophet

would say. That's something false converts

would say. My Jesus, hey, do me a favor and

do you a favor. Don't finish that sentence

because it's going to be dumb way and maybe way worse than

just dumb. Talk about Jesus, the real

Jesus. The only Jesus.

Not your Jesus or my Jesus or somebody else's Jesus, but just

Jesus as he defines himself. Because he's good, he's

trustworthy, he's faithful, and he does love you, by the way.

Very much. He died for you because you

needed somebody to die for you because you're you are a wicked

Sinner. All those things are true.

Welcome to the whole truth. It's way more beautiful than 1/2

truth. Wouldn't you prefer a table with

four legs instead of 1? Well, I just.

I just feel like you're you're not appreciating this table leg.

Look how beautiful and strong it is.

I love the beautiful, strong table leg.

I agree it's it's excellent. The problem is to eat on this

table. You're essentially still going

to be eating in the floor. I don't want to eat my food off

the floor. Jesus doesn't want his people to

eat off of the floor. He wants the strength of the

whole table. So what does this really look

like? Well, Jesus is actually going to

send the false prophets and false converts to hell because

he is coming to judge the living and the dead.

The living being the Saints, the living being the physical still

breathing at his second coming, and the dead, the spiritually

dead and the physically dead. So what are the real prophets?

What are the real shepherds look like?

Go to First Timothy. We'll start wrapping up First

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Timothy chapter 3. How can I inspect their

character? What kind of character am I

looking for when I'm looking for someone who's a faithful

shepherd? Someone who is a a loving

believer in the body of Christ? Trustworthy.

First, Timothy chapter 3. This saying is trustworthy.

Paul writing to Timothy here. He's left Timothy behind an

Ephesus to install elders and he's saying Timothy, these are

the kind of elders. These are the kind of overseers,

these are kind of pastors. These are the kind of shepherds

that you have to install. This saying is trustworthy.

If anyone aspires to the office of Overseer, he desires a noble

task. So desire to leadership is not a

crime. Desire for leadership is not a

is not a problem for the Lord. For someone to say I want to do

this, I want to lead others like we don't have to look at them

with suspicion at all. That in itself could be a very

good thing. But now we judge the fruit.

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of

one wife, sober minded, self controlled, respectable,

hospitable, able to teach. Not a drunkard, not violent but

gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

He must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping

his children submissive. For if someone does not know how

to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?

He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with

conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that

he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

What do you What am I supposed to look for?

That's what you're supposed to look for.

Those are the fruits of character that you're supposed

to look for in a Good Shepherd, in a good Bible teacher, and

someone who claims anyone, anyone in church leadership

throughout the body of Christ, YouTube, or elsewhere, who who

implies with their ministry that they speak for the Lord.

Anytime anyone is implying that they speak for the Lord.

These are the things that you that you want to be able to see.

Are they going to do these perfectly?

Of course not. But will they do these

faithfully? Absolutely.

If they don't, they're not qualified for that position.

They're not qualified to say I'm speaking to the Lord, I'm an

overseer of the souls of others above reproach.

That means above accusation. Now, of course, any enemy can

bring an accusation to anyone, but generally speaking, they

live and display a life that is above accusation.

They have a life that that looks as it should look, the husband

of one wife. Everybody, Everybody in here

only has one wife at the moment. That's correct.

Good. So not Mormon.

That would be an instant disqualification.

Sober minded. So he has a seriousness.

There's a weight to him. There's a a gravity to who he

is. Self controlled.

It speaks for itself. It it shows up in every area of

his life. Also his speech.

Respectable, hospitable, so hospitable.

There's a warmth, There's an invitation.

Can you get close enough to him? Again, the the, the large, the

large. Audiences are a bit of a unique

example there. Our church has 100,000 people in

it. Like, OK, but is it still?

Is this man hospitable? It's still an important

qualifier, able to teach. Not a drunkard, not violent, but

gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

There's a big one. He must manage his own household

well. How in the world are you

supposed to know how he manages his own household?

How could you possibly know how he manages his own household?

Isn't that none of your business?

Isn't that none of your business?

Stay out of my. This is my marriage.

These are my kids. I'm your pastor.

You stay out of my personal life.

It's none of your business. You better run for the hills.

If you ever hear or see anything like that, run for the hills.

Wolf. I'll say it.

That's a wolf as part of his hospitality.

Come into my home. Come look and see.

Come look and see. Why?

So you can know for sure. So you can inspect on your own.

So you can observe. You can ask your questions.

I want you to know this is your soul we're talking about.

You don't owe me anything. You don't owe me anything.

I owe you something. I owe you clarity.

I owe you truth. I owe you a vulnerability.

I owe you my life. That's what a Good Shepherd is

supposed to do. We're talking about us under

shepherds. Of course Jesus has given us his

life. He's he is the Good Shepherd.

But under shepherds, they they owe their life to the church and

they're happy to do so. And that's a part of it for

them. Managed his own household well

with all dignity, keeping his children submissive.

So you're supposed to pay attention to his kids?

Well, I don't know his kids. I haven't seen his kids.

OK, well, then that should at least 'cause you go, Oh well,

clearly I maybe I can't assess everything that in the way that

I that I would like to. Fair enough.

You don't have to condemn him. You don't have to call him a

wolf. But you just need to recognize

your own limitations here. Just be honest about your own

limitations. That's a wisdom.

He must not. If he does not, no doubt how to

manage his own household. How will he care for God's

church? He must not be a recent convert.

Man, this person got saved. And we're just so excited.

And we are right, Christians. We are excited when somebody

gets saved. Praise God.

Hallelujah. And now what?

You know what? You're going to come in under

someone's wing and be discipled. I don't want to be discipled.

I feel called to my own ministry.

You're called to the ministry of being discipled.

That's the ministry. And discipling others right.

Now, right away. You're ready to make disciples

unto Jesus, teaching them to obey everything He has

commanded, not the revelation that you got the other day

unless it is also been tested by those above you.

Because you're a man or woman under authority, not just a man

or woman with authority in the word of God.

Perfect. Isn't God's word so safe and so

good? Isn't Jesus actually a Good

Shepherd? Isn't he so perfect in the way

he cares for us and the way he teaches us and the way he points

things out to us? Must not be a recent convert.

Oh, that's where I was going with that.

So we get excited when, especially when a famous person

comes to Christ, we get a little too excited sometimes.

We're like, yes, Hulk Hogan. Hulk

Hogan P Diddy I don't know. But whoever it is, I mean we get

excited when somebody comes to Christ.

I'll get excited when some of these online ministers come to

Christ. I mean I will rejoice when when

some of them actually repent and believe the gospel and and

humble themselves. It will be awesome.

So. So that's a good thing.

And still we're we're quick to promote those people.

And it's a damage to them and it's a damage to the body of

Christ and it's the damage to the world.

They should come into the body of Christ and go, hey, welcome

Mr. Famous Movie Star. Hey, welcome Mr. Famous Athlete.

Hey, just so you know in the church, you're nobody.

Jesus is everything. He's the king.

Like, well, I'm used to a bit of a Yeah, I know you're used to

that. You won't get any of that here.

You'll get tons of love. You'll get tons of love.

You'll get tons of care. But do you do you know that I've

done this and this. Yeah, we know all that.

And here we call it dung compared to the compared to the

greatness of knowing Christ. It means nothing.

It means nothing to any of us. Now some of the immature among

us will be very impressed by it. And you have to be careful

against that and guard them and make sure you deflect glory to

Jesus, because that's the right thing to do.

But in the body of Christ, we're just we just don't care because

we've seen Jesus. So you're just not that big of a

deal anymore. We love you.

We're glad you're here. I will give my life for you,

truly and completely. And still you're not that big of

a deal. This is a good thing.

Must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with

conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Welcome, new Christian now lead others.

You're in charge. You're the shepherd.

You're the overseer. Wow, I'm pretty great.

Moreover, I figure I'll stay in front of it instead of watch.

Make you watch me have a 5 minute coughing spell.

Probably the better way to do it.

Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that

he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

This one's kind of funny because, well, thought of by

outsiders. Like, well, I have people who

hate me for sure and we're told and we're told we're going to

have enemies. Like if you follow Christ you

will be hated. So which is it?

But again, I think we're looking at generally here by a normal

person, a normal non believer even is not always going to hate

him for no reason. So these are things that you're

supposed to judge. These are things that you're

supposed to assess, and if you have no ability to assess them,

then it should also give you pause and make you think.

What am I doing with my soul? Who am I listening to?

What am I receiving from? These are the men that God says

to follow them and become like them, real prophets and

shepherds. Their life displays great

character over time. They have more holiness, not

less. As time goes by, they agree

fully with the Bible and they acknowledge that the Bible is

the final authority for all things pertaining to life.

The scriptures, they they never say stuff like that was written

a long time ago or what it is is was OK.

But they just say no. The scriptures are good and safe

and true and faithful. They will offend your flesh with

their ministry. They won't be afraid to upset

you. They will be like Jeremiah.

Hey, I'm speaking for the Lord. We hate that message.

I didn't say you'd love it. I just said I speak for the Lord

and they will deflect all glory to King Jesus.

Will they do all these things perfectly?

I don't think so. I don't think I do.

But again, faithfulness and consistency and fruit can be

judged over time and inwardly. The false is a ravenous wolf.

The faithful shepherd can make corrections and make adjustments

and continue to grow, but the ravenous wolf won't.

So what are you telling me, Pastor?

What I'm telling you is, unless you know somebody, you don't

know somebody. Following that ministry for

years does not equal knowing somebody.

If you can't get close enough to confirm any of the standards

listed in scripture, how in the world could you so boldly ever

trust them with the with your soul and the souls of your

family? If you can't feel a fatherly

love and care from them, that's not self-serving.

How can you actually assess who or what they are?

Well, you know, I just like. I like how they focus on this

one table leg. Again, that's another warning

sign. If their ministry is 1

dimensional, this isn't complicated.

This should not cause paranoia for any of us.

But we should know the word of God.

This should drive you to the Scriptures.

Know the word of God. Read your Bible and look for

fruits. Amen.

God, give us discernment. Give us your wisdom.

Give us your clarity. We're not afraid because we have

a Good Shepherd. Your rod and your staff, they

comfort us. You keep us safe from wolves

when we actually listen to your voice, and that's our

temptation. God is to get excited and and to

chase ministry. Fruit instead of recognizing the

value of character fruit. We're so excited and hungry and

thirsty for your Kingdom to come and your will to be done.

So we rightfully rejoice when we see the Kingdom expanding, but

help us God to not just rejoice, the demons obey, help us to

rejoice that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of

Life. I pray for your people, that

they would be comforted, that they would be strengthened, and

that they would be wise, enjoying the Com, the covering

of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and being wise to look out for one

another, paying attention, caring for and loving well.

Help us to be a people full of grace, full of boldness, and

full of truth in Jesus name. And now the Lord bless you and

keep you the Lord. Make his face shine down upon

you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name.

Amen.