August 17, 2025 • 40 mins
"The Cure for Deception" brings us to Jesus’ sober warning in Matthew 7:15-23, and Pastor Kelly Kinder will not let it drift past our ears. Kelly shows how false teachers often arrive in convincing costumes, and why Jesus’ test is simple and searching: examine fruit over time in doctrine, character, and impact. He traces the enemy’s ancient playbook from Eden—twisting God’s words, denying His truthfulness, questioning His character, and baiting our desires—and shows how the same moves animate modern counterfeits, even under religious branding. The most unsettling part is not the wolves but the possibility of being false followers who say “Lord, Lord” while remaining unknown by Christ. Kelly calls us to honest self-examination: are we doing the Father’s will because we are united to the Son, or are we performing for approval? The cure for deception is Jesus Himself. As we know Him truly, love His truth, and obey His Word in the power of the Spirit, real fruit grows and counterfeit hopes wither. This message pairs vigilance with hope and urges us to guard the gospel for our children and our neighbors by clinging to Christ and conforming our lives to Scripture.
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Kelly Kinder (00:02):
We're in the last portion of this, this final
section of the Sermon on theMount, the great sermon by Jesus
, and this last section coverschapter 7, verses 13 through 29.
And if we've been followingalong from the beginning, we
know that Jesus has challengedus with the principles and the
practices and the values of thekingdom of God, and it's been
(00:24):
wonderful.
Now, at the closing points ofhis message, he's giving us
basically some choices to makeabout the kingdom.
He's going to let us decide,and so the choices are three.
They're basically threeillustrations.
Let me just kind of go throughthese and we're going to work on
the second one today and thelast one next week.
The first choice, which Tylerdid such a great job last week
(00:45):
on, is between two gates.
Do you remember the wide andthe narrow gate?
And the warnings for each ofthese are also included, and the
warning for that is don'tfollow the crowd, don't follow
the crowd.
The second illustration, theone we'll look at today, the
choice between two trees, andthere's the healthy or unhealthy
, or the good and bad tree, andthe warning there is don't be
(01:08):
deceived.
And then the last one, whichwe'll look at next week, is the
two foundations, and thefoundations between having being
built on the sand or buildingyour life on the rock.
And the warning is don't buildyour life in the wrong place.
So verses 13 through 14, thelast week.
(01:28):
I just kind of want to bringyou back, to bring this to your
mind.
Jesus says For the gate is wideand the way is easy.
That leads to destruction andthose who enter by it are many
underline that many For the gateis narrow and the way is hard.
That leads to life and thosewho find it are few.
(01:49):
Let that sink in.
Those who find it are few, whatare the odds of missing the
gate?
And you think about throughhistory, billions and billions,
he says, few are.
Those is the way it reads inGreek.
Few are those who find it.
Today we're going to see thatthe greatest gap between that
(02:11):
exists for us is between what webelieve and what actually is.
So read that again the greatestgap that exists for us is
between what we believe and whatactually is.
Jesus warns us about how wecould miss this gate and then he
tells us why it's possible tomiss it, and that's what we're
(02:35):
going to look at today.
Matthew 7, verses 15 through 23.
Would you read along with me inyour Bible, where you can watch
it on the screen.
Jesus said beware of falseprophets who come to you in
sheep's clothing but inwardlyare ravenous wolves.
You will recognize them bytheir fruits.
Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
(02:58):
That's kind of hard to say figsfrom thistles.
So every healthy tree bearsgood fruit, but the diseased
tree bears bad fruit.
A healthy tree cannot bear badfruit, nor can a diseased tree
bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not beargood fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire.
Thus you will recognize them bytheir fruits.
(03:22):
Not everyone who says to me,lord, lord, will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but the onewho does the will of my Father
who is in heaven.
On that day, many will say tome Lord, lord, did we not
prophesy in your name, cast outdemons in your name and do many
mighty works in your name, worksin your name?
(03:49):
And then, while I declare tothem I never knew you Depart
from me, you workers oflawlessness.
Let's pray, our Father.
We're just so grateful todaythat we can open your word and
we ask you, holy Spirit, thatyou'd even now open our eyes and
minds and hearts that we canunderstand what you want to show
us, lord.
(04:13):
Remove anything in our livesthat would smack of deception.
Anything any lies in us thatwe've believed, that we are
holding on to that doesn'tadhere to your truth, and, lord,
we just ask you to show us yourways today.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Death by GPS that's a phenomenathat is kind of well-known for
(04:36):
those who have been a little bitfamiliar with it, but it's not
an uncommon thing.
Death by GPS kind of refers tothe times when someone's GPS
brings them into terrible andsometimes unattractable places
and it leads to their death, andthere's a lot of examples of
that.
I was looking this last weekand one of the examples is
(05:00):
pretty recent 2023, a man inNorth Carolina was driving on a
dark and rainy night.
His GPS was telling him to goacross this bridge and he did so
and the bridge ended and hedrove off into the river and
died True story.
You know the order of magnitudein making an error like that in
(05:23):
your spiritual life isunimaginably tragic and has
incredibly unimaginableconsequences.
So you know what?
There's a global positioningsystem that our enemy uses, and
his positioning system will takeus into the most destructive
places we can ever imagine andthis is why Jesus first talks
(05:45):
about the danger posed by thesefalse teachers will take us into
the most destructive places wecan ever imagine.
And this is why Jesus firsttalks about the danger posed by
these false teachers.
He says there beware of falseprophets who come to you Verse
15.
And that problem is reallynothing new.
If you look through the historyof the church, it's fraught
(06:06):
with all kinds of false teachingand the church is trying to
come against it.
In fact, from Genesis you lookin your Bible, from Genesis to
Revelation that you know thesame issue false teachers is
warned against and it's told tous it's a thing that we're
supposed to do is we're to guardagainst, be cautious about.
(06:27):
Here's what Peter said Besober-minded, be watchful.
Your adversary, the devil,prowls around like a roaring
lion seeking someone to devour.
The question is, do you believethat?
Do you really believe that?
(06:48):
You say, well, that sounds kindof paranoid, like somebody's
out to get me.
Yes, they are.
His name is Satan and he's real.
He's not a figment of yourimagination.
And part of what we need to doas a church is and I'm talking
about church in general, ourchurch included is to gain a
biblical worldview about reality.
(07:08):
There are things that we don'tsee that are real and are true,
and let me tell you why thisshould matter to us.
First of all, because you maynot think it, but this is
happening even now, even thoughit's happened throughout church
history.
It's happening today, even now.
Bart Ehrman is a world-renownedbiblical scholar.
(07:31):
He teaches in a school over auniversity in North Carolina and
he started out as aBible-believing Christian and
his spiritual journey sort oftook him down a path that
ultimately led him to reject theclaims of Christianity.
But he's an influencer.
(07:52):
At last count I looked this upon the internet Bart Ehrman has
written 34 books.
Seven of these are on thebestseller or six of these are
on the New York Times bestsellerlist, and he is.
Those books have beentranslated into 134 countries.
He's an influencer.
(08:13):
In his own words.
We get a taste of his brand ofChristianity, and this is an
interview.
I don't want to put words inhis mouth, so I'll let him talk.
Here's what he believes.
A lot of people, he says,wonder why I am not a Christian.
Is Bart Ehrman a Christian?
(08:34):
Is a very popular question andI don't quite get this.
He says just now, 15 minutesago, I came to realize with the
most clarity the crystal clarityI've ever had of why I am not a
Christian.
Of course, as most of you know,I have not called myself a
Christian publicly for a verylong time 20 years or so, I
(08:57):
suppose and then listen to this.
But a number of people tell methat they think at heart I'm a
Christian and I sometimes thinkof myself as a Christian,
agnostic, atheist.
Let that mess with your mind.
I'll read it again.
I think of myself as aChristian, agnostic, atheist.
(09:17):
Their thinking and mine hasbeen that if I do my best to
follow the teachings of Jesus,in some respect I'm a Christian,
even if I don't believe thatJesus was the son of God or that
he was raised from the dead, oreven that God exists.
In fact, I don't believe allthese things.
(09:38):
But can't I be a Christian in adifferent sense, one who
follows Jesus' teachings?
Wow, and many of these peoplethat are reading his books and
listening to him, many go to himfor the true put that in quotes
true version of Christianity,and they are.
(10:02):
I think there's unknown numbersof former Christians who now
follow his teachings to itslogical end.
They have rejected the faithand they no longer believe
either.
You know, remember that.
You can know your Bible yetreject its truth.
(10:23):
You can know your Bible yetreject its truth.
You can know your Bible butreject its truth, and sometimes
we do that unconsciously.
We don't even think about howwe're rejecting the truth.
That's in the scriptures.
Seems to me like there wassomeone who said this that we
all know.
He said this.
He said if the blind lead theblind, they'll both fall into
(10:46):
the ditch.
The voices like Bart Ehrman'sare everywhere in our culture.
They're found in our educationsystem, they're found in our
political sphere.
They're found in our media andour social media.
They're talking, and you don'thave to have a title, you just
(11:09):
have to have a platform to makea truth claim.
But the most sinister placethat we find this false teaching
occurs in the most unlikelyplace that you could imagine.
It's found in the most unlikelyplace that you could imagine,
found in the church, find falseprophets, right where the enemy
(11:31):
can do the most damage.
And how do I know that?
Because Peter in second Petertalks about it.
You could and let me encourageyou to read the whole chapter go
back and read chapter two ofsecond Peter.
He gives a complete descriptionof what the character of these
false teachers are like.
Complete description of whatthe character of these false
teachers are like.
Let me just read the firstcouple of verses to you.
He says but false prophets alsoarose among the people.
(11:52):
Just as there will be falseteachers among you who will
secretly bring in destructiveheresies, even denying the
master who bought them,destructive heresies, even
denying the master who boughtthem, bringing upon themselves
swift destruction.
And many will follow theirsensuality and because of them
the way of truth will beblasphemed.
(12:14):
You know and if I you know I'vehad the time I could talk about
church after church afterchurch that has turned away in
our away in our nation, awayfrom the gospel, teaching things
that are now contrary to thescriptures, and it's kind of
mind-boggling and mind-blowing,but they're all led by men who
(12:36):
have rejected the truth ofscripture.
You know, as we move closer andcloser to the end of history,
where I think we're fast movingthere now don't know how far
away we are, but I think you cansense it too we'll see the
problem becoming more real.
(12:58):
Listen to what Paul says in 2Thessalonians the coming of the
lawless one is by the activityof Satan, with all power and all
false signs and wonders andwith all wicked deception for
those who are perishing becausethey refuse to love the truth
and so be saved.
(13:18):
Even Jesus said this the end ofhis chapter that is written in
Matthew.
He says and I'm kind ofastounded even now, like what we
(13:40):
can actually see with thingslike deep fakes and things that
are able to be put out there inthe media that looks real but
it's not.
That couldn't have been donejust a few short years ago, but
it can be done now.
How easy it would be to deceivethe whole world and, if
possible, the elect.
(14:01):
Who are the false prophets ofour day?
Ever thought about that?
It's just kind of like adefinition for us.
Let me just kind of give thisto you False teachers any
teacher who distorts the truthof the Scriptures and ultimately
distorts the gospel of graceDistorts the truth of the
(14:23):
Scriptures and ultimatelydistorts the gospel of grace.
It is the grace that's found inthe ministry, the working
ministry of the Lord JesusChrist.
You know, I started to provideus a list of examples, writing
them out, but it got too long.
It got too long, but I think itwas surprising to learn that
(14:44):
many of our favorite Bibleteachers teach heresy.
But they're out there.
You just have to look under thecovers a bit, see.
False teaching can run along aspectrum, I think, if you will,
from minor errors in theology towhat we call heresy.
(15:07):
And I'm not talking when I sayminor errors, I don't mean the
things like when we have minordisagreements with Christians.
Those will always be there.
We know, in part, right, andthose are some things that
Romans 14 talks aboutnon-essentials.
But I'm talking about errorsthat deny the foundational
(15:28):
truths of Christianity, thingslike the resurrection and the
virgin birth and the nature ofsin and its effects and the
Trinity, things like that.
They're common in our day.
You just have to listen, you see, when teaching becomes
(15:49):
destructive, divisive and reallyit just turns the gospel on its
head in relation to oursalvation, then we can actually
say, and rightly say, it comesfrom false teachers.
And that's why we all listen.
We all have to know the gospel,believe the gospel and guard
(16:12):
the gospel.
This is critical, folks, in ourday.
We have have to.
We just have to.
So why is it?
Why is it important?
Because it's not only importantfor you, it's important for the
next generation.
So we see the danger of falseteachers jesus describes here.
(16:35):
Now he tells us of thedeception of these false
teachers In verse 15 again, whocome, he says.
They described who come to youin sheep's clothing, but
inwardly are ravenous wolves.
The people appear innocent andharmless, but they may actually
be out to destroy you.
They may be out to tear you topieces.
(16:57):
They want to have you, theywant to make you, make a mutton
burger out of you.
They may be out to tear you topieces.
They want to have you, theywant to make a mutton burger out
of you.
So this idea that the gospel'senemies may initially sound
really good, they may lookreally good, they may be very
charismatic and have a greatpersonality and draw lots of
crowds, but underneath they'rehiding something.
(17:17):
And Jesus' point is thatthey're indistinguishable from
true teachers.
You see, just because somebodydraws a large crowd or has a PhD
or has a weekly podcast, itdoesn't mean they can be trusted
(17:38):
.
And so what do we have to do?
We have to lift up the fleeceand kind of look underneath so
we don't get fleeced right.
We have to look beyond theappearance to see the reality of
things.
Paul continues in describingthese kind of people.
(17:58):
He says in 2 Corinthians 11,.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen disguising
themselves as apostles of Christ.
And no wonder, for even Satandisguises himself as an angel of
light.
So it is no surprise if hisservants also disguise
themselves as servants ofrighteousness.
(18:20):
Their end will correspond totheir deeds.
And so he says these guys arein disguise.
These guys are in disguise, andhis idea behind that is that
you couldn't tell it if youwanted to by looking at them.
But behind them is a darkestdeceiver.
(18:42):
The father of lies is behindthese false prophets.
He's motivating them to teachwhat they teach, and behind
their deep fake, which is whatit is.
These folks are mastermanipulators.
I mean, you can watch them onTV and listen to them, and
(19:03):
they're directly influenced bySatan himself.
This is what Paul is sayinghere.
And they're often positionedinside our churches and inside
our Christian organizations, andthis was a really significant
concern in the early church.
Did you realize that almostevery New Testament letter talks
about false teachers?
Let me give you a coupleexamples.
(19:26):
In the letter to Jude, forexample, in the last book before
the book of Revelation, rightat the beginning.
Here's what Jude tells us.
He says I was going to talk toyou about our common salvation,
but he said I changed my mindbecause there's something I need
to address right now.
He says I found it necessary towrite appealing to you to
(19:49):
contend for the faith that wasonce for all delivered to the
saints, for certain people havecrept in unnoticed.
He's talking about the falseteachers.
(20:12):
Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 saysproclaims another Jesus than the
one we proclaimed, or if youreceived a different spirit from
the one you received, or if youaccept a different gospel from
the one you accepted, you put upwith it readily enough.
And Paul is, what is he doing?
He's correcting this church fortheir indifference Big deal,
(20:37):
and so they blew it off.
But Paul's understanding goesway beyond the surface here.
He goes all the way back to theoriginal deception in the
garden and there's someinstruction for us here.
Paul knew that that Satan, thevery first false prophet, uses
tactics that never change.
(20:58):
I want us to see him thismorning because of that life
altering exchange, that day thatwe remember, in the garden
between Adam and Eve, satan andSatan.
In Genesis, chapter three, welearn how Satan operates to
deceive.
And let me just give you.
There's four things here thatare instructive.
Number one Satan there subtlytwists the words of God, and we
(21:23):
see this in this conversation.
Satan is talking to Eve andSatan says did God actually say
you shall not eat of any tree inthe garden?
And the woman listens to that.
And then she adds to hissuggestion.
And the woman said to theserpent we may eat of the fruit
of the trees in the garden, butGod says you shall not eat of
(21:47):
the fruit of the tree that is inthe midst of the garden.
And then she adds this neithershall you touch it, lest you die
.
You see what Satan's doingthere.
He's starting to mess with hermind, the way she remembers the
scriptures, and sometimes he cando that with us.
You ever thought you remembereda verse and it was like you go
back and it's like that's notwhat it said at all.
You think Satan does that still?
(22:11):
Yes, he does.
Satan subtly twists the wordsof God.
Second, satan denies thetruthfulness of God.
Look at it in verse four,genesis, chapter three.
But the serpent said to thewoman you shall not surely die.
You hear that he's directlycontradicting what God has said.
(22:31):
He says well, god is really notbeing honest with you.
Well, god is really not beinghonest with you.
How many times does he do thatwith us?
Satan denies the truthfulnessof God.
Thirdly, satan questions thecharacter of God.
This is really dark.
(22:55):
Chapter 3, verse 5, for Godknows that when you eat of it,
your eyes will be opened and youwill be like God, knowing good
and evil.
You see, what he's putting inmind is that God is holding out
on you.
He just doesn't want you toexperience everything that ought
to be coming to you.
He's making your life miserable.
The reason he tells you no isso you won't be happy.
(23:17):
He doesn't want you to haveeverything.
He's not a good God.
And then, number four, satanappeals to human desires, and
I'm talking about what is herein the scripture the lust of the
eyes, the lust of the flesh,the boastful pride of life.
(23:39):
He says there, so in scripture.
So when the woman in verse sixand seven saw that the tree was
good for food and that it was adelight to the eyes and that the
tree was to be desired to makeone wise, she took its fruit and
ate, and she also gave some toher husband who was with her,
and he ate, eve was deceived,and Adam just.
(24:06):
You know how.
You know you women have lots ofinfluence on us.
He did that with his eyes open.
He knew what he was doing right, but these are the same methods
Satan uses to tempt Jesus as hedid in the wilderness.
These are the same methods thatare seen in most, if not all,
(24:27):
false teachers.
Satan's tactics never change,and one recent example of this
kind of deception, whichactually twists the scriptures,
is called the Mirror Bible.
Has anybody heard of the MirrorBible?
Probably hasn't.
It came out in 2021.
And it was written by one man.
(24:48):
His name is Francois Dutoy andhe's actually South African, and
so his readers described thisBible.
After reading it, some of thepeople have written and said
it's a refreshing andenlightening experience that
offers a new perspective onfamiliar passages.
(25:08):
When you hear something likethat, it offers something new.
Red flag Right.
And yet, as you look a littlebit deeper, you find that the
Bible du toi, as written, ischock full of false teaching,
and this is a Bible, by the way,that I don't know how many
(25:29):
people are reading.
I've heard it.
You go to Google and you say,wow, you've got all these rave
reviews, five-star reviews, andI understand what Google does
sometimes, but there's a lot ofpeople who read this Bible.
It's called a translation, Ithink, a paraphrase, translation
, paraphrase.
Those two don't go together, bythe way.
(25:52):
But he says he worked from theoriginal Greek and it's really,
in his mind, the right thing.
But here's what you find, forexample, in his exposition on
what about the sinful nature?
Here's what Dutoy writes.
He says we theologicallycreated the idea of humanity
being sinful by nature, as ifhumans are flawed by design.
(26:15):
Well duh.
As if humans are flawed bydesign, well duh.
In fact, it is a distortedmindset that we inherited from
Adam, from which Jesus had tofree us.
The point of the mirror Bible isthat we don't need to believe
in order to become children ofGod.
We already are because of Jesus.
You see how twisted that is.
(26:38):
But this is what people aregetting from this false teacher.
He goes on and finishes.
He says everyone who realizestheir association in him, that
is, in Jesus, convinced that heis their original life and that
his name defines them, god givesthe assurance that they are
indeed his offspring, begottenof him.
(26:59):
That is a damning.
A damning teaching, because ittakes millions of people to hell
because they're believing a lie.
And so Jesus tells us, beware offalse teachers, adding that any
(27:19):
of us can be deceived If we'renot careful to pay attention to
what the Word of God says andtreat it like it is a lamp
shining in a dark place, and youmay be sitting here this
morning going well, not me.
Think about this.
The very nature of deception isthat you don't know that you're
(27:40):
being deceived.
So how then do we guard againstthis?
We need discernment.
You know what discernment is.
Discernment is the God-givenability to see through the lies.
Discernment is the God-givenability to see through the lies.
Discernment is the God-givenability to see through the lies,
and Jesus doesn't leave uswithout help here.
(28:03):
He cuts to the chase and hegives us what we need to know,
and we see it in this next point, the discerning of false
teachers, in verses 16 through20.
In verse 16, he says you, here'sthe thing.
You will recognize them bytheir fruits and the way he
communicates this.
He gives us the illustration,he gives us a picture of two
(28:24):
trees with their associatedfruits, and really, this is a
simple test to know who is realand who is not.
Look at their fruits and, bythe way it's plural fruits.
Look at their fruits, look atall that's and, by the way, it's
plural fruits.
Look at their fruits, look atall that's produced by the tree.
And what do the fruits reveal?
(28:45):
Three things.
First of all, their fruits, hesays, reveal their nature.
He says.
He asked the question aregrapes gathered from thorn
bushes or figs from thistles?
The nature of the tree is whatthe tree is, right, can't change
.
It's the Old Testament.
(29:05):
Can a leopard change its spots?
Well, no, it's a leopard.
The fruits reveal their nature,and so let's make this
practical.
I got some things to ask aswe're considering these things.
And the question here is dotheir words and their teaching
line up with the scriptures?
Simple thing, simple test thefruits reveal their nature.
(29:26):
The second one is that theirfruits expose their character.
Their fruits expose theircharacter, he says in verses.
He says in verses is that nextphrase there in 17?
Every healthy tree bears goodfruit, but the diseased tree
(29:47):
bears bad fruit.
A healthy tree cannot bear badfruit, a diseased tree cannot
bear good fruit.
It's impossible for them tobear what they are not right.
And here's the question we askDoes their character reflect the
teaching of the scriptures?
I mean what's their character,and pretty soon, if you're
around them long enough, youknow.
It's kind of like what thescripture says out of the heart
(30:14):
words reveal what's in our heart.
So just listen to what they sayand you'll know.
Their fruits expose theircharacter.
And then, third, their fruitspredict their destiny.
He says every tree verse 10that does not bear fruit good
fruit is cut down and throwninto the fire, and the question
we can ask here is what is theoutcome of their teaching and
(30:37):
what is their is the effect oftheir teaching on the people who
listen to them?
How have they influenced thelives of their hearers?
These are simple tests, andJesus tells us, though, that by
looking at their fruits we canknow whether false or true.
Now, jesus has been just, Ithink, instructing us about
(30:59):
those who claim to be whatthey're not, and in verses 15
through 20, we've warned he'sbeen warning us as he has with
the danger of false prophets,and now he kind of switches
gears.
In verses 21 through 23, he nowspeaks about being false
followers.
Now we begin to squirm.
(31:24):
To me, this is the mostsobering portion of Scripture in
all the Bible, because it tellsabout people who are standing
at the door to heaven andthey're hoping and expecting to
get in, thinking that they'reChristians, but they're in fact
(31:44):
revealed not to be.
Does that concern you?
Does that frighten you, boy?
It does me, and I know whom Ihave believed.
But here's the disaster fromfalse teaching, verses 21
(32:08):
through 23.
I was thinking about this andyou know, we all feel that
weakness, don't we?
Of the flesh and just oursinful nature, and it's like
we're not what we ought to be.
There's those question marksthat the enemy brings in and
saying, well, you're not this oryou're not that.
And he puts a question mark onus.
(32:29):
John Newton, who's him we knowso well, you know what Amazing
grace.
He was so aware of this feelingthat he said if I ever reach
heaven, I expect to find threewonders there.
First, to meet some I had notthought to see there, and that
(32:54):
will be true.
To miss some I had thought tomeet there.
And third, the greatest wonderof all, to find myself there.
Yeah, yeah, this is a seriouswarning for all of us to find
myself there.
Yeah, yeah, this is a seriouswarning for all of us.
To consider it.
Jesus imagines now for us whatit will be like for someone on
(33:18):
that day of judgment.
And they stand as they stand,horrified, at the door to heaven
, thinking they're going to getin and they're turned away.
So notice, they're turned awayfrom the door of heaven.
There are, I would just say,two panicked professions.
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Can you imagine Panic would setin the first?
And these are claims.
But I called you Lord, verse21,.
Jesus said not everyone whosays to me, lord, lord, will
enter the kingdom of heaven, butthe one who does the will of my
(34:02):
father, who is in heaven.
You know this is about lipservice.
Lip service is in heaven.
You know this is about lipservice.
Lip service is not enough.
Using his name doesn't proveanything.
You can wear the monikerChristian and not be a Christian
.
But I called you Lord.
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And then the second one.
But I did great things for you.
We did great things for you.
He says.
On that day, many will say to meLord, lord, did we not prophesy
in your name and cast outdemons in your name and do
mighty works in your name?
And here's someone who is busyin ministry, counting on his
(34:52):
sensational works to do what?
To save him.
He does a lot of great things.
In fact he lists them A lot ofgreat results maybe, but he's
also too inflated by what he'sdone, by the things he's done
himself.
It kind of gives you a littleclue about something's not quite
(35:15):
right.
But prophecy casting out demonsmighty works don't those say
anything.
And we might have thought thatJesus would Mighty works.
Don't those say anything.
And we might have thought thatJesus would handed the guy an A
(35:40):
for all the effort, right.
But spiritual power doesn'tprove anything and we kind of
gravitate to that, thinking wow,that's a powerful preacher,
that's a powerful ministry orthat's a super mega church.
It must be something to thatchurch or that person.
Spiritual power doesn't proveanything Because he says then
(36:02):
will I declare to them I neverknew you.
Depart from me, you, workers oflawlessness.
This is the ultimate deception,a disaster that you and I don't
want to encounter, right?
You know there's a scripture inProverbs that says there is a
(36:23):
path that seems right to aperson, but it ends in death.
You know, there's only onething, only one thing that
matters according to Jesus.
Do you know him?
Do you know him in a personalrelationship?
(36:43):
Do you know him in deepfellowship and this is a word
that talks about intimacy, youspent time with him.
He knows you, you know him.
It's not about all the thingswe do or things that we claim or
the words that we use, and thisis where it's deceptive.
John Calvin once wrote thehuman heart has so many crannies
(37:09):
where vanity hides, so manyholes where falsehood lurks, is
so decked out with deceivinghypocrisy that it often dupes
itself.
So what are we to do?
So what are we to do?
(37:30):
Make sure that you and I havenot misunderstood the way.
The way is Jesus.
He's a way and the truth andthe life.
Grab hold of the truth likeit's your best friend, because
it is love the truth.
Believe is Love the truth,believe the truth, live the
truth.
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Here's a good piece of advicefrom 2 Corinthians Paul.
He says examine yourselves tosee if your faith is genuine.
Test yourselves, surely youknow that Jesus Christ is among
you.
If not, you have failed thetest of genuine faith.
See, our faith is it's gracethat God gives.
(38:16):
We don't work for it, it's bygrace.
You don't boast because you'vedone it yourself.
You can't boast, but it'ssomething God has given to you
as a gift, but guess what it'sby grace.
Has given to you as a gift, butguess what it's by grace,
through what Faith we have,steps, so we do as was shared
(38:36):
this morning.
We have to do what we doourselves too.
There's a part we play, youknow.
See, the message is the cure fordeception.
The cure for deception is Jesus, and when we fail to be
discerning about the teachingand beliefs we embrace, we
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become vulnerable to the lies ofthe enemy and to the most
tragic deception of all To hearon that day Jesus say to us I
never knew you.
Ultimately, only God knows whobelongs to him.
Right, but here's the thingToday, if you have doubts about
(39:23):
your salvation or if you think Idon't know Jesus, you can know
him today.
There'll be people down here injust a minute.
I want you to stand, we're goingto pray, but I want you to know
there'll be people down hereand ready to talk to you about
those doubts and about anyquestion that you have, or tell
(39:45):
you how you can know Jesus in apersonal way.
Here's the truth, because ifyou confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and you believein your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will besaved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified, and with the
(40:10):
mouth one confesses and is saved.
Father, we thank you for yourword today and we ask you, lord,
to speak your words to ourhearts.
Lord, lord, we have questionssometimes about where we are
with you, and I pray today thatif we have questions in any way,
whether we don't know you or wehave doubts about you, lord,
(40:33):
we'll nail those down today andmake certain that we've not
misunderstood and that we're notdeceived.
Lord, in Jesus' name, we prayAmen.
We're in the last portion of this, this final
section of the Sermon on theMount, the great sermon by Jesus
, and this last section coverschapter 7, verses 13 through 29.
And if we've been followingalong from the beginning, we
know that Jesus has challengedus with the principles and the
practices and the values of thekingdom of God, and it's been
(00:24):
wonderful.
Now, at the closing points ofhis message, he's giving us
basically some choices to makeabout the kingdom.
He's going to let us decide,and so the choices are three.
They're basically threeillustrations.
Let me just kind of go throughthese and we're going to work on
the second one today and thelast one next week.
The first choice, which Tylerdid such a great job last week
(00:45):
on, is between two gates.
Do you remember the wide andthe narrow gate?
And the warnings for each ofthese are also included, and the
warning for that is don'tfollow the crowd, don't follow
the crowd.
The second illustration, theone we'll look at today, the
choice between two trees, andthere's the healthy or unhealthy
, or the good and bad tree, andthe warning there is don't be
(01:08):
deceived.
And then the last one, whichwe'll look at next week, is the
two foundations, and thefoundations between having being
built on the sand or buildingyour life on the rock.
And the warning is don't buildyour life in the wrong place.
So verses 13 through 14, thelast week.
(01:28):
I just kind of want to bringyou back, to bring this to your
mind.
Jesus says For the gate is wideand the way is easy.
That leads to destruction andthose who enter by it are many
underline that many For the gateis narrow and the way is hard.
That leads to life and thosewho find it are few.
(01:49):
Let that sink in.
Those who find it are few, whatare the odds of missing the
gate?
And you think about throughhistory, billions and billions,
he says, few are.
Those is the way it reads inGreek.
Few are those who find it.
Today we're going to see thatthe greatest gap between that
(02:11):
exists for us is between what webelieve and what actually is.
So read that again the greatestgap that exists for us is
between what we believe and whatactually is.
Jesus warns us about how wecould miss this gate and then he
tells us why it's possible tomiss it, and that's what we're
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going to look at today.
Matthew 7, verses 15 through 23.
Would you read along with me inyour Bible, where you can watch
it on the screen.
Jesus said beware of falseprophets who come to you in
sheep's clothing but inwardlyare ravenous wolves.
You will recognize them bytheir fruits.
Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
(02:58):
That's kind of hard to say figsfrom thistles.
So every healthy tree bearsgood fruit, but the diseased
tree bears bad fruit.
A healthy tree cannot bear badfruit, nor can a diseased tree
bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not beargood fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire.
Thus you will recognize them bytheir fruits.
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Not everyone who says to me,lord, lord, will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but the onewho does the will of my Father
who is in heaven.
On that day, many will say tome Lord, lord, did we not
prophesy in your name, cast outdemons in your name and do many
mighty works in your name, worksin your name?
(03:49):
And then, while I declare tothem I never knew you Depart
from me, you workers oflawlessness.
Let's pray, our Father.
We're just so grateful todaythat we can open your word and
we ask you, holy Spirit, thatyou'd even now open our eyes and
minds and hearts that we canunderstand what you want to show
us, lord.
(04:13):
Remove anything in our livesthat would smack of deception.
Anything any lies in us thatwe've believed, that we are
holding on to that doesn'tadhere to your truth, and, lord,
we just ask you to show us yourways today.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Death by GPS that's a phenomenathat is kind of well-known for
(04:36):
those who have been a little bitfamiliar with it, but it's not
an uncommon thing.
Death by GPS kind of refers tothe times when someone's GPS
brings them into terrible andsometimes unattractable places
and it leads to their death, andthere's a lot of examples of
that.
I was looking this last weekand one of the examples is
(05:00):
pretty recent 2023, a man inNorth Carolina was driving on a
dark and rainy night.
His GPS was telling him to goacross this bridge and he did so
and the bridge ended and hedrove off into the river and
died True story.
You know the order of magnitudein making an error like that in
(05:23):
your spiritual life isunimaginably tragic and has
incredibly unimaginableconsequences.
So you know what?
There's a global positioningsystem that our enemy uses, and
his positioning system will takeus into the most destructive
places we can ever imagine andthis is why Jesus first talks
(05:45):
about the danger posed by thesefalse teachers will take us into
the most destructive places wecan ever imagine.
And this is why Jesus firsttalks about the danger posed by
these false teachers.
He says there beware of falseprophets who come to you Verse
15.
And that problem is reallynothing new.
If you look through the historyof the church, it's fraught
(06:06):
with all kinds of false teachingand the church is trying to
come against it.
In fact, from Genesis you lookin your Bible, from Genesis to
Revelation that you know thesame issue false teachers is
warned against and it's told tous it's a thing that we're
supposed to do is we're to guardagainst, be cautious about.
(06:27):
Here's what Peter said Besober-minded, be watchful.
Your adversary, the devil,prowls around like a roaring
lion seeking someone to devour.
The question is, do you believethat?
Do you really believe that?
(06:48):
You say, well, that sounds kindof paranoid, like somebody's
out to get me.
Yes, they are.
His name is Satan and he's real.
He's not a figment of yourimagination.
And part of what we need to doas a church is and I'm talking
about church in general, ourchurch included is to gain a
biblical worldview about reality.
(07:08):
There are things that we don'tsee that are real and are true,
and let me tell you why thisshould matter to us.
First of all, because you maynot think it, but this is
happening even now, even thoughit's happened throughout church
history.
It's happening today, even now.
Bart Ehrman is a world-renownedbiblical scholar.
(07:31):
He teaches in a school over auniversity in North Carolina and
he started out as aBible-believing Christian and
his spiritual journey sort oftook him down a path that
ultimately led him to reject theclaims of Christianity.
But he's an influencer.
(07:52):
At last count I looked this upon the internet Bart Ehrman has
written 34 books.
Seven of these are on thebestseller or six of these are
on the New York Times bestsellerlist, and he is.
Those books have beentranslated into 134 countries.
He's an influencer.
(08:13):
In his own words.
We get a taste of his brand ofChristianity, and this is an
interview.
I don't want to put words inhis mouth, so I'll let him talk.
Here's what he believes.
A lot of people, he says,wonder why I am not a Christian.
Is Bart Ehrman a Christian?
(08:34):
Is a very popular question andI don't quite get this.
He says just now, 15 minutesago, I came to realize with the
most clarity the crystal clarityI've ever had of why I am not a
Christian.
Of course, as most of you know,I have not called myself a
Christian publicly for a verylong time 20 years or so, I
(08:57):
suppose and then listen to this.
But a number of people tell methat they think at heart I'm a
Christian and I sometimes thinkof myself as a Christian,
agnostic, atheist.
Let that mess with your mind.
I'll read it again.
I think of myself as aChristian, agnostic, atheist.
(09:17):
Their thinking and mine hasbeen that if I do my best to
follow the teachings of Jesus,in some respect I'm a Christian,
even if I don't believe thatJesus was the son of God or that
he was raised from the dead, oreven that God exists.
In fact, I don't believe allthese things.
(09:38):
But can't I be a Christian in adifferent sense, one who
follows Jesus' teachings?
Wow, and many of these peoplethat are reading his books and
listening to him, many go to himfor the true put that in quotes
true version of Christianity,and they are.
(10:02):
I think there's unknown numbersof former Christians who now
follow his teachings to itslogical end.
They have rejected the faithand they no longer believe
either.
You know, remember that.
You can know your Bible yetreject its truth.
(10:23):
You can know your Bible yetreject its truth.
You can know your Bible butreject its truth, and sometimes
we do that unconsciously.
We don't even think about howwe're rejecting the truth.
That's in the scriptures.
Seems to me like there wassomeone who said this that we
all know.
He said this.
He said if the blind lead theblind, they'll both fall into
(10:46):
the ditch.
The voices like Bart Ehrman'sare everywhere in our culture.
They're found in our educationsystem, they're found in our
political sphere.
They're found in our media andour social media.
They're talking, and you don'thave to have a title, you just
(11:09):
have to have a platform to makea truth claim.
But the most sinister placethat we find this false teaching
occurs in the most unlikelyplace that you could imagine.
It's found in the most unlikelyplace that you could imagine,
found in the church, find falseprophets, right where the enemy
(11:31):
can do the most damage.
And how do I know that?
Because Peter in second Petertalks about it.
You could and let me encourageyou to read the whole chapter go
back and read chapter two ofsecond Peter.
He gives a complete descriptionof what the character of these
false teachers are like.
Complete description of whatthe character of these false
teachers are like.
Let me just read the firstcouple of verses to you.
He says but false prophets alsoarose among the people.
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Just as there will be falseteachers among you who will
secretly bring in destructiveheresies, even denying the
master who bought them,destructive heresies, even
denying the master who boughtthem, bringing upon themselves
swift destruction.
And many will follow theirsensuality and because of them
the way of truth will beblasphemed.
(12:14):
You know and if I you know I'vehad the time I could talk about
church after church afterchurch that has turned away in
our away in our nation, awayfrom the gospel, teaching things
that are now contrary to thescriptures, and it's kind of
mind-boggling and mind-blowing,but they're all led by men who
(12:36):
have rejected the truth ofscripture.
You know, as we move closer andcloser to the end of history,
where I think we're fast movingthere now don't know how far
away we are, but I think you cansense it too we'll see the
problem becoming more real.
(12:58):
Listen to what Paul says in 2Thessalonians the coming of the
lawless one is by the activityof Satan, with all power and all
false signs and wonders andwith all wicked deception for
those who are perishing becausethey refuse to love the truth
and so be saved.
(13:18):
Even Jesus said this the end ofhis chapter that is written in
Matthew.
He says and I'm kind ofastounded even now, like what we
(13:40):
can actually see with thingslike deep fakes and things that
are able to be put out there inthe media that looks real but
it's not.
That couldn't have been donejust a few short years ago, but
it can be done now.
How easy it would be to deceivethe whole world and, if
possible, the elect.
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Who are the false prophets ofour day?
Ever thought about that?
It's just kind of like adefinition for us.
Let me just kind of give thisto you False teachers any
teacher who distorts the truthof the Scriptures and ultimately
distorts the gospel of graceDistorts the truth of the
(14:23):
Scriptures and ultimatelydistorts the gospel of grace.
It is the grace that's found inthe ministry, the working
ministry of the Lord JesusChrist.
You know, I started to provideus a list of examples, writing
them out, but it got too long.
It got too long, but I think itwas surprising to learn that
(14:44):
many of our favorite Bibleteachers teach heresy.
But they're out there.
You just have to look under thecovers a bit, see.
False teaching can run along aspectrum, I think, if you will,
from minor errors in theology towhat we call heresy.
(15:07):
And I'm not talking when I sayminor errors, I don't mean the
things like when we have minordisagreements with Christians.
Those will always be there.
We know, in part, right, andthose are some things that
Romans 14 talks aboutnon-essentials.
But I'm talking about errorsthat deny the foundational
(15:28):
truths of Christianity, thingslike the resurrection and the
virgin birth and the nature ofsin and its effects and the
Trinity, things like that.
They're common in our day.
You just have to listen, you see, when teaching becomes
(15:49):
destructive, divisive and reallyit just turns the gospel on its
head in relation to oursalvation, then we can actually
say, and rightly say, it comesfrom false teachers.
And that's why we all listen.
We all have to know the gospel,believe the gospel and guard
(16:12):
the gospel.
This is critical, folks, in ourday.
We have have to.
We just have to.
So why is it?
Why is it important?
Because it's not only importantfor you, it's important for the
next generation.
So we see the danger of falseteachers jesus describes here.
(16:35):
Now he tells us of thedeception of these false
teachers In verse 15 again, whocome, he says.
They described who come to youin sheep's clothing, but
inwardly are ravenous wolves.
The people appear innocent andharmless, but they may actually
be out to destroy you.
They may be out to tear you topieces.
(16:57):
They want to have you, theywant to make you, make a mutton
burger out of you.
They may be out to tear you topieces.
They want to have you, theywant to make a mutton burger out
of you.
So this idea that the gospel'senemies may initially sound
really good, they may lookreally good, they may be very
charismatic and have a greatpersonality and draw lots of
crowds, but underneath they'rehiding something.
(17:17):
And Jesus' point is thatthey're indistinguishable from
true teachers.
You see, just because somebodydraws a large crowd or has a PhD
or has a weekly podcast, itdoesn't mean they can be trusted
(17:38):
.
And so what do we have to do?
We have to lift up the fleeceand kind of look underneath so
we don't get fleeced right.
We have to look beyond theappearance to see the reality of
things.
Paul continues in describingthese kind of people.
(17:58):
He says in 2 Corinthians 11,.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen disguising
themselves as apostles of Christ.
And no wonder, for even Satandisguises himself as an angel of
light.
So it is no surprise if hisservants also disguise
themselves as servants ofrighteousness.
(18:20):
Their end will correspond totheir deeds.
And so he says these guys arein disguise.
These guys are in disguise, andhis idea behind that is that
you couldn't tell it if youwanted to by looking at them.
But behind them is a darkestdeceiver.
(18:42):
The father of lies is behindthese false prophets.
He's motivating them to teachwhat they teach, and behind
their deep fake, which is whatit is.
These folks are mastermanipulators.
I mean, you can watch them onTV and listen to them, and
(19:03):
they're directly influenced bySatan himself.
This is what Paul is sayinghere.
And they're often positionedinside our churches and inside
our Christian organizations, andthis was a really significant
concern in the early church.
Did you realize that almostevery New Testament letter talks
about false teachers?
Let me give you a coupleexamples.
(19:26):
In the letter to Jude, forexample, in the last book before
the book of Revelation, rightat the beginning.
Here's what Jude tells us.
He says I was going to talk toyou about our common salvation,
but he said I changed my mindbecause there's something I need
to address right now.
He says I found it necessary towrite appealing to you to
(19:49):
contend for the faith that wasonce for all delivered to the
saints, for certain people havecrept in unnoticed.
He's talking about the falseteachers.
(20:12):
Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 saysproclaims another Jesus than the
one we proclaimed, or if youreceived a different spirit from
the one you received, or if youaccept a different gospel from
the one you accepted, you put upwith it readily enough.
And Paul is, what is he doing?
He's correcting this church fortheir indifference Big deal,
(20:37):
and so they blew it off.
But Paul's understanding goesway beyond the surface here.
He goes all the way back to theoriginal deception in the
garden and there's someinstruction for us here.
Paul knew that that Satan, thevery first false prophet, uses
tactics that never change.
(20:58):
I want us to see him thismorning because of that life
altering exchange, that day thatwe remember, in the garden
between Adam and Eve, satan andSatan.
In Genesis, chapter three, welearn how Satan operates to
deceive.
And let me just give you.
There's four things here thatare instructive.
Number one Satan there subtlytwists the words of God, and we
(21:23):
see this in this conversation.
Satan is talking to Eve andSatan says did God actually say
you shall not eat of any tree inthe garden?
And the woman listens to that.
And then she adds to hissuggestion.
And the woman said to theserpent we may eat of the fruit
of the trees in the garden, butGod says you shall not eat of
(21:47):
the fruit of the tree that is inthe midst of the garden.
And then she adds this neithershall you touch it, lest you die
.
You see what Satan's doingthere.
He's starting to mess with hermind, the way she remembers the
scriptures, and sometimes he cando that with us.
You ever thought you remembereda verse and it was like you go
back and it's like that's notwhat it said at all.
You think Satan does that still?
(22:11):
Yes, he does.
Satan subtly twists the wordsof God.
Second, satan denies thetruthfulness of God.
Look at it in verse four,genesis, chapter three.
But the serpent said to thewoman you shall not surely die.
You hear that he's directlycontradicting what God has said.
(22:31):
He says well, god is really notbeing honest with you.
Well, god is really not beinghonest with you.
How many times does he do thatwith us?
Satan denies the truthfulnessof God.
Thirdly, satan questions thecharacter of God.
This is really dark.
(22:55):
Chapter 3, verse 5, for Godknows that when you eat of it,
your eyes will be opened and youwill be like God, knowing good
and evil.
You see, what he's putting inmind is that God is holding out
on you.
He just doesn't want you toexperience everything that ought
to be coming to you.
He's making your life miserable.
The reason he tells you no isso you won't be happy.
(23:17):
He doesn't want you to haveeverything.
He's not a good God.
And then, number four, satanappeals to human desires, and
I'm talking about what is herein the scripture the lust of the
eyes, the lust of the flesh,the boastful pride of life.
(23:39):
He says there, so in scripture.
So when the woman in verse sixand seven saw that the tree was
good for food and that it was adelight to the eyes and that the
tree was to be desired to makeone wise, she took its fruit and
ate, and she also gave some toher husband who was with her,
and he ate, eve was deceived,and Adam just.
(24:06):
You know how.
You know you women have lots ofinfluence on us.
He did that with his eyes open.
He knew what he was doing right, but these are the same methods
Satan uses to tempt Jesus as hedid in the wilderness.
These are the same methods thatare seen in most, if not all,
(24:27):
false teachers.
Satan's tactics never change,and one recent example of this
kind of deception, whichactually twists the scriptures,
is called the Mirror Bible.
Has anybody heard of the MirrorBible?
Probably hasn't.
It came out in 2021.
And it was written by one man.
(24:48):
His name is Francois Dutoy andhe's actually South African, and
so his readers described thisBible.
After reading it, some of thepeople have written and said
it's a refreshing andenlightening experience that
offers a new perspective onfamiliar passages.
(25:08):
When you hear something likethat, it offers something new.
Red flag Right.
And yet, as you look a littlebit deeper, you find that the
Bible du toi, as written, ischock full of false teaching,
and this is a Bible, by the way,that I don't know how many
(25:29):
people are reading.
I've heard it.
You go to Google and you say,wow, you've got all these rave
reviews, five-star reviews, andI understand what Google does
sometimes, but there's a lot ofpeople who read this Bible.
It's called a translation, Ithink, a paraphrase, translation
, paraphrase.
Those two don't go together, bythe way.
(25:52):
But he says he worked from theoriginal Greek and it's really,
in his mind, the right thing.
But here's what you find, forexample, in his exposition on
what about the sinful nature?
Here's what Dutoy writes.
He says we theologicallycreated the idea of humanity
being sinful by nature, as ifhumans are flawed by design.
(26:15):
Well duh.
As if humans are flawed bydesign, well duh.
In fact, it is a distortedmindset that we inherited from
Adam, from which Jesus had tofree us.
The point of the mirror Bible isthat we don't need to believe
in order to become children ofGod.
We already are because of Jesus.
You see how twisted that is.
(26:38):
But this is what people aregetting from this false teacher.
He goes on and finishes.
He says everyone who realizestheir association in him, that
is, in Jesus, convinced that heis their original life and that
his name defines them, god givesthe assurance that they are
indeed his offspring, begottenof him.
(26:59):
That is a damning.
A damning teaching, because ittakes millions of people to hell
because they're believing a lie.
And so Jesus tells us, beware offalse teachers, adding that any
(27:19):
of us can be deceived If we'renot careful to pay attention to
what the Word of God says andtreat it like it is a lamp
shining in a dark place, and youmay be sitting here this
morning going well, not me.
Think about this.
The very nature of deception isthat you don't know that you're
(27:40):
being deceived.
So how then do we guard againstthis?
We need discernment.
You know what discernment is.
Discernment is the God-givenability to see through the lies.
Discernment is the God-givenability to see through the lies.
Discernment is the God-givenability to see through the lies,
and Jesus doesn't leave uswithout help here.
(28:03):
He cuts to the chase and hegives us what we need to know,
and we see it in this next point, the discerning of false
teachers, in verses 16 through20.
In verse 16, he says you, here'sthe thing.
You will recognize them bytheir fruits and the way he
communicates this.
He gives us the illustration,he gives us a picture of two
(28:24):
trees with their associatedfruits, and really, this is a
simple test to know who is realand who is not.
Look at their fruits and, bythe way it's plural fruits.
Look at their fruits, look atall that's and, by the way, it's
plural fruits.
Look at their fruits, look atall that's produced by the tree.
And what do the fruits reveal?
(28:45):
Three things.
First of all, their fruits, hesays, reveal their nature.
He says.
He asked the question aregrapes gathered from thorn
bushes or figs from thistles?
The nature of the tree is whatthe tree is, right, can't change
.
It's the Old Testament.
(29:05):
Can a leopard change its spots?
Well, no, it's a leopard.
The fruits reveal their nature,and so let's make this
practical.
I got some things to ask aswe're considering these things.
And the question here is dotheir words and their teaching
line up with the scriptures?
Simple thing, simple test thefruits reveal their nature.
(29:26):
The second one is that theirfruits expose their character.
Their fruits expose theircharacter, he says in verses.
He says in verses is that nextphrase there in 17?
Every healthy tree bears goodfruit, but the diseased tree
(29:47):
bears bad fruit.
A healthy tree cannot bear badfruit, a diseased tree cannot
bear good fruit.
It's impossible for them tobear what they are not right.
And here's the question we askDoes their character reflect the
teaching of the scriptures?
I mean what's their character,and pretty soon, if you're
around them long enough, youknow.
It's kind of like what thescripture says out of the heart
(30:14):
words reveal what's in our heart.
So just listen to what they sayand you'll know.
Their fruits expose theircharacter.
And then, third, their fruitspredict their destiny.
He says every tree verse 10that does not bear fruit good
fruit is cut down and throwninto the fire, and the question
we can ask here is what is theoutcome of their teaching and
(30:37):
what is their is the effect oftheir teaching on the people who
listen to them?
How have they influenced thelives of their hearers?
These are simple tests, andJesus tells us, though, that by
looking at their fruits we canknow whether false or true.
Now, jesus has been just, Ithink, instructing us about
(30:59):
those who claim to be whatthey're not, and in verses 15
through 20, we've warned he'sbeen warning us as he has with
the danger of false prophets,and now he kind of switches
gears.
In verses 21 through 23, he nowspeaks about being false
followers.
Now we begin to squirm.
(31:24):
To me, this is the mostsobering portion of Scripture in
all the Bible, because it tellsabout people who are standing
at the door to heaven andthey're hoping and expecting to
get in, thinking that they'reChristians, but they're in fact
(31:44):
revealed not to be.
Does that concern you?
Does that frighten you, boy?
It does me, and I know whom Ihave believed.
But here's the disaster fromfalse teaching, verses 21
(32:08):
through 23.
I was thinking about this andyou know, we all feel that
weakness, don't we?
Of the flesh and just oursinful nature, and it's like
we're not what we ought to be.
There's those question marksthat the enemy brings in and
saying, well, you're not this oryou're not that.
And he puts a question mark onus.
(32:29):
John Newton, who's him we knowso well, you know what Amazing
grace.
He was so aware of this feelingthat he said if I ever reach
heaven, I expect to find threewonders there.
First, to meet some I had notthought to see there, and that
(32:54):
will be true.
To miss some I had thought tomeet there.
And third, the greatest wonderof all, to find myself there.
Yeah, yeah, this is a seriouswarning for all of us to find
myself there.
Yeah, yeah, this is a seriouswarning for all of us.
To consider it.
Jesus imagines now for us whatit will be like for someone on
(33:18):
that day of judgment.
And they stand as they stand,horrified, at the door to heaven
, thinking they're going to getin and they're turned away.
So notice, they're turned awayfrom the door of heaven.
There are, I would just say,two panicked professions.
(33:41):
Can you imagine Panic would setin the first?
And these are claims.
But I called you Lord, verse21,.
Jesus said not everyone whosays to me, lord, lord, will
enter the kingdom of heaven, butthe one who does the will of my
(34:02):
father, who is in heaven.
You know this is about lipservice.
Lip service is in heaven.
You know this is about lipservice.
Lip service is not enough.
Using his name doesn't proveanything.
You can wear the monikerChristian and not be a Christian
.
But I called you Lord.
(34:26):
And then the second one.
But I did great things for you.
We did great things for you.
He says.
On that day, many will say to meLord, lord, did we not prophesy
in your name and cast outdemons in your name and do
mighty works in your name?
And here's someone who is busyin ministry, counting on his
(34:52):
sensational works to do what?
To save him.
He does a lot of great things.
In fact he lists them A lot ofgreat results maybe, but he's
also too inflated by what he'sdone, by the things he's done
himself.
It kind of gives you a littleclue about something's not quite
(35:15):
right.
But prophecy casting out demonsmighty works don't those say
anything.
And we might have thought thatJesus would Mighty works.
Don't those say anything.
And we might have thought thatJesus would handed the guy an A
(35:40):
for all the effort, right.
But spiritual power doesn'tprove anything and we kind of
gravitate to that, thinking wow,that's a powerful preacher,
that's a powerful ministry orthat's a super mega church.
It must be something to thatchurch or that person.
Spiritual power doesn't proveanything Because he says then
(36:02):
will I declare to them I neverknew you.
Depart from me, you, workers oflawlessness.
This is the ultimate deception,a disaster that you and I don't
want to encounter, right?
You know there's a scripture inProverbs that says there is a
(36:23):
path that seems right to aperson, but it ends in death.
You know, there's only onething, only one thing that
matters according to Jesus.
Do you know him?
Do you know him in a personalrelationship?
(36:43):
Do you know him in deepfellowship and this is a word
that talks about intimacy, youspent time with him.
He knows you, you know him.
It's not about all the thingswe do or things that we claim or
the words that we use, and thisis where it's deceptive.
John Calvin once wrote thehuman heart has so many crannies
(37:09):
where vanity hides, so manyholes where falsehood lurks, is
so decked out with deceivinghypocrisy that it often dupes
itself.
So what are we to do?
So what are we to do?
(37:30):
Make sure that you and I havenot misunderstood the way.
The way is Jesus.
He's a way and the truth andthe life.
Grab hold of the truth likeit's your best friend, because
it is love the truth.
Believe is Love the truth,believe the truth, live the
truth.
(37:52):
Here's a good piece of advicefrom 2 Corinthians Paul.
He says examine yourselves tosee if your faith is genuine.
Test yourselves, surely youknow that Jesus Christ is among
you.
If not, you have failed thetest of genuine faith.
See, our faith is it's gracethat God gives.
(38:16):
We don't work for it, it's bygrace.
You don't boast because you'vedone it yourself.
You can't boast, but it'ssomething God has given to you
as a gift, but guess what it'sby grace.
Has given to you as a gift, butguess what it's by grace,
through what Faith we have,steps, so we do as was shared
(38:36):
this morning.
We have to do what we doourselves too.
There's a part we play, youknow.
See, the message is the cure fordeception.
The cure for deception is Jesus, and when we fail to be
discerning about the teachingand beliefs we embrace, we
(39:02):
become vulnerable to the lies ofthe enemy and to the most
tragic deception of all To hearon that day Jesus say to us I
never knew you.
Ultimately, only God knows whobelongs to him.
Right, but here's the thingToday, if you have doubts about
(39:23):
your salvation or if you think Idon't know Jesus, you can know
him today.
There'll be people down here injust a minute.
I want you to stand, we're goingto pray, but I want you to know
there'll be people down hereand ready to talk to you about
those doubts and about anyquestion that you have, or tell
(39:45):
you how you can know Jesus in apersonal way.
Here's the truth, because ifyou confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and you believein your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will besaved.
For with the heart one believesand is justified, and with the
(40:10):
mouth one confesses and is saved.
Father, we thank you for yourword today and we ask you, lord,
to speak your words to ourhearts.
Lord, lord, we have questionssometimes about where we are
with you, and I pray today thatif we have questions in any way,
whether we don't know you or wehave doubts about you, lord,
(40:33):
we'll nail those down today andmake certain that we've not
misunderstood and that we're notdeceived.
Lord, in Jesus' name, we prayAmen.
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