1 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:09,760 The scripture says that you'll know that you're his because 2 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:12,000 you'll love one another. Well, you proved it. 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:12,920 That's enough. Sit down. 4 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:18,080 Let's go. It's a lot of love. 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:20,600 Just oozed everywhere. We're going to have it. 6 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:22,440 Take us a week to clean it out of the pews. 7 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:27,400 I'll tell you if you got your Bibles, turn with me to Matthew 8 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:29,280 Chapter 7. It's my privilege to be with you 9 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,520 this morning. It truly is a privilege to be 10 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:34,200 back. I've been preaching. 11 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,080 I don't know, I don't think I've been here in a week, in a month. 12 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:40,440 And so it's it was really good to sing. 13 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:45,720 Good to hang out with Hallie. We it's good to see everybody 14 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,520 missed you. I know a brother that once stood 15 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,000 in front of his church and said today I will preach to you the 16 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,840 greatest sermon ever preached. And he read the Sermon on the 17 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,720 Mount and he sat down and it was hard to argue with him. 18 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:04,360 This is the greatest sermon that we have. 19 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,840 Jesus. In this sermon He sets forth His 20 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,480 Kingdom. He told us exactly what His 21 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:16,040 Kingdom was, but at the same time, he wasn't just outlining 22 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,520 the Kingdom of God. He was attacking and condemning 23 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,960 a Kingdom that's built by man. You see, there's really just two 24 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:26,520 religions in the world. You can boil it down to that. 25 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,960 Two religions. Now each one will teach that 26 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:34,880 there is a path to God, there's a path to heaven. 27 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:40,680 Each one will teach that they have a way, and Jesus here 28 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:44,520 admits to that. He says just before this, in 29 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:49,200 context, there's two ways, one's broad and one's narrow. 30 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:53,840 There's two gates, one is narrow and one is wide. 31 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,080 And he says ultimately though, there are two destinations. 32 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:06,320 One actually leads to God and the other one doesn't and then 33 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:08,560 even admits that there's two crowds. 34 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:16,720 There are the many that follow the Broadway and they go through 35 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:19,920 the wide gate, but there are only a few that will go through 36 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:23,600 the narrow gate that will take the narrow way. 37 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:28,680 You see, one religion is going to teach you that you get to God 38 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:32,240 through your work, through your effort and your righteousness 39 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:34,920 and your goodness. But the other one says that you 40 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:40,160 have none of those things and the only way to get to God is by 41 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:45,800 God saving you. The first religion is a religion 42 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:49,000 that we would call the religion of human achievement. 43 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:54,840 The second one is the religion that we would call the religion 44 00:02:54,840 --> 00:03:00,080 of divine accomplishment. You can do nothing. 45 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:05,320 God has done it all. Just two types, 1 you contribute 46 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:08,840 to your getting to heaven and the other you don't. 47 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:11,600 Either you bring your righteousness to God and 48 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:16,480 accounts for your salvation or all you have are filthy rags and 49 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:18,880 it contributes nothing to your salvation. 50 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,480 You understand there cannot be 1/3 type right? 51 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:27,120 There's just one or the other. You either have some ability 52 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:29,760 within yourself to please God or you don't. 53 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:38,040 Only two options, the religion of human achievement or the 54 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:40,400 religion of divine accomplishment. 55 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:46,680 Only one leads to God. Only one is the true gospel. 56 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:50,040 And I submit to you that the the religion of divine 57 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:52,520 accomplishment is the true gospel. 58 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:59,840 The majority of the people, Jesus says many are people that 59 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:04,480 will subscribe to the religion at least in in Word. 60 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:09,280 They subscribe to the religion of divine accomplishment and yet 61 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,240 they still subscribe in their heart in truth to the religion 62 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:17,800 of human achievement. They're self-righteous and they 63 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:21,000 sit among us. They trust their religious 64 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,240 activity. They've joined us maybe today in 65 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:29,680 our religious activity that where we bring nothing of our 66 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,320 own, they bring their merit. They though they may in their 67 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:36,120 words say it's all of grace, but they really believe that the 68 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,760 grace of God needs some help and they are going to bring their 69 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:44,560 goodness to help make that effective for their salvation. 70 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:50,360 In this sermon on the mount, Jesus outlines the religion of 71 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,880 divine accomplishment and he attacks the religion of human 72 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:55,480 achievement. He destroys it. 73 00:04:56,320 --> 00:05:00,600 The way he starts his sermon is he says blessed are the poor in 74 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,800 spirit. That totally goes against the 75 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:08,240 religion of human achievement. Blessed are the poor in spirit. 76 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:11,640 Those who are bankrupt, those who are destitute, those who 77 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,160 have no merit, no righteousness and admit fully they have 78 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,280 nothing to offer. Those are the ones that are 79 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:24,640 blessed. It sounds backwards, and the 80 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:30,360 truth often sounds backwards to those who believe the lie, he 81 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:32,880 says. Blessed are those who mourn, and 82 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:36,200 they mourn over their horrible, horrendous spiritual condition. 83 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:40,400 Those who see their helplessness and their hopelessness and they 84 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:43,120 have an total inability to save themselves. 85 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:45,880 Those are the ones that don't boast about their own works. 86 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:48,000 They mourn. They're humble. 87 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:52,000 Twice as blessed are the meek. Course they are. 88 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,480 They're not subscribers to the religion of of human 89 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,040 achievement. And so they mourn in their meek. 90 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:05,400 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those 91 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,000 who recognize they don't have it in and of themselves, but they 92 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,320 need it. They're looking for an alien 93 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:13,520 righteousness, something that's righteous outside of themselves 94 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:17,640 that they could possibly have credited to their account, which 95 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,880 is found only in Christ. Only in Christ. 96 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:28,920 These beatitudes are reserved for those who have given up on 97 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,440 their own achievement and they've rejected their works for 98 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:39,040 the works of God in Christ. Jesus continues his attack. 99 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:41,480 He does not. I love this. 100 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:44,760 He does not just attack the scribes and the Pharisees. 101 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,320 He doesn't just attack their, their, their sin. 102 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,640 He does. He talks about their adultery. 103 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,560 He says you may not have done this on the outside, but you've 104 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:01,040 looked upon a woman with lust and you've committed adultery in 105 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:03,080 your heart. So he attacks them in their sin. 106 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:05,960 He attacks them about their murderous hearts. 107 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:11,520 They, though they won't admit to having done this, they've never 108 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,760 killed someone outwardly, but inwardly they've murdered. 109 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:20,200 So Jesus attacks their sin, but he also attacks the things that 110 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:24,440 they feel like they've done right, This human achievement. 111 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,400 You can ask a scribe, Well, hey, how are you at praying now? 112 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:29,960 Oh, we knocked that out of the park. 113 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:33,920 We're we're like the best prayers ever. 114 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,880 And Jesus in this sermon goes, you guys pray wrong. 115 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:44,160 He says you pray to be seen. You pray in a way that you're 116 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,080 trying to gather some righteousness to yourself. 117 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,840 And that doesn't work like that. He attacks the religion of human 118 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:56,280 achievement. He attacks the way they give. 119 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:57,600 Hey, do you guys give good? Yeah. 120 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:00,440 We're the best givers. No, you're not. 121 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:06,160 Jesus exposes what they consider their righteousness and what 122 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,560 they consider their works. And he shows them they're not 123 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,800 working for you at all. They actually work against you. 124 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:18,000 It's these things because you're trusting in them that will end 125 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:24,520 up in your destruction. They're condemning you and you 126 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:26,960 think you're earning favor in God's sight, but you're not. 127 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:32,240 You're being condemned. So Jesus continues and just 128 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:36,240 attacks all of this. He never gives them credit with 129 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,559 the God who they thought that they were giving getting credit 130 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:42,000 with. Jesus preached the sermon to 131 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,360 dismantle their confidence and self. 132 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:47,760 No one gets to heaven by the religion of human achievement. 133 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:51,680 No one. The only way to heaven is 134 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:53,880 through the religion of divine accomplishment. 135 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,720 It is what God has done to save sinners through the work of 136 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:03,120 Jesus Christ in and through the cross and in and through 137 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:04,960 resurrection. That doesn't. 138 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:09,920 No one apart from Jesus Christ will get to heaven. 139 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:12,360 He is the way, the truth of life. 140 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:14,200 No one comes to the Father but through Him. 141 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:17,080 Neither is there salvation in any other. 142 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:20,920 There's no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. 143 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:27,120 It's the only truth. And so Jesus contrast this false 144 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:31,440 religion with the truth. And so at the AT here in our 145 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,360 text today in Matthew Chapter 7, start in verse 15. 146 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:37,600 We've come to the end of Jesus's sermon, but we're not at the end 147 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,640 of my sermon yet. You only wish, OK, it's the end 148 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:45,000 of Jesus's sermon. And so let's stand and we'll 149 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:49,880 read from Matthew Chapter 7. And my text this morning is 150 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,560 verses 15 through 23. But for context, I want to start 151 00:09:53,560 --> 00:09:57,880 in verse 12, Matthew Chapter 7, verse 12. 152 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,120 This says this. So whatever you wish that others 153 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:07,800 would do to you do also to them. For this is the law, and the 154 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:10,600 prophets enter by the narrow gate. 155 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,720 For the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to 156 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,760 destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 157 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:20,800 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, 158 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:25,600 and those who find it are few. Beware of false prophets who 159 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,000 come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous 160 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,440 wolves. You will recognize them by their 161 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:35,080 fruits are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from 162 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,960 thistles. So every healthy tree bears good 163 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:41,320 fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 164 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:45,280 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruits, nor can a diseased tree 165 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:48,320 bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear 166 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:51,960 good, good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 167 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:54,800 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. 168 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:59,120 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the 169 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:02,680 Kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father 170 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:07,600 who is in heaven on that day. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, 171 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:11,040 did we not prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name 172 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:14,760 and do many mighty works in your name and then will I declare to 173 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:19,120 them, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of 174 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:21,920 lawlessness. This is the word of the Lord. 175 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,760 Let's pray, Father, we're grateful for your word. 176 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:31,400 We're thankful for this sermon got for the truth that has been 177 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:37,840 expounded from from Jesus Christ the Son God. 178 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:41,800 It's this that we recognize goes against the religion of the 179 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:47,920 world and and father, we gather here today not as those who seek 180 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:51,440 the Broadway, not as those who seek the wide gate. 181 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:56,480 But father, I I pray that we've gathered here today asking for 182 00:11:56,480 --> 00:12:01,120 directions to the narrow gate and for truth that will help us 183 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:05,560 to walk the narrow way. God, that you would protect us 184 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,440 from the evil one, that you would protect us from these 185 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:12,560 false prophets that seek to deceive. 186 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:18,520 God, that you would guide us and, and, and help us to discern 187 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:22,280 our hearts to, to determine whether or not we are one of 188 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:26,680 these false professors. Lord, we know that the gate is 189 00:12:26,680 --> 00:12:29,400 open. Thank you Jesus for being the 190 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:35,280 narrow gate. Help us, Father, to agonize in 191 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:40,360 order to find the way, for I ask this in Christ's name, Amen. 192 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:51,920 You may be seated for context. I want you to see that Jesus 193 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:56,760 ends his sermon with this command in verse 13. 194 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:00,920 Enter by the narrow gate. It's a command. 195 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:04,400 He said here that there are two religions. 196 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:08,920 There's two gates, there's two paths, there's two crowds. 197 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:12,960 One claims to be right but is actually false. 198 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:17,480 Do you understand that? There's nobody that is actually 199 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:23,880 out loud selling hell. There's nobody that shows up. 200 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:27,040 And there's no false prophet that shows up and is like, hey 201 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:29,640 guys, anybody want to go to eternal torment? 202 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:36,160 No, they would have nobody looking for that path. 203 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:42,600 What they do is, is they sell that the road to hell is 204 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:44,640 actually, they call it the road to heaven. 205 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:48,960 It's deceptive. It's deceiving. 206 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:54,400 They do this on purpose. They don't sell hell openly, but 207 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:59,920 they sell hell by deceiving us and by pushing it as a saying it 208 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:04,000 is a path to heaven. Enter by the narrow gate. 209 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,680 Jesus says this is the command preachers often times today try 210 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:12,520 to to woo sinners and they say things silly like oh please, oh 211 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,800 please come accept Jesus. That's not the command of the 212 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:19,040 Scripture that God gives us as prophets to preach. 213 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:22,760 We are to command people to repent and believe in Jesus 214 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,880 Christ. You stand condemned. 215 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:32,560 You have you, you, you don't get to to negotiate with that. 216 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:36,880 You stand condemned. There's one way out. 217 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:42,920 Enter by the narrow gate. So Jesus opens this ending of 218 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:47,600 his sermon with this great command and the gate is open. 219 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:53,040 Jesus is the gate. Now in order to help us guide 220 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:57,840 ourselves away from the wide gate to Jesus gives us some very 221 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:02,080 fearful truths here in verse 15 through 23. 222 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:08,920 They ought to these verses ought to raise some searchings inside 223 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,720 of our hearts in the minds of all who listen. 224 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:17,280 We should be asking ourselves, which way am I going on? 225 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:23,120 What Rd. am I traveling? There are two ways described and 226 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:26,000 on everyone. Every one of us in here can be 227 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:30,040 found on one of these roads. There's no third Rd. 228 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:36,440 You're on one or the other. May God give us a self inquiring 229 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:40,440 spirit and show us exactly where we are and what direction we're 230 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:44,560 headed to what destination we're headed. 231 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:53,760 We have. Let me encourage you, no reason 232 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:57,920 to be discouraged if we find ourselves with a religion that 233 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:02,440 is not popular. If you find yourself with a 234 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:05,800 religion that is popular, I would be greatly concerned if I 235 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:10,240 were you. The words of our Lord Jesus in 236 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:15,240 this passage says the gate is narrow, the way is narrow. 237 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:19,920 Few there are that find it, and I I hope you understand that it 238 00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:23,240 is better to enter into eternal life with a few than to go to 239 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:24,920 destruction with the great crowd. 240 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:33,320 JC Rowles says we may well tremble and be afraid if our 241 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,360 religion is that of the multitude. 242 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:42,440 Now it's with this command that Jesus begins to draw his sermon 243 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:47,240 to a close and he continues with this theme of, you know, two 244 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:49,600 options. There's 2 paths, 2 gates. 245 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:53,880 Verse 15 through 20, there's two trees, there's good and corrupt, 246 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:55,840 there's two fruits, there's good and bad. 247 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,480 So we've seen this false path, but now this is a section on 248 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:02,560 false prophets. And in the next section, 21 249 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:06,560 through 23, we're going to see a section on false professors. 250 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:11,119 So if I understand this correctly, and I, I believe I 251 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,960 do, what Jesus is doing here is steering us clear of the 252 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,200 Broadway. If we're going to stay out of 253 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:21,119 the false path that many people are selling us to try to go on 254 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:23,480 the path that leads to destruction, then one of the 255 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:27,079 things that we need to do is beware of false prophets. 256 00:17:28,079 --> 00:17:30,560 Now I want to get you to get rid of an excuse right now. 257 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:35,680 So many people believe that if my my minister is trying and he 258 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:38,800 makes a mistake, then God can't hold me accountable for 259 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:43,960 following his path. But Jesus tells us if the blind 260 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:46,280 leads the blind, they both end up in the ditch. 261 00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:52,440 You can't say I'll just believe whatever this guy says and 262 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,680 follow him and if he's wrong it's not my fault. 263 00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:59,360 Oh yes, it is your fault. You willingly chose to remain 264 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:01,160 blind. You willingly chose not to 265 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:05,480 search the scriptures. That excuse, excuse just simply 266 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:08,840 doesn't work. So what I want us to see in 267 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:15,320 these first few verses here is I want you to see the danger of 268 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:19,760 false prophets and then the disguise of the false prophets. 269 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,160 And then Jesus tells us how we can discern them. 270 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:29,160 And then he tells, if it tells us of their damnation, OK, to 271 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:32,000 start, we're going to see the danger. 272 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:36,280 Jesus tells us in verse 15, beware of false prophets. 273 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:40,520 Again, this is a command. Beware of false prophets. 274 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:44,960 Now there's two things William Perkins says it takes to make a 275 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,840 false prophet. He says the first, they must 276 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:52,240 maintain or hold to some error that overturns true faith. 277 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,480 That one we probably had, right? We probably understood that 278 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,160 required in a false prophet. The secondly, he says they must 279 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:05,040 be a seducer and a deceiver, someone who will labor to create 280 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:09,360 a faction. OK, it takes both in order to be 281 00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:13,400 a false prophet. Now let's look at the text of 282 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:18,840 Scripture. There are many texts in 283 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:21,360 scripture that describe false prophets, and I would just want 284 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:25,120 to let the scripture be the best commentary on the scripture 285 00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:28,920 because that's what it is. Second Peter 2 verse one says 286 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:31,800 this. But false prophets also arose 287 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:36,160 among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you 288 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:40,560 who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even 289 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:44,400 denying the Master who brought them, bringing upon themselves 290 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:48,240 swift destruction. And many will follow their 291 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:52,400 sensual sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be 292 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:55,080 blasphemed. And in their greed they will 293 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:59,600 exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago 294 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:03,360 is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 295 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,720 I want you to see that there's both of those in this passage. 296 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,840 There's this maintaining and holding to false truths, 297 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:15,360 destructive heresies, Peter says. 298 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:18,920 And it's it. There's this deception, someone 299 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,480 who's trying to create this faction, many will follow their 300 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:26,600 sensuality. Because of them, the way of the 301 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,520 truth will be blasphemed. Do you see it? 302 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:32,480 Both of these activities are occurring. 303 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:39,200 Romans 16 verse 17 and 18 says, I appeal to you, brother, to 304 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,840 watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles 305 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,080 contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught. 306 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:51,960 And he says very plainly, there, avoid them, OK, avoid them, for 307 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:56,960 such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own 308 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,440 appetites, their own bellies. It literally means, and by 309 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:04,560 smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. 310 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:09,400 Matthew 2424. Jesus I think says it the most 311 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:13,840 clear for false Christs and false prophets will arise and 312 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:19,000 perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray if possible 313 00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:22,840 even the elect. I need you to understand that 314 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:25,840 Jesus has said there's going to be false prophets. 315 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:30,280 We have not just had false prophets 2000 years ago, we have 316 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:34,320 false prophets today. This beware is not something 317 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,960 that the apostles needed to hear only it's this beware needs to 318 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,120 go to every generation of Christians following them and we 319 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:44,400 need to hear today beware of false prophets. 320 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:49,040 They still labor among us. They still try to hold to this 321 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:52,760 destructive doctrines that cause division and they try to cause 322 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:55,440 the faction. They try to bring reproach upon 323 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:59,440 the cause of Christ. They will do everything they can 324 00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:05,120 to distort the truth. Jesus is saying that we will be 325 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:10,080 troubled not sometimes with fault with false prophets, but 326 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:14,600 all the time with many false prophets, and they will bring in 327 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:23,800 many false doctrines. It's a dangerous thing to not 328 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:29,520 know your doctrine. There's so many people that want 329 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,720 to do this thing as haphazardly as possible. 330 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:35,440 I just have my Bible. That's all I need. 331 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:41,920 I could just read this every now and then. 332 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:46,520 It's it's fine. You are setting yourself up for 333 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,680 destruction. This Bible is something you need 334 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:53,440 to learn. This is the tool of your trade. 335 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:58,320 You need to know how, what it says, how it works, you need to 336 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:01,680 be in it, and you need to allow it to have full authority over 337 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,160 your life, submitting yourself to the scriptures in your heart 338 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:13,860 and in your lifestyle. The question comes, why does God 339 00:23:13,860 --> 00:23:17,460 allow this to continue? Why does God allow for false 340 00:23:17,460 --> 00:23:22,060 prophets to be so many, to be so deceptive, to cause so many 341 00:23:22,060 --> 00:23:31,160 factions? First Corinthians 11/19 For 342 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:35,160 there must be factions among you in order that those who are 343 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:37,800 genuine among you may be recognized. 344 00:23:44,150 --> 00:23:50,630 Do you know why God allows false prophets is so that those of us 345 00:23:50,630 --> 00:23:54,830 who are true can watch and weep as you be LED astray? 346 00:23:55,230 --> 00:23:58,510 Because you were naming the name of Christ, but you were not of 347 00:23:58,510 --> 00:24:01,320 him. And we can watch, and we can 348 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,600 weep, and we can plead for you to return that. 349 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:08,520 We can see just exactly how destructive, deceptive this and 350 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:12,520 deceptive sin is. We can watch it, and we can 351 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:15,480 again take care to our own souls. 352 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:19,480 And we can hold fast to the trustworthy word as taught. 353 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,160 And we can maintain the true religion, meaning we can 354 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:28,160 maintain obedience to Christ in all things because we can look 355 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,640 and see many, many examples of those who do not follow him. 356 00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:39,080 It is hard to read that text and say there must be factions among 357 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,880 you so that we can tell who's genuine. 358 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:51,760 It's one of the hardest things that elders have to do is when 359 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:56,480 one of us who's here and if named the name of Christ and has 360 00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:03,680 said they want to join with us, when they prove that they're not 361 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:10,520 really one of us. And the elders have to go and 362 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:15,280 with love, seek to restore, seek to pursue their soul. 363 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:20,520 And you have to tell them out loud, you're not a Christian. 364 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,520 You say that you are, but there's no fruit of that. 365 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:28,240 The fruit in your life is wicked. 366 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:35,640 It's a great blasphemy. We we always think blasphemy is 367 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:37,240 just taking the Lord's name in vain. 368 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:41,680 In the Hebrew, the word name and the word reputation is the same 369 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:48,240 word, just saying the Lord's name in a bad way. 370 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,720 Yes, it's wrong and yes, it's bad, but how much worse is it to 371 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:55,960 claim that you're a Christ but you live as if you're living? 372 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:05,960 Excuse me. I want you to see. 373 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,840 Secondly, the the disguise of false prophets. 374 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:11,880 I'm I'm sorry, let me finish this. 375 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,600 The danger is not only be aware of them, but recognize who they 376 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,640 are. They're ravenous wolves, OK? 377 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:24,480 That's their danger is who they are, who they are and what they 378 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:27,480 intend to do. You know what a ravenous wolf 379 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:29,280 wants to do and wants to eat sheep? 380 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,360 Look at the disguise of false prophets. 381 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,560 They are deceptive in their appearance. 382 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,920 Now, since I was a little kid, I got to be honest with you, since 383 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,520 I was a little kid, I've, I've heard this idea, this 384 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,680 phraseology of like these wolves come in sheep's clothing. 385 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,800 And I always pictured, and I think you probably do too, that 386 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:59,120 they dress up like a sheep. And I think there, there may be 387 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:01,840 aspects of that in, in my, in the history I've had in 388 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:05,760 ministry, I've watched many times people come in and they'd 389 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,160 be one of us. They'd be a sheep among us. 390 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,640 And they cause factions. Sometimes it's over a doctrine, 391 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:14,560 sometimes it's over the color of the carpet. 392 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:16,520 I mean, you, you've watched this, right? 393 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:18,200 You've been in church longer than 15 minutes. 394 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,480 You've seen this stuff happen. OK, People can cause these 395 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:25,560 factions all the time. And I think sheep 'cause these 396 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:29,120 factions of they can maybe get 1020 people, maybe more if 397 00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:32,720 they're more popular. But but they do this from that, 398 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,240 you know, there could be a wolf dressed up like a sheep. 399 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:44,840 And I read a commentator on this text and he said a sheep's 400 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:48,760 clothing is wool. He said, do you know what 401 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,320 shepherds well wear? They wear wool. 402 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:57,120 They wear what their sheep produce. 403 00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:03,440 It's not just that these false prophets are coming in and 404 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:05,840 dressing like sheep. Some will come in and dress like 405 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:11,720 shepherds, and I've seen those come and they've LED away 406 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:18,000 thousands. They're far more deceptive and 407 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,360 far more able to create factions when they do that. 408 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:28,480 I think of a man named Alexander Campbell, who's a young 409 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:33,000 preacher, and he started teaching a false doctrine and 410 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:40,520 now there's an entire an entire denomination who believes that 411 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:44,880 salvation is dependent upon whether or not they get dumped. 412 00:28:50,970 --> 00:28:53,130 And he's one of about 50 I can name. 413 00:28:55,690 --> 00:29:01,090 It's destructive. People will come in, false 414 00:29:01,090 --> 00:29:05,370 prophets will come in and dress like a shepherd. 415 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,160 They dress like sheep, they wear the dress. 416 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,840 A wolf can dress like a sheep in order to get close to sheep, but 417 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,400 a wolf can dress like a shepherd in order to get close to sheep. 418 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:21,720 To the whole point is he's ravenous and he wants to destroy 419 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:26,320 them. I have good news. 420 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:32,960 Jesus tells us that we, you and I, true believers of the gospel, 421 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:38,040 can discern a false prophet. Now that's good news. 422 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,000 You guys are looking like I'm beating you up and I'm really 423 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:49,840 not just fighting for you. Jesus tells us in verse 16, you 424 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:55,120 will recognize them. Because when I hear this, I'm 425 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,200 like they're dressed like a shepherd or they're dressed like 426 00:29:58,200 --> 00:29:59,760 sheep. It's really hard. 427 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:03,200 Somebody wears a sheep dress and comes in, I'm like, hey, look a 428 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:06,760 sheep. That's hard, that's a challenge, 429 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,920 but Jesus very kindly, very lovingly says you'll recognize 430 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,120 and look again, verse 20, thus you will recognize them. 431 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:16,280 How He says same thing by their fruits. 432 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,040 You'll recognize them verse 16, by their fruits. 433 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:23,480 Verse 20, He reminds us again, guys, it's OK, you can recognize 434 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:31,200 them by their fruits. Now here's something that we've 435 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:35,240 got to be very watchful of because unfortunately fruit 436 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:41,440 doesn't grow all the time. We, we have some trees. 437 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:44,560 We, we just bought a house. You guys know this, it's in 438 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,440 Waldo, right? Which I still find funny. 439 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:49,240 I've been saying that for two years now and it's still 440 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:52,160 hilarious. But we have some trees on the 441 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:54,320 property that I have no clue what they are. 442 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,680 There's some sort of fruit tree and I am waiting, have been 443 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,560 waiting since we bought the house for fruit to show up. 444 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:06,000 There's some fruit that can show up and we will keep that tree. 445 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:09,800 There's some fruit that can show up and I will cut that tree 446 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:11,000 down. And that's the truth. 447 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,040 Candy wants me to cut them down already and I'm like, wait, 448 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:16,480 wait, wait, 'cause if it's this, I want to keep it. 449 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:19,600 I've no clue what it is. I'm, I'm not a tree guy. 450 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:21,440 If you're a tree guy, I'll send you a pic. 451 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:26,040 OK. This is hard because people will 452 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,400 come in and you can't see fruit right away. 453 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:35,800 This is something that we must discern over time, but we can 454 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:41,440 recognize them by their fruits. Jesus says our gapes, our grapes 455 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:46,080 gathered from thorn bushes. Answer is no, they're not our 456 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:49,080 figs gathered from thistles. No, they're not. 457 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:51,600 Everybody say our figs gathered from thistles real fast. 458 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,280 I've distressed over that sentence the whole time and I 459 00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:02,320 made it. No, figs are not gathered from 460 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:06,320 thistles, OK, They're not. That's not where they grow. 461 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:10,160 Now, the dangerous thing is, is somebody can take a grape and 462 00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:12,800 walk up to a thorn and squish it onto a thorn. 463 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:15,200 And you can look at that Bush and go, hey, look, that's a 464 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:19,600 great Bush. You can take a fig and you can 465 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,600 go smash it onto some thistles, and it's going to appear that 466 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:27,520 that fig grew from the Thistle. But once you begin to press in 467 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,080 and you get close and you begin to examine, you're going to look 468 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:32,080 and go. That thorn didn't produce that 469 00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:35,640 grape. That Thistle didn't produce the 470 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,480 fig. There's no way it did. 471 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:41,200 But it takes inspection, doesn't it? 472 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:44,040 From a distance, it may appear right. 473 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:48,040 It may appear good. From this, I have something to 474 00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:50,880 tell you. I think you should beware of 475 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:58,720 living heroes, that there's a danger of tying yourself to 476 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,080 somebody, especially really quickly. 477 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:03,400 And I'm going to speak to the men here. 478 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:08,360 Men, sometimes we do this on a guy that we heard a podcast of 479 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:15,240 once. We recently had this young man 480 00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:17,520 listened to a podcast and he started believing all these 481 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:20,240 things that you couldn't be back up with Scripture, but he heard 482 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:22,880 it once and he tied himself to it. 483 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:27,480 He didn't examine the fruit. He didn't look to see if there's 484 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:31,440 a grape smashed upon a thorn and it's dangerous. 485 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:38,320 Men, you need to protect yourself and your family from 486 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:42,840 podcasters. I'm not saying avoid them 487 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:44,440 altogether. I'm saying beware. 488 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:50,880 You need to spend time examining their fruit before you really 489 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,480 begin to tie yourself to that and following it. 490 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:58,120 You need to do that with these brothers and here who lead. 491 00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:02,880 Kyle's been here 11 years. You get to see fruit by God's 492 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:04,880 grace. Examine it closely. 493 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:08,719 Keep examining it. If if Kyle starts growing 494 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:10,920 thorns, you let him know, hey, this ain't right. 495 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:16,520 We always have to do that. Beware of living heroes. 496 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,199 That doesn't mean forsake them, doesn't mean abandoned them. 497 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:23,840 It just means pray like crazy that they make it, pray like 498 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:26,960 crazy that they endure to the end and they persevere with 499 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:31,920 faithfulness because I followed guys and I've loved guys who 40 500 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,440 years in the ministry and they run away with their secretary. 501 00:34:43,050 --> 00:34:45,810 So examine them. Let's talk a little bit about 502 00:34:45,810 --> 00:34:51,449 what they do. I think I can help you discern 503 00:34:51,449 --> 00:34:53,330 some in the short amount of time. 504 00:34:53,370 --> 00:34:59,360 I have 1. They have their own calling and 505 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:03,880 their own content. A false prophet will come with 506 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:06,760 his own calling and will come with his own content. 507 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:10,200 God's prophets are called by God and they speak the content that 508 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,800 God gives them. God's man has God's message upon 509 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,760 his lips, right? The false prophet has neither of 510 00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:20,440 those things. Jeremiah 1414 says The Lord said 511 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,400 to me, the prophets are prophesying lies in My name. 512 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:27,560 I did not send them, nor did I command them to speak to them. 513 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:32,000 They are prophesying to you a lying vision, a worthless 514 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:35,200 divination, and the deceit of their own minds. 515 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:40,960 If they come bring in their own content, Mark and avoid #2 I 516 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:42,600 believe they mishandle scriptures. 517 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,240 So many false prophets will talk about the Bible, but they don't 518 00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:49,880 talk from the Bible. Do you understand the 519 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:54,640 difference? I've been in churches when I 520 00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:57,120 grew up in a church that I was told every week that they were 521 00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:00,600 preaching the Bible, but they never preached the Bible. 522 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:05,240 But they thought by saying they preached the Bible that it 523 00:36:05,240 --> 00:36:07,680 counted. It doesn't. 524 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:13,680 It does not. Can't speak about it. 525 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:17,320 They must speak from it. They will leave out parts that 526 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:20,440 go against their point. They will pick and choose what 527 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,000 they want and it'll never be in context. 528 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:30,480 The actions of the false prophet is that they seek to skew or to 529 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:33,480 pervert. To pervert means to twist, to 530 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:39,880 take something that's good and to twist it for evil. 6th grade 531 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:42,920 boys, that's what you're doing when you're pervert. 532 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:47,480 You take something that God has given that is good and beautiful 533 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:50,320 and you twist it. Don't be like Satan. 534 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:52,760 That's what he does with the Word of God as well. 535 00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:59,400 False prophets will work for their glory and their renown. 536 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:04,080 You understand? You can't push for the glory of 537 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:06,360 God and the glory of self at the same time. 538 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:13,280 Christ came not to serve. No, sorry, Christ came to serve 539 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:16,720 and not to be served. Christ's servants do the same 540 00:37:16,720 --> 00:37:18,880 thing. Christ's servants are sent to 541 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:23,720 serve, not to be served. If a man wants his way and 542 00:37:23,720 --> 00:37:27,320 pushes for his own title, he pushes for his own advancement. 543 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:31,760 This stands in contrast to the true prophets of God. 544 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:39,240 This means they will often forge a counterfeit humility that can 545 00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:43,240 easily be seen through because they want to appear that I'm 546 00:37:43,240 --> 00:37:46,680 here for God. But you can watch their actions 547 00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:50,000 as they work for themselves. Again, Romans 16 says they serve 548 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:53,560 not the Lord, but their own bellies, their own appetites. 549 00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:58,240 Watch me. Some of you are trying to find a 550 00:37:58,240 --> 00:38:05,440 way to check out don't. Yet another thing that false 551 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:08,880 prophets will do is they may do many mighty works in the name of 552 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,840 Christ. Verse 22 tells us this. 553 00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:17,520 Verse 22, on that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we 554 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:20,600 not prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name, 555 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:23,200 and do many mighty works in your name? 556 00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:27,120 Many false prophets will do all of these. 557 00:38:27,240 --> 00:38:29,320 They'll prophecy, they'll cast out demons. 558 00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:33,520 So many people are deceived by works. 559 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:37,200 I don't understand it. I think it's because so many of 560 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:39,800 us are people who are longing for works. 561 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:42,680 We want to see some mighty power. 562 00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:46,600 And that makes this very easy to deceive because there's a false 563 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:50,160 power out there. There's a fake power there. 564 00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:54,880 If you don't think that in order to deceive someone, Satan will 565 00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:57,440 set up a demon to show up and be like, hey, pretend like you're 566 00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:00,040 casting this demon out. And this demon will walk away 567 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,320 giggling, going ha ha, ha. We deceive some more. 568 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:04,280 If you don't think that's happening, you're crazy. 569 00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:14,880 That happens all the time. They're they're in the business 570 00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:21,160 of deception. I want to tell you something. 571 00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:23,920 I want to let the Scriptures tell you something. 572 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:26,240 OK, number one, hear this, please. 573 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:32,600 Many true works of God have no sign, no sign of power. 574 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:36,120 John 1041. Please write it down. 575 00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:43,680 John 1041 Many came to him and they said John did no sign. 576 00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:47,400 But everything that John said about this man was true. 577 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:53,880 Let's talk about John the Baptist. 578 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:59,040 John the Baptist was a faithful prophet of God and he chose to 579 00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:01,120 do no sign. Why? 580 00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:06,520 Because he didn't need to. His job was to proclaim, to be 581 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:08,520 the forerunner of Christ, to prepare the way of the Lord, 582 00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:11,360 proclaim repentance in the name of Christ. 583 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:16,480 He did no sign, but everything he said was true. 584 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:19,160 What are you looking for? Are you looking for truth or are 585 00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:24,720 you looking for a sign? So #1 Many true works of God 586 00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:29,560 have no sign #2 Many false works will have a sign and yet still 587 00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:36,440 be false. Deuteronomy 13 verse one says, 588 00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:39,840 if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and 589 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:43,120 gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he 590 00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:46,680 tells you comes to pass. And if he says, let us go after 591 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:50,240 other gods which you've not known, and let us serve them, 592 00:40:50,720 --> 00:40:53,640 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that 593 00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:57,240 dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing 594 00:40:57,240 --> 00:40:59,840 you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your 595 00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:05,360 heart and with all your soul. God has told us there's going to 596 00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:15,240 be many that come doing signs. Note the damnation of the false 597 00:41:15,240 --> 00:41:19,880 prophets, verse 19. Every tree that does not bear 598 00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:22,200 good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 599 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:29,080 False prophets will be damned. They will be. 600 00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:31,800 They will be cut down and they will be thrown into the fire. 601 00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:36,000 Let this serve as a comfort to us, brothers and sisters. 602 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:43,080 Though we are told by Jesus that we will walk amongst false 603 00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:46,600 prophets, we'll be troubled by these false prophets for our 604 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:49,800 whole life. It will only be for a little 605 00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:52,480 while. There's a time coming when it 606 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:57,040 will not be so. Factions and those who create 607 00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:02,080 them will soon cease. God will surely on that great 608 00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:05,400 day, cut them down by the power of his Word and we'll cast them 609 00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:08,640 out, cast them out of God's dwelling, cast them away from 610 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:11,920 God's people and away from any opportunity to deceive. 611 00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:16,440 Again. There's a term limit on how they 612 00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:27,160 get to serve now. False prophets, Jesus tells us 613 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:31,880 to beware of false prophets because he knows that there are 614 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:34,760 many that are trying to deceive us to take the Broadway. 615 00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:40,440 And unfortunately, I have to tell you it it they're pretty 616 00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:44,440 successful. They're pretty successful. 617 00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:50,880 Let's look again at verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, 618 00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:53,760 Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but the one 619 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:57,360 who does the will of my Father who is in heaven on that day. 620 00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:01,480 Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your 621 00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:04,040 name, and cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works 622 00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:08,240 in your name? And then will I declare to them, 623 00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:12,800 I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of 624 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:16,920 lawlessness. I want you to see that there is 625 00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:20,560 a deception of the false professors. 626 00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:26,920 Jesus says what has to be one of the most frightening words to 627 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:30,680 religious people, one of the most frightening things that 628 00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:35,160 could ever be said. He says many will say on that 629 00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:37,360 day, that day means the day of judgment. 630 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:43,520 Many, He said many starting in verse 13, and he's talked about 631 00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:47,800 many the whole time. Many there are that take the 632 00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:51,160 broad path. Few there are that take the 633 00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:55,840 narrow path. One path leads to destruction, 634 00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:01,560 one path leads to God. He says, I will declare to them, 635 00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:04,760 I never knew you. Now where are the false 636 00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:07,280 prophets? They're in the church. 637 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:11,400 They're among us. False prophets are here. 638 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:15,360 Where all there? Where are the false professors, 639 00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:20,000 those that claim to have God as their God and yet really do not? 640 00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:25,320 They're in the same place, they're right here, they're 641 00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,400 among us. There are some in this room who 642 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:32,280 claim that God is their God, but she'll never enter into the 643 00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:35,600 Kingdom of heaven. There's some in this room that 644 00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:38,960 believe they're fine and yet on that great day God will say to 645 00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:41,360 them, I never knew you depart from me. 646 00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:45,640 Now I know that may make make some of you guys mad because I 647 00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:48,840 said there's some in this room. I want you to understand that's 648 00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:50,800 not the word Jesus used. He said many. 649 00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:59,520 Hell will be filled with people who claim to have a relationship 650 00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:03,000 with Jesus, but Jesus will not make the same claim. 651 00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:08,880 He will say, I never knew you. The temptation is to immediately 652 00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:10,640 think that this doesn't apply to us. 653 00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:14,800 The temptation is to quickly go, I'm glad that's not me. 654 00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:24,400 You remember what signs they put over the road to hell, the road 655 00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:28,760 to heaven, this way. So many of us are deceived. 656 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:34,800 We're on the wrong path. So many of us understand the 657 00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:38,680 facts of the religion of divine accomplishment, but we're still 658 00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:42,320 ultimately trusting in the religion of human achievement. 659 00:45:44,240 --> 00:45:47,200 We come and we sit and we check the box on our religious 660 00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:48,760 activities and we go, haha, no win. 661 00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:50,880 Another one for the Gipper. That's a good one. 662 00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:58,480 We never look, we never examine. We never take the time to look 663 00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:02,000 at the path that we're on. You understand that you 664 00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:05,040 constantly carry around a false prophet with you. 665 00:46:05,240 --> 00:46:08,280 It's your flesh. Your flesh is going to 666 00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:10,960 constantly try to get you to be as comfortable as you can. 667 00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:15,960 He's going to say relax. Don't worry, This is talking 668 00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:25,840 about other people. We are told to strive in Book of 669 00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:27,960 Matt Mark. We're told to strive to enter 670 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:31,880 into the narrow gate. That literally means to agonize 671 00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:35,480 over it. When John Bunyan, the man who 672 00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:39,040 wrote Pilgrims Progress in his book Grace Abounding to the 673 00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:43,080 Chief of Sinner Sinners, he wrote that upon his conversion 674 00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:50,760 he agonized over his sin for 18 months as he fought and he 675 00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:55,120 battled with himself. Joel Beeke talks about agonizing 676 00:46:55,120 --> 00:47:00,760 over his sin for 13 months. There was 8 months that I was 677 00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:06,800 inconsolable in college, could find nobody to help me answer 678 00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:12,280 the question of my heart, which is how can I know the Lord? 679 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:19,160 So many of us want to take A and make a 5 minute decision and 680 00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:23,640 then go along our happy way and we've been fed this lie. 681 00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:26,480 Just believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you're fine. 682 00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:32,960 False prophets, Let's quickly get you through this broad gate 683 00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:35,800 so you can be on your merry way on the Broadway. 684 00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:41,360 The Scriptures call us to examine ourselves. 685 00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:47,760 The Scriptures call us to agonize, to seek for Him and 686 00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:50,440 seek for Him with all our heart. Have you ever done that? 687 00:47:56,210 --> 00:47:58,490 Or have you just been riding somebody's coattails? 688 00:48:00,930 --> 00:48:04,690 You know, the narrow gate is narrow enough that only one can 689 00:48:04,690 --> 00:48:08,160 fit at a time. You can't take somebody with you 690 00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:09,640 and you can't take your baggage with you. 691 00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:13,760 The gate is narrow because you can't take in any of your own 692 00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:15,600 self righteousness. It doesn't fit. 693 00:48:15,720 --> 00:48:17,920 It's a turnstile. It will click, click, click. 694 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:21,280 One goes at a time. I don't know if that made sense 695 00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:24,080 to anybody else, but that was a great picture for me right here. 696 00:48:27,680 --> 00:48:31,120 It's narrow. If if you go through that gate, 697 00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:34,360 you go in with an empty hand, meaning you have nothing to 698 00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:39,960 offer. You go in recognizing all I had 699 00:48:40,160 --> 00:48:42,440 and I left them out there was filthy rags. 700 00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:45,720 If you let me in, it's only going to be on your 701 00:48:45,720 --> 00:48:48,920 righteousness, on divine accomplishment. 702 00:48:50,280 --> 00:48:52,240 There's no achievement in this human. 703 00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:58,760 That's the way through the turnstile of the narrow gate. 704 00:49:04,800 --> 00:49:09,800 We must not flatter ourselves about our supposed gains in the 705 00:49:09,800 --> 00:49:13,920 faith. We can so quickly become devoted 706 00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:16,000 again to the religion of human achievement. 707 00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:18,480 Our self righteousness will encourage us. 708 00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:23,320 We're fine. The fruit of true faith comes by 709 00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:26,640 hearing the Word of God, especially the gospel preached. 710 00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:32,280 True faith is a change of the whole person, both in heart and 711 00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:35,160 in life. True faith is seen in resting 712 00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:39,320 wholly upon God. You are converted to the 713 00:49:39,320 --> 00:49:43,680 religion of divine accomplishment, and repentance 714 00:49:43,680 --> 00:49:48,000 is seen every single time. Our devotion to that true 715 00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:51,600 religion waivers every time we sin, every time we stumble, 716 00:49:51,720 --> 00:49:56,640 every time we become unhumble, every time we repent and we 717 00:49:56,640 --> 00:49:59,520 believe again upon what Christ accomplished on our behalf. 718 00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:04,680 That's the true faith. There's no hope of heaven for 719 00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:07,120 those who do not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. 720 00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:09,160 There's no gospel. There's no salvation. 721 00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:11,560 If there's no Christ, there's no salvation. 722 00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:19,120 This is a critical passage for those of us in our day and time. 723 00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:24,280 There's so many people in our in our culture that call themselves 724 00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:27,200 Christians. It's a popular thing to do here. 725 00:50:28,440 --> 00:50:32,240 It's in such an important thing for us to hear the teachings of 726 00:50:32,240 --> 00:50:37,000 our Lord. You see, there's a false path 727 00:50:38,240 --> 00:50:42,880 that so many are on. They're false prophets that are 728 00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:48,080 deceiving so many. They're false professors that 729 00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:52,200 show up don't even realize they're deceived on the broad 730 00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:57,440 path to hell. False path, false prophets, 731 00:50:57,440 --> 00:51:00,240 false professors. And I want you to see their fate 732 00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:05,680 is perishing. Depart from me, for I never knew 733 00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:08,080 you. You see, there's two 734 00:51:08,080 --> 00:51:11,360 destinations. There's a broad Rd. that leads 735 00:51:11,360 --> 00:51:15,600 to destruction and the narrow that leads to life destruction. 736 00:51:15,600 --> 00:51:20,080 Here I want you to understand does not refer to annihilation. 737 00:51:20,200 --> 00:51:22,920 It's not that just that you're wiped off Note it. 738 00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:26,640 It refers to an everlasting torment where there's weeping 739 00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:30,320 and wailing and gnashing of teeth forever and ever and ever 740 00:51:30,560 --> 00:51:34,000 and ever. It leads to hell and those 741 00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:37,280 selling tickets to it keep saying it leads to heaven, but 742 00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:41,920 it doesn't. The entrance to the road to hell 743 00:51:42,280 --> 00:51:47,760 reads the road to heaven. That's Satan's great lie. 744 00:51:49,560 --> 00:51:53,480 But there is a narrow Rd. that leads to life. 745 00:51:56,200 --> 00:52:00,840 There is a road that leads to a heavenly life, eternal, 746 00:52:00,840 --> 00:52:03,680 everlasting joy and bliss with God. 747 00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:06,240 Ask yourself this morning, where are you? 748 00:52:07,240 --> 00:52:11,800 What Rd. are you on? Have you agonized and sought 749 00:52:11,800 --> 00:52:14,040 with all your heart to find the narrow gate? 750 00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:20,040 Or are you relying upon yourself righteousness and deceiving 751 00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:26,280 yourself of your helplessness? This passage makes it clear the 752 00:52:26,280 --> 00:52:29,080 Lord hates those who name His name and yet don't know Him. 753 00:52:31,200 --> 00:52:35,920 He will cast them out. But the passage also makes it 754 00:52:35,920 --> 00:52:43,520 very clear there is a gate, and though it is narrow, it is open. 755 00:52:45,520 --> 00:52:50,680 Jesus is the gate. If you find yourself on the 756 00:52:50,680 --> 00:52:53,720 wrong path, I want you to know the gate is open. 757 00:52:54,240 --> 00:52:58,240 Christ can save. Ask and it shall be given to 758 00:52:58,240 --> 00:53:00,240 you. Let's pray. 759 00:53:03,120 --> 00:53:05,440 Father, I'm thankful for your text. 760 00:53:06,520 --> 00:53:11,120 I'm thankful, Lord, that your word is alive and active and it 761 00:53:11,280 --> 00:53:16,600 cuts us in two. Lord, as the psalmist praise we, 762 00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:21,080 we ask that she would just examine us to to search us and 763 00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:25,440 to know us and to let us know if there's anything wayward here. 764 00:53:25,440 --> 00:53:29,720 Father, I pray that you would cause the souls in here to pray, 765 00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:33,760 to seek your face, to determine what Rd. they're on. 766 00:53:33,960 --> 00:53:37,440 And Father, that if there be any here that have been deceived, 767 00:53:38,520 --> 00:53:41,640 that have been following the broad path, God, that you would 768 00:53:41,640 --> 00:53:44,520 call them, call them to the narrow gate. 769 00:53:49,080 --> 00:53:51,120 God, there are many false prophets. 770 00:53:52,160 --> 00:53:54,640 I pray that you'd shut their mouth for just a second. 771 00:53:58,240 --> 00:54:01,840 There are many in here whose flesh is screaming. 772 00:54:01,840 --> 00:54:06,120 You're fine, Don't worry, It's comfortable here. 773 00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:12,080 God, I pray you'd shut that up and help him to seek the truth. 774 00:54:15,160 --> 00:54:21,440 God, I'm so grateful that there is a narrow gate that you and 775 00:54:21,440 --> 00:54:29,240 your great love and mercy have sent your Son, that you so loved 776 00:54:29,240 --> 00:54:32,640 the world that you gave your only begotten Son, that 777 00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:37,440 whosoever believes in him will not perish, that will have 778 00:54:37,440 --> 00:54:41,680 everlasting life. Father, as you've said in your 779 00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:45,840 word, enter command, enter the narrow gate. 780 00:54:46,600 --> 00:54:52,080 Father, I pray that you would help command the sinners here 781 00:54:52,080 --> 00:54:57,200 this morning to enter in the narrow gate to repent and 782 00:54:57,200 --> 00:54:57,720 believe.