I invite you to turn with me for our text to Matthew 7, verses 16 through 20. Matthew 7, verses 16 through 20. As you recall, last week we considered our Lord's warning about false prophets, wolves in sheep's clothing. Once you have found Matthew 7, then please also, in connection with that, turn to 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2 as we read the first three verses and then from 17 through verse 22, the last portion of 1 Peter 2. As Peter also reminds his hearers that there were false prophets in the Old Testament time. And as he repeats what our Lord says in effect that false prophets will appear once again. Before we read the Word of God, let's bow together in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we do praise Your name for You are our sovereign God, the God of all truth. And Your Word is truth. And we desire to be those who delight in Your truth. And we pray for Your blessing this morning as we turn to Your Word that You would be busy and active in our hearts and lives and our minds by Your Holy Spirit. We pray, Father, that You would give the increase that You have planned, that You have promised in our hearts and lives. That You would help us to be those who walk in a way that is pleasing to You, those who delight in You day by day, moment by moment. And therefore, Father, strengthen us, help us, encourage us. For indeed, we trust in You alone, for Jesus' sake. In His name we pray. Amen. 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2, as we begin at verse 1. Hear now the Word of God. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. Moving to verse 17. These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words, and by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them, the Proverbs are true. A dog returns to its vomit, and a sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud. Matthew 7. Again, the text being verses 16-20. But I would like to read again verse 15 through verse 23. Beginning of verse 15, Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit, you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only He who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew You. Away from Me, you evildoers. By their fruit, you will recognize them. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we know in our consideration of the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, He has given, Jesus has given kingdom citizens, He has given true believers over and over again the comfort and the assurance of their eternal security. At the beginning when He said, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. When He said, for they will inherit the earth. And when He said, for they will be called sons of God. over and over, giving the comfort and the assurance of their eternal security. Also, when He said that those who enter the narrow gate, Jesus Christ Himself, that narrow gate which opens onto that narrow way, that narrow gate, that narrow way that leads to eternal life. But along with the comfort and the assurance of one's eternal security, He also gives kingdom citizens an urgent warning, as we began to consider last week, that on this side of heaven, we have enemies. But interestingly, not the kind necessarily that presented themselves as such. For example, not the kind boys and girls and young people, not like the bully in the neighborhood or in the school, on the playground. The bully that everybody knows is nasty and mean. and if you happen to cross his path, you're going to get hurt. Not like the mass murderer or the gunman who comes in with his guns blasting simply to end life, not caring who it is whose life he takes. Instead, enemies coming as friends. Seemingly friends. Seemingly without a threat. With a goal to influence and destroy by changing one's mind and heart in order to gain their trust, to get on their side. That's how Satan works. And Jesus teaches, as we know, that the enemies of God, of His kingdom, of His people, they are real. Make no mistake about it. And they are dangerous. Deadly dangerous. But also, they may be very hard to recognize. yet they can be known. They are to be known. They are to be recognized. As Jesus teaches of unmasking false prophets. Unmasking false prophets, first of all, by identifying their fruit. Notice the fact of fruit. By their fruit. Jesus is talking again about those false prophets. He's talking now about their fruit. By their fruit, you will recognize them. Now, what we need to remember is that all bear fruit. All bear fruit of some kind in our lives. When we think of fruit, we might be tempted to think in terms of the fruit of faith or the fruit of the Spirit, that which is always good. But we are to understand here that all bear fruit and either one's fruit is good or the fruit of one's life is bad. either it is the fruit of true faith or it is the fruit of unbelief. And that fruit then is demonstrated in what one believes and confesses and how that confession comes to expression in one's life. Now, beloved, when it comes to the fruit of faith, which we call good works, Heidelberg Catechism, Answer 91, helps us to understand what it is that makes our works good in the sight of God. It says, Only that which arises out of true faith conforms to God's law and is done for His glory. And not that which is based on what we think is right or is established or on established human tradition. In other words, that which has reference to God and God alone. That which recognizes who He is and what He has done for us and that which responds to Him in grateful obedience. Not what man thinks is best. Not man's ideas. Now with regard to the fact of false prophets, again, that's a fact as we consider. They are real. Jesus wants believers to understand that their fruit will not necessarily be what we expect. when we think of bad fruit for instance we might expect blatant ungodly or reckless behavior that is clearly the opposite of what God commands behavior that is offered without any sort of conscience for sin or shame and of course that kind of bad fruit is evident all around us in the world isn't it but Jesus makes it clear I believe that that he is talking about bad fruit that may look like good fruit. Think of a piece of fruit. An apple, for example. Of the many apples that I have eaten in my life, there is one that I will never forget eating. I don't remember the vast majority of them, but there is one that I remember very clearly as a boy. It looked really, really good on the outside. That's why I chose it. It was even a bit firm, but once I bit into it, it was brown and filled with wormholes. It looked good on the outside, but it was bad on the inside. Jesus has been talking about false prophets who look like sheep, who look like believers, who look like those who are a part of the flock, who are part of the true church of Jesus Christ. Those who are even able to say one day, as we read in verse 22, Lord, Lord, we prophesied, We drove out demons. We performed many miracles in Your name. In Matthew 24, verse 24, Jesus says, For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles. And He goes on to say, those which might even deceive the elect, if that were possible. Praise God, it's not possible. They look legitimate. They look like they belong and beyond all that. They say what the people want to hear. They say what makes people happy and comfortable so that one will say, well, He thinks like me. He's just like me. We must be in agreement. Jesus' illustration here points to this unmistakable identity with one's fruit. In verse 16, He says, do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? And of course, the expected answer is, No, they don't because thorn bushes don't produce grapes. Thistles don't produce figs. But we are to understand that in that day, all knew that there was this buckthorn bush, as I read, that had little blackberries. And those little blackberries could be mistaken for grapes to the site. And there was a thistle whose flower from a distance again to one site could be mistaken for a fig. And we can understand this. If you look at a mountain range from many miles away, you cannot tell which mountain peaks are closer than the others. If you look at a forest area filled with trees, you cannot tell from a distance what those trees are, what kinds there are. You can't distinguish between them. And I believe we are to understand here that Jesus would have us to know that false prophets and unbelievers whose lives look good, They can look like true prophets. They can look like true believers on the surface and even their fruit may appear genuine. They may sound orthodox. They may do good things. They might be kind and helpful and generous and faithful spouses and loving parents and good providers. They might be those who busy themselves with starting charities and seek to feed and clothe the hungry and the poor in third world countries. Or they might be busy organizing homeless shelters. All kinds of good things. And we all know unbelievers who do a remarkable amount of good things in life. They may even be those who keep from committing outright blatant sin, even condemning it like drunkenness or adultery or murder or theft. They may look good on the outside. What they do may look acceptable. to us even in the sight of God. But with this illustration, Jesus not only points out the mistakable identity of this fruit that is possible, but also the uselessness of this fruit as really He contrasts useless weeds versus useful, satisfying, and sustaining grapes and figs. The fruit of false prophets is useless, even dangerous, Because of the nature of the fruit. The nature of the fruit which comes from the nature of the tree or the plant. The kind of tree determines the kind of fruit. Jesus says, likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. He's not talking about, in a sense, diseased plants or trees because they don't bear any fruit. But even weeds produce a sort of a fruit. Verse 18, a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Now this is logical to us because we know that thistles and dandelions and crabgrass and weeds in general are not useful, but they're a nuisance. And they choke out the good and the useful grass and plants. Beloved, with this illustration, Jesus is pointing out the fruit of false prophets and unbelievers that even though it may look good on the surface, it is bad fruit. And I believe that we are to understand as well that that fruit includes the fruit of their teaching. As we said last week, they sound good. They talk about God and Jesus and the cross and sin and all kinds of Bible things. But they don't tell the whole truth. And they use that kind of language and they talk about things from the Bible to sound religious in order to gain the trust of others. But again, they water it down. They water down that truth. For example, they limit God simply to His love and even then they take that love of God out of context because they strip Him of His holiness and righteousness, His justice, His hatred for sin. They don't talk about that and therefore they have a God of their own making, a God who is tolerant and complacent, accepting of everything. But really, because of the kind of God they make Him out to be, He can't be angry about anything. And they water down the truth of Jesus Christ. He wasn't born of a virgin. He didn't rise again. He didn't ascend into heaven. He died for whoever wants to be saved if they so choose. And even then, He's not necessarily the only way to be saved. He's a good teacher. He's a good example. But He only came to give man a little bit of help because they also water down the truth of man and the truth of sin. Man, they teach, is not hopelessly lost, as the Bible says. He is not hopelessly lost, they say, with his understanding darkened, with his affections corrupted, with his will enslaved. Nor is man blind to the excellencies of God or deaf to the voice of God or defiant to the authority of God or unconcerned with the glory of God. None of that is true about man. Instead, they teach man is very much able to do and he does his part to repair his slight problem called sin. Sin is not that bad, you see. It's not even your fault. You can blame it on someone else. The bottom line is false prophets twist the whole truth of the Word of God. It's not man who is dead and dying because of sin and in need of the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ. But God needs man. God needs men to fill His heaven. Man does God a favor by believing in Him. That's Satan's lie. But Peter says false prophets are filled with destructive heresies. He says they deny the Sovereign Lord. He says they make up stories. That they are filled with empty, boastful words. That they appeal to the lustful desires of the sinful human nature. They tell people what they want to hear. What makes them happy and comfortable. But not what they desperately need to hear. This is their teaching. It may look good a little bit on the surface, but upon closer inspection, it is bad. And it results then in the fruit of their conduct and life. Jesus says in chapter 15, verse 18 of Matthew, But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. What comes from the heart, what one believes, is what truly characterizes them. And that, Jesus says, will become plain upon close inspection. Now this is difficult for us. It's difficult for me because the tendency is that we want to start pointing them out. Jesus doesn't say to do that. He also says, judge not that ye be not judged. We talked about that before. Be careful in how we judge others. But yet we are to be discerning. We are to be careful. We are to be watchful. He says it will become clear. Through the fruit of their conduct in life. They may live unoffensively. Again, they may do all sorts of good things in the sight of the world. giving to charity, helping the poor or their neighbor, working diligently and honestly, doing many things that ought to characterize Christian conduct. Yet upon close inspection, that conduct fits with the selfishness of what they teach and believe. That man is indeed the measure of all things. That man controls his own destiny. That it's all up to man. Man is great because they believe that man can earn something by doing good things and therefore their lives are selfishly motivated and not motivated from true faith. Not a response to the saving grace of God without a delight to serve Him. Upon close inspection, the standard that Jesus has set forth for kingdom citizens in His sermon is absent from false prophets. Therefore, there are no true traces of humility and mourning over sin. No hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Oh, there is fruit, but it's imitation fruit that is provided in order to be seen and applauded, praised by men. It becomes clear that earthly things are more important than heavenly things. There is no narrow way immersed in what pleases God, but a wide way of one's own making because, again, God is a tolerant God. Man sets his own rules. Indeed, he lives by them. But he sets his own rules like the Pharisees of Jesus' day. There's a heart of unbelief. And that heart of unbelief is revealed with their focus in life and it is revealed especially when they face the challenges and the struggles of life. That, as we all know, reveals one's true nature. One's true nature is seen, for example, when one's character is attacked or when accusations are made against one or when sicknesses strike or when financial ruin falls upon one. When any sort of devastation comes upon one, their true nature is seen. For example, too, for these false prophets, when a choice is made to stand up for the truth or not stand up for the truth and standing up for it would result in harm in some way. And therefore, it turns out that compromise is the answer because there is no real and true trust in God, but only in oneself. Only in the things of this world. Peter says they follow shameful ways. He says they're filled with greed. Everything they do is for themselves. And then ultimately, as he puts it forth very vividly in verse 22, of them the Proverbs are true. a dog returns to its vomit and a sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud. Boys and girls, you can take a pet pig and you can give it a buttermilk bath, clean it up, spick and span, but it goes right back to the slop, right back to the dirt. The dog's true nature is as Peter describes it. Jesus says, it may look good on the outside, but it's bad fruit. And therefore, it is useless in the sight of God. It may be temporarily useful for some in this world. But as far as the one performing it, it is useless in the sight of God because it is not fruit born of true faith. It is not pleasing to God. It only disguises unbelief. and it is useless and harmful for others because it does not point out the truth and the consequences of sin. It does not drive one to the only Savior, Jesus Christ. It does not make true disciples. And therefore, Jesus calls kingdom citizens to unmask false prophets by recognizing their end. God's people are to be warned. God's people are to identify that bad fruit. And God's people are to understand the end of those whose fruit is bad. The end of those who live in unbelief. It's a warning. It's a reminder to you and me as well of why we are called to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Their end is similar to worthless trees. Verse 19 says, Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Again, we know this by experience. Weeds, plants, trees that produce nothing useful are useless. We get rid of them. Very simply, this points to the danger of hell, which we hope to consider the Lord willing more next time as Jesus says, I never knew you. But apart from true faith in Jesus Christ, apart from trusting His sacrifice alone to pay for sin and to make one right with God, Apart from that, there is no reconciliation with God. There is no peace with God. You see, it can only be one of two ways. Either it is true faith by the grace of God. Or it is unbelief. And again, unbelief that is masked in what is good to the world is still unbelief. It's still unbelief. There is only true faith by the grace of God or unbelief. There is only heaven or hell. And as we know, one can only reach heaven through Jesus Christ alone. Through the blood of Jesus. Through His sacrifice. Trusting in Him. And in response to Him. Delighting to live for Him. Rejecting Him guarantees the torment of hell. Jesus calls for unmasking false prophets whose fruit then will become clear. It will become clear to the kingdom's citizen in the third place by knowledge of the truth. Two times at the beginning of this portion at the end, he says, by their fruit you will know them. In the NIV, verse 20 adds, thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Jesus is talking about a certainty there, without a doubt. It will be as plain as the nose on your face. By their fruit, you. Now, he's pointing to the kingdom citizen. You will know them by their fruit. How? Because by the grace of God, you know the truth. By the grace of God, you live the truth. Believers expose the truth of unbelievers. The believer's life by the grace of God is an indictment against the lives of those who do not believe. Light exposes darkness. The believer exposes the truth of unbelievers by their good fruit of their confession by what is believed. Beloved, the better that one knows the truth, the better that one is able to discern false teachers and therefore we are called to love and to cherish and to guard the good deposit of the Word of God that has been entrusted to us. The kingdom citizen by the grace of God understands the truth of a sovereign, righteous, and holy God who is offended by sin, yet He has poured out His love by sending His one and only Son to accomplish what was utterly and absolutely impossible for you and me. The kingdom citizen by the grace of God understands the truth of Himself that he is sinful through and through, that he is helpless and hopeless, that he is completely dependent on another to make him right with God. And therefore, the kingdom citizen understands as well the truth of Jesus Christ, that other, that only other, who is my substitute, who took my punishment, who paid for my sins, who earned my forgiveness, who gave me His righteousness, who secured my place in the Father's kingdom. Jesus Christ did all that and that is what each and every one can claim by faith. He did that for me. And the child of God understands the gift and work of the Holy Spirit leading and guiding and directing and sanctifying the believer's life. All of that is what God's people believe by His grace and all of that which is believed then translates into a distinctive life of faith. That narrow way. Exposing the lie lived by false prophets through the good fruit of life. A life of faith and obedience with the Word of Christ dwelling richly in the kingdom citizen's heart. With a kingdom citizen knowing, recognizing the voice of the Good Shepherd and following only His voice and not the voice of the false prophet. Beloved, one who knows the holiness of God, the sinfulness of himself, the danger of the final judgment, the torment of hell, one who knows the accomplished work of Jesus Christ and the guarantee of that work. And one whose life then, who knows all that by God's grace and by God's grace becomes transformed. That life will produce the genuine fruit of the Beatitudes. With selflessness of pursuing that narrow way in obedience to Jesus Christ with the number one goal to please God and not self, that will be transparent in that life. That life will be effective salt and light for Jesus Christ. It will seek first God's kingdom. It will seek purity and peace. it will be wholly devoted to Jesus Christ unlike that of the false prophets. That life will never fail to find comfort in Him even in times of persecution for Jesus' sake. And above all, that life will continue to find the assurance of God's pardoning grace on this side of glory even as we continue to struggle with sin as we travel that narrow road. Dear people of God, the kingdom citizen who by the grace of God has entered that narrow way, namely Jesus Christ, my faith, and whose life reflects that entrance by traveling that narrow way governed by the truth of the Word of God, that kingdom citizen will not be deceived by the masquerading of the devil. He will not be easily led astray. But He is kept by Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit as we hope to consider tonight with the perseverance of the saints. Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. The kingdom citizen is secure in that glorious kingdom because of the fruit of the finished work of Jesus Christ. And therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, may deceit and falsehood more and more be driven from our hearts and lives by the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit and more and more may our hearts of true faith be made clear through grateful lives of obedience to the God of our salvation. May our lives be genuine evidence of the truth of Jesus Christ and therefore lives that point others to Him alone. And may our humble prayer be that all of our lives in every step that they would be in fellowship with our God who saved us through Jesus Christ, His Son. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, once again we confess that sometimes Your Word is hard to understand. You make it clear to us yet sometimes it's still difficult sometimes we are tempted oh Lord as we hear your word such as this morning to go out and look in order to point fingers at others but you have given us your word for ourselves for our edification for our admonishment for our encouragement for our warning. And Father, we pray that You would draw us closer to Yourself and Your Word, that You would continue to work in our hearts and lives, in our minds by Your Holy Spirit, that in increasing fashion, we would understand the truth of who You are, of what You have done, the truth of ourselves, and what that means for us forever and ever. And we pray too, Father, that you would indeed be pleased to continue to bring others out of darkness into your marvelous light through the work of your church in this world. Father, hear our prayer for Jesus' sake, and in his name we pray. Amen.