let's uh turn now to matthew chapter 7 this morning we are nearing the end of our study in the sermon on the mount and this morning we come to matthew chapter 7 we are looking at verses 15 through 20 that's found on page 965 in the bibles that are in front of you i will back up and read at verse 13 which last week we looked at the narrow gate and the wide gate there is a direct tie to what jesus is doing here now as he addresses false prophets so this is indeed a a heavier message in the sense of understanding the history of false prophets understanding why this matters so much but understanding and appreciating what jesus is doing to keep his sheep from this so that's what we're looking at this morning let's give our attention to the word of the lord the holy word of the lord beginning at verse 13 enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. But every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits and there will end this morning the reading of god's word well i have attempted to make a case that jesus in the sermon on the mount is recovering the lost sheep of the household of israel in other words you think of what the old testament said about false teachers and false prophets and what they did to god's people was they scattered them all over the mountains they scattered them all over the places and the promise of ezekiel was and think of the great indictment against them woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture says the lord i myself here's the promise i myself will search for my sheep i will look for them and i will shepherd them here we have the greatest shepherding care of our lord in front of us this morning it's probably not what you think is shepherding care um we want you know the shepherd to just pet the sheep right we're not just petting the sheep we're protecting the sheep and that's exactly what jesus is doing here today he's protecting the sheep he's showing his shepherding care the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he's the one that leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake that's what he's doing and this is what this text is accomplishing today for us jesus is shepherding the sheep in protecting them from false prophets and wolves wolves who come he says in sheep's clothing which makes it hard to discern what he's talking about and how we're going to know that and that's what Jesus is helping us with in this particular passage this is an important shepherding text this morning because it's meant to be pondered and it's meant to be reflected upon so that we would be discerning and that is that is something that the modern church needs more than ever right now. It is discernment. We lack discernment in thinking about truth and falsehood. So that what is happening, we would be able to see in the spot. And that we would recognize that what is happening has the great intention of abusing and destroying sheep. And that should matter to us. This has a lot to do with your children. If you care about your children and what's most important and your grandchildren, then you've got to be people of truth, is what Jesus is saying. People committed to truth and people committed to spotting and seeing what is false. The sort of laissez-faire Christianity that's just hands-off and everything is nice is not biblical Christianity. Jesus is exposing today before us false prophets for us to see and to discern where they are, who they are, and what their deception looks like and their message and their fruit. So that's the purpose of this. It's very simple this morning. It's a very simple message that Jesus is helping us with. I want you to remember the context here this morning in the Sermon on the Mount where we are so far. Jesus has just given this great call in the Sermon on the Mount. You remember the crucial call that his teaching is not just to be great sermon, Jesus, just to be admired. His teaching is to be taken inside, into the heart. He has given a crucial call in the Sermon on the Mount. Verses 13 and 14 is the heart of the call of the Sermon on the Mount. It's the sort of moment of reckoning in the Sermon on the Mount. Enter the narrow gate. For broad is the gate and wide is the path that leads to destruction. And many are those who enter through it. Many people are going through this path. So he's giving us mental imagery here of something important. Many are walking through life. There are two gates presented to them in this life. Not multiple gates, two gates really. One gate is very narrow and it leads to life, but he says few find it. It's good to paint the imagery, isn't it? Here's a man walking through this life. He sees these two gates and he looks over at this wide, beautiful gate. And masses are walking through it. Masses of people. Not worried about a thing in the world. No concerns. And there's this little gate. Remember last time? The writer, I had to leave everything off. I had to squeeze into that gate naked. I pushed my head in and then my shoulders and my body. And I got through to the other side. There was no going back. That gate is narrow. That gate is constricting. That gate is difficult. Now you remembered somebody was really using this to sort of undermine Jesus' message at one point. This isn't in my notes, but I want to make sure I say it, that they came up and, Lord, are there a few who are going to be saved? A lot of people will take that and say, what good is this then he basically said stop it you strive to enter you enter the narrow gate you go through yourself well jesus has been been teaching about this there's nothing about this path he calls you to that is easy you know if anyone wants to follow me if you want to be a christian take up your cross deny yourself and follow you have to come out of yourself to be delivered out of the darkness and brought to the light it's it's a narrow path to eternal life the gate is narrow and who is the gate christ i'm the door of the sheep i'm the i'm the door when you come to me you enter you enter the kingdom but there's no other way there's no other savior i am the way the truth and the life no man goes to the Father except through me. He's the gate. He's the way. His message is narrow. His message is restricting, isn't it? No one will be in heaven who does not enter through Him. That's how narrow the message of Christianity is. Of course it's narrow. He's the door. He's the gate. He's the way. He's the only way. now as you know that message is utterly hated that message makes us nervous it's not just despised among the world beloved it's despised in the church this is the context now in which Jesus turns to false teachers and it's not totally what you think maybe we could fill this imagery out a little bit again we're standing and we're contemplating the narrow gate and we're looking at the narrow gate we look over and this other path is wide and it's broad and many people are walking into this path but we're we're deeply concerned considering this this narrow gate we're thinking about this narrow gate and getting into this gate and coming to this gate who is christ and by the way i said last week you remember no one can come to me unless the father who sent me drags him draws him that's grace that's sovereign grace well our narrow gate you're looking at the gate and there's all this activity in front of the gate what's going on in front of the narrow gate there's all these figures and their fingers are pointed this way go this way and they're pointing to the wide gate do not come this way these guys are standing right in front of the narrow gate here's the imagery hands are up this is too narrow this is too constricting for you do not believe this these are the false prophets jesus is talking about right here you know this is happening right for such people are false apostles deceitful workers masquerading as apostles of christ and no wonder for satan himself masquerades as an angel of light it is not surprising then if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness paul paul describes that in second corinthians 11 that there are in the kingdom satan has raised up ministers and these ministers come just in light of what jesus just said that they're in their clothing they come as angels of light paul said um i know that after i leave savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock. Even from your own number, men will arise and distort the truth. There it is. In order to draw disciples away, go that way. So be on your guard. Notice Jesus, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravenous wolves they are standing before the gate okay jesus used that imagery in john 10 remember what he said i am the gate of the sheep all who have come before me it actually means all who stand in front of me are thieves and robbers but the sheep have not listened to them this is this is the real encouragement of john 10 the sheep will not listen to them i am the gate whoever enters through me will be saved what a what a verse by the way in john 10 you know what a verse what a great verse that's your bumper sticker verse amen that was a week amen i wanted something better than that you see what he's describing the message is hard enough but then in this life there are all these agents working against it and the church has been ignorant of this jesus is being specific here notice they're in sheep's clothing you understand the effect of this what he's essentially saying is you're not going to recognize them or think they could be this on the outside so it's going to take a lot more discernment from you it's going to take a lot more discernment because they're probably going to be really charming they're going to be really nice heretics or big name false prophets are probably not in view here they apply here but Jesus is much more discerning than that rarely do you get somebody who say hey heretic right here nobody does that right Jesus says outwardly blatantly you're going to have a hard time recognizing it so you have to be a lot more discerning one time in my ministry i had a man early on come into the church and was teaching i was stunned this this one was so easy he was teaching that jesus christ was not a true man and he was going around to the widows in the church and riling them up over this he was a docetist i i couldn't believe i met a modern day docetist so i i pulled him into my study and i said you need to leave you are not welcome here unless you repent that was easy that was easy he never came back i did pray for him but i'm not we have no right to put up with that. Who are they? How do we recognize them? When Paul called leaders to shepherd well, he said there are two areas that cover the whole thing. When he's speaking to Timothy, Timothy, guard what was committed to you. Guard your doctrine and guard your life right there's been great debate here as to whether jesus is speaking of doctrine or of life here when he's talking about the false prophets when he talks about their fruits but i they belong right together you can't you cannot separate them i believe jesus says look at their fruits they're plural the bad fruit of one leads to the bad fruit of another he begins with the message let's begin with it inwardly they're ravenous wolves how what is the instinct of a wolf to destroy sheep how take discernment here where are they leading you the thief comes in to steal kill and destroy says jesus but i came that they may have life and have life abundantly that's a crucial distinction for spotting a false teacher what does a false teacher do he's controlling you he's manipulating you he's not leading you to life he's not leading you to freedom. These people look great. You can see nothing on the outside. One of your greatest threats in this life are people leading others to the wide gate, pointing to the wide gate. Get off this path. What has been the hallmark of a false teacher? Well, I would surmise and say that it's one great thing. One great thing that every pastor has to fight. What is it? Being a man-pleaser. Has there been anything man-pleasing in this whole sermon that we have studied? Anything like this in Jesus' sermon. Has he preached anything wide and tolerant and accepting like we hear today? It's been narrow in doctrine and in life. His whole message is that there's only one way for men to be saved and that the path you're on, the path of the Christian, the path of the Christian. Here's how you're going to know what's true and false. The path of the Christian is one of what? I'm not saying they're not good blessings and that God has not given us a good go of things. That's not what I'm talking about. It's one of affliction. It's one of suffering. It's one of persecution, it's one of hardship, it's one of self-denial, and it's one that says you will not have the glory in this life. Now, that should be pretty easy to say Joel Osteen's preaching something opposite. What does a false teacher do? For we do not preach ourselves, said Paul, But Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your bondservants, slaves, for Jesus' sake. The false teacher, the false prophet, stands right in front of Christ so that you can't see him. And he attempts to undermine and twist the message. Paul said, preach the word, pastors, in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and patience. Your job, your mission, keep your head in the book, preach the word, in season and out of season. Why? Because the time will come when men will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. They will heap up for themselves teachers. And because they have itching ears, they will say whatever people want them to say. And they will do what? Lead many astray. They will lead them away from the narrow gate. Can we apply? A guy gets up. He looks right according to how we want him to look. He acts right. He never brings offense. His message is full of stories that pander and make people laugh. There's no gravity to the message. There's no heavenly mindedness. It's never taking you anywhere. There's nothing serious. He's embarrassed of anything formal. There's never anything requiring, of course. Why? Because people don't want that kind of message. Masses follow the other way. Masses go to the other way. Anything he knows that will offend people, he leaves out. There's nothing heavenly. So ultimately, ultimately, there's no cross in it. Why? Cross is tough business to preach. You're preaching in a culture that play cards their heroes and makes statues of them. You are preaching the death of the Son of God for you because you're a sinner. Pressing then on sin can't be there. Repentance is out. The holiness of God, what a concept we don't want to touch. Sin, total depravity, justice, wrath, holiness, cross. Love is okay. Love is always okay. Which often becomes so oversaturated it means nothing. The cruel death of the cross, the splinters and all, that's an embarrassment. and you see what the false teacher does is he empties the cross of its power and he puts up a roadblock in front of the narrow gate and he says there there there's two kinds of false teachers today there's either what i think you could call the authoritarian who commands all kinds of weird things to control people. That's a lot of the cults do this. To pull people away after himself. But way more common to the American church is the nice guy, the pal, the buddy, the life coach, the stage guy. Effectively giving TED talks. And what's lost and what's left out and you can't miss it is there's nothing narrow about it. It has common Christian lingo. It tickles ears. But it doesn't, never enough to make you say, no, think of this. I didn't really hear anything wrong with it. That's the level of our discernment today. I didn't really hear anything wrong with it. Well, it's okay. Charles Spurgeon said, Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It's knowing the difference between right and almost right. Which means you're going to have to be in the scriptures, beloved, to see this stuff. Or you're praying. He's mealy-mouthed. What does that mean? A false prophet is mealy-mouthed. That means he avoids direct and plain language. He loves timidity. He loves excessive delicacy. He mints his words. He's insincere. but the thing is is it works the saddest part is what jeremiah said they dress the wound talk about false prophets they dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious that is so big in this they dress the wound of my people as if it weren't serious is so they say peace peace when there is no peace are they ashamed are they ashamed at all they utterly uprooted the message of judgment said jeremiah they took it out of the message they emptied out the cross of its power any appreciation or desire for repentance and deliverance was gone that is the way of the false prophet so that so that then he doesn't really address the wounds going on in you the wound of your sin the wound of your heart the wound of what you need he's not getting there the prophets and here's the sad part the prophets prophesy lies the priests rule by their own authority and my people love it there's the direct tie from the false teacher to the false follower. See it? The people themselves want a message that never presses them to the narrow gate. Saying, give us peace, give us peace, give us peace. For the time will come when they will not endure, tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. So they will turn their ears away from truth and turn aside to myths. So not only did the narrow path get avoided, the people wanted that. It pandered to a form of Christianity that required absolutely nothing. These are control tactics, as Sinclair Ferguson says, when he was here not so long ago and we were talking about the liturgy, you know, what we do in worship. And he was saying to me, when people refuse to work through a liturgy and they want to do what's entertaining, you should see that for what it is. It's a form of pride and embarrassment for God's ways. We are not, says Paul, like so many, peddling God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. jesus goes on so by their fruits you'll know them do people pick up grapes grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles likewise every likewise every good tree bears good fruit and 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 your fruits you will know them he is saying people who do this their number one bad fruit is spotted in their refusal to preach the narrow gate refusal to preach christ number one they don't preach christ and they mingle it up and they confuse it and they they they change doctrines and they redefine categories and they confuse everyone from bringing them to the gate the pure gospel of Christ. When Jesus says here, figs don't come from thistles or grates from thorn bushes, he's speaking of the nature of a thing. In other words, the nature of a thing produces what it is from what it is. If the heart is regenerate, this is what he's saying, good fruit follows. If the heart is unregenerate, bad fruit follows. So it starts with doctrine, and it works its way out to life. Once you've conditioned people to not take the law and the gospel seriously, once you condition them to not deal with the wound seriously and take sin seriously, that's the licentiousness of life that follows in the New Testament. So Jude, These men creep in unawares for certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago, says Jude, have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ, our only sovereign and Lord. I know this is this is hard because we in general don't want to make judgments. but notice here this directly shows you have to make a judgment that what jesus said don't judge above is not talking about the kind of judgments we're talking about here so you have to make judgments about what is true and what is false right so i want you says john to test the spirits to see whether they be of god here's the test where are you led to the narrow gate through sermons that lead you to jesus christ and him crucified because the goal of the one ministering to you is to show you his glory and that you would come to your good shepherd and not to him or is his goal to lead you in the broad path like a ravenous wolf and pull you away and if you're asking me about fruit what does that fruit look like to close this out today well can't you see it in the beginning of the sermon on the mount Now, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. They're deeply burdened about sin. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of god blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven the fruit of the spirit and the life of the new creation is that we mourn over sin we're humble in that we know what we are we're not trying to hide that we thirst for righteousness we love justice we love truth we show mercy to sinners by the way that's one of the great fruits of a true is mercy for the greatest of sinners because that's how God is we are pure in heart meaning we're not aiming here to put on a show this does not make me righteous the heart is corrupt I'll tell you about mine if you want to know about it you should be able to tell me about yours and the savior you have we're not putting on a facade we speak the truth in love but we have to speak the truth we want to see the peace of god rule in men's hearts by the spirit but the other fruit is think about it sexual morality impurity debauchery idolatry witchcraft hatred discord jealousy fits of rage selfish ambition dissensions factions envy drunkenness orgies and the like everyone's a sinner this is a way of life for the false teacher i hope you see today that jesus's desire is to keep you why why does this matter why do we have to go through this why do we have to listen to something like this he is so strong against the false prophets for you because he's recovering the sheep of israel what do you expect him to be passive? This is a man. His goal is to lead you to him, his bride, to present his bride pure and unspotted and undefiled. He loves his sheep. He loves you. He's jealous for you. He's a jealous God for his people. What do you expect him to be? Something else? He cares to keep you he's not going to let you go we see in him the open heart of the good shepherd the loving heart of a good shepherd fighting off wolves the pastor has two voices right one to comfort the sheep and fight wolves as calvin said well we got that from jesus leading us with the goal that we would walk the paths of righteousness for His namesake. That's what He wants. So, beloved, may we be discerning in this age. We belong to Him in life and death and body and soul. And He's so merciful to us when we come to Him, a false prophet and a false follower never gets on their knees and confesses their own sins. Confess your sins. He's faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He purchased us with his blood and he promises in his gospel he's not going to lose one of his sheep. So you can expect the warfare to be fierce, right? That's what we're in. Praise God for his good shepherd to us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for helping us today to discern and to consider this vast subject the Scripture gives so much treatment to. May we, Lord, never give ear to this kind of thing. May there be no connection, Lord, between the false teacher and false followers here. May we be true followers of the King, Jesus Christ, coming to Him, resting in Him. He is our salvation. He is our Good Shepherd. May we hear His voice who calls us by name and leads us in and out to good pastures. We praise you, O Lord. The Lord is our shepherd. We shall not want anything in this life. For if the Lord is with us and the Lord is guiding us, then we are always secure. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.