The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'Enter by the Narrow Gate,' examines Matthew 7:13-20. It contrasts the narrow gate and difficult way that lead to life with the broad way that leads to destruction. Dohm emphasizes that Jesus's message is not new but echoes teachings from Moses, Joshua, and Elijah, urging a choice between serving God or other gods. The narrow gate, representing faith in Jesus, is essential for salvation, as Jesus is both the gate and the way. The sermon warns of false prophets who mislead believers, highlighting that true Christian conduct and doctrine must align with biblical teachings. It stresses that following Jesus requires continual faith and adherence to His teachings, distinguishing true discipleship from mere intellectual acknowledgment. The consequences of choosing the broad way are eternal destruction, while the narrow way, though difficult, leads to eternal life with God.

Good morning. Good morning. Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 through 20. Let's read it together. Let's wait for the Bibles.

Let's start with verse 13. Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go by it because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire Therefore by their fruits you will know them Father want to pray for My brother praying that you would be glorified in everything said and done, and may only he say those things and do those things which glorify your name. We look forward to it. We pray that you would help us to have open eyes and ears this morning in Jesus name. Amen I I was so blessed by her text last week.

Last week's text was both the command and the invitation to ask, to seek, and to knock. And because of what Jesus is trying to press on us, in that text, he doesn't come to us with any of the restrictions and limitations that we find elsewhere in Scripture. It doesn't mean that those limitations and restrictions don't exist, or that they're not part of what God teaches across the breadth of the topic. But it does mean that God is able to do anything He wants to do, anytime He wants to do it. And He wants His people to pray that way.

He wants His people to approach Him, knowing that He is God Almighty, ruling from heaven, and He is able to do anything. So when we come to ask, when we seek Him, when we knock at the doors, we should know that God Himself is without any limitations. The whole text is based on the presupposition that God is predisposed to do us good. God has a leaning towards doing good to his children, towards being merciful to his children, towards blessing his children. And so one of the things that came out of last week's text was we should just ask ourselves, are we seeing God rightly?

Are we thinking about God in the right way? Is God a Father to us so that we know that we can go like we would go to our own Father and ask and know that we always have an open door to come and ask and to seek and to knock? And if He is a Father to us, Are we thinking about him as the right kind of father? He's a heavenly father. He's not like the fathers that we've had on Earth.

There's a broad continuum there. Some of us had great fathers. Some of us had lousy fathers on Earth. But God is a great Father. And He's the model for all fathers.

And that's the God that we come to when we approach Him to ask Him for things. What God is doing in that text is He's building in dependence upon Him. And rather than us just receiving good things without having asked for them and then starting to get the wrong idea as a result that maybe somehow we deserved it or maybe somehow it's not connected with God, God actually wants to make the connection. He wants to connect those two dots. By having us ask Him for good things, so that when the good things come, we see the connection, we know that God is the giver of every good gift.

And that He is the source of all the good things that we really, really do desire. And so, if we got one thing out of last week, it's this, that we should be audacious in our prayers, that we should be praying for all manner of quote unquote crazy things for the kingdom of God. Not so that we can spend them on our own pleasures. Not so that we can be lifted up, but so that God's name would be great and that King Jesus his kingdom would be always expanding. God is our loving and almighty Father and He wants us to approach Him that way.

He commands us, but He also invites us. Come, ask, seek, and knock. And then the last verse flows from that. It says, therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. We get this great summary statement of the law of God.

Love is the fulfillment of the law. It's just a restatement of the second greatest commandment. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. This has its roots in the kindness of God as a Father. That is why we don't treat people like we are treated.

We treat people like we want to be treated, because we have an almighty, loving Father who, if we ever get mistreated through that, if we ever get a raw deal from treating them like we'd like to be treated, It doesn't matter. We have a God who's able to repay all that and then with an abundance beside. So we don't have any turf to protect. We don't have to be defensive. We are free to love people because we have a Father who bids us to ask and to seek and to knock.

This week we have a choice set before us between a gate and a way and another gate and another way. And then we have a warning given to us. So hopefully you've got your fingers in the text here in Matthew 7. Let's start with verses 13 and 14. Enter by the narrow gate.

For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life. And there are few who find it. So the prosperity, the health and wealth gospel had a really short run last week.

It was ask, seek, or knock, ask without limitations. And If anyone had any illusions that this was the prosperity gospel, it's immediately addressed in these verses here. Because there's a choice to be made, and the good choice is actually a narrow choice. It's a narrow gate. It's a difficult way.

Jesus isn't giving us a new teaching at all. This teaching goes all the way back and it's so often repeated in the Old Testament. And I very quickly plucked out three examples. But we could pile on 10, 20, 30 examples from the Old Testament that say the same thing. Here's the first one, Deuteronomy 30, verse 15.

Moses says, See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. Back in Deuteronomy 30, Moses is teaching what Jesus now is teaching in Matthew 7. Joshua 24 is probably the most famous passage that has a stark choice like this. Joshua In Joshua 24 verses 14 and 15 says this, Now therefore fear the LORD, serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. Serve the Lord.

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." This is the exact same choice that Jesus is setting us before. You will serve a God, says Moses, says Joshua, and now says Jesus. You'll either serve one God, which will put you on a narrow way, or you have all these other gods to choose from, which will put you on a very different way. Elijah in 1 Kings 18 verse 21, this is where he is gathered together with all the prophets of Baal and all the people of Israel.

Elijah says this in 1 Kings 18 verse 21. And Elijah came to all the people and said, how long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. If Baal, follow him. And so the choice that Jesus is setting before us is not a new teaching at all.

It was the teaching of Moses. It was the teaching of Joshua. It was the teaching of Elijah and on and on and on. This is always the choice that has been before the people of God, whether to serve God, or whether to pick one of a thousand other gods to serve. The point is that everyone enters a gate and Everyone walks on a way.

There's no exceptions in all of the history of the world. Everyone has picked a gate and then walked on the way. Everyone has either picked a narrow gate and a difficult way or they picked a wide gate and a broad way. And what we must know is that the destinations of these two ways are completely different places. Everyone wants to think that their feet are on the path to life.

Everyone flatters them with that thought. And yet, that's not what the Bible teaches at all. It says there are two ways. They are headed in very different directions and they end up in destinations that couldn't possibly be further apart. The narrow gate puts you on a difficult way, but it leads to life.

Hallelujah. The trials, the troubles that are promised to us in Scripture, At the end of that, there is eternal life with God. And so we shouldn't even consider those trials. They're not worth being compared with the glory that will be revealed. And yet, the other gate, the wide gate, puts you on a broad path that leads to everlasting destruction.

Jesus wants us to feel the weight of the things that are being said. Jesus wants us to understand that this is no game, that the consequences are tremendous and the consequences are eternal. It will either be life forever with God, or it will be eternal destruction separated from God in torment forever. That is what the Bible teaches. People may say that's absurd.

People may say that's not true. But that is in fact comprehensively what the Bible teaches. And so the minute you say, yes, I accept that this is the Word of God, that's the implication of what we're believing. That there are two ways, there are two destinations that are so very different from each other, and that the consequences are eternal. They last forever.

The track you are on is taking you to a destination. And there are only two choices. There are only two destinations. We'll all either be at one place or will be at the other place. And so Jesus would have us thinking about our latter end.

He'd have us fast forward to the ends of our lives and consider, I am on a track. Where is the track that I'm on taking me? Paul says this in Galatians 6 verses 7 and 8. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked.

For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." Now this isn't teaching works based righteousness or not. But either a person will be sowing to the Spirit through repentance, through receiving and trusting in the work of Jesus Christ alone, and he will reap from that everlasting life. Or he will sow to the flesh. He will trust his own thoughts.

He will trust his own merit. He will trust his own ways, and he will end up. That leads to destruction. And so God is not mocked. We're all sowing and we will all reap in kind.

Jesus in this text makes the choices so plain, doesn't he? He just lays it out so plainly for us. And then he tells us which one to choose. Now Maybe you've heard of a false dichotomy. Have you ever heard of that?

It's where someone says it's either this or this, and you should choose this. And when you look at it, you say, wait a minute. Those aren't the only two choices. The best choice isn't even in the discussion. So it's a false dichotomy.

You're making me choose between two things, but The best choice isn't even in the discussion, so it's a false dichotomy. You're making me choose between two things, but the best choice isn't even in the discussion. So this is false. You can't recommend this over this because What about number three and number four? They're both better than these things.

You can't make me choose between those two things. That's what a false dichotomy is. But when Jesus gives a dichotomy, when Jesus says it's either this or this, it's a real choice. It's not a false dichotomy at all. It is a real choice without other options to be considered.

And that's what is set before us today. Not a false dichotomy where we say, well, I don't want this option that Jesus is giving me or the other option. I want option number three. There is no door number three. Jesus doesn't deal in false dichotomies.

He deals in real choices because the worlds were fashioned through him. We're playing by his rules. He's the law giver. And so when Jesus says, there's two choices, pick one, Then there's two choices, pick one. In view of this, let's not be lulled to sleep.

Let's not be confused and fuzzy in our thinking. There are only two choices. And we're making the choice for ourselves. Now, this is all under the providence of God. I'm not saying anything that is contrary to the doctrine of lecture, at least I'm not meaning to.

It's difficult to speak about these things because Jesus puts these before us. But we need to recognize that we're on a track that takes us in a direction. And Jesus is only saying there's only two of them. And so we need to be sober about analyzing which one we're on. And we need to understand that it's the same for our neighbors.

It's the same for the people in our family. It's the same for our coworkers. They're on a track. It's either one or the other. And there is no third option.

And so we shouldn't be lulled to sleep by the routines of life as if it doesn't matter. It matters eternally. And so we should give ourselves completely to it. We should give so much, so careful attention to understanding what track we're on so that we can act accordingly. Jesus speaks of the gate.

Every way has an entry point. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. You can't get there from here without going through the gate. That's what Jesus is teaching here. Every way has an entry point.

Here's what Jesus says in John 10, verses 9 and 10. I am the door. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and destroy.

I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Jesus is the entry point to the Christian faith. The Christian faith is a way. It's one of the two ways that are set before us. And Jesus is the only entry point to it.

There's no other entry point into the Christian faith except by Jesus. That's why Jesus says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. Peter says this. He's defending himself against the Jewish leaders.

And he says this in Acts 4 verse 12, For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Enter by the narrow gate. There's no other name. There's only one name.

There's only one door. And Jesus says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. Welcome to narrowness. Do you understand how essential it is that we hold on to what Jesus is saying here?

He's the only way. If we lose this, we lose the gospel. Jesus is the door, and he's the only door. And we have a faith, but our faith has an entry point. And there's no way around that entry point.

If you want to be part of the faith, you have to go through the gate. And it's a narrow gate. You have to go through the gate. And it's a narrow gate. You have to go through the door.

And it's a skinny door. It's Jesus. And there is no other name given by which we must be saved. The world is clamoring for a big tent. That's what the world wants.

A big tent. Everybody in. Come through the wide door. An undiscriminating entry point. Everybody welcome in here.

Everybody welcome in here. Now, is that true of the faith? Sort of. Depends on how you define the terms, doesn't it? But the world wants an undiscriminating entry point.

And whenever we hear the hue and cry for inclusion of those who have not come in through faith in Jesus Christ run The mantra of the world is can't we all just get along and what they mean by that is Say I'm okay That's what it means. Can't we all get along doesn't mean won't you be kind to me? Yes, we'll be kind to you. We just recited it in Matthew 5. God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good.

He sends his rain on the just and on the unjust. Will we be kind to you, unbeliever? Yes. Unbelievably kind, unbelievably patient, unbelievably full of mercy. But That's not what the world is clamoring for.

What the world wants is that we declare that they're okay. And that we cannot do. Jesus is the way. And this goes right to being unequally yoked. We ought not to be unequally yoked in this way.

As if there could be unity and substantial agreement between believers and unbelievers. Where we just set aside these little things like Jesus so that we can get something done in the world. No! We are not at liberty to do this. Jesus Christ is some little thing to be set aside so that we can accomplish the social good.

Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of our faith. He is the door. There is only one name by which men may be saved, and is the name of Jesus Christ." The way. The way. We enter through Jesus.

He's the door. But not only that, we continue through him. We continue through Jesus. In other words, he's not just the entry point, he's also the way. We're to abide in him.

It's not one and done for the Christian. I'm through the door. I need for Jesus done. No. Jesus says not only that He is the door, He also says that He is the way.

John 14 verse 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He's not only the door, but He's the way. And He's told us to abide in Him. That's what it means.

So not only do we receive him to put our feet on the way, but also we follow him all the way home then. We abide in Jesus Christ. Here's the message from these two verses. Let's just cut to the chase. Jesus is everything.

He is the gate. He is the way. There is no faith apart from Jesus. The morality is worth nothing without Jesus. The fringe benefits are worth nothing without Jesus.

How often do people settle for something aside from Jesus, and it's this cheap lookalike, and they forfeit everything? Because Jesus is the gate. Jesus is the way. This was not the message that the Jews that are gathered around Jesus on the Mount are expecting to hear. When the Messiah came, the problems were going to be over, right?

He was going to usher in a glorious kingdom. And now here comes Jesus to say, narrow is the gate, difficult is the way that leads to life. What? We've been waiting for something that sounds radically different than that. We thought the troubles would be over when you came, Messiah.

No. They did not understand. They did not understand. It's a narrow way. And it's narrow because it's defined by the Word of God.

The other way, all of your own thoughts will do. Trusting in yourself will do. Or trusting anything else will do. But in this narrow way, your thoughts won't do. Your ways will not do.

In the other way, you're free to just decide for yourself. On this way, You have a king. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And the king has said things. And they define our way.

So now it's not our thoughts because his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. It's not our ways because his ways are higher than our ways. Do we want our thoughts in our ways? No. The people of God no longer want their own thoughts.

The people of God no longer want their own ways. Because they've tasted and seen that the Lord is good. That the thoughts of their king are better than their thoughts. That the ways of their king are so much better than their own ways. And so they're actually happy to be on this narrow and difficult way.

May God teach us to be like that. So content to have our thoughts put off to the side and the Word of God to rule the day. And it's based on the work of Jesus Christ. This is the fundamental difference between the two ways. On the broad way, we are trusting in ourselves.

We figured it out. We know. We can rely. We're good people. But on the narrow way, only the work of Jesus Christ will do.

That's what makes it so narrow. All of your own merit gone, wiped away, called filthy rags. Your own merit on the narrow way is despised. Next week's text explains why the way is difficult and why there are so few that find it. So we'll just save most of that until next week.

But based on this week's text, we should not be surprised that there are few that find it because it is easier to talk about Jesus than it is to follow Him. It's easier to have an intellectual appreciation for Jesus Christ and the things that He is saying that it is to actually follow Him. To actually say, it's your kingdom, that means you're the King, that means I'll follow your ways. I'll adopt your thoughts. Not so the way that leads to destruction.

It's so broad and easy. And so it has a lot of travelers. Have you ever felt discouraged about why so many of your relatives, so many of your old friends, so many of your neighbors, so many of your coworkers are going in such a radically different direction? And you think, how could this be? Jesus said it would be so.

So by all means pity them. By all means labor for them. By all means Preach the gospel to them. But rejoice, rejoice that God has put your feet on a narrow way if you have trusted in Christ. If you have gone through the door, the name by which we must be saved, rejoice.

Because God has done something with you that he doesn't do with many. He does with few. The Expositors Bible commentary says this, the broad road is spacious and accommodates the crowd and their baggage. The Broadway is spacious. Plenty of room for the crowd.

Plenty of room for all their baggage. And the baggage is really the issue, isn't it? This is about choosing a god. And the baggage that the crowd takes onto the Broadway, plenty of room for them, is all their other gods. It's all this stuff that God hates but that they love.

And they wouldn't want to be on the narrow way anyway, because the things that he loves, they have no affection for. They hate. So they're not sad that they're not on the narrow way. They're happy. They don't love those things.

You must be born again to love those things. You must have gone through the narrow gate to love these things. A natural man has no affection for the things of God, Nor can he. Now let's clear up one thing here. We tend to think broad way.

Okay, these are the loose people. These are those few out there who just abandon themselves to sin. And those people are out there, and yes, they're on the Broadway. But you understand that's such a small portion of the people on the Broadway. The people that just abandon themselves to sin and just are off to Vegas every other weekend to do this, that, and the other.

Anything that would come into their mind, 99 out of 100 people aren't that way. And yet, so many of them that aren't that way are also on the Broadway. All the systems of self-righteousness are on the Broadway. All the other religions of the world, where they define themselves, they say, we're so narrow, look, we don't do this, we don't do this, We don't do this, we don't do this. That's not what defines the broad way and the narrow way.

It's not. All these systems of self-righteousness where people are doing or not doing in order to earn merit with God, they will find themselves at the destination of destruction. And so it's not the loose people way and the really restrictive people way. If you've ever thought of it that way, and we all have from time to time, that's wrong. Jesus wants to wipe that out of our minds.

That's not what is being said here. All those systems of self-righteousness, Islam, Hinduism, down the list, Where people actually trust in themselves and they deprive themselves of things and then they are lifted up in their hearts thinking they merit something because of it. They are on the broad way. Here is what Paul says in Colossians 2 verses 20-23. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations?

Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using, according to the commandments and doctrines of men. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. So there are all these systems out there, they have the appearance of wisdom and self-imposed religion, false humility, and yet they're fake. They're not really narrow ways at all. They're advertised as narrow ways.

Come see all the things we're not doing. And how that makes us a special group. And yet, this isn't what the broad and the narrow way is about at all. It's fake. They're all trusting in themselves and so they're on the broadest way of all.

Enter by the narrow gate. Travel on the difficult way. A choice is being set before you today. And it's that you would consider your latter end. That you would take time to take stock, take inventory of your life, and say, I am on this track, or I am on that track, and that track takes me here.

It either takes me to life or it takes me to eternal destruction. Jesus says, I am the door. He's the narrow gate. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Life with Jesus is the difficult way.

Matthew 10 verses 38 and 39, Jesus says, And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. He who finds his life, that's the broad way, where your thoughts and your ways will be plenty good, plenty good enough. He who finds his life will lose it. The end of that is destruction.

You'll have your life now. You'll have your way now. Your thoughts will rule the day now. But the end of it is destruction. But he who loses his life now, he who says, I don't want to be king anymore.

I need King Jesus. He who sets aside his life, he who loses his life now, will find it. The end of following King Jesus is life. Eternal life. Abundant life.

Life with Him. Back to the text, verses 15 through 20. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

Even so, every tree bears good fruit. But a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them." Jesus here gives us a warning about false prophets.

And it's so closely related to his teaching about the gates and the ways. A choice has been set before us. And now Jesus moves on to say there's an evangelist for both of those choices. Both choices have advocates. Both choices have heralds and evangelists who will actually bring us on to the difficult way, or bring us on to the broad way.

One preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Many, many say, that's the wolf. He's preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, but the world says, look at that wolf. How dare he be so restrictive and say the gate, the real gate is so narrow. Stay away from that bigot. And another, presuming to speak for God, bids you enter through a wide gate into a broad way.

And he disguises himself like a sheep. They're good. They're often really good. Sure look like a sheep. And that's what they want to be.

They want to be just one of you. So harmless, so gentle, but Jesus says beware. And he says they come to you, They come to you in sheep's clothing. They're looking for converts. These are disciple makers, don't you know?

False prophets are disciple makers. They're coming to you. They're looking for converts. But inwardly, they're ravenous wolves. So we're talking about wolves here.

We're not talking about cantankerous sheep. Heaven knows there are cantankerous sheep. Heaven knows from time to time those of us who are sheep have been cantankerous sheep and haven't understood things as we should have have understood them and advocated things that with more time and more training under the Lord's discipleship program we've realized we were advocating wrong things. That's not what is in view here. We're talking about wolves, not immature sheep.

And what we should learn from this is that this is a reality of life for the Christian. There will be wolves that we will encounter. In our lifetime, There will be wolves that we will encounter in our lifetime. There will be wolves that we encounter in this church. The whole Old Testament speaks time after time after time after time about false prophets and giving these warnings, especially Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Micah.

Those just seem to be chock full of warnings about false prophets, but certainly not limited to that. Here's what Paul says in Acts. It's in Acts 20. He's pleading with the elders of Ephesus, and he says this, Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Also, from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn you, every night and day with tears. Paul for three years warned these people with this warning, every night and day with tears. Paul was crying, He was weeping about the future of the Ephesian church because he knew that wolves would come in and not spare the flock. Savage wolves.

Jesus calls them ravenous wolves. It's hard to find wolves without some sort of great adjective applied to it, because they're wreaking havoc in the flock. They're savage wolves. They're ravenous wolves. But these evangelists for the Broadway, they're not recognized as wolves.

They're not treated like wolves. They're celebrities. They're the nicest guy in the room. Luke 6 26, Jesus says, woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. The sign in that verse of being a false prophet is that all men speak well of you.

Everybody likes you. Paul says this, writes this to Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4, 2 through 4. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But according to their desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. They'll heap up for themselves teachers. And they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. So often, wolves, false teachers, are invited in by those who will be devoured, because they have itching ears.

And they heap up for themselves teachers, false teachers, because they say things that are so wonderful, they're so encouraging, they're so inclusive, they're so affirming, but they're not what they appear to be. They look like they're sheep, but they're just clothed like sheep. They're really ravenous wolves. And they're the prophets in Jeremiah 6, 14 that heal the people of God lightly, saying peace, peace when there is no peace. This is the nature of the false teacher.

That's why they're the most loved guy in the room, because they always have a message of peace. God's Real prophets are not like that, if you haven't noticed. Because the Bible is really not like that. The Bible comes to us with warnings for our good, but not warnings that the false prophet is willing to deliver peace, peace when there is no peace. Jesus warns us about these false prophets and then he tells us how we can identify them.

I want to take you back to Matthew 5, 16, just for a minute, which says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. This is what it's like to be a Christian. You have a light. God gives you a light, and it shines before men. And it's so that God may receive the glory.

So if you want to know what makes a Christian tick, that's what makes a Christian tick. That God would be glorified, that we'd be bearing fruit, so that God would be seen as great. That's the heart of a Christian. That's not the heart of a false prophet. But that's the root of The fruits that are born by a Christian the glory of God The name the great name of their father in heaven So Jesus asked her rhetorical question did men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles.

If you saw someone out foraging through the thorn bushes and looking for grapes, you'd think, they have lost their mind. If you saw someone out in the thistles looking for those figs, you would say, what is wrong with them? And he's pointing to the fact that there's a fundamental mismatch. There's something all the way down at the core that is a difference between the prophet and the false prophet. Grape vines are one thing.

Thorn bushes are a completely different thing. Fig trees are one thing. Thistles are a completely different thing. You'll never get a grape out of a thorn bush ever And in verses 17 and 18 Jesus takes great pains to be clear. Good bears good.

A good tree bears good fruit. Bad bears bad. A bad tree can't bear, Or a bad tree bears bad fruit. And what you should know, especially in the context of false prophets, is that everybody's bearing here. The prophets are bearing.

The false prophets are bearing. Everyone has fruit of one manner or another. Turn to your Bibles of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy. In 1 Timothy, chapter 5, Paul applies this.

You'll know them by their fruit. Paul applies this to church life and to appointment of leaders in the church in such a helpful way. 1 Timothy 5, 22 through 25. So in 1 Timothy 3 we've already had all the qualifications for elders. And that an elder must be tested, he must be qualified, before you lay hands on him.

And Paul returns to this topic in 1 Timothy 5, starting in 22. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins. Keep yourself pure. So there's the admonition not to lay hands on anyone, to put them, to appoint them into church leadership hastily. You don't do that hastily.

Because the implication here is, if you do that, then you actually share in their sins. If you put your hands hastily and you miss, you miss it. You don't recognize the bad fruit, then you're actually sharing in their sins. Verse 23, no longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and for your frequent infirmities. Some men's sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment.

But those of some men follow later. Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident. And those that are otherwise cannot be hidden. So what Paul is saying here is you might not be able to tell immediately, but if you're patient and you do your work, you will be able to tell the fruit. Sometimes it's evident, it's out there, anybody with two eyes can see it, and it's easy, but sometimes you have to wait.

Some men's sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, But those of some men follow later, in other words, patience. You've got to wait and see. But the very next verse makes it plain. You can't hide it. Everyone's bearing fruit, And you'll be able to tell if you're patient a Good tree cannot bear bad fruit a Bad tree cannot bear good fruit now This we have to keep in Context or will be completely confused We're talking about grapes and thorn bushes as a pair and figs and thistles as a pair and It doesn't mean that the people of God never do anything wrong, never sin, always bear perfect fruit, and that the children of the devil never do anything that's quote unquote right or praise worthy.

It's not what's being taught here. You can go to a hundred different places in scripture and prove that that's not true. So that's not what Jesus is saying. What Jesus is saying actually makes perfect sense here, which is that apple trees bear apples. Apple trees bear apples.

Thorn bushes Don't bear grapes, but apple trees bear apples. Thistles don't bear figs, but apple trees bear apples. So this is not a teaching that Christians don't sin, Christians can never do anything wrong. Of course not. Away with that nonsense.

That is not the meaning of this passage. And Jesus has already taken time in this chapter to talk about the great distinction between the people of God and others. And he did this in talking about our sin. You deal with your brothers and their sin in one way, but dogs and swine, those who are outside the kingdom of God, in a very different way. Because there is a fundamental difference.

Because you will never get a grape out of a thorn bush. Ever. Ever, ever, ever. Never. 1 John 1, 8 says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

I think we're all aware that Christians can still sin. And in that sense, there's something bad that has come forth from a Christian. But Fundamentally, at the core, even the sins of a Christian are so very different, such a different category than the damning sins of an unbeliever. Not because of who we are, but because of who Christ is, and who we are when we've been joined with Christ. And we look at a man like Bill Gates, who's an unbeliever and proud to be so.

If he were here, he would say, yep, right on. Unbeliever. And he's given away billions of dollars. Brothers and sisters, that's not good fruit. That doesn't mean that the billions that he gave away didn't actually help people.

Doesn't mean that at all. It just means that in the eyes of God, who didn't need his billions of dollars in the first place, that is not good fruit. Bill Gates is not bearing good fruit. He's a bad tree and happy to be so, even though he's given away billions of dollars. And people from the outside would say, look at that rosy apple.

That's not a rosy apple. The New King James version renders this a bad tree. The King James and the Geneva actually say a corrupt tree. And the ESV renders it a diseased tree. This really helps us to understand it.

It's a corrupt tree. It'll never, your corrupt tree, your diseased tree, It'll never produce good fruit. It'll produce corrupt fruit, diseased fruit. The actual Greek word means rotten, putrefied, corrupted, and no longer fit for use. That's the kind of tree that's supposed to be bearing something worthwhile.

Now I want to look at these fruits in three different categories, because I see at least very clearly three in scripture. The first is conduct. The second is doctrine. The third is the results of ministry. Let's look at those three things.

First, conduct. In conduct, what exactly is good fruit? Maybe the easy way out is to say the things that are consistent with the law of God. But how about this? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

This is all out of Galatians 5. These are the fruits of the spirit. And it's not just what is done. It's how it's done, and why it's done, and for who it is done. So when we talk about fruits, it's not just what is done.

Bill Gates gives his billions of dollars and it means that children in Africa who would have gotten malaria don't get malaria. Now from the outside looking in, we would say, that's good fruit. But no, not love. Not as God defines it anyway. Not joy, not peace, not patience, not kindness, not goodness, not faithfulness, not gentleness, not self-control.

Those are things that can only be wrought in men and women by the Spirit of God. These are fruits that have come forth by the Spirit of God. So we're not just looking at what is done, we're looking at how it's done. Is it characterized by the fruits of the Spirit? We're looking at why it's done.

Is it characterized me the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and on. Are the actions and the words of the prophets seasoned with the fruits of the Spirit? Are they consistent with, Are they characterized by the fruits of the Spirit? We looked at conduct.

What about doctrine? What is being taught by this prophet? What agenda is being advanced by this prophet? Matthew 16 verse 12, Jesus says, excuse me, the narrative says, Matthew 16 verse 12, the narrative says, then the disciples understood that Jesus did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. So Jesus says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and they start thinking about bread.

But then Jesus comes back to correct them. And what he means by beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees is beware of their teaching. A little of that is going to work its way through the whole lump. So beware of that teaching. And the question is, Is it sound according to the Scriptures?

Is the teaching sound according to the Scriptures? In Acts 17, 11, Luke describes the Bereans. And he talks about Paul's ministry among them. The apostle Paul's ministry among them. And he says this, these, the Bereans, were more fair minded than those in Thessalonica.

In that they received the word with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Now, they're receiving the preaching of Paul the Apostle. Wouldn't you trade me for the Apostle Paul to come up here just in a heartbeat? I would. I'd happily sit down, as long as I got to be sitting on the front row to be there when Paul taught.

But the inspired apostle, Paul. And yet, these people are going home and searching the scriptures to see whether these things be so. And Paul would have it no other way. Paul didn't want to be believed because he was Paul. Paul wanted to be believed because what he was teaching was in accord with the scriptures.

It was sound doctrine that had all of its footing in the Word of God. Not that we come to hear the sermon with a critical spirit, but we come to hear the sermon with an engaged mind. Every word of mind ought to be tested against the scriptures to see whether these things be so. Paul would have it no other way. I certainly would have it no other way that every word of mine be tested against the scriptures to see whether they be sound.

J.C. Ryle says this, happy is he who prays over his Bible and knows the difference between truth and error in religion. There is a difference, and we are meant to know it and use our knowledge. We ought to be a people like the Bereans of people who have soaked ourselves in the word of God who? Have meditated upon it just like JC Ryle is describing here who have prayed over our Bible so that we know the difference between truth and Error in religion if that be so will be a happy people We've talked about conduct.

We've talked about doctrine. What about this? What about the fruit of the prophet's ministry? Jesus says this in Matthew 23, 15, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel land and sea to win one proselyte. And when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are yourselves you go over land and sea just to make one convert and then when you've got a convert you make him into twice as much a son of hell as you are yourselves.

And so when someone's a prophet, when someone is making disciples, when someone is winning converts, we ought to look and see, are they cranking out fellow hypocrites? Are they churning out self-righteous men and women? Is this the blind leading the blind? Are they going to great lengths to win one convert and then when they've got one they turn them into twice the son of hell that they are themselves. If so, there's not good fruit there, and the tree will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

They may have led many through a wide gate onto a broad path that leads to destruction, and they will find themselves there at destruction. They too will be cut down and thrown into the fire. This is exactly what John the Baptist said in Matthew 3 verses 7 through 10. But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.

And Do not think to say to yourselves We have Abraham as our father for I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. The people of God are called to bear fruits worthy of repentance. And John the Baptist warns that the axe, Even now the axe is laid to the root of the tree, and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Here is the conclusion from the whole text. We are called to be a peculiar people.

Our gate is narrow. Our way is difficult. Jesus has told us that it is so. And so this is a good time for us to check ourselves. Are we peculiar and in the right way?

There's lots of peculiar groups out there. That's not what's being described by the Scriptures when it says that we're a peculiar people. Are we a peculiar people in the right way? In the way in which we found the door. It's Jesus Christ and we've gone through the door.

And we know the way, the truth, and the life that it's Jesus and we're abiding in Him. Jesus is everything. He's the door. He's the way. All good things are found in Jesus Christ.

No good things are found outside of Him. Do you believe that? All good things are found in Jesus Christ. No good things are found outside of him. The alternative to going through the door and walking in this way is eternal destruction.

There is no third option. This is not a false dichotomy where you can say, well, what about this? There is no what about this. There are only two ways. And to get on the way that leads to life, you must go through Jesus Christ.

He is the door. There is no other name given to man under heaven by which we must be saved. And recognize that there is more than one kind of evangelist. Both ways have evangelists. Advocates, heralds, that are trying to pull you through a gate onto a way.

So Jesus says, beware. I want to ask, are you listening to anyone who has come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravenous wolves? And we start scrolling through our minds the obvious names, like Joel Osteen and people who preach a false gospel, the health and wealth people. That's who goes through our name. I want to raise another name that is near and dear to the home school community and it's Michael Pearl.

I want to say to you that either Michael Pearl is a heretic or I am. And he's loved and he's put out all manner of helpful materials on child raising and yet he completely rejects the doctrine of total depravity and calls the doctrine of election as taught by Calvin and as taught by Luther as an ancient heresy. Go to his website. Don't take my word for it. Go look in his CDs that he offers and find out what he says about human nature and listen to it for 10 minutes.

Do it with my blessing. Go and look at what he says about that. And do I say we have to agree with all Christian teachers across the board in order to appreciate them, in order to benefit from them? No, I'm not arguing. But I'm saying at some point there is a line between a cantankerous sheep, or even an off-base shepherd and a wolf.

And when we start denying core doctrines, like the doctrine of depravity, and believing things like a Christian can and ought to be without sin for months at a time. He doesn't understand the most basic things about scripture. He doesn't understand them. And so to think that we can imbibe the things he teaches on other topics and that they are not going to be tinged and affected by this is naivety at best. Let's end on a pleasanter note, shall we?

Here's what Matthew Henry says. Matthew Henry says, the gate is straight and the way narrow and uphill, But one hour in heaven will make amends for it. Paul says in Romans 8, 18, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. In this world you will have trouble. But Jesus Christ has overcome the world.

An hour in heaven, an hour in life at the very end of the difficult way, will make amends for all the troubles that we've had in this life. And then we have the rest of eternity to be with Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the truth of your Word. Help us to Stand upon it, Lord.

Help us to embrace the things that you say, and to believe them, and to love them, and to do them. God, I pray that you're a blessing over the time of continued teaching that you would help us to grow in our knowledge of your thoughts and your ways in Jesus' name. Amen.