This has been quite a week. My garage got a bunch of water in it, and we had bad flooding in the region of the country where I live. Thankfully, the garage is drying out. I have not been feeling very well this week. Please pray that I will get to feeling better. I think that all of the stress in getting to me. Also, June 5th is always a tough day, because that is the day that Toby passed away.
On the postive side, I want to thank the Lord for giving me some evangelism opportunities this week. I may have just planted some seed, but the Lord has said that His word will not return to Him void.
Let us all continue to pray for peace in Syria Things keep going from bad to worse in that country. Millions have fled the fighting, and they are now living as refugees in neighboring lands. Please pray for peace.
In our last time in the Sermon on the Mount, I focused on Jesus' teaching about a narrow road that leads to life and a broad road that leads to destruction. Everyone by virtue of their birth starts out on the broad path. Only through faith in the work of Jesus Christ can we leave the path of death and enter the narrow path that leads to life.
We saw that there is only one way of salvation. Jesus is the only way. The way is not Jesus plus. The narrow path is entered by trusting in Jesus alone. As the Bible says, there is no other name under Heaven whereby we can be saved except the name of Jesus.
We now focus our attention on the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:15 where He says, "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves."
When we discussed the issue of judging, I mentioned that we are supposed to judge what is true and false doctrine. Not everyone who talks about Jesus and the Bible is teaching the orthodox Christian faith. There are many people in our world who preach another Jesus and another gospel. All that you have to do is watch Christian television, and you will hear false doctrine. Some of the fastest growing religious groups in America teach a different Jesus and a different gospel.
In Matthew 7:16-20, Jesus tells His followers one way to distinguish between true teachers of the word and false prophets. Jesus says that they will be known by their fruits. A good tree will not bring forth bad fruit, and a bad tree will not bring forth good fruit.
It is an interesting coincidence that we are in this section of the Sermon on the Mount this week because just yesterday, I sprayed my fruit trees and my neighbor's fruit trees. When my family moved to where I live now, there was already a small orchard on the property. Over the almost 40 years that I've lived here, old trees have died and new trees have been planted. Having worked with fruit trees, I know for a fact that what Jesus says here is true. If a tree is diseased, the fruit will be bad. A bad tree will not produce good fruit.
A false teacher is someone who does not really have a relationship with Jesus. Therefore, they do not have a regenerated heart. They are not a new creation. They can only produce the works of the flesh. They cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit.
Many false prophets live lavish lifestyles with mansions, numerous cars and personal jets. How different this is from Jesus.
Many false teachers clearly violate the Biblical qualifications for ministry as they have been divorced. Yet, they continue teaching.
Someone who is a true teacher of the word of God will live a life that it patterned after the example of Jesus. As I've said, we need to look to Jesus and imitate Him. He is our example. We must follow Him, and obey Him. A true teacher will be one who strives to be like Jesus in what they do and say.
This is not the only means to spot a false teacher. The Apostle Paul tells us that if anyone comes saying that we must do something besides trusting in Jesus, that individual is a false teacher. Almost the entire epistle of Jude describes the characteristics of false teachers, and II Peter also contains information about those who do not teach sound doctrine.
We must test everything that we hear about the faith according to the Scriptures. The Bereans were commended in the book of Acts because they tested against Scripture those things that they were being taught.
Jesus wraps up this section with an important warning in Matthew 7:21 that says, "Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will inherit the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven."
Anyone can say that they are a Christian. However, a peron's faith will be proven by what he does. If someone claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ, yet he doesn't follow the clear teachings and commandments of Jesus, Jesus says that that person is one who practices lawlessness.
This is the point that Jesus' brother James is making in his epistle. James says that faith without works is dead. We are not saved by works, but the reality of our profession of faith in Jesus is demonstrated by our good works.
I want to close this section by saying that doctrine is important. In many evangelical churches today, there is very little doctrinal preaching. This is one reason why many don't know what they believe and why they believe it. I urge you to be a student of the word. Study the great doctrines revealed in the Bible.
Next week, Lord willing, I will conclude our series of messages on the Sermon on the Mount. It has been a long journey, but it has been fun. On Wednesday, I will post another review of an animal book. May God Bless You. Amen.
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