Good Fruit, Bad Fruit.

Steve Gentry

[0:06] Go ahead and have a seat. [0:07] Welcome to Village Church. [0:08] If this is your first time here, my name’s Steve. [0:10] I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church. [0:11] And as always, I’m thankful and grateful to see each and every one of you this morning. [0:15] If you have a Bible, go ahead and open it to Matthew chapter 7.

[0:20] We’re going to be starting in verse 15 this morning. [0:23] We’re on the home stretch of the sermon on the mount. [0:27] Kind of Jesus is bringing things to a conclusion. [0:30] And so last week, He drew a difference between the narrow gate and the wide gate. [0:36] The hard path leads to the narrow gate. [0:38] The easy path leads to the wide gate.

[0:41] More will find the wide gate than will find the narrow gate. [0:44] And this week, He’s going to differentiate between two things as well, truth and lies. [0:51] And so the key with understanding Jesus is that while we desire for Jesus to think about [0:57] the world the way that we do, and that is we want options, we want everything to be multiple choice [1:03] and none of those choices being wrong. [1:05] And everything’s going to be based on what I want, what I’m envisioning, what I dream,

[1:09] what really works according to my love language. [1:12] And Jesus just boils everything down and He says, well, no, it’s either this one or that one. [1:17] Choose wisely. [1:18] You get two options. [1:20] While we would rather Jesus be radically inclusive, Jesus continuously in this sermon [1:25] especially comes out as radically exclusive.

[1:29] That you must find Him if you want life and there is life to be found nowhere else. [1:38] And in this specific passage, He’s going to talk about false prophets. [1:42] He’s going to talk about following Jesus and believing the truth about Jesus. [1:47] There’s going to be people who are going to try to get you to believe lies about Jesus. [1:52] There has to be a standard from which you can see what Jesus is and what Jesus is not. [2:00] Ultimately, He’s going to give us the Scriptures, His Word, to draw those distinctives for us.

[2:08] Some of you walked in and didn’t know we were even in the book of Matthew. [2:12] And others of you, you’re keeping track of what’s coming next week. [2:14] Some of you saw this coming and you’re like, all right, He’s going to name some names. [2:18] He’s going to call them out to me next week. [2:20] And I’m probably actually not going to do that. [2:23] But here’s the deal.

[2:24] You all, if you know me, which some of you do and some of you don’t, [2:27] you know I’ve got no problem with that. [2:29] Usually when I’m like naming names, this little smile starts showing up that I can’t control. [2:34] So if you want me to name names, here’s the key. [2:38] Buy me an expensive meal.

[2:42] I’m not going to buy it. [2:43] You have to pay me with food. [2:46] Obviously, I like it. [2:48] So you got to pay me. [2:49] I’ll name the names. [2:50] I’m going to eat some food and you can choose whether or not you want to eat.

[2:53] But all that matters is that you cover my meal. [2:56] That’s literally all that ever matters to me. [2:58] Who’s getting the check? [3:00] And so I’d love to do that. [3:02] But the key is that what I would rather do is talk about how you can go from the type of person [3:11] and this is a good thing to do, asks, is this person legit?

[3:17] Is this person a good teacher or is this person a false prophet? [3:20] How do you go from where you’re asking to where you’re discerning? [3:25] And you can tell fairly quickly whether or not someone’s legit or not. [3:30] Whether or not someone’s leading you towards Jesus or leading you away from Jesus. [3:34] Because I think Jesus’ intention is more in that category in this passage, [3:39] where he wants to equip you to be able to hone the skills and mature in your faith

[3:46] to the extent where you can identify false teachers. [3:51] And here’s what he says starting in verse 15. [3:54] Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. [3:59] You will recognize them by their fruits. [4:02] Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? [4:05] So every tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

[4:09] A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. [4:14] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into fire. [4:17] Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. [4:21] Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, [4:26] but the one who does, the will of my Father who is in heaven. [4:31] On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?

[4:37] Cast out demons in your name? [4:38] Do many mighty works in your name? [4:41] And then will I declare to them that this is the worst thing you could ever have Jesus say about you.

[4:48] I never knew you. [4:51] Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. [4:55] And so Jesus is really drawing a clear line. [4:58] He’s drawing a distinctive over what is true and what is not true. [5:03] That if you follow after the truth, your end will be life. [5:07] If you follow after the lies of the false prophets, your end will be bad fruit.

[5:12] Your end will be that which does not enter into the joy of the Lord for all of eternity.

[5:20] Oh, there it is.

[5:23] So number one this morning, beware of those who will mislead you. [5:29] Beware of those who will mislead you. [5:32] People are going to try. [5:34] That first word is probably more important than you think it is. [5:39] That word, beware. [5:41] Now, you might be passing over that, but in the original language, the intention is for you to

[5:46] understand that this is something you need to be watching for. [5:50] This is something that you need to put a continuous focus on always being on guard against the lies [5:57] that will come about who Jesus is and where Jesus is leading you in your life. [6:03] You need to have a constant guard because the moment that your guard goes down, [6:11] that is when you are most susceptible to believing lies. [6:14] Now, most of you do not want to believe that you are susceptible to believing lies.

[6:20] Most of you want to believe, I would be able to tell. [6:23] That’s because most of you believe you are further down the road than you actually are [6:28] where your spiritual growth is concerned. [6:30] I don’t believe that in the in recent history, back in the 70s, [6:34] I don’t believe that the people that moved down with Jim Jones to Guyana [6:39] and ended up committing suicide under his command.

[6:44] I don’t believe that every one of them was an idiot. [6:48] I don’t believe that every one of them was just so stupid. [6:51] How could they buy into this? [6:53] I think from the at the onset, some were probably really sharp. [6:56] Some were probably really smart. [6:57] I mean, these were college educated people.

[6:59] There were people with great degrees. [7:01] There were people with great careers. [7:02] There were people with lots of money.

[7:05] They were duped, more than duped. [7:09] They lost their very lives because of a lie. [7:15] And you need to understand that you are susceptible. [7:19] Now, some of you are more susceptible to others. [7:21] If you want to know which camp you’re in, ask me later.

[7:26] The thrust, if you have to ask. [7:29] The thrust, the thrust of scripture and the posture that I want to take today [7:36] is to prepare you for how to avoid falling into error. [7:43] But there’s also another side, because when we read this, [7:46] we read the threat continuously as being external.

[7:50] It’s not always external. [7:52] You preach more sermons to yourself than you’ll ever hear from me. [7:57] You preach more sermons from yourself than you’ll ever podcast. [8:01] You tell yourself more messages than anyone in this world will ever tell you. [8:07] Therefore, you need to beware the false prophet within you. [8:14] You need to beware the ways in which you are tempted to give Jesus a makeover

[8:21] so he begins to look like he’s made after your image. [8:25] If Jesus is cool with every decision that you make, [8:29] it’s not Jesus you’re following. [8:30] It’s you.

[8:33] And every one of us is tempted to begin to refashion and reform [8:39] discipleship and following Jesus and making hard choices [8:43] under the guise of looking a lot like that which we would naturally do. [8:49] And when you begin to do that, [8:51] you are beginning to fall prey to a false prophet that is not a danger from outside, [8:58] but rather is a danger from inside of you.

[9:02] And here’s where Jesus gets a little more specific over Matthew chapter 24, [9:05] verse 11. [9:05] Jesus puts it this way. [9:07] He says, and many false prophets, number one, will arise. [9:11] But then further, he goes, he says, and they will be successful. [9:15] They will lead many astray.

[9:20] Error is always more tempting to follow and natural than truth [9:27] because error leads to the wide gate. [9:31] And this isn’t a new problem either. [9:32] Jesus isn’t giving them this new issue that they’re coming up with. [9:35] Moses writes in Deuteronomy chapter 13, [9:38] If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,

[9:43] and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, [9:46] and if he says, let us go after other gods which you have not known, let us serve them. [9:52] You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. [9:56] For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God [10:00] with all your heart, with all your soul. [10:03] You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice.

[10:08] You shall serve him and hold fast to him. [10:10] What’s astounding to me is Moses says, [10:13] they’re going to prophesy and the stuff they prophesy is going to come true. [10:19] They’re going to work some pretty impressive works in front of you. [10:22] They’re going to do some wonders in front of you and they’re going to be able to do them. [10:26] And so our natural inclination is if the person is really slick and good with words,

[10:34] they must be legit. [10:36] Our natural inclination is if they have great ability, [10:39] if they can do what seems to be wondrous things in front of my eyes, they must be legit. [10:46] God says that is not the rubric by which we are to gauge things. [10:51] Because God even says they’re going to be able to do it because I’m giving them the ability to do it. [10:56] Because it’s a test for you.

[10:59] Are you wowed by the external or are you committed to the true God? [11:07] Are you committed to Jesus? [11:10] So because there’s going to be people who are great with words, but they’re hollow inside. [11:15] There’s going to be people who really seem to pump you up and get you inspired, but inside is just death.

[11:22] See, he’s saying that what matters is not what pleases your eye. [11:26] What matters is does it measure up to the word of God? [11:31] Does it lead you to the true biblical Jesus? [11:36] You see, in that era, the common and natural enemy of a sheep was a wolf.

[11:44] Jesus uses the example of ravenous wolves and he says that they are wearing sheep’s clothing oftentimes. [11:53] I think we’re tempted to read that and we’re thinking, [11:55] okay, so they just kind of blend in among us. [11:58] They just kind of come in and they kind of hide from among us. [12:02] And they’re just one of the sheep. [12:03] Now, that’s actually not what he’s talking about.

[12:06] What he’s actually talking about in this passage is that the way a shepherd would lead the sheep [12:13] was to start, he would sleep among the sheep. [12:16] Sheep have a distinctive smell. [12:18] It’s the smell of rotten garbage. [12:21] Sheep stink and the shepherd would want to smell like the sheep so that the sheep would be familiar [12:29] with him so that he would smell like one of them.

[12:31] Not so that he could blend in, but so that he could stand out and lead and where he walks, [12:37] they would follow. [12:38] But sometimes when you had a new fold or you had a new sheep among you, [12:43] they would go one step further and they would go back to the shearing floor and they would get [12:48] some wool and they would put it on their arms. [12:51] They would put it on their clothes and they would actually go and they would rub up against the

[12:57] sheep. [12:58] And they would be amongst them and they would touch them and they would get the feel of them. [13:03] And the sheep would then recognize, oh, the shepherd, that’s the way that I’ve got to go [13:08] because he looks like us. [13:09] He smells like us. [13:11] He feels like us, not because he was trying to blend in, but because he was trying to lead them

[13:17] in a specific direction. [13:19] And so if you were trying to steal someone’s sheep, that’s what you would do. [13:23] And he says, you need to beware because there’s going to be people who are going to come into [13:27] the flock. [13:28] And the first thing that many will try to do is that they’re going to try to look like the [13:32] chief shepherd, Jesus.

[13:35] We’ve seen this happen, not even in ancient heresies, but in recent history. [13:39] I remember when I was much younger down in Waco, Texas, David Koresh, he didn’t claim [13:45] to know about Jesus. [13:47] He claimed to be Jesus. [13:48] Eventually, Jim Jones, down in Jonestown, he claimed to be Jesus. [13:56] And he led many down a very dark, dangerous, destructive path.

[14:01] They lost their physical lives and they lost their eternal lives.

[14:06] But they don’t always try to supplant just the chief shepherd. [14:10] They will try to take away from the under shepherds, the pastors. [14:16] And we’ve had people come into Village Church over the years and they’ve tried to wow us [14:22] with their leadership and they’re bringing resumes and they say, you need to make me [14:26] a group leader really quick, Steve. [14:28] And I say, uh-uh.

[14:30] Let’s just wait a minute on this. [14:31] They say, but I’ve been to this seminary and that seminary. [14:34] And I say, well, I’ve been to this seminary and a degree from any seminary doesn’t impress [14:37] me because I liked my seminary. [14:38] I really did. [14:39] My seminary was great.

[14:40] And there were some whack jobs in my seminary. [14:43] Some people that both believed heresy and were mentally insane. [14:48] All right. [14:48] We were dealing with both of those things at my seminary. [14:50] And so I was like, man, my professors are legit, but some of my classmates are not. [14:54] So I don’t really care what seminary you went to.

[14:56] I’m gonna give you some time. [14:58] All right. [14:58] I’m gonna fill you out. [15:00] And there’s people that come in here and then they’ve tried over the years and they [15:04] always make themselves to be the guys that are going to save your church. [15:10] The growth that they could help us bring.

[15:12] The discipleship program that they want to give us the class that they immediately want [15:17] to teach for us. [15:19] And I always tease it out. [15:20] I’m like, that sounds great, man. [15:21] I would love the first step, though. [15:25] You got to join in.

[15:27] So we test them out. [15:28] If you’ve ever been in the and I’ve got some guys that have been we’ve got brazen some [15:33] pastors up from among us. [15:34] But our leadership program here, I’m gonna give you a secret today. [15:37] It’s purposefully frustrating. [15:40] It’s purposefully.

[15:41] I set out to frustrate you if you want to try to become a leader around here. [15:46] I’m doing it on purpose because I want to know if you’re legit.

[15:50] Because if you are willing to endure the process of becoming a leader, I mean, if you’re [15:54] willing to endure the process to become a pastor, you’re like a Navy SEAL to me.

[15:59] You’re going to get frustrated because you’re going to be like, when is this ever going [16:04] to end? [16:05] The answer is. [16:06] Never.

[16:10] And we’ve had people drop out. [16:12] We’ve had people say they’re better than this. [16:14] We’ve had people that say, Steve, my resume is more impressive than yours. [16:17] And that is the moment that I find out. [16:19] It’s a good thing I frustrated that guy. [16:22] Because if I hadn’t, he might have been able to cross all the T’s, dot all the I’s.

[16:26] He might have been able to pass all the classes. [16:28] He might have impressed me. [16:29] But I saw your character. [16:31] You’re not legit. [16:32] Therefore, you were going to take us down the dark path. [16:34] Al Mohler has said that every false prophet comes into the church under the guise of

[16:40] being the savior of Christianity.

[16:43] Christianity already had a savior. [16:44] His name is Jesus Christ. [16:46] And we don’t need another one. [16:50] And so the key with understanding the way that false prophets work is they come in [16:55] and they try to wow you with who they have been and who they are and why you need them. [17:02] At the end of the day, you ultimately see that they want to be more needed than Jesus

[17:08] is needed in your life. [17:12] Friend, if you follow Jesus, there will be many that rise up from inside of the church [17:17] and outside of the church. [17:19] In Acts chapter 20, the apostle Paul is writing to the church and, excuse me, [17:24] in the book of Acts is describing his departure from a church. [17:27] And it says, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you,

[17:31] not sparing the flock. [17:32] He was getting ready to hand the church off and he was going to go plan another church. [17:36] Verse 30, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to [17:43] draw away the disciples after them. [17:45] Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease day or night [17:50] to admonish everyone with tears.

[17:56] The apostle Paul looks at them and he says, you should be ready for this. [18:00] I’ve been preparing you. [18:01] I’ve taught you. [18:03] You should be able to distinguish between who is legit or who is not. [18:06] But then he says, understand, they’re going to rise up and they’re going to kill some of you. [18:11] They’re going to be successful.

[18:14] They’re going to lead some of you astray. [18:17] And he calls them just as Jesus did because I think everything that is written in the [18:21] New Testament is ultimately a commentary on what Jesus says. [18:24] He calls them wolves, the vicious predator that will destroy you. [18:29] But they destroy you by always promising you a better life with a better version of [18:35] faith than you thought you could have.

[18:39] Friend, anyone that says that they have a new revelation from God, [18:44] they’ve got an old revelation from the devil.

[18:48] God gave his ultimate revelation in Scripture. [18:50] That’s what we measure things by. [18:53] Anyone that says they’ve got something brand new, the church has never done this before. [18:59] There’s probably a reason the church hasn’t tried it in 2000 years.

[19:04] Anybody that says I’ve got a new way of understanding Scripture, [19:08] no one has ever seen this in the Bible before. [19:13] Really?

[19:15] If no one’s ever seen it from the Bible before, it’s probably because it’s not biblical. [19:19] It’s probably because it’s not legit. [19:22] But the frightening thing that should get you on guard and should get you alert is that the [19:27] apostle Paul says that he will not spare the flock. [19:31] In other words, there will be some that follow after the false prophet. [19:36] And the question you need to ask yourself is will you be one of them?

[19:40] See, contextually, I know that after Jesus said this and very soon after the resurrection of [19:46] Christ, two heresies entered into the church very early on. [19:52] First one was from this group of people called the Judaizers. [19:56] What the Judaizers would do, and I think that’s specifically who the apostle Paul’s talking [19:59] about in Acts 20, is that Paul would plan a church, he would make some disciples, and then [20:05] as soon as he would leave that church, there was this group that would come in and they would

[20:09] look to the people and say, oh, so the apostle Paul started this church. [20:12] Fantastic. [20:12] He gave you half of the good news of Jesus. [20:16] We’ve got the other half. [20:17] You need to be circumcised and you need to submit to the Old Testament law with all of [20:22] its requirements, all of its procedures, and all of its festivals, everything.

[20:26] You need to do that. [20:27] And only if you do that and only if you measure your righteousness by that can you actually [20:33] be saved. [20:35] They would bring in and they would pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ, making it a man-centered [20:40] religion where legalism ruled supreme in people’s lives. [20:44] And you might say, who would believe that?

[20:45] I mean, the good news of Jesus is the grace of God. [20:48] Well, in Galatians chapter 1, the apostle Paul writes about that heresy and he can’t [20:52] believe he says, how quickly some of you have departed from the faith.

[20:57] They fell for it. [20:59] The apostle John fought another heresy in his gospel and in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, John and [21:05] much of Revelation, I think, is pointed towards this group. [21:07] These guys were called the Gnostics. [21:09] Gnosticism simply means a special knowledge. [21:13] And these were guys who had this mystical belief that the physical is evil and that

[21:19] the only way to receive this, quote, unquote, special knowledge from God is to deny the [21:25] physical. [21:26] And they would say, oh, Jesus may have appeared to be physical, but Jesus was not physical. [21:31] Jesus was spirit. [21:32] His resurrection was spiritual. [21:33] And for you to reach where Jesus is, you can’t depend on anything physical.

[21:38] It’s got to be all spiritual. [21:39] And it begins to sound like this mixture of truth. [21:42] But then we know that God made creation good and he’s going to redeem this physical creation. [21:47] And the physical is not all bad. [21:49] It’s just corrupt by sin. [21:51] But these people were departing from the faith on one spectrum because they were putting

[21:56] all of their trust in their ability to keep God’s law. [21:59] And on the other side, they were leaving the faith because they did not believe in the [22:03] physical Jesus Christ, but were trying to reach some special nirvana of spirituality. [22:09] And what’s crazy is over 2,000 years later, in the 10 years of this church, I have seen [22:16] multiple versions of both heresies walk into the doors of this church. [22:20] And we’ve had to reject them.

[22:22] We’ve had to say, knock it out here. [22:25] Because you do not help a wolf. [22:26] You shoot a wolf. [22:28] I know none of you are farmers, but some of you weird people in Chesterfield have chickens.

[22:33] I will never understand that. [22:35] Please don’t be offended. [22:36] I love chickens. [22:38] I eat eggs. [22:39] I know they’re very useful creatures. [22:42] All right.

[22:45] But they also poop everywhere and they’re disgusting and the bird flu exists. [22:50] So I don’t want them in my backyard. [22:51] It’s just a personal preference. [22:52] I like them at Kroger. [22:54] Already dead, already cut and wrapped up and legs already laid. [22:58] Some of you have chickens.

[22:59] Well, if you were actually be on a farm and there was a wolf getting into the hen house [23:04] eating your chickens, would you be like, here, Wolfie.

[23:10] Now, if you’ve got any sense, which I know some of you, this is I’ve already lost you [23:14] because I started talking about meat, but you shoot wolves. [23:19] You shoot them. [23:21] You do not toy with them. [23:22] You do not compromise with them. [23:23] We do not negotiate with wolves around here.

[23:26] All right. [23:28] You get rid of them because what Jesus is telling us is they represent a clear and [23:35] danger, maybe not to you personally, but to everyone around you. [23:41] And the loving thing is to never, ever entertain false doctrine. [23:49] So whether it be to get people to trust their own ability over the grace of God through [23:53] legalism or trying to convince everyone to seek a spiritual nirvana, their end is not

[23:59] to lead you to Jesus. [24:01] Their ends is always something other than Jesus. [24:06] So what do you do? [24:07] Number two, be sure to judge the fruit of a person’s life. [24:12] See, Matthew chapter seven, very beginning, he gives us this lesson about judgment and [24:19] he begins with judge not.

[24:21] And then he explains, don’t judge according to your standards. [24:24] Judge according to the standards of Jesus. [24:26] Once he has removed the log out of your eye, you then have the ability to help your neighbor [24:30] with the speck out of their eye. [24:33] And here I purposefully use the word judge because through the gospel, God gives you [24:39] the ability to judge truth and error according to the biblical Jesus.

[24:45] And that is what he is talking about between verses 16 and 20. [24:49] Bad trees don’t bear good fruit and good trees don’t bear bad fruit. [24:56] Therefore, if a person is bearing bad fruit with their life and with their message, [25:03] then they’re not a good tree. [25:05] This is what Jesus says in John 15. [25:08] He tells us how to bear fruit.

[25:10] He says, I am the vine. [25:11] You are the branches. [25:13] Whoever abides in me and I in him. [25:16] He it is that bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. [25:21] If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, [25:26] and the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.

[25:30] Jesus is telling us that it is through him and him alone. [25:33] Therefore, if anyone is leading you elsewhere away from Jesus for any reason, [25:40] he’s getting you to value any specific doctrine over Jesus, [25:43] any specific teaching over Jesus, any specific person over Jesus. [25:47] If anything has more emphasis than Jesus, then it is not the source of life. [25:54] Because Jesus is the source of life.

[25:56] He is a source of knowledge. [25:58] And the way that you produce fruit in your life that he’s designed you to produce [26:04] is by always treasuring, always knowing, always worshiping, [26:10] always being led over and over to Jesus. [26:13] And the scripture is the guide to that. [26:16] Colossians chapter one, verse 10, the apostle Paul is praying for the church at Colossae,

[26:22] and he prays that they would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, [26:27] bearing fruit. [26:29] Here’s the deal. [26:29] First, in every good work. [26:33] And then secondly, by increasing in the knowledge of the Lord. [26:37] See, a lot of you, you want to bear fruit in every good work.

[26:42] But you don’t want to increase in your knowledge of God. [26:44] But that’s not how it works. [26:47] You have to have both or you’ll have neither. [26:49] And you might respond, I’m not a reader.

[26:53] Yet you will be able to tell me the entire starting lineup for the Dallas Cowboys, [26:58] how many miles this guy ran, how many yards this guy threw, [27:02] how many offensive this they had, how many defensive this they had. [27:06] It’s not that you’re not a reader. [27:07] It’s that you spend all your time reading dumb stuff, just worthless stuff. [27:12] Friend, if you can order a drink at Starbucks, you can understand the Bible.

[27:19] If you can crack that code, then you have ascended to the intelligence of reading the Bible.

[27:29] You see, it’s not complicated. [27:33] It’s simple, yet so profound that it will take the rest of your life to grow in it. [27:40] See, some of us, we’ve convinced ourselves that the reason it takes a lifetime to grow [27:45] in your knowledge of the Lord is because it’s so complicated. [27:49] No, it’s profoundly simple. [27:53] But the hardest things in the Bible to apply to your life aren’t complicated,

[27:57] but they’re difficult. [27:59] They’re difficult to apply. [28:01] They’re difficult to hash out because you want to do that which is wrong. [28:06] But God is always calling you to do that which is Jesus centered. [28:10] If you want to bear good fruit in every good work, [28:16] you will seek to increase in your knowledge of God.

[28:21] You see, friends, you need to know who Jesus is so that you can know where Jesus is going. [28:28] When you know who Jesus is and you know where Jesus is going, [28:33] it’s really difficult to get you to turn the wrong way on the path. [28:38] But the truth is that some trees require a more careful and time consuming observation. [28:48] See, it’s really easy for me sometimes. [28:49] It’s easy for the pastors here sometimes.

[28:52] People will come in and they come in hot, man. [28:56] They come in strong. [28:57] They’re handing out resumes. [28:59] They want to teach a Bible study for me the second week that they’re here. [29:02] By the way, don’t do that because you’ll be marked for life. [29:06] Don’t come to me your second week and be like,

[29:08] I’ve got this Bible study I want to offer. [29:10] I will never trust you. [29:11] I’m sorry. [29:11] It’s just the truth because you’re coming in too hot. [29:16] You see, I love Village Church. [29:18] I love Village Church more than I love any church in the world.

[29:21] And you should probably be thankful for that since I’m here. [29:24] But this church is the most precious thing to me outside of my own family, [29:31] so much so that I consider you guys family when you’re here. [29:34] God says that I’m going to be held to a higher standard than anyone [29:37] because I have the audacity to think I should be teaching the Bible. [29:40] And I take that seriously.

[29:42] And so when somebody comes in and they’re really proud of where they’ve been, [29:47] proud of what they’ve done, really want to insert themselves immediately, [29:51] that’s fine and dandy. [29:52] But then they hesitate from being measured and tested. [29:56] They hesitate from learning the culture of Village Church that we’ve already built. [30:03] Then I begin to say, hmm, let’s give this a minute.

[30:07] I say it to people all the time here and I’m always saying, [30:10] let’s give it a minute. [30:11] Somebody would come to me and say, Steve, thank God he brought us the person [30:15] that can do the thing we’ve been looking for for the past five years. [30:19] And I always say, I like to rain on parade sometimes. [30:21] I always say, let’s give it a minute.

[30:25] Let’s see how this goes over time. [30:28] Sometimes it’s easy because I find out very quickly [30:30] this person doesn’t even believe the gospel. [30:32] Why did you think they were going to be a leader? [30:35] They don’t believe in Jesus. [30:37] Oh, I didn’t think that’s that.

[30:42] It’s a hard life, man, I tell you. [30:44] But then sometimes it’s a little more difficult and you’ve got to give it a minute. [30:50] I’ll be honest. [30:51] I’m a human being. [30:53] That’s it. [30:54] No, I’ll be honest.

[30:54] I’m human. [30:55] Therefore, I make mistakes. [30:57] And so sometimes I have to hold myself back and I have to say, well, don’t. [31:00] I’m not going to write this person off too quickly. [31:03] They’re really excited. [31:04] I don’t like that.

[31:05] I’ve never been excited about anything in my life. [31:08] Ask my wife. [31:10] It doesn’t happen.

[31:13] I’m thinking of 17 jokes I’m skipping right now for the sake of time. [31:18] But man, it’s hard. [31:19] It’s hard. [31:21] But sometimes I’ll give the person a minute and I will find out they weren’t a false prophet. [31:27] And if I gave them some time, they would grow. [31:30] They would mature.

[31:32] They would realize that their beliefs don’t really line up with scripture. [31:36] See, not everybody that believes bad theology is a false prophet. [31:40] Sometimes you’re just a dumb sheep that doesn’t know any better. [31:44] All right. [31:45] I know that sounds offensive, but it’s not as offensive as it sounds. [31:48] Nobody wants to be called dumb, but some of you are.

[31:52] But you just need to own it and be OK with it. [31:55] It would be like me sitting down with a rocket scientist, which I have no interest in. [32:00] I’m glad they exist. [32:01] I don’t know why they exist, but they’re all going somewhere. [32:04] It would be a steep learning curve for me. [32:07] If you don’t know anything about the Bible, take a minute and learn something about the Bible.

[32:11] And that’s OK. [32:13] But sometimes dumb sheep can become smart sheep and can become leaders. [32:18] But you’ve got to give them a minute. [32:20] You’ve got to let some people do the hard task of unlearning everything they’ve ever been taught [32:25] about the Bible, which is the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do. [32:28] I remember back in the 70s and 80s.

[32:31] What a time to be alive. [32:33] The world was always ending next week. [32:36] It was great. [32:38] And so back in the 80s specifically, it was this time when just the end times were everything. [32:45] All right. [32:46] And so it seemed like once a month we had a prophecy expert come into my church

[32:50] and they would have charts and they would have all these news articles. [32:54] I mean, they would literally make tables and he would put news articles [32:57] from all over the world on the table. [33:00] I mean, this really happened. [33:02] And I’m not talking about where you lie on the end times debate. [33:06] I don’t really care where you fall in eschatological matters.

[33:09] We’re very open handed around here about this. [33:11] But I’ll tell you, back in the 80s, people’s obsession with the end times became an obsession [33:17] with figuring out when became an obsession with finding out the specific date became an obsession [33:23] with trying to find out when World War Three began to happen became a giant leap into false doctrine [33:31] where you were less interested in knowing, treasuring, worshiping and trusting Jesus [33:37] and looking forward to his return for his people.

[33:39] And you were more interested in apocalyptic visions and dreams. [33:44] When that happens, it becomes false teaching. [33:49] When I was a young boy and I’m talking, you know, eight, nine, ten, I was terrified of the return of Jesus. [33:59] I was watching movies where they were reinstating guillotines. [34:04] All right, chopping people’s heads off, tattooing their foreheads. [34:07] I spent I was scared to go to youth group half the time.

[34:10] I was like, I don’t want to watch the movie again, mom. [34:13] Don’t make me, mom. [34:15] I now own them all just for nostalgia.

[34:20] But I don’t have a VCR, so I can’t watch them.

[34:26] But the key is, is what you are studying making you more passionate about Jesus? [34:34] Or are you replacing a passion for Jesus with a pet doctrine or theology? [34:40] Because I will tell you, most people don’t set out to be heretics. [34:44] But a lot of people do end up there. [34:47] And if your knowledge is not conformed to where the Bible leads you, because the Bible will always lead you to Jesus, it will always be about Jesus, then you need to be careful. [35:01] You need to be careful with what you’re doing and what you are learning.

[35:04] Hebrews chapter five says this solid food is for the mature. [35:08] For those who have their powers of discernment trained by what?

[35:14] Constant practice. [35:16] See, the original verb there is this idea of an ongoing activity that never stops. [35:22] He says it is a constant practice to distinguish good from evil. [35:30] And it takes time to develop that. [35:31] But here’s the key. [35:32] When God says it in the scripture, he says that he’ll give you the ability to get there.

[35:37] And I believe that you will. [35:39] But you also need to turn that lens back to yourself. [35:43] Number three, be sure to judge your own food. [35:47] Be sure to judge your own food. [35:49] The final paragraph of what Jesus says in this section goes like this. [35:55] Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom.

[36:00] Whoops, one page to me of heaven. [36:03] But the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, [36:09] did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name? [36:12] Do many mighty works in your name. [36:14] And when and then will I declare to them, I never knew you’d depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. [36:22] I mean, that’s terrible if you were to hear that.

[36:25] But what we often do with that passage isn’t what Jesus’ original intent was. [36:31] What we often do in that passage is we hear that and we start turning the gun on everybody else. [36:38] Yeah, did you hear that, Fred?

[36:41] He never knew you, did he? [36:43] All right. [36:44] And so you start measuring everybody’s place. [36:46] But if you were to put yourself in the seat of the original audience hearing this sermon from Jesus, [36:54] I do not believe that the way they initially received it was meant for them to turn to one another [37:01] and say, are you a false prophet?

[37:03] Are you a false prophet? [37:05] Are you going to get in? [37:06] Are you going to get in? [37:06] When Jesus says that he wants it to land in your lap first, [37:11] he means to be very provocative with what he says right there. [37:15] Because he means to make you take inventory of your life before you ever take inventory of someone else’s life.

[37:23] He means for you to receive that and initially think, I don’t want Jesus to ever say that to me. [37:31] I don’t want Jesus to ever look to me and say, I never knew you. [37:36] Is he going to say that to me? [37:39] Is that going to be my experience with Jesus? [37:42] See, that is what is meant to happen. [37:43] Jesus wants you to take personal inventory.

[37:45] He wants you to judge your own fruit. [37:48] Because if you look at the passage here, I mean, if you’re prophesying, that’s pretty impressive. [37:55] That’s impressive. [37:57] Jesus says, that’s not good enough.

[38:01] If you’re casting out demons, that’s pretty crazy. [38:07] That’s exorcism, fellas. [38:10] I’ve seen the exorcist. [38:11] That’s crazy. [38:13] Not good enough. [38:14] Jesus isn’t impressed.

[38:16] Then he just sums it up and he says, haven’t we done mighty works in your name?

[38:25] Not impressive. [38:28] Jesus says, apart from me, I never knew you.

[38:33] How is that possible?

[38:35] Because if you are a legit follower of Jesus, you would never stand in front of Jesus Christ [38:43] and give your resume.

[38:46] You won’t do it. [38:48] Any works that I’ve ever done. [38:51] I mean, I’ll just be honest. [38:52] I’ve done some stuff. [38:55] Jesus has never looked down from heaven and said, man, I lucked out the day I redeemed Steve.

[39:03] I mean, I knew this was going to work out in the end with that guy. [39:06] That’s impressive. [39:07] I’m glad you’re on team Jesus. [39:09] Jesus has never done that because an ounce of my righteousness is nothing. [39:14] It’s disgusting compared to the wealth of his righteousness. [39:18] An ounce of my ability is an insult to his increasing ever lasting ability.

[39:26] An ounce of my goodness is an insult to his perfect holiness. [39:31] An ounce of my ability is nothing compared to his ever lasting ability. [39:38] Therefore, I know it is impossible for Jesus to ever be impressed about anything by me. [39:46] So a real follower of Jesus understands that my only hope in standing before Jesus [39:53] is by faith in Jesus. [39:56] It’s by trusting in Jesus, the only measure God could ever give me where I would ever have

[40:03] any hope of him looking to me and saying, I know exactly who you are. [40:08] Enter into the kingdom of heaven where there are pleasures forever. [40:12] Is if Jesus will share what he has with me.

[40:20] Therefore, you’ve got to understand, friend, if you’re depending on anything or anyone but Jesus [40:26] to give you the life that Jesus means to give you, you will not get it because you don’t know Jesus. [40:35] But the Bible says this too. [40:37] First, John three. [40:39] No one born of God makes a practice of sinning for God’s seed abides in him and he cannot keep [40:45] on sinning because he has been born of God.

[40:49] By this, it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. [40:54] Whoever does not practice righteousness is not from God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

[41:04] So which is true? [41:07] Both of them. [41:09] See, no one is saved by good works, but every believer is saved for good works. [41:16] See, the branches on the tree never bear the fruit and then say, man, what do I need this tree for? [41:24] No, the branches know that the only reason they’re able to bear fruit is because they [41:28] are attached to the source of life.

[41:31] They are rooted down, getting their sustenance from the tree. [41:35] And in our lives, that tree is Jesus Christ. [41:39] That is why James one twenty two says you need to be doers of the word and not hearers [41:44] only because when you are only a hero, what does it say you do? [41:47] You deceive yourself. [41:50] Are any of you self deceived?

[41:53] Are any of you not bearing fruit of the gospel? [41:58] Because if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are a follower of Jesus because of your [42:04] faith in Christ, because you trusted in him. [42:07] But if you are a follower of Jesus, he will do work in and through your life and you will [42:14] bear fruit. [42:15] That’s why you have to trust Jesus and follow Jesus.

[42:18] Here’s a profound reality. [42:20] Followers of Jesus tend to follow Jesus.

[42:27] Well, friend, if you aren’t following Jesus, then you’re not a follower of Jesus. [42:35] To do that, you must always be getting to know more of him and getting over more of [42:41] yourself so that you can become more like him.

[42:48] That will keep you from deceiving yourself. [42:51] That will keep you from being deceived by others. [42:54] That will keep you on the path of truth and it will take you to the narrow gate. [43:02] Every single Sunday, we reflect through a time of communion. [43:08] The bread on the tables in the front and the back represent the broken body of Jesus. [43:12] The cup represents his shed blood.

[43:15] If you’re in here today and you are a follower of Jesus and you believe that when you stand [43:20] before him, he will say, I know who you are. [43:22] Enter into the kingdom. [43:24] It is because he died on the cross for your sin and then he rose from the dead so that [43:30] you could trust in him for life. [43:33] If you’re in here this morning and you’re thinking to yourself, I don’t know if I’m

[43:35] a follower of Jesus, I’m going to ask you to abstain from eating and drinking. [43:40] I don’t want you to feel like you have to lie to me. [43:42] And the scripture says you shouldn’t. [43:44] Instead, I’m going to ask you to do something else. [43:46] I’m going to ask you to step out into the foyer where somebody will be there to [43:50] pray with you.

[43:51] Somebody will be there to answer any questions. [43:53] You might have about Christianity and they will definitely be there to explain to you [43:57] what it means to be a Christian and how you can become a Christian today. [44:02] But if you are a follower of Jesus, these tables in the front and the back are open [44:07] to you. [44:07] Come proclaim your faith to everyone in here.