Fruit, Fellowship,
Foundations – Matthew 7:13-27
1. The Christian Faith has fallen on hard
times in our nation.
2. It’s not that The Faith is less true than
it used to be. It’s lost none of its
3. But the prevailing attitude thinks that to
embrace Christianity is to virtually take a stand against what has come to be
the defining virtue of the modern era – Tolerance!
4. Pluralism and Tolerance are esteemed by many
people today as being the chief virtues that frame
5. Then along comes the evangelical,
Bible-believing Christian who says that Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal
life.
a. why! how narrow, how
exclusive, how elitist!
b. so, it’s not uncommon
when you attempt to share your faith to hear something like – “You Christians
are all a bunch of intolerant, narrow-minded religious bigots!”
6. Interesting isn’t it - that Biblical Christianity, which has
classically been the main defender of virtue, is now being equated with what
the world holds as the greatest of all vices – intolerance.
7. And all because we’re only being faithful
to the very thing our Lord and Master said.
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 in
by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is
the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
1. What Jesus says here speaks right to the
heart of this whole issue of tolerance.
2. Which is more im
3. Tolerance is fine when we’re talking about
something like flavors of ice cream or music styles.
a. you like pistachio, I
like cookies & cream.
b. you like country
western, I like classical
c. opinions, tastes,
& preferences are the proper realm for tolerance,
d. but not for something
as crucial as one’s eternal destiny; not for issues of survival.
4. Do you want the airplane mechanic who
performs the periodic maintenance on the 747 you’re flying to Hawaii to be
tolerant of the differing opinions on how much torque to apply to the bolts
holding the jet fan in it’s housing on the wing, or do you want him to use the
guidelines set by Boeing?
5. Do you want the pilot to stay on the course
radioed to her by the Air Traffic control tower, or to pick her own path
through the crowded skies over LA?
6. Tolerance is fine, it’s great when were’
talking about mere preferences, but not when we’re talking about Life itself!
7. Are Christians narrow-minded? Yes! Because we reject the modern age’s mistaken
belief in relativism; which says there’s no such thing as absolute, objective
truth.
8. We believe that God is real, and that He
has made the way to live and the path to eternal life.
9. We believe that because that is EXACTLY what Jesus says right here in
vs. 13-14.
10. In John 14:6, Jesus
told us what, or I should say WHO that narrow way is. He said,
“I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
11. Are Christians narrow-minded? If we’re consistent,
if we’re who we say we are, those who believe in Christ, then I guess we
HAVE to be narrow-minded – because
He was.
12. I wish those who say they respect
Christ but reject Christianity because it’s too narrow-minded would think
through their
13. How can you respect the man who thrusts the
requirement of narrow-mindedness on His followers?
14. You see, the issue isn’t about being open- or
narrow-minded. The issue is about being right!
15. Are Christians intolerant & bigoted?
When it comes to such things as personal preferences, they shouldn’t be.
a. on the contrary, Jesus
taught His followers to be respectful and to show honor to others.
b. it was He Who said
we’re to love and do good to our enemies.
c. there’s no room for
bigotry, racism, prejudice or hatred in the heart of the Christian – toward anyone
for any
reason.
16. But this
cannot be confused with holding every person’s personal beliefs about God,
righteousness, and salvation as being equally
valid.
a. I don’t agree with the
atheist, the Buddhist, the Muslim, or the Hindu;
b. but I do not love them
any less, nor disrespect their ability to hold their belief, as wrong as I know
it to be.
17. The problem with the modern era and its
embrace of relativism is that it paints a false picture of the Biblically
consistent Christian.
a. the relativist wants
to honor Jesus as a good man, maybe even the best man!
b. but anyone who would
honestly follow Him is labeled as the worst of all people!
c. you can’t have it both
ways!
18. Jesus annihilates religious pluralism, moral
relativism and their attendant false virtue of unthinking tolerance with these
two verses.
19. The Truth is narrow – its span is the width
of His Word!
20 The Path that leads to eternal life is only
as wide as His Cross.
21. What path are you on today? The narrow or the
broad way?
1. Jesus now presses on to elaborate on the
two paths, the two ways, this course of life we chose.
2. Permeating all He says here is the stark
reality that this life that we live right now will end in one of two places;
heaven, or hell!
3. And the choices we make right now determine
which path we’re on.
4. The problem is, there are some on the broad
way who appear to be on the narrow path.
5. Jesus tells us how to make sure we’re on
the true path to life.
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s
clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know
them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from
thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad
tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can
a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good
fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their
fruits you will know them.
1. The shepherds of Jesus’ day wore a
sheepskin garment.
a. they wore it with the
skin side out and the fleece facing in.
b. any man could don the
sheep skin, but he might not be a shepherd at all.
2. In the same way, in that time, prophets
wore a standard uniform.
a. drawing their cue from
Elijah, the first of the OT prophets, they wore a shepherd’s mantle.
b. remember when Elijah
selected Elisha to be his replacement, he put his mantle over his shoulders.
c. and when Elijah was
carried away by the heavenly chariot, he left his mantle for Elisha to carry.
d. it’s from this that we
get the phrase that a leader’s mantle has fallen to his successor; and he has
taken up the “mantle” of leadership.
e. so, by Jesus’ day,
prophets wore a sheepskin mantle as a badge of their office as prophet and
shepherd of God’s people.
3. Jesus uses this idea here but elaborates on
it.
a. He says His followers
need to be on the lookout because false prophets, men who bring their own
message, will come claiming they speak for God.
b. they don’t – instead,
they use the right words and effect the right manner so that they look and
sound like the genuine thing.
c. but instead of simply
wanting to be faithful to build up the flock of God, they want to use it for
their own ambitions and desires.
4. So, if they look and sound like the genuine
thing – how are we going to know they’re false?
5. Jesus said they would be known by their
fruits – plural!
a. He likens them to
trees, and says that a good tree produces good fruit while a bad tree bears
rotten fruit.
b. Jesus asks an
interesting question –
Do men
gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
c. what’s interesting
about this is that the buckthorn produces a small black berry that from a
distance looks like grapes. And there’s
a thistle which produces a flower which from a distance appears to be a fig.
d. but once you get close
and try to use the berries or pluck the flower, you realize it for what it is –
worthless!
6. Jesus’
a. they may look &
sound like a genuine believer and solid teacher.
b. but what they are,
will eventually
manifest itself.
c. the root determines
the fruit!
7. By using the word “fruits”, Jesus means
that there are two main ways we can determine whether someone is a false or
true prophet and shepherd –
a. by the fruit of his
own life, his own moral and spiritual fruit
b. and the effect, the
result his teaching has when it’s planted in the lives of others.
8. Since the false prophet is motivated by
selfish ambition and desire, it will eventually become obvious that he,
personally, is living contrary to God’s righteousness
& will.
9. On top of that, his message will be skewed
from the counsel of God’s Word and will seek to gain a following by appealing
to some desire of fallen human nature.
a. it may be man’s
carnality through greed, lust, or pride –
b. whatever fallen desire
the false teacher is appealing to will be masked behind a front of piety.
10. The A
11. The fruit of false
prophets is pride, sin, and ruin.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many
will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name,
cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And
then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who
practice lawlessness!’
1. Notice that both times these false people
speak, they address Jesus as “Lord, Lord!” Not once, but twice.
a. they seem earnest –
but they’re insincere!
b. His title comes too
easily to their lips, but He is no where in their hearts!
2. You see – they CALL Him “Lord – MASTER!” But Jesus said they do not obey
Him! They may call Him ‘Lord’ but they
don’t treat Him as such.
3. In v. 21, Jesus said that it was not those
who said
the right things, but those who DID
them who would find that narrow path into the Kingdom of God & eternal
life.
4. So, what is the right thing – what
is
the Father’s will?
5. In John 17:3, Jesus said that the essence
of eternal life is to know God; to have a relationship of close intimacy with
Him.
6. He says the same thing here.
a. these false professors
claimed to have done all kinds of good stuff for God, things they
thought were sure proof of their tightness with Him.
b. but Jesus turns them
away with the words – “I never knew you.”
1) “You and I never enjoyed a relationship of mutual knowledge.”
2) “We had no fellowship!”
7. Now, many people read this and are
troubled. How can these guys have done
what they said they did and not be saved?
a. they claim to have s
b. and even to have worked the miraculous.
c. how is this
8. Note that Jesus neither refutes nor accepts
their claims – He ignores them; because that’s the very lesson He wants to get
across here!!!!!!
9. It’s not your doctrinal purity that would
recognize Jesus as The Lord – even to the
10. Nor is it
that you have done all kinds of deeply religious and good things – even doing
them, as Jesus says 3 times here “in His name.”
11. The crucial issue is – have you done the
most im
12. Before you call Him, “Lord” did you hear Him in
your heart call you “Beloved”?
13. Is it just “Lord, Lord”– or “MY Lord & Savior. My Lover & Friend, MY GOD!”?
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does
them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and
the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house;
and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But
everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a
foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it
fell. And great was its fall.”
1. Jesus has referred to two paths, two trees,
and two claims; now he speaks of two houses.
2. And this is something Jesus would have
known much about from his experience as a craftsman.
3. Those who have been to Israel know all
about the wadis; the dry gulches lined with sand.
a. they’re bone dry for
most of the year,
b. but when the rains
come, they quickly fill with water and turn into a crashing torrent of
destruction
4. Many of these wadis are quite wide and look
like they would make for a great place to build a house under their sheltered
banks which would provide cool shade and protection from the winds.
5. But the ground is loose sand and no place
to lay a foundation.
6. No, a house needs to be built on something
solid and its footing needs to be sunk into the earth.
7. Jesus picture two houses, sitting near each
other. From a distance, they look the
same.
a. but one is built in
the bottom of a wadi,
b. while the other is set
on the rocky spur of the hill above it.
8. Then a colossal storm comes, the rains
9. When they reach that house in the wadi,
they will tear into it and sweep it away in a moment.
10. But the house next to it will endure because its
footing goes deep into the bedrock.
1. The storm Jesus means in this story doesn’t
refer to the trials of life of that are common to all.
2. No – He means The Storm – the one that
will lay bare which path we’ve traveled, what kind of a tree we are, whether
He’s just been “The Lord” or “My Lord.”
3. This is the final storm, the one that will
either confirm our standing with God, or sweep us away into everlasting ruin.
4. Look with me again at vs. 22 & 23 -
22 Many will say to Me in that day,
a. what day? Judgment day!
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many
wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then
b. when? On the last day,
the day of final judgment
then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from
Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
5. In vs. 13 & 14, Jesus s
6. In v. 19, Jesus warned about the fires of
judgment for those who bear rotten fruit.
7. Listen friends – a storm is coming, a day
of judgment, a time of reckoning.
8. What path are you on?
9. What fruit are you bearing?
10. Are you in love with Jesus and wrapped up in
an intimate relationship with Him?
11. What are you building your life on?
1. It’s not enough to be a spiritual
person and interested in religion; you may only be on the broad way.
2. It’s not enough to go to church and put a
CCO bumper sticker on your car; that’s not the fruit Jesus is looking for.
3. It’s not about being able to sing along
with the songs, and having all the right christianese down, or even being an
usher or prayer counselor – seeing God give dramatic answers to your prayers
for others.
4. It’s not about listening to the awesome
teaching of someone like Chuck Smith, or Jon Courson, or reading Charles Spurgeon
and being able to argue the finer
5. Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount with
this 4 part warning about coming judgment and the very really
6. The most im
a. to not just call Him
by a theologically correct title, but to embrace and love Him as your
Lord and Savior!
b. and because love
motivates and em
c. their passion will be
to listen to Him SO THAT they can do what He says.
7. When I first met Lynn and found a deep love
developing toward her, I delighted in talking with her, always with an
attentive ear to her desires, her likes and dislikes.
8. You know why? Because I loved her so much,
I wanted to know HOW I COULD show her that love – how I could
bless her.
9. In John 14:15, Jesus said – “If you love
Me, you will keep My Commandments.”
10. How true!
1. So, as Jesus ended His sermon with a
warning of coming judgment, so I want to end in the same place today.
2. The good shepherd warns the flock of
impending danger – so let me do that.
3. Listen, a monster storm is coming – it’s
the Final Day of Judgment in which all the secrets of men’s hearts will be laid
bare.
4. Your path, my fruit, your confession, my
foundation – will all be revealed, finally and fully.
5. There is a heaven to be gained and a hell
to shun – those are the facts.
6. Today – you must decide! And if there is any doubt whatsoever about
what path you are on and where it leads – do not let another minute go by
without settling this once and for all.
7. It matters not if you’ve gone to church for
years; know the songs, have the bumper sticker or even a well worn Bible.
8. DO
YOU KNOW JESUS? DOES HE KNOW YOU?