Matthew Chapter 7 Verse 15a

• False prophets don’t have to be Gandolf looking guys on the corner proclaiming crazy prophecies in a weird shaky British yell! (Sorry that’s just the picture in my head) But a false prophet in our time and in their time is often times much much more subtle. It’s simply anyone speaking anything contrary to God’s Word, will and/or heart. See how subtle that is? “I see false prophets. They’re everywhere!” (In my best Sixth Sense voice)
• Hillary. False prophet. Thumpy Trumpy. False prophet. And you know what else? The mirror, man. I am constantly checking my own heart because so easily I myself become a false prophet in not so much what I say but HOW I say it…and entirely misrepresent the heart of God. We have got to be on guard against this spirit even in our own hearts if we truly want to glorify God!

Matthew Chapter 7 Verse 15

• Jesus uses a crazy word here when He says, “Inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” He uses the word, “harpax,” which is the same root word for “harpazo.” Maybe that word sounds familiar to you and if so it’s because it is the word used by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
• Here in Matthew 7, it’s the same idea. That these false prophets and 99% truths (which is still a 100% lie), these that come and sound so good and so logical and so rational when filtered through finity (finite minds and worldly thinking), and then…you’re gone. Snatched away…baaaaaaaaaRK! Sheep to wolf as your world now revolves around them…or what they are selling…and subtly you slip into slavery.
• And that’s the thing. You present yourself to man or to the world or to some-thing and you become it’s slave, man. Mentally and sometimes physically…shoot, sometimes spiritually…you present yourself to Jesus and you become free. John 8:36, “If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed.” Jesus says, “Beware.”
• Back to the mirror for a second…let’s talk Wolfenstein….

Matthew Chapter 7 Verses 16 – 20

• Now there’s a subtle message here by Jesus when He says, “You will know them by their fruits.” We all have room to learn, right? And if that is the case then in some aspect, none of us are entirely correct…and so know this, false prophets are not teachable…they get rather defensive, rather offensive, lacking love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…if they are, then they aren’t false prophets…they’re Christians…HA! See what I’m saying?

• Sheep? Good tree? Grapes and figs. Wolf? Bad tree? Thorns and thistles. It’s not as hard as you think and as we can sometimes make it. Jesus says, “You will know them by their fruits.” But only one has any at all. Do you see that? Thorns and thistles aren’t fruit. So it’s simple. Is the fruit of the spirit there and hang on one second before you wink at the mirror and walk away…is it only fruit?
• We really need to deal with our hearts Christians. And the only way to do that is to bend your will towards God and deny this natural fallen impulsive complete set of finite tendencies and trust God. Which means actually walking with Him…why? Because Jesus says good is not the presence of goodness in the midst of thorns…He says that it’s all fruit, no thorns. See that? We’ve become ok and complacent with thorny fruit and man, that’s not fruit at all…that’s just pear-shaped pain, man.
• Does that make sense? One thorn, one thistle amongst what you may perceive to be all of this goodness, leads folks away from the gospel…those that have ears to hear, let them hear…James 4:5 says, “The Spirit of God who dwells in us yearns jealously,” and so the one that has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and saved by grace…now the very habitat of the Holy Spirit will be habitually hurting towards holiness…
• Is that you? Do you groan in your own heart to be made more and more well…John 1:16 says, “And of His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace,” and so does your heart beat with the desire to bring glory to God and lead folks to the cross, even if that means you have to show it to them yourself? Why ask that? Because that is the heart of one who has been forgiven of all their sin…that is the heart of one in whom the spirit of God dwells…or have you simply believed with your mind and not repented of your sin, given your heart, soul, mind and strength to God…

Matthew Chapter 7 Verses 21 – 23

• Probably one of the most sobering portions of scripture. Folks can call me, “Lord.” Many will know truth through and through…that’s all prophecy is! Some will even do the work of the ministry, and that work could be fantastic and wondrously awesomely excellent…but what matters is that you know Jesus!
• This word Jesus uses for “know” is ultra-intimate. Even as a man knows his wife…Speaking to His disciples, to the crowds, to us this morning, Jesus’ commandment, the will of God is not to do and be great but it is to know Him and be near to Him…the most concerning part for me in this whole scene is that Jesus says, “Many.” Makes me cringe man…when I watch professing Christians fall out of fellowship…when I see professing Christians on TV begging for money…when I am recovering alone with the Lord from an arrow of offense that was provided to me by an unrepentant, unhumble brother or sister in the Lord…I hear this word…, “Many,” and I fear for them…
• David Guzik says it this way, and I like this, “This warning of Jesus applies to people who say, “Lord, Lord,” and yet their spiritual life has nothing to do with their daily life.” Trapp said it this way, “They have Jacob’s smooth tongue, but Esau’s rough hands.” Jesus calls that, “lawlessness” and false faith. And the truth is, even the Spirit filled believer can find themselves proclaiming, “Lord, Lord,” in vain. Working for the Lord in vain…speaking truth in vain…let me remind you Christian, and call you to repentance today, it is still all about Jesus!
• He is the One that died in your place. He is the One who you will stand in front of on that day, He proclaims it here…He is the One that is rightly called Lord…so don’t make ministry about you…and please don’t miss out on the purpose of life anyway…
• Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount perfectly….I mean duh, HA!…and I absolutely LOVE this verse set…

Matthew Chapter 7 Verses 24 – 27

• Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine and is inspired by them…nope. Agrees with them…nope. Believes them…how do you know? Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine, the Word of God, and makes them their lifestyle (will bending), does them…wise, founded on the rock…rain, floods, winds of change…no problem man…God has overcome that already and He’s the One in me and leading me…Little miss can’t be wrong!
• But if not, great is the fall. Of course it is. God has done all that He can do to bring you into His fold. He created you…He sent His Son for you…He has given you His Word…He has sent countless folks to you in your life to call you to Himself…what more can He give? He’s already given His all! And so with what great reward we have through God’s grace, to miss that…THAT is a HUGE fall…

• And yet I love this implication for those that will believe and will do…their home, their life, becomes the very beacon by which folks escape the storm of life and the coming cataclysm of hell.

Matthew Chapter 7 Verses 28 – 29

• They were astonished…not only for what He taught but by how He taught them…with authority. Spurgeon describes their reaction as that of a person wondering at someone’s certainty, power and weight with which they speak. Kinda like a child with their father. Why, because God is Father. I wonder today, is He yours? To be astonished is good. Inspired…a good thing. But if that is the extent of the effect, you are lost man…non-believers you are lost to hell and lost to the massive promises of God in the Gospel…and believers, if all you are anymore is inspired and refueled…and the aim is no longer just Jesus, then you are lost too…lost to self-sufficiency and religion…we all need to come home today…back to that house built upon the Rock.