We'll praise Jesus today, everyone. I wanted to read to you some plain truth that's right in front of our eyes that Jesus spoke, but that is not commonly taught in church because it is veiled. They don't wanna see the truth because they themselves are in sin and also want you to stay in sin so that you can support these church systems. But for those of us that want to come out of the world, to come out of dead religion, and to be set free, these words of Jesus Christ are for us. So, I'm reading from Matthew chapter 7. I'm gonna start in verse 12.
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the
prophets. 13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and
few there be that find it.”
There are many
churches and many Christians in our town, and they are accepting of many
different lifestyles. But there is only one way that leads to the truth and
there are very few who find it in that way is through Jesus Christ. And the reason why it's so hard is because
this straight and narrow path with Jesus requires that you daily deny yourself,
take up your cross, and follow this Messiah, this king. Even if people hate you
and despise you, even if no one is in your corner, it requires you following
Jesus by faith and not by sight even when no one agrees with you. You have to be
strong in the Lord and confident to follow him because often you will have no
support, you won't have any friend in your corner except the spirit of God.
This is what I want to bring light to today what Jesus says starting in verse
15.
“15 Beware of false
prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns,
or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but
a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
This statement of
Jesus is not widely popular in church because the saying in church with
Christians is, you can't know my heart, brother. You can't know my heart,
sister. That's not my real intentions. I said that, but that's not my heart.
But what Jesus is clearly saying is you can see people's fruit on the outside. And I wanna expose to you that it is
impossible for someone to have good fruit but a bad heart or vice versa. So
would it be possible to know that someone's fruit is all bad, but then to
suppose, well, I can't know their heart. Their heart must be good, but their
fruit is all bad. According to Jesus, I mean, if you follow logic in what he
said, that's an impossibility. But that is the truth that in church, Christians
don't want you to know or to openly state because a lot of Christians, they
have outward problems. They outwardly
curse. They are gossiping. They're speaking evil. They're telling dirty jokes.
They're always cussing. They're taking
Jesus's name in vain. And these things are so obvious to see, guys. If someone
claims to be a leader in the church, if they claim to be of Christ, yet they're
dropping the f bomb, they're cursing people, they're gossiping, they're
degrading women, you can know that these people are not spending time with
Jesus because any child of God, they're gonna have a pure tongue. Their heart
is gonna be pure. They've spent time with the king. What is filling them is the light of Jesus
Christ. There's no way they're gonna be degrading women and speaking dirty
jokes and making you feel silly for not going along with their jokes. I don't
know how many Christians there are that think it's okay to take Jesus' name in
particular in vain, that are always talking in a way that's degrading to
people? How can we be called the body of Christ if we're like this? If there is
someone that you know in the church that is doing this, you can know that they
are a wolf in sheep's clothing.
If you truly come
to Jesus Christ, one of the very first things that the Holy Spirit is gonna
take charge of is your tongue. That's why he says he gives you a new tongue.
You don't have that old tongue that continually gossips, continually says
things that are evil, slandering people, hating people with your tongue,
breathing out just things that are murderous, tearing people down. As soon as
you put your faith in Jesus, you are humbled, and your speech also recognizes
that. You recognize Jesus with every word that you speak. So you can know for a fact that someone's
heart is bad if you can see bad fruit coming off of their lips. This truth is
so obvious, so plain, guys. It's right in front of you. Don't be deceived by
Christians that say, “oh, that's just what I said. I just dropped the f bomb,
but you don't know my heart. I just took
Jesus' name in vain and I told a dirty joke, but you can't know my heart,
brother.” That is just ridiculous. It's impossible to have bad fruit but a good
heart. If your fruit is bad, your heart is bad also.
And a lot of
people's problem is they're not spending time with Jesus. They haven't truly repented. And even though
they're Christians all their life and they've said a prayer, they read the
Bible, they're leaders in church, they have never repented and been born again.
If we want everlasting life, we have to be born again and truly repent of our
sins. Otherwise, these sins are taking us to hell and we're leading other
people to hell. We're scattering the body of Christ. Either we are gathering, or we are
scattering. So let's not be deceived by false prophets, by wolves in sheep in
sheep's clothing or just plain wolves that are not in sheep's clothing at all.
Let us be wise to stand in the truth and to call it like it is. If someone is
following the Lord, we encourage them, but if someone is pretending, we know
that they are not part of the body of Christ. We stand up against what is evil. We don't pretend to be like these people are
Christians.
How are we doing?
Are we bearing good fruit or are we like those Christians who are about to be
cut off? I wanna make sure that my own life is right before God, so I stay
humble. We keep our nose down, but our head up.
We keep our eyes looking up to Jesus, but we stay humble before God so
that he can use us. God doesn't use the proud. He doesn't use the arrogant, but
he uses those who are humble that can be used for his purpose that will stay
steadfast with him to continue to walk that straight narrow path and not waver.
Too many Christians are wavering. They don't take sides with the truth when it
gets hard. They will leave you. They
will forsake you, but they don't forsake their life to walk with the Lord
regardless of what he asks them to do. So let us be the body of Christ that are
separate from the whole religious crowd, separate from this world that is quick
to deny Jesus, separate from false prophets and false leaders, separate from
walking the line of the world and with God having 1 foot in the world, 1 foot
with the Lord. We need to dedicate ourselves as the Lord's disciples fully to
him and just walk in purity, calling others to have their new tongue, calling
others to be part of this regeneration where they are reproved, made clean,
purged of sin, and have on their white robes ready for the wedding supper of
the lamb.
We wanna take part
with, with Jesus in his new covenant. It's
not about keeping all the laws of the Old Testament as the Judaizers would have
you believe. There's many Jews and Christians that try to promote all the Old
Testament laws of Moses as if you keep those, you'll go to heaven. They teach
the old covenant, the old law, the 613. But we, as Jesus' disciples, are all
about the new covenant that was made through Jesus' blood that atones for our
sins, and we're all about that covenant and that truth that he puts on our
heart that we know good from evil and loving the Lord our God with all our
heart, our neighbor as our self, and always staying in the light. We need to be
living the new covenant, breathing the new covenant, bleeding the new covenant,
and teaching others about the new covenant of Jesus, his death, his
resurrection, and that what it actually means to obediently follow him in this
new covenant, eating his flesh and drinking his blood, being in genuine
communion with him.
So I wanna pray
for those of you that want communion with Jesus, that wanna live by the hard
teachings of Jesus and not be riding the fence any longer, but that want the
new life in him to be purged and be made new. “So, Lord Jesus, I do pray for
your church, my fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord who want to be purged
and purified and called out from the world. I pray that they hear your calling
and that we will be chosen to do your work and walk in that calling and follow
you all the days of our life and be unwavering that we will not be distracted by
the world or fall into all the temptations of the flesh, but that we would be
separate and sanctified and anointed for your purpose, that we ourselves would
be saved and edified, and that we would also help in the preservation of
others, that sinners would come to repentance and come into everlasting life
and also bear good fruit. So I pray for your church that we would bear more
good fruit, that we wouldn't be cut off, but that we would endure with you and
overcome with you and, bear much good fruit for you every day, Lord. In your name we pray. Amen.”
