Matthew 7:15–20
15“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17“So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18“A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20“So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Focused Thinking:
What does Jesus tell us to beware of?
15“Beware of the FALSE PROPHETS, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
What do false prophets do?
They come to you in sheep’s clothing.
They come to you deceptively.
They come to you in disguise.
- Most false religions are simply an addition to or subtraction from the gospel.
- The most dangerous lie is the one that is closest to the truth.
- Externally they look okay, but inwardly they are RAVENOUS WOLVES.
Most people would feel uncomfortable calling false prophets ravenous wolves today, not Jesus.
Jesus spoke the truth to protect His people from lies.
Jesus defined what true prophets were to protect His people from false prophets.
Personal Application:
We must quit being so nice that we don’t speak the truth.
We must not allow the influence of being politically correct to cause us to minimize the truth at all.
Focused Thinking:
How do we know if one is a false prophet or not?
16“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?
It isn’t difficult and we shouldn’t make it difficult.
In a short period of time, it is possible to be fooled; but over time, it is easy to know them by their fruits.
Notice Jesus’ illustration:
He is saying it is obvious, not difficult.
“Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes.”
“nor figs from thistles…”
Many people misinterpret this as judging; this isn’t judging, this is evaluating.
17“So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18“A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20“So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Every good tree bears good fruit.
Does it bear good fruit CONSISTENTLY?
A good tree bears good fruit CONSISTENTLY and bad fruit INCONSISTENTLY.
Every bad tree bears bad fruit.
Does it bear bad fruit CONSISTENTLY?
A bad tree bears bad fruit CONSISTENTLY and good fruit INCONSISTENTLY.
A good tree CANNOT CONSISTENTLY produce bad fruit.
A good tree CAN produce bad fruit OCCASIONALLY.
This issue isn’t a SINGLE bad fruit; the issue is the HARVEST.
When the farmer looks at that tree, does he/she see a GOOD tree or a BAD tree? That is determined by the CONSISTENTLY of the HARVEST.
What happens to tree that bear bad fruit consistently?
“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Farmers don’t keep bad trees.
Farmers don’t waste their time and resources on bad trees.
What is the bottom line?
“So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Personal Application:
Unfortunately, there are so many false prophets today.
For the most part the cults are obvious, but the greater danger occurs when mainline churches compromise the gospel.
- The greater danger today is teachers who tickle our ears.
- The greater danger today is the self-help gospel.
- The greater danger today is the consumer gospel.
We must quit make the gospel about us and start making it about God.
- Very few people truly love God, love people and make disciples today.
- Very few people truly teach deny yourself daily, pick up your cross and follow Him today.
We must not compromise the gospel.
We must exhort, rebuke and reprove with great patience and instruction.
We must offer people compassion without compromise.
Interactive Prayer:
Father, awaken pastors all over the world, but especially in our city and country. I pray for a revival to occur in the pastors of America. Father, awaken us. Forgive us for not living urgent lives. Forgive us for having more excuses than we have faith. Forgive us for low expectations and minimal prayer. Father, so many pastors live defeated lives. They live in contradiction with the truths they are teaching. Father, give me a vision to bring revival to pastors. Give me Your vision to bring awakening to pastors. Father, I don’t claim to know how and I can only imagine the difficulties, but I’m simply trying to follow the leading of Your Holy Spirit. Father, the church doesn’t need me, the church needs You. The church doesn’t need me to be the one to lead this, but the church needs someone to lead it.
Father, let me bring this down to a smaller scale to start with. Bring revival to me personally. Give me the ability to lead me well. Father, do it in me and then do it in our staff. Father, bring revival to our staff. Father, give me the ability to lead us spiritually in such a way that our faith grows daily. Father, take it to the leaders in our congregation and then take it to our people. Father, take it through our people to the city. Father, give me the ability to dedicate my best time and energy to devoting myself to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Father, wake me up! Father, wake us up! Father, wake our church up! Father, bring revival to the churches in our city. Father, bring spiritual awakening to our city through the churches in our city.
Father, send Your Holy Spirit to me. Give me the ability to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Give me the ability to have incredible sensitive to Your Spirit, the ability to discern and obey. Father, raise up our prayer team. Father, give us people who are committed to prayer. Give us people who will hold my arms up in the battle. Give us people who will hold up Andy’s arms, the elders arms as well as the leaders’ arms. Father, use our prayer team to pray for our connect issue. Father, help us get people connected for the purpose of making friends and loving one another. Father, give us success in the world of connect. Father, cause our plans to be successful. Give us the ability to do what only we can do and to trust You to do what only You can do.
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