Danger: Disguised, Deadly Deceivers! - Matthew 7:15-20 Series

Matthew 7:15 Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' 24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Introduction

Suppose I asked you to pull out a piece of paper and jot down the five things you are most tempted to worry about. What would you write? What are the top five dangers that are lurking out there that could really spell disaster in your life if they happened? Or to put it another way – which threats are you putting the most effort and resources into protecting yourself and your family against? We buy insurance to protect ourselves against financial disaster. Some of you might be afraid that your marriage might fall apart, and you are working to avoid that. Maybe you are the type who gives serious thought to trying to eat right and exercise so you can avoid the danger of health problems. Maybe you are afraid your kids will end up with a hard life because their grades are so bad, so you are working hard to get them to get serious about school. We all take precautions against the dangers in life that we see as the greatest threats.

Now let me ask you this – out of the five things that you would write down, are any of them things that Jesus warned us to watch out for? Over and over and over in the gospels Jesus gives us warnings: “Watch out for this. Be on your guard against that. Beware of this.” That is language I find myself using more and more with my kids. I have three teenagers, and as you watch your children become adults you find yourself saying the words “watch out” more and more often. “Watch out for these kinds of relationships. Beware of this danger in life. Keep your eye open for this pitfall.” We do that as parents because we know that when you are young you just cannot appreciate how dangerous certain threats really are, and as parents we don’t want our kids to be caught off-guard by something and have their lives destroyed. And Jesus is like that with us. He loves us, he sees these hidden traps in life that we can’t see, and He is earnest about pointing them out to us – “Watch out – don’t step there, that’s deadly…” And so I am just wondering, of the top five dangers that you are taking precautions against in your life, how many of those are things Jesus told us to beware of?

I ask that question because it seems to me that there is a constant stream of theological teachings that seemed to be designed to dismiss Jesus’ warnings. Jesus says, “Beware that you are not deceived! Watch out!!!” And someone comes along and says, “Oh, don’t worry about that. Jesus is talking there to phony Christians. Real Christians can’t actually be deceived, so don’t sweat it.” Jesus says, “A great, horrible persecution is coming. It will be a time of extreme tribulation, and the love of most will grow cold and there will be a great falling away from the faith – watch out!” And then you read a book that says, “Oh, don’t worry about that. That’s not for us. We will be raptured long before any of that happens.” Jesus keeps saying, “Beware, beware, beware” and the teachers of our age keep saying, “Relax, relax, relax.” We are like teenagers who hear their parents’ warnings and say, “Yeah, whatever – I’ll be fine.”