Two Roads, Two Teachings
Matthew 7:13-23
In our last study we looked at Jesus’ famous words from Matthew 7: 7: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” We saw how these words paint a portrait of a humble heart before God, one which persistently seeks God and His Kingdom, not through an exterior self-righteousness or works, but through a spiritual heart-change through the Holy Spirit by God’s Grace in Jesus.
Two LIFE ROADS and Destinations
Our text from God’s Word today begins at Matthew 7:13-14: "Enter (to make entrance into, in this case, it is into the Kingdom of God) through the narrow (steadfast and foundational) gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction (eternal ruin), and there are many who enter through it. 14 "For the gate is small and the way is narrow (a compressed way) that leads to life (zoe), and there are FEW who find it.”
Jesus tells us there are two roads in life with two destinations: One will lead to the Kingdom of God and one will lead to eternal ruin. There are two distinct gates: one is wide and easy and leads to eternal ruin: It is widely travelled. It is the way that most of the world is using on their earthly journey but it does not lead to God because it is NOT through Jesus Christ. It is the way of the crowd and of popular opinion, human thinking and doing, and it excludes FAITH and TRUST in the unseen True God and His Christ.
The Old Testament consistently pointed to the Holy Everlasting Creator God and His promises to provide a way for forgiveness, to redeem sinners from sin and the grave, and to provide everlasting life. Jesus appears here with THE command of God: Enter through THE narrow door, opened by ONE Shepherd, the ONE and only way, the one and only Savior. Jesus is the Gate by which you enter God and His Kingdom: "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.” (John 10:7)
The WAY that leads to eternal life is the Lord Jesus Christ: Following Him will include self-denial, exclusiveness in serving Him and in forsaking all others (which is really a picture of marriage of Christ and His True Bride). Following Him will include rejection, suffering and persecution. It is the way of faith in God through the Lord Jesus Christ alone. It is by Holy Spirit revelation, it is spiritual in nature, and by God’s Word and power alone. (It is by God’s grace, not earned.) The way of the Lord Jesus calls for knowledge of the truth, repentance, submission to Christ as Lord, and a willingness to obey Him and His Word.
It is not the way of comfort, and convenience or the glory of self, but it’s the way of sacrifice, worship, devotion, and obedience ALL for the Glory of the God who has saved us in through the Lord Jesus. We must obey and follow Jesus’ declaration of being the ONLY way to Life and into God’s Kingdom. In John 14:6: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
False Teachers and Their Fruits
Jesus warns in verse 15: "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, (they may be dressed like a true prophet) but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (inwardly they are creatures who will devour you spiritually.) 16 "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? (These are both luscious and healthy foods, but you won’t find them attached to evil. Thorns and thistles are the result of sin and evil in Gen. 3)
17 "So every GOOD (Godly and pure) tree bears GOOD fruit, but the bad (rotten and putrid, diseased) 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.”
We looked at the beginning of Chapter 7 in which said Jesus said: “Judge not,” but here we find that we HAVE to judge and discern between teachers and their teachings: We do NOT judge their HEARTS, but we definitely have to judge and distinguish between the TRUE and the FALSE teachings. It may well be that false teaching includes a false Gospel. If someone has a false teaching, it can be forgiven, but teaching a false Gospel means that the teacher hasn’t even been forgiven or he would be producing good and pure teaching according to the Gospel of Grace.
Since there are two ways, there will be two kinds of teachings and teachers. There will be, first of all, Teachers of Falsehood; They may know the Bible, but so does the devil. False teachers are “Pseudo” prophets; they are not schooled in the TRUTH of God’s Word. They accept an authority other than the Bible which has led them to believe a different Gospel than that which is based SOLELY on God’s Word and the teachings of the Apostles and SOLELY on GRACE in Christ and His atonement. BECAUSE they are fluent in God’s Word, they are able to impersonate true shepherds and true teachers, but they have been taught and influenced falsely and in direct violation of God’s Truth, and so they lead FALSELY.
In so doing, they actually deny the narrow way and promote the “wide way”. They deny the Holy Character of God as revealed in the Old and New Testament. They deny the DEITY and essence of Christ and the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Many deny eternal punishment for sin. They deny the power of the Holy Spirit of God and the Sovereignty and Saving Grace of the Triune God, the Trinity in UNITY.
False prophets come with a message of love and good intentions. False prophecy LOOKS and appears attractive OUTWARDLY, but inwardly IT IS spiritually deadly. The truth is not in them. Jesus warned Teachers of Falsehood in John 8:44: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” False teachers and false “witnesses” who hold to an authority OTHER THAN God’s REVEALED WORD in the BIBLE, or CHANGE what is in the Bible, are following their father, the devil. Their message may sound attractive, just as the devil’s message did to Adam and Eve, but it’s DEADLY.
2 Peter 2:1-3 says: “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”
Their message is DIVISIVE as well as deadly. Here are just SOME of things that false teachers and teachings will produce: They will throw doubt upon a righteousness by faith that is a gift from God. They diminish the Awesome, Holy, Almighty, Creator, Faithful, Savior God. They diminish God’s Grace in Christ. They will put the burden of sin back on you, if they mention SIN AT ALL. They reduce the Deity and Eternal nature of Jesus and the Spirit of God and deny the effectiveness of the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. They will say there is more to God’s Word. They will say that God’s Word alone, faith alone, grace alone, and Christ alone are inadequate to save. They will say there is still MORE revelation and that you are missing something. Inevitably, they will all have a history of FAILED PREDICTIONS and they will still have MORE failed predictions.
Rotten fruit is the revelation and the sign of false prophets because they are not attached to the Vine of the Lord Jesus. If you are not attached, you are divided and separated. They are attached to FALSE PROPHETS and so their fruit is going to be “rotten”. “You will know them by their fruits (PL).” “Fruits” are the result of your growth, labor, and production and evidenced in conduct and in character. False teachers come “dressed” as imitators. They will come presenting themselves as something other than who they are. Their fruit usually BEGINS with deception, so how could their teaching be anything but deception?
“Fruits” have are associated with one’s doctrine or teaching. The test of their teaching is in comparing their teaching to the entirety of God’s Word and God’s Word alone, scripture against scripture. The “Rotten fruit” that Jesus spoke often about was “self-righteous fruit.” Rotten fruit gives the honor to the created instead of the CREATOR. If you think you are good because you made yourself good, your fruit is BAD!
Jesus said in Matthew 12:33-35: "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 "You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35 "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good ; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.” We need a new spiritual HEART to produce GOOD FRUIT, otherwise, out of a Spirit-less, God-less sinful heart, we are just producing putrid fruit.
True Teachers
Jesus continues in verse 21: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'
The Teacher of the Truth produces fruits of repentance and righteousness. Matthew 3:8 &10 says: “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance… The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” True teachers will inevitably produce GOOD fruit, They will produce fruit that looks like JESUS.
In Matthew 13:23, in the parable of the soil, Jesus said: “23 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” Many people HEAR the Word, but do NOT understand it. The Truth of God’s Word is revealed and understood thorugh the Holy Spirit of God and it will be proven BY the WORD of God.
1 Corinthians 2:10: “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit ; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.”
MANY HAVE changed the translations in the New Testament to “A” spirit, but the article “A” DOES NOT EXIST in the Greek. It is ONLY by THE Spirit of God that we can know and understand God’s Word and it is ONLY by the SPIRIT of God that we are able to produce continuous GODLY GOOD FRUIT.
Galatians 5:22-23 says: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control ; against such things there is no law.”
John chapter 15 teaches us that those who remain in Christ and in His teachings will bear fruit, more fruit, much fruit, and they will produce fruit that will remain.
Romans 7:4 tells us: That “we might bear fruit for God.” Those who are bearing Godly fruit realize that it is NOT for our Glory or on account of us, but solely on account of God’s Grace and FOR God’s Glory, and IN JESUS CHRIST. In order to spot a counterfeit, you must study the real thing. Any believer who “correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) and who makes a careful study of the Bible can identify false doctrine. That person will produce the Godly fruit of the Gospel of Grace in the Unity of the Triune God, and for the Glory of God.
In verse Matt. 7: 21-23, Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' (a personal type greeting) will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter…, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'
NOT ALL teachings and miracles are signs of TRUE TEACHINGS, but rather, some are actually signs of “practicing lawlessness.” Sensationalism and experientialism do not equal SAVING FAITH. Knowledge alone does not equal saving faith. These things are insufficient proof of saving faith and pure teaching, and they DO NOT qualify someone as HAVING true SAVING FAITH.
“Practicing lawlessness” does not ONLY refer to a person who is walking around with a gun and blatantly killing people. Remember, false teachers appear “LIKE” the real thing, but they are not: They are deceivers, with smiles on their faces, and there are LOADS of them. Anyone who does not honor God FIRST OF ALL (the first three commandments), and have HIS LAW WRITTEN on their hearts and minds is practicing lawlessness. You must HONOR JESUS AS LORD ABOVE ALL or you are still lawless; you are a vigilante who is practicing autonomy and not the Lordship of Christ Jesus.
The ultimate and supreme power and authority of the LORDSHIP of Jesus Christ and the Sovereignty of God over all things is KEY to the Truth of God’s Word. Salvation is NOT something that YOU are doing BUT RATHER what GOD HAS DONE and IS DOING IN CHRIST; HIS Gracious WORK is being reflected in you. THE LORD Jesus IS the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets and He is fulfilling His Law in you. If you aren’t a practitioner (a “follower” of Jesus by GRACE and FAITH ALONE), you are lawless and are not a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
1 John 3:4: “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.” ALL sin is rebellion against God: The Law demonstrates that we have fallen short of God’s standard. The only way to be without sin is THROUGH Christ, living IN CHRIST, and Christ Living in You by His Spirit.
If you are truly filled with the Spirit of God, you will be bearing God’s Spirit-filled fruit, and you will be a “hearer” as well as a “doer” of Jesus Christ and you will realize that the honor belongs TO God ALONE, not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph. 2 8-10)
OUTLINE
I. Two Roads and Two Destinations
A. The Road to eternal ruin.
B. The Road to eternal Life.
II. Two Kinds of Teachings(ers) and Two Fruits
A. False Prophets and their teachings
1. Impersonate true shepherds
2. Promote the “wide way”
3. Come with a message of love but it is DEADLY
4. Come with a message that is DIVISIVE
5. Produce (not false) but rotten fruit
B. Teachers of the Truth
1. Produce Jesus -like fruit.
2. Revealed and understood by the Holy Spirit of God.
3. Produce the continuous Fruit of the Spirit.
4. Produce the Godly fruit of the Gospel of Grace in the Unity the Triune God for the Glory of God.
5. Honor Jesus as LORD.
“Practice”: exercise, perform, commit, to cause to exist, produce, to work for, earn by working, to acquire.
