RECAP – Matt 23:23-28 – the Pharisees made the mistakes of replacing a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus with a RELIGION, and making the OUTWARD more important than the INWARD.
No life change can take place without a relationship with Jesus Christ. The Pharisees got the wrong target.
• Today we want to look at another group of people – the false prophets.
• They thought they were in, but they were not. It looked like they were true believers, but they turned out to be false prophets, propagating untruth.
Let’s read the warnings of Jesus in Matthew 7:15-23
Jesus was preaching to the crowd. It started in chapter 5. He has come to the last part of His sermon.
• As He was wrapping up, He gave this warning: “Beware of the false prophets.”
• They look like believers but they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They preach falsehood and lies, camouflaged as the truth.
• Jesus says in Matt 24:11 that in the last days, “many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.”
Jesus said “Watch out for them”, lest we are deceived and misled by them.
• We are called to be DISCERNING – to reject the false and heed the truth.
• And then Jesus said immediately after this: “You will recognise them.” How comforting. If we watch out for them, we will recognise them.
• How? By their fruit. They may be dressed in sheep’s clothing, but ultimately their lives will tell.
Jesus uses the metaphor of a tree and its fruit.
• A wolf can disguise itself, but a tree cannot. A good tree will bear good fruit. A bad tree will bear bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
• It is the natural outcome of what is on the inside. You cannot hide it. You cannot produce what you do not have. Eventually it will show.
Which also means a good tree will bear good fruit! If you have Christ in your life and His truth in your heart, you will bear ‘good fruit’. It will come. You cannot hide it.
• God changes us from the inside-out. It is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. If you have the life of Christ, then that life will show.
Right Believing Leads to Right Living
Life change can only take place when you believe right. Your life will reflect what you really believe.
• If you are trust Christ, you can expect change. If you are trust self, that’s all you have.
Jesus went on to describe to us, in practical terms, what these GOOD FRUIT are.
• We will probably think of what we SAY and DO, because that’s the easiest way to tell whether a person is spiritual or not, don’t you think?
• But Jesus shocked us with a different and difficult verdict:
• V.21 - not everyone who SAYS to me, “Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven” It sounded so right.
• V.22 – not even those who have DONE great feats like prophesying, casting out demons, and performing many miracles. He said, “I do not know you!”
The first time I read this, I was taken by surprise. They are really impressive. Many of us don’t even come close to matching these feats.
• I thought these were good signs of a spiritual person, don’t you think?
• Yet Jesus rejected them. It was not going to be what they SAY or DO. He has a different yardstick.
• A bad tree can never produce good fruit. You can’t get grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles.
It is what’s on the INSIDE that really matters. Their faith is not in Jesus. They have a different belief. They have no relationship with Him.
• Focusing on right living will not bring about a change of life. It is the same mistake the Pharisees made.
• We need to focus on believing right – believe what the Lord has said, believe the truth of God’s Word, believe in the promises He has given us.
Right Believing Starts on the Inside
Life change starts on the INSIDE. A good tree will surely bring forth good fruit, never bad fruit.
• Ponder more about our motivations and our motives. Rather than what we say or do. Think about WHO we are becoming on the INSIDE.
• Because when you get the INSIDE right, the OUTSIDE will show. But if you make the OUTSIDE looks right, it does not change the INSIDE.
Jesus spent the great part of this Sermon of the Mount addressing this.
• He started off in Matt 5 talking about the beatitudes – the conditions of the heart.
• And He talks about being salt and light of the world, about murder (that if you are angry with someone, you are equally judged); adultery (look at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery); loving your enemies…
• And He talks about giving to the needy, don’t announce it with trumpets (6:2), and when you pray, do so in private and not out on the street corner (to impress)…
• When you fast, don’t disfigure your face to show you are fasting (6:16)…
The best fulfilment of God's Law, Jesus says, is to watch what is happening on the INSIDE where nobody but you and God can see.
I believe this is the reason why King David was called by God “the man after My own heart”.
• Is he really that good? Actually no. He sinned against God. He committed adultery with another man’s wife and murdered her husband. He plotted for his death. Many of us do not even come close to committing such crimes.
• I heard a pastor once said – David broke six of the Ten Commandments in one devious act. He shamed the name of God (3), murder (6), committed adultery (7), stole someone’s ‘property’ (8), lied in plotting the murder (9), and coveted the neighbour’s wife (10). How bad can you go?
And yet God honours him. Why? He saw something on the INSIDE.
• David was willing to examine his heart. He was quick to repent!
• David’s prayer after he sinned against God was recorded in Psalm 51.
• “10Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (Psalm 51:10-12)
What is he doing? He was checking his heart. He was examining his motives.
• God forgives and restores him. God calls him “the man after My own heart.”
• Life change starts on the inside.
Right Believing Is a Relationship
The false prophets have spiritual knowledge and can perform spiritual feats, but they have no relationship with Jesus.
• Life change has to do with an intimate, growing relationship with Jesus. Put a premium on that (I’ve said that many times).
I believe Jesus intentionally chooses the more dramatic and extraordinary examples – like prophesying, casting out demons, performing miracles, to make a point:
No matter how much good you do, no matter what great things you accomplish, none of these will make you My disciples. You need to know Me.
Ask Zacchaeus. He will understand. He did nothing to justify his salvation. He opens his house to Jesus and then opens his heart to Him.
• Life change takes place. He decided to give half of his possessions to the poor and repay those he has cheated four times (Luke 19:8). Jesus’ verdict: “Today salvation has come to this house…” (Luke 19:9)
• We see this pattern repeated in the Gospels. Close proximity with Jesus, those who spent time with Him, got near to Him and know Him, were changed.
• If we want His touch, then we need to get near.
If our faith is not a religion – not a moral or ethical code of conduct, not rules and rituals - then we need to get back to KNOWING CHRIST.
• Many have a belief but they do not know Jesus. Many believe that God exists but they do not know Him. James 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder.”
Make a distinction between knowing ABOUT Jesus (means) and knowing Him (end). They are different. Jesus wants us to know Him.
• I receive many calls from property agents and telemarketers, on a daily basis. I can recognise them straight-away by the tone of their voices and the way they address me. A few times I got this: “Can I speak to Mr Cheong Wing Soon Christian”? Which friend would call you by your full name? You call me PASTOR, or childhood friends will call me SOON. They are someone close, very close.
Jesus (John 10:3-5, 14-16):
… the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."
14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father - and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Just as intimate as Jesus is with the Father, that’s how close we can get!
Everything we say or do will flow out of the relationship with Jesus. They are the fruits of life change, not the cause of it.
• Without that relationship, all the prophesying, the exorcisms and the miracles mean nothing.
How to cultivate that relationship? Back to basics – read your Bible daily, meet with fellow Christians regularly (to see and hear what God is doing) and pray constantly. Pray conversational prayers with your eyes open. Develop these habits. Every good tree bears good fruit, says Jesus.
