SPEAKER_00 0:31

Again, if you're visiting with us, we're so glad that you're here, that you've chosen to worship with us here at the Central, and hope that you will give us an opportunity to meet you when our service has concluded this morning. We've been doing a study, a sermon series from the Sermon on the Mount. And as was mentioned earlier, we we took a look uh at the wide road and the narrow road, which leads to judgment uh last week and and the week before. Um and Jesus follows that up with our scripture reading this morning, where he talks about false teachers. And everything, if you look at what Jesus does, everything is very orderly, very he doesn't do anything without purpose, everything is strategically placed, and it's natural to go into a warning about false teachers, and he describes them and how to recognize them in some very interesting ways, as uh was just read about. And I don't know if I don't know if y'all's dads still do this or or if other people growing up had a dad like mine who would do this. But when I got to an age where I figured out the the usefulness of money, shall we say, uh, and it didn't take me long to figure it out. When you want something, you gotta have money to get it. And so when I would go to my dad and I would say, hey dad, I I want this, whatever that happened to be, he said, What do you what do you think? Do you think money grows on trees? And I guess when I was really young, I actually went outside and tried to find some on a tree, probably. Uh but I learned very quickly money does not grow on trees. And so once I figured that out, and if I really wanted it, I would move on from dad and go to mom. She would ask, what did your father say? Money doesn't grow on trees. Well, what'd you find out? Money doesn't grow on trees. But there was a backup. Almost 99% dependable. Grandparents. Pick up the phone, landline, mind you, and call the grandparents. And, you know, if it wasn't illegal and it wouldn't do you any harm, they usually got what you wanted. Jesus talks about how to identify false teachers today, and he describes it in in you will know a false teacher by the fruit that they produce from their teaching. He also says that the ones that are really, really good will appear as wolves in sheep's clothing. And so what Jesus says in our message today is very important because he goes on to say this is going to happen. False teachers are coming. And if you look at it in our world today, uh, and and if you look at the just the statistical fact that there are over 200 Christian denominations in the United States alone, and you line up what is being taught with what the scriptures say, you will clearly find out if you're looking for it, it doesn't always line up. In fact, a lot of times it doesn't line up. And I hold us accountable to that as well. We need to make sure that we are lining up what we're teaching and what we're practicing as believers and as a congregation of God's people against the scriptures. We need to do that on a regular basis. And so when Devin comes up here and delivers a message, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you, don't take Devin's word for everything. I am fallible, I am flawed, I make mistakes, just like anybody else do. That's why it's important for you as an individual believer to know the scriptures, to know them well. Because each one of us will be judged by the word when the time comes. And if our response is, well, that's what we hired the preacher for, that's what we hired the youth minister for, uh, that's not going to do you a whole lot of good at that point. Know the word. So before we get into what Jesus has to say here about false teachers, uh, let's go to God in prayer together. Father, thank you for the beauty of this day. Such a beautiful day outside. You've nourished us with some much needed rain. You've blessed us with the opportunity to worship freely in this great country of ours. Uh, not a perfect country. We certainly have our flaws and our problems, but we thank you for blessing us with this country, and we thank you for the men and women who have signed on the dotted line to defend this great nation and those who around the world are continuing to do so at this very moment. Spirit, I pray that the message today is yours. That you will use me as your vessel as flawed as I am, as sinful and imperfect as I am, and not worthy. Not worthy to deliver your word. But use me. Open our hearts and our minds, open our ears to your word and your message this morning, Spirit. Help us to see something that we've never seen before. Help us to understand more deeply your word and what Jesus, what you have to say here. Lord, thank you. We love you, and it's in the name of Jesus we pray together. Amen. Discernment. Now that's a word that isn't thrown around a whole lot in our vernacular these days. However, the word vernacular isn't really thrown around a whole lot either. Perhaps if discernment, church, was something that more people were familiar with, then it's a good chance, I believe, that we wouldn't have as many problems as we do, and we wouldn't be dealing with as much division among people as we do if we were more discerning. According to Webster's dictionary, discernment is, quote, the ability to understand, judge, and perceive things clearly, distinguishing between truth and deception or right and wrong. It involves active, often spiritual decision making, utilizing both rational thought and inner reflection, to cut away wrong paths and identify God's will or best actions. Key benefits include improved decision making, spiritual growth, and protection from deception. Oh yeah. Yeah, I think a lot more discernment in this world would go a long way. It'd go a long way, family, towards solving a lot of our problems and probably preventing most of them. As we can see at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, and the end of the Sermon on the Mount is on the horizon. It's coming. And as we take a deeper look at chapter 7, verses 15 to 20, Jesus issues a warning to us. He encourages the crowd then, standing on that mountainside, as he's seated teaching them, and he issues a warning to you and I today to be on our guard. He's reminding us as his followers and travelers to stay on the narrow path. Because there will be many challenges of deception from Satan. And they're designed to undermine the Lord's authority, and they're designed to discourage us. Jesus describes these challenges and deceptions in these ways. He describes them as wolves masquerading as sheep. He describes them as picking grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. And what Jesus is saying very clearly here, family, is that the fruit we produce speaks a lot about who we are. But it goes deeper. It goes much deeper than what we see on the surface. Sometimes bad people can produce good fruit. Just long enough to get into our better graces. And eventually the truth will come out. That's why discernment is an invaluable tool for the believer that too often is underutilized. It's an invaluable tool for the believer because a discerning person doesn't make snap judgments one way or the other. They don't get rushed, they don't get in a hurry, they take their time. He says that they come as wolves disguised as sheep. Or sheep disguised as wolves. In the context of the chapter, the bottom line, family, is that Jesus is saying that false teachers will not point people through the narrow gate. He will not lead them down the narrow path, but will lead them through the wide gate and toward the wide path. Now here's the thing, and we have to ask this question. Will they do this intentionally? Some will. Will they do that for personal gain or for the purpose of building a following? Yes, some will. But you know, others will do it to push an agenda that's not supported by the scriptures. And there will be some, some, who do so out of sincere ignorance. Regardless of what motivates a false teacher, it's important for believers in the seats or in the pews to have a solid working knowledge of the scriptures. Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, verse 15, about rightly dividing the word of truth, or your translation may say to accurately handle the word of truth. However, your translation reads in the English, we need to know the word. That's what Paul is trying to communicate. And the reason why is because when the time comes and when we stand before God, each one of us will be personally liable for what the word says and how we applied it to our lives, and how we used it or refused it to affect the lives of others. So, what are some distinguishing characteristics of false teachers? First, they diminish the importance and impact of Jesus on others. And what I mean by that is that many false teachers will elevate themselves to the point that they infringe upon what rightfully belongs to Jesus and Jesus alone, which is all glory and all praise. And they were having what I affectionately refer to as the holy huddle, you know, the meeting before the service. And everybody was in there that was going to participate in the service, and there was a new member who had just been there a very short time, a very distinguished gentleman in the professional world, and he was tasked with doing the communion thoughts for that particular Sunday. And so they're in there together, and this very well-known preacher walks in and is shaking hands, saying good morning to everybody, walks up to this new guy who's tasked for doing communion for the first time in a service since he placed membership. He walks up to him and sticks his hand out and says, Hey, good morning. I'm so-and-so. I understand that you're leading the communion thoughts this morning. He says, Yes, and I'm honored to do so. And this well-known preacher said, Well, do us all a great honor and keep it brief. Because they only pay one guy to preach around here. Yikes. Family, 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 5 says that there's only one mediator between God and mankind, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And anytime that men begin to elevate themselves toward that level, it's dangerous. But here's the thing a lot of false teachers have missed that. And have elevated themselves, and what they've done in the process is reduced the importance and the impact of Jesus on others. Peter writes in 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 1, false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Family, false teachers in an effort to consciously elevate themselves or unconsciously drive an agenda ultimately make Jesus less than what he is. They refer to him as he's a great teacher, which he is. They say that Jesus loves us, which he does. But then they'll add things like, well, as great a teacher as Jesus is, and as much as he loves us, he's not God. They'll also say he won't judge anyone either. Why? Because he loves us so much. And then there's others that'll say, well, he was never resurrected to begin with. Those false teachings have been around for centuries. And they're still out there. Some false teachers today will praise Jesus right up to the edge of deity and then full stop. They'll praise the philosophy of Jesus, but not the deity of Jesus. Jesus is God. Period. It's undeniable. In this sense, Jesus has become their philosophical guru, if you will, of a good life to live on this earth rather than the gracious, merciful, and holy God of everlasting life in heaven. But you know others will equate their legalistic approach to the word with the deity of Jesus. In other words, they praise the letter of the law to the exclusion of the grace of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit. I've experienced that in my life. Experienced a little bit of that growing up. I suspect some of you did too. And in the process, what happens in that scenario is that they rob themselves and they rob others of the grace, the joy, and the blessed assurance of a life that is lived in merciful grace for a life full of fear and bitterness. Not only will false teachers diminish the importance and the impact of Jesus on others, they'll also relax the definition of sin. I've seen this in my lifetime. We live in a culture family right now that won't even talk about sin. Sin is not in their vocabulary. In fact, the word sin is disappearing from our 21st century language. With the exception of superficial or dismissive expression. Meaning that for a lot of people, sin's just a big joke. Regardless, family, of how much society may attempt to dismiss the reality and the severity of sin, make no mistake about it. The Bible's clear on both. Paul writes in Romans chapter 3, verse 23, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All is all. We don't serve a God like that. In that situation, Peter's words in 2 Peter 3, verse 9, must be trusted and embraced by the believer. Peter writes, the Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. Now think about that. And think about the God that we serve. Church, if the Lord is not bound by time, and he is not, then he can see your decision and my decision to submit to him in baptism, and he knows the desire of our heart to do so. The question is this in this situation. I've known too many people who live their life believing the latter rather than the former. Family, we serve a God of love, a God of mercy, and a God of grace. That in no way diminishes our sin. Sin is sin. And all sins the same as far as God's concerned. But in every way, it elevates his mercy and his grace. Now that doesn't mean, family, that sin hasn't been diminished by some teachers in the church. It's just as they say in the old saying, the ditch is just as deep on either side. Church, I've seen what the Bible clearly calls sin reclassified. I've seen it reclassified as a lifestyle choice, as well as clear examples of biblical teaching and biblical practice redefined to appeal to a broader audience in my lifetime. There's a congregation, again, in the Dallas area that my cousins attended back in the 1980s. And on any given Sunday, you could have anywhere from 1,200 to 1,500 people sitting in the pews. Huge. It was biblically centered. They taught the word there in balance with truth and grace. But like most churches across all denominational lines, it began to decline. And ultimately, in an effort to appeal to a broader audience, they abandoned their a cappella heritage. They abandoned their understanding of women's roles in the biblical sense. And when that congregation sold its building five years ago, which was in one of the best locations in Dallas Fort Worth, Bar 9, it had dwindled down to about 150 to 200 people per Sunday. Ironically, the same church that bought their last building 50 years earlier bought this building. Because they had outgrown the building they had bought from them 50 years earlier. The difference, family, is a congregation that had relaxed its definition of sin and compromise the truth, declined. And the one that hadn't, didn't. Did it go through some rough times? Sure. That's part of being the church. In fact, the congregation that stayed the course, and the congregation had grown because they had stayed the course, despite the changes in culture around them, they continued to grow and they continued to thrive. The Hebrew writer states in chapter 13, verse 8, that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Family, congregations that realize and embrace that, these are the ones that survive. And these are the church families that grow. While those who do not and change with the culture to attract the culture, they decline. And eventually they die. That's what Jesus is trying to prevent when he says these words in Matthew chapter 7. Church, most congregations never survive to see their hundredth anniversary. Did you know that? The average lifespan of a congregation is about sixty-seven years. Six, seven. That's a statistical fact, okay? It just happens to match. But sixty-seven years, that's the average lifespan of a church. The primary reason, family, is the decline is from the reasons that we've looked at so far. Something else I've seen is that false teachers will encourage us to depend more on our own abilities rather than God's intercession. Or to take it a step further, they encourage us to utilize our own abilities and resources to manipulate God's intercession. And this is at the heart of what's known as the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel teaches that working harder and giving more can manipulate God into giving you what you want. It's kind of like that money tree that I talked about on the front end. Dad won't go there, mom won't go there, man, grandma, and grandpa will almost always go there. Because a sweet smile and a nice hug from their grandson will move mountains. Family, the prosperity gospel basically tells us you can save yourself with enough hard work and enough giving. If you work just a little harder and you give just a little more, God will give you what you want. He'll make you successful. Family, it's not about how hard it is to overcome sin and the price that's been paid for our sin. With them, it's more about how hard we have to work and the price we have to pay to earn our forgiveness. And that is not biblical. That is not the gospel. That is not the message of the gospel. You see, the gospel message makes known to us our helplessness to save ourselves. It brings home the facts, church, that we are lost and we need God to do for us what we can't do for ourselves. Church, the gospel makes it abundantly clear to us that we have no hope without the intervention of God's mercy and God's grace. That's what falling short of the glory of God is all about that Paul talks about in Romans chapter 3. And what he's saying in Romans chapter 3, verse 23, is that no matter how hard we try, we can't hit the target. We can't hit the target of perfection and forgiveness on our own. God has to help us with that. And he did so by sending his son Jesus. Family, without the grace and mercy of the Father, expressed in the selfless sacrifice of Jesus, no one can be saved. It can't be earned, it can only be accepted through obedience expressed in immersion into Christ, dying to ourself. According to Jesus, false teachers produce fruit that doesn't line up with the gospel. Fruit like gossip, divisiveness, envy, and a tendency to go beyond what the word says. That's when we need to pull discernment out of the toolbox. Some false teachers are better at hiding it than others are. They know the word. They know the word. I've known atheists that know the word better than most Christians do. False teachers know the word, but we must know the word better. Remember, Satan quoted Scripture to Jesus during the forty days of temptation in the wilderness. Satan knows scripture too. Church knowing the word well enough, despite intentional false teaching with an agenda, and call it out is important. So also being able to recognize false teaching out of ignorance. There's some people out there that are very sincere. They're just sincerely, biblically incorrect. Good people, but their theology is not correct. We need to be able to lovingly educate someone through that. And we can't do that if we don't know the word. But you know what? That's not enough. We must also be dedicated to prayer and meditation on the word. And then we need to ask the Holy Spirit to open our mind to the deeper meaning of the Word, as well as the right approach to address false teaching when we come across it. Discernment helps you with that. If it's a blatant, in your face false teaching, then we need to respond appropriately. If it's someone who just really is ignorant of the scriptures, then we need to approach that appropriately by lovingly helping them to see what the word actually says and means. Machiavelli once said, Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. He says, all men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration. Now, Machiavelli was no saint. Okay? But if you look at what he says, there's some wisdom in his words. So what does he mean by that? And how could that apply to us? Family, he means to be sure to have all your facts straight before you pass judgment on somebody. Which in general, most people don't. He means to take the time and to make the effort to see someone for who they are beyond what they say by the penetration of discernment. You ever heard somebody say, I can read you like a book? You ever heard somebody say that before? They say that because they utilize the gift of discernment. They don't pass judgment quickly, they don't make snap decisions, they study people and they study things. And they research the best way to approach the issue. John says in his gospel chapter 7, verse 24, do not judge by the outward appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. In a nutshell, what John is saying, there's don't is don't judge a book by its cover. I can tell you right now, I've done that before. I've made snap judgments, I've made the decision based upon what I saw, not what I knew, and I was embarrassed for it. And I'm going to venture to say that probably most, if not all of us, have done the same thing, whether we want to admit it or not. John says, don't judge a book by its cover. But sometimes we do. But here's the thing. How can we discern what lies below the cover? In the pages of the book of a person who may or may not be a false teacher. How do you know the difference? The Hebrew writer gives us some insight in chapter 4, verses 12 and 13. He says, For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The word can do that. We can't. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him to whom we must answer. That's the power of the living and active word. And the better that you and I know how to handle it, the more discerning we're going to be. Family, understanding discernment is important for a disciple to grasp. Because it can be a valuable tool when employed properly. But if we choose not to use it, then we can come to the wrong conclusion. We can make the wrong judgments about others when we fail to use it. So let me ask you a question as we close this morning. What is your discernment telling you this morning? What's your discernment telling you about that person that you're at odds with? Are you simply judging that person by things on the surface, or are you attempting to discern through prayer and meditation and the word what lies at the heart of that person? As I can tell you right now, I'm guilty of the sin of misjudging people. Is that where you are this morning? Are you sure that the argument, the beef that you have with that person is really legit based upon all the facts? Are you willing to give that person, whether it be a friend, a co-worker, a spouse, a brother or sister in Christ, are you really giving them the benefit of the doubt through biblical spiritual discernment? That's a decision only you can make. Let's go deeper. How do you discern yourself this morning? I've had issues with people before where I didn't want to face the truth about that person. I didn't want to accept the fact that that person was not being honest with me. I didn't want to be honest about the fact that that person had wronged me. But after discernment, we worked through it. What wound up sometimes happening is they didn't wrong us. We wronged them. But what about ourself? Are you using discernment to judge yourself? Or are you ignoring what's obvious because you just don't want to deal with it? You've discerned it, you don't want to address it. That only takes you so far. It'll only take you as far as you're able to deal with it. And there comes a point in time you just can't deal with it anymore. You're tired of dealing with it. You want to unload it, you want to be rid of it, you want to be done with it. You want to turn it over to God, and you want to ask for forgiveness from the Lord who gives it. Regardless of what other people say, other people are going to make their judgments. You can't control that. God sent his son to die for you so that you don't have to feel the way that you do. And all you have to do is accept it. Now that may mean that you request prayers for discernment. You ask for forgiveness. We we can pray with you, pray for you for that. If you want to respond this morning, walk in the aisle ain't your thing. We have shepherds that will that will take as long as it takes to pray with you and to pray for you. Chase will do that. I will do that. Any brother or sister that you can trust in this church family will do that. But are you willing to go there? Maybe, like our brother Jack, the greatest discernment that you have on your heart and mind this morning is the discernment that you know that you're lost. What are you going to do with that? That's your choice. Are you ready to confess Jesus as Lord? Are you ready to turn your life around? That's repentance. Are you ready to be buried in baptism? Bury that guilt, bury the past so that it doesn't haunt you anymore, and walk out of here today, brand new in the sight of God. It's your choice. Again, if you're visiting today, thank you for joining us. We're glad that you're here. Please give us a chance to meet you, get to know you, and join us for Bible study when the service is concluded. If you have a need this morning of any kind, please use this opportunity to respond while we stand and sing.