Beware of Where You Build

Introduction:

Have I Built My House on the Rock? (Matthew 7:24-29)

1. Is My House BUILT on OBEDIENCE. (Matt 7:24, 26)

   John 14:15 – If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

   John 14:15 – If you <don't> love me, you will <not> keep my commandments.

2. Will My House WITHSTAND the STORMS. (Matt 7:25, 27)

3. Have I Built My House Under JESUS’ AUTHORITY. (Matt 7:28-29)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 7:24-29

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Explain Jesus’ analogy. What do the houses represent? The rock? The sand? The rain / flood?
   

3. Is saying “you must obey to Jesus’ commands” actually teaching works salvation? Why or why not?
   

4. In what ways are storms actually beneficial for us? What do they do for us?
   

5. How would you answer this question?: “How do I know if I am really saved?”

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Open up those Bibles to Matthew chapter 7.

  I'm just going to ask if we pause for a second if you would please just pray for me

  to clearly communicate the Word of God.

  And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us today.

  Father, we believe your Holy Spirit is always at work with your Word.

  I just pray, Father, today that you would grant us the faith to respond.

  glorify your name.

  We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

  Matthew chapter 7, are you there?

  I was thinking back, way back to when I was in school.

  Do you remember those little contests and games they would have for all the students at school?

  How many people show of hands remember "book it"?

  Anybody remember "book it"?

  Way more than I was expecting.

  Some people I mentioned "book it" too and they're like, "What's that?"

  Well, if you don't know, "book it" you read so many books a month and then you would get a coupon for

  a pizza for a personal pan pizza.

  And I'll say when I was in elementary school that personal pan pizza, man.

  But then there was always the kid in class that was like, "I go to read the books but mum won't let me have the pizza."

  And he would have like a stack of book it coupons.

  How about this contest? How many people remember the spelling bee?

  How many people, how about this? How many show of hands?

  How many people were in a spelling bee? Raise your hand.

  All right.

  I came in second place one year and I won a $50 savings bond.

  You're laughing.

  What was I, third or fourth grade?

  I thought I was going to retire.

  And then they're like, "Oh no, no, no. You have to wait like 100 years for it to mature and reach its value."

  And then it got to the point when it finally did.

  It was kind of a nuisance.

  I got to figure out how to cash this stupid thing in.

  I was on board with Book It. I was on board with the spelling bee.

  But do you know one contest I could never get on board with?

  I couldn't do it.

  I absolutely refused to participate.

  Building the Balsalwood Bridge.

  How many people show of hands know what I'm talking about with that?

  Okay. Well, a lot less.

  For those of you that don't know, there was a contest where you had to build a bridge out of Balsalwood

  and it could only weigh so much.

  And then there was a contest where they would put pressure on the bridge to make it explode.

  And it was to see like who could build the bridge that would withstand the most pressure before it was destroyed.

  I couldn't bring myself to spend all that time building something

  that was going to be destroyed.

  I couldn't bring myself to spend all that time building something that I knew was going to be destroyed.

  Going into the close of the Sermon on the Mount, I hope that is your conviction as well.

  I hope every single one of us leave here.

  Every single one who is listening to this lands on that conviction.

  I can't bring myself rather to build something just to be destroyed.

  Look at verses 24 through 27.

  We're talking about the heart of judgment Jesus talked about entering the narrow gate.

  It's hard to find, it's hard to walk.

  Then he warned us of false prophets.

  These people saying they represent the Word of God and they don't and they're pointing people to the wide gate to hell.

  And last week Pastor Taylor talked about self-deception.

  There were going to be people standing before the Lord some day ready for the red carpet into heaven.

  And Jesus is going to say, "I never knew you."

  This is how Jesus closes the Sermon.

  He says, "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

  And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house,

  but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock.

  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

  And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it."

  It's a simple story, isn't it?

  Two men building their respective houses.

  There was a wise man who said, "I'm going to build my house on a rock."

  And then there was a foolish man who said, "I'm going to build my house on sand."

  Let's talk about that fool for a second.

  Why in the world would you build on sand?

  It's easier.

  It's way easier.

  Sand is so much easier to dig than dirt.

  It's a lot easier to dig into than rock.

  Well, the fool, he pays no attention to any of the rules for building.

  He knows at all you just can't teach that guy anything.

  And he doesn't think ahead.

  But then you have the wise man.

  He wants to build durably.

  It's way harder.

  But he wants it to last.

  You see, when Jesus was talking about the rains and the winds and the floods,

  His audience would have immediately identified with that.

  The ground was so hard and so dry that the rain wouldn't get soaked up very quickly.

  And floods would happen in an instant when it would rain.

  The storms revealed the kind of foundation

  that each house had.

  The storms revealed the heart of each building.

  Look at Jesus' story.

  Builders had a lot in common, right?

  They were both building a house.

  They both experienced storms.

  There's really no obvious difference between the houses.

  I mean, on the surface, they both looked great.

  So what was the difference?

  You're like, "Oh, I know what the difference is."

  The difference, Pastor Jeff, is what happens to the houses during the storms.

  That's not really the difference.

  That is just the consequence of the real difference.

  The real difference is what the house is built on.

  The foundation Jesus is talking about, your heart.

  And we've been talking about this since February.

  God wants your heart.

  The real difference

  is the people sitting there listening to Jesus

  and the people who have been sitting here listening to these sermons.

  The real difference is whether or not the sermon on the Mount

  made it from your ears to your brain to your heart.

  Based on what you do with the Word of God,

  you're either going to stand strong

  or you're going to collapse.

  You'll lose everything.

  The question that Jesus challenges you with as he ends his sermon is this,

  "Have you built your house on the rock?"

  That's the question.

  You have to ask yourself this.

  So on your outline, I want you to jot some things down.

  Ask yourself, "Have I built my house on the rock?"

  Well, Jesus doesn't want us wondering whether or not

  our house is built on the rock.

  So here's some questions to ask yourself

  that will give you the answer as to whether or not your house is built on the rock.

  Number one, write this down, "Has my house built on obedience?"

  "Has my house built on obedience?"

  Okay, so in Jesus' story, what does the rock represent?

  It's funny, I did a lot of reading this past week.

  What does the rock mean?

  What does the rock mean?

  And there are some that say, "Well, the rock is obviously God, right?"

  Well, God sometimes is referred to as a rock,

  but in this context, that's not what Jesus is saying.

  He explicitly tells us what the rock is.

  Look at verse 24.

  "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them

  will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock."

  The rock is obedience to the Word of God according to Jesus.

  That's the rock.

  Well, what does the sand represents?

  Again, it's obvious, verse 26,

  "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them

  will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand."

  What is sand?

  It does not do.

  It's no obedience.

  It's self-centeredness.

  It's, "I do what I want to do."

  It's coming to church saying,

  "Oh, pastor, give me the Word,

  but don't tell me how to live.

  Don't tell me how to spend my money.

  Don't tell me that my favorite sin is wrong.

  Give me the Word."

  And there's some who are sitting here

  that want heaven.

  And they want all of the stuff associated with church.

  You like coming to church because it makes you feel religious.

  You want all of the nice sounding parts

  following Jesus, but you don't want to be Christ-like.

  And that is a problem.

  You notice in Jesus' little story here,

  everyone heard.

  Do you know what that tells me?

  That hearing the Word of God is not enough.

  You are expected to do what Jesus says.

  Expected.

  Right now somebody's like,

  "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out, time out, time out,

  Pastor Jeff, this is sounding a lot like works.

  Salvation."

  No.

  The sermons are on the website.

  Go back and listen again.

  This is not about work salvation.

  The whole sermon on the Mount

  is about the kind of person that you are.

  Have you been changed?

  Do you look at these words of Jesus

  and recognize the wisdom?

  Because when you do,

  when you've been transformed,

  when you see the wisdom of Jesus Christ,

  you obey what He says because you want to.

  You're like, "Yeah, His way is right.

  He loves me.

  He knows better than me."

  This isn't about works.

  This is about your heart.

  Think of it this way.

  Imagine that you're a parent of two kids.

  And both of these kids tell you that they love you.

  You're the best parent ever.

  I love you so much.

  One kid tries to follow your advice

  and always tries to do what you tell them to do.

  But the other kid absolutely refuses to do anything

  that you tell them to do.

  What do their actions say about their heart toward you?

  You see?

  Your actions reveal your heart toward Jesus.

  And that's not my opinion.

  That's Jesus' opinion.

  Look what Jesus said in John 14-15.

  Jesus said, "If you love me,

  you will keep my commandments."

  Do you remember the five love languages?

  Remember that?

  Does anybody remember what all five love languages are?

  What is it like?

  Quality time, physical touch, all gifts, access service.

  All words of affirmation.

  You do remember that.

  Well, did you know?

  Remember that Jesus has a love language.

  Do you know what Jesus' love language is?

  He told us.

  That's obeying His commandments.

  That's His love language.

  Jesus says, "I know people love me

  when they trust me enough to do what I say."

  You see, as we go through the Sermon on the Mount,

  even with us at all in this journey,

  you need to look back at these last few months

  and ask yourself,

  "Have I been striving to do what Jesus said to do?"

  Like, Jesus said, "We need to seek reconciliation with people."

  Have you done that?

  Have you reached out?

  Jesus said, "We need to cut off anything

  that causes us to lust."

  Have you done that?

  Are you obedient?

  Jesus said, "We need to love people who hate us."

  Have you been doing that?

  Jesus said, "We must be a kind of people

  that aren't always looking to get even."

  How are you doing there?

  Jesus said, "We're to be people that give

  storing treasure in heaven."

  Have you been doing that?

  Jesus said, "We shouldn't be critical of others

  judging people's hearts."

  How are you doing there?

  The list goes on and on and on,

  but I just need to ask you,

  do you long to obey what Jesus tells us to do?

  Are you growing to be more and more that kind of person?

  Or have you been living a life of disobedience

  and you just justify it?

  My situation is different.

  If Jeff knew my situation, he'd understand.

  This is why I do this.

  I know I shouldn't do this.

  I know Jesus said not to do this,

  but I have an excuse.

  Jesus said, "If you love Me, you'll keep My commandments."

  You know the negative of that is also true, right?

  I inserted a couple words here.

  Inserted two negatives.

  If you don't love Me, you will not keep My commandments.

  People ask all the time

  and the questions come up quite a bit

  over these last few weeks.

  How do I know that I'm saved?

  Do you love Jesus?

  Like, "Sure, I love Jesus."

  Do you obey Him?

  Listen very closely.

  Obedience is the only validation

  that you have of salvation.

  The only proof that you recognize

  the Lordship of God

  is the only proof that you recognize

  the Lordship of Jesus

  is by doing what He says.

  The only evidence that you truly believe

  in the wisdom of His words is obedience.

  The only proof, John 15.10,

  the only proof that you abide in Jesus' love

  is when you obey His commandments.

  (P)

  Is your life marked by continual obedience

  to the Word of God?

  None of us are perfect,

  but are we striving to grow in obedience

  to the Word of God?

  When you read your Bible,

  when you hear a sermon,

  do you say, "Yeah, I'm going after that today."

  If that describes you,

  then your house is built on the rock.

  Number two, if I built my house on the rock,

  while my house is built on obedience,

  and number two,

  well, my house will stand the storms.

  Look again, verse 25,

  talking about the rain on the wise man's house.

  It says, "And the rain fell,

  and the floods came, and the winds blew,

  and beat on the house,

  and it did not fall,

  because it had been pounded on the rock."

  Jump down to verse 27

  talking about the foolish man's house.

  It says, "And the rain, Jesus said,

  'The rain fell, and the floods came,

  and the winds blew,

  and beat against the house,

  and it fell, and great was the fall of it.'"

  So, see, in Jesus' story, the day of reckoning came.

  When storms come,

  we see what the houses are built upon,

  and some are going to stand,

  and some, according to our Lord, are going to fall.

  You know, it's funny, the foundation

  is the most important part of the house,

  and you can't even see it.

  Like your heart.

  Your heart is the most important part of you,

  and how faithful are you to Jesus, really?

  We'll find out.

  Notice Jesus said, "Storms will come."

  By the way, they come to everyone.

  Don't think that by following Jesus,

  you are suddenly exempt.

  You're not.

  Storms come to everyone.

  This is the point of Jesus' story.

  The one who obediently loves Jesus will stand,

  and the one who disregards obedience to Jesus,

  who lives life on their own terms, will fall.

  Your house is going to be tested.

  Your foundation is going to be tested.

  It might be with an illness.

  Yours or somebody very close to you.

  It might be a financial loss.

  It might be a job loss.

  Storms are coming.

  A persecution.

  It might be the death of someone close to you.

  Storms are coming.

  So when the storms come, will you collapse?

  Will you fall into despair?

  Will you give up on seeking the Lord?

  There are people that say, "The pain is too great.

  The storm is too strong. I can't handle it anymore."

  You know what? I'm done with God.

  Because what's He ever done for me?

  Your house just collapsed.

  Or when the storms come, will you stand strong?

  Will you experience God's presence like never before?

  Will you seek support from God's people in God's church?

  Will you say something like, "I'm going to get through this.

  Thank you, God, for your promises.

  Thank you, God, for your peace through all of this.

  I know, God, that nothing is happening to me,

  that you didn't allow.

  I know that you are using this to strengthen me."

  Ultimately, the storms speak of judgment.

  That's the theme of the whole close of the Sermon on the Mount.

  Judgment, how can you have certainty of your house then?

  By where you're building now.

  By the way, storms are good.

  Storms are among God's greatest blessings to us.

  Because storms will show you what you're really made of.

  Don't you want to know if your faith in Jesus is real?

  Don't you want to know?

  Don't you want to know if you're self-deceived and you don't really have biblical faith?

  Don't you want to know?

  Well, the only way that you know what you really believe is when the storms rock your house.

  And when you're in the middle of a terrible storm,

  but you still love Jesus,

  you still find Him worthy of following even when it's hard,

  then your house is built on the rock.

  So ask yourself, "Is my house built on obedience?"

  Will my house withstand the storms?

  One more.

  Have I built my house under Jesus' authority?

  I love this.

  Look at these last two verses in chapter 7.

  It says, "When Jesus finished these sayings,

  the crowds were astonished at His teaching."

  Like, what?

  They were just like,

  could you imagine hearing this for the first time?

  Why were you so astonished, crowds?

  Here it is, verse 29.

  It says, "For He was teaching them as one who had authority,

  and not as their scribes."

  They never heard anything like this.

  Do you realize?

  I mean, we've been preaching this since February

  because we've been taking little tiny bites at a time.

  But this is a relatively short sermon.

  And in this really short sermon,

  Jesus covered every area of life.

  I mean, it mentions the scribes in verse 29.

  Jesus spoke as one who had authority,

  not as their scribes.

  All the scribes ever did in Jesus' day was, quote, "people."

  That's all they did.

  That was their teaching.

  Well, so and so said this, and so and so said this.

  So let me quote so and so.

  That's all they did.

  Jesus didn't do that.

  Jesus said, "I say unto you,

  no wonder they were astonished."

  I mean, who says things like this?

  Do you realize the things that Jesus said about Himself

  in this sermon?

  I mean, can you just imagine?

  Please imagine with me,

  because I was doing this this week.

  Just imagine that you're sitting there

  and you hear this Jewish man get up

  and say things like,

  "People are going to hate you because of me."

  Imagine this.

  Listening to this Jewish man say,

  "I came here to do everything,"

  the law and the prophets say.

  What?

  Imagine sitting there listening to this Jewish man say,

  "Hey, where you spend eternity?

  Entirely depends on your relationship with me."

  So why should you listen to the sermon on the Mount?

  Because of who preached it.

  Jesus has all authority.

  And look, we can nod our heads at that in church.

  Yes, Jesus has all authority.

  But is He your authority?

  Because someone is your authority.

  And someone tells you what to do.

  And if you're like,

  "No one tells me what to do,"

  well, then it's you.

  You are your own authority if that's your attitude.

  But if your life is built on obeying

  the authority of Jesus,

  then your house is built on the rock.

  I think if our worship team would join me back up front,

  and we're going to have some people in just a moment

  that are going to be standing in front of the stage

  who will be available to pray with you.

  Listen, call back.

  Obedience is the only validation that you have of salvation.

  And I have to ask you,

  is there any area of your life

  where you have not been obedient?

  Have you been disobedient regarding money?

  Have you been disobedient regarding lust?

  Have you been disobedient regarding any relationship?

  Have you been unloving in any of your relationships?

  I had this whole list, right?

  And then I realized, you know what? You know.

  You know just like I know, for me.

  You know right now what is a roadblock

  in your relationship with Jesus.

  You know right now if Jesus were standing before you

  and would say, "Have any sin we need to deal with?"

  But you know exactly what He would be driving at.

  You know.

  You know right now where the Holy Spirit is telling you to repent.

  And let's not play the self-deceived game.

  Or we say, "You know what? I do know."

  And look, Pastor Jeff, I'm going to.

  I'm planning to someday, someday I'm going to give this up.

  You know what? You're right.

  I know I need to do this.

  Someday I'm going to stop this.

  But you've been saying that for months.

  Some of you have been saying that for years.

  And you're still doing it.

  Today.

  Today.

  You're going to stop building on sand.

  Today.

Beware of Who You Trust

Introduction:

Signs That You are Self-Deceived (Matthew 7:21-23)

1. You profess the truth without being CHANGED BY THE TRUTH. (Matt 7:21)

   Romans 10:9 – Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

2. You point to your works rather than CHRIST’S WORK. (Matt 7:22)

   Isaiah 64:6 – All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

3. You presume that you know Jesus but JESUS DOES NOT KNOW YOU. (Matt 7:23)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 7:21-23

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. How can you evaluate if you are self-deceived and lack self-awareness of who you are and whose you are?
   

3. How has the truth of the gospel changed you? In what areas do you need to be further changed?
   

4. What is the difference between knowing a lot about Jesus and knowing Jesus?
   

5. Why do you love Jesus?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Please turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7.

  Matthew chapter 7.

  Have you ever met a person who thought they had a certain skill

  that they actually didn't possess?

  Have you ever been that person?

  You were convinced that you had this talent, you had this ability.

  But then someone came along to burst your bubble,

  or you put yourself out there and you embarrassed yourself big time.

  I can think of no better example than this than American Idol.

  Who's watched American Idol at some point in their lives?

  I don't know about you, but I've never watched an entire season of American Idol.

  I always turn it off after the first round.

  Because what happens after the first round,

  all the terrible singers are sent home.

  And maybe this tells you something about me,

  but I love to watch those horrible auditions of those people who think they can sing,

  but they can't carry a tune in a bucket.

  They confidently stand before Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, and Simon Cowell

  to claim that they are phenomenal singers.

  And then they belt out the most wretched noises imaginable.

  Today, I will sing Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You."

  And I will always love you.

  Thank you.

  You'll never know if that's my real singing voice or my fake singing voice.

  After giving it their all, these individuals are absolutely shocked at the judge's reactions.

  They weep as Paula Abdul lets them down gently.

  Their jaws are on the floor as Randy Jackson gives his patented "pfft" to know from me, dog.

  And they fight back in Simon Cowell when he says something horrible like,

  "That was absolutely dreadful."

  And as you watch it at home, you can't help but think to yourself,

  how do they not recognize that they sound horrible?

  How do they not realize that they are terrible singers?

  Do you know the answer to those questions?

  The answer is self-deception.

  Self-deception.

  They are clueless to who they actually are.

  They are lying to themselves.

  Their view of themselves has no basis in reality.

  They lack self-awareness.

  And it's so easy for you and I to sit in our couches and pass judgment on these individuals

  as their delusions go before our eyes.

  But never forget an important truth.

  You too can be self-deceived.

  You too can lack self-awareness.

  You may not truly understand who you are and whose you are.

  Your self-deception may be far worse than believing that you're a world-class vocalist.

  Your self-deception may have eternal consequences.

  What if you think you're a Christian but you're actually not?

  What if you confidently believe that you are a child of God but you're actually a son or daughter

  of the devil?

  What if you believe that you are heading to heaven

  while you're on the path to hell?

  We're in the final section of the Sermon on the Mount, the heart ready for judgment.

  It's been made abundantly clear that Jesus is not going to pull any punches

  as he rounds out his most famous sermon.

  Two weeks ago, Pastor Jeff unpacked the really tough truth that the gate to everlasting life is what?

  Narrow. And few people go that way because it is hard.

  While the gate to never-ending punishment is wide, it is massive.

  And most people go that way because it is so easy.

  And last week we learned that there are so many false teachers pointing to the wide gate.

  And it's obvious who they are because of the fruit that they produce.

  Maybe you heard those messages and even agreed with those messages

  but you didn't internalize what was said.

  You didn't truly evaluate your heart to see if you're on the narrow path or the wide path

  to see if you are falling for false teaching.

  Well this morning, Jesus is going to tighten the net even more.

  The walls are going to be closing in on you so that there's no more wiggle room

  to escape what the Lord has to say about judgment.

  Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 through 23 contain the most chilling words in the entire Bible.

  And for me, there isn't a close second.

  Jesus says that many are self-deceived in this life

  and they will be shocked that they won't end up in heaven someday.

  I want to encourage you, please do not tune out and think,

  "Well, there's no way Jesus is talking about me so I can just kind of daydream

  and plan out the rest of my week."

  No, tune in and ask yourself, "What if Jesus is talking about me?"

  What if I am self-deceived?

  What if I am lacking self-awareness of who I am and who's I am?

  So before we continue, let's go the Lord and ask for His help.

  I ask that you pray for me.

  Are we faithful in proclaiming God's Word?

  And I will pray for you that you are faithful to receive it.

  Father, we come to you and we ask that your spirit will bring clarity,

  that He would bring illumination, that He would bring conviction and challenge.

  Lord, in the past 13 years of preaching, I don't know if I ever felt more inadequate

  to proclaim a text than this one.

  But I thank you in advance that you will preach a much better sermon

  in people's hearts than I ever could with my mouth.

  Show up in a great mighty way, Lord.

  Come to seek and save the lost.

  And for the rest of us, Lord, help us to be blown away by your awesome love.

  And we ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen.

  Signs that you are self-deceived.

  Sign one, you profess the truth without being changed by the truth.

  You profess the truth without being changed by the truth.

  Let's read chapter 7 verse 21.

  This is the Lord Jesus speaking.

  "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven.

  But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

  In this verse, Jesus talks about the here and now as well as the there and then.

  According to Jesus, what you say about who you are here and now may be proven to be wrong

  there and then at the final judgment.

  What you profess to believe with your mouth here and now may be proven to not be a genuine

  reality in your heart there and then as you stand before Jesus.

  You can be confident here and now that heaven is in your future,

  but then be banned from heaven when that future finally arrives.

  You can call Jesus Lord, Lord, which means that you claim him as God.

  You can even claim Jesus as your God.

  You can say all the right things about Jesus, but still not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.

  Isn't that terrifying?

  You may be thinking to yourself, "Taylor, how is that possible?"

  I thought it's all just about believing and confessing.

  That's it.

  Well, the combination of belief and confession is absolutely essential and you cannot be saved

  without it.

  Paul backs this up in Romans 10, 9, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord

  and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

  What a glorious truth that you should cherish, memorize, and hold on to.

  But unfortunately, so many people misuse and abuse that verse.

  Well, as long as you pray the prayer, as long as you say the right words, you're good to go.

  God has stamped your one-way ticket to heaven.

  Doesn't really matter what you do or how you live from now on.

  Once saved, always saved.

  But people who say that miss a key word in this verse, heart.

  Believe in your heart.

  This belief in Christ must take root at the deepest level of who you are.

  This belief in Christ must take over every single aspect of your life.

  True belief isn't a mere acknowledgement of the facts.

  It is an act of faith that transforms you from the inside out.

  Some who say, "Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven because they were transformed by their

  belief." Many others who say, "Lord, Lord will not enter the kingdom of heaven because they were

  never transformed by their belief." It is possible to profess the truth without being changed by the

  truth. And if you have not been changed by the truth of the gospel, then let me tell you,

  you have not truly believed in the truth of the gospel.

  So how can you tell if you have been changed by the truth or not?

  It's a very simple test according to Jesus. He says, "You don't just say, 'Lord, Lord,' you do

  the will of your Father who is in heaven. You say and you do."

  Last week, Pastor Jeff said that false teachers are revealed by their words and their actions.

  The same is true for followers of Christ. Genuine faith is proven by believing and confessing the

  right things, but that can't be the only standard according to our Lord. Genuine faith is also proven

  by doing the right things. Doing the will of your Father in heaven means that you obey

  His word. You have an internal desire to do what God says, and then you act on that desire.

  You act on what you say you believe. You say that you should passionately pursue after the Lord

  and His word and in prayer. So you do passionately pursue after the Lord in word, in His word

  and in prayer. You say that you should daily repent and turn from your sin, so you do daily

  repent and turn from your sin. You say that you should share your faith more and make disciples,

  so you do share your faith more and make disciples. What you say carries no weight

  if it doesn't line up with what you do.

  I want to make something crystal clear to avoid being misunderstood.

  You are not saved by what you do. You are not saved by what you do, but what you do reveals

  if you are saved or not. What you do reveals if you are saved or not.

  You know, almost 20 years ago, I took the written test to get my learner's permit.

  I studied that PA Driver's Manual inside and out. I knew all the right answers about driving,

  and I could regurgitate them on a test. Let me ask you, did passing that 18 question permit test

  make me a driver? No. For a number of years, I went to seminary. I went to a number of classes,

  read a countless number of books, listened to so many lectures, and I learned about what a pastor

  should be, what a pastor should do. In 2020, I was given my Master of Divinity. Let me ask you,

  did receiving that piece of paper in the mail make me a pastor? Not one bit. You can get 100%

  on your permit test and still not be able to enter a car and drive it with any level of competency.

  You can get the best theological training in the world and still not be able to enter into a church

  and be its pastor. You can ace a Bible Pop quiz and still not enter the kingdom of heaven.

  Do not be deceived and think that you're safe and sound just because you grew up in a Christian

  family and went to church when you were younger. Do not be deceived and think that you're safe and

  sound just because you fill a seat on Sunday mornings. It is not enough just to have the

  correct facts stored in your brain. The correct facts must change who you are.

  Signs that you are self-deceived. Sign number two, you point to your works rather than Christ's work.

  You point to your works rather than Christ's work.

  Let's read verse 22. On that day, many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name

  and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?"

  Once again, Jesus is taking us into the future. He fasts forward the movie of life to show us

  what the final judgment will look like. As we've already seen, some who say, "Lord, Lord, will

  enter the kingdom of heaven." But many others who say, "Lord, Lord, will not enter the kingdom of

  heaven." And that second group is the focus of this verse. In verse 21, "Lord, Lord was a profession

  of belief, but in verse 22 it is used as a desperate plea." This is a Hail Mary pass. It is a one last

  effort to avoid judgment. This is an attempt to convince Jesus that a mistake has been made.

  Lord Jesus, I know you have a lot of people to see and judge today. It makes sense that a few

  people are going to fall through the cracks and a few mistakes are going to be made. Let me remind

  you of who I am. Let me remind you of all the things I've done for you. Here's my resume.

  It's a really impressive resume, isn't it? Casting out demons,

  prophesying, doing many mighty works in miracles. You may look at this list and think,

  "How could someone with this resume not enter the kingdom of heaven? How could someone like this

  not be saved?" Well, there are three possible explanations that lead to the same sad result.

  Option number one, these mighty works are done by the power of the evil one.

  These mighty works are done by the power of the evil one.

  Pastor Jeff talked about this in depth last week, but Instagram, Facebook, YouTube,

  Christian TV stations are filled with corrupt and dishonest pastors who claim to proclaim the word

  of God and do many mighty miracles in the name of Christ. They look really great with their three

  pea suits, their expensive sneakers, their luxurious jets and fancy cars, but they are nothing but

  frauds and workers of Satan. They are not in ministry for you. They are not in ministry for Jesus.

  They are in ministry for themselves. They are after power, money and public adoration.

  At the very least, they operate in their own power, or at the very worst, they operate by the power of

  Satan himself. And you may be thinking, "Taylor, you seem to be a bit too tough on these guys."

  Well, Pastor Jeff, I'm simply applying your message from last week. I'm evaluating the fruits

  that these false teachers produce. Could it be that you don't like what I'm saying because you

  are being fooled? Because you are being led astray. Could it be that you're mistaking their bad fruit

  for good fruit? Option number two, these people are making false claims.

  Have you ever interviewed someone who patted out their resume with accomplishments they didn't

  actually accomplish, with awards they didn't actually win? What leads a person to lie about

  things they're so easily fact-checked in 2025? Once again, the answer is self-deception.

  There's no way I'll get caught. I can get away with it. They try to puff out their

  chest and make themselves look better than they actually are. They polish their imaginary trophies.

  Is it a good idea to lie to your potential employer? Let me ask that again so you can wake

  up a bit. Is it a good idea to lie to your potential employer? Is it a good idea to lie

  to Jesus Christ? Maybe you don't worry about where you'll end up in eternity because you have a high

  opinion of your ability to sweet talk your way into things or sweet talk your way out of things.

  I spoke into a lot of guys in the past that, "Yeah, I'm not worried about the afterlife.

  God and I will have a conversation at the pearly gates and he'll see why I should be in there.

  I'll be just fine." That is a horrible plan. That plan is foolishness. You cannot smooth talk Jesus.

  He knows everything and he sees everything. He knows what you've done and he knows what you haven't

  done. He sees right through your flimsy resume of fake accomplishments. Third option, God allows

  phony believers to accomplish amazing things for his kingdom and glory. God allows phony believers

  to accomplish amazing things for his glory and kingdom. Let me just think about the storyline

  of Scripture and how this plays out in the Old Testament and the New Testament. God put his

  own words in the mouth of a dirty donkey and then in the mouth of a wicked false prophet.

  The high priest Caiaphas who hated and opposed Jesus unintentionally prophesied that Jesus would

  die for the nation. In Philippians, the apostle Paul rejoices in the truth that men with horrible

  motivations can truly proclaim the good news of Jesus. Let's step away from biblical

  illustrations for a second and hit a bit closer to home. You can take the preaching class at

  harvest and deliver a killer sermon while you are engaging in a secret affair that you have no plans

  to confess or end. You can teach kids back at Harvest Academy while you mistreat your own

  children at home. You can go on mission trips overseas and help a ton of people over there

  while you defraud and deceive your clients over here. You can be the number one most dependable

  volunteer at harvest while being the most loyal customer at your local liquor store.

  God can use whoever he wants, whenever he wants to accomplish whatever he wants.

  God can use those who are walking in holiness and he can use those who are not walking in holiness.

  God can use those who truly belong to him as well as those who don't truly belong to him.

  Listen, you can keep yourself busy with religious activities while you destroy yourself behind

  closed doors and travel down the highway to hell. Serving your church, serving your community are

  good and godly activities, but those good and godly activities cannot save you. Only Jesus Christ

  can save you. Rip up your religious resume because I promise you it is not as good as you think it

  is. Even your best efforts are stained by sin, pride, and mixed motivations.

  Isaiah gives us a reality check about this when he says all of our righteous acts are like filthy

  rags. What are filthy rags good for? What's the answer? Nothing. Filthy rags should be thrown away.

  I assume that some of you will be going to a restaurant after church today with family and

  friends. Imagine trying to pay the bill with garbage that you found in the dumpster outside the

  restaurant. Would your server and the manager be very pleased with you? Why? Because you're offering

  them worthless garbage. Trying to hand God your religious resumes that you can be saved is like

  handing him trash and expecting that he'll be impressed. At this point, you may be kind of

  confused. Taylor, you spent a long time talking about the importance of doing the right things,

  but now you're kind of acting like doing the right things. Isn't that important?

  Well, again, I want to emphasize that good works must flow out of your salvation,

  but good works cannot contribute to your salvation, even a tiny bit. Salvation is 100%

  the work of God and 0% you. Some of you are operating as if you're responsible for half.

  25%, 5%, 2%, even 1% is too much. It's all of Jesus Christ.

  Listen, your resume stinks while Christ's resume soars. Your resume is imperfect while

  Christ's resume is perfect. You are a loser on your own while Christ is a winner.

  But the good news is you can share in his victory by letting go of what you have to offer

  by grabbing a hold of what he has to offer. Jesus Christ lived the perfect life you could never live.

  He succeeded in every single way that you have failed. He then died the death that you deserve to die.

  He rose again to give you the new life that you can never work your way towards. Do not be deceived

  and rely on your own goodness and track record. Do not rest your eternal destiny on yourself.

  Rest in Christ's work, not your own. Place your trust in Christ alone because

  He alone can give you what you need, both now and forever.

  Signs that you are self-deceived, final sign, and this is the hardest one of them all.

  You presume that you know Jesus, but Jesus does not know you.

  You presume that you know Jesus, but Jesus does not know you.

  So after the religious resume has been read, Jesus gives the most devastating response.

  And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

  Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

  Can you imagine anything more terrifying than hearing that from the most important person

  in existence? Get away from me. I want nothing to do with you.

  You are nothing but an unrepentant lawbreaker and evildoer.

  Does that response shock you? You may be thinking, but how could Jesus say something so harsh?

  Isn't He the definition of love and forgiveness?

  Well, what's the reason He gives in the text? You are acting like you know me, but I don't know you.

  You know, as a preacher, I enjoy listening to a lot of preachers. I'm somewhat of a pastoral nerd.

  I follow a lot of pastors on social media. I have a list of my favorites that I've listened to some for decades.

  And I learn about their personal lives. I learn about their ministries and their messages and their books,

  and it can really feel like I know them. But do I actually know them?

  I know a lot about them, but I don't know them. There is no relationship. There is no back and

  forth. There is no give or take. It's just a one-sided admiration from afar.

  Imagine I drive across the country to the house of my favorite online preacher.

  I show up on his doorstop at 10 o'clock at night and I knock on his door,

  keep ringing the doorbell. Eventually, his poor preacher shuffles the door and his bathrobe and his slippers, the toothbrush in hand.

  As soon as he opens the door, I launch into, "Hey, man, it's Taylor. I got a lot of problems right now.

  I really need your advice. Can I come in and chat?" How do you think he's going to respond?

  Dude, you're acting like you know me, but I don't know you at all. You are a total stranger.

  My wife and kids are at home and they're sleeping. I'm not just going to invite you in. You need to leave right now.

  Is that an appropriate response? Yes, that's how he should respond. I should be turned away from him in that moment.

  Let's change up the scenario a bit. At 10 o'clock tonight, I show up on Pastor Jeff's doorstep.

  Knock on the door, ring the doorbell. He opens it and I give him the same exact spiel.

  Will there be a different outcome? Will there be a different response? Why?

  Because I don't just listen to Pastor Jeff from afar. I don't watch him on a screen.

  We've been close friends for 13 years and he is my pastor.

  I know Pastor Jeff and Jeff knows me. I don't just know a lot about him.

  Do you know a lot about Jesus or do you know Jesus?

  Does Jesus consider you a stranger or does he know you as his close friend,

  his faithful follower, his blood-bought brother or sister?

  Does he really actually know you?

  Maybe you're thinking to yourself, "Well, how can I know if I know Jesus and he knows me?

  What's the test of that?" Well, years ago, I heard a pastor say something in a sermon that

  never forgot sense. He said, "You can tell a lot about a person by how they respond to a simple

  question. Why do you love Jesus? Why do you love Jesus?"

  He said, "You'd be shocked by how many people have no idea how to answer that question."

  Because their intellectual knowledge of Jesus has not created affection for Jesus.

  Friends, why do you love Jesus? If you can't think of anything, that's a huge problem

  and you shouldn't ignore it. Imagine pulling me aside for a service and saying, "Taylor,

  what do you love about your wife?" And I respond, "What does that tell you? I don't have a personal

  and in-depth knowledge of my wife. I don't love her like I presume to. I should say, "Hey,

  do you have a couple of days because my list is very, very long. There's not just one thing about

  my wife that I love. There's a countless number of them. My wife has my heart, so my list of why

  I love her is very long. But how much longer should your list be in my list be when it comes to Jesus

  Christ and why we love Him? Life is too short to plumb the depths of His awesomeness. Why do you

  love Jesus? I love Jesus because He died for me when I wanted nothing to do with Him. I love

  Jesus because He loves me no matter what I do. I love Jesus because He is not ashamed to call me

  His brother despite all the ways that I fail Him. I love Jesus because He cares about everything

  that I go through. And He sympathizes with all of my weaknesses. I love Jesus because right now

  He is interceding for me in heaven before the Father. I love Jesus because all the promises of

  Scripture find their yes in Amen in Him. I love Jesus because He is always with me and He will

  never forsake me even to the very end. I could keep going and going and going. Could you?

  How can you say that you love Jesus if you don't even know why you love Him?

  How can you expect that you'll worship Jesus for all of eternity if you can't think of a single

  reason to worship Him right now? Do not be deceived. Heaven is not a place for fans and admirers of

  Jesus. Heaven is a place for those who love Christ with a full heart. If you don't know Jesus

  before your life comes to an end, Jesus will deny knowing you in the next.

  For years, I used to laugh at the nickname that the Apostle John gave himself

  in his own Gospels. Does anyone know what his nickname he gave himself was? The disciple whom

  Jesus, what? Really, John? Ask him the nickname you gave yourself, the one whom Jesus loved.

  And for years, I thought John was saying, "Yeah, you know what? I was Jesus' favorite.

  Peter may be the most popular, but what can I say? Jesus loves me more."

  Recently, I've come to the realization that's not at all what John had in mind. John is claiming

  his identity by saying, "I am the one whom Jesus loved." He was saying the love of Jesus

  was the most important thing about him. It doesn't even matter what my name is. What matters is that

  Jesus loves me. The love of Jesus was the foundation of who he was and the motivation for all that he

  did. How do you identify yourself? Do you primarily identify yourself as someone who has all the right

  answers and says all the right things? Do you identify yourself as a good person who has an

  impressive religious resume of good works? Do you identify yourself as someone who knows a lot

  about Jesus? All of those identities are deceptive and destructive. All of those identities will

  lead you to everlasting destruction. If those are your identities, you are self-deceived. You lack

  self-awareness. I beg you to reject those identities and grab ahold of the love of Jesus Christ.

  Embrace who he is and what he wants to give you. Give your life to him and Christ will become your

  life. Give your identity to him and Christ will become your identity. You can be known as the one

  whom Jesus loves by bowing the knee to him in unending submission. Make the love of Jesus Christ

  the foundation of who you are and the motivation for all that you do.

  It's so easy to lose sight of these spiritual realities in a physical world, isn't it?

  In His infinite grace, God has chosen to give us a physical picture of His love in the Lord's Supper.

  As we come to this meal together, we are graphically reminded of how Christ has shown His love

  for us. He took our place on the cross. He died for us and He took upon Himself the wrath

  that you and I deserve. Our worship leaders and communion servers can now make their way forward.

  You don't need to be a member of Harvest Bible Chapel to take part in communion,

  but you do need to be a member of the family of God.

  Communion is only for those who know Christ and are known by Christ.

  If you want to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, we're going to have two individuals back in guest

  reception, Pastor Jeff and Lexie Cole. They would love to talk and pray with you.

  And please just look at me for a minute. Please do not pass up this opportunity.

  The Bible says that today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow is not a great day for salvation.

  Next week is not a great time for salvation. When it's more convenient, it's not a great time for

  salvation. Today is a great day for salvation. Jesus is commanding you to know Him today,

  to love Him today, to trust in Him today. So please push aside your pride, push aside any

  embarrassment you may feel. And go talk to Pastor Jeff and Lexie in the back. They would love to

  pray for you and point you to Jesus and what next steps with Him looks like.

Beware of Who You Hear

Introduction:

Watch! (Matthew 7:15-20)

1. Watch Out: FALSE PROPHETS! (Matt 7:15)

2. Watch For: FRUIT! (Matt 7:16-20)

   1. What They DO.

      John 7:18 – The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

   2. What They SAY.

      1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 – Do not despise prophesies but test everything: hold fast to what is good.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 7:15-20

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Why did Jesus say BEWARE of false prophets? What exactly is the danger?
   

3. What are examples of good fruit you should look for in a “prophet” (preacher, pastor)?

   What are examples of bad fruit?
   

4. What are some topics many false prophets talk about? What are some topics they often avoid?
   

5. False prophets talk about the Bible but not out of the Bible. What is the difference?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Before we continue in our series on the Sermon and Amount, I want to say a few things.

  In light of the events of last week, with the death of Charlie Kirk, the murder of Charlie Kirk,

  absolutely horrible.

  But at the same time, it's horrible.

  It's not really shocking, is it?

  It's not really shocking that something like that would happen.

  And I would say if you are shocked that something like that could happen in our country,

  then you haven't been paying attention.

  It's not shocking because this is exactly the kind of climate that the Lord told us we would be living in.

  Look at 2 Timothy 3.

  Turn in your Bibles there for a second, please.

  2 Timothy 3.

  Paul says, "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents,

  ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

  treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."

  Does that sound familiar at all?

  This is where we are.

  Charlie Kirk was a man who was murdered because of what he said.

  Because there were people that didn't like what he said. Does that sound familiar?

  The whole reason we're here is to worship God incarnate who came and said things that people didn't want to hear.

  And they murdered him for it.

  Yet God accomplished his purposes through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

  There's a young man who spoke boldly of the Lord who was publicly executed. His name was Stephen.

  God used that to advance his gospel purposes. There's a young man who spoke boldly for the Lord who was publicly executed.

  His name was Charlie.

  And already we're seeing God is using that to advance his gospel.

  It's a little terrible for Charlie's family and friends, but Charlie himself, he's having a good day.

  He is experiencing the fulfillment of the hope in Jesus Christ that he believed in.

  He's having a good day.

  As we had done this last stretch of the Sermon on the Mount, last week we talked about the command that Jesus gave us to enter the narrow gate.

  He said, "The way is hard." And here is another reason that the way is hard.

  Jesus said that we have to be willing to die.

  That's the call to discipleship. For anyone who has followed Jesus, Charlie got that.

  If he were here right now, what do you think he would tell us to do?

  What would you tell us to go after the Lord? To seek Jesus Christ, to get in His Word?

  And that's what we're going to do.

  So I'd like you to bow your heads, please. I want you to please pray for me.

  To be faithful to communicate God's Word as I should, and I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us today.

  Father in heaven, we live in the days that you advertised. You told us exactly what this would be like.

  Father, we were just singing about how worthy you are.

  Father, may we all, like this faithful saint this past week, Father, may we all demonstrate how worthy we consider you by our willingness to lay down our lives.

  It's not going to get any better until our Lord returns.

  Calm Lord Jesus. Open up our hearts and minds to your Word today, Father.

  We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

  Open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7, and we'll be picking up in verse 15.

  Last Halloween, I was at work. Aaron sent me a video at the house of a mysterious knocking.

  She's going through the house recording this. There was this knocking. She went to the doors. She went outside.

  Nobody but just this constant mysterious knocking. Creepy at any time, especially on Halloween, right?

  Well, we found out who was knocking. We have a woodpecker problem.

  Oh yeah, funny for you. We got a woodpecker problem.

  So we got on the Internet to figure out what we need to do to deter the woodpecker.

  And one of the things that they recommended was getting a plastic owl.

  They say that owls are just like natural woodpecker predators, right?

  So you're going to put an owl where the woodpeckers want to come, and that scares the woodpeckers away.

  So I dragged the ladder out, and I climbed up the side of the house, and I lashed the owl to the raid on vent with thick twine.

  And you know that woodpecker came back. So I went outside.

  Like, what did I do wrong here? And you know, I think I see the problem.

  That owl doesn't look ready to attack, does he? Looks like what we got here is a hostage situation.

  And I think the woodpecker saw this and was like, "Oh, this house is awesome."

  They just take my predators and lashed them to the house.

  You know what I learned from this? I'm not very good at deceiving.

  I can't even deceive a bird. But you know, there are, unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there today who are great at deceiving.

  Last week we talked about entering the narrow gate. Jesus said the way is hard.

  He said the narrow gate is hard to find. It's hard to walk.

  And here's another reason the narrow gate is so hard to enter. Look at verse 15.

  Jesus says, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

  It's hard to enter the narrow gate because there are false prophets that are good at deceiving.

  It's hard to enter the narrow gate because you have people that are standing saying that they represent God and they don't, and they're ushering people into the wide gates.

  Like, well, who would fall for that? Well, according to verse 13, Jesus said many, many.

  If you look at the flow of Jesus' sermon here from last week to this week, here's what our Lord is saying.

  Jesus is saying strive to enter the narrow gate and beware of those who would mislead you away from it.

  I want you to draw some things down on your outline. Here's what, it's really about one word today. Watch. Watch.

  Watch number one right this time. Watch out. False prophets.

  "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

  See, God has this plan to save sinners, and the plan to save sinners, it has two tracks. One track is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

  "Took away our sin, provided eternal life." That's one, that's one track.

  The other track that this train of salvation runs on is the gospel message being spoken through the people of God.

  Satan has his counterfeits. Just as God sends his people out to usher people into the narrow gate,

  Satan has his counterfeits leading people into the wide gate. And Jesus tells us in verse 15 about these false prophets that they're not always obvious, but they are always dangerous.

  Do you see that? They're not always obvious, but they are always dangerous. Let's break that down. They're not always obvious, first of all.

  Notice Jesus says that they're in sheep's clothing. What is sheep's clothing? That's just another way of saying, "Wool."

  Our Lord wasn't talking about going to the Spirit of Halloween store and buying a lamb costume. He's not talking about that.

  He's talking about a wool coat, because in those days that's what a shepherd wore. They wore a wool coat.

  So Jesus is saying false prophets are dressed as a shepherd. In other words, they look like a legitimate pastor.

  Oh, they sound so good and people just love them, but they're not always obvious, but they are always dangerous.

  That's why I look at the first word of verse 15, "Beware." Jesus didn't say, "Take note or notice." Beware. Look out for these people.

  Always dangerous. Jesus says they might look like shepherds, but inwardly they're wolves.

  Number one enemy of sheep. Inwardly evil.

  What does a wolf do with sheep? Does a wolf show up to feed the sheep? Does the wolf show up to care for the sheep? No.

  Wolves, when they show up, they're there to take. A wolf is there to get what the wolf wants. A wolf is there to destroy the sheep.

  And Jesus said that is what false prophets are like.

  Jesus said you have to beware. It's all through the Bible. All through the Bible. Read Old Testament, Deuteronomy 13, Isaiah 30, Jeremiah 14.

  We talked about this recently through the New Testament, Matthew chapter 24.

  Almost every New Testament epistle warns against false prophets.

  And here once again Jesus is calling us church to discernment.

  And you've heard me say this before, that is my biggest concern for the church at large, but that is my biggest concern for this church.

  It's lack of discernment.

  Like, well, what's discernment? Disernment is the ability to detect what's from God and what's not from God.

  My concern is for this church.

  My concern is for people here who genuinely love the Lord, genuinely love His Word, being led astray.

  Because more than ever we have countless opportunities to listen to junk teaching.

  Internet, podcasts, YouTube. Jesus tells us to beware and church never, never has it been a bigger problem because wolves have a bigger platform than ever in history.

  You have to discern who you follow, who you listen to, who you read. You have to discern.

  I'm shocked at the lack of discernment that we have in the church today.

  People just gobble up anything as long as it has a sticker on it that says Christian.

  It's not all from God. It's not.

  That's why Jesus tells us to beware. It's not all from God.

  Like, well, does it really matter? Does it really matter? I mean, come on.

  Aren't we just nitpicking here a little bit, Pastor Jeff? Does it really matter?

  Well, let me ask you this. Imagine that you woke up tomorrow morning and you had the most severe stomach cramps.

  I mean, it just felt like razors in your intestines and you're just like doubled over in pain, can't function, calling off work.

  I got to get to a doctor. Which doctor are you going to?

  Do you want the trendy doctor who has the most patience, who will lie to you to make you happy, but is really using you and misleading you?

  Or do you want the doctor who cares about you and will tell you the truth?

  You're like, well, it's a no-brainer, isn't it?

  Why isn't a no-brainer there? But when it comes to Bible teaching, we want the trendy lying guy.

  The wide gate leads to destruction. Does this stuff matter? Yeah, it matters, because your eternity is on the line.

  And you better be sure that you haven't been ushered into the wide gate by some false prophets.

  They're not always obvious, but they are always dangerous. They're dangerous to Christians.

  They're dangerous to the church. They're dangerous to our families.

  If Jesus, if God Himself is telling us we need to beware of these people, then we better be paying attention.

  Watch out for the false prophets. You're like, all right, well, how do I know?

  Like, if these people are out there and they're not obvious, but they're dangerous, how do I know?

  How do I recognize them? Well, number two in your outline, watch for fruit.

  Look at verses 16 through 20. Jesus tells us to beware.

  Look at verse 16. He says, "You will recognize them by their fruits."

  Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

  So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruits.

  A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruits.

  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

  Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits.

  I gotta tell you, this is one of the most comforting passages in the Bible.

  Jesus says you will recognize them. You will.

  Jesus didn't say, there's false prophets out there that'll lead you to hell. Good luck.

  You'll recognize them if you discern, if you care to discern.

  If you take the Lord's warning to beware, if you take that seriously, you'll recognize them.

  I recognize them how. Jesus said you'll recognize them by their fruits.

  You mean like a tree? Yeah, like a tree.

  You recognize a tree by what it produces, right?

  In the same way Jesus is telling us you recognize false prophets by what they produce.

  I don't really have to explain Jesus' analogy here too much, do I?

  Jesus illustrates it by saying, look, good trees make good fruit. Bad trees make bad fruit.

  Like, that's how you know. You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on, hang on, hang on.

  Back in verse 1 of chapter 7, I thought you said we're not supposed to judge someone's heart.

  That's right. You can't judge someone's heart. That's why Jesus says to judge the fruit.

  Jesus here is telling us, look, you have to judge by looking at what they produce.

  Like, well, what is that? Very simply church, it's two things.

  There are two things, any preacher you listen to, whether it's here or down the street or on the YouTubes

  or the Facebooks or whatever, wherever you're listening to preachers, you have to look at two things.

  In verse 1 of chapter 8, I thought you said, look, what is that?

  I thought you said, look, what is that?

  I thought you said, look, what is that?

  I thought you said, look, what is that?

  It'll come out. It always comes out eventually.

  What's in the heart is always revealed in actions. You will recognize them by their fruit.

  There's good fruit to look for.

  This pastor, this preacher you're listening to, you're following. There's good fruit to look for.

  What about things like humility and selflessness, repentance and obedience, generosity and hospitality?

  What about the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?

  Do they seem to have a motive to want to glorify God?

  Are they a person that wants holiness and righteousness? Do they seem like they want to magnify Jesus?

  There's a lot of fruit that we can talk about, but really, I guess since we're in this current sermon series, let's boil it down to this.

  Let's make it this easy.

  This preacher that you're evaluating, is he a Beatitude guy?

  Because a true Christian and a true prophet, someone speaking for God, is someone who exemplifies the Beatitudes.

  That's what our Lord is saying. You want good fruit, you're not going to find it from a false prophet.

  Because nothing good comes from them.

  You don't get grapes from thorns.

  You don't get things from thistles, do you?

  You know, Jesus made a very powerful statement of evaluation in John 7.18.

  Look at this. Jesus said, "The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory."

  But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

  The second part of that verse, Jesus is speaking obviously of himself.

  That's Jesus' standard for his own identity.

  But here, in the first part of that verse, Jesus is giving us a clue on how to identify a false prophet.

  Look at this. He says, "The one who speaks on his own authority is the one who seeks his own glory."

  See, that's the bad fruit that you need to be looking for.

  That preacher that is constantly looking for more attention.

  It's about his branding, his image, him being the face of it. More spotlight on me, please.

  Ain't I great?

  It's all about his pride, his ego, his power. Self-centered.

  Watch out for that guy. Watch out for the guy that's seeking his own glory.

  Self-centered and self-indulgent.

  You know, these people will put on a pure and holy front, write this down.

  Eventually, false prophets are found to be full of greed and/or lust.

  And that comes out eventually.

  You're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, it's sort of hard to evaluate this fruit,

  because this kind of stuff often gets covered." You're right.

  This is the kind of fruit that's not always so readily seen,

  but there is a more obvious fruit that we need to evaluate.

  And that's the letter B. Listen to what they say.

  Listen to what they say.

  And oh, what they say matters, by the way, because Jesus says, "Beware of false prophets."

  Prophets?

  Prophets?

  It's about someone giving a message, right?

  A couple years ago, back when we were chicken farmers,

  we were chicken farmers. I heard a couple people laugh.

  At least that's what I like to refer to myself as.

  But we went to the rural king and we got ourselves six leg horns.

  And when you buy them at the rural king, they're sexed,

  which means you're getting all females, right?

  Because we wanted them eggs.

  Well, our leg horns grew up.

  They're so cute when they're little.

  And then when they get to that adolescent age, they get really ugly.

  And then they turn into beautiful creatures.

  Like humans, right? I know you're thinking it.

  I knew you were thinking it.

  All right, so we had these six chickens and the one day Aaron goes,

  "Hey, you need to come out and look at something. I need your opinion."

  And I went outside and our one leg horn, again, just coming out of adolescence,

  but our one leg horn was like, "Ah, ah, ah!"

  And I'm like, "Hmm, little gene, little J-E-A-N is actually little G-E-N-E."

  And you know what little gene we didn't know what he was until he opened his mouth?

  And that's true about false prophets.

  You might not know what they are until they open their mouth.

  Listen to the message.

  What am I listening for?

  And this is discernment 101. We've talked about this stuff.

  Disturment 101. What are we listening for?

  False prophets always have a twisted view of Jesus, always.

  His person, His work, who Jesus is, what He did, what it means.

  False prophets always have this twisted view.

  According to the Bible, the incarnation is Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man.

  God became a man to die as a man for men.

  That's who Jesus is. That's what He did.

  He rose from the dead to give us eternal life.

  That's who Jesus is. That's what He did.

  And if you don't get that doctrine right, nothing else really matters, right?

  And it's easy to take the shots at the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons and the Christian scientists.

  And those ones are obviously off about who Jesus is and what He did.

  I mean, that's so obvious. They're not really my concern.

  I'm more concerned about the ones who present themselves as being biblical.

  Listen to the message.

  Are they accurately representing God's Word?

  You've got to have discernment people.

  False prophets will teach some man-centered nonsense

  and they like to sprinkle in some random out-of-context verses

  and non-discerning people say, "Well," he mentioned the Bible,

  "so that has to be from God."

  They twist Scripture to attract an audience.

  Do you ever wonder how they fill those massive auditoriums?

  Like, how do they do that?

  Like, if they're false prophets, how are there so many people packed in to hear them?

  It's because they tell people what they want to hear. That's why.

  They tell people what they want to hear.

  Their message is, they're going to talk about things like, look, God is love.

  That's really the only thing you need to know is God is love.

  Is that true? Is God love? Yes, absolutely.

  You see, the problem is that's the only aspect of God that they talk about.

  You know, the Bible at the same time talks about other attributes of God

  that are also just as true and just as important as the fact that God is love.

  God is love. That's all you're going to hear.

  And if you just believe, if you have enough faith, deep down in your heart of hearts,

  deep down in your hearts, way deep down in your heart, if you really believe,

  you're going to be physically healed and you're going to be wealthy,

  they say things like, you know what, you have the power to control your destiny.

  They say things like, it's never God's will that you lack.

  It is never God's will that you suffer.

  And then we sprinkle in a couple of verses to make it sound like I'm saying what the Bible says.

  And then the world comes along and they're like, oh, that's the kind of religion that I want.

  It puts the spotlight off of Jesus and on to me.

  That's the problem.

  Self-centered teaching attracts self-centered people.

  You know, we tend to measure success with numbers and then we somehow equate numbers with authenticity.

  Listen, huge red flag, when the focus of preaching is all about our benefits, not God's glory.

  I mean, that kind of preaching might be attractive to people, but not to God.

  So preaching, it leads to the wide path.

  Listen to what they say.

  And listen, not just listen to what they say, listen to what they never say.

  Listen to what they never say.

  Yeah, we're going to go with that.

  Are they teaching the whole counsel of God's Word?

  Or do they cherry-pick topics?

  It's a huge clue for false prophets.

  They're never going to talk about sin or repentance or denying yourself or judgment or hell.

  They're never going to talk about that.

  It's all so easy.

  It's nothing offensive.

  It's nothing that convicts.

  It's nothing that could possibly bring godly sorrow into your life.

  We're not going to talk about that.

  We don't want anyone to feel bad.

  We just want you all to feel comfortable.

  All the way to hell.

  The false prophet, listen, talks about the Bible, but not out of the Bible.

  And if you learn to discern the difference between those two things,

  you're going to be able to spot a false prophet instantly.

  They talk about the Bible, not out of the Bible.

  They're not preaching a narrow gate.

  And if they're not preaching a narrow gate, which gate are they leading you into again?

  1 Thessalonians 5, Paul says, "Do not despise prophecies, but test everything.

  Hold fast to what is good."

  Any teaching that includes here, any teaching that you hear must be tested with the Word of God.

  You see, in God's infinite wisdom, that's why he gave us a book.

  Why?

  Because anybody can walk around and say, "Well, this is what God says.

  I have a message from the Lord.

  Let me tell you what the Almighty is saying.

  Anybody can do that."

  But God gave us His Word in written form so that we could read it, and we can understand it,

  and we can compare what we hear with it, and know for sure what's from God and what's not.

  And here our Lord tells us, "Beware.

  Beware of false prophets, because not everything called Christian is from God."

  Satan is not going to make it obvious for us.

  Deception is his MO, and he's going to make sure that his false prophets wear sheep's clothing.

  They're going to be dressed just like a shepherd.

  Like that's the worship team to come back up.

  And church, I want you to stand.

  I want you to stand.

  We're going to get into prayer groups.

  So in just a moment, I want you to stand up.

  Go ahead, stand up.

  Don't be shy.

  And here's what I want you to do.

  I want you to grab a few people near.

  You're getting a little groups of about six or eight or so.

  Look, we're not going to go through and count.

  All right?

  And if you want to stand and pray by yourself, that's your business,

  but I want to encourage you to just grab a few people nearby, get into little groups.

  And here's what I want us to do today.

  I want us to heed the warning of Jesus.

  We need to pray.

  We need to pray for our church, for our families, for our little ones.

  We are bombarded more than ever with false teaching.

  So what I want you to do in your little prayer groups,

  I want you to pray just two things, all right?

  Number one, I want you to pray that we would know and love the Word of God.

  All right?

  And number two, that we would learn to recognize false prophets by their fruit.

  Those are the two things that we're praying about now.

Beware of Which Gate You Enter

Introduction:

John 3:36 - whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Ephesians 2:3 – were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Enter By the Narrow Gate (Matthew 7:13-14)

1. It's Hard to FIND. (Matt 7:14)

   John 14:6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

   Luke 14:33 – So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

2. It's Hard to WALK. (Matt 7:14)

3. It's Hard to DISMISS. (Matt 7:14)

   Matthew 11:12 – From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 7:13-14

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. How would (specifically) you answer this question: How do I know which gate I entered?
   

3. We are saved by grace. But are things like repentance, counting the cost, and entering the kingdom violently considered “works”? Why or why not?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  I'd like you to just bow your heads for a moment,

  and I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me

  to be faithful to communicate God's word accurately as I should.

  And I will pray for you to be ready to receive

  whatever it is the Lord wants to teach you today.

  Alright? Let's pray.

  Father in heaven, you are greatly glorified

  as transformed people by the power of your Holy Spirit.

  Our obedient to what you've revealed in your Word.

  That's all I'm asking for today, Father,

  for your glory to be on display as we respond

  to what you've told us in your Word.

  Manifest your grace and your goodness here today, Father.

  We ask in Jesus' name, amen.

  If you haven't already opened up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7,

  we're just going to be looking at two verses today.

  For some of you, these could be the most

  two important verses you ever hear.

  When I was a kid growing up in Shakura,

  we attended the Little Methodist Church.

  And when you're - I don't know if it's still the case in the Methodist Church,

  but at that time, when you're 12,

  you go through confirmation classes.

  You go to the Methodist Church, and then they teach you

  about doctrine and John Wesley and the books of the Bible.

  But one part of this confirmation class,

  it took place over several days,

  but one part was the pastor would take you into the auditorium,

  just you and him.

  And I'm assuming that his conversation with the others went as it did with me.

  I remember the pastor took me to the auditorium and he said,

  "Jeff, you don't want to go to hell, do you?"

  And I'm like, "You mean today?

  Because mom's expecting me home for dinner."

  He's like, "You don't want to go to hell, do you?"

  And I was just like, "No."

  He goes, "Well, then you want to accept Jesus Christ

  as your Lord and Savior, right?"

  And I'm like, "Okay."

  "Great."

  And he sent me back with the other kids.

  And then every time this pastor saw me after that,

  he would say, "I remember the day you gave your life to Jesus."

  "Oh, Jeff, I remember the day you gave your life to Jesus."

  And I was like, "Yeah, that was awesome."

  Is that what it means to follow Jesus?

  You see, since February we've been going through the Sermon on the Mount,

  the greatest sermon ever preached.

  And over the next four weeks, we're looking at how Jesus closes

  the greatest sermon ever preached.

  All of the content leads to this.

  Over the past several months, we've looked at the heart of the disciple

  and the beatitudes.

  This is what a Jesus follower looks like.

  We talked about the heart of the law.

  Jesus didn't come to get rid of the Old Testament.

  He said, "I came to fulfill it."

  We talked about the heart of religion.

  Look, it's not about doing things for show

  to get a pat on the back from people.

  We talked about the heart towards the world.

  How should we interact in this world with money and stuff and people?

  And now we get to the close of Jesus' sermon, and here he's saying,

  "Now what are you going to do about it?"

  Now that you know what I call you to,

  is your heart ready for judgment?

  Look at verses 13 and 14.

  Jesus says, "Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide,

  and the way is easy, that leads to destruction,

  and those who enter by it are many.

  For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard,

  that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

  Everybody's heading to eternity.

  I don't need to sell anyone on that, do I?

  Everyone's heading for eternity,

  and Jesus said there are two gates.

  There's exactly two options,

  and here Jesus is calling for an urgent choice.

  He commands, that's the first sentence in verse 13,

  "Enter by the narrow gate."

  That's a choice literally between heaven and hell.

  Jesus says, "Make your choice."

  Who would choose hell?

  I mean, really.

  Who would choose hell?

  I mean, yeah, I've shared the Gospel with a lot of people over the years,

  and I've met the guy, probably you have to.

  It's like, "Well, I'm going to hell,

  and I know I'm going to hell, and I don't really care,

  because all my buddies will be there."

  But I'm like, "You are clueless."

  You meet that joker.

  But who would really, honestly, seriously choose hell?

  Why wouldn't you choose heaven?

  I mean, really.

  See, my friends, that's the thing.

  That's why this message is so urgent,

  because no one thinks they are choosing hell.

  Everyone thinks that they are going to end up in heaven.

  Somehow, some way, I'm going to end up in heaven.

  Everyone thinks that.

  Everyone is, according to Jesus.

  In fact, it's even worse than we think it is.

  As we saw in the video, we have this mindset that most of us are good,

  and we're going to heaven, and there's a few really bad people that are going to hell.

  Jesus didn't say that.

  Notice Jesus said the exact opposite.

  He said many are going to hell, to destruction,

  and he said few are going to heaven.

  Few find life.

  So do you know what you have to do to go to hell?

  Do you know?

  Nothing.

  You don't have to do a thing.

  And that's where you'll end up.

  John 3.36 says,

  "Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life."

  Look at this.

  "But the wrath of God remains on him."

  How do you get the wrath of God?

  He's already on you.

  Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 2-3.

  He says, "We were by nature children of wrath,

  like the rest of mankind."

  That was our default mode.

  And I want you to notice in these two verses,

  Jesus didn't say, "Choose which gate."

  He didn't say that.

  You already did choose a gate.

  There's no language here that says,

  "Well, tell me, how do I go through the wide gate?"

  You already did.

  Notice with the narrow gate, look at the very last phrase in verse 14.

  Jesus said, "Those who find it are few."

  The wide gate is something that has to be found.

  The wide gate, Jesus never said you had to find the wide gate.

  It's wide.

  It's easy.

  And you're already on it.

  Heading to destruction.

  So what we have here in these verses is a command.

  It's a command to enter the narrow gate.

  Look at verse 13 again.

  Enter by the narrow gate.

  It's a command. It's a call to action.

  Meaning it doesn't happen by accident.

  It's worth noting that Jesus,

  we're going to see this in these upcoming messages as well,

  there are people that are going to be shocked

  that they're going to hell.

  But you know, the Bible never says that there are people

  that are shocked that they end up in heaven.

  That guy doesn't exist.

  That guy doesn't exist where Jesus says,

  "Come on in to glory."

  Like, wow, I didn't know I was coming here.

  Wow.

  That guy doesn't exist.

  The gospel is a command.

  Listen, it's a command.

  It's not just an invitation.

  It's not just a suggestion.

  You really ought to think about maybe turning to Jesus.

  It is a command.

  Look at the words that are used to describe coming to Christ.

  They're all commands.

  Words like "repent."

  You're commanded to repent.

  Believe.

  Receive.

  Believe.

  Here, the command is "enter."

  This is the big takeaway from the Sermon on the Mount

  according to Jesus.

  Because of everything that He said,

  going back to the Beatitudes,

  leading to this point,

  Jesus commands us to choose narrow.

  It's not enough to listen to sermons about the narrow gate.

  It's not enough to study the narrow gate.

  It's not enough to even kind of like the narrow gate.

  Jesus said, "You have to make the choice to enter the narrow gate."

  Have you made that choice?

  I want you to jot some things down

  on your outline.

  This is the command, "Enter by the narrow gate."

  What does our Lord say about it?

  First of all, number one, write this down.

  It's hard to find.

  It's hard to find.

  Again, in verse 14, Jesus says,

  "For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life.

  And those who find it are few."

  It's hard to find.

  It's narrow.

  What exactly do you mean it's narrow?

  Well, one thing that it means, that it's being narrow,

  is that it's the only way to be saved.

  Jesus made that claim.

  The Bible makes that claim over and over and over.

  In John 14.6, Jesus said,

  "I am the way and the truth and the life.

  No one comes to the Father except through me."

  The gate is narrow because it's the only way to be saved.

  Not every road leads to heaven.

  That doesn't even work in the physical world, does it?

  If you came to me after service and you're like,

  "Pastor Jeff, I really want to go to Cleveland.

  How do I get there?"

  First of all, I'm not sure you really do want to go there.

  But if you have to listen, you know how to get to Cleveland?

  Just pick a road. It doesn't matter.

  Get in your car and just pick a road.

  As long as you believe in your heart's that that road will take you to Cleveland,

  then you will get to Cleveland.

  Would that work?

  People are like, "I think I'll ask Pastor Taylor."

  Right?

  I mean, that's foolishness.

  So why do we think that any road is going to get us to heaven?

  Not every road will take you there.

  Because your problem is sin before a holy God,

  and the only way that that sin can be forgiven

  is through Jesus Christ, because He's the only one

  who paid the penalty to take away your sin.

  It's narrow because it's the only way to be saved.

  It's narrow also because you're called to leave some things behind.

  You get a picture of this narrow gate almost like a turnstile,

  like walking into Kennywood.

  If you're going through that turnstile, you've got to leave some stuff behind.

  Like leave what behind?

  Your sin?

  Your self-centeredness?

  Your rights?

  Your pride?

  You've got to leave your old self behind,

  because listen, you're both not going to fit through the turnstile.

  You both won't fit through the narrow gate.

  Jesus said it costs to enter this gate.

  We don't have time today, but just write down Matthew 10, Luke 14.

  Jesus said there's a cost to entering the gate.

  Leave stuff behind.

  Like, well, what's the cost?

  Jesus said you have to love Him more than you love your own family.

  Jesus said you have to deny yourself.

  Jesus said you have to consider yourself a slave to Him.

  Oh, and you have to consider yourself a slave to everyone else.

  Jesus said things like you have to take up your cross.

  You have to be willing to lay down your life for Him.

  Listen, if you're unwilling to do any of that,

  then you're not going to get through the gate at all.

  To sum it up, Luke 14.33, look what Jesus says.

  Not the most secret, sensitive way to address a crowd.

  Jesus said, "So therefore any one of you who does not renounce all that He has

  cannot be my disciple."

  You willing to do that?

  You're like, "I don't know."

  Okay, then you're not going through the narrow gate.

  Back when I was in college, I had several jobs.

  Here's where two of them overlapped.

  I was pastoring a little country church,

  and I was also a magazine vendor for two Walmarts and two K-Marts.

  Is K-Marts still a thing?

  It was back then.

  But I would go in third shift to these stores,

  and I would stock the magazines.

  And at the one K-Mart, I got to be friends with some of the employees there.

  There were a couple cashiers that I invited to church.

  I'll never forget this.

  The one cashier, her name was Gina.

  And she came to church for probably three or four weeks,

  and then stopped.

  Well, the next time I saw her at K-Mart,

  I said, "Hey, I haven't seen you in church."

  I'll never forget what she said.

  She said, "I can't go to church

  and live the kind of life that I want to live."

  It's sad.

  She got it.

  She got the fact that the gate is narrow.

  She got the fact that she can't come into the kingdom of heaven

  while carrying all her sin in with her.

  I don't want to talk about Gina though. I want to talk about you.

  What have you left behind to follow Jesus?

  Would you say that there's been a tremendous cost to you

  in deciding to follow Jesus?

  And if your answer is, "Well, you know,

  I haven't really given up that much to follow Jesus,

  really now that I think about it,

  I really haven't given up very much."

  Well, then you haven't found the narrow gate.

  It's hard to find.

  Secondly, write this down.

  Not only is it hard to find,

  it's hard to walk.

  It's hard to walk.

  The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life.

  The way is hard that leads to life.

  You see what Jesus is saying?

  If you find it, and even when it's truly found,

  it's hard to enter.

  And when you enter it, it's hard to walk.

  And right now somebody's like, "Hard? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

  hang on, hang on, hang on."

  I thought coming to Jesus was just belief.

  Just believe in Jesus.

  What are you talking about? Hard.

  It's just believe, right?

  Well, I would ask you,

  what do you mean by believe?

  Do you know how Jesus described what it means to believe?

  The Sermon on the Mount.

  This is how Jesus described what it means to believe.

  He described it with the beatitudes.

  When you're broken over your sin and you're meek

  and you desire righteousness and purity more than anything,

  you're a peacemaker.

  And then, if you're really living it, people hate you.

  That's what it means to believe.

  Jesus said believing is being salt and light.

  That means you're different than the world.

  You stand out because of what you believe.

  Is that what you mean by believe?

  Jesus said believing is turning from anger, turning from lust.

  Jesus said believing is a person who always keeps their word.

  Jesus said believing is never retaliating.

  Jesus said believing is when you love your enemies.

  Jesus said believing is when you choose to give

  and to pray and to fast privately.

  So only God knows.

  Jesus says believing is giving to God

  so that you lay up treasure in heaven.

  Jesus said believing is never worrying.

  Not being anxious for anything.

  Jesus said believing is not being critical of others

  but doing to others what you wish they would do to you.

  Now, you tell me what's easy about any of that.

  It's hard to walk.

  If you've been with us in any part of this journey

  through the Sermon on the Mount,

  has there been any of these sections that you've pointed at

  and went, "Oh, that's easy. I got that nailed down."

  Or have you been more like me every week

  taken to the woodshed?

  Tour up?

  Or have you been more like me

  every week taken to the woodshed?

  Or have you been more like me?

  Difficult is the standard.

  We're told on the front end,

  when you live different than the world,

  you're going to have people after you.

  You're going to suffer.

  It's hard to walk.

  That's why a lot of people bail, by the way.

  They weren't expecting it to be hard.

  They were believing in gospel that Jesus never taught.

  Because believing in the gospel,

  despite the lame way we want to package it

  in American churches,

  believing in the gospel is more than just acknowledging facts.

  And it's even way more than just agreeing with the facts.

  Believing in the gospel is having a faith in Jesus Christ

  that makes your decisions for you.

  Your life should be marked by this.

  Constantly saying, "You know what?

  I do this because of what Jesus said.

  This is why I do that."

  Your life should be marked by things you say,

  "You know what? I never do this

  because God said I should never do that.

  My life makes my decisions for me."

  That's what it means to believe.

  In churches, dishonor the gospel

  and do a disservice to people

  when we make it easy to follow Jesus.

  Shame on us.

  We make it so easy for the people

  that walk in the door and say,

  "Look, I just want to attend.

  I just want to come in on Sunday,

  in late, out early.

  I just want to attend.

  I don't want to get involved.

  I don't want to help out with the kids ministry.

  I don't want to be on the worship team.

  I don't want to give to the church.

  I don't want to do any of that.

  Look, just make it easy."

  Where did Jesus say the easy way leads?

  I want to talk about you again.

  You find it easy to follow Jesus?

  Maybe at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

  I want to ask about your Monday through Saturday.

  Is it easy for you to follow Jesus?

  And if your answer is, you know what?

  I don't know what he's talking about,

  but I haven't really found it to be that hard

  being a Christian.

  Then you haven't found the narrow gate.

  Because Jesus said it's hard.

  Enter by the narrow gate.

  It's hard to find.

  It's hard to walk.

  Number three, it's hard to dismiss.

  It's hard to dismiss.

  The gate is narrow.

  And the way is hard that leads to life.

  Man, this sounds like being a Christian is hard.

  Yeah, it is.

  So why would I enter the narrow gate at all then?

  Because of where it leads.

  And whoever doesn't think about

  where the path they are on is taking them is a fool.

  Throughout this section, throughout these verses,

  we looked at today Jesus said there's only two.

  There's two gates.

  There's two ways. There's two crowds.

  And there's two destinations.

  You're going to want to...

  Destruction and it's life.

  What's destruction?

  We've talked about that. That's hell.

  Yes, destruction here and now in this life,

  I've yet to meet the guy that has really benefited from their sin.

  But instead has experienced destruction in this life,

  ultimately it's destruction in hell.

  Why is hell referred to as destruction?

  Because it's eternally being destroyed,

  but never actually being destroyed.

  It's burning without being consumed.

  That's what hell is.

  And that's where the easy way leads.

  So if following Jesus sounds too hard for you,

  you have the option of having it a little easier

  in this life for 15 minutes,

  and spending eternity suffering.

  Not my opinion, Jesus' words.

  The other destination is life.

  Life, eternal, glorious life in heaven.

  Yes, of course, but also life here and now.

  Eternal life for the Christian isn't something that you get someday.

  It's something you experience now,

  and you take with you into eternity.

  This hard way is the way that Jesus took.

  And if we choose to follow in His footsteps,

  we will not only get heaven,

  but we will experience life

  as it was meant to be lived here and now.

  And that's hard to dismiss,

  just because it's difficult.

  It's over and over in the Gospels.

  Jesus challenged potential followers to count the cost.

  You have to count the cost of entering the narrow gate

  because there is a cost.

  But you also have to count the cost of not entering the narrow gate.

  You could leave here today and say,

  "I choose to stay on the wide gateway."

  What have you gained?

  What have you gained by staying on the wide gateway?

  An easier life here for however long that lasts.

  But what have you lost?

  You've lost eternity.

  So right now you need to ask yourself,

  "What way am I on?"

  Listen, you can't answer that

  based on something that happened in the past.

  That's what I mean for some people.

  It's like, are you a follower of Jesus?

  Well, I got baptized 30 years ago.

  That's not the test.

  The test is, how are we living right now?

  Are you seeking Jesus now?

  Are you turning from sin now?

  Are you denying yourself now?

  Your life right now proves what way you are on.

  I'd like to invite the worship team to come back up.

  We're going to have some folks join us up here.

  I'd like to invite them up too.

  We're going to have some people up here to pray,

  some elders, some members from our prayer team.

  I'd like you folks to make your way up here as well.

  In just a moment, the worship team is going to sing a song over you.

  But before we do that, I want us to consider one more verse.

  It's Matthew 11 and verse 12.

  Another staggering statement from our Lord.

  Jesus said, "From the days of John the Baptist until now,

  the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence."

  Look at his last phrase.

  He says, "And the violence, take it by force."

  Listen, because the gate is narrow,

  and because the way is hard,

  salvation is something that you have to go after violently.

  It's not, well, just put a check mark on this card and you're saved.

  Just bow your head and raise your hand and you're saved.

  Just repeat this prayer after me and you're saved.

  That's not it.

  It's something that you have to go after violently.

  Like why violently?

  Because the gospel calls you to forsake yourself.

  You have to go after that violently.

  Jesus calls you to give up your sin.

  It's not for weaklings.

  I'm going to give you a chance.

  I'm going to give you a chance to prove that you're not a weakling.

  I'm going to give you a chance today to do something violent.

  I'd like you to bow your heads, please,

  because what we're going to do

  is have a good old-fashioned, much-needed altar call.

  Bow your heads.

  Today needs to enter the narrow gate.

  Maybe there's somebody that walked in here today

  that said, "I know I'm not following Jesus,

  and I've been meaning to get around to it.

  Today's the day that you're going to go after this violently."

  Or maybe there's somebody here that's like,

  "Well, I don't really know if I follow Jesus."

  Then that means you don't.

  Because you can't have a relationship with the God of the universe

  and not know it.

  Because it's something you have to go after violently.

  Or maybe there's somebody here that says,

  "You know, I made a decision once upon a time,

  but whether I'm backslidden,

  or whether I was deceived or confused,

  I'm not really sure where I stand right now

  because I'm so stuck in sin."

  You need to go after this violently.

  As an act of faith, as the worship team sings over you,

  we want to invite you to come up and pray.

  There is still someone here, someone else here,

  that wants to do business with God.

  I strongly encourage you not to leave until you do.

  You shrink back now.

  It's going to be way easier to shrink back the next time

  that you feel called to follow Jesus.

  Father in heaven,

  we're not here to put on a show for anybody but you.

  We want to be sincere.

  We don't want to settle for some watered-down,

  sugar-coated version of the Gospel

  that so many in our culture have made it.

  Father, let us go after you violently

  with the urgency that your Son has called us to.

  We do need to count the costs.

  I'm asking Father that you would give us the faith that we need.

  All glory and honor and praise and power be unto your name.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  Amen.