Sunday, April 19

Testing, testing, testing, testing. There we go. Okay, so go back to master and save one. I think we should be good. What?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we got the link. I can send to Dave here in a minute. Oh. Get that to Heidi. All right, I'm going to... Hey, Theodore, how are you, bud? Hey, Liam. Limo. Oh. Hey, guys, let's wait to do the ball for a minute, bud.

Hey, no, we're not running right now. Yes. Oh, good. Probably not. hey Evelyn what okay I don't know I went home and went to bed yeah yep Hey, Theodore. Did you get snacks? You know, you call it a tripping hazard.

You okay doing, are you okay with prayer this morning? So, I got to look at the calendar, but I was wondering if you'd do a communion devotion Mother's Day weekend, so, and I'll remind you, I'm trying to get back into our pattern, which we've tried several times before, but getting more people up front. I figured you'd be the good one for Mother's Day. What are you going to do this afternoon? The rest? Well, I don't know. I took a nap yesterday. I went to bed early. I don't know if it's just all the emotion of the whole week and all that. But we'll see. I might go check on the horses. Hey, Cody. Where are you going to keep the horses? Slanesville. I can do it like 35 minutes, depending on local law enforcement and their locations.

Oh, well. I went by a state trooper in, what's the little town, Bloomerie? I went by a state trooper there between 75 and 80 miles an hour. By the time he caught me and pulled me over, anyway, he just let me go with a warning. He's like, slow down. I was like, okay. And I went around the corner, and I was like, I wasn't even thinking about it, because it was late. I was trying to get my friend Shane, who I've been taking care of his horses when he's been guiding hunts in Montana. So I was bringing him back from the airport, and he hadn't been home for a month. And I think that's how we got a warning, because he was like, I haven't been home for a month. The guy recognized his, like, super high-end hunting clothes.

Like, not like normal deer hunting stuff, but, like, professional hunting guide. He's like, well, I'm a guide in Montana. The guy's like, all right, go ahead. I remember back at us, this is probably 35 years ago. You know, I've got a ticket or you've got a ticket, I can't remember, but we're in warranted. I think we're on a redacted page, and that judge, the judge is hysterical. There was a man in front of us, he was like, sir, why were you tweeting? He goes, the guy that I'm trying to understand it's my anniversary, and I had to get home, he goes, hey, this is Miss Boo. No need for angry wives today, Boo. I was like, tell them it's just my anniversary. Tell them it's my anniversary. Yeah, it's like, yeah. But no, he was really, and I mean, like, I wasn't, there was nobody on the road.

We weren't driving unsafely. We were just in a hurry. The best one I ever got away with was on a military base. And I had my red Corvette, a single guy, right? I'm going this way, and he knows I'm speeding. And they saw him, and then he turned around and got me. He goes, and he was a list of guys, sir, you're going a little fast. He said, how fast was it going? He said, well, I don't know. I said, how do you know it was going all the fast? He goes, well, I, you know, I said, I'm just laughing. He laughs at the guy. I said, I got it. Yeah. You can't tell me how fast it's going. Yep. You don't know how fast. Yep. Well, and the West Virginia guy, he was probably good because, like, it was at night.

Like, as soon as we pulled over, I flipped on the dome light. So, like, you know, it was obvious that we were, like, we're in a minivan. You know, it's obviously we're responsible dudes just in a hurry to get home. And, yeah, he was like – yeah, he was good. Me and my Corvette and my sports coach back in the day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Like, talk to him like a person, like that. It's like all of a sudden everything changes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you weren't just, hey, Cody, how are you? I heard the craft show went well. That's awesome. So, good. I think Dad said the cutting boards were not as, like, but I wonder if that's, like, closer to, like, Christmas or what you need to do is have, like, a charcuterie board out and then, like, you know, be like, oh, well, if you buy a cutting board, like, give them an idea. Because, like, a lot of people do those, like, that's what young, for girl dinner. Are you familiar with girl dinner? yeah it's terrible hey kiddo all right I gotta run downstairs that's not true I don't have heels ah anyway this is what you have to look forward to

how's Holly feeling good yeah yeah yeah but it's just you're making another human yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I know her next appointment it will be the first one I don't go to yeah okay yeah

Okay. Hey, guys. Is Tiffany here? Okay, is it just for the older kids? Okay, I think so. I got a two-day freeze warning. Good thing I haven't planted my garden yet.

Oh yes, it should. That's an easy figure though. It's like up in that and then go down in the blue circle and change it to headphones. How are you guys? That was good. It's funny because we're kind of the reverse of a lot of churches at Easter because everybody here travels to, like, see somebody else, which is funny. Like, it's been very – it's always very different. Yeah. Yeah, we had, I think, like, three separate of our families, which you feel a lot more to smaller church. but honestly it's not bad like we love the people go to their families and like yeah oh yeah absolutely yep yep yeah yep yeah it's good no good good I know I know yeah after a few days away it's like I'm ready to be back to my routine

And it's very different as an adult, is what I found, like, or traveling before kids, yeah, or before having kids, where it's, like, you're, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, well, dogs, for us, were the game changer, because it's, like, especially, like, our one dog, he's so high energy, we either, We either need to take him to somebody who can run with him every day. It's not like we can just run and leave. Our dogs right now are seniors, so they are older. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because when we just had the older dogs, our neighbors across the street would come over. Hey, good morning. Nice to see you. How are you? Doing well. Good. Your wife's doing okay? Yeah. Good. Everything's good. Yeah, we've had our checkups and scan. oh good good yep oh absolutely yep hey bud oh awesome snacks crayons all the stuff yeah

yep yeah because i think there's something for the older kids today with the funeral yesterday our whole which i mean it was okay it was like a strange mix of people who had faith and then people who were just absolutely hopeless in the extended so like it was like yeah exactly well i said that at one point i was like yeah yeah yeah and it's very like it's very hard because like you look out there's these people who just like their whole world has ended because there's no hope and then there's like his wife who is absolutely in tears but like laughing at the joyful stories and sharing the good memories and it's like yeah yeah i was telling rachel and i were talking about one of the most hopeless funerals we did he's a young guy and he was like

trying to stop somebody getting stabbed he uh he got stabbed instead like i mean he lived for about a year but then he ended up passing away and like he was a Christian but nobody in the audience of the church was and it was like the absolute like most hopeless funeral and then the week later my third and fourth grade teacher passed away in vermont and so we went up to that funeral and it was probably the most hopeful funeral like yeah her third and fourth grade class got up and recited what was it like Romans 12 like she had to memorize like an entire chapter of Scripture like all the songs were just like let's go to heaven right here and it was like it was such a contrast of that hope it was like yeah yeah yeah well that's what i mean that was my main point

was like yeah it's like it was like well bill would say a couple things to you and one of them is there's hope and then we talked about how God had transformed his life and yeah so hopefully planted some seeds like you know and then God waters and like yep so oh awesome good yeah okay good yeah i'm gonna go down and i'll yeah i'm gonna run downstairs real quick i think we're just sending the older kids down to class so Let's steal a little bit of this applesauce cake. We're just sending you the older kids. Okay. So, um, happy birthday. It's been a wild week. Right here? Oh, I didn't see him. Sneaky labique.

Thank you. Here we go. What's up? I put food in the oven. Okay. This is what I would suggest. Okay. Just tell them we have some pasta salads, ham, lots of ham, and some little roll-up sandwiches. If anybody would like to stay after and eat, they can. If anybody would like to take something to go, they can. Okay. But we just have a lot of food, and we don't want to place it. Okay. Hey, I'm Brandon. I'm Drew. I'm Trent. Nice to meet you, Drew. I saw you for like two seconds ago. I'm trying to grasp the fact that last time I saw this grown man, he was like three. I looked over and I'm like, oh, please don't tell me that's Andrew. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good morning, we are glad to be able to gather together this Sunday morning to worship, to read God's word together, to pray together, to come around the table together, to study God's Word together. A lot of good and encouraging things for us, and we're thankful for our brothers and sisters in Christ who encourage us and help us. So I'm going to go ahead and have a word of prayer, and then we'll go ahead and read from the 100th Psalm together. Let's go ahead and pray. Father in heaven, I thank you that you have brought us together this morning from all different places and situations, joys and sorrows. I just ask this morning that you would encourage those who are discouraged, that you would strengthen those who are feeling weak, that you would give direction to us if we're feeling directionless, that in our joy we would

be thankful in our accomplishments. We would give you the glory. We just ask that you be with our time of worship this morning. May all that we do glorify you. We thank you so much for your son, Jesus, and it's in his name we pray. Amen. Let's go ahead and be standing. We're going to read together from the 100th Psalm. The words, the Scriptures will be on the screen, but they're also in your bulletins as well so we're going to start here if you would just read with me make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth serve the Lord with gladness come into his presence with singing know that the Lord he is God it is he who made us and we are his we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name, for the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. This is the word of the Lord. We are thankful for God's word. As we read about entering his gates with thanksgiving and God's love and his goodness. One of the things I love about the Psalms is it doesn't just simply instruct us to praise. It gives us the reasons for that praise because we are God's people. We are the sheep of his pasture. And as we've been on the Sermon on the Mount, as we in these last three weeks wrapping that up, as we talked about the narrow gate and the narrow path, and we'll talk about fruit in a bit this morning,

we see how God comes with us, he invites us, he transforms us, he helps us. So we're going to start this morning by singing On That Day, a song that looks forward to the joy that we have in Christ.

I believe in Christ, risen from the dead. He now reigns victorious, his kingdom knows no end. Through his resurrection, death has lost its hope. I know on that final day, I'll rise as Jesus grows. On that day, we will see you shining brighter than the sun. On that day, we will allow you to lift our voices one. Till that day, we will praise you for your never-ending grace. And we will keep on singing on that glorious day.

What a blessed hope Though now tired and warm We will spend eternity Around our city as we storm Though we grieve our losses We grieve not in vain For we know our crown on the glory ways beyond the grave on that day we will see you in the sun on that day we will know you as we lift our voices one till the day we will praise you for your never-ending grace and we will keep on singing on that glorious day Hallelujah, one day you will be For at home with you my joy is complete

As I run into your arms open wide, I must say, my Father who is waiting for me, hallelujah, a higher day it will be, for at home with you my joy is complete. As I run into your eyes, we will see my Father who is waiting for me. My Father who is waiting for me. On that day, we will see you shining brighter than this sun on that day. We will know you, as we lift our voices one, till that day, we will praise you, for your never-ending grace, and we will keep on singing, on that glorious day, on that day, and we will see you, shining brighter than the sun, on that day, we will know you, as we lift our voices one, till that day, we will praise you, for your never-ending grace, and we will keep on singing, on that glorious day. As we continue in worship, We're going to move right into This is Amazing Grace.

Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder, who leaves us breathless in awe and wonder, the King of glory, the King above all kings. This is amazing grace, this is unfailing love, that you would take my place. That you would bear my cross You would lay down your life That I would be set free Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me Who brings our chaos back into order Who makes the orphan a son and daughter The King of glory, the King above all kings Who rules the nations with truth and justice Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance The King of glory, the King above all kings This is amazing grace This is unfailing love That you would take my place That you would bear my cross You would lay down your life That I would be set free

Jesus I sing for all that you've done for me Worthy is the Lamb who was slain Worthy is the King who conquered the grave Worthy is the Lamb who was slain Worthy is the King who conquered the grave Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Worthy is the King who conquered the grave. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Worthy, worthy, worthy. This is amazing grace, this is unfailing love, that you would take my place, that you would bear my cross, you would lay down your life, that I would be set free.

Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. You may be seated. As we move into our time of confession and assurance that leads us ultimately to the table, I want you to hear this prayer from the 139th Psalm. And it is my prayer that this is our prayer. as we sing just two verses of Come Thou Fount in just a moment. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me to life everlasting. We're going to sing two verses of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, where the song in itself is a prayer that God would take and he would tune our hearts and that we would see his grace and we would live for him.

Come now, fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above Praise thy mountain fixed upon it Mount of thy redeeming love Oh, to grace, how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to thee Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. And in God's great mercy, he doesn't just hear our prayer for hearts that are made clean, but he answers it. If you would read with me from Ezekiel, the 36th chapter, let's read together. and i will give you a new heart and a new spirit i will put within you and i will remove the heart

of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and i will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules this is God's word so we come prepare to come to the table let's sing how deep the father's love for us How deep the Father's love for us How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch his treasure How great the pain of searing loss The Father turns his face away As wounds which mar the chosen one Bring many sons to glory Behold the man upon our cross My sin upon his soul does Ashamed I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection Why should I gain from His reward I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom Why should I gain from his reward? I cannot give an answer, but this I know with all my heart, his wounds have paid my ransom.

Romans 5.8 It's not a long verse, but it is wonderful. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And the wonderful power of the gospel that runs through the book of Romans and runs through this verse is that while we were yet sinners. So we've been going through the Sermon on the Mount, especially in these sort of weeks as we finish up. So we've heard Jesus' sermon and then he begins to turn to the evaluation of our life. And we saw last week where he says, what path are you on? There's two paths, one that leads to life and one leads to destruction. This morning, we're going to see that there is fruit that is good and fruit that is bad. And next week, we'll see that there's foundations that last through the storm

and foundations that crumple under the weight of all of the burdens and expectations and difficulties of life. And the wonderful truth of the gospel is this. Not while we were on the right path, not when we were bearing the right fruit, not when we had the foundation that is good and solid, but while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And this bread that we are about to partake of is a reminder that Jesus gives his body for those who have nothing to give him in return. The blood that is poured out is poured out not for the impressive and for the worthy, but for the broken and the sinful. And the same love that saves us is the same love that transforms us. The gospel doesn't just rescue us from the penalty of sin,

but it changes us from the inside out. It's those verses we just read in Ezekiel, a new heart. I will take from you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you. What we hear in the promise of Ezekiel is that God is at work.

And here at the table, we are reminded, we are encouraged, we are strengthened, we are nourished by the good news of the gospel. Not because of our resume or our performance or our goodness, but because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Let's pray. Father in heaven, as we come to this table, remind us of the greatness of your love may we begin to glimpse its height and its depth and its width that love that surpasses all of our understanding may we be transformed and strengthened and encouraged and helped may you lead us to repentance may you help us to see your grace more clearly and live with the hope that we have we ask that you bless this bread and we and bless this cup it's in Jesus name we pray amen let's partake of the bread together remembering the body of Jesus and let's partake of the cup together remembering the new covenant in the blood of Christ

And as often as we eat this bread and we drink this cup, we proclaim Jesus until he comes again. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this great gift. The gift that is beyond anything that we could imagine. The gift that transforms, the gift that changes. May we proclaim this good news to a world that desperately needs some good news. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to move into our time of prayer. The older kids can be dismissed to Children's Church. So I'm going to turn it over to Neil. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

The seventh chapter, sort of wrapping up through the Sermon on the Mount this morning. We got one more section after this one. I'm not sure if my slides are going to load or not. If they don't, Derek, can you just go ahead and put up the first slide? And we'll just go with this. We'll see if mine load or not. And then we'll just kind of work with it this morning. So we're in sort of the last section, or second to last section. The last section are these three sort of sections where Jesus calls us to evaluation. He starts by contrasting a road, then he contrasts fruit, and then he's going to contrast foundations. And so our text this morning, I think, very much falls into the category of a warning. So I'm going to read it, and then we'll just dive right into it.

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 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 diseased trees bear bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. 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. 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?

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. This is God's word. We live, and I don't know if you've noticed this, in a world with a lot of warnings. And as a result, sometimes we have a tendency to ignore warnings. I think sometimes that may be more personality-based than anything. I did a little bit of research, and sometimes when I get interested in something, I'll end up going down a bit of a rabbit hole. And it seemed to me that I see warning labels everywhere. And what's interesting is that in our world, we are currently experiencing something known as warning fatigue. And they've actually done studies on this. For example, in some ICUs that they have studied, the warnings for patients, the majority of those warnings oftentimes are false alarms.

The patient moves, the sensor gets disrupted, or what have you. And so after a time, what tends to happen is if most of your warnings are false alarms, then ultimately when the real warning comes through, you miss it because you've been fatigued by all the false alarms. The same was true, I think it was 2009 in D.C. where there was a metro crash. And the reason ultimately for that was there was a warning issued for the crash. But prior to that, there had been 8,000 warnings a week for that same issue. And once again, warning fatigue was real. Or maybe you've seen the warning where you're like, man, this only causes cancer in California, right? And that's a warning that is put on a whole lot of products because if their product is ever found to have any of this list of 900 ingredients in that,

there can be a great find if they didn't warn you. Now, most of those warnings on those products, they don't actually have any of them, but it's better to put the warning on and not need it than to need it and not have it. And so we oftentimes kind of become skeptical about warnings because when everything's a warning nothing is and so we start tuning them out and the same is true I think sometimes as we approach biblical warnings or biblical cautions we are so used to in our world being warned about this or warned about that the warnings just sort of are part of the background noise of our world the other issue is when we approach warnings is sometimes our pride right we may look at a warning and say yeah that's for people who aren't quite as smart or as good or

as coordinated as I am, right? This table saw says it might cut my fingers off. Well, it's not going to cut my fingers off, right? It's going to cut somebody else's fingers off because I'm much better at using a table saw than anyone else. And so sometimes we struggle with warnings because our pride, we say, well, I don't need this. I understand there may be a real danger here, but it's not a real danger for me. It might be a real danger for someone else. Then the other issue might be the distance, right? This warning seems far away from me. And Jesus' warning this morning may seem like for the ancient world and in ancient texts, ancient problems, and maybe we quietly assume we've sort of moved past the warnings that Jesus has from us.

And so fatigue and pride and distance can make us approaching warnings difficult. So this morning, Jesus has been painting for us a picture of a wonderful kingdom. The poor in spirit are welcome, the hungry are filled, the sorrowful find comfort. We're transformed from being proud and unmerciful to showing mercy, from breaking the peace to making peace, living as a testimony in salt and light. The Father gives good gifts to those who ask and hope. There's peace, there's grace, and it's available to the broken. And Jesus has just shown us two paths. There's a narrow gate and there's a wide gate. And he says the path is real, but the picture there is also that it's opposed. And so our warning this morning has two parts. And I think the warning comes right on the heels of the path intentionally.

That Jesus says there is a wide path that leads to destruction. There's a narrow gate in a way that leads to life. And now there is this warning, I think in part about those who would seek to lead us to a different path, but also for our hearts that may be seeking a different path. So the first thing that Jesus says is this, there are enemies who will seek to mislead you. Let's hear what he says just one more time. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 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 fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, you will recognize them by their fruits. Now, when Jesus starts out by saying, beware, right, he's calling us to continual attention. Maybe the way to illustrate it is this, is that this is not a panicked warning from the passenger seat, right? We've all had those. Somebody in the passenger seat looks up, and they see something, and maybe we didn't, and they gasp, and they yell, and you're trying to look around about why they're gasping or why they're yelling. That's not what Jesus is doing here. This is not a panicked warning from the passenger seat. It's more of a sustained awareness. More like if you've driven the West Virginia back roads in the evenings in the fall, you're ready to leave and somebody always says right look out for deer right it's not just look

out for that deer but it's kind of a continual awareness the deer are moving at a different time and it's getting dark and they can damage your car you can end up in an accident you can end up hurt so you look out for deer when Jesus says beware he's not calling us to sort of this this panicked reaction but rather saying that God's people are to live with a genuine awareness of what is going on around them. It requires continual attention because this is a continual danger for God's people. Throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament and even today, this is a warning. Before Israel even enters the promised land in Deuteronomy chapter 13, Moses warns them about those false prophets who would seek to lead them astray. And it's not just then,

And it's a continual warning throughout Israel's history. It's a constant warning as you move into the prophets. In our Bibles, in the back half of the Old Testament, there is a continual warning of what is happening. And then you get to the New Testament, and it's over again, over and over again. Let me show you one that uses the same word. This pay careful attention is the same word that's translating beware in Jesus' words. pay careful attention to yourselves and the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers Paul here is speaking to the ephesian elders to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood so God has put you in care of his church that he has purchased with a cost that is so great we can barely begin to grasp it and here's why he's warning them to pay careful

attention i know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock and from your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away disciples after them this warning is then echoed in second Corinthians second or in corinthians and second Peter and in first John and one of the things we begin to see as Jesus speaks is the danger doesn't often look like danger maybe you've seen that meme with like a a baby bear or a baby mountain lion and the caption says, if not friend, why friend-shaped, right? You got this thing that it looks fuzzy and it looks cuddly, but unfortunately, if you try to befriend that, you might face some consequences. One time, and this had to be like 15 or 16 years ago, we were up on Skyline Drive,

and it was me and my brother and my parents, and I think they were taking Brent to college, and so we were driving on the Skyline Drive, and there's two adorable little bear cubs kind of bouncing around the road and they're like this big and they look like you just want to pick them up and snuggle them, right? And Brent goes to get out of the car because he's like, I'm gonna get a closer look and dad just like leave the camera behind, right? Don't take anything valuable with you, right? Because if not friend, why is a sheep like a friend, right? Beware false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but yet we're really our ravenous wolves, right? Sheep are adorable, especially this time of year when all the little lambs are bouncing around all the fields, right?

Sheep are fluffy. It's like, oh, what are you going to do, adorably headbutt me? You're like 90% floof. We grew up having a few sheep. They're not super aggressive. Sometimes they can get a little headbutty. The problem here is the prophets, the false prophets, don't look dangerous, right? They look fluffy. They look like they're friend-shaped. Look, he says, inwardly are ravenous wolves. Probably most of us would pet a sheep. Probably all of us would pet a baby lamb. Maybe some of us might want to pet a wolf. But notice it's not just wolf, right? Oh, you look like a big dog, right? It's a ravenous wolf. It's not, be careful, they might bite, but this animal exists only to bite and to devour and to destroy. But look at what Jesus says. He says, the danger doesn't always look dangerous.

And then we hear this. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Not just destruction for the false teachers, but for us. and the warning for us is because of this. 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. So there's this disguised danger. It doesn't look dangerous. It doesn't look frightening. But here you are seeking the narrow gate and this right path, and there are those who look like they are good, and they are friendly, and they are leading you to the road of destruction. And so how do I tell? If they're disguised, if they're wolves in sheep clothing, how can I tell that they are dangerous? Look what Jesus 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 healthy tree bears bad fruit. Healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. The difference between false prophets and false teachers and true prophets and true teachers is fruit. We can hide our hearts. We can hide our desires. We can say the right words, but ultimately what tells is what grows out of our hearts and our minds. The heart is the place that everything grows out of. And so how do we tell if an apple tree is an apple tree? You might say, well, I will look at the bark, and I'll look at the blooms, and I'll look at the leaves.

Or you can just see if there's apples, right? How do I tell if it's a beech tree? Well, I can look at all these characters. Or does it have peaches? Two problems, I think, present itself with the fruit. I get grapes and figs like Jesus talks about because I know what grapes and figs look like. How do I know what a false teacher's fruit looks like? What is their fruit supposed to look like? We have to be acquainted with what true fruit is before we can tell if it's good fruit or bad fruit. If you've never seen an apple and somebody asks you to go get an apple, so what is the fruit that we're supposed to have look like? We have to understand that before we can tell whether it is good or bad.

I think Jesus answers this in verse 21, where he says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. And I think ultimately the good fruit is who is doing the will of God. And we'll talk more about that in just a minute. So the first problem is fairly simple. What is the fruit supposed to look like? I think from the context, the fruit is doing the will of God. Are you doing what God has called you? Is this teacher exhibiting the qualities that God has called them to do? But here's the problem. Jesus says they're bearing fruit and will know them by their fruit. But also these people are intentionally trying to disguise their fruit. There will always be fruit, but sometimes that fruit is hidden.

Remember, they're already hiding as sheep. The last fall, we were having some problems with the horses not staying where they were supposed to stay. Maybe you heard the phrase that grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. When your electric fence controller is not charging, fences become less of an obstacle than you would think. So I got a call one morning from my friend Clayton, who owns the farm where the horses are at. And he goes, the horses are out, but they're back in. He said, however, they ate every chestnut under the chestnut tree. Now, here's the problem is that some chestnuts are extremely toxic to horses. And these two doofuses are not known for their restraint or their judgment by the fact that they can't understand what a fence is. And the wrong chestnut will cause colic, it can cause muscle spasms, and ultimately can kill a horse.

other chestnuts are not toxic but horse chestnuts are now they're not really a chestnut they're just similar in name they're they're not even similar in experience right horse chestnuts the the dangerous ones they're they're they're a small spiky ball that kills horses now the good chestnuts very different looking a small spiky ball that is delicious and does not kill horses right Now, there are some differences in the spikes, but by and large, the fruit is similar. Especially if you're not really familiar with chestnuts, which I was not at all, you have to dig a little bit deeper. Thankfully, these trees were the kind of chestnuts that are delicious to both horses and humans. But you see the problem? Similar terminology, similar appearance. Very, very different response. So how do we tell the difference here between the good fruit and the bad fruit?

I think the answer is twofold. One is what does the fruit look like? What does the visible life of the teacher look like? Are we seeing attitudes? Are we seeing the fruit of the Spirit? Are we seeing growth in a relationship with Jesus? But also, what does that fruit taste like? And what I mean by this is what does that look like in the life of the people who are listening to this teacher? Are they becoming more like Jesus or more like the teacher? Developing deep roots in Scripture or in someone's interpretation of Scripture. Right? It's not just what are they saying, it's what kind of people are they forming. Right? The lens to differentiate ultimately is Scripture. Acts 17. It's remarkable. Paul is an apostle. He's commissioned by the risen Christ to go and teach.

And he shows up to teach people and listen to their response. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica for they received the word with all eagerness examining the Scriptures daily to see if it was so. They don't reject Paul out of suspicion, but what do they do? They're not impressed with all the things he's done. What they do is they take his words and they put it up against the lens of Scripture to see if it was true. They check his fruit against what they already know. And Luke says they are more noble. right they're not cynical they're simply checking the fruit now what Jesus is going to do is turn from out there where we're diagnosing and looking at others he's going to turn to in here 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 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 and I will declare to you them I never knew you depart from me you workers of lawlessness now this seems to take a sudden turn right we've gone from false teachers now Jesus is saying let's take a look at your heart and then Jesus implies what happens to them can ultimately happen to us and the warning here is this our hearts can deceive us and these words of Jesus they're pretty shocking right because on the surface it seems everything is good right there's reverence they're saying Lord Lord they're they're doing amazing things right prophecy casting out demons mighty works they're doing

it in the right name they're eloquent they're impressive there's a lot of them it says there are many, many will say to me, and then this, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of darkness or of lawlessness. And it's shocking. They did the right things in the right name. And we can't help when we read these verses to think, well, what about me, right? I'm not doing things that are nearly as impressive. I'm not nearly as eloquent. And it's so easy to hear these verses and to find ourselves fearful. What if this is me? What if this is where I end up? And notice, I think this is so very important. Notice in this text, these are not people who had entered through the narrow gate and were walking on the narrow way and somehow unknowingly

fell off the edge look at what Jesus says at the very end i never knew you right they had all the right words and all the right things but they didn't know Jesus Jesus says even their works aren't that great they're working lawlessness that somehow these impressive things whether it's prophecy casting out demons mighty works ultimately is not based in knowing Jesus but in lawlessness and we might become a little bit nervous because the worry is what about us but Jesus says first of all these are people who never knew me or i never knew you there's two things or actually one thing differentiate between the wide way and the narrow way and it's just simply what we looked at earlier are you following the will of God not everyone who says to me Lord Lord one through the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of

my father in heaven right the question here is are you seeking to follow the will of God these people were saying the right things doing some amazingly impressive things but ultimately at the heart they're following their own desires and their own pride right the contrast in this verse between life and destruction is not found in the outward part but in obedience to God what's our desire remember these words our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven right this is the prayer of someone who knows Jesus not just somebody who talks about Jesus someone who does the will of God and not just talks about the will of God their prayer and the desire of the heart is that God's will will be

done not just out there but in here as well and maybe our question is okay so I want to do the will of God want to be known but how do I do the will of God and sometimes in our world we sort of view the word of will of God as some sort of nebulous cloudy thing like I really want to know the will of God just tell you a couple things about the will of God first of all by and large a quick answer. By and large, God has given us his will. God tells us, right? First Thessalonians chapter five, let's give you one example. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is what? The will of God in Christ Jesus for you. So part of God's will is that you're going to be a thankful

person, that I'm going to be a thankful person. But he hasn't just told us this. It's throughout Scripture we find these things that are the will of God for us but also this and know his will and approve what is excellent because of what because you are instructed in the law that God tells us his will but also God equips us to do his will now we have not received the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given by God that Not only would we know, but we would understand through the spirit that is given to us. Or this prayer from the psalmist, teach me to do your will. For you are my God, let your good spirit lead me on level ground. God is not playing hide and seek with his will.

He reveals it in Scripture, shines a light on it through his spirit, grows our capacity to discern it through renewal. He places us in community where it's taught and reinforced. The problem with the people in verse 22 is not that they didn't know about God's will. It's just they just weren't interested. I think it's that problem we see throughout the whole Sermon on the Mount. They were all seeking to build their own resume. Look at how good I am. I don't murder anybody. And Jesus says, what about your heart? Well, I give and I pray and I fast. Well, what about your heart? I'm working very hard, but what about your heart? I'm serving God. Well, what about your heart? And so two questions for us. Are we desiring to do the will of God?

The one who does the will of the Father who is in heaven. Right, is that our desire? And the wonderful good news of the gospel that we see in the Sermon on the Mount at the very beginning is that this is not a desire you have to sum up and you have to manufacture, but when you come to God and you come poor in spirit, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, in sorrow, in the Beatitudes you find that God turns that around and he transforms you. That he makes you light and salt, having an impact on a dark world. That he changes and transforms our hearts. That no longer are we just content with outward compliance, but we have inward change. We stop simply going through the motions and really seek to know our Father. The burden in this text, it's not supposed to be a heavy burden on our shoulders,

but rather for us, a question of where is my heart going? The second question this text raises for us is, do you know Jesus? I will declare to them, I never knew you. You workers of lawlessness. Part of the issue is that they don't know Jesus ultimately, and he doesn't know them. And this is where we see the good news. It's not resume that brings us into the kingdom. its transformation those who are are thirsty it's those who want to be known the line in this passage between joy and judgment isn't accidental it's that some are seeking to know Jesus and some are simply seeking to make themselves well known right there's only hope in Jesus right for us this is a warning it's an evaluation and it's an invitation it's a warning to look out for those

who would lead you astray and the best way to look is to look at what God has already said there's an evaluation of our hearts and there's an invitation to know God deeply because he says i will declare i never knew you the implication here is that God wants to know you he does know you and he wants you to know him right so if we're Christians one of the things that's very easy for us i think is to fall into autopilot maybe you've never had this happen but i certainly have i'm driving somewhere maybe i'm just thinking about something else and just driving along and the next thing i know i get to where i'm going and i look back and go how did i get here like i know that i'm here and i'm alive so i know that i didn't have an accident but how i don't

remember stopping any stoplights i don't remember making any turns i'm just here and it's very easy for us those of us who know Christ to fall into this autopilot where we're sort of just going through the motions and the call in these texts is to see the goodness not as a this text not as a threat or a bat ready to hit you but rather as a call to say wake up to see the goodness of God to delight in it to be transformed by it to be encouraged and strengthened by it but if you're not a Christian it's also an invitation Jesus is about to say in the very next verses there is a foundation on which to build which will weather all the storms how do you know you need water some people in my family would say well you just need to drink it you know it one of the ways you

know you need water right is that you get thirsty some of us are living pretty thirsty lives whether we're Christians maybe you're not a Christian and you're thirsty and Jesus is calling us to know the living water to be refreshed by it to find our hope in him rather than ourselves let's pray father in heaven thank you for Jesus and for grace and for hope for life. May we see the warning in this text. May we evaluate ourselves that you would help us to be intentional in keeping your will. You would help us see the joy and the goodness. Thank you that you invite us to know you more deeply. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. As always, just a reminder, we are, would love to talk with you, pray with you, help you in any way you can. Um, it does not have to be right now in this moment. Um, but it can be,

uh, anytime, uh, we want to, uh, you to know the joy and the hope that is found in Jesus. So we're going to stand. Um, we're going to sing, uh, all who are thirsty.

We are thirsty, all who are weak, come to the fountain, dip your heart in the stream of life. Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away in the waves of His mercy. Deep cries out too deep Come, Lord Jesus, come Come, Lord Jesus, come All who are thirsty All who are weak Come to the fountain Dip your heart in the stream of life Let the pain and the sorrow Be washed away In the waves of his mercy As deep cries out to deep Come Lord Jesus, come Come Lord Jesus, come It decries out too deep. It decries out too deep. It decries out too deep. Holy Spirit, come.

We are thankful that you are here with us this morning. Yesterday we had the funeral service for Bill. We had a meal afterwards. We were planning to have a meal this Sunday. But it turns out we have some leftovers. Do you want to say what you said earlier? Because you worded it far better than I did. No?

what i talked about yesterday is like when you'd ask for mcdonald's as a kid and it's like your mom's like oh yeah mcdonald's at home and it was just leftovers uh anyway we if you if you want to come have some food with us we're gonna some of us are gonna eat lunch um and enjoy that um and enjoy the fellowship uh if you have plans that's fine too if you want to take some with you uh that's fine as well we have to-go containers um and so that's where we're at. I'm going to go ahead and pray. We're going to read a little section from Corinthians, or from Colossians, and we'll be dismissed. Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and for grace. Thank you that you fill us with good things, that you are the refreshment that

takes away our thirst, not just temporarily, but for all time. Help us to see you. Help us as we walk through this week to seek to know and to evaluate not just what we're hearing, but also our own hearts. Draw us closer to you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I'm going to read from Colossians. That's from Psalms. So I'm going to read from Colossians. It's in your bulletin if you want to follow along. And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God,

being strengthened by his power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of life. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins. And so as we leave this place, we look through these verses in reverse order. We remember and are thankful for what God has done, that he has delivered us from darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved son. And as a result, it is my prayer for you that you will be filled with the knowledge of his will, you would abound in wisdom and understanding and that you would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing to him.

It's my prayer for you that you would be strengthened with power according to his glorious might for endurance and patience with joy and that in doing so, you would give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of life. We are so thankful for what Jesus has done for us and we want to share that with the world.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.