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  KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS, NOT THEIR MIRACLES
  by Duane Troyer
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Summary: This sermon delves into the warnings given by Jesus in the
Sermon on the Mount, focusing on the importance of discerning false
prophets who may appear as sheep but are actually wolves, emphasizing
the need to examine the fruits of individuals to identify their true
nature. The message highlights the grave consequences of not doing the
will of the Father and the sobering reality that many who claim to do
great works in Jesus' name may not truly belong to Him. It stresses the
significance of abiding in Christ's love, being fruit inspectors, and
the danger of lawlessness despite outward appearances of righteousness.

Topics: "Discernment", "True Faith vs. False Prophets"
Scripture References: Matthew 7:15, Matthew 7:17, Matthew 7:21, Acts 20:29, 1 Corinthians 13:2, Romans 6:7, Matthew 24:5, Matthew 25:5, 2 Peter 2:1

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon delves into the warnings given by Jesus in the Sermon on the
Mount, focusing on the importance of discerning false prophets who may
appear as sheep but are actually wolves, emphasizing the need to examine
the fruits of individuals to identify their true nature. The message
highlights the grave consequences of not doing the will of the Father
and the sobering reality that many who claim to do great works in Jesus'
name may not truly belong to Him. It stresses the significance of
abiding in Christ's love, being fruit inspectors, and the danger of
lawlessness despite outward appearances of righteousness.

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CONTENT
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Grace be with you all, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Yeah, I'm thankful too for this morning, thankful for the
baptism this morning, and I was glad. I didn't get to hear all of
Daniel's opening, but I heard him say that his thoughts were going to be
fitting to the baptism.

I was glad for that. I just want to give this message I had been
planning to give last week before the meeting got cancelled, which is
the next portion of the Sermon on the Mount. Um, and so, let's uh, let's
stand.

We'll read this, this portion of Matthew 7. It goes from Matthew 7, 15
to verse 23, or yeah, that's right, verse 15 to 23. We'll pray. Beware
of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
are ravenous wolves.

You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn
bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good
fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad
fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the
fire. So then you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says
to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the
will of my Father who is in heaven.

Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your
name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many
miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from
me, you who practice lawlessness. Let's pray.

Oh Father in heaven, thank you for this opportunity and thank you for
these words that you spoke to us, these these grave warnings to heed. I
just pray Lord that you would let them sink into our hearts. I pray as
we explore them today that you would just help us to understand what
you're what you're saying and how to apply it to our lives.

Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ for all you've done for us,
salvation and and the life, the grace that comes only through you and
through your Son. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

So we're getting to the end, toward the end of of this sermon that Jesus
gave that we've been that we've been going through for the past year now
nearly and and Jesus is ending this sermon with with with some very very
grave and dire warnings. These these teachings that he's given that the
in in the beginning the beatitudes and and and this the main body of the
sermon the as he's getting to the root of problems. These are these are
teachings are are full of grace and life.

They're the solution to the world's problems. I it it would seem to me
like Jesus came here to earth and he he found the fruit that that Israel
was bearing to be corrupt and diseased and of no value and so as John
the Baptist said would happen he lays the axe at the root of the tree
and he's getting to the source of these problems. He's getting to the
source of all sin and unrighteousness and uh the the mosaic law that he
references when he often he says you've you've heard that it was said
and then he and then he quotes something out of the old law that law was
given because of transgression that law couldn't couldn't give life and
and therefore Jesus found it found mostly dead fruit and here that the
prophet Isaiah prophesied of the messiah that he's going to be a new
lawgiver and uh here here in the sermon he's giving a new law he's
giving commandments that are life-giving and and now he's ending this
sermon with these with this series of warnings he's last last time we
looked at what he said about how how this way is narrow and difficult
and if if if that's not hard enough the gate the gate itself is hard to
find uh many people pass it by they don't even find it to start with um
uh and and if that's not hard enough he's he's now saying besides
besides the difficulty of just finding this path and and and squeezing
through this gate and walking this narrow way there's a whole bunch of
false prophets around and they are they are like wolves and they're
about to destroy people and he warns us that there's going to be many
people who call me lord and they're going to do good things but they're
lost they're lost i think i think these last two warnings to me are the
most sobering they're in my in my in my thinking life in my mental part
of my life they're the most wearisome to me like if jesus if jesus would
have only merely like given these teachings that i can that i really
believe are really beautiful and life-giving and and would have said now
listen i warned you you're going to be persecuted bodily for that that
would be one thing that would be one thing i think i think that would
not be so grievous it would be hard difficult i don't i don't enjoy
bodily suffering uh but at least at least it wouldn't be so hard to know
what's going on but but when the devil comes as an angel of light and
his ministers as ministers of righteousness they bring confusion they
bring deception and they bring they bring all these things that are that
that that that make it mentally hard to to discern and to stay on on the
narrow path with jesus not impossible at all but something that we
really need to be aware of and alert one of the greatest things i long
for it for the return of christ is to be is just to be released from
this world full of deception full of complexities full of gray areas
full of full of these areas that we don't we don't know how god exactly
will judge things and one thing one thing i i've realized over through
life is that confusion confusion is not the result of just evil uh
confusion is the result of of the mingling of things together that don't
don't belong together uh it's not it's it's not confusing when it's all
dark and it's not confusing when it's all light it's it's confusing when
it's when it's that you know it's that it's that gray part of the
morning when you shine a light and it's too bright to do much good but
it's too dark to to see very much it's when most accidents happen on the
road um that that is the confusion it's uh i think maybe i've told you
this story before but or this this thing when i i grew up in ohio and um
sadly a lot of the young boys that grew up in in the community which
it's a very big community i didn't i knew a very small fraction of the
people but they were known to to do pranks and especially at halloween
and um and there was the the the mount hope boys were known to be real
bad and they uh they would go to neighbors uh and and gather harnesses
horse harnesses which are which are all put together with buckles and i
don't know there's probably once you take them apart there's dozens
dozens of pieces and they would gather the harnesses of the neighbors
neighbors barns at night and they'd bring them all together and they'd
take them all apart and throw them all on one big pile just a really
really rude thing but but the confusion just the mingling together of
all kinds of things and then trying to go sort that all out and figure
out what what rightly belongs where that's what confusion is but that's
what the old serpent the devil's been doing from the beginning and he's
still doing it just offering a little bit of truth with a little bit of
falsehood and presenting it in an appealing way and so jesus warns us
here today and he says beware beware of sheep or wolves in sheep's
clothing they're not so noticeable from a distance they kind of wear the
same clothes they kind of speak the same language they kind of come to
the same gatherings they eat us eat with us in the same meals they're
the most dangerous deceivers because because we have to get close to
them to know them and in order to get close to someone you have to
somewhat open yourself to them and when you open yourself to someone you
make yourself somewhat vulnerable jesus is not saying that we ought not
do this he's not saying that we ought not get close enough to discern
this rightly but he's saying just beware they're going to be there
they're going to be there and they're not going to be quickly and
immediately noticeable these people don't seem so different outwardly
but inwardly the nature is as different as a wolf is from a sheep a
sheep is simple and humble and a wolf is shrewd and cunning a sheep is
dependent and a wolf is independent a sheep wants to be shepherded and a
wolf wants to be dominant a sheep is an animal of prey and a wolf is a
predator sheep gather wolves scatter my uncle used to say that there's
no such thing as a sheep in a wolf's clothing but there's such a thing
as wolf in sheep's clothing i think there's some truth to that another
thing i've that that has that i've realized over the years is is that a
deceiver is not just is not just a deceiver when he intends to deceive
in fact i think the number of people that do that are very very very
small there's very very few people that come in that that come into the
the that call themselves christians and they have this idea that i am
going to deceive these people i'm going to lead them astray and take
them to the devil that's not what we usually mean it's simply people who
are deceived they are deceived and deceived people deceive people they
may not have that intention and yet that doesn't make them not a
deceiver no wonder there's so many and you know when we read through the
old old old testament especially in the book of jeremiah like one thing
you'll notice is that the false prophets are many and the true prophets
are few just like jesus said that there's there's this this way is
narrow and few find it like we talked about the last the last sermon and
the way is broad that leads to destruction and there's many that are on
it that's the case with the true and the false prophets too jesus said
in matthew 24 and and and if if that was the case in the days of
jeremiah and that was the case in the days of jesus just remember what
jesus yet said when he was describing the last days he said in the last
days many will come in my name saying i am christ and mislead many he
makes it sound like it's this is this is going to get worse there's
going to be more of them yet um and i i remember when i used to read
that years ago i thought jesus is saying that many will come in my name
and say i am christ like as if he's saying there's many people going to
arise and say about themselves i'm christ and though that happens
occasionally if you let's read that passage slowly and this is what i
think jesus is really saying is that there's many going to come and
jesus jesus is saying this remember this there are many going to come in
my name and say that i am christ and going to mislead many in other
words there's many going to come and they're going to say jesus is
christ they're going to come in his name and yet they're going to
mislead people hmm first john 4 1 says test the spirits because many
false prophets have gone into the world in acts chapter 20 starting in
verse 25 it says and now behold i know that all of you this is paul
speaking and now behold i know that all of you among whom i went about
preaching the kingdom will not will no longer see my face therefore i
testify to you this day that i am innocent of the blood of all men for i
did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of god be on
guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the holy spirit
has made you overseers to shepherd and shepherd the church of god which
he purchased with his own blood i know that after my departure savage
wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock and from among your
own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the
disciples after them therefore be on the alert remembering that night
and day for a period of three years i did not cease to admonish each of
you with tears paul paul paul says he was he was preaching to them the
kingdom of god he was he was he was he was we see this throughout
sprinkled throughout paul's writings in spite of in spite of the message
that's out there that that that jesus or that paul preached the new
gospel to the gentiles or something like that paul was teaching the
kingdom of god he was teaching that the wholesome words of jesus christ
and and and he was telling them about these things and then he and then
he gave him the same warning that jesus is warning beware after my
departure there's going to be there's going to be wolves coming in
they're going to destroy the flock oh paul paul wrote to timothy if
anyone teaches otherwise and consents not to the wholesome words even
the words of our lord jesus christ he is proud and he knows nothing and
when he gives this warning he's he's talking of men when he gives this
warning about these these people who will who will both come in and will
be raised up among among yourselves he's talking about christians right
he's talking about people in the church he's talking about people who
stand at the pulpits he's talking about people who who lift their voices
with us in in song and prayer and all these things so i want to just i
want us all to like realize uh though these things are wearisome and
distressing we've been warned we've been warned we've been fairly warned
that this this is going to happen this is not some strange thing just we
don't have to be defeated by it we just need to beware of it and here
are some of the marks of a false prophet they they act as if they're one
of us and when i mean us i'm not talking about this little group here
they act as if they're they're one with with the sheep or with the
people the flock but they have ulterior motives they promote themselves
they teach contrary to jesus they teach parts of of the gospel and they
omit the vital things they teach the truth but don't live it some of
these may not be found necessarily in every false prophet but these are
just marks that if you if you see these things it's the mark of a false
prophet they proclaim peace where there is no peace they say smooth
things they ask for money they avoid like the elders or the wiser people
in the group but or in the assembly and they speak with the young that
that that trait and when i say the young like the immature you might say
uh beware of the person who who does not want to um who does not want to
um uh meet up or or um bring bring his his his thing that whatever he
thinks he has to offer to to to the more mature people and just wants to
offer it to the immature people that that is a wolfish trait in itself
it would be exactly what the wolf intends to do as he goes in there is
to separate the weak ones and the lame ones and and prey on those uh one
of one of the i think this was hermas maybe the shepherd of hermas not
quite sure about that he was talking about discerning false prophets he
said in the next in the next place he never he being the false a false
person never approaches an assembly of righteous men but avoids them and
cleaves to the doubt doubtful minded and empty and prophesies to them in
corners and deceives them speaking all things in emptiness and gratifies
their desires for they too are empty whom it answers for the empty
vessels placed together with empty is not broken but they agree with one
another these are just some of the marks of a wolf in sheep's clothing
paul says in second corinthians 11 verse 13 for such men are false
apostles deceitful workers disguising themselves as apostles of christ
no wonder for even satan disguises himself as an angel of light
therefore it is not surprising if his servants disguise themselves as
servants of righteousness whose end will be according to their deeds
these things are distressing but jesus has given us a fair warning he
wants us to realize that this this thing is to be expected um and like i
said that we we don't need to this doesn't mean we need to be defeated
by them in fact he tells us how to know them how to discern them we go
back there to matthew 5 or matthew 7 he says you will know them by their
fruits grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles
are they so every good tree bears good fruit but a bad tree bears bad
fruit a good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce
good fruit every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire so then you will know them by their fruits we are
to be fruit inspectors uh and if uh if if we spend enough time with
someone and yes it takes time um we can we can have a look at what what
is their life producing what uh what what is the production of of what's
in their heart hmm we can we can taste that fruit we can cut into it we
can inspect it and that that doesn't mean that we should walk around in
the church or in the assembly with this suspicion of everybody i don't
think that's very healthy uh but we can beware and we can take note you
know in in in revelation 2 when when when uh jesus is speaking to those
seven churches he he commends the church at ephesus because he said you
tried those who said they were apostles and are not carefully inspect
the fruit especially if he's a teacher that is influencing your thinking
that's why uh you know it's it's one thing to be deceived it's another
thing to deceive others it's why it's why james says that teachers will
face the stricter judgment and there shouldn't be many of them there in
in verse 16 when he says you will not uh when he says grapes are not
gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles are they like grapes
grapes and figs are useful they're they're nutritious they're valuable
um i'd be i'd be pretty sure that in the garden of eden uh before the
curse happened there were figs and there were grapes there but those
thorns and thistles they're they're a product of the curse and you don't
get blessings from curses the farmer the farmer who cultivates grapes
and figs he gets rid of thorns and thistles they're they're detrimental
to the to the to the uh crops or the production he can yield his fruit
production so every good tree bears good fruit but a bad tree bears bad
fruit a good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce
good fruit depending on what translation you might use it'll say um it
might say like a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit or something like
that and there there is a there's actually a i'm not a greek scholar but
we have one here but i looked into this just a little bit um like the
word when it says every good tree bears good fruit those two goods are
different i don't know exactly i don't know exactly all the nuances in
in that and it also is different when it says a bad tree brings bad
fruit those two bads are two different words um and and the little bit
that i could that i could look at it it seemed to me like it would be
reasonable to and and and it it fits in my mind a little better if if i
think of it this way every beneficial tree brings forth valuable or
honest fruit and every rotten and worthless tree brings forth diseased
and harmful fruit i'm not saying that would be an an accurate
translation but it seemed like it'd be a reasonable uh by the
definitions of it and and some of the words used in the definitions it
would be reasonable to say that now i can make a little more sense out
of that uh if you if you turn it around it would be like saying valuable
fruit comes from a beneficial tree and diseased fruit comes from a
worthless tree uh i think i think that's really understandable and and
and then he says there in 19 every tree that does not bear good fruit is
cut down and throw it thrown into the fire so then you will know them by
their fruits these these fruits that he's talking about they're the
production of what what or the result or the outworkings of what a man
is inside um in other words the words and the works of a man are his
fruit in fact justin martyr went so far to just say by their works you
shall know them john the baptist said bear fruit in keeping with
repentance that that would be like saying bear fruit that um that um are
evidence of a repentant heart bear fruit that shows that the axe has
been laid at the root of the old tree and you've been grafted into the
new tree or vine you know there in john 15 when he talks about the vine
and how jesus is is the true vine and where the branches he says he says
some very interesting things there like like uh apart from me you can do
nothing he says and he says and he says so so in order to bear fruit we
must abide in the vine okay and then and then he goes on to say that uh
he that abides in the vine is he that keeps my commandments and so or we
must abide in his love is what he says um and and the way that we abide
in his love is that we keep his commandments and so there's this like
there's like this uh this this love obedient this this love faith
obedient relationship with jesus that that has that has him doing what
he does and has us doing what we need to do and the partnership of that
is what produces fruit and an honest and valuable and genuine fruit that
pleases god in that same passage he said herein is the father glorified
that we bear much fruit i think in this context here in the sermon on
the mount jesus is basically saying every teacher that comes around and
does not keep these commandments i'm giving you he's not a sheep no
matter how much he might look like one he is a wolf in sheep's clothing
and and i think that's further verified by these next verses in verse 21
he says not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of
heaven but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter
i i sometimes when i the the that verse in these next couple verses i
mean i i think jesus did know what was going to happen in the future i
think he did know what was going to happen uh for for the next centuries
um with this movement that he started but sometimes it just feels like
he said those things just for that he said those things for our day and
age uh you know one could think he said that precisely for for
christianity of the 21st century but but humans are humans and and and
this is not new to this generation for many will say lord lord or or not
everyone who says lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who
does the will of my father who is in heaven who came to teach and show
us the will of the father is jesus he's everything he uh everything in
the old testament is pointing towards jesus it's all it's all pointed in
that direction it's about him it's it's it's it's wanting us to realize
when he comes he's the one to listen to i know i've i've i've said made
mention or read this passage in many of these messages in the sermon on
the mount i'm just going to read it again in deuteronomy 18 this is
moses speaking and remember how that was at mount sinai when the people
heard god and they came to moses and trembled and said we don't want to
hear this again this is too much you just speak to us and here toward
the end of moses's life he's saying the lord your god will raise up for
you a prophet like me from your brethren him you shall hear according to
all you asked from the lord your god in horeb in the day of the assembly
saying let us not hear again the voice of the lord our god nor let us
see his great fire anymore lest we die then the lord said to me what
they have spoken is good i will raise up for them a prophet like you
from among their brethren and i will put my word in his mouth and he
shall speak to them all that i command him that prophecy is jesus the
hebrew writer begins his letter by saying that god who had sundry times
and divers manners spoke in in times past to the fathers by the prophets
has in these last days spoken to us by his son and he goes on to say
that he he is the express image of the father in colossians paul says in
him in jesus dwells all the deity in a bodily form the fullness of god
all dwells in the bodily form of jesus so if we want to know the will of
god in our lives it's found in jesus all and i think it's in colossians
2 where it says all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in
christ we just need to seek it out in in luke in luke chapter 4 verse 43
jesus said i must preach the kingdom of god and he said for this purpose
i came i'm going to read a few quotes here this first one is from justin
martyr where he says let those who are not found living as he taught be
understood not to be christians even though they profess the teachings
of christ with their lips for it is not those who make a profession but
those who do the works who shall be saved this is not according to his
words not this is according to his words not everyone who says to me
lord lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will
of my father who is in heaven hermes the shepherd of hermes said this
the man who has the lord embedded in his heart can also be lord of every
one of these commandments but for those who have the lord only on their
lips but with hearts they are hard and far from the lord the
commandments are hard and difficult therefore you who are empty and
fickle in your faith need to implant the lord in your hearts and you
will know that there is nothing easier sweeter and more manageable than
these commandments herein is the difference between someone who
recognizes these teachings of jesus as the grace of god and they're
they're no longer a burdensome thing to follow like a bunch of laws but
they're a joy and there's nothing sweeter than this in verse 22 here in
matthew 70 says many will say to me on that day lord lord did we not
prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name
perform many miracles and then i will declare to them i never knew you
depart from me you who practice lawlessness there there is something
there is something about us humans who are uh who are fascinated with
things that supersede the natural um and i don't think i don't think
that's wrong to be fascinated by it i think there's been many many a
miracle that has helped the hesitant soul to to believe but the one the
the one resounding message or the two resounding messages in the
scripture is one miracles are not the evidence that someone has favor
from god and two that those who need signs and wonders in order to
believe are not the ones who will endure to the end something
sensational something something supernatural and and and and and
miraculous excites us we like to be mystified it's why a mystery novel
grips our attention and keeps us in the book until we're to the end
people flock to jesus because he did miracles king herod wanted for a
long time wanted to see jesus simply because he wanted to see one of his
signs simon the sorcerer offered money to be able to do this this
supernatural thing it's in us it goes all the way back to the garden
when adam and eve fell for that wistful thought that maybe they could
know that unknown maybe they could tap into that realm of super
knowledge and be godlike many many times people fall for this and notice
here that he doesn't say that at the end a few people will say lord lord
didn't we do these things he doesn't say some people will say we did
these things he says many will come to me in that day and say lord lord
we we did these miraculous things in your name and he's going to say i
never knew you god can do whatever he wants to do he can demonstrate his
power through whomever he wants to whoever he chose chooses it doesn't
make that person a disciple of christ in john chapter four jesus seemed
very pleased with the samaritans who believed on him because of the
words that he spoke and you go a few verses later and he rebukes the
galileans because he said unless you guys see signs and wonders you
won't believe one of the reasons is that people who seek signs and
wonders in order to believe are never satisfied that's why they never
endure to the end jesus was doing very many many signs and wonders and
some people came to him and said show us a sign and he said it is a
wicked and adulterous generation who seeks a sign and there will none be
given you know i sometimes wonder have you ever wondered like what why
why is it that people do these things that are miraculous and seem
miraculous and some of them are fake there's people who put up good
shows um and you know like you know like these churches that that uh
through music and lights and uh releasing smoke in the in the in the in
the in the uh in the room and stuff like that make it seem like god's
glory is coming coming in and if if you know the facts there's somebody
doing all this stuff and they get everybody thinking that the the
presence of god is really here like i'm not talking about that kind of
stuff i'm talking about things that things that seem a bit more
believable somebody uh something miraculous actually happens and
somebody did it in jesus name and and then you and then you look at this
person's life and you're like i don't know i don't i don't see the the
life of jesus being lived out in this person those things those things
are are a bit mind-boggling but i remember a couple years ago when i was
up in wisconsin uh brother kent kent brewmaker was talking about this
and he he said he he thinks that that that the father honors the name of
his son and he thinks he thinks people can do things in jesus name um
and god honors that name and he does something about it even even though
that person isn't necessarily a disciple of christ and at first at first
i kind of resisted the idea but but the more i thought about it the more
i thought that is altogether possible uh and i'm still not totally
certain about it but i think it is is reasonable and possible because
one of the things we see here in scripture is that that many people will
do things in his name miraculous things in his name and he's still going
to say but but you i didn't know you the point jesus is making here is
the same one that paul makes in first corinthians 13 when he says if i
speak with the tongues of angels and if i can prophesy and i know all
these mysteries and he went so far as to say and even if i give all my
things to the poor and i die as a martyr and i am not abiding in this
love faith obedient relationship with jesus it's it's hollow it's a
tingling symbol it's rotten fruit jesus will say to people like that on
that last day i never knew you depart from me you who practice
lawlessness this might be the first time that jesus revealed to his
followers that he's not only the messiah he's not only the king he's not
only the new lawgiver he's the judge he's going to be the final judge
people will come to me in that day and say that and i will tell them
depart the modern gospel might jump on this verse and say see it says
jesus said i never knew you that means this person was never saved but i
i don't think that's what i don't think that's what that meaning is i
think that term that that that idiom or that term i never knew you
throughout the bible simply means i deny you or i refuse to have
anything to do with you it's an expression of disapproval we we read it
in in the parable of the ten virgins when when when the bridegroom says
when they knocked on the door and the bridegroom says i i don't know you
it's in the parable of the sheep and the goats who were separated to the
left and the right and he says to the goats depart from me i never knew
you he disapproves of them and he says you are you who practice
lawlessness depending what translation you use it might say you who um
practice iniquity or something like that but i think that the greek word
anemia here just means i think it means something like without law and
this whole this whole passage uh is is a warning this whole passage
we're looking at today is a warning that there would be many many both
leaders and followers both teachers and hearers who profess jesus as
lord and savior but don't practice the law of christ rather they
practice lawlessness and they'll have to depart from him it it seems
like it's possible that when jesus says this thing depart from me you
who practice lawlessness that he's actually quoting out of psalm 6
there's it there's there's pretty much the exact wording of that in
psalm 6 and if you look at that psalm david is david it's not a very
long song but but i won't go there right now but david is pleading for
mercy he's he's saying heal me oh lord he's saying i'm weary with my
groanings he's saying i water my couch with tears there's no self-
justification there it's just a crying out and then he says depart from
but to to the people who were who were causing this to him he was saying
depart from me you you you who practice lawlessness and these people who
jesus is talking about when he to to the people to whom he says depart
from me you workers of lawlessness they are justifying themselves but
we've done this and we've done that and we've done it in your name in in
a parallel passage in luke they say well we we we ate and drank with you
we fellowshiped with you you taught on our streets we we we were in the
right fellowship and we listened to the right preachers he says i
disapprove of you your workers of lawlessness years ago and i was just i
was not as familiar with uh with reformed theology i wasn't as as as uh
i just wasn't as familiar with uh common calvinistic or whatever
theology that that uh as i might be today and the and the and the ideas
that people have and what how they how they use passages for their cases
and stuff and i was talking with this guy who was uh who was making a
case for that like there's nothing we can do to to to gain favor with
god there's um uh there's god does everything we do nothing that kind of
thinking and he was using this passage and saying see these there's
there's these people that that think they've done things and and and and
uh and god's going to tell them no you know because you thought you did
things for me like like depart from me i don't think that's what jesus
is communicating here he's he's addressing the problem of people coming
up with their own ideas of righteousness and justifying themselves in it
i think i i think i heard brother brett say one time that the the maybe
either the real or a proper definition of self-righteousness is self-
justification i don't think jesus uh uh is is talking about having
having displeasure with someone who is who is doing the works of god
right do you think do you think that jesus or do you think that god
would have put uh adam and eve into the garden and said keep this and
dress it and be fruitful and multiply and then they would have went in
there and they would have used all the uh all the the the the the the
gifts that they had in in thinking and reasoning and and planting and
cultivating and picking and harvesting and god would have said wait a
minute i didn't want you to do these things no that's not even
reasonable he was pleased with that it was when it was when they were
not satisfied with that it was when they they weren't willing to see
that as just the right good thing to do and they had this idea that
maybe they too could know what to determine as good and evil and make
these standards for themselves and judgments for themselves that was a
realm they weren't supposed to go into people do all kinds of things in
jesus name but it's not the things that jesus said anymore there's every
imaginable thing that people do for christ there's truckers for christ
and bikers for christ and cowboys for christ and football for christ and
there's no end you can feast and gamble and party in the name of charity
for jesus cause and one thing is common in all of these if you bring
them these teachings of jesus that he gave here in the sermon on the
mount they'll say but we're not under law we're under grace and i think
jude's prophecy in verse four is filled to the brim where he says
certain people have crept in unnoticed ungodly men who turn the grace of
god into lawlessness and deny our only master and lord jesus christ in
closing let's just be aware let's just be aware that this is this is a
common thing jesus forewarned us that it would happen and let's let's
sink our anchors into hearing and doing the things that we have recorded
that the lord jesus christ has taught us you know as i think about as i
think about my journey through life or through through christianity
maybe especially the part after after leaving the amish and and kind of
opening myself up to a to a whole new world of of of thinking and
meeting people and especially with like wanting to evangelize and talk
to people and and consider what they have to say in all these things
there was more more than once like i i i would hear a side of something
and i think like well there's some things there i haven't considered
them yet i need to maybe there's something there like first it's it's
just the the real strong evangelical message telling me you know about
you know about about how god does everything and we do nothing or
something like that and and then and then i ran across messianic people
and they have man they have some some really a lot of things that i had
never thought about much and i and i listen to it and i consider it and
i go back and i i search the scriptures and and um and and you know then
it's then it's the miracle workers that i run into and and what can i
say like they're doing all these miraculous things or or we've run into
to orthodoxy and that that mindset of the of of of um you know uh um the
church being being continued through apostolic uh succession and all
those things and without without thinking about these things and
considering them i don't have a ready answer for everything and i might
not still have a ready answer for all of these things that i'm talking
about but one one thing that i've recognized is like i had i had sunk my
anchor into the idea that we cannot depart from hearing and obeying the
things that jesus taught and i feel like though though it maybe has made
me like uh not always be straight above my anchor it's never left me to
fly away i i think i think that's where we need to be there's no other
way to not be swept away by the words by the winds of doctrine than to
sink our anchor in christ and in his word there will be many surprises
on judgment day and that doesn't that doesn't mean that we can't have a
confident assurance paul said i know whom i have believed and i uh and i
am persuaded that he is able to keep that which i've committed unto him
against that day we can we can have that because we know we know that
christ has already gotten the victory we never have to doubt that and if
we if we heed this very first thing that jesus told us in this sermon
when he said you need to be poor in spirit and we heed this very last
warning that he gave us beware and everything in between there and
that's not the only thing i'm not trying to reduce the all to these
three chapters but we we can have that assurance i just want to tell you
that but in spite of that there will be uh many many surprises on
judgment day there was one thing that brother buddy read out of the
didachi this morning that got my attention i think it said don't be it
was talking either in the part about here's the way of death or
somewhere it says don't be overly confident paul was it paul paul said
think about it paul who had all this this this this confidence and
boldness and assurance it seems like to me he said he who thinks he
stands take heed take heed fall i'm just going to close with two
passages out of the two two passages out of the old testament first
one's out of jeremiah 5 verse 30 to 31 it says bewilderment and horrible
things have come upon the land the prophets prophesy unrighteous things
and the priests applaud with their hands and my people also love to have
it so but what will you do after these things and then in micah 4 11 he
says now many nations have gathered against you saying we will rejoice
and our eyes will gaze upon zion but they do not know the thoughts of
our lord nor perceive his counsel for he gathered them like sheaves for
the threshing floor arise and thresh them oh daughter of zion may the
lord add his blessing and uh thank you for listening and welcome to add
add comments or corrections and may the lord help us all i want to say
thank you that's uh a real blessing amen um i thought that let god be
true and every man a liar let us let us not uh i think that there is
where confidence can lie as jesus came with the words of eternal life
and he he's um his way is complete there's there's another way so if we
humble ourselves to that there's there's great hope and we can glory in
him so uh let us be found doing his will yeah thank you brother duane uh
i really really really enjoyed that message very edifying um yeah i
guess one thing i was a couple things i think i to address um i like how
you i did want to talk about matthew 7 17 a little bit here in a second
about yeah like you pointed out the two contrasting adjectives there
were describing words different words in greek and yet some translations
will kind of make them similar and not not not folding them um but i
like how you characterize that do you remember how you said that for
that was matthew 7 17 uh because i think as a commentary that would be a
reasonable commentary what you said that was that was edifying um do you
remember how you yes that's good um yeah so let me address that real
quick uh so i i've mentioned this in the past before um these two two
words that can both have to do with virtuous good one of his agathos and
one of them is kalos um kalos quite often and i think that's the meaning
here um it would be kind of the word in the greek septuagint that eve
when she actually she heard all this deception from the serpent looked
at the fruit and said wow that is kalos that is beautiful that is
attractive that's appealing um and seems like so that's what he's saying
here but sometimes it can also in context i've seen or writings um in um
not written in the you know in the bible by by greeks in the couple
centuries before jesus they they would use it also like agathos and both
of them are agathos is the idea of like virtue you know what is good in
the sense of virtue and even leaning towards the idea of righteousness
like just it's it's just good it's it's like we like everybody knows
whether they're christian or many things like oh that's good that's
that's that's the right thing to do and so he says uh so in this way um
every tree uh that has this agathos fruit this this virtuous fruit um
sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry um every tree every every virtuous tree
every good tree every virtuous tree um that has like and now it's using
the word kalos beautiful fruit or appealing fruit that looks good right
um that produces or you know makes good fruit um but every like rotten
tree every corrupt tree um produces uh like yeah evil fruit or yeah bad
in the sense of probably evil evil fruit so anyway i just mentioned that
um the other thing is i was just thinking it might be worth mentioning
the um the idea of lawlessness um i mean that's anomia that's that's a
good literal yeah it's without law and so my you know commentary on that
how i would understand that is kind of like i think it's helpful
sometimes to look at um like counter word pairs that are pretty much in
every language like example of giving versus receiving right they're
they're not necessarily antonyms or opposite or um what i mean they are
opposites in that in that sense and so in that way i think um i think
i'd said here in the recent past and i don't know who might have heard
me say it but i really believe this when jesus said you know many on
that day will say to me lord lord you know or sorry not not that one
where he says um why do you call me lord lord and don't do what i say
and so the idea of lord or master is the idea the contrary to that would
be um many will say to me or not many will say sorry i'm mixing the two
passages up um why do you call me or why do why do you say hey i'm your
servant i'm your slave i'm your servant but you don't do what i say so
that's you know slave versus master right so so you can almost like
inject that in the idea when he's saying you're calling me lord you're
saying you're my servant right you see what i mean that that kind of the
connection between giving and receiving it's i can say hey i give you a
gift but then i could also say it in the opposite where i say you
received and now i use receive rather than give you received a gift from
me and i'm saying the same thing i'm just stating it in two different
perspectives so in the same way when when jesus is saying about
lawlessness you you i never knew you or you worker of lawlessness what i
believe he's saying is you that don't do my commands so um because you
know yeah lawful versus lawless are kind of opposites of each other but
what is lawful somebody that's lawful obeys the commands of the land or
whatever so so i think when he says that you worker of lawlessness is
like somebody that doesn't do my commands and i think probably i may not
even need to say that because i'm sure a lot of us think think that way
about the passage but i guess going back to the baptism my one thing i
might have mentioned this before in that passage in romans chapter six
this is one passage that there's a few passages in our bibles that the
bias of many people on these translation committees i mean erasmus when
you know or not erasmus but uh king james i mean they had their biases
and their theology or whatever sometimes it affected their translation
choices and people today protestants sometimes they'll sometimes will
affect their translation choices and sometimes it's kind of trivial and
sometimes when that's kind of significant so romans chapter six verse
seven everybody does it almost every translation that i've seen they all
do this and yet the word all over the letter to rome you know the the
rome you know the book of romans um they'll they'll translate as justify
justify oh he's justified you know right there in romans chapter five
he's justified by his blood but now you go into chapter six and so oh
this is about baptism they're like oh no we don't want to translate that
way so we're gonna say he's freed you know for whoever has died is freed
from his sins we don't want to translate justify it's justified that if
they would translate it correctly it's whoever has died is justified
from his sins and that's what romans chapter five and then the previous
chapters are pointing to that passage that happens in baptism so i just
want to point that out that's what paul is saying i mean it's not a
commentary it's what it's what he's saying so um there was some thoughts
that i had thank you brother duane many um profound points to consider
and i think a few of the points i never uh heard them expressed like you
did i'll have to re-examine them especially the one about kent kent
brubaker and things but when you look at the the you know acid test
abysmus test false prophets as you said uh false fruits false miracles
etc there's another one in there but i show you more excellent way when
you have the two kingdoms the two kingdoms uh it's obvious that uh the
kingdom of god is going to love the enemies and not persecute them and
so when you have christians who are killing unregenerate or killing
people who aren't christians it's really simple that they're not they're
false christians and pharaoh's ministry uh you know the egyptian
minister uh miracles pharaoh's what do you call them magicians that's a
tough one that's what i'm thinking of kent your friend well kent
brubaker said that that's a tough one can he really do those are they
false miracles i mean there is a lid pharaoh's magicians couldn't do the
good miracles right they couldn't do it otherwise we'd be confused and
jesus said i've done more miracles than any and no one can do a miracle
in my name unless there's some things that's what i'm trying to consider
those things that you said that i said wow i never looked at it like
that one thing that that you said that that i maybe i'm missing it on
this and you quoted this for many master 24 many shall come in my name
saying i am christ and shall deceive many the way you said it dwayne was
that i'm a christian because later on it does say that um there will
arise many false christs and most many false prophets and show great
signs and wonders if it was possible to see if the the elect so okay you
have muhammad you have joseph smith you have hayley salasi there's no
end to people who said they were christ and they you know and i don't
know if they perform miracles but i always understood that as being when
i when you said that brother micah he's israel and says yeah it was a
new truth and i said yeah maybe but i'm not sure it says many uh it says
many shall come in my name and deceive many saying that i am christ not
that i'm a christian but it goes together with acts 20 that many people
who say they're will deceive so i'm i'm i'm a little confused on on some
of that but i show you a more excellent way and that's love so we love
our enemies that's gonna take care of all this uh this stuff about going
to war and we'll save about any problems we have with each other and uh
the lord be magnified thanks for the drain for a good lesson yeah
actually yeah thank you brother yeah just reminding me of something i
wanted to say so in matthew 25 there's two mentions of the word christ
and i and some of you probably already know this some of you probably
maybe don't remember hearing this but i guess first even before i go
there let me let me just say this um so there's when you read the old
testament in hebrew um every name that's in there that ends up you know
it likes to take for isaac or jacob or whatever when a hebrew person is
reading it they're taught and understood that that's their name but in
the same way like buddy's family it's like oh you know here's faithful
here's you know virtue or whatever you know patient or whatever like
that's how they're understanding it but they know that it's their name
but it's like yeah but it actually means something right and so
similarly like whether it's in greek christos it means anointed it's
like somebody that is getting anointed with something right and so with
christianity why were christians called anointed ones you know or those
that were anointed that's because you know repentance baptism you
receive the spirit of god you're anointed with the spirit of god um and
going all the way back to the old testament yeah the kings were
literally anointed with oil that was a pointer pointing to the spirit of
god right and we see that with king saul there's this big part of the
text where it shows how he received the spirit of god and everything
after he was anointed by samuel so there was the earthly anointing there
was a heavenly anointing or whatever all that to say is the word
christos in greek is anointed right and so moshiach messiah is how it's
trans or transliterated um but it's pronounced today moshiach like same
thing hebrew it's it's anointed one so so in matthew 25 verse 5 where it
says um says the anointed you know he said that some will many will say
that they are the anointed i'm not sure about that one but i can tell
you the verse where you go further down and it says false christ it's
one word and it's got a prefix that means false but to me like that's
false christians i mean there's no doubt in my mind now i could be wrong
of course right but like it's false anointed which is false christians
because people that are christians that's literally what it is that
those are anointed so so that's what i think like these false christians
that as i appreciate what brother dewine said yeah because i don't
really think there's very many christians in christian them that have
this evil intent like i want to deceive these people no it's they're
deceived and and there's passages and a lot of epistles that say like
jesus himself talking about the blind leading the blind right so the
deceived you know deceiving others one of peter's letters speaks that
way so yeah these false christians that they think they're saved but
they're not bearing the good fruit and so they should be visible just
look at their life i mean are they walk around walking in virtue and and
and you know not puffed up about it because if you're puffed up about it
now forget it i mean you're you're all you know but anyway here are some
thoughts so who all is ready to go wolf hunting um a lot of times we get
excited things like uh the sermons stir us up they make us aware and
we're ready to go go look for some wolves um i would just like to remind
each of us to look for the one that's within first um examine your own
heart is there a deception living there how do you relate to others how
one of the chariastics of wolves characters of wolves is not only do
they destroy the sheep they turn on their own as well if if one of them
is not quite fitting in uh i've uh i've been told usually if one of them
is of a different color pattern something like that any little thing
that might create a vulnerable in their minds create a in or make them
vulnerable um that animal is also eliminated slaughtered just like a
sheep and consumed so uh i found that sobering to consider how do we
relate to to uh those we even um perceive as weak as as a liability to
us do we take the the uh the christian commandment of lifting them up
strengthening them or do we turn on them um if that dwells in us then we
have definitely wolf hunting to do in our own heart in my opinion is is
forsaken perfect where we leave the war god in our motherland is is is
to be is at the end he'll go

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/kisdwdE2-zw.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/duane-troyer/know-them-by-their-fruits-not-their-miracles/
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