Reliable

From Matthew chapter 7, verse 15 and following. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.

Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles? So every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. If you want to see some sign that will mark the people of God who are now emerging as the Church of Christ in city after city across the earth, don't look for what people normally call love.

You know, you might say, oh, there's such love in that place. Those people seem to be so compassionate toward each other, only to find out after a while that beneath the surface there's nothing there at all. And don't look for power.

Not every display of spiritual power these days or any other time comes from God. Exorcists are getting to be a dime a dozen. And don't get carried away by numbers.

The fact that a fellowship happens to be crowded does not prove that God is there. If you want to see the mark that distinguishes the Church of Jesus Christ as it is now coming forth, look for the one thing which distinguished the Son of God in the eyes of his Father. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

Why was the Father well pleased? Because now for the first time since Adam fell, there is a human being standing on this earth that God can rely on. His yes is yes and his no is no. Yes, Jesus healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, caused the lame to run, fed the multitudes, raised the dead.

But the thing that drew the poor and the lame and the hawk and the blind to Jesus Christ was the fact that these people knew that he was on the level. And this could not be said for the religious people, the scribes, the Pharisees, nor could it be said for the revolutionaries or the government officials. Even the best of these people, sooner or later, broke down and revealed something twisted and dishonest and false inside.

But Jesus' life and his message were a perfect match. If he said it, he did it. If he promised it, he delivered it.

Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the power of God and it was so, he raised Lazarus from the dead? If he told his disciples that he's going up to Jerusalem to die, that's the way it's going to be. If he promised them that he would see them on a mountain in Galilee after the resurrection, they might as well go there, because as soon as they're there, they'll see him. And if he tells them to wait behind in Jerusalem until they are baptized with power from on high, they might as well stay in Jerusalem exactly as he says, because it will be exactly as Jesus says.

And when we simmer down enough to listen to what Jesus has to say to us, and he does speak when we listen, we find that the words that Jesus speaks to us are attended by the exact truth of what those words mean. In other words, if Jesus points to his cross and says to us, your sins are forgiven, immediately the guilt that has plagued our hearts for years falls away and we have peace. And if he says it will be done, you can be sure it will be done.

If he makes a promise, he fulfills it. What a contrast, however, between this meek man who always backs up his word and the church of this present hour, the most unreliable people on this earth are very often found inside the professing church. There is more exaggerating, more twisting of truth, more evading of issues, more flat-out pretense in the professing Christian church than almost anywhere else on earth.

Constantly we're running into people who won't get near the church with a ten-foot pole because they had enough of us Christians somewhere along the line. You know, we promised, but we didn't deliver. You know, we said there would be a change, but nothing happened.

We expressed concern with our mouths, but we never backed it up with our deeds. We said we'd be there, but we never showed up. We said that thing would be taken care of, but it never got done.

Now, my friend, if salvation means anything at all, it means a good deal more than running down to the altar rail and getting saved. If salvation means anything at all, it means that we are like our Lord, in this respect especially. How can we say that we are born of God when we're still living according to our own deceitful nature? He who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same way in which He walks.

If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. How can the truth make us free if we are not living? Now, the church which is emerging, the church which Christ will soon present to Himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle, is made up of people who, like their Lord, are reliable. They are no longer children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine.

Their yes is yes, and their no is no. If they say it, they do it, and they bear good fruit, fruit that remains. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.

But he who does the will of my Father. Notice that. The only ones who get into the kingdom are those whose Lord, Lord, is reliable.

And this means some specific things that we have a tendency to overlook. For instance, first of all, if we're going to be in the kingdom, we're going to be reliable servants of the Son of God. That is, when He says come, we come.

When He says go, we go. When He says do it, we do it. When He says stop, we stop.

We don't go, get up in the morning, and look out the window and see the rain and decide that we'll remain depressed today. What the heck? We don't belong to ourselves anymore. We belong to a Master who has things for us to do today.

Even though it's raining, even though we may have a sniffle, even though everybody in our family is in a grouchy mood. Reliable, not just predictable. A lot of people are predictable.

You know that they're going to go right on with their routine if it snows in July. But when the Lord tells them to withdraw from that routine and change it, they never even blink an eye. They go right on doing the thing their own way and think that they're serving God and very often consider themselves to be very reliable.

They're not reliable. Secondly, we're going to be reliable with our bodies. We're going to present these bodies, such as they are, as living sacrifices to God continuously.

Day in and day out, our bodies no longer live to themselves but to Him who is their glorious Head, Jesus. The appetites which God placed in our bodies are now to be satisfied in God's way and on God's schedule. Now open His divine hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

He's going to satisfy your desire. He's not going to frustrate you eternally. But this does mean that fornication and all uncleanness, all self-indulgence, gluttony, drunkenness, covetousness is placed under the blood of the Lamb and let thirdly, hold on to your seats.

We're going to be reliable with our money. Now for those who may be here for the first time, let me put you at ease. This is not an appeal for funds and we're not going to pass pledge cards.

We believe that if an assembly of believers seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, every material thing it needs will come. That if we have to stoop to telethons, prayer letters, bingo, pledge cards, or arm-twisting to raise funds for our grand plan, just the plan, it's not worth it. Before we appeal for funds, may we board up the church.

But we also believe that any follower of Jesus who is unfaithful to God in the use of His money will never get to first faith in His walk with the Lord. If you have not been found faithful in the unrighteous man, and says Jesus, and that means money, who will entrust to you the true riches? One of the first lessons that any disciple of Jesus Christ needs to learn is to be disciplined, diligent, faithful in the way He slices His paycheck. Now, don't let any preacher or radio evangelist tell you where to put that.

God will tell you where to put it. He'll tell you. Once you let go of it.

But He'll never pry it out of your hand against your will. Next. We're going to be reliable with our minds.

It's a good thing, you know, that people can't see what goes on in these heads. You know, the weird excursions we take with our minds. But every single time we mentally walk down a path which is unreal, vain, adulterous, or vengeful, we open our spirits wide to the Father of lives.

We put ourselves all out of shape. We weaken ourselves so that we aren't in any shape to do the real thinking that every believer has to do. You know, God doesn't just want you to follow Jesus with your body.

He wants you to follow Jesus with your mind. That means you have to think. And how in the world are you going to think with a sanctified brain in the afternoon when all morning long you're rolling around in a dung heap with your mind? We're going to be reliable with our mouths.

Notice that at every passage in the New Testament where Jesus talks about the good tree bringing forth good fruit, He connects it with the mouth. He doesn't say, oh, it doesn't matter what you say. He says the very opposite.

He says your mouth shows what's in your heart. If your mouth lies, your heart lies. And if your mouth is vicious, your heart is vicious.

And if your mouth is vile, your heart is vile. And if your mouth is sloppy, so is your heart. Matthew 12, by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.

Fifth, we're going to be faithful, reliable toward each other. I recommend a book which is in the book room by Joseph Bailey, The Gospel Blimp. In this story, Christians band together as they always want to do to form an organization to get the gospel out.

And pretty soon they're so wrapped up in their organization they forget about what the gospel really is. One of the men in the organization has a wife who becomes sick. And now the believers are so busy with their gospel blimp they don't have any time to minister to the needs of that family.

And it takes the fun-loving heathens next door that everybody's trying to convert by dropping firebombs of cracks on their front lawn from the blimp to come through with some practical help for that family. And also, if you should happen to be aware of a brother or sister who's being neglected, don't be coy until the crisis is over and then get on the telephone and call up 20 people and say how the fellowship didn't do anything for Brother Tom. You do something for Brother Tom.

You round up the help while the crisis is hot. What you see, baby, you're responsible for, not somebody else. Why didn't Milton go to see so-and-so? Why didn't you go to see so-and-so? And finally, we're going to be faithful in our walk in the world.

When the employer calls up and says, and this happens, don't send me any more Christians, they're undependable. That's not persecution, that's judgment. God never told us to read our Bibles on company time.

He never gave us any leeway to be evangelizing when we should be pushing the broom, nor any excuse for coming in late, morning after morning, because fellowship went to midnight last night. Conduct yourselves honestly among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunder peals.

Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Notice that in heaven, they don't have to have it quiet. You want to say hallelujah, you say hallelujah.

You won't be out of joint with heaven, you might be out of joint with some people on earth. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was granted to her to be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deed of the saints.

Notice that the bride has made herself ready. Somebody didn't have to come along and dress her up. The Holy Ghost didn't just dress her up.

She had to make herself ready. The Holy Ghost gave it a purpose. And the angel said to me, write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

May it be that as we leave this place today, every one of us may be clothed in fine linen. And may it be that when the marriage supper of the Lamb begins, and that won't be long, He may find us still so clothed. For the only church that's going to go in with Him to the marriage is the bride who has made herself ready.

No one else. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. You're getting your invitation now.

Whether you put on the fine linen depends on you.