False Prophets and the Broad Way - Part 5

Here is one sentence on page 7, chapter 7. The gate is narrow. How shall we understand it all by itself? No, we shall read it in its context. This is the concluding statement, concluding, in fact, verses 13 to 27, is the, sorry, not 27, 13 to the end of the chapter, 13 to 27, is the closing paragraph where Jesus used three illustrations, narrow way and a broad way, and verse 17 onwards, a bad tree and a good tree, and verse 24 onwards, a rock foundation and a sand foundation for a house.

Three illustrations. This is the concluding paragraph of the Sermon on the Mount, which begins in chapter 5, verse 3. So chapter 5, 6, and 7 is the only lengthy sermon of Jesus written in the whole Gospels, which we know as the Sermon on the Mount. And at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, he concludes with three very vivid graphic illustrations, a narrow way and a broad way, a bad tree and a good tree, and a sand shaky foundation, and a rock unshakable foundation.

So, in the context of Matthew 5, 6, and 7, we understand what it means. Because when it came to the house, he made it very clear, Matthew 7, 24, who is the man who builds on the rock? The one who hears these words of mine, which I've just spoken in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and does them. His house is on a rock.

That means, he has read through the Sermon on the Mount, understood it, and does it. What are the things written in the Sermon on the Mount? We must be merciful to everybody. We must not lust with our eyes after women.

We must not get angry. We must always speak the truth. We must love 100% of our enemies.

Forgive all those who have hurt us, just like we want God to forgive us. We must not let anybody know about the money we give to God. We must not let anybody know how much you pray.

We must not let anybody know how much you fast. You cannot serve God in money. You've got to make a choice whether you're going to serve God or you're going to serve money.

You must cast your anxiety upon Him so that you're not anxious. You must not seek for those things that the Gentiles seek after, money, and comfort, and possessions, and things like that, but seek the Kingdom of God first. You must not judge other people.

Get the log out of your own eye first. And concluding, finally he said in verse 12 of chapter 7, treat people exactly in the way you want them to treat you. That's called the Golden Rule.

He concluded with that. How do you want other people to treat you? Treat other people exactly like that. How many of you like somebody yelling at you? Anybody? Then don't yell at anybody.

That's the simple meaning of that verse. That's what it means. Do you like your wife yelling at you? No? Then don't yell at her.

Do you like people cheating you? Don't cheat anybody. Treat other people exactly the way you want to be treated yourself because the entire message of the Bible is that. That's what it says in verse 12.

That is the message of the whole Bible. The Law and the Prophets is an expression for the Bible. If you listen to these words and you do them, verse 24, you're building on a rock.

If you don't do them, a foolish man is like a man who heard these words of mine, verse 26, and did not do them. How many of us have heard, and heard, and heard these words in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and tried to do them? You know, let me go back and look at the trees. The problem is that we have a bad nature.

That's what he was trying to teach us in the matter of the trees. We have a nature that's will do everything the opposite of what is written in the Sermon on the Mount. That's a bad tree.

Now how to get a how to live the way described in the Sermon on the Mount? Jesus says you need to have another tree. You need to acknowledge, first of all, that what you have is a bad tree. And a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit.

That's what he says here. The bad tree, verse 17, will only bear bad fruit. So if you have a bad tree, you're not sick and tired of that nature you got from Adam.

You can try when you hear a message like this. You can say, oh, well, I'm going to try and do that. It's like a bad tree trying to bring forth good fruit.

You can try, but you'll fail. So that's the second lesson you need to learn. Having learned that if you don't obey the things written here, you're going to have a shaky foundation.

You say, well, then how shall I do it? Well, you've got to let the Lord put a new tree in there. And the only way you can do it is, first of all, if you acknowledge that what you have originally is bad. That's so difficult for us to acknowledge.

It's so easy to see that the problem is with your wife, or with your neighbor, or with that other brother who's so difficult to get along with. And as long as you concentrate on that, you'll never see what a bad tree you yourself have. But when you acknowledge, Lord, it's my tree that's bad.

I mean, it's not that guy's provocation that's producing bad fruit in me. It's this tree itself that's bad. I mean, if you, if a tree is producing bad mangoes, and it says, well, I'm producing bad mangoes because so many people are throwing stones at me.

That's crazy. When people throw stones at you, that's why you're producing bad mangoes? But that's the argument stupid people make. Brother, people provoke me, I don't like that.

No, no, no. It's, Jesus said, it's because of a bad tree. Acknowledge it.

It's not because somebody else is difficult. It's because the tree itself is bad. A good tree cannot, verse 18, produce bad fruit.

What a verse. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit. How in the world is bad fruit coming out then? Tree is bad.

So, what should we do with this tree that doesn't bear good fruit? Verse 19, it has got to be cut down and thrown into the fire. Lord, this wretched nature I've got from Adam, I hate it. I want to kill it, cut it down, throw it into the fire, burn it up.

That's what the Holy Spirit has come to help us to do. That is part of the baptism of fire. You can never do anything without your cooperation.

If you sit back and say, well, God has blessed me, he's given me a good job, I've got a good salary now, and I'm okay, and everything's going well, and I'm healthy and strong, and everything's okay, I've got a good house to live in, etc., etc., etc., and this bad fruit is coming out. Brother, you've got all your values wrong. Now I'll tell you that's a narrow game.

See, we are working backwards from the two houses to the two trees to the two ways. Who is the false prophet? The false prophet is the one who has told you that even if you don't go through the needle's eye, you will still come to life. The false prophet is the one who has told you it's very easy to get into God's kingdom.