Sermon Series: Sermon on the Mount

How Do You Know?

Matthew 7:15-20

PSBC July 23, 2000 A.M.

In a nutshell: You determine a truthful religious leader... not by appearance, but by his or her fruit. The true test of a true or false prophet has to do with the kind and character of their fruit.

I. Introduction

A. Lincoln Story

One of my favorite stories about Abraham Lincoln was when he was trying to make a point about the truthfulness of a situation. The person with whom he was talking was unconvinced and stubborn. So Lincoln tried another tack. He said to the man, "Well, let's see now. How many legs does a cow have?" The disgusted reply came back "Four, of course." Lincoln agreed, "That's right. Now, suppose you call the cow's tail a leg; how many legs would the cow have?" The opponent replied confidently, "Why, five, of course." Lincoln came back, "Now that's where you're wrong. Calling a cow's tail a leg doesn't make it a leg! It's truth that counts."

Well, this morning we aren't going to examine the question of truth, so much as we are going to examine the vehicles from which we learn about truth, concerning God.

B. Transition

More specifically speaking, how are you to know if I'm telling you the truth, or if any radio preacher, TV evangelist, Promise Keeper speaker, Woman of Faith, or Christian author is speaking the truth about God and a relationship with Him?

These are important questions because they deal with issues of eternity, eternal destiny, and determine if we follow the truth or follow a lie.

Illustration: Some of you remember a Christian group founded and led by Jim Jones, about 25 years ago. Jones was ordained in the Christian Church / Disciples of Christ denomination. He assembled a large following of over 900 members in Indianapolis IN. The temple was initially structured as a mission for the sick, homeless and jobless.

When an investigation began into his cures for cancer, heart disease and arthritis, he decided to move the group to Ukiah CA. He preached the immanent end of the world in a nuclear war. They later moved to San Francisco CA. After an expose in the magazine New West raised suspicions of illegal activities within the Temple, he moved the Temple to Jonestown, Guyana in South America.

He developed a belief called Translation in which he and his followers would all die together, and would move to another planet for a life of bliss. Mass suicides were practiced in which his followers pretended to drink poison and fell to the ground.

Rumors of human rights abuses circulated. This motivated Leo Ryan, a United States Congressman, to visit Jonestown for a personal inspection. At first, the visit went well. Later, some of the members of the Temple decided that they wanted to leave Jonestown with the Congressman.

While they were waiting at the local airstrip, some heavily armed members of the Temple's security guards arrived and started shooting. Congressman Ryan and four others were killed; 11 were wounded.

Fearing retribution, Jones ordered his entire group to commit suicide by drinking cyanide-laced kool-aide. 638 of his adult followers and 276 of their children died. Some committed suicide by drinking the poison; others appear to have been murdered by poison injection or shot. A few fled into the jungle and survived. The bodies were in a state of extensive decay when the authorities arrived.

A book written a few years later, put the whole tragedy into proper perspective, "The greater tragedy of Jonestown was not that nearly a thousand people died, but that they died believing they were serving God."

C. Jesus' Warnings

Jesus made an interesting statement at the end of the book of Matthew, He said...

Matthew 24:24
24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect– if that were possible.

We've seen this phenomenon several times in our life-times. I've mentioned Jim Jones. But don't forget David Koresch in Waco, Texas; or the Heaven's Gate group in San Diego, just a few years ago.

So, the question I put before you this morning is simply this, "How do you know?" How do you know who is teaching something false about God and who is teaching something true? It is to this issue that Jesus speaks to us this morning. So, I'd ask that if you have your Bibles, that you turn in them to Matthew 7...

II. Not By Appearance

Well, in answering that question, Jesus first tells us how NOT to discern if someone is teaching truth or falsehood about God...

Matthew 7:15
15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

Before we can determine who is true and who is false, we must understand a fundamental principle.

The principle is this... We cannot make a determination regarding truth, based on outward appearances. If we simply look at externals, we may be deceived.

In the case of Jim Jones we have a very good illustration of this truth. Mel White in his book Deceived, gives us an interesting picture of Jones...

He knew how to inspire hope. He was committed to people in need; He counseled prisoners and juvenile delinquents. He started a job placement center; He opened rest homes and homes for the retarded; He had a health clinic; He organized a vocational training center; He provided free legal aid; He founded a community center; He preached about God. He even claimed to cast out demons, do miracles and heal.

There is no doubt that if someone looked at Jim Jones and his ministry, they would conclude that he was a true minister of God. In fact, countless church leaders, governors, senators, congressmen, and even the President of the United States recognized him for the great work he was doing. Little did they know.

The same could be said for David Koresh. Shortly after the Waco tragedy, Steven R. Reed wrote an article for the Houston Chronicle in which he said, "The beginning was innocent enough. A charismatic young man named Vernon Howell embraced God's word, sought God's will and worshiped God's Son."

That's the kind of thing that makes it so hard to look at the outward appearances and judge what is really going on in the heart. Outwardly, Koresh may have seemed like he was a man seeking the truth. The truth, however, is not where Koresh ended up. Reed goes on to conclude, "Called to serve Christ, Howell-Koresh instead had tried to supplant Him. Tragically for many, what appeared to be a man seeking to serve God was instead a man deceived and deceiving others."

Jesus' point is this, if we evaluate things based on appearances, we will make a serious mistake. We may be in danger of being deceived. Even if we see an outward manifestation of supernatural power, we could be deceived. Because Satan is a supernatural being too.

Friends, listen to this...The strategy of Satan is not to show up in a red suit and horns, pointed tail, and a pitchfork. The Bible tells us that he comes as an angel of light. A universal strategy of Satan is to appear to be something he is not.

So there is a dilemma. If a false prophet appears to be a true prophet and a true prophet appears to be a true prophet, how are we to know the difference? If we can't rely on outward appearances of a person, what should we rely on?

The key is looking deeper. The key is looking past the outward appearance. The key is to unzip the sheep's suit and look inside. Jesus tells us that we will know the true prophet from the false prophet, not by appearances . . .but by the fruit they produce.

III. The Fruit

Look at the next verses...
Matthew 7:16-20
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?
17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

The true test of a true or false prophet has to do with the kind and character of their fruit.
Appearances can be deceiving. But taking the time to inspect the fruit will give a more certain
indication of the nature of the tree.

A. Getting to know Fruit Trees

Illustration: When we lived in Phoenix, AZ, we were given tickets one January to go to the Fiesta Bowl football game. We parked our car several blocks away from the stadium and started to walk to the stadium entrance. Along the way, the street was lined with some beautiful orange trees. And at that time of year, the fruit was plump and juicy and ripe. So, on the way, I picked one of the plump, and juicy oranges and cut it open and tasted it. It was horrible! I couldn't believe how awful such a good looking piece of fruit could taste. Later I found out that I had tasted an ornamental orange, not an eating orange.
By not knowing the nature of the tree, I was fooled by the appearance of the fruit.

This is precisely the point that Jesus is making here. He says only good trees will produce good fruit. And you can count on bad trees producing bad fruit.

Then He carries the analogy even farther. He says that it's impossible for a thorn bush to
produce grapes. Those must be produced by a grape vine. And figs come from fig trees, not
thistle bushes. So, inspecting the fruit is the key to being discerning. It will tell us whether a person is a true prophet of God, or a false one.

Now a good question to ask is, "What makes fruit good?" Jesus doesn't answer that question here, but the answer to that question is told us in other places in the New Testament.

B. Three Things to Look At

Let me give you three things to consider regarding the fruit of someone who claims to speak for God...

1. Character

The first area in which Jesus expects His church leaders to bear good fruit is the area of character. Here we are talking about who a person is on the inside. What are their motives? What are their attitudes? What are their ambitions? What are their core values?

Well, there are a couple of Bible verses that help us in this...

John 15:8
8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

That verse is pretty clear that their won't be just puny fruit or a small amount of fruit in a person claiming to speak for God. But their will be much fruit.

So, what is that fruit, that there needs to be much of?

Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

In other words, if a leader is walking in the power of the Spirit then he or she will be displaying the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.

If leaders are producing something in their lives other than the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians, then we may conclude that they are not being led by the Spirit. A fruitful leader will always obey God. A fruitful leader will always value the things that God values. Like an author said recently...(front of bulletin) The fruit of the Spirit grows only in the garden of obedience. (Terry Fullam, Leadership, Vol. 6, no. 3.)

So, the first evaluation tool is the inner character of the individual. Look inside. Look at the heart. Take the time to get to know a leader well enough to find out what is on the inside.

Aside: Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why I think it is so important to be connected to a local church. You can't simply watch someone on television or listen to someone on radio, or connect with someone on the Internet, and evaluate what is on the inside. You never really get a chance to see them long enough to get any idea of that. It is only when you live with people and get to know them that you can catch a glimpse of what is on the inside.

2. Actions

Another kind of fruit that the Bible emphasizes is what we may call the fruit of good works, or the fruit of our actions.

Colossians 1:10
10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

Illustration: A farmer was single and wanted a wife. So, he put an ad in the local newspaper. It read: "Man 35, wants woman about 25, with tractor. Send picture of tractor."

That's obviously self-serving. And when we are talking about actions that are worthy of God, self-service can't have any place in the life of a Christian leader. A true leader or prophet of God will be involved in serving others, rather than serving himself.

Henry Ward Beecher once said, "The world is to be cleaned by somebody..., and you are not called of God if you are ashamed to scrub."

3. Sound Doctrine

A 3rd area of good fruit has to do with sound doctrine.

Titus 2:1
1 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.

This is just one of four different places in the New Testament where leaders and teachers are commanded to give attention to sound doctrine, or proper scriptural teaching.

A false prophet will deviously pervert the teaching of Scripture. He or she will give it in a slightly twisted version, in order to serve his or her own ends.

That is why I encourage you to look things up in your Bibles. That's why I give you Scripture references and verses to back the things up that I say each week. You need to be testing me out. You need to look at your Bible and compare what I say with what you see in there. This is an important check and balance system that you'll find in any church that is being used in any significant way to advance God's Kingdom.

It is also important for each of us to get into the Bible for ourselves, outside of church service. This is important so that you will have a foundation against being deceived by those who twist Scripture. Think about it, had the followers of David Koresh or Jim Jones been Biblically grounded they would have probably never fallen for their deceptive claims.

IV. Conclusion

As we saw a few weeks ago when we looked at the subject of Gates, Roads and Exit Ramps. God's truth is narrow. But that's the nature of truth!

A. Illustration:

Would you trust yourself to a surgeon who had received no specialized training but was simply a really good person who meant well? Of course not! Why? Because you know that truth is narrow. And you'll trust your physical life only to someone who knows exactly what he or she is doing.

Well, what about your eternal life? Who are you trusting to teach you about God's truth?

B. Wrap-up

So, here's the application for you from this passage...when you hear from the many voices claiming to speak for God, be careful. Notice that I didn't say be skeptical. Far too many people close themselves off to God because they're afraid of being deceived.

But think about it. The fact that there are false prophets means that there are true prophets.

So don't be skeptical - be careful.

Evaluate what you hear by the standards in the Word of God.
-Look at the character of the person's life.
-Look at a leader's actions
-Look at the doctrine that a teacher or leader holds to

And, when you do that, and you find that there is something not right, then beware.
But, if what you do see lines up with the Word of God, then rejoice and learn from that prophet of God, about the truths of God.
Amen.