Falsehood or Faithful and Fruitful

Well, surely you will not die.

See, what Satan did there in the first sin was he poked holes in faith and what God had said and what God had done. This is a simple, subtle way that the little lies that cause us to be tossed to and fro to have our faith tossed. But think about the insanity of a false teacher there. Simultaneously, he's causing Adam and Eve to question God's generosity and justice. That's the kind of confusion a false teacher brings. Notice it's not obvious They're disobedient, but that's why you're supposed to watch out for them. They're dressed as sheep, but they're really ravenous wolves. They talk as if citizens, but they have forged their born-again certificate. They present themselves as peaceable, but they're belligerent. They masquerade as meek, but they're full of malice. They pretend to be pure, but they only do so for the public praise. They seem to be persecuted, but really they're just making themselves victims. If you think about this church, elders do have a unique role. Paul tells Titus that elders need to be trained who are going to hold firm to the word of God and sharply rebuke so those who are teaching a false doctrine, they themselves might be sound in doctrine, and they would protect then those who are weak. But Galatians was written to the whole church. It's our responsibility to all draw as close as possible, as near as possible, to be as clear as possible about what God has said so that we are all being watchful. Why are false prophets so bad? When it says inwardly, they're ravenous wolves. Again, there's the whole outward one way and inward another. That was the entirety of the false religion of chapter six. The ravenous wolves, they're devouring. They're like their father, the devil. They lie, they destroy, they make false promises, they kill. One reason they're so dangerous is they cause division among the church. They divide the church. Believers seek to maintain the unity of the spirit. False teachers seek to tear down and divide. Secondly, they cause that ungodly suspicion. They seek to poke holes, so God's word is questioned. The power of the gospel is questioned. Finally, they're dangerous because they're idolaters. They do not know God, therefore they cannot teach you who he is. They claim to have some special knowledge of God. They claim to have an access to God, but they're really blind leading, blind. They do so only for the praise of their own glory. Now let me invite you into one of the elders' great dilemmas, trying to discern if someone is a wolf or a hurt sheep. There's a rule, hurt people hurt people. There are times sheep bite. When someone is purchased by the precious blood of Christ, and they themselves are hurting, and might cause hurt to others, we want to wrestle and be careful not to add on to whatever burden or pain they're going through. This is why we take time to decide and seek discernment. This is why we ask for your prayer. It isn't always obvious if someone is a hurt sheep that bites versus a wolf that's seeking to devour. That leads to another painful decision, discerning true repentance and worldly sorrow. So the main command here is beware. Beware of false prophets. Well, how do you know them? Well, Jesus gives us this next section, which is we know them by their fruit. Our second point is we know them by their fruit, and that's verses 16 and 20. We know them by their fruit. Now, this section is just a nice opportunity to teach you how to to see how good of a teacher Jesus is. He's written this, this little section is just like you learn how to write your first paper in grammar school. The thesis at the beginning and at the end. Notice 16 and 20, you will recognize them by their fruits, thus you will recognize them by their fruits. He's declared the truth in the beginning and the end and then he's got an argument in the middle. It makes these clear analogies that aren't necessarily tied to a divine revelation. They are the word of God speaking, but we have many naturalists and farmers here. They would just say, yeah, this is true all time in all ways. This is just simply reasoning from what God has provided in creation. Grapes don't come from thorn bushes. Figs from thistles. Verse 17,

every healthy tree bears good fruit. But the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

The source matters. The nature causes the fruit.

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

Verse 19 is going further in that there's a judgment

every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire.

Again, this particular section has a beginning and an end, a bookend is what we call this.

You will recognize them by their fruits. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits.

So how do you know them? It's their fruit. The most basic truth here, a thornbush does not produce grapes. The nature of the plant determines what it will produce. If you plant an apple tree, you expect Yeah, see, you get this already. Pretty straightforward. Someone who's walking in the Spirit, the Spirit will produce the fruit of the Spirit. Someone who's walking in the flesh will work out the sinful nature. It will be demonstrated. We know from James, it's a show-me faith by works. We're actually demonstrating who we are all the time. If you're a believer, there's two parts to you. There's the old man that we inherited from Adam. There's our old sinful nature that still exists even after we believed in Jesus Christ and he's washed us and forgiven us and renewed us. There's still that old man that produces those sinful desires, that creates a certain insanity inside of us that's still foolish. Then there's the new man. The Holy Spirit has produced, by the very life of Christ, transforming us, giving us wisdom, producing in us new, right desires, helping us love the Lord our God with all our hearts. There's two of us, and we're called to be filled with the Spirit, which means we're putting off the old man and putting on the new. We're putting to death sin, and we're putting on what Christ has given us in life. The warning Christ is constantly given here is the mere pretending outward life. Our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees, which is merely outward expression. No, it must change us inside. Here's the good news, believer. God is at work in you. We're called to simply keep in step with the Spirit who indwells you. God is at work, which means we're simply exercising what he already has done and is doing. It does call for effort. Now, false teachers, they're gonna produce bad fruit. They're not able to produce good fruit. You can staple some fruit to a dead branch and pretend for a little while. You could glue some plastic grapes to a thorn, but ultimately, the good fruit only comes from a good tree over time. Notice how 17 and 18 say it positively and then negatively. There's an affirmation and a denial. Every healthy tree bears good fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit. The diseased tree bears bad fruit. A diseased tree cannot bear good fruit. He's affirming and denying to make it really clear for us. It also shows us how important this teaching is. Something I've learned to be thankful for is time is a wonderful truth teller. Time ultimately does reveal who someone is. It's simple, this is why Paul says not to lay hands on a new convert. Facades wear off, we can only fake it so long. Verse 19, there's a judgment. All the bad unhealthy trees, they will be destroyed. That judgment is meant to be an encouragement Second Peter makes this very clear. In the right time, God will bring judgment. There's a hope the church has that while false prophets are attacking inside, this is a war within the kingdom because those who are not part of the kingdom are trying to come in and corrupt. God will bring justice and judgment on the false teachers. How do you recognize them by their fruits? We could go to Galatians, you could see there the fruit of the spirit is what should be demonstrated by those who are seeking to proclaim and teach. You must know God and know his word and know his will in order to be a true professor of who Christ is. But here's some patterns that I think we can see in scripture and through experience as to how to recognize false teachers by bad fruit. First, they proclaim a false gospel. They proclaim a false gospel, and this is from 1 John 4, we read earlier.

Test the spirits.

If somebody's coming and they deny an absolute, clear, necessary truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they're a false prophet. In that particular instance, they're denying that Christ came in the flesh, meaning he was already preexistent as a son of God forever, and he added to himself humanity. Other things that would be denied that would make someone clearly a false prophet is Christ dying on the cross to forgive us of our sin. Or denying that Christ rose again to give us new life. These are essentials to the gospel. We can see through church history there's a few ways false prophets have regularly just kind of put their finger on the most essential truths. They want us to doubt the Word of God and its authority, that it alone has authority for the church. More clear is the order of grace faith works. That's the right order. We are saved by God's grace that we respond to in faith and then we work out that salvation. Regularly we see false teachers confusing that order. making works either unnecessary for those who are saved by grace through faith, or works are put ahead of grace and faith. The other would be denying the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Faithful teachers, in contrast, are going to teach what God says from His Word. Faithful teachers give you a confidence that what God has said is true, and it's good and it's for your good. That the father has sent his son to become like you, to die for your sin, to rise again to give you new life so that you have more confidence in what God has accomplished for your salvation that you can learn more about as you read his word. There's a way in which confidence is designed not in the person speaking. If I ever tell you to look inside of you or look to me, deny me. Look to that word that's in your hand or in the pew, and if you don't have a Bible, take that with you. That is the clear one source of God's truth for salvation. Secondly, they are eager to have authority, but without responsibility. They're eager to take authority, but they do not want responsibility. Academic world, academic freedom is a great commodity. To be able to teach and say what you want because you have tenure. As Americans, we put a premium on free speech. At church, there are things that you're just not allowed to say. Do not lie. Ephesians 5.4, no crude joking or filthiness. They're out of place. False teachers want to reject authority that limits what they say. They expect and assist upon being platformed. They refuse to work with others and refuse accountability in their teaching. They're usually the ones who want to stand over the elders and correct them rather than seeking to be responsible to some other authority. If you teach here, you're accountable to the church. And you must seek to teach with and under the elders. It's a weighty responsibility that we want to make sure is clear This is why we have a service review. So we have a way of training and teaching and having a control over what is taught. We have training for teachers. Our next class will be on teaching and preaching. Faithful teachers seek accountability and correction. We desire to make known the true God with the help of others. The most significant qualification for a teacher in Titus is that they hold firm to the truth as taught. You must be teachable to teach. Third, they are dissatisfied and demand more. False prophets usually have just a low-grade dissatisfaction constantly, ultimately because the gospel they believe is a lie and unsatisfying. And misery loves company, so they like to spread their misery. They're rarely happy with whatever's happening. They lack gratitude but have lots of grumbling. Faithful citizens seek to be conformed to Christ and are thankful for what Christ is doing. Fourth, they like to correct others by putting them in their place, not seeking reconciliation. Reconciliation is when someone says, I'm sorry, and someone says, I forgive you. A proper Christian correction is seeking to bring someone out of sin and out of an error and into a right relationship. False teachers like to put people in their place. Their yoke is heavy. The gospel frees you from sin. A false teacher only binds you to it all the more. Fifth, they do not disagree well. This is one of the ways to find out if someone is a ravenous wool, disagree with them. If they cannot be corrected, they will throw an adult tantrum, and that's usually the true tell. It's important as we think about this warning and this false teacher, when I did kind of my outer research, different writings or sermons, the amount of ministries that are just committed to just outing false teachers, it's kind of sad. There's a helpful way in which we need to make sure we're doing it, but if this is all you do, you're not building up the church. If your whole posture is just to make sure you find out every false teacher, you actually will become a false teacher. The only way to really do this well is by drawing near to Christ, building up the church, and then becoming so healthy with the church, you're able to clearly become strong and resist these kinds of false teachings. If your eye is always being suspicious, you're not doing the work of building up in growth and truth in Christ. So we see the main command, beware of false prophets. We see there's two different kinds of trees. They cannot bear the good fruit of a true prophet. And now we hear why God does not know them. We've seen how we might know them, it's their bad fruit, and now we look at why God does not know them. The weight of this is in the expression, Lord, Lord. If you're at Easter, remember the grand declaration of Thomas, seeing Jesus risen,

my Lord and my God.

There's a way in which they are confessing, Lord, Lord, but they do not know him. What they're saying does not match who they are and what they actually know. Jesus makes it very clear, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, but look what we've done for you. This is a weighty warning. because there's many who will think they are believers, but it's a false confidence. There's many who just have an intellectual acknowledgement of the gospel, and there's many who are very busy doing all kinds of good things, but there's a watered down gospel. They aren't true believers. There's a tension we must hold here because this is about the doctrine of assurance. This is where I'm concerned about the conscience of many that might be seared, wondering if I would be one of these, Lord, Lord, God doesn't know me. We may just hold some tension here. One, the free offer of salvation is for all to believe and be saved. You hear the word of Jesus Christ, you heard the gospel just a moment ago, Christ came to die for you and rise again. If you believe that, there's an assurance. That's the first thing we gotta hold in tension. Secondly, we wanna make sure that, We have a confidence that God has saved us. We're not able to be true warriors, true soldiers of Christ if we lack confidence of salvation. Confidence builds up courage, and assurance builds up courage to proclaim him and persevere. Third is where it gets complicated. We don't hand out certificates or tickets to heaven. If your confidence is in some decision you made way back then, we need to recalculate and make sure your confidence is in the God who has the power to save you and that you believe in Him right now. You're seeking to follow Him by faith right now. That there's a way in which too many have responded to some gospel at some time and they were promised, well, now you're safe forever, but they've left Jesus behind for that. Too many unconverted walk around with a false confidence. And too many Christians are ineffective because of doubt. We need to be really clear about the doctrine of assurance. There's two declarations I want to make sure we hear. God preserves all he has saved, and all who are saved will persevere. God will preserve All whom he has saved, all whom he has saved will persevere. Praise God we have confidence he saves. Praise God we can walk in faith. Our call is to believe and assurance we need is today. Verse 21 tells us why God does not know them.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Not everyone who is going to proclaim the Lord in the kingdom on earth will actually enter the final kingdom of heaven. But notice who will enter that kingdom.

But the one who does the will of my father in heaven.

Remember just a little bit ago, I told you one of the doctrines that heretics have always put their finger on is That order, grace, faith, works. You could look here and say, well, see, salvation is by works. I need to do the will of my father to be saved. Now, that's who's going to enter the kingdom. But those who do the will of the father are those who by grace have been saved and responded by faith and have committed themselves in works to do the will of my father. By grace, you have been saved. It is by grace that's worked inside of you that you've responded by faith and if that faith is genuine and true, that grace is going to transform you and that faith is going to lead to a following with good works. God's will is for all who call to believe and be conformed to once again be image bearers of his grace and glory. To be conformed, be like him, the new head of a new humanity. When God begins a good work in you, he will complete it. Simple way for us to think about this, we are to act out what God is already doing inside of us. Again, keep in step with the Spirit. Christ saves us, not to just be forgiven, but to be citizens of his kingdom, sons of his family, stones of his holy temple, restored members of his body, to be conformed and transformed. That's why it's those who do the will of his Father They're the ones who cry out, Lord, Lord, truly, because they have been conformed and are being conformed to God's will. Now, end of verse 21, that's the hinge. How do you know if you're crying out, Lord, Lord, truly, you're seeking to know and to do the will of the Father? That is an assurance that you're persevering in the faith by seeking to know God's will and to do it. How can you know God's will? How can you be sure, how can you faithfully do God's will? Three things. First, be eager to deny yourself. God's will is that you would put off sin and put on Christ. God's will is that you would confess sin and forgive sin. We can know God's will because he's told us what his will is. His will is that we would be sanctified. We would be his people. We would know him and make him known. Oh, seek to follow him on that narrow, happy, hard way we looked at last time. It begins with an eagerness to deny yourself repent of sin. Second, read through your scriptures and highlight and focus everywhere God tells us what his will is. Every explicit Declaration, this is my purpose, this is my will. Highlight those sections. God is telling you what his desire is. He's telling you what he wants. His will is that you would be adopted into his family, to be transformed into a son like his true son. His will is that you would be sanctified, you'd be made holy. The clear commands of Christ, the blessed life, to be meek, to be pure in the heart, to hunger and thirst after him. Put off that lust and anger. Forgive as you've been forgiven. We've seen many ways in which Jesus has taught what the will of God is in this sermon already. The third way to be faithful to do God's will is to pray the prayers God has given you. If you go back real simple and easy, pray the Lord's prayer from Matthew 6. Pray the prayers of Paul throughout the New Testament. Go back and pray the Psalms. Pray that God would transform you. That is what prayer is first and foremost. Us aligning our will with God's will. Us coming to submit to him so that his will would be done. Verse 22. Verse 21 tells us What's wrong? They do not do the will of my father. Verse 22, he puts words in their mouth again. On that day, many will say to me, the same people who said, Lord, Lord, but have not done my father's will. Notice they talk about what they did though. Verse 22,

on that day, many will say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast demons out in your name and do many mighty works in your name?

This is where the outward expression he's constantly been challenging is in the forefront. Now, a question I have for the text, are these folks saying they did these things, and they're simply saying they did them? Or did they actually do some of these things? It simply says they're gonna say they did them. I'm not sure if they did them, but I believe we could probably justify and understand many are going to say, Lord, Lord, and they do believe they've done these things. Many have gone and proclaimed the name of Christ thinking they are one of Christ and they know Christ, but they're not of Christ. This again is getting into the dangers of religious sin that we looked at in Matthew 6. Those who pray in a way that's sinful. They fast in a way that's sinful. They even give in a way that's sinful. We think of Simon the Magician in Acts 8, who was impressed by the gospel, he believed, was baptized, and then when he saw Peter put his hands on others and the Holy Spirit was put upon those, he asked to pay for that power. A false convert because he is rebuked under the judgment of God. He followed Christ for a little while, sought to do something great for Christ, but he thought he could buy it. And now a heresy is named after him. Or in Acts 6, Ananias and Zephira. They function like the Judases of the age of the church. They lied to the Holy Spirit about selling all they have. They weren't commanded to sell all they had, but they lied about it. They sold something for the kingdom. They could say, Lord, Lord, we gave, but they lied. They sinned. This passage, verse 22, should terrify us, but because at some level, your assurance and your confidence should be in your faith and that others see fruit and that you're bearing fruit. At another level, we could still have false assurance. This passage terrifies me. The amount of pastors, teachers, who have disqualified themselves because of bad fruit. The amount of pastors, teachers who have done incredible work, that God used for incredible work, but yet denied the faith later. It really shows us how good God is and how powerful he is. Praise God he uses broken instruments. No one is pure enough or holy enough to proclaim God in themselves. Every instrument God uses is broken. Praise God for that. Praise God that he wants his people to hear the gospel and he wants his people to be saved, that he would even use a false prophet sometimes to teach the gospel and the Holy Spirit still converts them. But how dangerous it is for that false prophet to think that work is because of them, or to have an assurance because of what they think they did. The danger here is that their emphasis is on what we did, not on what Christ has done. Verse 23,

and then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

These here are really two reasons why God doesn't know them. They're workers of lawlessness, and they do not do the will of my Father. Again, there's an affirmation and denial of the same basic truth. They do not do what God's law has said, therefore they are not doing the will of the Father. But those three first words, I never knew you. When God saves us, it's not just to be, again, a forgiven person over here. God is bringing us back to himself to know us. We were designed to know God and to be known by him, to be in his presence. And it's not just intellectual knowledge. It's a relational knowing. It's a drawing near knowing. It's a loving kindness knowing. It's not mere intellectual ascent. It's a personal loving knowledge. I never knew you. a believer to be known by God, to be called by name by God. Jesus says,

I call my sheep by name and they know my voice.

Long and pray for ears to hear and hearts to respond that you know him and that he knows you. I never knew you and therefore

depart from me, you workers, of lawlessness.

The creator says, I never knew you. You're still in your sin. Those who are working lawlessness, they've never been transformed by the message they're proclaiming. They've never really believed in the message they're proclaiming. They're now forever distant. God sent his son to draw us near to himself. so that when we see Jesus face to face, grace will fully transform us in every way so that we can behold him in all of his glory. But those who are departing, they experience something of God, but it's just his righteousness without grace. When we see God, those who he has called, grace transforms us so that we can see him and behold him and enjoy him. Those who don't know him are sent out. away from His grace, but His wrath is forever upon them. To be on that hard and narrow way that promises life and happiness. To be a tree that's planted in the right source, healthy by God's grace, bearing fruit for God. I encourage us, as we think about the weightiness and the danger of the false prophet, the importance of this particular teaching, this is why we are all seeking to speak Christ's truth in His love so that we're all built up together in Him. The most effective way to be immune from false prophets is to be healthy and united as His body. The healthy immune system resists. The healthy working and proclamation and teaching one another is what makes us most immune. Most significant thing, our king is telling us what it looks like to be his citizens. Now he's warning us, be careful of all who would lead you away from following his clear, good rule. We must listen to him together, Proclaim him to one another. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you did not leave us alone in the lies we believe, the lies we deceive ourselves with, the lies we proclaim and promote. We thank you, God, that you've broken into falsehood and darkness. Christ, your son, is the light we needed, the truth and the wisdom this world had abandoned and even rejected when he came. Lord, we thank you for your spirit, the spirit of wisdom and revelation that helps us see Christ, helps us understand your scriptures, or may we draw all the more near to you, our good God, who has spoken so we can listen, who's redeemed so we can be free, who's given us new lives so that we might live. Lord, help us to cling tightly to Christ. Draw near to him together. So we resist the devil and all those who proclaim his lies. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.