In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the importance of living according to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. He emphasizes that many of the disasters in life stem from not following these teachings and not trusting in God. The sermon covers various aspects of the Christian life, such as loving God and others, being merciful and pure in heart, and being a peacemaker. The speaker highlights that the Sermon on the Mount is a central message in the Bible, and Jesus has condensed the greatest truths from the entire Bible into this sermon.

Matthew 7 15 Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit But a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit Every tree that bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn down and is cast into the fire Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them Let's pray and then we'll look at it Lord. We do. Thank you for your word and Lord is tonight we look at this subject here you bring up of false prophets And Lord if the world has ever really been plagued by anything terribly, I suppose it's false prophets through its history the untold millions Of people that have been led astray Brought into entire religious systems brought into all sorts of cults Christian cults Many people diverted away from truly loving and walking and serving you by the cunning devices Lord of these false prophets and Lord as we look at it tonight, we ask that you would just open this up to us Give us an understanding of the simplicity and yet importance of this text That our lives Lord that none of us would ever fear this in Matter of fact, we may be able to train and touch and teach many others that can get into trouble So Lord, we ask that you'd open it to us and minister to us in Jesus name. Amen Here in this section of the Sermon the Mount The issue is pretty much always the same I suppose in many places in the Bible and that is context Context is always important But it's very it's very critical here as well to kind of put things into focus a little bit For as we left things off in our last study Jesus has been teaching on entering in at the straight gate straight as the gate narrows the way as Jesus had to sit had there and to teach earlier and brought as the way that leadeth unto destruction many there be that go in there at and Jesus there he says there are two ways that people essentially live their life There's a very narrow gate a very narrow way and narrow it It's beginning stays narrow and then there is a broad way that goes You know that many that there that be that go in there at and here is Jesus now brings up the subject of false prophets it's with that thought in mind right after those people going into one gate or another and Here as we look at these false prophets, I suppose a couple things just to comment about them. Is that essentially there they They all have something in common I suppose in the Senate senses is that they're usually there to draw people away from the fundamentals of daily living In Christ, that's what the Sermon on the Mount of course is really all about and here in the context as Jesus is speaking about this As he's been going through so much that we'll look at in a moment Here right as somebody is now about to embark on this wonderful Sermon on the Mount sort of a life that they look at all the values that they have been taught they look at the message of it the the Centrality of it the focus of it and they find themselves wanting to go that way and yet right there next to them They'll always be these false prophets always there was some distraction always there was some diversion away from the true historic, you know Christian life in Christ and Taking them away from the fundamentals of what Christianity is all about And for I suppose that the most fundamental message in all the Bible if I had to pick one it would be the Sermon on the Mount It's a sermon that I believe I said a long time ago when we start on this thing There's really nothing new in the Sermon on the Mount. It's all elsewhere in the Bible to be found But it's as if Jesus has taken unbelievably masterfully out of this entire 66 books that he of course authored and he is Condensing truths from the whole of the Bible that he has been teaching through all of history and now the author of the great book Is now giving a great message out of the great book as he is kind of condensed the greatest truths down to a single message And here the Sermon on the Mount and it's just verse after verse step after step one that only maybe a you know sometimes you can spend entire, you know months as we have on a verse or two and Because that's how much the Bible has to say about everything that is in this. This is no new message It's all there But they're the master of all masters himself now came and he is condensed and given us this sermon. So wonderfully It's so concise. It is so clear takes all the Bible to understand it, but I suppose it is the most central message in all of the Bible and There when somebody begins to grasp it and begins to want to enter into it There'll always be somebody there to say you don't need to do it Some prophet that'll come along with another way to go Now just briefly the you know here if I can be the sermon began, of course with the Beatitudes they're Acknowledging and in the Beatitudes the sinfulness the hopelessness of man poor in spirit mourning and becoming meek and there with the hopelessness of man Though the hope that is in that is in Christ there as we can be filled with his righteousness filled with his spirit Transferring, you know our life over to him And then when we allow him to fill us and we begin to learn to walk in the spirit his attributes Begin to fill us his mercy his purity of heart his nature of being the great peacemaker As he is enthroned as King and as Lord of our heart He then goes on after there in the Beatitudes and talking there of course You're the salt of the earth and you're the light of the world and so that our lives are there to be lived before God But then he goes on from there To deal with now our own internal aspects of our nature after we've given our life to Christ He is the Lord We want to be filled with him But then we come into the the the battle that goes on with ever with all of us over our own internal nature our own anger Our own lust as we looked at those things our own Inability to keep our word to keep vows to hold on to relationships to fulfill commitments And and so the rest of chapter 5 he goes there into these things Whether it is, you know learning to turn the other cheek walk the second mile there to Learning to love our enemies and as he looks at these things, this is Jesus says this is the great project of all of life This is what man lost when he sinned But what Christ wants to restore within us and here this in the in the Sermon the mount is also beautifully put When he gets into chapter 6 he goes on and howling how to learn to live and apply our life spiritually he gets into prayer and Learning to pray, of course the Lord's Prayer so wonderfully laid out there But but learning to pray learning to fast there with our life learning there to seek God Denying ourself opening up our heart to him Learning there to not to seek treasures in heaven and not on earth To give our lives over to him fully in there He says there if your I be single your life will be full of light He says just keep your focus on the things of the kingdom of heaven on These issues in your own heart and in your own life and in your own walk Jesus is saying these is the these this is the focus of what is it all about? he says learn and so he goes on telling us in chapter 6 to trust God fully and To seek first his kingdom and he'll add everything else and don't worry about our food and our clothing and our shelter for after these things To the heathen those that don't have a heavenly father They have to sweat these things, but you don't because you have one when he get in gets into chapter 7 He tells us he says don't judge others Don't hold other people accountable for your life for the problems and the difficulties and the struggles that go on The people guard themselves can just be a diversion, you know Yeah, sometimes many of our problems is because we think too highly of people Almost they're the ones that Make our life happy or sad rich or poor full or empty or whatever else and that isn't the case If anything that chapter 5 and 6 have taught us is that all things come from God All he is the source of all of life and everything that we need. God says you come to me Let people go And trust in me I'm gonna take care of you and don't Worry about things just come and ask me seek of me knock of me It'll be opened unto you everything that you need and here is Jesus His soul has been reviewing essentially all the priorities the fundamentals the great values of the Christian life How to live a blessed life a happy life a rich life a full wonderful life Focusing on these things that he's condensed there into these last few chapters Don't know how much we realize it. Basically are the great disasters of life Simply come out of not living the Sermon on the Mount And by not trusting God in the way that we ought not relying upon him not loving the Lord as we and as we ought not Loving others as we ought not being merciful or pure in heart not being a peacemaker How much of life has changed? How much you know, you know for us because we we get ourselves in trouble looking at other people instead of God You're everything here's what that's what he's saying here He also, you know deals with dealing with our own personal things As I said under our own skin our own anger or lust or mistrust or deceit not keeping the word How many problems do we have right now? Maybe yourself maybe other people, you know Last night. I was just on the phone. My wife is up north helping son and daughter-in-law pack up or moving and and but there was a couple that we were talking about on the phone and it is So simple some of the things that they're going through and yet to them their whole world is in chaos But it's such a simple thing. They're not trusting God And in their stress and in their difficulties and in the problems that they've got going on around, you know They find themselves they're going through all sorts of things, but the real issue is very simple But it is just to come and to sit before God and open a heart and let him fully work But many times we don't do it And aren't all of our trials the same? We have to violate, you know, these things of the Sermon the Mount somehow or another and here Jesus He's simply in the Sermon the Mount. He says if you're doing this straight is the gate Narrow is the way Here in the Sermon the Mount Jesus live this way take these values sermon if there's any you know thing that somebody ought to do that I think is a wonderful thing to do is to take the Sermon the mountain determine you want to memorize it. It's a wonderful sermon the greatest message I believe in all the world if you ever gonna memorize anything I suppose this is certainly worth it and I suggest anybody that they do it But because as somebody knows it straight is the gate it narrows the way the sermon and the mount is the way to live But as soon as Jesus gives it he's not even done with it and he has to say now listen Beware of false prophets He now turns to him as he says there in verse 15 beware of false prophets which come unto you in sheep's clothing Inwardly, they're ravening wolves Here now he has to give a warning There's these wonderful innocent sheep that want to follow the shepherd straight as the gate narrow is the way we want to walk the straight And narrow we want to keep you at the center of it We want you to be king and Lord and master ruling our heart in our life and changing our relationships Making this pure giving this love for others walking the second mile turning the other cheek Dealing with our own anger our own covetous lustful hard God. These are the issues of the Christian life These are the fundamentals that I want to deal with all of the rest of my life I don't want to get off on some little dog and pony show I don't want to divert as we see people so often get themselves in trouble and here when Jesus says you want to do this He then goes on though. He says but beware of false prophets Now, I suppose the first thing there and even being able to beware of a false prophet I suppose the best way is maybe you've heard because I know Chuck uses this as an illustration or as in years past But the best way to determine anything if it's counterfeit is by just inspecting the genuine Many banks the way that they actually train their people on how to handle, you know to find counterfeit money is that they Just have them handle genuine money all day counting it working with it Doing all these things is holding it But you know in in and no sooner have they done this for a long time than one day with their eyes shut They can just put a counterfeit bill in there and they'll be going through it And they'll grasp it and immediately because they know the genuine they'll know the counterfeit And I suppose the greatest way that there is to know a false prophet is to know the true prophet To know the Lord number one so well and to know his message what Jesus is all about what his values are all about and You see false prophets. They're gonna counterfeit They want to divert us away and they've got all their different ways of counterfeiting I suppose But the best way to know counterfeit is to know the genuine Have you noticed yourself as through the years as you have grown in the word? Maybe when you were a young Christian, you didn't know the word very well And people would say things and you could oh, wow, that's wonderful Or you could be you know channeled off here and there and somebody so no no No, that's crazy. And they show you the Bible. So I didn't know that was there And you're in you're constantly being drawn back. But as you get to know the word the next thing, you know, you're out there Somebody says something and you look at that for a moment. So wait a minute No, no, no, no, no, no, no, you know, it's counterfeit. Why? Because you know the word You've gotten to know the word well within your life And when somebody handles that to me the Sermon on the Mount when somebody takes this message, and you know, this is rock-solid Fundamental Christianity this is the Christian life and when somebody comes on and says here's another path and you realize that that isn't it at all you see and And here these unfortunately the false prophets. They're always around the straight and the narrow They're always around somebody that's that's wanting to follow the Lord wanting to serve the Lord and when they're there They're interesting. They all have the verbiage. They've all got the lingo. They all know Christian ease really really well They can quote extensively oftentimes from the Bible and in the process of it They can talk a lot about Jesus and about God and about the Holy Spirit they can talk about the you know the Bible and Christianity and and everything that they say and do and their emblems and their identity and it's Christianity all over it It's this this is all by from the Bible and it's all from God, but essentially They have another message In a sense they have another Emphasis that comes along and it isn't they look here at the Sermon the mount and they may look at something like this Oh, that's nice. But I'll tell you I've got something better than the Sermon the mount. I had something better than living like this I've got a better way to go than been dealing with being poor in spirit mourning over your sin becoming meek before God Hungry and thirsting after righteousness and being filled as if they've got some new truth some little secret truth He kind of and they've always got something deeper you go this way We've got great revelations from God You know so often and there's there's they're so amazing their ability to do it Sometimes you'll turn on, you know Christian TV and here I've been a Christian now No 40 years almost not that long close to it But you can still turn the other turn them on and somebody looks there and they look straight into the TV right At you like you're in your room and they point at you and they talk to you and they say God is telling me to tell you Something and you sit there Tell me He wants you to send me your money, you know Or whatever else it is that they want to say and they'll give you a verse for it. And if you do it At least one of us will be blessed, you know or something. But anyway, or that they're gonna do with it, but It's so often they've always got these things But you'll notice though and whenever you get around a false prophet They'll there was a little ever to be said about the atonement about the blood of Christ About the sinfulness of man about the need to be born again in Christ About the need to be filled with the spirit and to walk in the spirit The little there's usually very little about the the hopelessness of life without personal salvation There's little about being filled and walking in the spirit. There's little about real growth in in maturity dealing with sin and you know in our carnal nature and and Our own personal surrender to Christ It seems like these false prophets when you kind of look at many of them there's a little about holy living or straight is the gate and narrow is the way and or things about eternal judgment or the destiny of Souls eternally they usually don't speak about those things Sometimes you can find out a lot about a false prophet by what they don't say They usually don't talk about a lot of the main themes of the Bible they don't get into sin and Adam and Eve or Cain and Abel or you know Moses in his faith or Joseph and or Isaac and Jacob and David and Elijah and Elisha and their walk and God dealing with their sin and helping them grow and mature and their faith grows so often That you'll find very little Bible exposition You won't usually find many of your false prophets. They just want to take you through the Word of God from one end to another Just want to take you from one book to another from one truth to another from one chapter to another One of the distinguishing factors about them oftentimes. They got a lot of scripture, but then but what they do It's all Bible maybe but it's a piece from here and a piece from here and a piece from here and a piece from there And they put it together and you can make the Bible say virtually anything you wanted to say if you're willing to just look for A verse to put one, you know in front and behind another you can find it But the thing is is that when you put them together in the sequence in which they're written and teach them expositionally Now you're going to stay in good shape So often the false prophets they don't get into the Old Testament Prophets so much and telling the people to repent over and over again in their message to come and surrender and to get right with God They don't speak much. Maybe John the Baptist telling the you know, repent come and turn your life around give it back to God they don't speak, you know if Christ is right to real lordship within our life and The message that is going on through the book of Acts and the In the early church there of the message of salvation oftentimes all this is strangely missing Usually they have a doctrine or they have a theology or they've got some secret some truth that Historical Christians never really saw until they kind of came along and all of a sudden they've got it and What what you're missing? I've found it and you come here and I'll tell it to you and This you'll see all around. You don't have to be a Christian very long to realize. This is something there to divert us away Another thing you might notice about the false prophet. Is that just essentially their nature here? Jesus says about him they come to you in sheep's clothing But inwardly they are ravenous or raving wolves and here when you look at this on one hand They come looking with all the appearance sheep's clothing. They look like one of us One of the body of Christ one of God's sheep, you know they they dress in walk and talk and look every way they possibly can they quote scripture and No, King James or whatever else and it's all there. But here Jesus says it's not the external things It's so much as it's inwardly inwardly He says there there are ravenous or there are raving wolves and it's interesting the word ravenous or raving The word literally in the English it means extorting They're extorting wolves Then it's from the word extortion, of course and the word extortion is simply means to obtain from a person by force threat intimidation or abuse of authority to elicit by cunning or Persuasiveness when see a ravenous wolves, they are somebody they're extorting they are taking from people something That they want and they'll do it whether you know by force or threat or fear or intimidation abuse of authority cunning or Some form of persuasion that they'll use but essentially what they're doing is you've got something they want And they're going to get it Essentially there what is happening unlike their Jesus, you know said I didn't come to be minister to I came to minister I came to minister and Here though these false prophets. They came to be ministered to all under the suggestion that they're actually ministering to you is All is the way that they're doing but ultimately they are extorting from the people Something that they're looking that's what it means there when Jesus calls them a ravenous wolves They're under the form of extortion now, we're used to extortion Whether we know it or not Politicians they're great extorters Constantly, they'll use anything to extort your vote They'll use anything to put fear you better vote for me or the cut that though If the country is going to hell in a handbasket, I tell you we can't turn it around. I'm the last guy You know or something you last hope that idiot over there that clown is gonna send us into the pit We'll never recover, you know, that's extortion You know with their people are constantly trying to extort advertisers extorting your money Persuasively they want your money You know sort of a thing there and they and here they know how to get your money They you turn on the TV and why do all these people, you know, I mean With all these diet plans The what do they really care whether you and I are fat or not? I don't think so. They care whether they're fat You know sort of a thing with our money And they know they will extort to get it And that's what advertising fundamentally is all about legal extortion How if you better get this product because your neighbor is going to get it before you and if he gets it first Then there may not be any left for you and then you'll be a copycat when you get it Which will be okay because we'll still have another one for you But I mean all the things that they do to try to persuade to extort your money But I suppose that the worst form of extortion that there is in all the world is religious when people come and they know that because I think that the biggest stick that there is to beat anybody with is God I May sit here and want to tell you about the country and why you better vote for so-and-so and not for so-and-so or I may Better tell you you you ought to buy this product and not this product and build this one up and destroy this one and try To extort you to do something and but you can still sit there and say I don't care that much about it but I think if there's one thing that every human being has a conscious about a Consciousness, it's about our debt to God Every human being knows he needs God in one way or another even the ones that want to say that don't Every human being knows that it's somehow or another I've got to get right with him and I've got to follow him and I've got to please him And if there's any way to extort people I suppose the greatest or the easiest with the stick to beat over anybody with the head over the head with is is religion God God wants this for you God Expects this for you. You'd better do this or you're gonna miss God's plan Yet how easily the human soul at that point there Jesus he's well aware He says of all the extortioners you're gonna find in the world Perhaps the number one will be the false prophets those are gonna find a way to extort something out of you I mean what they what they were extorting may be different Some of them they may just they may literally want your money Personally, I think a lot of a lot of false prophets. That's probably would be number one. They want your money They want you to buy their course. They want you to come to their, you know 60 80 hundred two hundred dollar seminar that they're gonna sell you to come and and to Live the Christian life more victoriously or whatever else it is that they're gonna do or how to discover more power with God and power with men or something that you better go and hear him and be there because if you're not There you're gonna miss out and in it they get your money Some of them just want importance. I suppose just want to be a leader they're extorting just a place in people's lives and but they did as they're doing it though, essentially, they're just ravenous and They're just wanting to extort in Matthew 23 25. Jesus said woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites For you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter But within they are full of extortion and Excess he looks there and he says you you're just taking from the people now what through what their motive is, you know personally it's not important upon the issue is is that they are there for it and essentially, they aren't feeding the people as much as they're they're feeding on the people and Whether it's the need for recognition or they want to be a prophet or they want to be admired or whatever else Now essentially that's one of the fundamentals of them now their methodology in many ways. It's very different in many ways I suppose but it's always Usually the same in the sense they have they'll pick a theme or they'll pick a topic or they'll pick a doctrine or some Theological persuasion some great spiritual truth that has never fully quite been understood until now Yeah, somehow another Peter and Paul they were just too busy getting the church up and going to learn it, you know Or something they had a lot of books to write people to see sermons to preach churches to plant They didn't have the time to sit in really even though they were writing these things They never put their own Epistles together quite like these guys could do it And we got a new truth that when you look at what Peter and James and Paul and these guys had to say and then a little bit of Luke over man, we got a hot new thing and Essentially, you know, they're they come along and they find a way to masterfully put together something ten steps Something to this, you know and in one way or another some great key to blessing some way of spiritual life, it's now unveiled and You've got to go to them to get it and Amazingly the Bible never really spoke of it very clearly You can usually go through you look at all the Old Testament prophets. They didn't get it They just talked about repenting from sin coming and giving your life to God putting your life back on the altar Sacrificing yourself afresh into him turning away from sin letting God rule your life Well, it gets boring to them Well, they look at what Jesus had to say all the way through the Gospels or what? You know Peter had to say at Pentecost of being saved and being identifying with the church you know getting together in the Apostles doctrine the fellowship the breaking of bread and in prayers and Just becoming to have part of a healthy body and growing and fellowshipping and loving the Lord and worshiping and ministering to one to another They don't see those things. They are not the great critical issues They've got something greater than all of that sort of thing some wonderful truth that Everybody else missed but now it's just in these last days Been on been revealed sometimes even an angel gives it to him like Joseph Smith, you know if somebody comes along in here literally Joseph Smith comes along and Diverted many Protestants away from historic, you know biblical Christianity just because he says an angel appeared to him and Moroni with a Pile of bologna, you know, but anyway came and you're hungry you can have it But I mean essentially came along even though it's if somebody had read the Bible and if they knew the Bible They would have been able to look right away and realize that the Apostle Paul himself said if I or an angel of light Came and gave you any other gospel than that which has been delivered unto you. It's a lie I mean Athena Isn't true and sure enough a bunch of people that never read the Bible an angel appears I you know, I said I have no idea whether they were a real angel or a fallen angel. He came along Very well may have been Bible says Satan is able to appear as an angel of light He can come all sorts of ways and he very well may have And I have no idea But to me it's immaterial The only thing I know is that what this angel had to say was contrary to all of the message of the Bible Taking people away from it all of a sudden Jesus and Adam and the devil and they're all a bunch of buddies at one point I'm gonna be again and you start looking at all these foolish things Far far from biblical truth and you realize that you get yourself into terrible trouble, but here essentially That's what they do Instead of they they they violate something that the church basically historically is already always had and what they call the law of hermeneutics and In in Bible how to study the Bible how to interpret the Bible one of the things that basically all the way through church history When church leaders and the Bible interpreters have sat down there essentially in fact, you might even think about him write them down I don't ask people to write things down often But you might write this if there are four things that line up if you ever want to know if you have a truth That's in the Bible And it's really a truth. There were four ducks. You might say that'll all line up and if you don't have them You're in trouble. The first one is is that the Old Testament prophesied? Is there something that are the Old Testament prophets that said this is a truth and it either is or it's going to come Secondly did Jesus speak about it? Did he elaborate on it? What was already spoken? Did he add to it or clarify it? thirdly Did the Apostles in the book of Acts into the church there in the book of Acts in the early church? Experience it and teach it and then fourthly Did the epistles elaborate on it and teach it? And if you if you've got those four things you got something worth All the history and when it's going to be said and this was prophesied That'll be said and then it happens and then it's spoken of and then it's experienced in the church and then it's instructed Those things are important if you don't have those things and you got somebody that's got a little verse over here and a little thing Well, it's really in prophesied, but there's you know, there's a lot of stuff that wasn't prophesied They're not important stuff But when somebody realizes and they look do they have these things But here Jesus he looked and he realized this is a huge thing He says I just want you to go straight deal with your personal life your personal walk your own growth in me That's what the Sermon on the Mount is all about and he said when you start to walk down this path There'll be all sorts of other people that say you don't need to do that You don't need to be poor in spirit mourn over your sin become meek before God to be filled with him To desire that he would come along and fill you with his mercy and with a purity of heart and take out your wretched You know carnal black heart and give you a heart filled with God and a love for him You know in and he says you don't have to go that way. That's what a false prophet So we got other things to talk about more important than your own, you know issues Well, Jesus said the real issues are my anger my lust My not keeping my word my not keeping relationships keeping commitments These are the great battles of life and the person that says I've got so much in the Sermon on the Mount I haven't done I haven't got time for the other stuff. I Just ought to keep growing Doing these things staying on the straight and on the narrow Paul said in Acts 20 29 when he's actually talking to the elders of the church at Ephesus He says for I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock He says I know as soon as I go And I'm out of here you that there's gonna be those wolves will come along and they won't spare you They'll just trounce down on these innocent little sheep that just love God and want to grow Galatians 3 1 through 3 Paul says Oh foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently shed Set forth crucified among you. This is only what I learn of you Received either spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith In the areas, he's rebuking them, but he's saying whatever happened to the centrality of just Jesus. I Think it was Billy Graham. I heard first who said it did keeping the main thing the main thing That Jesus Christ is the main thing you never get away from Paul's the first one to say it I guess That's essentially what he's saying there in Colossians 2 4 He says in this I say lest any man beguile you with enticing words when Paul is trying to minister and teach people He wants to keep them on track and second Thessalonians 2 3 He says let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first Paul said as the days go on and that we come towards the end There'll be more and more falling away. There'll be more and more false prophets out and around Paul says the same things to Timothy Peter says the same thing in 2nd Peter 2 1 It says but these were false prophets among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who privately shall bring Indamnable heresies and he says and many shall follow their pernicious ways and he says and through covetousness shall they be feigned words make Merchandise of you here. He looks there and he says as he's looking at the church. He says keep the main thing the main thing Keep your eye on the Lord and Jude It says woe unto them for they have gone the way of Cain They have ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsane of core But here is As he writes there in Jude as you does he tells us there. He says these people that Balaam who came along and you know the story of Balaam in numbers 22 around there three into where Balak who was the king of Moab he sees there the children of Israel coming into the You know across the land and as they're coming in and he's watching them and he's realizing they have a powerful God and they just They move across the land and they just lap it up as an animal does the grass of the field They're so powerful and he realized we need to stop them. And so he goes and he hires a guy Balaam Hires him. He says you've got to pronounce a curse on those people Well, he couldn't curse him. God wouldn't let him and besides he ended up coming to Balaam and telling him. Hey, listen You can't curse them Won't work But you can Seduce them away from their God and For money here Jude tells us Balaam came along greedily He took there the money from Balak and he said here's what you do You just go down there send some gals down into their camp your young girls your daughters down into the the children of Israel's camp and Get them you dance before him entice them and have them go in and sleep with them Bring out their idols bring him into idol worship and then their God Will judge them for you you can't stop them, but you can get them to stop themselves and Essentially, that's what's happening with false prophets. You realize nobody can stop you in Growing in the Christian life But they can get you to stop yourself By getting away from keeping Jesus Lord every day Asking him to work within your heart and when you're within your life every day But here's the Lord goes on here as he tells us Matthew He says a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Neither. Can a corrupt free bring forth tree bring forth good fruit Every tree that bringeth forth good fruit is hewn down for the That bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast in the fire Wherefore by their fruits he shall know them here Essentially he looks there and he says and we'll just close here with this But one of the things about false prophets He said just look at the fruit of what it is that they have to say Does it work? Does it work? And you know, I think one of the things I don't know that I've been here around here since 1971 But I remember when I first came here There was actually a thing going on called beaming blessings. I Because nobody could figure out a way to make money on it I think probably but there was this weird thing going on called beaming blessings I remember when I first kind of came around I'm on staff and I'd walk you know I'd say hi How are you and they say fine and they say God bless you and they look at me and say and God bless you brother You too But but there was something he said no, no No, don't you know the power of the spoken word? This was a for this was something came along before positive confession. He's saying there that you have the power to bless people and That you just don't just say hello. God bless you like somebody just like hi How are you or goodbye and citizen, you know say God bless you It's it's a powerful word And so when you look at somebody and you bless them you bless them You say God bless you and you pronounce a blessing on their life And I'm Sarah said wow That's interesting never really quite heard that before and they were going around doing that God bless you and I go well Would you do it again? I didn't get it Can you know take a couple more but it was something there as if they you know The but it was a precursor almost to positive confession that later came on But as I said, there wasn't any money in it, so it didn't seem to go very far didn't last but soon after that There was a shepherding doctrine Maybe some of you around maybe some of you if you've been a Christian on time You're affected by it or you maybe knew somebody did and that was is that God's will was known not necessarily by you But God's established the body and that there are shepherds over everybody And there are shepherds in the church and they know the will of God for you And if you want to know if you're supposed to take this job or marry this person or do this or do that They'll know it. They'll confirm it. You're just a young little lamb. You don't know what you're doing and You do silly things. That's why your life's at you mess, but they're smart Yes, sir, II and so you go and you ask your shepherds and they will have the will of God for you Now the fact the Bible says there's one God and one mediator between God man didn't seem to bother them But there was something where the shepherding doctrine and literally many hundreds of thousands of people Married somebody because the shepherd said you're supposed to marry him. I am yes, and they may get married You'd take this job. You do this you go out on the mission field And so they were just doing it because their shepherds told them Rather than wait a minute a shepherd's job is to bring somebody into a close relationship with Jesus Christ because there's one God and one mediator Jesus Christ he's the one that'll tell them who they marry and where they go and where they move to but that was a Doctrine that went around for a while a lot of people got messed up in it a lot of people swept across the country during the 70s and there are 60s and 70s and Crippled a lot of Christians And by the time we're kind of realized what's going on shoving it out the door getting the scriptures for it trying to get the body You know stabilized again. The next thing you know is there's the manifested sons of God coming along and In the manifested sons of God at the time There's this wonderful message that Christ is coming and it's coming true soon And there was this wonderful outpouring the spirit with a sense of expectancy And a great revival in the country of preparing our hearts and lives, you know For Christ, but in that the doctrine came the manifested sons of God that said, you know, Jesus wants to come He really wants to come really really bad, but his bride is all dirty his bride's guys the were waiting for the adoption to with the redemption of our body and that is the Manifested sons of God must appear out of Romans And so they took a piece of a verse that says you see Jesus wants to come but he can't come until his bride is Prepared and she's all good and pure and clean. He can't come for a dirty woman You know, he can't do that. Well, then you got to get your life together And then along came the perfection of the Saints Because now we've all got to be perfect. And as soon as we're all perfect Jesus is gonna come and so everybody's trying to get perfect But when you couldn't get perfect and you're trying to deal with that along came, you know The doctrine of Christians being demon-possessed and people are coming along teaching this and others You know just the false prophets were just lining up at the doors it seemed and if you had any problem if you weren't perfect to tell you why you're not perfect you're possessed a Demon is doing this to you You know why you hate it's because the demon hates in you and you got to get that net hateful demon out of you And if you're you know, if you know why it is that you that you lust it's because the demon of lust is in you And the Indian is a naughty naughty demon and you got to get him out of you and here But then somebody will man I'm lusting and well then here they you know Lay hands on you and prophesy and pray and in K, you know and cast these things out Then you walk out of here You know all of a sudden a very pretty girl walks by and seven more demons come and take the other one's place You know or something because it isn't a demon. It's the flesh. I always used to look say why don't we just Would you just please cast out the demon of the flesh and just live one big package get it all out of here But the thing is is these are things that people get caught up in can you imagine how Destabilizing that is for a Christian the thought that a demon might be in me Then a child of God born of his spirit and here I'm not saying they're not great spiritual battles But they don't go on under our skin. The Bible makes it clear but when you see these things come along and then the next thing, you know, the you know, the Positive confession the theology that you have whatever you say, whatever you confess you have And God has given us authority We are the sons of the Living God and because God has the power to create with his words we create for ourselves You want to be rich? Confess it You want to be healed? Confess it people went off medication People went I had guy new people right here body here in other places took all their money Invested it, you know back when Jimmy Carter was the president and in prime rate was 17% and they put it into some building project And we're gonna one dear friend Craziest time in all the world is just God's gonna sell all these houses Well, why are you gonna why are you gonna build houses when there's already 200 around you for sale? Because God's gonna sell mine because I confessed it He lost everything and that was just one of many stories because false prophets came and listened to him and the all these things happen you know in one way or another but the But when somebody just looks and realizes the issue in the Christian life is just putting my eyes on Jesus You realize tonight everything you need is in the Sermon the Mount. I Did defy you find something in your life that isn't discussed in that sermon To me I don't know I have all the other Wonderful truths that somebody else think they have out there I'll tell you if I could have half the Sermon the Mount true in my life This life I know I never will but but how I long to To have issues in my heart in my thoughts and my trust in my prayer in my seeking of God in my letting him fill me lead me guide me give me a merciful heart a pure heart a Peacemakers heart a servant's heart a surrender heart These are the issues we need and people are always coming along and sliding a little book Saying here. This is what you need. This will bless and transform your life But what we need is the word to stay in it and then to find ourselves saying now Lord by your word Whatever problems you have tonight When you stop and realize meditate in the Sermon the Mount, maybe some of you hear you're having difficulty in your marriage Right now it's you're absolutely positive. It's your wife You would be a very very happy person right this moment if it wasn't for your wife Let me show me your hands. How many of you know? And how many times that's exactly what it is I could be so happy it's the woman thou gave us me The Adam already tried that when it didn't work But you can try it if you want to or else you can say God, maybe My joy isn't supposed to come from my wife Maybe it's supposed to come from God Or it's my husband or it's my children But when we look and say Lord, I need you to be King Jesus you to be on the throne and when I got that down pat When my heart in my life when my thoughts when my mercy when my grace when my love When I find myself being able to turn the other cheek walk the second mile Give to him that ask I can just give it to him when I love and and I do unto others as I would have them Do unto me when I got that all down pat, maybe I'll look for something else But I got a little ways to go. I Suppose we all do and when we say Lord, this is the Christian life Teach me these things Then we're on the right route Amen Father we thank you for your word And Lord, I pray that you would Have us understand it and realize Lord all the way through our life The enemy is constantly coming along and saying to God say You can't eat that And even when we say well, yes he did He's got this sneaky way of saying do you know why Because if you will you'll be like him Wouldn't you like to be like him? And he is so good with other things than taking us into taking us away from Jesus And Lord tonight, may we just come before you and just say Jesus take me afresh Lord I want you to be the main thing the only thing no other thing just you You being King and Lord you getting under my skin You teaching me to trust you and to walk with you and obey you You teaching me to let you fill me with your mercy and your grace and your peace and making me the salt of the earth and the light of the world You taking my angry heart and making it loving my covetous lustful heart and making it caring and pure Taking in my lips which make commitments that can't fulfill you can do these things Lord teach us to pray and to trust and to seek Lord, may you take this sermon and may it be something we long to have written in the tablet of our heart No other message we need no other we'll need the rest of the Bible all the rest of our lives But when we get in the center of the course of being a child of God, may you keep us there the straight and the narrow Where you are King and you are Lord and tonight Maybe some of us just need to come and say Lord forgive me. I Need a work of you. I Need you to write the sermon in my heart I'm being taken away. I'm being distracted maybe by other things and even false prophets. I I'm listening to them. I'm reading them I'm Giving them my ear Lord. May we just turn from us. I don't need that. I Need Jesus and so Lord, may you take your word and may you minister it to us? And may we be sharp enough and mature enough in our life as a Christian that when something comes along and the next The heresy the next false prophet comes with his new invention Even though it may be absolutely new to us May as soon as we touch it. May we look and say Oh Counterfeit Already, no, I don't know why yet. I'll have to listen maybe a little more to find out exactly what it is But I know it's not Christ And Lord may that be because we are so familiar with you and with your word So take it and feed us and teach us Jesus be King and Lord of our lives. We ask it in your wonderful name Amen