Detecting the Lies
Matthew 7: 13 - 20
13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
The tactics of Satan have never changed. Since he was in heaven, he has been a liar.
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Isaiah 14:12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!
His lies began in heaven through his whispering, (Thy merchandise – Trading) he encouraged other angels to follow him.
Ezekiel 28:16 “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned;
Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.
Satan in the form of the serpent showed up in the Garden of Eden the very first lie was told to a human.
Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
The first thing he did was question God’s word. Hath God said? (Questioning the word of God)
Here comes the first lie.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
His second lie.
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
From that time even unto this day, Lucifer, Satan, the devil spreads his lies, blinding the minds of the unbeliever, to keep them from seeing the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
The biggest problem in our world today is the lie that says, all roads lead to God.
No matter which faith you belong to, Islam, Bhuddist, Hindu, Judaism and the many factions and cults.
It is suggested by interfaith movements, that all roads lead to salvation. This is the great lie of the devil.
We have seen in our studies on the Sermon on the Mount a contrast between two kinds of righteousness, two treasures, two masters and two ambitions.
In our text, we are dealing with two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.
The truth of the matter is this, there are not many ways to God, there are not two ways to God, for there is only one way to the Father.
Jesus said, John 14: 6 “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to God except by Me”
Jesus taught that there is a narrow way and a broad way.
Matt 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
Why is this lie of Satan so appealing and why so many are willing to believe it?
Well our next verse tells us.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
The broad way on the other hand is appealing and attractive.
Man is looking for an easy way, a way that does not cost, a cheap way and Satan has many disciples willing to preach this way.
Jesus warns in Matthew 24 of many false teachers and false prophets that will come.
Down through the history of the church there have been false teachers, leading people astray but Jesus said,
In the last days Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
People like having many things to choose from, the more choices we have, the more we can fulfil our desires, our likes.
Jesus narrows it down to two choices. This is not comfortable to the many. It is very restrictive.
On the broad road, through the wide gate, there is lots of room for diversity of opinion, the laxity of morals. It is a road of permissiveness and liberalism. On this road, through this gate, men are allowed freedom of thought and freedom of action, no boundaries of thought or conduct. On this road, men can do what they like.
Men can practice loving oneself, practice any religion, act according to their senses. It takes a lot of effort to resist these and not much effort to practice them, because they come so naturally.
This is why the broad way is the easiest choice and that is why it is many who find it..
In contrast, the narrow way, the narrow gate carries a cost. It restricts the seeker to what is revealed in scripture. It imposes restrictions on what Christians should believe and practice. It brings with it dangers of persecution, ridicule and rejection. It puts the Christian in the position of being answerable to a higher power. It is a way that shows that man is a sinner and is in need of repentance and forgiveness. It is a way that shows a man cannot save himself. It demands self denial and trust in the only mediator between man and God.
This is why there are few that find it.
15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
It is hard to believe that there are men and women that claim the name of Christ but are still willing to teach erroneous doctrines. Doctrines that deny that Jesus came in the flesh, that deny the divinity of Christ, deny that that Jesus was God in flesh, that Jesus did not rise from the dead.
One of the dangerous doctrines of our day is the Word of Faith movement, also linked with what is known as the Prosperity Gospel.
This doctrine is based on the very first lie of Satan.
“You shall be gods”
This teaches that we are little gods and can speak things into existence, that God can only work if we allow Him.
The Word of Faith movement grew out of the Pentecostal movement in the late 20th century. Its founder was E. W. Kenyon, who studied the metaphysical New Thought teachings of Phineas Quimby. This was known as Mind Science, where the phrase, "name it and claim it" originated.
It was combined with Pentecostal teachings, resulting in a mixture of regular Christian doctrine and mysticism. Kenneth Hagin, also studied under E. W. Kenyon and made the Word of Faith movement what it is today.
Word of Faith movement is the belief in the "force of faith." It is believed the speaking of words can manipulate the faith-force, and thus actually create what they believe Scripture promises, (health and wealth).
This is where the term Health and Wealth Gospel or Prosperity Gospel originated.
Individual faith is believed to operate independently of God's Sovereign will and that God Himself is subject to our faith. This makes us into god’s
ourselves and as god’s we have the power to speak things into existence and have control over our own circumstances and other things.
The theology of Word Faith just strays further and further from Scripture: it claims that God created human beings in His literal, physical image as little gods. Before the fall, humans had the potential to call things into existence by using the faith-force. After the fall, humans took on Satan's nature and lost the ability to call things into existence. In order to correct this situation, Jesus Christ gave up His divinity and became a man, died spiritually, took Satan's nature upon Himself, went to hell, was born again, and rose from the dead with God's nature. After this, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to replicate the Incarnation in believers so they could become little gods as God had originally intended.
The Word of Faith says that illness, sin, and failure are the result of a lack of faith, and are remedied by confession and claiming God's promises for oneself into existence.
Simply put, the Word of Faith movement exalts man to god-status and reduces God to man-status. Needless to say, this is a false representation of what Christianity is all about. Obviously, Word of Faith teaching does not take into account what is found in Scripture.
Personal revelation is the source of this belief, not Scripture, which is just one more proof of its heretical nature.
Teaching is not based on Sola Scriptura, not on scripture alone but it is based on personal revelation and experience plus scripture.
Another movement is the New Apostolic Reformation, (NAR)?
NAR teaches that God began to restore prophets and apostles over the last thirty to forty years.
In the New Apostolic Reformation, apostles are seen as the highest of all spiritual leaders, being specially empowered by God.
True maturity and unity, per the New Apostolic Reformation, is only found in those who submit to the leadership of their apostles. According to this teaching, as the church unifies behind the apostles, these leaders will develop greater and greater supernatural powers. Eventually, this will include the ability to perform mass healing's and suspend the laws of physics. These signs are meant to encourage a massive wave of converts to Christianity. These apostles are also destined to be recipients of a great wealth transfer (in the end times), which will enable the church to establish God’s kingdom on earth.
Prophets in the New Apostolic Reformation are almost as important as apostles. These people believe that they have been empowered to receive “new” revelations from God that will aid the church in establishing dominion.
This is in spite of the scripture Hebrews 1:1
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Many of these false teachers deny an eternal hell in favour of annihilation. Many of them leave out sin and repentance in their preaching. Others teach Universalism, that in the end all men will be saved.
How can we tell who these false teachers are?
16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?
17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
The fruit bourne by these false teachers is the way they lull people into a false sense of security, failing to preach sin and repentance, preaching an easy believism, blurring the issue of true salvation. They muddle or distort the Gospel, so that people cannot find the narrow gate. They make out that the narrow way is broader than it really is and that not much needs changing in their attitudes and actions.
Others distort the Gospel so much that they teach that the broad way in fact does not lead to destruction but that all roads lead to God.
Many of these false teachers can be recognised by examining their life styles. Many profit from the Gospel, owning mansions, cars and planes, also becoming millionaires in the process.
Many have dubious characters and have been caught out in sexual practices.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
It is not always easy to recognise all false prophets, for some may be genuine Christians that are carried along with these winds of doctrines and have been deluded by the wolves in sheep’s clothing.
However, God know who these are and our text tells us what their end will be.
They will be cut down and thrown in the fire. Their end will be destruction.
Our defence against these heretics is the sword of the Spirit, (the Word of God).
These false teachers can be exposed by familiarising ourselves with the truth of scripture. The more we learn the Word, the more we will be able to stand against these false teachers and there doctrines.
Read also: https://jeffreyunsworth.wixsite.com/teleiosbibleblogs/copy-of-169-wolves-in-sheeps-clothi
Also: https://jeffreyunsworth.wixsite.com/teleiosbibleblogs/222-name-and-shame-false-teachers
