Collierville First Baptist Church

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right, let's begin with a word of prayer.

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Heavenly Father, it is such a joy to gather with brothers and sisters in Christ

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to open our Bibles and to study the Word of God.

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Our Father, we are so blessed to have a Bible to study

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and to have a church that we can gather in and we can minister to each other, we can pray for each other, we can worship you in total freedom. What a privilege.

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Father, it seemed like every day I get up and I go to Fox News or something and I read about a church where hoodlums came in and killed a bunch of people, burned churches down, Lord. I'm so thankful that we live in the freedom that we have here in America. Lord, we pray for the persecuted church.

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We pray that you would encourage those dear believers.

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We pray that be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that their toil is not in vain in you.

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Lord, in Revelation, there's a chapter that pictures persecuted martyred believers gathered around the throne. Lord, what an inheritance those who have been persecuted and martyred will have with you.

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But Lord, we have an inheritance too. You promise every born again believer an inheritance

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and I can't think of a better inheritance than we could ever have

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than the one you will provide for us.

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Lord, we come to you tonight and I pray for Ms. Eddie Lancaster who's having a lot of medical problems.

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Lord, please heal her body.

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Please encourage her and Wendell.

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And heavenly father, I pray for Paula Vandenberg.

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I pray that you'd minister to her heart and Lord, I thank you so much

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for the privilege of studying the word of God and being able to teach it tonight. Lord, I ask you for the filling and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

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I pray you give me freedom and action and power

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and that you'd use your word to really challenge us and develop us and to motivate us. In Jesus name, amen.

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Now, I've got an eye infection. I don't have pink eyes, so don't worry. I went to the doctor today

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and she gave me some antibiotic and stuff like that. So if you shook my hand, don't worry. You okay?

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Okay. But this eye looks bad.

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So don't think I'm some kind of freak, okay? I'm not a freak.

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Nobody hit me in the eye.

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Darlene didn't hit me in the eye.

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So I hope I can see good out of that left eye tonight.

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So tonight, again, we're looking at Matthew 7, 13 to 20.

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I sort of title this decisions and discernment.

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In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus has taught his disciples

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the standards for the kingdom of God

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and for any who would become his disciple.

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Now we've examined them in detail over the past few weeks and months.

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We've looked at the beatitudes. We've looked at Jesus' emphasis on us being salt and light,

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on the sacredness of the marriage relationship,

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that big challenge of loving your enemy,

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prayer, forgiving those who hurt you, stewardship of money, proper judgment and improper judgment,

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seeking God's kingdom first, a life of righteousness.

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The time had come for the people who were so blessed. Can you imagine being there and being in the presence of Jesus by the Sea of Galilee when he taught the Sermon on the Mount? Can you imagine what it must have been like?

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Can you imagine what it was like

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to hear him articulate his word and his principles?

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You know, it was time for those who heard the Sermon on the Mount to decide if they're gonna be a part of his kingdom or not.

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That's where we are in the Sermon on the Mount right now.

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Life demands that you and I make decisions

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and that we practice the sermon.

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Some decisions are not as important as others, obviously.

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During the average day, you have to decide what you're gonna wear.

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You have to decide what you're gonna eat, where you're gonna go, what you're gonna say, what you're not gonna say, so on and so forth. But other decisions are big decisions.

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Decisions like for the younger people, whom will you marry?

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What will you choose as your career path?

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What values will you instill in your kids and your grandkids?

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These are real important decisions that have far reaching implications.

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But let me tell you the greatest decision

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a person will ever make was a decision that was reflected in verses 13 and 14,

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whether you're gonna choose the narrow road that leads to life or the broad road that leads to destruction.

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See, that's where they were in this sermon. That's where Jesus had them.

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It was time for them to decide whether they were in or out. Were they gonna be a part of the kingdom

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or not a part of the kingdom?

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Now, here's a poem by Sarah Stoll

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that sort of fits these verses called "Forks in the Road."

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You know, sometimes I say things on Sunday morning and I look out there, young people, and they look at me like a calf at a new gate.

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They have no clue what I'm talking about. Sometimes you mentioned forks in a road to a young person. They have no clue what it means.

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How many of you know what it means to come to a fork in a road? Okay, good, good. I'm with friends tonight, okay? (Congregation Laughing) All right, there will always be forks in the road,

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decisions that have to be made.

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You will always have to bear the load of each debt

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that has to be paid. Every fork has a destination

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with consequences to each choice.

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Be wary of earthly temptation,

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for it may have the loudest voice.

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Other paths will intersect your own. Other lives will feel its effect. The aftermath may remain unknown

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with results you may not expect.

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Be careful not to be led astray from the righteous course you once strode.

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Only through faith can you find your way when you reach the forks in the road.

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That's a great little poem, isn't it?

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So tonight, I want us to begin by looking at verses 13 and 14.

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Matthew 7, 13 and 14. "Enter through the narrow gate,

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"for the gate is wide and the way is broad "that leads to destruction,

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"and there are many who enter through it, "for the gate is small and the way is narrow

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"that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

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You know, I had a revelation today.

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You know, I got to think about it. Jesus invites us into his kingdom

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a lot of times in the New Testament, doesn't he?

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Do you realize there's never an invitation to hell?

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Maybe I missed it.

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Maybe I missed it. But I got to thinking about the New Testament and I don't think I can remember a single invitation for somebody to go to hell.

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But many invitations to go to heaven and be with the Lord.

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Now that may not mean much to you, but man, it meant a lot to me this afternoon as I began to think about it. So Jesus paints a picture of two gates,

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a narrow gate.

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Now, the adjective here, narrow, comes from a verb form that means to groan, to groan.

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The choice that Jesus offers here, the decision that must be made is offensive to a lot of people. Well, the two verses I just read to you are so offensive to people today in our culture. You say why?

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Because these verses present an exclusive gospel.

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It's exclusive.

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These verses present one way, not multiple ways, right? There's only one narrow gate that leads to life, only one.

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And people chaff at that.

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They wanna have multiple ways. There are people in our culture today who believe that there are many ways to God.

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And their way is just as good as the Bible way. But I'm telling you, look what Jesus said in John chapter 10 verse nine.

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He said, "I am," what?

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A door, right?

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Nope, the door, the one and only door.

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If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pastor.

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Verse six of John 14, Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. "No one comes to the Father but through me." Now, it cannot be any planer.

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Now, I remember going to Cameroon and preaching a rally there in Cameroon.

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And I remember looking out on sea of faces. There were probably four, 5,000 people there. I think the second night.

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And you know what? They walked there.

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They didn't have cars.

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They walked there from their villages.

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And you know what? There were no chairs.

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They stood the whole time.

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Stood the whole time.

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There was an African choir

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and they sang and sang and sang and sang.

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And I preached my heart out.

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And I looked on a sea of faces

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and I was able to say to every person in that group that night, there's only one way.

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Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

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"No one comes to the Father but through him."

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That's true if you're standing in Cameroon.

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That's true if you're standing in Iran.

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That's true if you're standing in Istanbul, Turkey. That's true the world over. There's only one way, one way.

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Now, as one makes life's ultimate decision,

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he or she has got to come to grips with the Lord's words here.

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So the narrow gate is Christ

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and is bold and gracious offer of salvation.

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He is the only way to be saved. By the way, let me just say this.

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Do you realize that many in the culture today would call me a intolerant bigot?

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Why? Because I'm preaching that there's one way to heaven.

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But let's think about that just a moment.

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Let's think about that in other realms, okay?

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Would you want an inclusive doctor, surgeon? Let's say he cuts you up, he's gonna take your appendix out.

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And he gets in there and he's real inclusive. He don't wanna be narrow-minded. And he gets in there and you wake up the next day, "Hey, Doc, did you get my appendix "that was about to break?" He said, "Yeah, I got it." And also got two kidneys.

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(Congregation Laughing) You know.

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Now, would you want that kind of surgeon?

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No, no, no.

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You'd want a surgeon that would go in and get the diseased appendix only. You want it to be very precise, right?

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What about a pharmacist?

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Your doctor prescribes medication for you, go to the pharmacist.

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And let's say it's like antibody, what I got this afternoon.

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And let's say I went and my pharmacist said, "Hey, Pastor, man, I got some great pills here."

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And there are different pills. You just pick out the one you want.

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Is that what you want?

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No, you want precision when it comes to your surgeon

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and you want precision when it comes to your pharmacist. Let me just say, you need precision when it comes to your preacher.

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You need precision.

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You need somebody that will tell you the Bible truth

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regardless of how offensive it is, right?

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Okay.

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All right, we got that cleared up. Look at Acts 4.12.

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Peter said, "And there's salvation in no one else."

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Man, there's our narrow-minded stuff again.

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"And there's salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that's been given among men by which we must be saved."

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Now, Jesus went on to say that there's another gate.

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He said, "The second gate is the wide gate."

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Now again, this is the preferred gate

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of the vast majority of the inhabitants of the world today.

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Walk through this gate, you can choose the God you want.

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You can live the kind of life that fits your personality.

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I call this the Burger King gate. You can have it your way.

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Now, for people who walk through the wide gate, religion,

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not a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ

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is the end all be all for them.

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For others it may be good works or remember the gate is wide here, you can have it your way.

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So Jesus continues pressing into his kingdom upon the people and he moves on to not only the two gates, but the two ways to live, the two ways to walk.

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He said, "The first is found in the word the way is broad." Look at it, look at it.

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Verse 13, "Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide, the way is broad." The way is broad, the way is broad.

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Think about an eight lanes superhighway.

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I remember I went to Toronto to minister with Matt Hess and Erica there.

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And I was blown away by some of the highways there in Toronto leading in and out of Toronto.

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Multiple lanes, the way is broad.

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Now, once you decide to walk through the wide gate, you find yourself on a broad road that is smooth as silk.

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Now, if you're walking on the broad road,

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absolute truth is not a necessity at all.

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What's true for you may not be true for anybody else.

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You see truth is optional on the broad road.

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You can live any way you wanna live.

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Morality is something that you get to pick and choose.

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Nobody forces morality on you on the broad road.

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It's situational.

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You remember the book of Judges,

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one of the key thoughts is because there was no king in the land, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

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That's the theme of the broad road.

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But there's another way, look at it. Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide, the way is broad that leads to destruction. There are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life.

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And there are few who find it. The gate is small.

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Now, when I thought about that,

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I thought about somebody trying to go through the narrow gate with a bunch of a junk, a backpack and maybe some of their golf clubs and all that kind of stuff. They're going through the narrow gate and it won't work. You can't get all that stuff through the narrow gate. Now I've gone to Meddlin now, haven't I?

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(Congregation Laughing) You can't get that stuff through the narrow gate.

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To go through the narrow gate, you got to choose

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to put your faith and your trust in Christ alone.

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Then you'll find yourself on the narrow road.

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Now, if you embrace Jesus Christ as your savior and your Lord, you are honor bound to live by his standards.

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That's what the Sermon on the Mount is all about.

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Living up to his standards.

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Look at chapter five, verse 48 again.

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Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

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Now we talked about that. I'm not going to go back and explain all that,

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but there are some real expectations

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if you're going to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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In Luke 9.23, the Bible says,

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if anyone wishes to come after me, this Jesus,

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if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.

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Now that's not something that's optional. That's what's required. That's squeezing through the narrow gate and walking on the narrow road.

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You got to decide.

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Your kids have got to decide.

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Your friends have got to decide.

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If you're in here and you're not a believer in Jesus, you have to decide.

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You have to decide if you're going to take that broad road, that eight lane superhighway that makes everything look so wonderful. Or are you going to squeeze through that narrow gate and walk on the narrow road that leads to life?

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Now, understand this.

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Jesus said that if you're on the broad road, it leads to what? Destruction. Destruction is a synonym for hell.

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In hell, God's love does not exist.

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In hell, demons will be your neighbors.

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In hell, there's absolutely no hope. In hell, demons will be your neighbors. There's absolutely no hope. Bible says that there's a chasm fixed

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between hell and heaven, and you can't go back and forth.

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You can't go back and forth.

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You remember the story of the rich man in Lazarus in Luke 16, right?

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The rich man is on the broad road. He's got everything life can give him. He's got to find his clothes, to find his food. Everybody wants him to be a part of their lives. I mean, he is the talk of the town, but he dies.

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And he finds himself in hell.

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And Lazarus, who is on the, boy, this is a perfect illustration of what we're talking about.

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Lazarus, who walked through the narrow gate,

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walked down the narrow road that led to life,

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he's in heaven, he's in Abraham's bosom.

[01:24:52;38 - 01:25:04;27]
And the rich man in hell looked up at Abraham's bosom and saw Lazarus, and he begged Abraham,

[01:25:05;53 - 01:25:15;12]
Father Abraham, send him to, send Lazarus just to dip his finger in some water, just put a drop of water on my tongue,

[01:25:16;50 - 01:25:20;44]
because I'm in agony, torment in hell.

[01:25:22;06 - 01:25:25;55]
So understand, there are only two options.

[01:25:28;23 - 01:25:32;55]
There is the narrow road, the narrow gate that leads to the narrow road that leads to life.

[01:25:34;38 - 01:25:40;28]
And there is the broad gate, the wide gate that leads to the broad road that leads to destruction.

[01:25:47;37 - 01:25:48;30]
Think about the devil.

[01:25:51;39 - 01:25:53;58]
The devil gives you the best first.

[01:25:55;49 - 01:25:57;41]
I mean, the minute you get on the broad road,

[01:25:58;50 - 01:26:00;26]
things may go pretty well for you.

[01:26:01;30 - 01:26:05;50]
But as you keep going down the broad road, things get rougher and rougher and rougher.

[01:26:07;03 - 01:26:09;46]
Much potholes on that road, down the road there.

[01:26:12;04 - 01:26:17;32]
But with Jesus, he's promised us that the best is yet to come.

[01:26:19;55 - 01:26:28;57]
But a lot of people think if you give your heart to Jesus, everything's gonna go great in your life. Jesus never promised that.

[01:26:30;04 - 01:26:41;10]
In fact, Jesus said, if you follow me, if you walk on this narrow road through the narrow gate, that leads to life, you're gonna have tribulation.

[01:26:42;42 - 01:26:43;51]
You're gonna be persecuted.

[01:26:45;25 - 01:26:48;22]
Jesus said the world will hate you.

[01:26:53;17 - 01:26:58;43]
But he also said that in my father's house there are many mansions.

[01:27:00;12 - 01:27:09;59]
If it were not so, I would have told you for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also.

[01:27:15;08 - 01:27:19;06]
I'll take that any day, any day.

[01:27:20;46 - 01:27:27;56]
Now, notice he says that the narrow gate leaves a narrow that leaves to life.

[01:27:30;22 - 01:27:39;13]
Now, Jesus manifested that life. Take a Bible, let's just quickly do this. John chapter five, verse 26.

[01:27:41;14 - 01:27:42;28]
John five, 26.

[01:27:52;14 - 01:28:02;00]
"For just as the Father has life in himself, "even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself."

[01:28:04;42 - 01:28:07;16]
The life of God, the life of the Father.

[01:28:09;03 - 01:28:10;14]
Jesus has it.

[01:28:12;00 - 01:28:22;02]
Now, I'm not gonna read Ephesians chapter four, verse 17 and 18, because I think you know this. We are, as sinners, we are alienated from the life of God.

[01:28:24;35 - 01:28:30;30]
But look at first John chapter five, first John chapter five.

[01:28:37;19 - 01:28:38;21]
Look at verse 10.

[01:28:40;15 - 01:28:43;11]
The one who believes in the Son of God

[01:28:44;55 - 01:28:56;57]
has the testimony in himself, the one who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his son.

[01:28:59;30 - 01:29:03;56]
And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal what?

[01:29:05;25 - 01:29:05;38]
Life.

[01:29:07;12 - 01:29:16;11]
And this life is in his son. You can't find it anywhere else. You can't find the life of God anywhere else.

[01:29:17;56 - 01:29:19;29]
You can't find it in religion.

[01:29:21;22 - 01:29:32;41]
You can't find it in chasing career success. You can't find it in building up your bank account and your retirement account. You can't find the life of God in that stuff.

[01:29:35;17 - 01:29:37;12]
You can't find it in immorality.

[01:29:39;15 - 01:29:41;31]
You can only find the life of God in Jesus.

[01:29:43;49 - 01:29:45;39]
Look at this, verse 11.

[01:29:46;54 - 01:29:59;47]
And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. Look at verse 12, I love verse 12. He who has the Son has the life.

[01:30:01;19 - 01:30:05;20]
He does not have the Son of God, does not have the life.

[01:30:11;17 - 01:30:13;20]
Jesus wants people to go to heaven.

[01:30:15;50 - 01:30:18;18]
He wants your kids and grandkids to go to heaven.

[01:30:21;31 - 01:30:22;52]
But they've got a decision to make.

[01:30:26;45 - 01:30:29;02]
Nobody can make that decision for them.

[01:30:32;47 - 01:30:37;17]
They have to decide where they're gonna respond to the ministry of the Holy Spirit's conviction,

[01:30:39;33 - 01:30:40;39]
the truth of the gospel.

[01:30:42;50 - 01:30:45;23]
Are they gonna respond by placing their faith in Jesus

[01:30:47;57 - 01:30:52;13]
or by choosing some other way that somebody else offers?

[01:30:54;25 - 01:30:55;37]
Now, Jesus said this,

[01:30:57;19 - 01:31:09;08]
he said this about the wide gate that leads to the broad way that leads to destruction. He said, "Many are those who enter by it, many."

[01:31:13;11 - 01:31:14;58]
A lot of people choosing the broad road.

[01:31:18;15 - 01:31:22;32]
As you're going down the broad road,

[01:31:24;20 - 01:31:31;41]
you eventually come to a sign at the end of the road that reads dead end, welcome to hell. (Congregation Laughing)

[01:31:32;44 - 01:31:36;15]
Proverbs 14, 12 said, "There's a way which seemed right to a man,

[01:31:38;26 - 01:31:42;02]
"but its end is a way of death."

[01:31:44;19 - 01:31:54;23]
But what about the people who choose to navigate the narrow road and life? Jesus indicated, look at this, well, this blows my mind, few are those who find it.

[01:31:57;33 - 01:32:02;00]
Few are those who find it.

[01:32:03;03 - 01:32:06;07]
And I hope and pray that everybody watching live stream

[01:32:07;23 - 01:32:08;54]
and everybody in this room,

[01:32:10;17 - 01:32:26;31]
I hope and pray that you have placed your faith in Jesus as savior and Lord, and you are living for him and you are seeking to obey him, and you are walking, you've walked through the narrow gate that leads to the narrow road that leads to life.

[01:32:28;43 - 01:32:29;54]
If you hadn't, I pray.

[01:32:31;21 - 01:32:39;02]
I pray to God that tonight you will repent of your sin and place your faith in Jesus as your savior and your Lord.

[01:32:42;15 - 01:32:45;11]
Now, Jesus came to the end of the Sermon on the Mount.

[01:32:47;37 - 01:32:55;39]
He focused on the ultimate decision and the need for spiritual discernment. I often wonder how these,

[01:32:57;41 - 01:33:03;25]
verses 13 and 14, how they relate or fit together

[01:33:04;26 - 01:33:06;23]
with verses 15 to 20.

[01:33:07;27 - 01:33:08;41]
And I thought about it.

[01:33:10;00 - 01:33:12;25]
You got the broad road that leads to destruction.

[01:33:14;24 - 01:33:27;17]
And you got false prophets and false teachers all along that road who are luring people away from truth,

[01:33:29;08 - 01:33:35;35]
away from the narrow gate, the narrow road, and the narrow way that leads to life.

[01:33:37;06 - 01:33:41;20]
And these false prophets and false teachers are teaching all kinds of stuff

[01:33:42;52 - 01:33:45;47]
that's totally contrary to the truth of God's word.

[01:33:48;18 - 01:33:50;55]
You say pastor, are they still out there today? Absolutely.

[01:33:53;18 - 01:33:53;35]
Absolutely.

[01:33:58;44 - 01:34:01;19]
Now, at the end, I'm gonna share with you

[01:34:02;24 - 01:34:04;12]
a way that you can protect yourself

[01:34:05;38 - 01:34:07;20]
and the way you can protect your family

[01:34:08;31 - 01:34:10;26]
from false teachers and false prophets.

[01:34:11;28 - 01:34:12;52]
But let's look at it right here.

[01:34:14;56 - 01:34:23;30]
In Matthew 24, 24, Jesus said, for false Christ and false prophets

[01:34:25;23 - 01:34:37;25]
will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible, even the elect. You know what Jesus is saying here? He's saying, when you get to the last days,

[01:34:39;56 - 01:34:45;59]
that there's gonna be a proliferation and explosion of false prophets and false teachers.

[01:34:47;28 - 01:34:53;28]
And Jesus said, they're even gonna have the ability to do signs and wonders.

[01:34:58;37 - 01:34:59;21]
You say, how?

[01:35:01;34 - 01:35:01;58]
How?

[01:35:04;30 - 01:35:07;20]
Well, the devil's gonna give them some dark power

[01:35:08;22 - 01:35:12;49]
to do this kind of stuff. But why?

[01:35:14;09 - 01:35:17;09]
It's to lead people astray.

[01:35:18;53 - 01:35:39;25]
Jesus said, even the elect have to be on their tiptoes to make sure they're not snoockered by this. Have you, anybody know what snoockered means? Have you ever played snoockered? I remember when I was a little boy, I would ride my bicycle to baseball practice.

[01:35:40;52 - 01:35:42;45]
And I would go by the pool hall.

[01:35:44;35 - 01:35:45;34]
I loved playing pool.

[01:35:47;00 - 01:35:55;36]
And I'd get a Mr. Cola. You remember when a Mr. Cola, as far as I know, was the first 16 ounce software. You remember that Mr. Cola?

[01:35:56;52 - 01:36:08;51]
And I'd get a Mr. Cola and I'd play pool or snooker. So in snooker, you can snooker somebody and not really give them a shot.

[01:36:10;00 - 01:36:13;30]
And that's neither here nor there. I don't know why I'm saying this.

[01:36:14;42 - 01:36:17;09]
I probably shouldn't have told you that I went to pool hall.

[01:36:20;02 - 01:36:23;50]
(Audience Laughing) Did what? (Audience Laughing)

[01:36:25;22 - 01:36:32;35]
(Audience Laughing) Now you're meddling.

[01:36:36;26 - 01:36:43;28]
So I want you to know that Jesus warned, and this is something we've got to keep in our minds now.

[01:36:45;14 - 01:36:46;41]
In the last days,

[01:36:48;17 - 01:36:51;11]
with false prophets and false teachers and false Christ,

[01:36:53;00 - 01:36:56;19]
don't let somebody doing something that looks like a miracle

[01:36:57;36 - 01:37:02;16]
cause you to be led astray from the truth of God.

[01:37:04;39 - 01:37:05;21]
Remember that.

[01:37:06;36 - 01:37:13;07]
Look at 1 Timothy 4.1. But the Spirit explicitly says in the latter times,

[01:37:14;10 - 01:37:16;06]
some will fall away from the faith.

[01:37:17;12 - 01:37:18;33]
They will apostasize.

[01:37:20;06 - 01:37:22;30]
Paying attention to deceitful spirits

[01:37:23;53 - 01:37:26;05]
and doctrines of demons.

[01:37:28;56 - 01:37:29;51]
Look at verse 15.

[01:37:31;25 - 01:37:39;11]
Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing,

[01:37:40;57 - 01:37:51;58]
but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Now what is a false prophet? The word prophet means to speak before or to speak forth

[01:37:54;03 - 01:37:56;38]
in a true prophet's case, the word of God.

[01:37:57;54 - 01:38:02;39]
So a true prophet of God was called and commissioned to speak forth his word.

[01:38:04;56 - 01:38:11;35]
A false prophet was not called and commissioned by God and they did not speak forth God's word.

[01:38:13;30 - 01:38:22;03]
Give an example of false teaching and false prophet. There's a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation.

[01:38:24;35 - 01:38:28;50]
And it's a charismatic church on steroids.

[01:38:31;51 - 01:38:38;32]
And these folks who are involved with the New Apostolic Reformation,

[01:38:39;33 - 01:38:45;41]
there are preachers who claim that their apostles,

[01:38:47;06 - 01:38:49;26]
like Peter, James and John were apostles.

[01:38:52;44 - 01:38:55;14]
There was one, I can't remember his name.

[01:38:57;43 - 01:38:59;25]
That's the kind of impact he had on my life.

[01:39:00;56 - 01:39:06;05]
There was one and he made all these claims. He claimed to be able to raise the dead.

[01:39:09;33 - 01:39:20;38]
He claimed that he heard revelation straight from God and he would proclaim that revelation to people. He had the anointing.

[01:39:21;54 - 01:39:25;09]
That's a misused term. Now there is the anointing,

[01:39:26;57 - 01:39:32;01]
but a lot of people who are false teachers and false prophets misused the term the anointing.

[01:39:34;56 - 01:39:40;48]
And this guy, I'm telling you, if you give them enough rope, they'll hang themselves.

[01:39:43;19 - 01:39:47;32]
And this guy just went nuts into immorality.

[01:39:51;53 - 01:39:52;27]
He's immoral.

[01:39:56;18 - 01:40:02;30]
And he lost his ministry and then some of the folks in the New Apostolic Reformation wanted to bring him back.

[01:40:07;39 - 01:40:17;36]
That's what I'm talking about, false teaching, false, and you'd be surprised the number of people that are drawn to that kind of stuff because it's sensational.

[01:40:19;45 - 01:40:21;50]
Let me tell you, there's nothing sensational

[01:40:23;14 - 01:40:31;43]
about an average pastor taking the Word of God and preaching verse by verse through the book of the Bible. There's nothing sensational about that.

[01:40:33;25 - 01:40:39;57]
But I tell you, there's something supernatural about it, more so than these supernatural claims

[01:40:41;13 - 01:40:44;23]
that these folks in the New Apostolic Reformation make.

[01:40:47;05 - 01:40:55;26]
Now, a false prophet was not called and commissioned by God and they did not speak forth God's Word.

[01:40:58;07 - 01:41:05;14]
And notice how Jesus described their appearance. He said, "They'll come to you in sheep's clothing.

[01:41:07;54 - 01:41:09;19]
They'll look like the real deal.

[01:41:11;10 - 01:41:12;46]
They'll smell like the real deal.

[01:41:14;06 - 01:41:23;23]
They'll sound like the real deal. You can't detect a false prophet or a false teacher by their appearance.

[01:41:26;24 - 01:41:29;01]
In fact, they appear to be legitimate.

[01:41:31;18 - 01:41:38;28]
They may even use the Bible. They even may preach a sermon on Jesus, the cross, the resurrection.

[01:41:40;31 - 01:41:46;02]
Paul described their deceptive appearance in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Look at verse 13 to 15.

[01:41:47;56 - 01:41:58;30]
"For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ,

[01:41:59;49 - 01:42:04;57]
no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

[01:42:06;13 - 01:42:16;10]
Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness whose end will be according to their deeds."

[01:42:19;23 - 01:42:21;39]
That's an excellent description.

[01:42:24;03 - 01:42:25;47]
A false teacher, false prophet.

[01:42:26;53 - 01:42:31;36]
But how dangerous are they? Jesus said that they'll come to you in sheep's clothing.

[01:42:34;59 - 01:42:37;07]
But he said inside, they're ravenous wolves.

[01:42:41;08 - 01:42:44;35]
They're ravenous wolves. A sheep's worst enemy was a wolf.

[01:42:47;15 - 01:43:00;39]
And the idea, the word here ravenous carries the idea of snatching or seizing. And once a wolf snatches or seizes a sheep, it tears pieces.

[01:43:03;06 - 01:43:05;07]
So I want you to get rid of the notion

[01:43:06;35 - 01:43:12;31]
that false prophets, false teachers are good, well-meaning, but misguided people. They're not, they're demonic.

[01:43:13;37 - 01:43:14;16]
Did you hear me?

[01:43:15;44 - 01:43:16;50]
They are demonic.

[01:43:20;54 - 01:43:22;01]
Don't listen to them.

[01:43:23;37 - 01:43:24;55]
Don't send them $10.

[01:43:27;55 - 01:43:32;27]
Stay away from them. Jesus said, look what he said, beware.

[01:43:35;12 - 01:43:35;24]
Beware.

[01:43:37;36 - 01:43:42;10]
Now if I'm walking up to one of these sub electrical substations

[01:43:44;21 - 01:43:45;37]
and I see a sign

[01:43:48;18 - 01:44:00;07]
that says beware high voltage. You know what? I'm not touching it. I am not touching it. You can touch it. I'm not touching it. I don't want to be fried into a crispy critter.

[01:44:04;00 - 01:44:14;17]
And that's the kind of incident Jesus has here with these false prophets and false teachers. I think, should I say it?

[01:44:15;52 - 01:44:19;12]
Yeah, I'm gonna say it. (Congregation Laughing)

[01:44:20;48 - 01:44:21;59]
I think sometimes

[01:44:24;38 - 01:44:26;15]
people listen to Joel Osteen.

[01:44:29;45 - 01:44:30;55]
They say he's so kind.

[01:44:34;32 - 01:44:36;23]
He never talks bad about anybody.

[01:44:39;01 - 01:44:41;31]
He's always got something positive to say.

[01:44:47;02 - 01:44:51;05]
You gotta be careful with that stuff now. I'm telling you.

[01:44:54;04 - 01:44:56;42]
I remember one time in this church when I first came,

[01:45:00;44 - 01:45:06;53]
a group were going through the book that Osteen wrote, "Your Best Life Now."

[01:45:10;55 - 01:45:18;22]
I found out about it. I told them, I said, "Look, you guys need to throw "that book in the garbage can.

[01:45:20;45 - 01:45:24;41]
"Throw it in the garbage can. "I don't care if you pay $25, throw it in the garbage can.

[01:45:26;12 - 01:45:26;53]
"It's garbage."

[01:45:29;48 - 01:45:34;01]
Listen, as a born again believer, you're not gonna have your best life now.

[01:45:37;08 - 01:45:39;03]
Your best life lies ahead.

[01:45:42;02 - 01:45:43;36]
(Congregation Laughing)

[01:45:45;15 - 01:45:46;35]
Beware, Jesus said.

[01:45:47;58 - 01:45:57;21]
Now, what do false prophets and false teachers do? They lure people to the wide gate, the broad road

[01:45:58;21 - 01:45:59;21]
that leads to destruction.

[01:46:02;25 - 01:46:04;34]
Look at Matthew 7, 16 to 20.

[01:46:07;10 - 01:46:13;24]
You will know them by their fruits. So how do we recognize false prophets? How we'd recognize false teachers.

[01:46:14;34 - 01:46:20;25]
Jesus said, you're underlining in your Bible or in these notes, you will know them by their fruits.

[01:46:23;45 - 01:46:27;42]
Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, are they?

[01:46:29;38 - 01:46:31;28]
So every good tree

[01:46:33;35 - 01:46:35;04]
bears good fruit.

[01:46:37;30 - 01:46:38;42]
But the bad tree

[01:46:40;25 - 01:46:41;28]
bears bad fruit.

[01:46:44;09 - 01:46:49;32]
Mike's offered me some pears. I told him, "Darlene loves pears."

[01:46:50;54 - 01:46:52;52]
And so he's gonna give me a sack of pears.

[01:46:55;02 - 01:46:56;31]
Now, do you know where pears come from?

[01:46:58;15 - 01:46:58;33]
Pear trees.

[01:47:00;05 - 01:47:01;13]
They come from pear trees.

[01:47:04;48 - 01:47:06;59]
But they don't come from junk trees.

[01:47:08;09 - 01:47:09;39]
They come from pear trees.

[01:47:13;22 - 01:47:24;51]
And that's what Jesus is talking about here. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every, look, every good tree bears good fruit.

[01:47:28;08 - 01:47:31;15]
But the bad tree bears bad fruit.

[01:47:34;47 - 01:47:37;24]
A good tree cannot produce bad fruit,

[01:47:38;52 - 01:47:41;19]
nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.

[01:47:42;38 - 01:47:49;48]
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, so then you will know them by their fruits.

[01:47:52;55 - 01:47:56;04]
Now look back at chapter seven, verse one.

[01:47:57;51 - 01:48:02;08]
Remember, I told you this is the most misinterpreted verse in the Bible.

[01:48:03;54 - 01:48:04;54]
Do not judge

[01:48:07;23 - 01:48:08;56]
so that you will not be judged.

[01:48:10;31 - 01:48:12;36]
Now I'm gonna ask you the $64,000 question.

[01:48:14;40 - 01:48:18;35]
How can you look at fruit without making a judgment?

[01:48:20;27 - 01:48:21;27]
You gotta make a judgment.

[01:48:22;51 - 01:48:24;59]
Is it good fruit? Is it bad fruit?

[01:48:26;14 - 01:48:27;22]
You gotta make a judgment.

[01:48:33;35 - 01:48:36;58]
Chip and Joanna Gaines, they stepped into it big time.

[01:48:39;59 - 01:48:43;20]
And they came back and talked about well, we shouldn't judge.

[01:48:46;34 - 01:48:49;37]
They misinterpreted chapter seven, verse one.

[01:48:51;13 - 01:48:52;45]
I'm not throwing them under the bus.

[01:48:54;28 - 01:48:56;43]
Everything I know, I've heard they're believers.

[01:48:59;06 - 01:49:00;27]
They made a bad decision.

[01:49:01;58 - 01:49:04;34]
Can I tell you, when you make a bad decision on it,

[01:49:06;24 - 01:49:11;48]
deal with it, move forward.

[01:49:13;33 - 01:49:13;45]
Anyway.

[01:49:16;30 - 01:49:22;30]
So the first thing you gotta do as a fruit inspector is look at the person's character.

[01:49:24;14 - 01:49:25;02]
Look at the character.

[01:49:27;03 - 01:49:27;44]
How do they live?

[01:49:30;38 - 01:49:35;50]
Do you realize that some of these prosperity, gospel, that some of these prosperity, gospel preachers,

[01:49:37;32 - 01:49:40;20]
they live in multi-million dollar mansions.

[01:49:42;31 - 01:49:44;50]
They have their own private jets.

[01:49:48;08 - 01:49:51;09]
You say, but pastor, that's the Lord's blessing on their lives.

[01:49:53;42 - 01:49:54;24]
I'm sorry.

[01:49:55;58 - 01:49:59;54]
You know where they're getting the money to buy those jets in those multi-million dollar homes?

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From senior adults or send them $25 a month.

[01:50:13;54 - 01:50:20;37]
So you look at them, you examine how they live. Are they morally pure?

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Do they appear to covet money?

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Are they full of pride? Look what John MacArthur wrote.

[01:50:34;14 - 01:50:51;39]
He said, "Unless those who claim to be God's spokesmen "give evidence that their deepest motives and life patterns "are to honor, glorify, and magnify God, "and to grow in humility, holiness, and obedience, "we can be sure that God has not called or sent them.

[01:50:53;25 - 01:51:03;11]
"If they are oriented to money, prestige, recognition, "popularity, power, sexual looseness, and selfishness, "they do not belong to Christ."

[01:51:09;09 - 01:51:12;53]
So the first thing you do as a fruit inspector, you look at the character.

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The second thing you gotta do as a fruit inspector is listen to their teaching.

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What are they teaching?

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Now, a false teacher, a false prophet can sprinkle in Bible verses.

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They can make it sound real.

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But you gotta listen carefully,

[01:51:42;59 - 01:51:49;33]
and you gotta make sure you use biblical discernment to discern if they are speaking the truth from God's word.

[01:51:51;44 - 01:51:53;33]
Or they're misinterpreting the scripture.

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One thing seems to be true of a false prophet.

[01:52:06;01 - 01:52:09;13]
If you listen, they're teaching at man-centered, not God-centered.

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The person and work of Jesus Christ is often marginalized.

[01:52:18;08 - 01:52:27;43]
I'll give you an example. Like the New Apostolic Reformation, if you listen to some of those false prophets, those guys who claim to be prophets of God,

[01:52:31;14 - 01:52:35;19]
do you realize that they give more attention to the Holy Spirit than they do Jesus?

[01:52:39;05 - 01:52:47;45]
And Jesus said in John's gospel that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify himself and the Father.

[01:52:51;26 - 01:52:55;15]
And yet here's a whole group of people

[01:52:57;03 - 01:52:58;40]
who draw attention to themselves,

[01:53:00;18 - 01:53:10;26]
who make wild outlandish claims that God spoke to them and gave them, listen, here's another thing that they do. I've got a fresh revelation from God.

[01:53:12;44 - 01:53:14;27]
God told me.

[01:53:16;48 - 01:53:24;07]
Listen, I don't have fresh revelation with God, I've got the revelation from God. Right here in this book.

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Audience laughing) You say, pastor,

[01:53:33;42 - 01:53:35;54]
whoo, you're making me nervous.

[01:53:37;38 - 01:53:40;53]
Well, I don't mean to make you nervous, I just wanna prepare you.

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I want you to understand that this stuff is real.

[01:53:54;02 - 01:53:54;53]
Should I start singing?

[01:53:56;44 - 01:54:00;12]
I guess I got a new revelation. Oh, you just got a new revelation, okay.

[01:54:02;53 - 01:54:03;24]
Oh boy.

[01:54:05;33 - 01:54:09;51]
This was a Southern Baptist guy right here. Okay.

[01:54:14;02 - 01:54:18;30]
Look at this, the person and work of Jesus Christ must never be marginalized.

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All the time, they preach peace and happiness and prosperity.

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And from all appearances, they are successful and popular.

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According to them, the false prophet, the false teacher,

[01:54:47;07 - 01:54:50;13]
the false Christ, they're at a different spiritual level

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than anybody else.

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They've led scores of people down the broad road to destruction.

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Now, I want you to look at 2 Peter 2, verses one to three.

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But false prophets also arose among the people just as there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned, and in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

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This is real, folks.

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And in the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is cutting a straight path.

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Okay, so how can you protect yourself and your family? Number one, study the word.

[01:56:12;43 - 01:56:23;19]
The greatest protection you can provide for you and your family is to be proficient with the word of God, to know the word of God.

[01:56:25;15 - 01:56:26;22]
You know why that's important?

[01:56:27;56 - 01:56:37;23]
If you know the word of God, and some yahoo is on TV, and he's preaching something, and you get that sense that, hey, that's not biblical.

[01:56:40;20 - 01:56:41;51]
That's biblical discernment.

[01:56:44;06 - 01:56:53;18]
And you can turn that TV off, or you can change channels, whatever you need to do, but you don't need to listen to that garbage.

[01:56:55;19 - 01:57:07;31]
But the only way, I'm serious, the number one way to protect yourself and to protect your family from false teaching and false prophets and false Christ is to make sure you know the word of God.

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That's why we do what we do in this church. That's why Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday after Wednesday, we take the word of God and we teach the word of God.

[01:57:20;30 - 01:57:28;45]
That's why week after week, you hear me say, over and over again, read the Bible, pray, read the Bible, pray, read the Bible, pray.

[01:57:30;06 - 01:57:33;15]
You can't get enough of the word of God on Sunday or Wednesday.

[01:57:34;46 - 01:57:40;42]
You gotta study the Bible on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

[01:57:42;04 - 01:57:43;11]
You gotta study the Bible.

[01:57:45;02 - 01:57:47;01]
You gotta know what the Bible teaches.

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We live in a day when believers make statements like, well, we don't need to know all that theological or doctrinal stuff.

[01:58:02;42 - 01:58:03;17]
Look at me.

[01:58:04;30 - 01:58:05;16]
Yes, you do.

[01:58:07;06 - 01:58:08;04]
Yes, you do.

[01:58:09;50 - 01:58:14;51]
I've heard people in this church make that kind of statement.

[01:58:17;31 - 01:58:18;33]
That's just too deep.

[01:58:24;25 - 01:58:28;42]
Jesus said, "You should know the truth "and the truth will make you free."

[01:58:31;07 - 01:58:38;59]
Number one, study the word. Number two, test the spirits. Now, look at me.

[01:58:43;36 - 01:58:47;47]
There were angels and there are demonic spirits.

[01:58:50;42 - 01:58:55;12]
They were as real as those blue checkered tablecloths on your table.

[01:58:56;54 - 01:58:57;20]
They're real.

[01:59:03;02 - 01:59:05;09]
And you gotta learn to test the spirit and you gotta learn to test the spirits.

[01:59:07;23 - 01:59:08;19]
Well, how do you do it?

[01:59:10;23 - 01:59:12;11]
You test them with the Word of God.

[01:59:14;45 - 01:59:19;27]
Look at 1 John 4, 1 through 3. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit."

[01:59:21;26 - 01:59:32;40]
But Pastor John, he's a preacher. You don't have to believe, hey, let me just give you a freedom to do it. Do not believe me unless I come from the Word of God.

[01:59:34;46 - 01:59:37;02]
Reject everything I say if I don't come out of the Bible.

[01:59:39;00 - 01:59:39;15]
Okay?

[01:59:40;45 - 01:59:47;32]
You gotta do that on a consistent, but you can't just be so open-minded you believe everything everybody says.

[01:59:49;35 - 01:59:59;11]
Test the spirits. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, "but test the spirits to see whether they are from God "because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

[02:00:00;54 - 02:00:02;42]
"By this you know the Spirit of God.

[02:00:04;36 - 02:00:09;42]
"Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ "has come in the flesh is from God.

[02:00:12;17 - 02:00:16;26]
"And every spirit that does not confess Jesus "is not from God.

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"This is the spirit of the antichrist

[02:00:22;14 - 02:00:26;44]
"of which you have heard that it's coming "and now it is already in the world." That's 2,000 years ago.

[02:00:30;03 - 02:00:35;06]
John wrote on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the antichrist is already in the world.

[02:00:36;52 - 02:00:37;50]
He's already in the world.

[02:00:42;24 - 02:00:46;51]
So number one study of the Word, number two test the spirits, number three limit your exposure.

[02:00:50;58 - 02:00:52;17]
Look at this text.

[02:00:54;19 - 02:00:56;35]
2nd John 1, 7th of 11.

[02:01:00;09 - 02:01:07;18]
Do you remember, do you know how the Mormon religion came into being?

[02:01:10;15 - 02:01:14;25]
Joseph Smith said that he had an encounter

[02:01:17;00 - 02:01:35;32]
with an angel and this angel gave him a set of tablets, golden plates and he developed a religion. Do you realize that the Mormon religion is a cult?

[02:01:37;49 - 02:01:38;39]
It's a cult.

[02:01:41;09 - 02:01:43;22]
You say, I dare you say that about the Mormon.

[02:01:44;35 - 02:01:46;49]
I've gotten in more trouble in different places

[02:01:49;50 - 02:01:57;42]
in Richland when I was a pastor there. Man, I had people in the town ready to hang me up to dry

[02:02:00;46 - 02:02:08;27]
but because there was a Mormon who was running for mayor and he had signs all over the town that he was a Christian.

[02:02:10;34 - 02:02:14;33]
I stood and pulled, I said, he's not a Christian. He's a Mormon. He's a Mormon.

[02:02:17;35 - 02:02:19;15]
And I explained to him.

[02:02:21;54 - 02:02:30;19]
Do you realize that Mormons believe that Jesus was a man who became God?

[02:02:32;40 - 02:02:33;25]
That's what they believe.

[02:02:34;25 - 02:02:48;41]
You say, well, don't we believe, no, we don't believe that. Are you kidding me? We believe that Jesus is God who is incarnated as a man offered his life on the cross of Calvary to save us from our sins was resurrected from the dead.

[02:02:50;12 - 02:02:55;33]
It's totally, they believe that Jesus and Lucifer are our brothers.

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So that's what we're up against.

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Limit your exposure. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ coming in flesh.

[02:03:15;26 - 02:03:32;12]
This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Jesus does not have God.

[02:03:36;17 - 02:03:52;35]
The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the father and the son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him a greeting for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

[02:03:57;13 - 02:03:59;12]
Limit your exposure.

[02:04:05;00 - 02:04:05;12]
Okay.

[02:04:07;14 - 02:04:13;46]
So we've covered our text tonight. You say how serious this is.

[02:04:15;30 - 02:04:17;47]
We're talking about the ultimate decision

[02:04:18;49 - 02:04:21;57]
and the importance of spiritual discernment.

[02:04:25;51 - 02:04:42;30]
Now, I hope and pray that you will go over these notes and you will allow the Holy Spirit to really, really sink this into your heart. Okay.

[02:04:44;12 - 02:04:45;35]
So thank you for being here tonight.

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Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus,

[02:04:50;52 - 02:05:04;53]
I thank you so much for Jesus that as you ended the Sermon on the Mount, you ended on a high note. You ended on some real tough things. You ended on a high note. You ended on some real tough stuff that we've got to understand and apply to our lives.

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Lord, help us.

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Help us, Lord.

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In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, God bless you.