Please open your Bibles to Matthew 7. This was one of those times where I actually had a sermon planned to go from Matthew 7, 15 through 20 and it got so long I had to separate it. So we're gonna focus on verses 16 through 20 next week and just focus solely upon verse 15 today. We saw that Jesus brought the main body of his sermon to a close, really, with the challenge to enter by the narrow gate onto the difficult road that leads to life. But he also warned about a wide gate that opens up to a broad, easy road that leads to destruction. We saw this in verses 13 and 14 last week, where our Lord Jesus said, 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. because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. This leads then Jesus to warn us against false prophets who will entice us to enter upon that wide road. It's not that the wide road is enticing enough to sinners, it's that there are also false teachers trying to get them to go onto it, right? And this is no doubt why he says in verse 15, immediately following what he had said about the narrow and the wide roads, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Inwardly, they're not what they appear outwardly to be when we first look at them, right? Let's take a moment to pray and then we'll Try to understand this verse. Holy Father, I do thank you for your reminder in Sunday school this morning through the psalm that was read and of your great love for us, how you're always there for us. Thank you for the reminder in Sunday school in our examination of the book of Genesis of the wonder of your plans. There are many things about your plans that we don't understand, they're a mystery to us. but you have graciously filled us in on some of them and given us many gracious promises. You've given us a hope for the future. You've given us your son, Jesus Christ, to be our savior and Lord. And we're so grateful, Lord, that even when we don't understand parts of your plan, we know that the promises you've made, you will keep. We don't have to understand everything. to know you, to know you truly through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And we know that we've come to know you through the work of your Holy Spirit. And so we pray, Lord, that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit this morning, that we might understand what you'd have us to understand as we examine this teaching of our Lord Jesus. We ask these things for our good and ultimately for your glory. And in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. A well-known pastor has communicated the following story, which I think illustrates well an important point. He writes, a friend of mine ate dog food one evening. No, he wasn't at a fraternity initiation or a hobo party. He was actually at an elegant student reception in a physician's home near Miami. The dog food was served on delicate little crackers with a wedge of imported cheese, bacon chips, and olive. and a sliver of pimento on top. That's right, friends and neighbors, it was hors d'oeuvres a la Alpo. The hostess is a first-class nut, he writes. You gotta know her to appreciate the story. She had just graduated from a gourmet cooking course, and so she decided it was time to put her skill to the ultimate test. And did she ever. After doctoring up those miserable morsels and putting them on a couple of silver trays, with a sly grin, she watched them disappear. One guy, my friend, couldn't get enough. He kept coming back for more. I don't recall how they broke the news to him, but when he found out the truth, he probably barked and bit her on the leg. He certainly must have gagged a little. Now, what's that illustrate for us? Well, much like the hostess in this story, there are many who practice such deception in religious matters. They often gain the confidence of unsuspecting people through their apparent expertise and training in interpreting scripture, their education at a particular religious institution, or their apparent sincerity in describing God's call on their lives to teach the word. Then, instead of feeding them a well-balanced diet of scripture, they substitute a false teaching all dressed up in scriptural-sounding language, much like this woman took the dog food and dressed it up as some gourmet dish. It was still dog food. Those are the kinds of teachers that Jesus admonishes us about in the passage before us this morning. And so I want to take a closer look at this verse to try and grasp, in the context in particular, exactly what he's concerned about here. He says in verse 15, once again, beware. That's an obvious warning. Be warned. There's a sense of urgency here. Take very seriously what I'm about to tell you because there's danger. Right? That's what he means when he says, beware. Beware of false prophets. And that's actually one word in the Greek, pseudoprophetes, a false prophet. Beware of false prophets who come to you. You don't have to seek them out. They're trying to find you, right? They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Now discussing this warning from Jesus, I want to, first of all, remind us of a couple of assumptions that Jesus is making that are often ignored or even denied by many, and even many who profess to be Christians these days. I think John Stott actually is helpful in highlighting these two assumptions. First of all, he writes this, in telling people to beware of false prophets, Jesus obviously assumed that there were such. There's no sense in putting on your gate the notice, beware of the dog, if all you have at home is a couple of cats, he writes. Well, Jesus is assuming the reality of false prophets. Some people want to deny that they're a big threat, but Jesus sees false prophets as a real threat, a danger here. Stott then correctly highlights a second assumption. I think he's right on about this when he writes this, in telling us to beware of false prophets, Jesus made another assumption, namely, that there is such a thing as an objective standard of truth from which the falsehood of the false prophets is to be distinguished. There's some measure by which we know a true from a false one. He goes on to write, in referring to certain teachers as false prophets, it is clear that Jesus was no syncretist. teaching that contradictory opinions were, in reality, complementary insights into the same truth. There's a lot of claiming Christians today who are syncretistic that way. They bring in stuff from everywhere and try to dress it up in scriptural language and make it sound like it came from the Bible. But what more can be said of these false teachers? What kind of people did Jesus have in mind when he referred to false prophets? That's an important question to answer. And another important question to answer is this, what does Jesus mean when he describes them as wolves in sheep's clothing? I'm gonna see if we can't find some scriptural answers to these questions that are leading us to look more deeply into what Jesus is saying. First question was this, what kind of people did Jesus have in mind when he referred to false prophets? What was it that he expected the disciples to think or understand when he used the term false prophets, for example? Because he doesn't go into great detail about them, what kinds of teachings they do or practices or anything like that in this statement. But remember, we've had a sermon already that he's given. More on that in a moment. two contexts, though. I want to look at the broader Old Testament context that He was expecting His disciples to already know. And then I want to look at the immediate context in which Jesus has actually already been identifying false teachers for them. And that will give us a better idea of exactly who He had in mind, the kinds of people He had in mind, and then that will set us up for next week when we talk about the fruits of these false teachers in a little more detail. And hopefully look at more examples in our own situation of people like that. First of all, beginning with the Old Testament, which is the scriptures that they had and would have known, there are many passages that spoke of false prophets in one way or another, but we're just gonna examine a few of them. The first from Deuteronomy and then a couple from Jeremiah. And the first of this comes from Deuteronomy 13, verses one through five. where Moses is giving a warning about false prophets and telling them what to do with false prophets. And in the process, he indicates a little bit about them. So beginning in Deuteronomy 13, in verse one, we read this. If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, let us go after other gods, Now wait a minute, somebody's come and says, I'm having dreams from God. God is talking to me. He even seems to be doing a miracle, a sign. But then he says, let us go after other gods, not Yahweh. He says, if he says that, let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them. You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul. God's going to allow false prophets to arrive in order to test the people, he's saying. So be on your guard. They may look like the real thing, But you know they're not if they tell you to go after some other god. No matter how much they look real, their message will betray them. So there's works and there's words, right? And of course, he doesn't get into their lifestyle here, right? just because some of their works look like real prophets. Well, I've dreamed dreams and I appear to do a miracle. How do they live? Because if they're not following the true God, they're not going to live in accordance with His law, to be sure. We'll see some indications of that later on, dealing with false prophets. He says in verse four, you shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His voice. Apparently the false prophets aren't doing that. They're not going to lead you to, right? and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk, so you shall put away the evil from your midst. And so a false prophet is one who teaches what is contrary to the revealed word of God, right? and entices others to accept this false ways the truth. This results in an idolatrous and immoral life. They lead them away from God and then they lead them away also in the context of leading them away from his commandments. Such were the false prophets that came in the days of Jeremiah. And the people didn't read Deuteronomy 13 very well in those days. And they liked the false prophets because the false prophets said things they like to hear. And we see a couple of examples. I'm just gonna look at two texts from Jeremiah. He was dealing with false prophets a lot in his day, being one of the few true prophets. Beginning in Jeremiah 6, verse 13, Jeremiah 6, 13, we read this. because from the least of them, even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet, even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of my people slightly, or superficially, it means, saying, peace, peace. Now, this is the context where he's talking about false prophets and their message. Saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed? when they had a committed abomination? No. So they're immoral people. They don't just teach falsehood. They're immoral, and they don't care. They were not all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. We live in a culture full of people like that with no sense of shame. Things that might make you or I blush don't bother them at all. He says, therefore, they shall fall among those who fall. At that time, I will punish them. They will be cast down, says the Lord. Later on in Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah 23, beginning of verse 13, deals specifically with false prophets again. And he says, Jeremiah 23, beginning of verse 13, I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal and caused my people Israel to err. Also, I've seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They're immoral. Their lives are immoral. They also strengthen the hands of evildoers so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to me and are inhabitants like Gomorrah. So these prophets were actually condoning the sins that they should have been speaking out against. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets, behold, I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of Gaul. For from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone out into all the land. Thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise me, the Lord has said, you shall have peace. And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, no evil shall come upon you. Now, mind you, Jeremiah has been preaching that Israel is going to be taken into captivity, more of them, that Jerusalem's going to be destroyed, that they need to repent, that there is no peace. The true prophet at that time was telling them the truth. God's bringing judgment. But the false prophets say, no, everything's fine. Everything's great. You don't have to repent. You can live like you are. But we see here that a false prophet is one who evidences an immoral, covetous life, and who, because he is motivated by greed, tells people what they want to hear, peace, peace, and there is no peace. He also encourages people to remain in sin without feeling any shame at all. To use a couple of obvious examples from our own current cultural milieu, There are many who profess to be Christians today, some of whom are calling themselves gay Christians, which is an oxymoron if I ever heard one, unless they mean happy Christians, the old meaning of gay, in which case there's plenty of us. But what they mean is homosexual Christians, right? And they tell homosexuals they're not really sinning because they're born that way and they can't help it, and God made them that way. And then they distort the scriptures, which plainly teach that homosexuality is a sin, And not just homosexual practice, but homosexual desires. Because desires can be sinful too, and they are. That they're sinful. Bible's very clear about that. False teachers, just like in the days of old, are allowing this abomination to occur and even condoning it. And are even for things like gay marriage. Which isn't marriage. I think one pastor called it gay mirage. It's not real. How about one more example? There are many that say that a child in the womb is really just a clump of cells or a fetus and not actually human life, and they see abortion as acceptable, and they say that no one should feel any shame or remorse. No woman for having one, no man for encouraging her to do so should feel, he's just as guilty. Maybe more so in many cases. That's fine. There are people in the churches in this country who think this. Now, we expect this from the culture around us. We expect the prophets of Baal, right, to talk like Baal and act like Baal. We don't expect people who are true prophets of the Lord to talk and act like prophets of Baal, which is what they were compared to in the Old Testament text that we read. We have people like that today all around us. They're false teachers. They twist the scriptures to try to deceive people so that people can feel better about what they're doing. They say what people want to hear. They say, peace, peace, when there is no peace. You can have your sin and still be a Christian, and that's not true. heard from our Lord Jesus this morning about their importance of what? Repentance. If Jesus' teaching was about anything, it was about repentance. And they tell these people you don't really have to repent. At any rate, such passages as these that we've read form the scriptural background against which Jesus intended to be understood. These are the kinds of passages his disciples would have known or should have known. And so when they heard Jesus speak of false prophets, they immediately should have understood the seriousness of what he's saying. And that probably would have shocked them because in the context of Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount, it's the scribes and Pharisees he's been talking about that are like this. And that would really shock them, I'm sure. You mean everything you've been telling us up to now about these people, now you're labeling them as though they're false prophets? You know, like Moses talked about in the days of Jeremiah? Those kind of people, really? You see, sometimes in our own situation, we get so used to something, we don't see how terrible it really is. It has to be pointed out to us. I don't think they recognized just how terrible the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees had become. Now, they clearly didn't believe it all because they were following Jesus and not the scribes and Pharisees. They clearly saw problems as true believers with what the religious establishment was saying. But false prophets on the level of prophets of Baal, really? Yeah, really. This false teaching is false teaching. Remember, in the preceding context, what we've already seen in studying Matthew. Remember this key verse back in Matthew 5, verse 20 in the Sermon on the Mount. For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. And then from there on, it's lots of examples of how the scribes and Pharisees aren't really a part of the kingdom of heaven. They're leading people away from it. They're distorting the scriptures in order to do so. They are false teachers, in other words. And they're countenancing all kinds of sin while pretending to be against sin. That verse, remember, is followed by a number of examples of the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees, who, again, like the prophets of old, distorted or minimize the actual requirements of God's word. So I want to go back and briefly look at that by way of reminder because it's been a while since we were in those sections of the Sermon on the Mount. So let's go back and look at some of these and we'll see how they relate to his warning here about false prophets who are wolves in sheep's clothing who entice people to embark on the broad road to destruction. because that's what these men are really doing, all the while pretending to teach about the narrow way. For example, in Matthew 5, 21 to 22, Jesus said this, you have heard that it was said to those of old, now what have they heard? He's talking about what they're hearing from the scribes and the Pharisees in the larger context here, right? The teaching that they're commonly hearing from the scribes and Pharisees, and they've got to have a righteousness better than that. We just read verse 20, now we're in verse 21. It's the righteousness described in the Pharisees he's talking about. It's their teaching. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. And that's true. When we studied that passage, we saw that that was true. You shouldn't murder. It's not like that was a lie that was being taught. It's that that was being taught without other really important things being taught along with it. so that person can get the impression that as long as I can get through life without committing a murder, I'm okay. But most of us can pull that off and pat ourselves on the back and say, I'm a righteous guy, I got through life without murdering anybody. Notice what Jesus says, but I say to you, whoever's angry with his brother without a cause should be in danger of the judgment. They didn't spend a lot of time talking about that apparently. And that's why Jesus is correcting it. And remember, in our study of that, we saw that Jesus wasn't saying anything they shouldn't have known. He's talking about things that are taught in the Old Testament, where it says you shouldn't murder. It also says things about not being angry with your brother. He ever says to his brother, Raca, should be in danger of the council. Whatever says you fool should be in danger of hell fire. We don't have time to get into that again today. But suffice it to say that they ought to have known And Jesus is clarifying. It's not he's adding something to the Old Testament. He's bringing out things in the Old Testament that they were ignoring because their righteousness was all about looking righteous to other people. Well, that's a good man. He never murdered anybody. And they could pat themselves on the back and feel good, but they carried anger in their heart all the time. And we see it, if you read through the rest of Matthew, expressed toward Jesus all the time. murderous anger. Not only were they angry at him, they wanted to kill him and eventually did. They didn't listen to the Sermon on the Mount, one bit, those guys. Matthew later on in verses 25 through 28 of Matthew 5, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. Again, quoting the Bible, that's a good thing. But I say to you, whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And when we studied that passage, we saw that, again, Jesus was just bringing out what the Old Testament really taught. But they were kind of avoiding. See, if you're all about external righteousness, you don't have a genuine relationship with God, these stuff that speak to the heart, you want to avoid those things. And Matthew 5, again, verses 43 through 44, our last example we'll look at, I think you're getting the point. You've heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Now here they actually kind of distorted the Old Testament text. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you. Again, these things were also taught in the Old Testament. And not only did they ignore them, they turned around and said, hate your enemy. and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. In each of these cases, the scribes and Pharisees were lessening the requirements of the law, focusing on the things that were relatively easy for people to obey, particularly themselves, and focusing merely on outward conformity to religious rules that, again, were relatively easy to follow. And in the process, they were not bringing people into confrontation with the depth of their sin, with their need for repentance, with their need for God's grace. No wonder Jesus came and felt it was so important to constantly preach repentance. God knows most of these scribes and Pharisees weren't doing it, not biblically. And so people were coming to see their need for salvation. This is why John the Baptist had to come as the forerunner with his baptism of repentance. You had a whole people largely unrepentant. And we also see why this was the focus of Jesus' teaching at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. It was all about our heart, being poor in spirit. Genuine righteousness he was describing there. So what kind of people are the false prophets about whom Jesus warns? They're religious people, most of them, very religious people who profess to be true believers. That's what kind of people they are. And they fool a lot of people because they look so good outwardly. Those scribes and Pharisees looked pretty righteous to people, but they weren't. So that leads us to our second question. What does Jesus mean when He describes the false prophets as wolves in sheep's clothing? Well, we begin to get a handle on that already. He clearly means by this metaphor that the false prophets are both dangerous, they're wolves, and they're deceptive. They wear sheep's clothing. So they're dangerous and they're deceptive. Much of their danger lies in their deception, right? The danger they pose is obviously due to their leading people away from the truth and onto the broad road then that leads to destruction, even if they might profess otherwise. Their deception is due to the fact that they appear to be sheep, true believers, when in reality they're not. But how is it that they disguise themselves exactly, right? How do they appear to be sheep even though they're not? Again, the context of this warning in the Sermon on the Mount I think provides us some help. Because Jesus is again alluding to the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees that he's been exposing throughout the sermon here. So, just as we earlier examined three examples of their teaching, now we're gonna look back at three examples of their religious practices. by which they looked so much like sheep when they were actually wolves. Their teaching was just enough truth to sound genuine, but not the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, right? As we say when we take an oath. Just enough truth to sound like they're faithful, but leaving out a whole lot. And then we're gonna look at their practices and what they were like. Three examples of this, in Matthew 6, verse 2, These are the three examples that led to where we're at now. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets. And in the context, who are the hypocrites? They're the scribes and the Pharisees with their phony righteousness. They do this, we're told, that they may have glory for men. And surely, I say to you, they have their reward, the only reward they're ever gonna get. We look to heavenly rewards, much better rewards. So what do they do? They do their level best to do things that make them look really spiritual to people. And they wanna be seen to be looking really spiritual to people. That's very important to them. Because without this glory of men, and without appearing to be super spiritual, people don't listen to them so much. See, they've got to do both these things. They've got to teach falsely, and they've got to do these practices that aren't coming from a genuine heart. There's nothing wrong with giving alms. Jesus tells us to do it, just humbly and not hypocritically, right? Just as an act of genuine worship. And that's something as a show to look at to other people. It says the same thing about prayer. In verse five of Matthew 6, and when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. Now, there's nothing wrong with public prayer, and we studied this, we saw that. Jesus prayed publicly, but when people prayed publicly who are righteous, truly righteous, they weren't praying merely to be seen by men. That wasn't their motivation. And that's the motivation of these people. They probably don't pray at all in private, many of them, but they want to be seen praying in public. Matthew 6.16 says this about fasting, "'Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. And surely I say to you, they have the reward.'" So what did these people do? What were their practices like? They did all these things that made them look like super spiritual people, but all of it was coming from a false heart. It wasn't a sincere act of seeking to glorify God or worship Him or honor Him in any way. It was simply to honor themselves, make themselves look good. And why? Because they wanted people to take them seriously. believe the things they taught. This all went together. In each case, the scribes and Pharisees to whom our Lord refers as hypocrites, they appear to be very religious and godly, but they're really wolves in sheep's clothing. With their seeming knowledge of the word and their seeming holiness, they gain a hearing for their teaching. They may profess to lead men onto the narrow road that leads to life, as I've alluded to earlier, but they actually lead them onto the broad road to destruction. And no wonder then that Jesus later on spoken even more vehemently against them. If you look to later on in the book of Matthew, This isn't the first time Jesus has publicly challenged this phony righteousness the scribes and Pharisees. When they most wanted to kill him later in his ministry, when they were determined to kill him, he said it even more strongly. That didn't shut him up, their opposition. He put it even more directly. Listen to what he says in Matthew 23. We'll just look at a couple of texts in Matthew 23 before through here. Matthew 23, beginning in verse 13. And once again, we see it's the scribes and Pharisees who are hypocrites. It's kind of his favorite term for them, hypocrites. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. What do we see in the Sermon on the Mount? They're actually leading people on the broad road to destruction, not on the narrow road to the kingdom. They're actually shutting off the kingdom from them while they're professing to do the opposite. This is a strong, strong accusation here, and it's true because Jesus said it, right? You shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves. He's telling them they're not true believers. Nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. If you see people trying to enter the kingdom, you try to stop them. What's that mean? All the people that were following after Jesus or seeking out, they were trying to prevent it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers, the devouring of widows' houses, stealing money, I guess. Therefore you receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much the son of hell as yourselves. Remember where the broad road to destruction leads? Hell. They're on that road. And they want to take as many people as they can with them. This is what false teachers are like. And they're blind to it. They think they're on the right road. In this case, people can be really self-deceived, can't they? We all know that's true, because we've been self-deceived a lot in our lives, right? God has to show that to us all the time. So their deception is pretty obvious. He goes on to say in verses 25 through 28, these words, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they're full of extortion and self-indulgence. You look good on the outside, but here's who you really are. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. There's a theme here. For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed outwardly appear beautiful, but inside are full of dead man's bones and all uncleanness. That's a graphic metaphor if I ever heard one. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men. but inside are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Outwardly, they appear like sheep. Inwardly, they are ravenous wolves, to put it in the words of today's text. Their deception lies in their appearing outwardly to be righteous, but our Lord Jesus exposes this charade for what it really is. So again, when Jesus describes the false prophets as wolves in sheep's clothing, He clearly has in mind the scribes and Pharisees as examples of such men. And He wants His disciples to take those Old Testament texts that they know about false prophets and start applying them like they should to the scribes and the Pharisees. And He wants us to do the same in our day. We often think about false prophets as like the Koreshes of the world and the cultists out there, right? But there are false prophets in the pulpits of churches that profess to be evangelical Christians. It's time we started applying these terms to them when it's appropriate to do so. And I've given a couple of examples earlier of when it is appropriate to do so. When they teach things that are an obvious contradiction of the word of God, and they allow people to remain in their sins, And they never like to talk about repentance, by the way, any more than people in Jesus' day did. You listen to their sermons, repentance is real low on the list of things that they talk about. And that should be very telling, because that's not like Jesus. That's not a teaching like Him. They're all around us today. They're just as deceptive and greedy as they've always been throughout the centuries. They're just as much concerned with the glory of men rather than the glory of God as they've always been. There's nothing new under the sun. We can't make the mistake of thinking that, well, we don't have false prophets like they did. Oh, yes, we do. And it's high time a lot of Christians out there realized it. As we conclude our study of this verse, I'd like to point out at least three aspects of false teachers that we've seen, just to summarize, as we examined both the Old Testament background and the immediate context in which our Lord has been describing the teaching and behavior of the scribes and the Pharisees in particular. And the first one is this, Jesus has emphasized their words, the content of their teaching. It doesn't line up with scripture. Secondly, Jesus has emphasized their works, which we can all say their character, the character that they exhibit or lack thereof, their immoral lifestyle. Wherever there's false teaching, there's always immorality. Because the false teaching is usually largely about keeping your immorality. They go hand in hand. and you may find someone who's a false teacher and he looks so nice and he seems so nice, don't believe it. Don't believe it. All you're seeing is the outside. Thirdly, Jesus has emphasized the way into which or the road onto which their words and works lead others, the road to destruction, the consequence of their teaching, the content, of their teaching, the character they exhibit, and the consequences of their teaching. Where does it lead? Death. Destruction. It's not the road to life. So Jesus isn't talking just about the false teaching itself or the false piety of those who teach it. He's also talking about the false hope that it gives to those who follow them. They think they're on the narrow road, but it's a lie. False assurance of salvation is one of the worst things that can ever happen to a person. Because if they have a false assurance of salvation, they'll never seek true salvation. Jesus is gonna deal with that false assurance later on that we'll see in the coming weeks in some of the scariest verses in the Bible about people who say to me that day, Lord, Lord, and he'll say, I never knew you, people who had false assurance, who thought they were on the right road, and they weren't. That's frightening, but that can happen. This is why Jesus warns us like he does, because it can happen, it does happen. We've got to protect people from it as best we can, and ourselves. Next week, we'll see a little bit more, we'll use these things that we've looked at, the content and the character and the consequence here, to examine the fruit that Jesus gets into when he talks about, by their fruits you shall know them. We already have a pretty good idea where that's going, right? Based on what we've studied this week. For now, we must recognize that false teachers abound today just as they did in the first century. When Jesus said these words, we need to be on our guard against them, for they often pretend to be one of us in order to deceive us. As the Apostle Paul would say later on when warning the Corinthian believers against false apostles. In 2 Corinthians 11, 13, he says this, for such are false apostles deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ, that they know just what to say and do to deceive people. And no wonder, he says, that they do this, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. Not what they appear to be, but who they really are. May God grant us the wisdom and discernment to avoid such false teachers. We'll learn more how to avoid them next week. But for now we know we have to pay close attention to the content of their teaching. Does it line up with scripture? To their character, do they really live out what they're teaching? and the results of their teaching, an example in the lives of others around them. I can tell us a lot. Always comparing these things with scripture. Let's pray. Holy Father, I hope I've been able to really bring out what our Lord Jesus was meaning, what was in his mind when he said what he said here through our examination of the context in which he said it. I hope we've been able to see just how serious a warning this is, not just to the disciples then, but for us today. Oh Lord, protect us, I pray. I thank you that those of us who truly know you, we have your Holy Spirit, and we need not worry that we'll be led astray, and that one of the ways he protects us is through warnings such as these, and through teachings such as our Lord Jesus teaching. He protects us and we thank you for that. That we need not worry that we'll enter onto the broad road because we have your Holy Spirit constantly guiding and protecting us, constantly bringing home your word to our hearts. And for that we are truly grateful. But we know that there are some people who do not yet know you and who may not even realize it because they've believed false teaching perhaps in the past. And I pray, Lord, that you'll bring them to see, if there's anyone like that here today, bring them to see that they followed a false teaching, that they do need to repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to save them from their sins. Leading off any trust in their own efforts, refusing to be the hypocrites like the scribes and Pharisees were, but instead admitting they cannot ever be righteous in your eyes, that they need you to save them, that salvation is a free gift that cannot be earned, that they can be forgiven for their sins and have everlasting life and know that they're on the narrow way. I pray, Lord, today, if there's anyone here who needs to enter on that way, that he or she would trust in Jesus. For those of us who know you, help us to be ever diligent. Help us to always be willing to confront error when we should. Help us always to look to your word as our ultimate authority and not be fooled by these other competing authorities out there. We pray these things in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you once again for your kind attention. I hope it's been a blessing for you.