Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them, MAT 7:15-20.

Our text is a very solemn message, especially when we weigh it in today's economy of grace. When we see the fruits of today's ministries and weakness of the human heart, there is such a responsibility to bring forth the gospel. This text should cause a constant inquiry in our own soul, "Lord, are we bringing forth the message of `Thus saith the Lord.'?"

Our hearts must be constantly jarred with the solemnity of what we see in JER 23:1, "Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD." How do they scatter and destroy them? See the answer in V:10-11, "For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD."

Our text says, "Ye shall know them by their fruits." What are the fruits we see of these pastors that the Lord says are scattering the flock? When we analyze a man's service to the Lord, we must examine the fruits of their pastorage. It is the fruits of their ministry that identifies them. Are their followers adulators, slanderous, gossipers, back biters and profane, living without the true fear of God?

Let's remember the context in which our message lays. Jesus has just brought forth the searching, questioning doctrines that lay in the verses just before this one. He has dealt with the beam in our eye and the mote in our brother's eye. Is there a judgmental spirit in the flock coming against our brother with bitterness and hatred? In MAT 7:8-12 the Lord is pointing out what is needful for self-examination. We must be constantly at the throne of grace seeking to know the will of God. We must knock, seek, and search that we may find. We must seek the Spirit of Christ that comes with the golden rule. "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets," MAT 7:12.

The gospel must be centered on the law of love, loving God above all and our neighbour as ourselves so we are empty of self. Christ becomes our all in all. Then we must love our neighbour as ourselves. When we pass judgment upon our neighbour, we must pass the very judgment we want God to pass upon us.

The next part of Jesus' message is to beware of false prophets. He is warning us of this very thing as we have just read in JER 23. Our text must be held in context with His teachings of the spirit of the law. He warns against these counterfeit apostles, prophets, priests, and ministers who bring forth a compromised version of the truth, which is an echo of Satan's truth. Jesus is warning us of the very thing we just read in JER 23. He is warning us against a prophet, priest, or minister who brings forth a compromised gospel; it is an echo of Satan's gospel.

God's Word warns us against Satan's ministers who go forth as ministers of righteousness. Sometimes we are too generous; we want to look at everybody who claims to be a minister as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus does not have any minister who serves both Him and Satan. We must be able to decipher which is which. They will come in sheep's clothing posing as one of the flock of Christ. Inwardly they are ravening wolves. How can we know them? We can tell by their fruit. What do we see as the fruit of their ministry? What do we see within the congregation they are leading?

2CO 11:13-15 says, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. [`They come in sheep's clothing.'] And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."

What does they shall "be transformed as the ministers of righteousness," mean? Righteousness refers to our actions under the second table of the law of love. The ministers of righteousness teach the spirit of the law; they teach the Spirit of Christ.

These "...false apostles, deceitful workers [who are], transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ," teach so much love, and yet, "He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" ISA 44:20.

Their love is not centered in loving God above all, honoring God in holy reverence for the authority of His Word, but they barter God's Word for human reasoning to be men-pleasers. They are not teaching the love of Christ or the spirit of the law. They are not teaching a heart religion. That is the difference. They may groom tares to make them look like wheat; they might give all the legalistic do's and don'ts to appear as ministers of righteousness, but they have never taught the true spirit of the law.

Jesus teachings of the spirit of the law in the Sermon on the Mount are so vital to true Godliness. The golden rule is used to weigh and judge everything of our neighbour; it is based on how we would want him to judge us in that very thing. That is missing in the ministry of those ministers of Satan whom he has "...transformed as the ministers of righteousness." Their end will be according to their works, not according to their profession.

Notice again in JER 23:11, "For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD." What does that mean? These false apostles pervert the meaning of the Word of God, saying we can't be judgmental. They compromise the Word of God and allow sin in the church. JER 23:10 says, "For the land is full of adulterers [Their flock is living in spiritual adultery, serving the lust of the flesh instead of serving the spirit of the law of love.]; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right." They are not teaching the authority of God's Word according to the spirit of the law.

Men-pleasers today preach much about a pardon, but they never mention repentance. Everyone wants to go to heaven to escape hell, but they continue to walk in the ways of the world. They want the blood of Christ to gain a pardon, seizing upon the death of the Son to gain the inheritance, but there is no love for the authority of Christ and His sayings; they have not learned to love God above all. They claim a pardon, but they have no desire to know His way; there is no fruit of repentance. He is still their enemy. "But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance." MAT 21:38.

We must be so careful. These false prophets are not preaching repentance, sanctification, nor the work of regeneration of the spirit. They do not teach the new man of the heart. Therefore, Jesus says you will know them by their fruits; there will be no fruit of repentance from their preaching.

A general characteristic of the false prophets is that they pervert Jesus' teaching of the spirit of the law, strengthening evildoers and causing men to walk in vanity. They preach a gospel of salvation which is no more than a pardon with an assurance of going to heaven for accepting Jesus while they are yet carnal.

The Apostle Paul was faithful to their souls; he told them, "For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" 1CO 3:3. The word carnal comes from the Greek word "sarkikos" which means "pertaining to the flesh, i.e., unregenerate."

These false prophets teach that you can be a carnal Christian, i.e., an unregenerate Christian! Watch this in JER 23:14-16, "I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah." Beware of false prophets; it is so pleasing to the flesh to go to a church where there are no restraints and no call for repentance! To teach do's and don'ts in a legalistic way calls for a legalistic repentance, but we must deal with the heart and the spirit of the law.

Verse 15 continues, "Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. [The profanity is coming from the leadership of the church because they have allowed permissiveness and have not brought forth the words of Christ with the spirit of the law as He taught them.] Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain [`to be vain in act, word, and expectation, especially to lead astray' as it is in the original]: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD."

They don't teach the spirit of the law or the love for God's commandments. As David says in PSA 119:47, "And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved." They don't teach a holy reverence for God and His will. Teaching the desire of the heart to do what is pleasing to the Lord is missing. They don't teach the work of regeneration where the conviction of sin brings one to repentance, because repentance is not being taught. As a result, there is no turning away from sin.

Our text says, "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" How do you tell? Once a man said to me, "You are talking about preaching the gospel. Would you tell me your calling and conversion?"

I said, "NO! that is absolutely not the basis upon which you can judge whether or not I have a calling to preach the gospel." Then he wanted to know what basis I used. I gave it to him from MAT 7:15-23 which tells us how to examine a pastor's fruit. What is the fruit of his work? Does he cause people to turn from sin? Is he teaching the spirit of the law and repentance? Is he preaching the love of God above all and the loving one's neighbour as himself? In other words, is he preaching the gospel as Jesus preached it? That is how we tell the genuine prophets from the false prophets.

The Lord also speaks of false prophets in JER 23:21, "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." But then in the next verse He tells us of the credentials of those whom He has sent. "But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings," JER 23:22.

Our text says, "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" You will know them by the fruits of their work! How do we judge if a man has a calling to preach? He causes men to hear God's Words and turn from their evil ways.

The false prophets come forth in sheep's clothing, i.e., they speak peace to those who despise the Lord's Word! They preach that everything is love and peace, but they don't bring forth, "Thus saith the LORD." "They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you," JER 23:17.

False prophets speak peace to those who have never learned self- humiliation or to mourn over sin. They speak peace to those who have never learned to hate sin, to those who love and cherish sin while they still live in it. "They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace." Do you see the fruit? Do you see what we must examine in the ministry to find out if they are false prophets. Are they speaking that which is displeasing to the Lord or are they preaching that which is God honoring?

Our text says in MAT 7:17, "Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." We are to beware of false prophets. How do we tell who they are? The answer to these questions point the way. Are they faithful to the Word? Are they menpleasers who compromise the Word for the smile of the people? Do they try to please the crowd to get a large attendance, or are they preaching, "Thus saith the Lord."

Jesus preceded this warning to beware of false prophets with the climax of His Sermon on the Mount, setting forth the difficulties that attend the observance of the golden rule. Strait is the gate, and the word strait means difficult to stand. When we stand up for the Word of God, we get the sneers and jeers of the crowd. Then the numbers will diminish; the crowd will become smaller. What is the reaction? Do we compromise the Word in order to keep the head count up or do we stand up for what is right?

The answer is found in MAT 7:13-14, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Ministers who want large numbers and big followings often begin to compromise just a bit here and there to achieve this goal. Soon they are preaching the covetousness which is in their heart. They are coveting things which the Lord does not have in His plan; they are filling the pews with tares, not wheat. They are false prophets. Many pastors will go in the wide gate, but few will find the strait gate.

We are to try the spirits of the prophets [or ministers] whether or not they teach that Spirit of Christ: a spirit of submission to God's will. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world," 1JO 4:1. We are looking for the Spirit of Christ and the spirit of submission to the will of God. Our will must be dissolved in the will of God. We must examine a pastor's call by his faithfulness to God's Word. Does he faithfully teach the Word?

The preceding verses show how the spirits are to be tried and whether or not there is a spirit of submission to God's holy will. 1JO 3:22-24 says, "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. [We are to try the spirits to see if they teach the Word of God. Are they teaching us to seek to do His will?] And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us."

Do you see the two tables of the law taught? We should believe on the "name," i.e., the authority which He has given His Son, and love one another which is the first and highest commandment of the Son, cf., JOH 15:12-14. The first table of the law is that we should love Christ, God, above all, and the second table is loving our neighbour as ourselves.

We know we have the Spirit of Christ when we are in submission to the holy will of God and love our neighbour as ourselves. Do we love God? Do we love our neighbour? Do we live by the golden rule? That is how we know if we have the Spirit.

The characteristics of those who have the Spirit of God are:

a) A holy reverence for God and His holy will;

b) Self-abasement under a sense of sin; we see how far we come short; repentance is the key.

c) A reliance upon the blood of Christ for justification before the courts of heaven; we have nothing upon which we can claim any merit.

d) A conformity to the image of Christ through the work of sanctification of the Spirit which results in a holy walk in the true spirit of the law of love.

Do we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us? Have we been renewed in the Spirit of our mind? cf., EPH 4:22-32. These characteristics are the evidence that we have the true work of sanctification and regeneration of the Holy Spirit. It is characterized by the new man which is created in us after righteousness and true holiness. If we do not have this, we do not have the Spirit of Christ. The fruits of the Spirit are found in GAL 5:22-24, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."

Jesus warns us in our text to "Beware of false prophets," i.e., be on guard against those who do not teach Godliness, the Spirit of the law, nor a tender heart before the Lord. Timothy taught this lesson in 1TI 6:3-6. "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain."

A person may hold a doctorate of divinity from a prestigious seminary and know nothing about the true nature of Christ or salvation. He may have a badge from a major school so he is considered by men to be an authority, but he may know nothing of the Spirit of Christ if he is not teaching the Word of God. He may be teaching what lays in his own heart. That is being proud and knowing nothing, "...doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth," which comes from compromising the Word of God.

False prophets can preach the Word, which says in black and white exactly what it means, and add one small word: but! That one word but is all it takes to gainsay the Word of God by adding a philosophy of human reasoning or doctrines taught in the seminary. Soon they are teaching what they believe instead of the Word of God. So often in the church service a passage of Scripture is read, then the preaching goes on and on, but it has never unfolded the meaning of the Scripture that was chosen as the text. They have in effect stood there for the hour telling you what they believe without any semblance of unfolding "Thus saith the LORD." We must beware of this for "...supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself."

"...But godliness with contentment is great gain." Godliness is adherence to the first table of the law, i.e., our will is dissolved in the will of God which means that we love God and our whole desire is centered in what would be pleasing to the Lord. That is Godliness with contentment; we are not lusting after this or that including honor and pride and the things of the world. "...But godliness with contentment is great gain." That must be the center of a pastor's ministry.

Jesus warns us against false prophets; He identifies their character; it appears white as wool, ISA 1:18, it is well calculated to deceive by using "sheep's clothing," they are pretending to be one of the flock of Christ. They come as part of the flock with their words so well selected that they can slip their philosophy into their message and totally forsake the Word of God. They do not separate the clean from the unclean.

Look what we see in EZE 22:25-26, "There is a conspiracy of her prophets [carefully calculated to please men with the appearance of having the Word of God. They come in sheep's clothing!] in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them."

As an example of not separating the clean from the unclean and the holy from the profane, consider the issue of homosexuality. False prophets tell us not to be judgmental; we are all Christians, and after all God created homosexuals. It is up to the individual; it is their decision, and we must not judge them. Then homosexuals are accepted into the ministry. God's Word says that homosexuality is a curse and a judgment that has been placed upon those who worship the creature more than the Creator, ROM 1:25-26. The end thereof is death, yet there are those who will accept them as dear brothers in Christ. They do not separate the clean from the unclean. They are without any repentance; they continue in sin! They make no difference between the holy and the profane. They can walk up the aisle and proclaim to all that they have accepted Christ, believe they are eternally secure, and yet they have not turned from their sin. These false prophets make no separation between the clean and the unclean.

Their characters are as "ravening wolves," and we don't belong among them. They come in "sheep's clothing" with a pretense of a loving spirit; so much love they can't or won't identify a sin. They will not preach against sin because it is offensive to some. EZE 22:27-28 says, "Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. [They are hirelings; they preach for an occupation] And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken." Understand the motives; they want the multitude so their paycheck will be fattened. They are in it as an occupation; their words are for hire. If their hearts were honest, they would know that what they preach is deceiving souls.

These "ravening wolves" tell everyone there are many mansions in our Father's house. They would conduct a funeral service for a person who never entered a church, who cursed, swore, and blasphemed God until the moment he died; they will compare him with the apostles of Jesus Christ and place him in the highest heaven. Why? That is what pleases the mourners. They can say the person was a little crusted on the outside, but he was good on the inside; a man who died with blasphemy of God's name on his lips!

Such ministers are ravening wolves because they know, according to the Word of God, that the person who lives and dies in such sin is not in heaven. They seek dishonest gain: popularity and respect of their followers, but the result is to harden the people in sin.

These false prophets work very deceitfully; through their great professions, they creep in unawares. Jesus said, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Let's examine JUDE, Verse 4, "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." We are told by God to love one another, but the word love has been more perverted in today's society than any other word in the human vocabulary. The word love is used to generate lasciviousness.

Jesus warns us, "Beware," because He knows the corrupt nature of the human heart. The word beware means we are not to get caught in it or carried away with it. Our hearts have a natural tendency to want to be where the crowd is. We want a social religion and lots of friends, but we are to beware and not be caught in this.

JER 5:31 says, "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?" That is the Lord's caution in our text, "beware! Where is your heart? Are you caught up in this? Is your soul being devoured by these ravening wolves?

What a sad commentary on fallen human nature we find in JOH 8:43- 45, "Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. [His Word is not pleasing to you.] Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not." They loved to have it so! They don't want the truth; they don't want sin identified according to the Word. If you identify a sin in the church, you will be labeled a troublemaker or a church breaker; they will put you out. They don't want their sin identified; they want a smooth course within their church.

Had Jesus spoken lies or half truths, the multitude would have heard Him gladly. Truth is condemnation to those who love darkness rather than light. You and I must identify false prophets and ministers; Jesus tells us to beware and be on our guard.

The context of our text warns us that when we have entered into the "strait" gate, where it is difficult to stand up to that golden rule, Satan and his false apostles will be standing ready with a compromising spirit with his doctrine of the carnal, i.e., unregenerate, Christian. When a person identifies a wrong attitude or spirit, old Satan comes in with a compromise. Those who are faithful to the Word of God are labeled as one who is judgmental and as having a wrong spirit. If one identifies a sin in a brother, he is condemned as judging a brother. That person had better be quiet because it is wrong to cause a ruckus in the church. Satan will be ready to soothe the conscience with carnal Christian doctrine.

Therefore, Jesus admonishes us; we cannot stand in our own strength or in our own righteousness. This is why He preceded these teachings with our need to pray for the Spirit of Christ as we see in Luke's counterpart. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" LUK 11:13. Those who truly hunger and desire to enter the strait gate and walk in the narrow way must ask for the Spirit of Christ, and He will give it. We can see the evil in our own heart and that we are not able in our own strength to do His will. Jesus is teaching us our need for grace and that we are not able to walk in His ways without relying on His good gift of the Holy Spirit within our hearts to know and do His will.

The revealed will of God is what Jesus proclaimed in MAR 8:34-35, "And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." On that basis we must preach the gospel to every person.

Satan cares nothing about what we believe as long as he can cause us to stray from the truth and keep us from walking in the narrow way. He couldn't care less if we are in the barrow pit on the right side of the road or in the ditch on the left side. MAT 15:14 says, "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."

Satan and his apostles use the truth out of context to make a lie and a tremendous heresy is the result. Satan loves to use one piece of truth, taken out of context, to make a lie; he cares nothing of what we believe as long as he can get us off the narrow way.

Satan and his ministers pervert Jesus' teaching of the spirit of the law by either holding to salvation by merit in good works or by a salvation without good works. One is as heinous as the other; both will put a person on the broad road.

It is like being in the barrow pit rather than on the narrow road. Satan's gimmick is to push people to one side by believing they can merit salvation by good works. On the other side of this principle Satan teaches salvation without good works, teaching that the law has been abolished and anyone who comes down on, or identifies sin is called legalistic. Salvation merited by works as well as salvation without works are equally abominable to God, cf., JAM 2:12-26.

"What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works," JAM 2:14-18.

What relationship do good works have to the saving of the soul? Where is the truth in this area? Good works are to be understood as those right thoughts of the heart and right actions we perform in obedience to God's holy will. In other words, that is the fruit of grace. It is not the purchase of grace; it is the evidence of grace. It is Godly fear, a holy reverence for His will. It is love that is the fountain of every action. The source of that fountain is that we love God above all.

All good works must of necessity proceed from Godly principles which have God's glory in view as their object. When we obey the Word of God, it must be motivated by love for God with a desire to do that which is for His glory. We cannot act out of a legalistic spirit or because we want to merit something. Our actions are the fruit of the love which has been implanted in our soul.

Salvation is clearly defined in Scripture. It is not only the work of regeneration which is the beginning of salvation in our experience, but it includes sanctification as well as the actual entrance of the soul into heaven. What are we talking about when we speak of salvation? We are talking about being delivered from the power and the pollution of sin. We are also talking about being made "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light," COL 1:12. It is to be made "meet or fit in character" as it is in the original, through the process of sanctification. MAT 1:21 says, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." What is salvation? It is to be saved from our sins, not in our sins.

God includes His chastening to make us "...meet [fit in character], to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." It is through this process of cleansing and sanctification that salvation is wrought in the soul. HEB 12:11- 14 says, "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. [We will see the peaceable fruits of righteousness, the spirit of submission and contrition and love to do the will of God.] Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Do you see the two tables of the law in those verses? Until we know what it is to love God, His law, His will, and until we understand holiness, following peace with all men under the second table of the law, no man shall see the Lord.

Those two commandments are interwoven throughout the entire gospel. The love of our neighbour, the golden rule, is interwoven with holiness, the first table of the law. The desire to do that which is pleasing to the Lord must be the true motive of the heart.

Salvation is accompanied by true gospel repentance, i.e., a Godly sorrow over sin as we see in 2CO 7:10, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." True repentance is a sorrow and remorse over sin, over having offended God. We must get past the notion that repentance only includes a sorrow over sin because of the consequences. That is a legal repentance which seldom results in an amendment of life. True gospel repentance is a remorse over sin itself, over having offended such a loving God.

Salvation includes unconditional surrender to Christ as King for all those "that labour and are heavy laden." Salvation is being delivered from the yoke of Satan and sin, coming into the service of Christ, both now and unto all eternity. One must delight and desire to do His will; it is to be brought into oneness with the character and image of Christ. It is the same as found in PSA 40:8, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."

MAT 11:29-30 says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Salvation is to be delivered from the servitude of Satan and sin and come under the yoke of Christ, under His kingship and lordship and rule. So many want to accept Christ as Saviour, and have nothing to do with Him as King; they will not surrender their will into the will of God.

If we are to join our lovely Saviour in His glory on high, we must follow Him through the valley of humiliation; we must follow His footsteps. HEB 13:12-14 says, "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come."

PHI 2:8 says, "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Do you see what it takes to become reconciled unto God? We must humble ourselves and become obedient. He was obedient unto death; we must become obedient unto death of self, of the things of this world, of sin, even the death of the cross. If we do not take up our cross and follow Him, we are not walking in His footsteps and will not live with Him in glory.

We must not think that the servant is better than his Lord. We read in 1PE 2:21, "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." To follow in the footsteps of Christ, we must humble ourselves and be obedient, even to the death of self and everything that pleases the flesh. His will must become our will; we cannot have a will outside His will. The old man of sin is crucified as we walk in the footsteps of the cross.

As Jesus comes to the conclusion of His Sermon on the Mount, He sets before us the danger of the broad-road church and the false prophets who lead their multitude in the way of destruction. Then He defines the connection between good works and salvation. It is not by merit, but as the fruit of grace, that we enter His kingdom. MAT 7:21 says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." It is the connection between good works and salvation that the Lord implicitly makes. There is no salvation outside of good works, but neither is there salvation by any merit in good works. Doing His will, good works, is the fruit of salvation.

Satan just loves over-reaction, and we must be so alert to see how he uses it. The Bible says, and says it clearly, there is no salvation by works. Satan would have you leap over the highway into the ditch on the other side by saying there is salvation without works. There is no salvation without works as Jesus says in MAT 7:21. Salvation is for "...he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

Is there a connection between salvation and good works? Oh yes, yes! Until we learn to understand what it is to love God, and what that love means, we will not understand salvation. The first result from a love of God is a holy reverence for His will. The Psalmist said, "Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments," PSA 112:1.

Man is not blessed because he kept the law to merit salvation. Salvation is being reconciled with God; it is coming to the point where our will is dissolved in the will of God. We must understand it is "not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord [who] shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;" but the person who "...doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Can we disconnect good works from salvation? No, because the Lord Jesus implicitly ties the two together.

We must watch for false prophets and the deceit of Satan that comes forth in sheep's clothing while in fact they are ravening wolves. They separate your soul from Christ. We will know them by their fruits. What is the fruit of the church and its congregation? Is their minister truly a called minister of God? Does he cause the congregation to stand in God's council and turn from sin to walk in the footsteps of Jesus? If the answer is, "Yes," he has been sent by the Lord. Amen.

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