Beware! - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Now notice what he didn't say. Everybody who listens to good teaching has built their house on the rock. He didn't say that.

Good teaching won't do you any good at all unless you act on it. Notice he said, you hear these words of mine and then you act on it. His brother James said, you don't want to be just a hearer of the word, you have to be a doer of the word because the word can't help you if you don't do it. You see the word is no help to anyone when you don't do the word. We get ourselves in all kinds of trouble when we don't do the word. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt.

Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world. Beware of false teaching when you're teachers. Secondly, beware of false testimonies. These are people who by testimony claim that they're believers. Be careful of that he said.

I'm going to warn you about that. Notice what he said. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord one of the kingdom of heaven. Now first of all, it says Lord, Lord. Now from a Jewish point of view, that's for emphasis. Remember Jesus said verily, verily. When you say it twice, it's for emphasis. And the Jews often use the term Lord because they would never speak the word Yahweh.

Never. The Jews never spoke Yahweh in public. So they called him Adonai in the Old Testament, Lord, or Korios in the New Testament, Lord. They would call him Lord. And he said everyone who says Lord, Lord.

And it's amazing you think about it. He said not everyone who says it will enter the kingdom of heaven. I don't know. I thought that was the password. You see, you just say Lord, Lord, you're in. Jesus said no.

It doesn't make you in. That's just you talking. To use a current view of that, Jesus would say talk is cheap.

You see, there's a difference here of what they say. Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, one of the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter.

What is the will of the Father? You see, am I spiritually bankrupt? Do I mourn my sin?

Do I seek God's presence? You see, there's the beatitudes. He said yeah, the beatitudes give you the right frame of mind that there's nothing I bring to the table.

I trust you for everything and the grace of God saves us. He said yeah, you do that, you're in from that point of view. Then he says many, don't miss that word.

He didn't say some and he didn't say a few. He said many will say to me on that day. What day is that day? Judgment day. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Wait a minute again.

Notice what they said to him. Look what we've done. I prophesied in your name. I spoke for you.

Wow. I cast out demons for you. I did miracles for you. Jesus said I don't know who you are.

Wow, it's a little bit like the dreamer who does signs and wonders in Deuteronomy 13. I thought that's how you get in. Look what you did in the name of the Lord.

Jesus said no, that's not the case. How do these people do this? You see, how do they do this? Three possibilities here.

One is God allows them to do it. Well, remember what he said. When false prophets or false teachers come into your midst, they're there because I'm testing you.

I want to test you. And see, you're just like a lot of people. You say, well, if he did something like a wonder or sign, he's in.

Don't do that. Secondly, he could be empowered by Satan. You see, when you read the end times and the last of the Great Tribulation and the Antichrist, Satan doing any stuff that seems miraculous to you? I hope so. Yes.

Yes, he's doing a lot. He could be empowered by Satan. Or three, and this isn't too far a leap, he could be lying. You see, a lot of times people lie about stuff like this.

They just tell lies, even to this day. Let me illustrate this. One of the things you often hear from false teachers of the day is this. The gift of healings that Jesus had in the apostle said, Paul and Peter. It's still for us today, we have the same gift.

I have that gift. Well, that's kind of an interesting, that's quite a claim, because one of the ways that gift was validated by Jesus, Peter and Paul is they raised the dead. Now, how many dead people have you seen raised in our culture? Dead people raised.

How many? No, it's never that. What do they tell you? No, no. They've been raised. But somewhere in the upper Amazon or in the darkest part of the Congo, in a village, there was a guy raised in the day. Wow. You know what I call that?

A whopper. Because if I had the gift, I'm in the intensive care unit. I'd be here Sunday morning, but I'd be there every day of the week. See, if I have this gift and I want to validate the gospel of Jesus Christ, I'm going to be raised in the dead so everyone sees it. Jesus, Peter and Paul never did these kind of, they didn't raise the dead in private, so no one would know. They raised the dead in public so everyone would know.

You see, you can't, you've got to be careful with this. The other startling thing I think of this section of what Jesus said is, apparently at the great white throne judgment, there are going to be people in line who are going to tell them, then we do great things in your name. Just imagine the shock when he says, I don't know who you are. I don't know who you are at all.

Because you only enter the kingdom one way. You see, it's a very different kind of thing and it's a warning from him. There are testimonies that are completely false.

I never knew you. Wow. So we have two, we have false teachers and false testimonies and maybe this one most important to us. Beware of a false lifestyle or foundation. He said, you've got to be aware of this. Notice it's a conclusion of this section. Therefore, taking the idea of two gates, narrow and wide, two kinds of teachers, true and false.

You see, and he says, I want to say therefore now, let me conclude. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. Now notice what he didn't say. Everybody who listens to good teaching has built their house on the rock. He didn't say that.

Good teaching won't do you any good at all unless you act on it. Notice he said, you hear these words of mine and then you act on them. His brother James said, you don't want to be just a hearer of the word. You have to be a doer of the word because the word can't help you if you don't do it. You see, the word is no help to anyone when we don't do the word.

We get ourselves in all kinds of trouble when we don't do the word. So, he says, notice, and the rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and slammed against the house and yet it did not fall. It was founded on the rock. The word rock there is Petra. You have heard of Petra. And it doesn't mean boulder or big rock, it means bedrock. Petra means bedrock. It's built on bedrock. Then he says, everyone who hears these words of mine does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and slammed against that house and it fell and great was its fall. Wow. A very different kind of thing. He said, when you act upon these words of his, what words? The beatitudes, the narrow gate, the recognition of false teachers and false testimonies. He said, if you act upon them, and these are two groups, and when you think about it from a certain point of view of his analogy is this. They have similarities, just like people in our world do. One, they both hear the word. That's the, both people hear the word.

One group just doesn't do it. They just hear it. Two, they both build a house. And it seems to be what he's talking about, they build a very similar house, like a track home. Everybody has the kind of same kind of house. They live in the same neighborhood. They build in the same general location. In other words, the circumstances of life are very similar. And apparently the house is similar. But there's some differences as well in these groups.

One is this though. Nothing different is noticeable on the outside. You look at someone who's in and someone who's out, they look the same to you on the outside. Secondly, one acts upon Christ's word.

Beatitudes narrow gate. The other does not act on his word. He says, they go through their same system, their own system, their own belief system just like the Pharisees. And here's the greatest different.

They have two completely different foundations. Now that makes some sense to us. The scribes and Pharisees had a very complicated religious observance foundation. And if you do all the complexities to the degree we do them, you will impress God enough, you'll be in. And Jesus hated that. And the reason he hated it was he came to die because it was the only solution to our sin. One thing is true about this. We cannot save ourselves.

No human being ever will. We have to be saved. You see, that's the whole point of the Lamb of God coming into the world. We have to be saved.

We have to put our faith and trust in what he's done. That's called the grace of God and God's mercy. Notice that he then uses a metaphor and says, the wind and rain's coming. That ultimately would mean God's judgment.

And he said, one how stands and the other doesn't. 1 Thessalonians 1 10 says, Jesus who rescues us from the wrath of God. That's what he does. He rescues us. But notice how sad it is at the end.

He says, and it fell, great was its fall. What a terrible, terrible thing this is. This great sermon of Jesus Christ ends with Jesus Christ saying, you better choose. Everybody has to choose. He says, there's two ways. There's two gates. There's two kinds of teachers. There's two testimonies. There's two lifestyles, two foundations, and there's two destinations. Now you got to choose. Otherwise, he said his final words and great was its fall.

Sort of tells you how much is at stake here. Notice the response of the people. When Jesus had finished these words, the crowd were amazed at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one having authority, not as their scribes did. Jesus didn't quote anybody. A rabbi or scribe only taught by quoting old rabbis and scribes.

No one had any authority. Jesus didn't talk like that. He talked like who he was, the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God. What amazes me, though, is this.

No pun intended. It says they were amazed. Ek pleso, they were astonished at his teaching. So comprehensive, so insightful, so profound.

What authority this man has. Something is missing now. Do you see it? No conversion.

Every other time I say, and many believed in him. Not one here. Nothing. That's incredible teaching.

But I'm going to go to the broadway and the broad gate. That was like nothing I've ever heard, but I'm going with the Pharisees. No conversion at all. Just amazement.

Wow. What does that tell you about us? We're pretty hard-headed about this, aren't we?

Our pride, it gets in our way. Salvation, according to Poe in Ephesians 2, is a gift from God. He offers it.

He paid the price for it. He hands it to you and says, here's the gift. All you have to do is receive it and open it. I'm not receiving that. I don't want to do that.

It's amazing. How would not everybody want to believe that? But they don't.

They just don't. Because it's a direct attack on their pride. You see, am I proud for being a Christian? Yes. Am I proud of how I became one?

Not really. I didn't do a thing. I didn't do anything except believe Him. There's no merit in faith in the Bible, only the object of faith.

So He gets all the credit. And yet we reject. But when we think of this whole Sermon on the Mount, one thing I want to close with is this. What is your response to the whole sermon that Jesus preached?

We've been in it for eight weeks. What is your response? I think the first question you want to ask yourself is, what gate have I entered or what way am I on? Listen, I'm begging you.

Get that one down first. You see, have I gone through the turnstile of the narrow gate? I hope so. Yes. Jesus commanded me to. I'm going through. You see, that's very important.

Secondly, though, the next question will be this. Am I a discerning Christian? If you're an average Christian, you're not.

I hate to say that. Christians are not discerning. That's why false teaching is running amuck in our country. And it's getting worse every five years, ten years. One of the theories that you're starting to see emerge, which is so sad to me, is this.

In the megachurch movement of the United States, one of the things they keep doing now is constantly wanting to let you know you have to de-emphasize the Bible. You have to. People don't care to hear it. You see, they really don't. Now, by the way, if you're sitting here today and right now you're so drowsy, you're trying your best to keep your eyes open. That tells me something about you.

Now, it could tell you something about me. I get that. You know, I understand that.

But see, it's the Word of God. And they said people don't care much for that. So what we really, we give them what they want to have. Give them myriads of programs. Give them a concert.

Give them a whole bunch of emotion they can feel. That's why they'll come back to get something from you. But you can't start this thing with the Word of God taking center stage.

You just don't do that. So what's that make the people who come? Less and less discerning. Christians are not a very discerning group as a whole. And we need to be.

I mean, they had to be from the first century on and nothing has really changed with that. Am I a discerning Christian? Thirdly, is my life bearing fruit?

Jesus said a good tree bears good fruit. Does my life bear fruit? Am I growing as a Christian? Can I sense that I'm growing? Well, how do I know if I'm growing?

Okay. When the storms come. How do you handle when the storms come? I don't mean the last storm. When you're at a narrow gate, you don't have to worry about the great white throne judgment. But I mean the storms come in your life. How do you handle it?

You see, how do you do it? That's why Jesus keeps talking about this all the time. When he commands us not to worry. Peter says, be anxious for nothing. Why would, see, why?

Why shouldn't I worry? Because you're a child of God. You're a child of God.

What's that mean? That means everything that happens in my life has to come through my Father who is sovereign over all and loves me more than I can imagine. And nothing can happen in my life has then been filtered through God. So what am I worried about?

What am I anxious about? He said all things will work together for your good. Okay. Do I believe that or not believe that? You see, when the storms come, what am I filled with? Is it peace or anxiety?

Which one? See, because that's when I'm acting upon what I'm hearing. That's when I actually act upon what it is I say I believe.

And we don't do very well with this. I don't have to face anything alone. He'll never leave me nor forsake me. To quote me, the worst thing that could happen to me can happen to me.

Why? That's what he told me and I believe it. I'll be absent in the body and present with the Lord.

Once I'm present with the Lord, you couldn't beg me to come back because I was created for that and so were you. It's a far, far better place. You see, I don't need to be anxious.

The storms are not going to affect me. But see, that's my foundation. My foundation is I will act upon what it is I believe in God's Word.

And by the way, without a foundation, you're in deep, deep trouble. I mean, you saw Ida. I took pictures of Grand Isle.

How did they make out? Not so good, huh? I had seen just a couple of weeks ago, by the way, it was a newscast, and a guy said, he showed Grand Isle, and he said, you know, it's interesting that the coast of the United States is not like a lot of the Caribbean islands. And I said, what do you mean, why? He said, look at the structures on Grand Isle and how almost all of them are just gone. He said, in the Caribbean, many of the islands have no homeowners insurance. None. I mean, when a hurricane hits you, the only person you can count on paying for any of it is you.

No one else. So guess how they built their homes? Concrete, reinforced, steel pilings, concrete pilings. They built their home because I don't want to face this again. Look at Grand Isle, how we built our home.

So I put some wooden poles in the ground, a frame house around them, some aluminum siding, and it's gone. You see, because the storm did come, and they come in our life in a variety of ways. And so that makes a difference.

How do I know I'm growing? It's the way I handle the storms of life. Do I have a burden for the people on the wide way about to enter the wide gate? That's what I come away with this. I find this profoundly sad.

There is enormous amounts of people on the way, the easy way, and they're going to walk right through the wide gate. That should bother us. That should really tug at our heart.

That's what's going to happen. Isn't it interesting that we call things tragedies that are tragic, but not near what I'm talking about? I remember just seeing not long ago there was a small child, a three-year-old that got lost in the woods from their home.

How that happened, I don't know. But they got lost for a day or two. And that's heartbreaking.

A three-year-old could lose his life in the woods. They found him. And, you know, it was wonderful.

You just feel like, oh, this is great. We thought this little child. You see, I felt tremendous compassion and hurt for the child. Then I felt unspeakable joy that the child was found. By the way, that's exactly what Luke wrote when someone comes to Christ, because it's way more at stake. What if that child was saved at three?

Isn't that neat? And died at 93 and went to hell. So how wonderful was it that they were saved at three? The real tragedy isn't what happened at three. The real tragedy is what happened at the end. And great was its fall, Jesus said.

That's tragic. Eternal damnation is at stake for people. That should move us, because God has said, here's my plan, you guys. So it's our job.

It's you guys. That's my plan. We should have a burden for these people going the wide way. Last question, do I face the storms of life with confidence or fear and anxiety?

Do I face them that way? That tells you so much about whether you're a doer of the word and not just a hearer. What Jesus came to the conclusion of in this Sermon on the Mount was this. You are what you choose to be. If you want to know what your life is from the time you were born to today, it's the summation of all the choices you made in life. We make bad choices and good choices, but we always make choices. And God's into choices.

That's why he comes to the end of this all and says, OK, now choose. It's your choice. You can do what you want to do here.

And I'm not going to do it for you. So ask yourself, am I making wise choices? Not that I make them in the past. I think all of us would say, boy, I made some really bad ones. But now in the future, will I make a wise choice? And will my choice be based on what God has said? And I will believe it and put it in action.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for the Sermon on the Mount. No one had ever spoken like Jesus spoke to that original audience.

They had never heard any such thing. But we are so grateful that this inspired sermon by the Son of God is recorded and that we can, just as the original audience, hear the words of Jesus Christ our Lord. He pulls no punches.

He's as straightforward as could be. But what's at stake are the souls of men and women and boys and girls. And he concludes it by saying, you make the choice.

Father, I pray that we take that to heart. And in light of all of these other things, we make choices. We choose the narrow gate. We choose to listen to people who truly teach the word of God and not false teachers. We choose to be discerning when it comes to hearing a testimony. We choose, Father, to build our house on the foundation of the word of Jesus Christ, the word of God. And we choose, Father, to live forever with our good and your glory in mind. We thank you for this profoundly great sermon.

In Jesus' name, Amen. And you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.