Three Non-Politically Correct Warnings, Part 2

Today from Chuck Swindoll, a warning from Jesus. Popular authors and philosophers often claim that any religious pursuit, as long as the believer is truly sincere, will ultimately lead to God. So how does that square with the exclusive sounding claims of Jesus?

Remember? Jesus said, Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll is teaching from Matthew chapter seven, where we find this shocking statement. It was included in a trilogy of surprising claims from Jesus.

Chuck titled today's message, Three Non-Politically Correct Warnings. May it be as if Jesus were speaking among us today, and we were sitting on that hill, to listen to his words and to see his face, gestures, the inflections of his voice, the tone, the urgency, the pauses. Speak, Lord, in the stillness, as we wait on thee. Teach our hearts to listen with expectancy. We have expressed our trust in you, our confidence in you, by acknowledging that you are the immortal, invisible God, only wise, enlightened, accessible, hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the ancient of days, almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

Your unresting and unhasting and silent as light. Please forgive us, our Father, for filling every waking moment with words and noise and activities, pausing to learn the true value of so little. Show us the fresh and anew that your word is ever relevant, that when you speak, it has a way of eclipsing all other counsel and silencing all other voices. Teach us, our Father, in our growing up days to find greater and more comfortable feelings in your presence.

Thank you that you never came to shame us or to assault us with a club or a sword. To deliver us, to rescue us. Remind us of your mercy, the compassion that is new every morning, that your faithfulness is great. We stand on tiptoe today, our Father, as we anticipate what you will teach us. Find in us hearts that are willing to hear and wills that are willing to obey. Deliver us from just going through empty motions, trafficking in unlived truth. Show us the value of allowing what you have written in this book to find lodging within us and to take root so that we might bear fruit that endures. Thank you for our country.

We pause to thank you for those women and men in uniform and many of them out of uniform who fight for our freedom, who have known the horrors of war and have stood in the gap protecting us, loving this land of the free. Give guidance, we pray, to those who make decisions in rooms without windows, in secret places where we will never go. May wisdom guide those decisions. May they be guarded from foolishness and selfishness and shortsightedness. Finally, Lord, we give you thanks for our occupations, the privilege of earning a living from these wages we give today with gratitude. Remind us in the giving, Father, that there is no amount we could give that could in any way impress you. So may our giving be an overflow of praise, a refreshing reminder to us of your grace that has provided for us such a way that we have the ability to give. We do give gratefully, generously, and joyfully. In the name of our shepherd who watches over the sheep, even Jesus, we pray and we give. And everyone said, amen. You're listening to Insight for Living.

To study the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. And now the message from Chuck titled, Three Non-Politically Correct Warnings. All through the eons of the past, all through the eras of the Old Testament, all the way through the in between the Testament era, all the way to when he came and then when he grew up and became a man until finally he had his moment and he sat down to deliver this immortal message. What it must have been like. Wouldn't you have loved to have heard his voice?

Wouldn't it have been great to know what his voice sounded like? How he would pause and look at different individuals and maybe point to one or another. It's like jaw dropping relevant when you read it.

Isn't it amazing? First century stuff still linking up with 21st century people. It's not a thing we can draw from when we make tough decisions or deal with things like sickness or disappointment or criticism or facing the reality of death. It's all here in this great sermon. I'm going to teach you a new way of thinking about his preaching. What he did was incarnational communication. incarnational communication. That's what makes the live message so memorable. We can hear something recorded, but it's not the same as seeing and hearing it live. This is what Kent Edwards writes in his book Deep Preaching.

Listen to his words. No other form of communication is as effective as a preacher personally speaking the Word of God. This is a bold statement.

Is it true? After all, books speak their messages longer than flesh and blood preachers can. DVDs never get too tired to preach in multiple worship services and multiple locations.

And radio signals can penetrate parts of the world where you and I cannot even get a visa. Liturgical worship can be breathtakingly significant. What can a local preacher do that a high definition video podcast on an iPhone can do or cannot do even when it's equipped with the latest software? Well, preaching is incarnational. Preaching is the killer app.

I like that line. Preaching is the killer app because it is, here again, incarnational communication. The very best way to communicate a message is to do so in person. Live personal communication is the way God chose to express himself. The God who can do anything chose to communicate incarnationally.

He goes on. My response to those who question the value of incarnational communication is to ask, why didn't Jesus come to earth for just a long weekend? The only reason for Jesus coming to become human was to die on a cross. Why didn't he just come to this dusty planet for a four-day weekend? That would have given him plenty of time for dying on the cross, rising on the third day.

The sacrificial atonement on the cross could have been satisfied in short order. So why did Jesus share the planet with us for 33 years? What was his purpose for staying so long? Was he bored of heaven? Did he enjoy the stresses and strains of peasant life in the first century?

Hardly. When God wanted to express himself most clearly, he incarnated. He came in person. Jesus, the image of the invisible God, came in the flesh in order to show us the invisible God. I'll tell you, if we could have heard him preach this message, we would have never forgotten it.

No one could deliver it as he delivered it. So let's get a dose of what he said and let the application speak for itself. I see three paired alternatives in this part, ultimately four when you get to the house that's built on sand or rock. But let's take the first three. We've got a gate that's narrow or a gate that's wide.

Paired alternatives, one or the other. So take off your people pleasing cap. Put on your thinking cap and let the words mean what they say. Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And there are many who enter through it, for the gate is small or and he says the gate is narrow that leads to life. And there are few who find it.

You know what? I take it literally. There will always be more unbelievers than believers. There will always be more non-Christians than Christians.

There will always be less who think of the narrow way and far more who take the broad way. He says it. Wide is the gate and there are many who enter through it. Is that where you are? I can't tell by looking. I may be able to tell if I listen long enough to what you're saying but just for a moment you examine your own gate.

Is that where you are? Narrow or wide? Think, why do you think God gave you a mind? And along comes Jesus who says the gate is narrow and the way leads to life eternal and the gate is broad and leads to a path that most take that leads to destruction. Remember Proverbs 14, 12. There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof are the ways of death wrote Solomon the Wise.

It seems right but it's death. Makes you think, doesn't it? I read a cute story of a mom and pop business that occupied a little piece of land and they ran what was then called a general store. They handled all kinds of things.

Everything from cosmetics to groceries to a little bit of drugs and on the other hand they did some hardware. It was a little general store and they were approached by a massive couple of three organizations who said we're getting ready to move in. This area is going to be growing. We want to be ready for it so you need to know there's going to be a huge Walmart here and there's going to be a massive Home Depot there. There's going to be a big Walgreens over here or whatever the store.

It's going to be all around. So we want to buy your land. Nope, not for sale.

Stop and think what you're going to lose. You're going to be swallowed up by all these big stores. You are a little store down here.

Nope, not selling. Little time passed and mom and pop got together and they decided the best way to spend their money was to build a big sign. Big buildings had been built and here they were squatted down in the middle of it. They built a big sign that said main entrance here.

Pretty clever, huh? But Jesus says only entrance here. The only entrance to life eternal.

Jesus, the one who is the most compassionate, gracious, caring of all who have ever lived. The true shepherd said that. How exclusive.

How narrow. He also said I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but through me. This is not what most teach today. I'm not here to pick at any other denomination or church or religion. I'm just saying you will rarely hear this message preached. It isn't that well received because after all, look at the times in which we live.

Is anything really wrong or that right? Who teaches like that? Well, you're not going to like the answer just as you don't like the narrow way because of what Jesus says in verses 15 down through 20. Here he talks about false prophets.

These are the ones who promote wide gates. And he says to begin with beware. So before you rush on to read about false prophets, get the warning. Watch out. It's like you teach your little children when they're going to be out, you're not going to be with them. You say beware.

You teach them the word predator. And you take time to explain that there are some who are hoping to take you and kidnap you and hurt you. Beware. Pay attention.

Don't be taken in because the person is kind and offers you something that seems delicious or attractive. Beware. So I say to you, quoting Jesus, beware.

Of what? Beware of false prophets. Please observe they come as counterfeits. They come to you in sheep's clothing, clothing. Not a sheep's heart, but sheep's clothing. Inwardly they are ravenous wolves. What's the sheep's clothing? Courtesy, kindness, capability, communication skills, charm, attractiveness, an appealing approach, love, acceptance.

All the things that draw you in, of course. Counterfeit is like that. You don't pass a counterfeit $20 bill that's shaped like a triangle colored yellow, has your wife's picture on it. That's not counterfeit. Nobody takes that.

You take one that looks exactly like a $20 bill and you'd get that through if you're real, real good at it. Wolves are really good at looking like sheep. And I need to warn you, they are more in number than good shepherds. They're everywhere.

Beware. They are ravenous wolves. All that goodness, all that beauty, all that attractiveness, all that comfort is just fleece deep. So you've got to look further. You will know them by their fruits.

Now we're looking at more than fleece. He says grapes not gather from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, are they? Uses a humorous illustration to make it ludicrous so that you won't forget. You get grapes from grape vines. You get figs from fig trees. So every good tree bears good fruit and bad trees bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, vice versa. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then you will know them by their fruits. So we must become good fruit inspectors. Open your eyes.

Clear out your ears. Pay attention. How do I know this and say it with such dogmatism? Because I once followed a false teacher.

That's how. Had all of the appealing things that attracted a young mind, everything but really the truth, even though he could use both Hebrew and Greek in his teaching. And I had to realize ultimately what's missing is a godly lifestyle that revealed bad fruit. Jesus says it.

You will know them by their fruits. So look. Listen. Does this teacher have a high view of the scriptures? Or does he compromise here and there choosing this and that? Does this teacher exalt Christ above all others, including herself or himself?

If not, you've got a false teacher on your hands. Christ is exalted above all. Above all, he's the head of the church.

His word is the final word. Does the teacher encourage followers to give their devotion to the Lord Jesus or to himself? Does the teacher promote a godly lifestyle or kind of you're on your own here? How about promoting unity among other believers? Interesting. When you follow a false teacher, you become more and more isolated and you want less and less to do with the general run of the mill believers because they don't have the truth like you're getting it.

You pick up your own nomenclature, your own inside scoop. Is my walk with Christ getting deeper or not? If it's not, I'm in the wrong group. Am I enjoying a closer harmony with fellow believers? If not, I need to find another teacher. Am I growing in both grace and knowledge rather than just knowledge? Because false teachers love to emphasize knowledge, which alone puffs up.

Very exclusive. Well, there's much more teaching coming from Chuck Swindoll, founded on this passage in Matthew chapter 7. Chuck titled his message, Three Non-Politically Correct Warnings. And to learn more about this ministry, please visit us online at insightworld.org. Let me remind you, Chuck wrote a book about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. It's called Simple Faith.

And whether you're a serious student of the Bible or you're just beginning to learn what it means to follow Jesus, we believe this 14-chapter book will help you. To purchase a copy of Simple Faith, go to insight.org slash offer. Or call us.

If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. These daily programs are made possible because people like you give voluntary gifts. And through your support, people all over our country and even around the world are learning to enter through the narrow gate. It was encouraging to read a recent comment from a listener in Atlanta who told us this story.

He said, I come from a violent alcoholic home with all the dysfunctions that go with that lifestyle, from poverty, sexual abuse, and criminal activity. Gratefully, I got saved and was immediately discipled by men in my church. Plus, Chuck Swindoll's insight, caring approach, and football coach-like admonitions were a huge part of redeeming my life. I was headed in the wrong direction before following Jesus.

But thanks to servants like Dr. Swindoll, I changed my family tree for at least this generation and the next. Thank you for all you've done for millions around the world. Well, such an encouraging note from one of your co-listeners. And if you're among those who financially support Insight for Living, you can see your investment has truly made a difference. To give your next donation right now, just give us a phone call.

If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. Or you can easily give a gift by using our mobile app or by going online to insight.org. Thank you for generously supporting the nonprofit ministry of Insight for Living. You've heard him teach about the Holy Land, using word pictures to make us feel like we're actually strolling through the Old City. Learning about Jerusalem is fascinating for sure, but seeing the land of Israel with your own eyes is life-changing.

In fact, it's absolutely magnificent. And now you can see Israel with Chuck Swindoll and the gracious hosts and experts assembled by Insight for Living Ministries. Join us on an unforgettable 12-day tour, March 6th through 17th, 2022. At special sites along the way, I will teach from God's Word, we'll worship at the Mount of Beatitudes, and share the Lord's Table at the Garden Tomb. In fact, we'll sail the Sea of Galilee together, and we'll visit places where Jesus walked and taught. To learn more, call 1-888-447-0444. Just imagine walking along those sacred sites and seeing the Bible come to life before your very eyes. Mark your calendar for March 6th through 17th, 2022, and make your reservation by calling 1-888-447-0444, or go to insight.org slash events. Insight for Living Ministries Tour to Israel is paid for and made possible by only those who choose to attend. I'm Dave Spiker inviting you to join us again Tuesday when Chuck Swindoll describes three non-politically correct warnings right here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, three non-politically correct warnings, was copyrighted in 2015 and 2021, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.