Matthew 7:12

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Deuteronomy 4:39
• Hymn — Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah (#57)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Responsive Reading — Psalm 15
• Hymn — How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place (#469)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — He Hideth My Soul (#600)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: The Two Ways — Difficulty, Voice, and Fruit

Scripture: Matthew 7:13-20

I. The Difficulty of the Two Ways

A. The way to destruction is easy — wide, spacious, with many entrances (Matthew 7:13)

B. The way to life is hard — narrow, pressed in on, with constant opposition (Matthew 7:14)

1. The word for "easy" (broad/spacious) contrasts with the word for "hard" (pressed in, crowded)
2. The world constantly presses in like a vice grip, offering many alternative voices and doors
3. The old sin nature adds an internal voice pulling toward the broad way
4. The yoke of Christ (Matthew 11:29-30) is pleasant and kind — a different word than the "easy" of destruction

C. The hard way is great precisely because it leads to life

1. Christ endured the cross for the glory on the other side (Hebrews 12)
2. The bloodied and weary who pressed on to the one door are those who hear "Well done, good and faithful servant"
3. The Christian life carries no guarantee of ease, but the difficulty is what makes it great

II. The Voice of the Two Ways

A. False prophets are the mouthpieces of destruction, disguising themselves as sheep (Matthew 7:15)

1. They dress as one of us — feigning humility, empathy, and tenderness — to win trust, then the ear, then the soul
2. Their goal is not merely companionship but destruction — sending people to hell

B. We recognize false prophets by their fruit — a patient and discerning process (Matthew 7:16)

1. Thorn bushes bear dark berries resembling grapes from a distance — deception requires proximity and time to detect
2. In the ancient Near East, some fruit trees took 5–15 years to bear fruit — fruit-bearing is a long process
3. Paul warns against placing recent converts in leadership (1 Timothy 3:6) — be watchful and patient

C. Scripture reveals common marks of false teachers

1. They are flatterers — they say peace when there is no peace (Jeremiah 8:11)
2. True prophets confront sin and wake people up; false ones let them sleep while destruction approaches
3. Paul charges Timothy to reprove, rebuke, and exhort — contrasted with teachers who tickle itching ears (2 Timothy 4:2-4)
4. False teachers often excel in rhetoric and lofty speech; Paul came in weakness, not with sophistry (1 Corinthians 2:1)
5. Preaching is not a TED Talk — it is the congregation being confronted by God through his Word

III. The Fruit of the Two Ways

A. The root determines the fruit — a diseased root produces bad fruit (Matthew 7:17-18)

1. All mankind in Adam has a diseased root; even outwardly good deeds from an unregenerate heart are bad fruit
2. The Spirit must make the heart healthy so that what flows from the inward man is pleasing to God and done for his glory

B. How can a good tree never bear bad fruit, when believers still sin?

1. Every tree not bearing good fruit is cut down and thrown into fire — the judgment of God's wrath (Matthew 7:19)
2. The Root of Jesse — the Stump of David — was cut down and burned at the cross, bearing our bad fruit in his body
3. God nailed our ugly fruit to Christ; the Father now sees us always through the perfect tree, his Son
4. Our bad fruit is never subject to God's condemnation — Christ paid not only for past and present sins but for all future sin
5. When we grieve the Spirit, the Father disciplines us as a tender father (Hebrews 12) — but never condemns

C. This is not license for antinomianism — we are to be recognized by our fruit (Matthew 7:20)

1. The Father accepts us in the Son so that in the Son we might bear fruit — knit to the vine, bearing the Fruit of the Spirit
2. Those regenerated by the Spirit actively seek the hard path that leads to life — they want Christ, not just his answers
3. The Rich Young Ruler wanted an easy formula; he respected Christ but would not pick up his cross and follow
4. Those indwelt by the Spirit have a new compass — a longing for eternal life — and so seek to walk in step with Christ, the way, the truth, and the life