Real Followers of Jesus: Matthew 7:13-29 (Ep. 112)

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Hi, everyone. Dave here. There are so many wonderful things to learn about our faithful God. I want kids and families to learn more and more about him. One way you can do that is by becoming a club member.

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You'll get access to every episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids. Also, if you become a super club member, you'll get more podcasts and videos for kids, plus a podcast just for parents. I wanna give you a taste of one of the episodes you'll get access to in the club. So at the end of this episode, keep listening, and you'll hear a short snippet from one of our earlier episodes. To sign up to the club, go to faithfulgod.net/membership.

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That's faithfulgod.net/membership. Good day, and welcome to stories of a faithful god for kids. Dave here. If I said to you, I'm a pigeon, what would you think? Would you believe me?

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You might have some questions like, okay then. Where are your feathers? Where's your beak? How come you can talk? Pigeons can't talk.

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And I'd be like, okay. Okay. You got me. I'm not really a pigeon. No.

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I'm actually an elephant. Again, you might have some questions like, if you're an elephant, where's your trunk? How come your ears aren't big enough? And again with the talking thing, elephants don't talk, and they certainly don't have podcasts. And you'd be right.

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I'd have to admit that I'm not an elephant. Then I'd say, I'm actually a race car. And I'd be like, wait. Wait. I can prove it.

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Listen to this. Even though you hear those sounds, I suspect you still wouldn't believe me. It takes more than the sound to be a race car. I don't have wheels. I don't have an engine.

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And once again, race cars don't talk. There are ways that you can tell if someone or something is real or just pretending. So how could you tell if someone is a real follower of Jesus? What sort of things would you look for? What might you see if someone was pretending?

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It's time to find out. Get ready for our next episode of stories of a faithful god for kids. In the last few episodes, Jesus has been teaching his disciples how to live in his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. He's taught them to trust God, their father in heaven, because God loves them and is trustworthy. He's taught them how not to be pretenders, but to really love and serve God.

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He's taught them how to love other people. Now Jesus is coming to the end of his sermon, and he wants to show his disciples just how important it is to listen to what he's taught them. He wants them to understand that it means the difference between life and death, between heaven and hell, between living forever with God, or spending forever shut out from God. He reminds them that there's only one way to get eternal life. We talked about that a lot when we looked at John's gospel.

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Jesus is the only way to eternal life. There is no other way. Even though people try lots of different ways, Jesus is the only one who can give you life forever. He says it's like the difference between a wide road, like a highway, and a tiny little gate. The tiny gate, that's Jesus, is the only way to get to life.

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But all the people trying different ways to have life, it's like they're all traveling down a great big highway. It looks like they're going the right way because there are so many people doing it. But it just leads to hell, the place where people will be locked out from heaven forever. In Matthew chapter seven verse 13, Jesus says, enter through the narrow gate. The road that leads to hell is a very easy road, and the gate to hell is very wide.

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Many people enter through that gate. But the gate that opens the way to true life is very small, and the road to true life is very hard. Only a few people find that road. Let's be clear about something here. Jesus is not saying it's really hard because you have to know lots of secrets to get to heaven.

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Not at all. It's hard because people don't want to listen to Jesus. Lots of people will hear what Jesus has to say and think, nope. Not going his way. I'm gonna go my own way, which is really sad because Jesus is the only way to life.

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Some of those people going the wrong way will actually sound like they're going the right way. They'll sound like they trust and follow Jesus. They'll hang out with followers of Jesus and talk about Jesus, but then they'll try and teach Jesus followers to do things Jesus hates. They'll actually lead people away from Jesus even though they sound like they really love Jesus. Jesus calls these people false prophets, fake prophets, pretend prophets.

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And he says they're like wolves that dress up as sheep and go and hang out with the sheep. None of the sheep can tell there's a wolf there because the wolf is dressed up as a sheep. And there's only one reason the wolf has snuck in to hang out with the sheep. It's because he wants to eat them. The sheep are in danger, and they don't even know it.

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If false prophets are in amongst God's people, God's people are in danger, and they might not even know it. So if these false prophets are hanging out with followers of Jesus, and they sound like followers of Jesus, how can we know who they are? Thankfully, Jesus tells us. He says you'll know them by looking at their fruit. Say what now?

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By looking at their fruit. Should we go up to people who are teaching us about Jesus and say, excuse me. Do you have any apples with you today? Can I see your apple? Oh, watch out, everyone.

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I think he has a worm in his apple. He has a worm in his apple. He must be a false prophet. Don't listen to him. No.

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No. That is not what Jesus means. Think about this. How can you tell what kind of tree you're looking at? One easy way is to look at the fruit it makes.

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Orange trees don't grow apples. Apple trees don't grow bananas. Banana trees don't grow cherries. You might think you're looking at an apple tree, but then you see oranges growing on it, and you know, okay. It isn't an apple tree.

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Apple trees don't grow oranges. It must be an orange tree. Simple. Right? Well, if someone's a true follower of Jesus, their fruit is how they live their life.

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It's easy to say you're a follower of Jesus, but only true followers of Jesus try to do what Jesus says. It's easy to say that you don't like sin, but only true followers of Jesus will ask for forgiveness when they sin and ask God to help them to do better. It's easy to say that you like caring for people who treat you badly, but true followers of Jesus will actually try to do that. We won't do any of it perfectly. You can't look at someone and say, You sinned.

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You aren't a real follower of Jesus. But the pattern of our lives should be about trying to live Jesus' way. In verse 15, Jesus says, be careful of false prophets. They come to you and look gentle like sheep, but they are really dangerous like wolves. You will know these people because of the things they do.

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Good things don't come from bad people, just as grapes don't come from thorn bushes, and figs don't come from thorny weeds. In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, and bad trees produce bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. You will know these false prophets by what they produce.

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So if you see someone who's trying to be an important Bible teacher, and they say great words, but they treat people rudely, they don't ask for forgiveness when they sin, they treat people as less important than them, Don't listen to them. They're like wolves in sheep's clothing. When Jesus comes again and everyone who's ever lived stands in front of him, there are gonna be lots of people who think, I'm totally fine. Jesus is gonna take me into his kingdom. But Jesus tells us that he won't be tricked by pretenders.

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Pretenders are the people who say lots of the right things and do some things that might look impressive, but who don't live the way Jesus wants us to. Jesus says in verse 21, not everyone who says to me, you are my lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. The only people who will enter the kingdom of heaven are those who do the things that my father in heaven wants. On the last day, many people will say to me, you are our lord. We spoke for you, and through you, we forced out demons and did many miracles.

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Then I will tell them clearly, get away from me, you who do evil. I never knew you. That sounds pretty scary. Imagine thinking you're going to heaven, and instead, Jesus sends you to hell. Don't misunderstand, though.

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Don't be scared by the wrong thing. Remember, Jesus is faithful. It's not like he's gonna turn up, look at his followers, and say, I'll take you, you, and you, and the rest of you, I don't care that you trusted me. I don't want you anymore. That is not what Jesus does.

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Am I clear? Jesus is not like that. Everyone who trusts Jesus and tries to live his way will go to heaven to be with him forever. The people Jesus is talking about here are people who said they were his followers, but, really, they were just pretending. They didn't actually do what he taught us to do.

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And so do what Jesus taught us to do. Don't be a pretender. Listen to what Jesus has said and try to live his way. When you mess up, the great news is one of the things he's told us to do is ask for forgiveness. He loves to forgive us when we ask as long as we're willing to forgive other people as well.

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If you do this, if you live Jesus' way, you'll be super wise. You'll be like a really strong house that can't be knocked around. Jesus says this in verse 24. Everyone who hears these things I say and obeys them is like a wise man. The wise man built his house on a rock.

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It rained hard, and the water rose. The winds blew and hit that house, but the house did not fall because the house was built on rock. But the person who hears the things I teach and does not obey them is like a foolish man. The foolish man built his house on sand. It rained hard, the water rose, and the winds blew and hit that house.

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And the house fell with a big crash. There are gonna be lots of hard things in life. If you want to be strong and get through them, listen to Jesus, obey Jesus, love Jesus, and he'll look after you all the way. The crowds that are listening in on Jesus teaching his disciples, they're pretty amazed at the way Jesus is teaching. He doesn't teach people like their other teachers teach people.

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He teaches people almost as though he's in charge of the whole world, almost like he's the one who truly understands the rest of the Bible. He teaches as though he's the boss of everything. They don't all understand that, actually, he is the boss of everything, of the whole world. If they keep watching, they're gonna see just how powerful a boss he is, and so will we. But that's a story for next time.

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Thanks everyone for listening. Hey. Did you know that on Spotify, there's a playlist called SFG for kids? It's got heaps of great music on there that reminds us of things we've learned on the podcast. I've just added a new song called Big Car by Colin Buchanan.

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It reminds us not to take the wide road that leads to destruction, but instead follow Jesus, the narrow gate. Check out the playlist on Spotify, s f g for kids. Now I promised that at the end of this show, I'd play you a short snippet from an episode you'll be able to access if you join the club. This part is from episode four about how God used Elijah to show his people how great he is. Enjoy.

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Now it's the lord's turn. While all the prophets of Baal are still shouting and dancing, Elijah says to the people of Israel, come over here to me. So they come over to his side. It turns out there used to be an altar to the lord there, but it's been smashed and knocked over. It's a sign of how god's been treated.

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Elijah rebuilds the altar exactly how God had told his people to build it. He obeys God's word. So far, so good. Then things get a little bit strange. I don't know if he uses a shovel or just his hands, but Elijah digs a ditch all the way around the altar.

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There might be a few people there scratching their heads saying, what's that all about? But then he gets on with the job like you'd expect. He puts wood up on the altar for the fire. He sacrifices the bull and puts the meat on top of the wood. And then again, things get just a little bit more strange.

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Elijah tells some of the crowd, fill up four jars of water. What? Why does he need four jars of water? He doesn't need that for the fire. But they do what he says.

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There's a river at the bottom of the mountain that still has water in it. They get four jars, carry them down the hill, fill them up. Water's really heavy. But they carry them all the way back up the Hill. And if they thought it was weird before, that's nothing on what Elijah says now.

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He says, put the water on the meat and on the wood. What? Doesn't he know we're in the third year of no rain? Doesn't he know how precious water is? This seems like a complete waste.

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And also, doesn't he want it to catch fire? You don't put water on wood to start a fire. You use it to put a fire out. But they do what he's asked. And then Elijah says, do it again.

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So they take the jars back down the hill, fill them up with water, carry them all the way back up the hill, and again, pour the water all over the meat and the wood. And all the people are staring at Elijah, wondering what he's gonna do next. And he looks into the eyes of the water carriers, and he says, do it again. Down the hill they go. Fill the jars.

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Carry them up and pour the water over the meat and the wood and the altar. Remember that ditch Elijah dug? Well, there's been so much water poured on the altar, then it's run through and even filled up the ditch. This stuff is soaked. Again, this is not how you normally start a fire.

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This seems like it's impossible. The prophets of Ba' couldn't get the fire going when they had dry wood. Plus, there were 450 of them. What's one tiny prophet with a soaking wet altar gonna do? That's just one tiny part of what you'll get if you join the club.

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Sign up now at faithfulgod.net/membership. That's faithfulgod.net/membership. Go on. Sign up now.