In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is speaking Words designed to be heard, read, believed and obeyed until His return to earth when He will call those to Him who, from the beginning of creation, believed and obeyed His Law, “righteous Abel” being His first true disciple. Recall that Jesus said that He had not come to earth to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Mat. 9:13). His first recorded ministerial statement was: “Repent, and believe the Gospel” (Mk. 1:15). Repent of what? Sin. What is sin? “To transgress the Law is sin, for sin is the transgression of the Law” (1 Jn. 3:4). Note that Jesus said there were righteous people on earth before His arrival (Mat. 9:13). They were righteous because they obeyed His Law. He came to enable others to obey that Law and thereby achieve righteousness, thereby enabling them to receive eternal life. Read Romans 5:21 and 6:22. Note that THE END RESULT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS ETERNAL LIFE. Faith, grace, etc. are all part of the salvation process. However, if they do not result in righteousness, they are meaningless. As Jesus said, only the righteous will be saved (Mat. 25:46). Righteousness is a gift from God for “hungering and thirsting” for it (Mat. 5:6). Righteousness is the opposite of sin. Sin is breaking the Law. The opposite of breaking the Law is keeping the Law. It is amazing that billions of people refuse to believe those words. I am told that in order to receive instant salvation and rebirth one need “only believe in Jesus and receive Him as Savior.” Jesus disagrees (Mat. 25:46).

From the beginning it has been the responsibility of spiritual leaders to teach the people the Law and lead them to obey it. Such luminaries as Noah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Ezekiel, Daniel, Samuel, Hosea, Joel and others who later fulfilled their apostallic calling with power and effectiveness. However, as was the case in the Garden of Eden, those called of God eventually grew tired of being told how to conduct their lives and ventured away from Him and His messengers. Only His “little flock,” His tiny “remnant” of true believers remained true to him over the ages. God has always had a remnant of righteous souls who walked against the religious winds by upholding God’s Word (Isa. 1:9). As has always been the case, such people have been few in number and rejected by the church world. The non-churched world does not care what we do, say or think. Those in the Catholic/Protestant Religious System are the saint’s enemies. It is they who despise God’s people because their (the saints’) light exposes their darkness. As Jesus said: “Darkness hates the light because it illuminates the darkness” (1 Jn. 3:19).

Knowing that this situation would not change with the establishment of His church, Jesus warned both leaders and followers from atop the mount about the apostasy that He knew would be coming as the final (Laodicean) era approached. We are in the midst of the Laodicean age at this time (Rev. 3:14-20). Jesus warned those who would join themselves to Him in His sheepfold (church) to be sure to search for, find and enter the strait gate (door) leading into His house. Few, He said, would do so. Many would be called to do so but few would be chosen for having answered His call (Mat. 22:14).

In 7:15 He focuses His warning toward salvation seekers, telling them to beware of wolves presenting themselves as sheep in an attempt to gain leadership positions among them. The people would know them by the “fruit” they produced. He goes on to tell them that a leader’s fruit is a reflection of what is inside him. Only a good tree can produce good fruit. Fruit recipients would know the quality of the minister by comparing their fruit (message) to God’s Word.

However, this requires the hearers to know God’s Word. Therein lies a severe problem. Most people know only the Lord’s “headlines.” However, as this ministry was created to point out, one must know and obey His “fine print” in order for the “headlines” to come to fruition. Read the series featuring the Word “If.” Key word–“If.” False prophets must prevent their flocks from learning about the Lord’s “fine print.” They are very successful in this endeavor. The main complaint relative to this ministry is its insistence on learning, believing and obeying God’s “fine print” that involves approximately 90% of the New Testament teachings. Every promise God has made to mankind has caveats (conditions) that must be met in order to receive the promise. This includes salvation–the ultimate “headline.” Read The Process of Salvation. Key word–Process.

In verses 21-23 Jesus zeroes in on false teachers. Here He tells us to be careful as to whom we listen. As He would later warn in 24:4,5, Satan’s messengers would rise up among salvation seekers and speak with disarming words, proclaiming that He (Jesus) was indeed the Christ of God and, having gained acceptance among the people, would lead many into Satan’s religious sewer today known as “the church” which is depicted in Revelation 17:1-5 as a woman sitting astride a beast (government). The woman would is “drunken with the blood of the (Lord’s) saints.” Recall that the Catholic Inquisition resulted in the martyrdom of between 50,000,000 and 100,000,000 people, most of them God’s people. In the end, she will be joined by her “harlot (Protestant) daughters.”

Jesus Words to all generations are recorded in verses 21-23 where He tells us that not every church leader who calls Him their Lord will enter into God’s kingdom. Many, He prophesies, will stand before Him on Judgment Day, call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ and remind Him that they had preached in His name, and in His name had cast out demons and performed many miracles. To them He will profess: “I NEVER KNEW YOU; DEPART FROM ME YOU WHO PRACTICE INIQUITY (LAWLESSNESS).” These are church leaders who had claimed that God’s Law was passed away, having been “nailed to the cross.” This lie allowed man to make his own rules of behavior, exactly as did Adam and Eve. God Himself said this as recorded in Genesis 3:22 where He notes that man (Adam) had made himself a god, able to determine for himself what is good and what is evil. As stated earlier, church apostasy (falling away) is not a new thing.

In closing this series let us examine three other passages. The first is John 10:3-5 where Jesus tells us not to listen to the voices of “strangers.” He was referring to those who would teach anything other than the Holy Scriptures. No matter how many wonderful sermons they preach in His name, or how many demons they cast out, or how many wonderful miracles they perform, if they preach anything other than what is found in God’s Holy Bible they are “strangers” to God and therefore strangers to His true saints who know His Word.

Another warning message is found in Galatians 1:6-9 where the Apostle Paul warns us that there are those who would pervert the Gospel of Christ. He tells us that even if an angel from heaven preaches any other Gospel than that preached (and written) by the apostles of Christ, he is ACCURSED, meaning that one is separated from God. In Second Corinthians 11:13-15 we find Paul saying that those who preach a perverted Gospel are false apostles and deceitful workers who present themselves as “apostles of Christ” and “ministers of righteousness.” These are the prophets of Satan who “transforms himself into an angel of light.” He does this by presenting his darkness as God’s light, which Jesus calls “great darkness.” Professing Christendom has embraced Satan’s darkness and rejected God’s light. This ministry was commissioned to expose this church-wide light. According to the latest count, Truth seekers have come to that light over 3.2 billion times. L.J.