THE FALSE FRUIT FROM WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING

MF BLUME
JANUARY 16, 2011, am

Matthew 16:21-28 Complete Apostles' Bible (21) From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go off to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised the third day. (22) And taking Him aside, Peter began to rebuke Him, saying, "God be gracious to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!" (23) But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block unto Me, because you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." (24) Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. (25) For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of Me shall find it. (26) For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give as an exchange for his soul? (27) For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will render to each according to his works. (28) Assuredly I say to you, there are some standing here who will by no means taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

Jeremiah 8:12-13 MKJV Were they ashamed when they had done an abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush; therefore they shall fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Jehovah. (13) I will utterly consume them, says Jehovah; there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them, those who pass over them.

Many see the grave warning Jesus gave to us to make sure we deny ourselves and take up our crosses and BE SHEEP, or else he will say I NEVER KNEW YOU, and not allow us to enter the KINGDOM.

So people have called me from Washington State and talked to me on the phone here and in homes really wanting to know what it means to TAKE UP OUR CROSS AND DENY OURSELVES.

WATCHMAN NEE: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples”—By this we know that the following words which the Lord Jesus utters are spoken to His disciples and not to outsiders. If disciples, then they are saved ones. Let us therefore keep in mind that the words which follow are directed at saved saints, not unsaved sinners.

“If any man would come after me”—That is, if any man among the saved would follow the Lord. The man is a saved disciple who wishes especially to follow the Lord. “Follow me” gives the clue to the conditions which are thereafter set forth.

“Let him deny himself”—Denying the self means disregarding one’s self or renouncing one’s privileges. To deny oneself denotes a setting aside of the self in seeking the mind of God, so that in all things he may not follow his own mind nor be self-centered. Only such kind of people can follow the Lord. This is of course self-evident, for how can anyone follow the Lord if he follows after himself?

“And take up his cross, and follow me”—This is even deeper than denying the self. For self-denying is only the disregarding of self whereas taking up the cross is obeying God. To take up the cross means to accept whatever God has decided for the person and to be willing to suffer according to the will of God. By denying self and taking up the cross we may truly follow the Lord.

(From the book THE SALVATION OF THE SOUL, by Watchman Nee.)

So you can be saved and NOT FOLLOW THE LORD.

Is that not what we have been preaching about?
Taking up the cross is more than self denial.
It is suffering for things the will of God leads into.
V. 25 - The Greek for LOSING “LIFE” is LOSING SOUL.

Matt 16 (25) For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of Me shall find it.

LOSING HIS LIFE is literally LOSING HIS SOUL FOR JESUS’ SAKE.

Refusing to lose our lives for his sake is refusing to lose our souls.
What do we think of when we say LOSE YOUR SOUL?
We think of going to hell or the lake of fire.
That is not the case here at all.
LOSING YOUR SOUL is what people are unwilling to do and are therefore unwilling to serve the Lord.
It is not willing to suffer SOME KIND OF LOSS for the will of God to occur.

Some ministries may be life threatening.

1 Corinthians 15:30-32 Complete Apostles' Bible (30) And why are we also in danger every hour? (31) I affirm, by my boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. (32) If, in the manner of men, I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what is the benefit to me? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"

Paul realized he could die every day he got up to preach, so he said he died daily.

That was threat of physical death he was talking about.
Saving your soul (LIFE) instead of denying your soul (LIFE) is refusing to suffer for the will of God.
God said we’d eventually lose our souls eternally.
We will lose whatever we delight in for good, one day.
It is losing the pleasures that our soul enjoys.
Let go of the world and all it can satisfy you with, and God will later give you such overwhelming pleasure beyond what you ever lost.
So refusing to lose our souls means to refuse to let go of all that the world gives us in desires and pleasures.

Most people think of LOSING THEIR SOULS to mean going to hell.

Read it like that and see the error:

Matthew 16:25 Complete Apostles' Bible (25) For whoever desires to save his life shall go to hell, but whoever GOES TO HELL on account of Me shall find it.

It makes no sense.

God does not want us to go to hell on his account in order to be saved!
LOSING THE SOUL has to mean something else.
It is talking about LOSING SELF by the denying yourself PLEASURES that you get from the world and all its sin.
We know that WE MIGHT CHOOSE PLEASURE instead of God’s will, and SOOTHE OUR SOULS, by sitting home and satisfying your flesh with something else instead of CHURCH.
Or doing what Peter did when Jesus was incarcerated and taken into the high priest’s palace by denying he ever knew Jesus and cursing when a little girl said he was one of the disciples.

You can gain the whole world (all its pleasures it has to give) and lose your soul later…. Lose ALL that gave you pleasure.

Jesus spoke of COMING IN HIS KINGDOM when he finished speaking about losing your soul.

Matt 16 (27) For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will render to each according to his works.

John 15:1-5 Complete Apostles' Bible (1) "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. (2) Every branch in Me which does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch which bears fruit He prunes, so that it may bear more fruit. (3) You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. (4) Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit on its own, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. (5) I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; because apart from Me you can do nothing.

Notice that Jesus says HE IS THE TRUE VINE.

This implies a false on exists.
Like the tree of life and its counterfeit competition, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And the sense of HUMILITY is noted.
Without Him we can do nothing.

This is so important.

This is where self denial comes into play.
People wonder what self denial is and what is taking up their crosses.

SELF is the element satan appealed to way back in the Garden.

Genesis 3:1-6 MKJV Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said to the woman, Is it so that God has said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (2) And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. (3) But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. (4) And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, (5) for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil. (6) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make wise, she took of its fruit, and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Satan knows that we are nothing without God.

Imagine what God would do through mankind if Adam ate the fruit of LIFE!
Satan shuddered at the thought.
He had to plug man up with something else to ensure God not indwell Adam.
The fruit of Life would somehow cause the LIFE OF GOD TO DWELL IN ADAM.
And God would empower man to dominate the world with the calling God gave to Him.

Since we are nothing without God, then the devil’s ploy to get us to be like gods ourselves would ensure we REMAIN NOTHING!

God will be unable to indwell us and live through us in the manner in which he wants to if SELF is taking HIS PLACE.
Therefore, denying self is going to remove the largest hindering factor of God’s will being accomplished through us.

The devil tries anything he can to keep SELF a means of hindrance against God’s will, beyond just this tact he used in the forbidden fruit in Adam’s day.

If we can get so focused on ourselves, we will take up all the resources with which we can seek God and allow His Spirit to work through us that we will end up powerless people.
So “Look out for number one” becomes a mantra for mankind.
The devil will send persecution in order to take our attention away from God focus.
Threatening self is the most successful means of distracting us from the will of God.
Satan appealed to man’s SELF in the Garden to stop him from getting God’s life inside.
And he continues to appeal to our SELF in distracting us today by threatening that SELF.
Every time he sees you start to get hold of God, he will send persecutions and attack YOUR SELF.
God knows this.
That is the reason Jesus told us to take our crosses.
Deny the very thing satan tries to get you to focus upon, and his persecutions cannot stop you!

Matthew 7:12-21 Complete Apostles' Bible (12) Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, thus also you do to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (13) "Enter in through the narrow gate; because wide is the gate, and broad is the way which leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in through it. (14) How narrow the gate, and confined the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it! (15) "But beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. (16) You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grape clusters from thorns, or figs from thistles? (17) Thus every good tree produces good fruit, but a rotten tree produces evil fruit. (18) A good tree cannot produce evil fruit, nor can a rotten tree produce good fruit. (19) Every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. (20) Consequently, by their fruits you shall know them. (21) "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.

Notice the WAY OF LIFE and DEATH – like two trees… Cherubims and flaming sword guarded the Way of the tree of Life.

So if the forbidden tree caused death, than there is a WAY OF THE TREE OF DEATH.
A WAY LEADS TO DESTRUCTION.
FIGS and THISTLES!
Fig tree in Garden because Adam clothed self with fig leaves.
THORNS were part of the curse when Adam sinned.

Satan knows that appealing to your SELF is what so successfully worked when he tempted mankind and saw us thrown out of the Garden.

Satan wants you OUT OF THE KINGDOM, TOO.
He knows that IN THE KINGDOM YOU ARE KINGS.
HIS WOLVES in sheep’s clothing are like ministers offering a COUNTERFEIT MESSAGE with FALSE FRUIT.
Satan knows religion can be very SELF FOCUSED and SELF CENTRED, and make people HOLIER THAN THOU so that they are abusing the bible to exalt themselves and disallow God from using them.

Jesus is actually saying we cannot be the KINGS that satan is threatened by and that can destroy satan, if we do not deny self.

He knows that satan will appeal to that self to STOP us from getting into this place of power.
He said the only way we are going to get into the place where we can wreak havoc on the devil’s kingdom is to deny the very thing the devil will appeal to when he sees you walking towards KINGDOM ENTRANCE.
It is going to take more than calling Jesus LORD.
You can call Him Lord and still be so full of self that the devil can easily distract you from your mandate.
You can eve perform miracles in your name.
But the KINGDOM is more than a place of miracles.
IT IS A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE ARE POWERFULLY BEING INDWELT BY GOD SO AS TO DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL.

Satan does not mind you having a few fireworks of miracles and never really stomp the devil’s kingdom down.

We actually enhance the devil’s kingdom, because it is a spirit of exalting self to be like God!

In our attempts to see SELF elevated, the devil knows that we will COVER UP FAULTS AND SINS.

It’s a wicked self pride that does not allow us to ADMIT wrong, and when we refuse to admit wrong, how can we get right with God?
And sin hinders God from working in our lives.

King Saul become so possessed of SELF that when God was actually using David who was humble and knew he needed God, Saul became jealous.

Rather than forget about who was getting attention, and realizing GOD WAS VANQUISHING ENEMIES, Saul was so concerned about himself that he felt threatened by David.
And this so hindered the will of God.

Satan always worked like this.

Satan sees Cain and Abel, and tempts Cain to offer futility for a sacrifice, and get jealous at Abel.
Cain made the issue about HIMSELF and how Abel was one-upping him.
Rather than realize God needs a sacrifice for sin in order to see the hindrance of sin removed so God can use these people to deal with wickedness that Adam let take over the world, the devil god Cain distracted from this great purpose onto the stupid nothingness of SELF PRIDE.

Cain could have repented and got hold of things and offered the right sacrifice and saw sin dealt with, too.

How much power would the people have and see the works of the devil put down?
But no, Cain was too interested in himself rather than the GREATER GOOD.

So Jesus told us we will face persecutions and suffer tribulations because there is a devil out there who does not want to be vanquished.

And he will have people talk about you and insult you and mar your reputation.
But all the while you have to realize that you need to deny the urge to defend self and to fight for self, and to make sure self has a good reputation, because if the devil can get you all hung up on yourself, he will succeed in distracting you from the GREATER GOOD OF DESTROYING THE KINGDOM OF HELL IN THIS WORLD.

The days of Christians slain in the arenas with lions may be far from us in Canada, but the same thing goes on in a smaller scale in each of our lives.

You are attacked by vicious gossip and lies.
The devil even uses Christians to twist you and offend you and get you all caught up in SELF to distract your mind.

That is why Jesus said we have to take up our crosses and deny ourselves, or else the devil will work so much with our SELF and manipulate us to finally do HIS WILL.

He’ll twist and get you so warped all out of SELF PRESERVATION that you will be so far from accomplishing the will of God that he is left unharmed.

Deny your self.

Let self die.
Let the thing that devil appeals to in order to distract you be of no great concern in that sense, so that his appeals are useless!
Every day pray for humble forgiveness, and to remain humble.
Keep that flesh and SELF down.

SELF wants to be God.

It craves attention.
It LOVES applause, and some of that is healthy and good.
But to crave it so much and to be so self centred that it hinders God is something anyone can easily fall prey to.
God does not get the focus and attention and FAITH needed when we are so concerned over ourselves.

Turn the other cheek.

Know that concern over being insulted and becoming upset with it so that we insult back is actually reinforcing the SELF-IS-GOD hindrance that ruins our opportunity for God to work through us into the dark world around us.
Know t when we turn the other cheek, we are not letting the devil succeed in appealing to the distraction away from God that he can find in having us worship ourselves too much.
Know that you are letting God have free course and maintaining that in your life.
Keeping the pipeline open for Him.
Not clogging it with self interest that causes valuable attention and faith to allow Him to work.
He needs that attention and faith and avenue in us.

False prophets hand out that same SELF APPEALING fruit to people to this day.

Since the forbidden fruit got man focused on SELF and getting him to do so in a VERY RELIGIOUS looking manner, all the while knowing it actually BLOCKS the life of God from working inside us, WOLVES IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING preach a message of SELF WORKS.
It makes you proud of your self.
Do not do this, or do not do that, gets you focused on SELF EFFORT.
And SELF is going to be uplifted in your heart once you start appealing to SELF EFFORT.
And soon there are going to be a pack of wolves who are so self focused, that God is not able to use them to offer life to anyone else.
The devil’s work is left unhindered.

If you seek YOUR will, you will not seek His WILL.

His will can wreak havoc on hell.
But we are distracted from that and the devil is therefore left unhindered.
When we get the mind of the Lord due to disregarding what OUR minds would like, we then are vessels whom God can powerfully use and truly see KINGDOM of God in our world.