We’ve done fake smiles before when getting our photo taken. The photographer tells us to say “Cheese!” to get us to smile but as soon as he snaps the photo, our faces go back to frowning. We posed and pretended to smile for the photo.

Today, Jesus is going to help us tell the genuine from the fake so we do not get fooled or misled. In Matthew 7, he uses 4 analogies from nature of things that may look similar yet are very different.

First, Jesus says that there are two gates we can walk through. One is very narrow, and the other gate is very wide. These two gates lead us down two different paths. The narrow gate takes us down a narrow, rocky path that is hard to walk on at times, which is why so few people take it.

The wide gate takes us down a very popular, wide-open road. Jesus says many people are on this road because it is easier. So, two different gates lead to two different paths.

Second, he says there are two kinds of prophets, who claim to represent God. Some are sheep, and some are wolves dressed up like sheep. If you put a sheep and a wolf side by side, it is pretty easy to spot the differences. The wolf has big fangs and darker fur. The sheep is all fluffy, white, and innocent with no fangs.

But if the wolf was to put on a white sheepskin and go to the dentist for a set of veneers to cover his fangs, he could fool some people into thinking he is a sheep when he is not. Beware of these posers and pretenders, says Jesus. Some are genuine but some are fake.

The third analogy Jesus gives involves two kinds of trees. Both are tall, green, and look healthy, yet only one is a genuine fruit tree.

In 2015, I planted an apple tree because I have always wanted to be able to eat fruit off my own property. Come the next spring, in 2016, I was excited because my apple tree had a few flowers on it, so I pictured myself feasting on apples for the rest of the year.

But by summer, all those flowers had fallen off. They did not turn into apples. So, that first year, I had nothing to eat. The next spring, in 2017, I got more flowers, more branches, and lots of leaves. Again, I got excited about my imaginary bumper crop. But that summer, the same thing happened. No flowers turned into fruit.

So, I had this expensive apple tree with no apples two years in a row. I had left the ID tag on from the nursery identifying it as an apple tree, but apart from that tag, where was the proof that this was, in fact, an apple tree?

Jesus says there are two kinds of gates with two different paths (wide or narrow), two kinds of trees (fruitful or barren), and two kinds of animals (sheep and wolves).

In his fourth analogy, Jesus describes two kinds of builders with two kinds of homes. One man builds his house on the sand, while the other builds his house on the rock. The rains came down and the floods came up, and the house on the rock stood firm!

But what about the house on the sand? The rains came down and the floods came up, and the house on the sand went smash! I loved this part of the story as a kid because my Sunday School teacher told us to make a big clap with our hands for the house getting smashed.

I used to think that song and story were about two different geographical locations: Don’t build your house on a beach if you want it to last; build up higher on the rock. But then I read what Jesus actually says here.

Jesus says these two builders are so similar at the start that it is hard to tell them apart because they both “hear my words.” “The one who hears my words yet will not obey me is like the foolish man who built his house on sand. But the one who hears my words and obeys me is like the wise man who built his house on rock.”

Notice that they both hear Jesus’ words, which means they both attend Sunday school and church. They both can quote certain Bible verses from memory. They both dress up in their Sunday best.

The difference is that only one obeys Jesus. They both hear the word, but only one says, “I need to make a change. I need to obey Jesus today.”

We can pat ourselves on the back, saying, “I’m a good Christian because I went to church today and I listened to the Bible readings and the whole sermon.” But the goal is not to just hear God’s words. It is to be changed by them and by him.

If you have ever visited Chinatown in Toronto or New York City, you have to be careful because they sell fake Rolex watches and Gucci handbags that look identical to the real thing, except they are half price. Instead of $10,000, they are only $5,000.

Customers who buy these fakes learn the hard way when they go to resell them. They’re not worth $500, let alone the $5,000 they paid. In Latin the phrase caveat emptor means ‘Buyer, beware!’

In Matthew 7, Jesus says ‘Christian, beware!’ Beware of fake Christian leaders who say, “It’s okay to believe what you want to believe and to live like you want to live.” Beware of taking the wide-open path that is full of people—the easy road of never having to repent.

I heard a minister say that God told him to leave his wife in order to marry the lady who cuts his hair. Over time, he went from being her customer to her friend, to something much more. But instead of repenting of that mistake, he left his wife of 20 years and their three kids to shack up with her.

I promise you that God did not tell him to do that, because God does not tell us to destroy our families and hurt a ton of innocent people just so we can be happy. He might have been a fine preacher but his actions tell us he’s a fake follower of Jesus.

How do we tell the fake from the genuine? Jesus tells us to look for fruit. “A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.” (Mt 7:17-18)

So, we look for spiritual fruit that lasts. Galatians 5 gives us a lifestyle test to take for ourselves and also to apply to others. Is the person loving and joyful? Are they peaceful, patient, truthful, gentle, faithful, and self-controlled?

When Jesus truly is our Savior, and his Holy Spirit fills us, then he creates his character and his holiness in us so that we become more like him. His fruit in our lives is always always positive—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

But when self is on the throne of our lives then the fruit or the outcome is quite different. When I live the way I want to live, then selfishness and sinfulness become the norm. External fruit simply reveals who is Lord – self or Jesus?

Jesus promises a great reward for all who make him the Lord of their life. He says that those who walk the narrow, bumpy path will find life in the end, and those who build their house on the rock will stand firm in the end. The storm will not harm them.

The genuine follower of Jesus has a great eternal reward coming, but not so for the poser. The one who hears Jesus’s words but refuses to obey him will face a very scary end when their house on the sand goes ‘smash’!

In verse 21, he says that on Judgment Day, people will come to him bragging, “Lord, I preached in your name. Lord, I even healed people in your name and did miracles; now let me in.”

But Jesus will say, “Depart from me, evildoer, for I never knew you.” These might be the saddest words in all of Scripture because they thought their religious activities could save them. They thought they were good enough for heaven.

But Jesus says they are not genuine. Like the guy on the bulletin cover, they posed and pretended. They were outwardly religious but inwardly barren.

This is why each of us should do what 2 Corinthians 13 says: “Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith.”

I saw a video on YouTube of a new singer on ‘America’s Got Talent’ named Arthur Hayes. Arthur is old and has one of the most unique voices. I almost cried as he sang about missing his late wife. The song is called “Do You Have Her, Lord?”

The problem is that Arthur Hayes does not exist. He is not a real person. Arthur is 100% fake—made entirely by AI, artificial intelligence. His song is not genuine since it was written by a computer algorithm and of course, he has no dead wife.

We call these ‘deep fakes’ because they look and sound so real that they fool us. Jesus is calling out the ‘deep fakes’ in terms of spirituality. Don’t be fooled by those who look good and sound good spiritually, but have no personal saving relationship with Jesus.

Let’s each ask ourself: “Am I trying to obey Jesus’s commands? Am I letting God’s Spirit control me and my habits?” or “Am I letting Jesus’ commands go in one ear and out the other?” This is how we tell the genuine believer from the fake.