Matthew 7:15-23

Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.

“Watch out for false prophets.” False prophets and false teachers have always been a difficult problem. They were in the Old Testament, they were in Jesus’ day. They are still with us now, and especially difficult when they appear to belong to the flock. “These come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

Matthew 24:11 “Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” Paul speaks to the Ephesian elders, and he warns them of what he knows is going to happen in their own fellowship.

Acts 20:29 “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”

You are standing in front of those two gates, as you stand at that crossroads, false prophets are doing everything they can in their power to push you the wrong way.

False prophets are not an uncommon thing in the Bible. Deuteronomy 13:1 “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee,” even if what he says comes to pass, “and says, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them, Thou shalt not harken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams. You shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, you shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

What is a false prophet?

A true prophet was known by two things, he had a divine commission and he had a divine message.

He was called by God and he was given his content by God, he gave God’s message and he was God’s man.

Jeremiah 14:14 “Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name, false prophets prophesy lies in My name. They wear the garment of God, they say they represent God, they say they speak God’s Word but they are lies, for he says, “I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke unto them;”

Jeremiah 5:31, Jeremiah says, “They prophesy falsely, and my people love to have it so.”

Jeremiah 23:14, the prophet says, “I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing; they commit adultery, and walk in lies; they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness;

23:21 he says, “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.”

Zechariah 11:17 “Woe to that idol shepherd. The sword shall be on his arm, and on his right eye; his arm shall be dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” God is going to judge.

Ezekiel 13:3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

Isaiah 30:10 “This is a rebellious people, they are lying children, children who will not hear the word of the LORD: And they say to their (prophets or) seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits;”

Matthew 24 :11, “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.”

Verse 24, “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect.”
Romans 16:17, “I beseech you, brethren, mark them who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own body, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the innocent.”

John says, “You’d better test the spirits.” 1 John 4:1.

The Bible warns us over and over and over about false prophets, they’re going to be around, they always have been around, there have been many false prophets and there shall be false prophets, as long as we live on this earth, till Jesus comes they’re going to be here.

In Ephesians 5:6 Paul says, “Let no man deceive you with vain words.” Don’t let any body fool you with empty talk.

In Colossians 2 and verse 8, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy (the wisdom of men) and vain deceit.” So the warning begins with a definition, a false prophet is one who does not have a commission from God and he does not have a message from God.

There are three kinds of false prophets,

The heretic

This is somebody who comes along and says, that’s not true, that’s a lie, I don’t believe the Bible and teaches heresy. Or even says I believe the Bible but teaches a heretical doctrine by twisting it, somebody whose doctrine is obviously, openly heretical.

The apostate

They deny the faith, who denies Christianity, who apostatizes, departs from it. The first two aren’t tough to spot, it’s easy to spot false doctrine, Just take your Bible and check it, it’s easy to spot apostasy because they’re denying it.

The deceiver

This is the one Jesus is referring to here, the one you don’t see, this is the one who comes with the cloak of the shepherd. This is not the cultist, ot the Mormon or the Jehovah’s Witness or, or somebody who belongs to Christian Science who, who openly and flagrantly teaches false doctrine, those are apostates or heretics.

This is the one who talks about Jesus, the cross, God, the Bible and he talks about the church and the Holy Spirit and he hangs around with people that are true Christians .

They are on the radio and television, in the pulpit, writes books and always looks like a Christian.

2 Corinthians 11 “Satan comes masquerading as an angel of light.” He comes hidden, among us. And don’t be surprised, he says in verse 15, if his ministers are angels of light.

Jude 4 says, “They creep in unawares.” They’re all over the place.

First of all they’re pleasant and they’re nice, they smile a lot, they seem positive, they seem affirming, they seem Christian, they hang around with Christians, they appear to be thoroughly Christian, they talk Christian talk, they seem to say the right things.

It isn’t what they say, it’s what they don’t ever say.

They talk about Jesus and the cross and heaven and Christianity, not sin and hell and mourning and meekness and humility and brokenness. They talk about how to be happy and how to be healed and how to be this and how to be that. They’re pleasant, they’re nice, they seem thoroughly Christian, they say the right things and their, their lives even appear clean.

In 100 A.D. we have the earliest of the Christian writings that we know about and it’s called the Didachē. there’s a section where the church instructed itself as to how to deal with false prophets.

It uses a term to describe them, Christ merchants. They used Christ, they trade in Christ, they sell Christ for personal gain, they pad their pockets, they build their empires. They are the, they are the happy Holy Spirit healers and they are the positive thinkers and they are the people who just wind up on the gravy train end of it, sucking it all up, the Christ merchants.

Now it says, “He must never ask for anything but bread. If he asks for money, he is a false prophet.” If he asks for money he’s a false prophet.

there’s always an audience, always, always an audience. Jesus said in John 8:45 “Because I speak the truth, you hear me not.” You can’t hear the truth, you listen for lies. “Because You’re of your father the devil, who is the father of (what?) lies.” You hear lies and you’re open to lies and Jeremiah 5:31, “My people love to have it so.” Why? Because they are of their father the devil who is the father of lies, they hear his lies well, they heap to themselves teachers who lie. Listen, there is an audience all over the place for false prophets, and they are just that, false prophets. If anybody needs to understand we do.

What do these false prophets teach?

It is not stated here, but in context they appear as sheep, and this suggests they are not overtly wildly heretical. Throughout this sermon, it seems they keep quiet about the difficult, hard sayings of Jesus, as it were. They are the ones who say, “All is well; God loves you,” but never say, “Sin no more.”

Sometimes they are false teachers not by what they say but by what they don’t say.

They sound a bit like those described in Jeremiah 8. Prophet and priest are dealing falsely, and God says, “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace …That is, “God’s peace is upon you.

These verses (15 to 20) are not given primarily as a rebuke to false teachers. They are not written with that intention, but toward ordinary men and women to help them to discern who the false teachers are.

It’s not popular to say things like this today. They say this is terribly intolerant. This is the day when pluralism prevails and everybody has a right to his own opinion, and with that I agree. Everybody has a right to his own opinion, but that doesn’t mean all opinions are right.

Jesus’ answer is, “Beware of false prophets.

The Danger of the False Prophet

They are very dangerous. “Beware, it means, hold your mind back from. Don’t ever expose your mind to the influence of a false prophet. Don’t pay attention to, give heed to, follow, notice, devote yourself, don’t even put your mind in his vicinity, they’re dangerous, they pervert the mind, they poison the soul.

Why are they so dangerous? because “inwardly” that is in reality, truthfully, on the inside not what appears but what is, “they are ravenous wolves.”

The number one enemy of the sheep in Palestine was the wolf, a natural enemy, Now a good shepherd according to John 10 as Jesus delineates for us the pattern and principle of operating as a good shepherd, a good shepherd is always on the alert for the wolf, a good shepherd cares for his sheep so he watches, he’s awake, he’s alert.

Now connected in John 10 with the flock you have three kinds of individuals, you have the good shepherd, cares for his sheep, he’ll give his life for his sheep, he’ll do anything he has to do to keep them from the wolf.

They’re ferocious, people, they are merciless, they are devouring and thus they are extremely dangerous. Their deception is why they’re so dangerous, because you don’t see the truth.

Inwardly they are wolves but they come to you in Sheep’s clothing.

Now, in the Old Testament and even in the New in the case of John the Baptist, a prophet was known by what he wore. John the Baptist came as one in the wilderness, he had a camel’s hair coat and he ate locusts and wild honey, again he wore the garment of a prophet, the rough, raw, hair of a camel is not anything like you think of when you think of camel hair wool type things today, very rough, very uncomfortable but again a statement of coming aside from the system, from creature comforts, the rough garment designated the prophet.

And when the prophet came he came with no worldly goods, he came with no worldly wardrobe, he came in rough, rugged fashion as if he had come out of the wilderness of communing with God. Therefore, when anybody wanted to play the part of a prophet he went out and got a prophet costume. He got a rough, rugged, burlap garment and he played the role. In fact in Zechariah 13:4 it says of the false prophets, “They wear a rough garment in order to deceive.” That was their whole approach.

The false prophets lead to damnation.

They say, “Have we not prophesied in your name?” We’ve been Your preachers.

We’ve been preaching in Your name, it doesn’t mean getting revelations it just means we’ve been declaring in Your name. “And Jesus said, I’ll profess unto them, I never knew you; depart.” Depart, and you pick up the same word later on and you’re going to find that they departed into everlasting fire, destruction, damnation. The great tragedy is that they don’t go alone

13, “Many there be who go with them.” Many buy the lie. And where does it all end? It all ends in destruction and damnation, false prophets are going to be judged.

2 Peter 2:1. “There were false prophets among the people, and there shall be false teachers among you, secretly bringing in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them,”

verse 4 he says, “If God didn’t spare the angels that sinned, but cast them to hell. And God didn’t spare the old world, the world of Noah, but drown them. And God didn’t spare Sodom and Gomorrah.” Then what makes you think God is going to spare the false prophets of this particular sort?

v 9 says, “They are reserved to the day of judgment to be punished.” if you look in the end of the Book of Revelation you’ll see that the primary false prophet, the false prophet of the Antichrist in the end time is taken with the Antichrist and thrown into the lake of fire which burneth forever and ever.

These people prophesy. They preach in Christ’s name which suggests they have biblical content and are able to witness. They have power to exorcise demons. They perform miracles.

Furthermore, these things are actually done. It’s not just that they claim to have done them. It seems they have actually done them. Jesus does not deny they have done them (verse 33), but what he says instead is these things are not sufficient conditions for entering the kingdom. Sometimes, of course, such people are caught out.

There are the seven silly sons of Sceva in Acts, chapter 19, who get chased down the street by one particular demon, but whether or not they are caught out now, they will be caught out on that day (verse 22). “Many will say to me on that day …” The reference to that day is to the last day, the day of judgment, the day of separation.

What, then, characterizes the true believer? Not loud profession but true obedience.

How does Jesus see these self-diluted spiritual phonies? We read in verse 23, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; away from me, you evildoers.’ ” The word for evildoer is quite literally you who practice lawlessness. “Away from me, you who practice lawlessness.” The key issue involved has been their disobedience. They have not been obedient, so he calls them “those who practice lawlessness.” They have not adopted to themselves the law of God revealed in Christ Jesus, so they are dismissed as practicing lawlessness.