Beware of False Prophets
Matthew 7:15-23
When you study the history of the church you can see that from time to time people rise up within the church who teach things that are clearly not biblical and deeply destructive.
For example – in the 2nd century a church leader named Hermas taught that baptism washed you clean from all the sins you committed before baptism – but that if you sinned after being baptized you could not be forgiven for those sins and would face God’s judgment. Think of how that would have affected your Christian life!
In the 4th century an elder in a church in Egypt named Arius started teaching that Jesus was NOT fully God – that he was created by God. This destroys the very heart of Christianity – and tragically Arius misled many in the church.
In the 16th century a Catholic monk named Tetzel taught that you could pay for people’s sins if you gave money to the church. This took the focus off of Jesus’ death paying for our sins – and made people think they could pay for their sins on their own.
So with terrible errors like these cropping up -- how did the church survive? It was because godly men and women like you and me obeyed what Jesus says in the next section of the Sermon on the Mount.
So let’s turn to Matthew 7:15. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Matthew 7:15 is on page 812 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Jesus loves His church. And Jesus knew that false teachers would arise who could destroy His church. And so the passage we are going to study today we see Him preparing His church to deal with false teaching. Look at what He says in Matthew 7:15-23 –
15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
21 Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
When you deal with a long complicated passage one way to figure out the main point is to look and see what commands are given. And in vv.15-23 there’s one command – it’s right at the beginning of v.15 – “beware of false prophets.”
So what are false prophets? “Prophets” are people who speak truth from God. And so “false prophets” are people who claim to speak truth from God – but who are actually speaking falsehood. It’s not according to Scripture – and therefore it’s not from God.
You can see an Old Testament example in Jeremiah 28. Jeremiah – a true prophet -- had warned God’s people that God was going to judge them by having Babylon conquer them. But in Jeremiah 28 we read about a false prophet who said – No, we are God’s people in the city of Jerusalem with the temple – God would never have Babylon conquer us. But of course He was wrong – Babylon did conquer Israel in 586 BC – and many were misled.
And you can see a New Testament example in 1 John 4:1-3 –
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit [do not believe everything someone says they are speaking by the Spirit], but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
So John knew of some people who said – God has told me that Jesus Christ has not come in the flesh. Now it’s hard to know exactly why they said this – but it’s clearly wrong. So John says they are false prophets.
So false prophets are people who falsely claim to speak truth from God. But it’s not truth – it’s not in sync with God’s Word -- and so it’s not from God.
And here Jesus urges all of us to beware of false prophets. But why?
Why should we be concerned about false prophets? Read v.15 again – and notice two key words --
15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
There’s two reasons we should be concerned about false prophets. One is because they are false -- what they are speaking is false. And the other is because they are ravenous – like wolves devour sheep their falsehood devours believers.
But now does every point of doctrinal disagreement involve someone being a false prophet? No. Take the issue of spiritual gifts. Here at Mercy Hill we believe that all the spiritual gifts are still in effect and should be pursued. But there are teachers in the body of Christ who teach that all spiritual gifts are NOT still in effect.
Ok – so we would disagree with that. But does that make those teachers false prophets? No. Because that teaching doesn’t destroy believers. There are many doctrinal points on which believers can agree to disagree because they don’t make or break someone’s faith – and so they don’t involve false prophecy.
So we should not become heresy-hunters who see every disagreement as showing that someone is a false prophet.
But there are falsehoods that can destroy believers -- like Arius who taught that Jesus was NOT fully God – or Tetzel who said giving money would pay for sins. And it’s those who teach falsehoods that destroy believers that are false prophets.
So that’s why we should be concerned about false prophets.
Now you might be thinking – really? Am I supposed to beware of false prophets? Hasn’t the church gotten all the false teachings corrected? I mean here we are in the year 2012 – am I really supposed to beware of false prophets?
To answer that look at what Jesus said in Matthew 24:11. Here Jesus is speaking of what the church will face between then and when Jesus returns at the end of history – and look at what he says in v.11 --
And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
And then look at v. 24 --
For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
So we do need to beware of false prophets. But how?
How can we tell when someone is a false prophet? Look again at what Jesus says in vv.16-21. Now some of your Bibles and lots of commentators put a section break between vv.20 and 21 – and see vv.15-20 as dealing with false prophets and then vv. 21-23 as dealing with a different topic – on what truly shows that someone is saved.
And that’s very possible. And vv.21-23 do teach what shows that someone is saved. But I think vv.21-23 continue the same topic of false prophets -- for two main reasons:
One is that there’s nothing in v.21 to make us think we are starting a new topic. And the others is that in v.22 he mentions prophesy and other miracles – which is what prophets often do.
So to answer how we can tell when someone is a false prophet – I’m going to read vv.16-21 --
16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
21 Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
The way we can tell is by their fruits. And there’s two kinds of fruit --
One kind of fruit is lifestyle. So if their lifestyle is not in accord with God’s Word – then they are false prophets. Not that people have to be perfect – we all sin from time to time – but false prophets sin knowingly and arrogantly and without confessing their sin.
Another kind of fruit is teaching. So if their teaching is not in accord with God’s Word – if they teach falsehoods that destroy believers – then the fruit of false teaching shows that the tree is not good. They are false prophets.
For example – today there’s some who teach that if we will just believe enough then we will be rich and healthy. This is often called the prosperity gospel – and I believe it destroys believers – because it encourages us to love money and health more than Jesus Christ – and because when believers face poverty or sickness they can think they are not really trusting Jesus – since if they were they would not be poor or sick.
Along these same lines – any teaching which would undermine the authority of God’s Word, the deity of Christ, the Trinity, the truth of justification by faith alone in Christ alone – any teaching that would oppose these core issues would show that the teacher is a false prophet.
But at this point Jesus seems to anticipate a question. What about someone who is teaching something questionable – but who works miracles? Who heals the sick? Doesn’t that show that they are from God and that what they speak is from God?
What if someone teaches something doubtful but works miracles? And Jesus answers that in vv.22-23 –
22 On that day [speaking of the final judgment] many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
Now this isn’t just theory. Look again at what Jesus says in Matt 24:24 --
For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
So this will happen. There will be false prophets who work miracles in Jesus’ name. Now how is that possible? How can a false prophet work miracles in Jesus’ name? How can a false prophet cast out demons in Jesus’ name? I don’t know. But it’s clear from Jesus that they can.
Now here’s why this is so crucial. Let’s say you have a friend who is 100% blind – not just legally blind – but nothing – just blackness. And you take this friend to a healing meeting where the speaker lays his hands on your friend’s eyes and prays in the name of Jesus Christ – and instantly your friend’s eyes are healed – your friend can see everything with perfect vision.
But then let’s say that this person starts to teach about how he had a vision in which God told him that he – not Jesus Christ -- was the Messiah – what should you think?
What you should think is that God had mercy on your blind friend – and that this teacher is a false prophet.
So what does this mean for us? Let me spell out five implications –
First – understand that there are false prophets. Don’t be naïve. There are false prophets around today. You will face false prophets in the years to come. And because Jesus loves you – because He loves His church – he warns you -- “beware of false prophets.”
Second – study God’s Word for yourself. One of the goals of your life should be to learn God’s Word. Study God’s Word so you know for yourself where God’s Word teaches about Jesus’ deity, about justification by faith, about the authority of Scripture, about God as our Treasure. That’s how you will be able to discern when there’s a false prophet.
Third – help others beware of false prophets. Some of you might have friends who are being drawn away from Christ by false prophets. Humbly go to them. Lovingly ask them careful questions. Listen well. And – if necessary – help them see the truth of God’s Word and plead with them not to depart from Christ.
Fourth – beware of delighting in controversy more than in Jesus Christ. Oh, this is dangerous. It is so easy to love the excitement of argument and disagreement and to love the thought of being right. So beware. Love Jesus Christ. Weep over controversy. Weep over false prophets. Pray for God to have mercy on the false prophets. Humbly correct false prophets. But beware of the danger of delighting in controversy.
Fifth – beware of desiring unity more than the truth of Jesus Christ. Especially today, when tolerance is valued more highly than truth -- we need to love the truth of God’s Word. So love God’s truth. Value God’s truth. And where disagreement doesn’t cause harm – let love and unity prevail. But where disagreement does cause harm – confront it – prayerfully, humbly, and boldly.