The Truth About False Prophets (Part 2), Matthew 7:15-23

Last week we learned that Satan uses covert operatives to infiltrate the Church in order to weave deception and confusion throughout Her ranks.  These covert operatives are called in the Bible “false prophets”, “false teachers”, “wolves”, “workmen” of Satan.  They appear to be genuine Christians, speaking on behalf of God when in fact they are impostors and they are not sent by God or speaking for Him. 

From our passage we are learning the Truth About False Prophets.  There are 7 truths we are keying in on.  The first 3 we learned last week:  1)  False prophets are a reality, 2) False prophets will come to you, and 3) False prophets appear genuine. 

#4:  False Prophets are Destroyers

            The 4^th truth about false prophets is that they are destroyers.  Notice verse 15 where Jesus says, “Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”  In John 10:12 Jesus says “The wolf attacks the flock and scatters it”.  Acts 20:31 says, “I know that after I leave savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.”  Did you hear the words used to describe these wolves?  “Ferocious”.  “Savage”.  They “will not spare the flock”.  They are destroyers. 

What do they destroy?  They destroy God’s work.  Turn to 2 Peter 2 and let us read the Apostle Peter’s description of the destruction false teachers cause and the destiny that awaits them.

#5:  False Prophets Can and Must Be Recognized

Truth number 5 is this:  False prophets Can and Must be Recognized.  Notice verses 15, 16 and 20.  False prophets can be recognized.  In other words, YES, it is possible to detect them.  We are capable of finding them out when they come around.  Just like the weeds were recognized in the field, and just like the tares were detected among the wheat, false prophets can be distinguished from the true. 

But do not miss the second part of this point.  Not only does Jesus say we can recognize them, but, we also must recognize them.  In other words, there is an unspoken but obvious expectation our Lord has that we recognize false prophets.  He expects us to spot them.  We are commanded to recognize them.  To fail to recognize them is delinquency, and the Bible describes this inattention on our part as “sleeping” and “dishonorable”. 

Acts 17:11 says, “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”   The Bereans tested Paul’s words against the written word of God and they are called “noble” for it.  The Apostle John would have been impressed with the Bereans.  He said in 1 John 4:1, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  The command is to put prophets to the test.  The test is God’s Word written down in the Holy Scriptures.  The Scriptures contain the revelation of who God is.  This knowledge will make us mature so that we are not carried away.  Ephesians 4:13-14 says this:  “[we must] all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God to become mature…Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” 

If you were here last week and heard the sermon there are 2 corrections I need to make related to what I said.  First of all, I said that this Sermon on the Mount took place on the Mount of Olives.  I was wrong, it occurred in Capernaum, on the north side of the Sea of Galileee.  The second area I was wrong was in my statements regarding deer behavior.  After last week’s sermon, a few gentlemen who are experienced hunters graciously corrected me regarding my hunting illustration.  They informed me that deer do not “hiss”, but, rather it is called a snort.  I am grateful for their desire for accuracy for 2 reasons.  First, it means I more correctly understand deer behavior now, and won’t look foolish in the future.  But, secondly, their correcting me is a perfect illustration for this sermon topic.  What I mean is this:  They know what the truth is and they won’t let someone carry on with false information with regards to hunting.  And they came to me with the correction.  As those who have believed the truth we should be just as zealous for Biblical truth, not putting up with someone who isn’t handling the Word correctly.

Test everyone.  Test.  Everyone.  Do not assume someone is truly from God – no matter how Christian they appear.  Jesus says that these false prophets will perform miracles and exorcisms and prophecy all in His name, implying that they will trick many people into believing they are really from God.  But none of these things prove they are from God.  These things are appearances.  The truth is that false prophets are real and they are everywhere.  Maybe if we grow up in Christian circles and we live in Christian circles today and we live in a “Christian” nation, we tend to give someone the benefit of the doubt and assume they are legitimately from God.  This is unearned credibility.  But that unearned trust we give, that favorable assumption we make, that proof we never require, is an asset to Satan.  A Church that is not diligent to put any and all teachers to the test of God’s Word is easy prey for the Father of Lies.  He will send false prophet after false prophet to the Church and they will be tolerated one right after another. 

#6:  False Prophets Cannot Produce Good Fruit

            Truth number 6 about False Prophets:  False Prophets cannot produce Good Fruit.  Notice our Lord’s own statements in verses 16-18 with me…  What Jesus is saying is that the output of their lives will prove who they really are.  Therefore we need to examine them to see what is actually produced by their actions, speech, and ministry. 

            These men and women are incapable of producing good fruit.  Their actions, their words, their ministries, their results are not “good” according to the Lord.  It is all “bad”.  This is not a situation where they do a lot of bad things but there are some things that honor God in what they do.  They aren’t just “off” on some things and they’re sincerely trying to get it right.  No, Jesus specifically says, “A bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”  Why?  Because they are not a true branch that is united to the true vine Jesus Christ.  The Lord said to the Apostles in John 15 that apart from Him they could do nothing.  John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in Him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  The ability to bear fruit comes from a real union with Christ.  The ability to produce good fruit is not even possible when someone is not joined to Christ.  In other words everyone is incapable of producing fruit all on their very own without Christ.  So when the fruit is examined and it is determined to be something other than “good” fruit that comes from Christ, you know that this person is not in fact from our Lord, but someone else.  The Lord is not in his or her activity. 

Proverbs 20:11 says, “Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right.”  The point is that a man’s conduct, his words, his ministry and the results of his life give bountiful evidence of whether he is of God or not. 

            Let us make several quick points here. 

First of all, Good Fruit and Appearance are not the same.  Christians must understand the difference between appearances and fruit.  Appearing Good does not mean the fruit is good.  Appearances can be deceptive.  Many times appearances are not the reality.  It may sound good, it may look good, it may smell good and so forth.  Something may in every way appear good and right, but, when appraised by Scripture it is found to be evil and wrong.  Using the name of Jesus, performing miracles, prophecying, exorcisms and other supposed supernatural phenomena are appearances.  These false prophets did all these things and more and Jesus says their fruit was bad, they were evildoers, and He “never knew” them.  Never in all their lives.

What is fruit then?  Galatians 5 lists the fruit of the Spirit when it says, “….”  Ephesians 5:9 says, “for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth”.  Philippians 1:11 says, “[I pray that you] will be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.”  Colossians 1:6 says, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing…”  Fruit in the Bible is referring to the evidence in someone’s life that they have been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.  It involves turning away from sin and towards righteousness.  It involves changing from resenting God to worshipping Him.  It involves the character of Jesus Christ being reproduced more and more in someone’s life.  It involves more people hearing and believing the Gospel of salvation.  That is fruit. 

Jesus says these men had none of this.  This leads to our second point:

Secondly, all that these false prophets ever did was evil.  This is a horrifying thought.  Notice verses 21-23, “….”  On that day, the day they will be judged, they will itemize everything they did in their ministries as they plead with Jesus to approve all that they did.  But Jesus says on that day, after they plead with Him He will call them “evildoers”.  Evildoers.  It means “those who do evil”.  Everything they ever did was evil!  And yet it was all done “in Jesus name”.  Are you seeing how serious this is?  They are guilty of breaking the 2^nd commandment:  Do not use the Lord’s name in vain.  They did all their evil all their lives all in the name of Jesus Christ.  They proclaimed that Jesus was sending them, speaking to them, authorizing them, working through them, appearing to them, blessing them, and approving everything they did.  In reality, He had nothing to do with their evil.

Thirdly, the reason we must distinguish the false prophets from the true, and the reason we must inspect their fruit, is because if we don’t, and we follow them, then their fruit will be our fruit.  What they produce will be reproduced in us.  Their evil, their corruption, their defiled ways, their ungodliness, their impurity, their false Jesus – it will all become ours if we follow them.  Remember 2 Peter 2:18?  “[False prophets] mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.”  Second Timothy 4:3 says, “They will gather around themselves a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear”.  There will be a great demand for false teachers by the masses and they will be supplied to lead them away from the truth.  The fruit of their ministry – in other words the output in the lives of those people who follow them – will be unrighteousness.

These false teachers cannot produce good fruit.

#7:  False Prophets will Die

            Notice lastly that False Prophets will Die.  Do not miss Jesus’ words here.  Notice verse 19 “….” (they will burn).  Notice verse 21 “….” (they will not enter the kingdom of heaven).  Notice verse 23 “…” (they will not be acknowledged by Jesus and they will be cast away)

            Over and over again their destiny is made crystal clear in Scripture:  they will be destroyed.  And they never expected to be.  Notice the stunning revelation they receive as they stand before Christ in verses 21-23, “….”  They not only deceived everyone they led, but they were themselves deceived.  First Timothy 3:13 says, “…evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”  Proverbs 14:12 says “There is a way that seems right but in the end it leads to death.” 

Conclusion:  Context

We must look at what comes before a passage, and, what comes after.  What is it that Jesus said before He began to warn about false prophets?  What is it He said afterwards?  Is it relevant?  Absolutely it is.  Look at what Jesus just said before in verse 13-14.