Powerful Sermon: Beware of False Prophets

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:03

You can open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7, Gospel according to Matthew chapter 7.

00:15

There's something about this text that is challenging and convicting to each and every single one of us.

00:25

While the topic of discussion may be about false prophets, and maybe you think you are not one, and maybe you are not one, the substance within that discussion is something that relates to every single one of us.

00:41

It's a moment for each and every one of us to have deep self -examination, to ask important questions, to do the sort of thing that the

00:51

Apostle Paul says for the church to do, to examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.

00:59

There is something about Jesus that gives you a sure hope. Not the kind of hope like,

01:05

I hope I find my keys kind of hope, but a guaranteed assurance that Jesus is

01:11

God. He is the Savior. He accomplishes His will always. John chapter 6,

01:16

He will never lose any of those the Father has given to Him. There is a sure hope and foundation in Jesus Christ.

01:23

There is eternal life as a gift by God's grace through the redemption that's in Jesus Christ. There is guaranteed hope and assurance

01:31

John says, these things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that you might know that you have eternal life.

01:44

And yet with that guaranteed assurance and hope that all those who truly belong to Jesus Christ will never be lost, knowing that Jesus says that I will lose none of all that the

01:55

Father has given to me, the Scriptures give us moment after moment, testimony after testimony toward the truth that you must examine yourself.

02:09

That it's appropriate for believers to listen to Jesus when

02:15

He tells you about people who have false professions of faith. People who look like the real article.

02:22

They look like the real deal. They look like they're actually among those who know Jesus. It's important for us to not see a discussion about false prophets and think, well,

02:33

I'm not one, so what Jesus has to say here doesn't apply to me. There is just example after example after example of the

02:44

Lord Jesus telling you that you have eternal life. John 5 24. What does he say?

02:50

He says, truly truly I say to you, he who hears my voice and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life.

03:01

And yet with that there is example after example of Jesus actually cutting through the mask.

03:08

Jesus actually removing the mask from people, calling it a mask, calling it hypocrisy.

03:14

There is Jesus actually giving us a little bit of insight to what takes place on the last day, where He says to people who are in ministry, they look like the real thing.

03:26

They actually call Jesus Lord. They say, Lord, Lord. We did this.

03:32

We did that. We did all these things. We did them for you, Jesus. We're Christians.

03:39

And yet Jesus says what? He says, I never knew you. Now the hope there is that He doesn't say,

03:45

I knew you and you couldn't hang with me. I knew you and you just failed. He says, I never knew you.

03:52

It was never a relationship between you and me. He says, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

03:59

And so Jesus in this text gives us insight into our own souls.

04:06

And so I'm gonna read to you guys actually before our text for today. To give you guys a little bit of context.

04:12

Again, it could be read standalone, but it does form together a really important collage of truths that kind of hang together.

04:23

And so I'm gonna start where we were and move through. So it's in Matthew chapter 7, and I'm gonna start in verse 13.

04:33

Hear now the words of the living and true God. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to destruction.

04:43

And those who enter by it are many, for the gate is narrow, and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

04:50

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

04:58

You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

05:05

So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

05:11

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

05:20

Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me,

05:26

Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my

05:31

Father who is in heaven. 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?

05:40

And then will I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

05:49

Everyone then who hears these words of mine, that's family integrated church right there, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

06:09

And the rain fell and the floods beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

06:20

And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house and it fell and great was the fall of it.

06:28

Now here we go. This is the substance right here. And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching for he, here it is, was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.

06:45

Not as their scribes. Thus far as the reading of God's Word, let's pray together as a church. God, please,

06:51

Lord, meet your church today in a way that changes us.

06:56

Lord, you are the one who opens the eyes of the blind, you give ears to those who are deaf, you remove hearts of stone and you place hearts of flesh there.

07:05

And we plead with you that you would today work in the hearts of your people who know you, who trust you to change us, to transform us, challenge us,

07:16

God, by your Spirit. And for those in this room, God, who don't know you, we pray,

07:21

God, that you would grant repentance and faith today so that there would be life, eternal life, that they would experience the gift of eternal life and forgiveness and peace with you.

07:33

Please, God, get me out of the way. Lord, I pray that I would be forgotten and what has been said remembered for the glory of Jesus Christ.

07:46

It's in his name we pray. Amen. Beware of the false prophets.

07:51

So Jesus gets us into the discussion with a beware. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

08:01

Not the first time God has had a discussion about false prophets. As a matter of fact, if you read your

08:06

Bible, you'll notice not long after you open it up and you start moving through human history and populations start to grow and people start living their lives and having families, you notice that as the people of God start to form together, the people of God are oftentimes affected by false teachers and false prophets.

08:26

As a matter of fact, if you look in the Old Testament, God rescues his people from Egypt. So they're in bondage, they're in slavery, and God condescends and God, in love, just comes to his people and makes promises to rescue them.

08:41

He makes promises to bring them into the promised land and to bring them into a relationship with himself.

08:47

And so God actually gives to his people the law. And he does so in the way where he reminds them that it's gracious, that he's telling them about himself.

08:55

So when he gives to them his law and his ten commandments and he gives to them his standards of justice, he reminds them first, in Exodus 20, that he's

09:04

Yahweh, that he's the God who rescued them from their slavery, right? That's the relationship that he has with them.

09:12

He's the one who rescues them. He's the one who heals them. He's their protector, right? God says repeatedly in his words, especially in the

09:19

Psalms, that he's the shield. He's the one who guards us and he protects us, that he's the warrior fighting in our midst.

09:25

And so what he does in the law is he doesn't just tell people, here's a list of commandments to obey, to be good little boys and girls.

09:33

He does, he gives his law because the foundation of the law is to love God and love others, right?

09:39

Jesus says that. He says the two greatest commandments is to love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself.

09:44

And all the law and the prophets are based upon this. And so what's amazing about that is that all the law is based upon love for God, love for neighbor.

09:52

And what God does in his law, in Deuteronomy chapter 13, one of those discussions about false prophets, is

09:58

Deuteronomy chapter 13, verses 1 through 4, God inoculates, protects, and shields his people from false teachers, false prophets.

10:07

And it's interesting what he says. I want you to see it. So go ahead and go, keep your finger on Matthew, and let's look at a discussion that God has about false prophets in the

10:14

Old Testament. Deuteronomy chapter 13. Deuteronomy 13. And Deuteronomy, by the way, the word

10:22

Deuteronomy comes from within that word namas, law.

10:28

And so Deuteronomy means the second giving of the law. It's a repetition of the law. And so Deuteronomy chapter 13, in the law of God, look what he says.

10:40

Verse 1, if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises, where?

10:47

Among you. This is an important element, right? We think about the false prophets and false teachers as operating sort of outside maybe the church, where there's these cults and these other religions, and that's where the false prophets really hang out.

11:02

That's where they really come from. Where in reality, one of the first warnings against false prophets is these prophets arise from among you, the people of God.

11:13

So that's oftentimes where false teachers and false prophets can be found, unfortunately.

11:19

They're found among us. They actually, they set up camp and they have their launching pad out of the people of God within the actual church itself.

11:28

And so God says in Deuteronomy 13, he says, if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, watch, and gives you a sign or wonder.

11:36

This is a powerful thing about false teachers, is that they look legit, right? And that's the hard thing about it, right?

11:43

Look at you. Look at guys today that have very shiny teeth and nice soft southern draws, and they, you know, they say things that are really, really helpful and wonderful and, you know,

11:54

I've got to confess something. One time my wife and I were coming back after our anniversary. We got married in Las Vegas.

12:00

Forgive me. Stop condemning me, okay? We got married in Vegas. We went and we did our anniversary to go back to look at all the places we went to.

12:08

We were married. It was an amazing time. And on the way back, I was listening to a satellite radio channel, and I have to confess,

12:16

I turned on the radio station to a popular false teacher, and it was some of the most encouraging time of my life.

12:24

It was so encouraging. All the nice things this man said. It was really amazing. Nothing about Jesus.

12:31

Nothing about the Bible. No conviction of sin. No pointing me to God and his word. It was just really, really encouraging, and the stories were just so cute, right?

12:40

And at the very end of this message that had really nothing to do with Jesus at all, there was a, and if y 'all want to know

12:47

Jesus, pray this prayer with me, okay? And no context about God and his holiness, and why Jesus needed to die, and what he accomplished, and my need to turn to Christ.

12:55

It was just so encouraging. And that's the thing that's so difficult about false teachers, is that they look just like us.

13:03

They use our language. They co -opt our language and terminology. False teachers are really, really good at speaking the ghetto language.

13:11

They know how we talk, and they look just like us. And the amazing thing is, is there may even be a possibility that somebody who's a false prophet or false teacher has a ministry that looks spectacular.

13:23

I mean, that's what Deuteronomy says, right? He arises from among you, and he has signs and wonders.

13:28

Like that, it looks legit. I mean, that's the amazing thing about this kind of deception, is that false prophets that arise from among God's people oftentimes look just like us, and it seems like the ministry is so successful.

13:46

It looks like God's in it. The signs and wonders. Like, then how do I know if it's really

13:51

God? How do I know the person's a false teacher? I mean, it looks Christian. It looks legit.

13:58

They have a Bible, right? They got signs and wonders. God must be in it if they're signs and wonders. And what

14:03

God says to his people is, even if they have a sign or a wonder, and it says this, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass.

14:12

And if he says, here it is, let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them.

14:20

There it is. There's the key. What's the source? Listen, listen. What's the source in the passage?

14:27

It's not the visual. It's not the sign and the wonder. It's very, very simple. It's that, here's the answer, if the prophet or dreamer of dreams leads you after a different God, a

14:38

God which you have not known, what's that mean? God has revealed himself. He's given to us his word.

14:45

He's talked to us. He's talked about himself, and he gives to his people this revelation about himself to draw them into relationship with him, to worship him in spirit and in truth.

14:57

And what God says, even if they're signs and wonders, but they lead you after a different God, a God that you have not known, what does

15:03

God say? He says, in verse 3, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the

15:10

Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

15:17

You shall walk after the Lord your God, watch and fear him and keep his, what?

15:24

Commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

15:30

What's the source? I want you to see a theme that kind of goes through the scriptures on this point about false teachers and false prophets.

15:37

I'm kind of blending those together for the moment, but false prophets in particular is, what's the source? God says, my word, my commandments, me.

15:48

You see, that's the source. If they lead you after a different God, how do you know? It's because God has revealed himself to his people, and so the answer is not going to come from whether they're signs and wonders, whether it looks successful, whether it looks and appears like light.

16:06

Never forget, the Bible says, what about Satan? He disguises himself as an angel of light.

16:14

He looks beautiful. He looks like this amazing creation of God. He doesn't look like the pitchfork and the horns and the tail and those sorts of things.

16:24

There's not the smell of sulfur. That's completely a fiction. That's not what Satan looks like. If you were to see him today, he would look amazing.

16:32

And what God says is, you hook yourself on to my commandments and my word. And so God gives his people protection.

16:38

He says, look, here's how you know. You follow my word. My commandments cling to me.

16:44

If they lead you after a different God, that's how you know they're not from me. And then God gives another test in Deuteronomy chapter 18 verses 20 through 22.

16:52

It's a powerful one. Deuteronomy 18 through 20, 20 through 22. God does something, listen, that man -made religion cannot do and would be terrified to do.

17:03

God bases the veracity of this book, the veracity of this revelation, whether or not this prophet is true, whether or not this word is true.

17:13

He bases the veracity of it upon this. He will tell you history before it happens, and he will get it right every single time.

17:22

Deuteronomy 18, 20 through 22 should terrify the false prophets. And man -made religion would never take the risk to say, look, here's how you know

17:32

I'm a false prophet. If I give prophecy and fail even one time, I'm a false prophet.

17:38

But what does God say? He says this, Deuteronomy 18, 20 through 22. And if you shall say in your heart, how shall we know the word which the

17:48

Lord hath not spoken? He said, when the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing follows not, nor comes to pass, that is the word which the

17:56

Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.

18:02

That's intense. You know why it's intense? Because this revelation spans over a thousand years in composition.

18:13

Sixty -six different books and letters, about forty different authors, sometimes separated geographically, separated in time, not even connected.

18:25

And this revelation that spans this entire time in history contains prophecy after prophecy after prophecy after prophecy.

18:35

And what does God say? Fail once, and you're a false prophet. That's it.

18:41

Done. So this entire book can be demonstrated to be mythology if it contains even one, one, legitimate, false prophecy.

18:54

How do you like them apples? All, all of this book, God is saying,

19:00

I am the sovereign who can tell you the end from the beginning. I am the one that can tell you what will be and, listen, he says in Isaiah chapters 40 through 46,

19:09

I can tell you why. And God protects his people from prophets that arise from from within them, by warning them not to stray, not to go far from his word and his commandments.

19:21

That's the answer. It's God as the source. It's God, listen, as the principium, as the source.

19:28

He's the foundation. That's where you gauge things and truth from. And so God protects his people in the

19:34

Old Testament, false prophets. If they lead you after a different God, if they contradict God's word and his commandments, they're not from God.

19:41

If they give you a false prophecy, they're not from God. Someone says, well, what? I mean, come on.

19:46

We're sinners. We're fallible, finite creatures. I mean, really? A prophet like loses if he just has a single false prophecy?

19:53

Answer, yep. Yep. Here's the thing. Watch. Jesus Christ gave prophecy throughout his life, right?

20:02

And here's the thing. You got to be honest with it. Just come to terms with it. If Jesus had a single false prophecy, a single false prophecy, he is a false prophet and you are to reject him.

20:15

That's the glory of Jesus Christ, because here's the answer. He told the future, told history before it happened in ways that would blow our minds.

20:26

And he did it often. And the glorious thing is he even did things like say, I'm gonna go to Jerusalem.

20:32

They're gonna kill me and in three days I will rise again. And they didn't buy it, right? Like Jesus is dead on a cross and they didn't even believe it.

20:40

They were like on the road to Emmaus and they're all sulky and sad and like, we thought he was Messiah. We thought he was Messiah.

20:46

And Jesus is like walking with him, right? He's just hanging out with him. He's like, what's wrong? He's like, where have you been?

20:52

Like you haven't heard of Jesus? We thought he was Messiah. He's dead. He's dead. And what does Jesus say to him? He says what?

20:57

He says, slow to heart, slow to believe all that God has promised.

21:06

God promises the future and then it happens and God's testifying in those moments that he's the sovereign.

21:13

That's the answer. False gods can never tell you the future because A, they don't generally do a lot of talking.

21:18

That's sort of a problem for false gods, right? And B, they don't know the future. And C, they don't control anything.

21:26

So that's powerful. But let me, let's go one more time to see how does God feel about false prophets.

21:32

Go to Jeremiah chapter 23. This one is cutting and powerful.

21:39

It's challenging and ought to be terrifying to people who speak so quickly to teach the people of God.

21:46

People that raise up ministries that were never called by God. People that lead movements that tell others about God things that are not true.

21:55

Look what he says in Jeremiah 23, 23. Easy to remember, right? Jeremiah 23, 23 says,

22:29

Lies and who prophesy the deceit of their own hearts, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.

22:43

Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully.

22:49

One has straw in common with wheat, declares the Lord. Watch, this is terrifying. It's terrifying.

22:55

Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

23:05

Therefore behold, I'm against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another.

23:11

Behold, I'm against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, declares the

23:16

Lord. Behold, I'm against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their, watch, recklessness, when

23:27

I did not send them or charge them, so they do not profit this people at all, declares the

23:34

Lord. There's an insight there that all of us can learn from, be challenged by.

23:47

God, speaking directly to false prophets, I'm against you.

23:55

I'm opposed to those who say, he says when I didn't say. Those who steal

24:02

God's word from their neighbor. People who actually rob God's people of God's word and truth, and God speaks directly to them.

24:11

Here's why I bring it up. When Jesus actually says, beware of the false prophets, this is a discussion that has been going on for a long time at that point, and the people of God knew the standard.

24:22

It was God, his revelation, his word, he's the source. And the people of God should always, always, always be aware of the fact that there are people who give the pretense of being true, of being real.

24:39

They give us the image that they are with God, for God, and we ought not to buy into the modern day belief that, well, that's their truth, and this is my truth.

24:53

And hey, they've done a lot of good things. Can you imagine in Deuteronomy 13, the person with the signs and wonders who's truly a false prophet, the people of God in Israel saying to God, yeah, but God, but they're just so nice.

25:07

Right? But they have such a wonderful book on how to make my life better, how to make every day a

25:13

Friday. Right? It's such a wonderful, nice man. And here's the thing, false prophets can be great.

25:20

They can be sweet, zealous, amazing people who even give you signs and wonders. But what is God's position on the matter?

25:28

He says, I'm against the false prophets who say, he says, when

25:35

I didn't say. And God tries to protect his people all throughout his revelation from false prophets.

25:42

But there's a little bit of insight that you should get in terms of what they're like from Jesus here.

25:47

He says in Matthew chapter 7, he says about the false prophets. He says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

25:59

Okay, the word false prophets, this is kind of cool. It's a pseudopropheton.

26:07

Pseudopropheton. The word pseudo. Right? We use that in our language today.

26:13

Right? We say pseudo. Like that guy's a pseudo believer or something like that. It's false.

26:19

Right? It's completely pretend. It's a fiction. And pseudopropheton means, watch, false or bogus.

26:28

So they are bogus prophets. Jesus says, beware. Be on the alert. Be on the lookout.

26:35

Make yourself ready. Protect yourself. Get ready for the bogus prophets.

26:43

The pretender. The one that looks real, but is not. The bogus prophets. He says, they're in sheep's clothing.

26:51

They come to you in sheep's clothing. What does that mean? That these bogus prophets, these false prophets come to you, and they particularly like to blend in among the people of God.

27:04

They look so soft. They look so humble, so precious.

27:10

They dress like us. They can actually hang out with us and actually blend in for a while.

27:16

He says, beware of these bogus prophets. They look like us. They use our language.

27:23

They talk about Jesus. That's the thing we should fix ourselves on, because watch, it's actually in the

27:29

New Testament. In the book of Galatians, you have a deadly thing coming into the church that's destructive and will destroy you.

27:37

What was it? People actually saying that like, look, Jesus isn't enough. Jesus and his work isn't enough.

27:45

Yeah, he died. He rose again. He's the Savior. He's the Messiah, but he's not enough.

27:51

What he did isn't enough. You have to trust him, but you have to also keep this part of the Jewish law.

27:57

Keep the circumcision. Like, make that a part of the deal so that you can really be a part of the people of God.

28:03

You need to keep the circumcision. We don't want to lose that part of the law. It identifies us. It identifies us.

28:09

And what was amazing about that is that these people were able to get into the church with that message.

28:15

They look so much like us. Watch how close, watch how close that is. Jesus is God. He's the

28:21

Messiah. He lived perfectly. He died. He rose again. Hey, just keep this one part of the law, you know, for salvation.

28:30

Just circumcision. No big deal, right? Just this little thing. See how subtle that is?

28:37

It's so subtle. It seems so insignificant. And what does Paul say to it in Galatians chapter 1?

28:42

He says, I'm amazed that you're so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for another gospel, which is really not another.

28:51

There are some who are troubling you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. He says what? He says, if I come back to you guys or an angel comes from heaven and preaches any other message of salvation, any other gospel, he says, let

29:06

God condemn me forever. Just a little twist.

29:12

Just a little turn. Jesus, yeah, He's the Messiah. I trust Him. I believe in Jesus, the

29:18

Judaizer says. I believe in Jesus. You know what's amazing is when I go to, when we go as a church to the

29:25

Mormon community to try to interact and have relationships and we go out to dinner with our

29:32

Mormon friend every year before we go out to do evangelism and try to create relationships of love and affection, but also of communication of the truth.

29:42

It's amazing the story you get. And you've probably heard it too. Tell me if you've heard it. You talk to a

29:48

Mormon and you say, well, I want to talk to you about the gospel because I'm worried, you know, about your soul. I love you.

29:53

I want to, I want to talk about these things. Let's get into the word of God. You know, I'm a Christian and I'm concerned for you.

29:59

They say something like this, right? They say, we're Christians too. They say, look, it's in my name.

30:05

It says the church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints.

30:10

Look, it says right here on our cover of our book, it says another testament of who? Jesus Christ.

30:17

You see? What do you mean I'm not a Christian? How dare you? How dare you be so offensive to say that there's such a thing as a false prophet?

30:26

How dare you be so offensive to say that I'm not a Christian? I don't know Jesus. But that's just the subtlety and the danger of false prophets is that they look like sheep, right?

30:38

But the danger is actually found beneath that cloak. It's found underneath that disguise because Jesus says they come to you in sheep's clothing.

30:48

They look like you. They talk like you. They use your language. You think they're a sheep, but they are inwardly,

30:54

Jesus says, ravenous wolves. And what's the word there, harpox, for ravenous means, watch, it's interesting that the word actually gets to ravenous.

31:07

It essentially has underneath it robber, swindler. The Greek dictionary would give you something that's grasping or greedy.

31:17

They're a swindler. They're savage. The lexicon is robbing, vicious, robber.

31:24

And so when Jesus says, look, they look like us, beware of the false prophets because they're going to look just like you, but inwardly, inside, underneath that costume, they are really inside robbers, ravenous.

31:41

They are trying to steal from you. They're trying to steal you, rob from you.

31:49

That's the real nature of a false prophet, and they don't wear it on their sleeves. You see, here's the thing about false teachers.

31:56

They don't come in and tell you their intentions. When a wolf wears a costume to get among the sheep, it does it for a reason.

32:07

It wants you to get to a place where you are vulnerable, where your guard is down.

32:13

False prophets actually capitalize on the fact that your guard will be down, that you will accept them into the fold.

32:21

When wolves are far off and they come towards this herd of sheep, and the sheep can see it, and they know what it is, and they know what its nature is, and what its intention is, they flee.

32:33

But when wolves come in to rob, to destroy, to kill, and to devour you, they come in sheep's clothing.

32:41

They come to appear like one of us. And Jesus says, in telling us about their real nature, ravenous wolves, that their goal is to swallow you, to rob from you.

32:55

They don't give to you. And this is the thing about false prophets. Here's the deal. Watch. In describing them as covered in sheep's clothing and inside ravenous wolves,

33:05

Jesus actually tells you their intention. And what you notice oftentimes in false prophets is that their job, like what their,

33:13

I'd say their vocation, is to take from you. They don't pour themselves out for the sheep.

33:21

They don't lay, like Jesus does, their lives down for the sake of the sheep. They don't give.

33:27

They rob. They take from you your life, your soul. They rob from you

33:33

God's words. But another thing they rob from you oftentimes is what? Your money.

33:40

Do you think it's interesting, right? It's really powerful. Today, if you look across the landscape today, you turn on Christian television today, you'll oftentimes listen to these false prophets on television that represent

33:51

Christianity, which is the most destructive thing, is that the world sees these false prophets on television, and they say, that's

33:58

Christianity. When in reality, the sheep are going, no, that's a wolf. Right?

34:04

But what's interesting is that you'll hear them say outlandish and contradictory things.

34:10

You'll hear them saying things like, say, the Word of Faith movement, saying things like, well, you see,

34:17

God is actually nine persons. Right?

34:24

You'll see them saying things like, God can't do anything without your permission.

34:31

You'll hear them saying things like, well, like, we get to become gods one day. Did you know the

34:36

Word of Faith movement? Many of the Word of Faith teachers have actually taught that, that you can become a god one day.

34:42

And you'll hear them contradicting God's Word at every turn, but you don't hear them just refuting God in their teaching.

34:49

You'll also see them living lavish lifestyles.

34:55

You'll see the prophet of these churches robbing from God's people, not only their souls, but if you drive to the parking lot of many of these

35:05

Word of Faith churches, as an example of false prophets, if you go to their parking lots, what do you see?

35:12

You see the common person in the congregation driving up in beat -up or old cars while the pastor rolls up in his

35:20

Rolls Royce. God's blessing him. And what do they tell people?

35:25

They say, well, if you would sow your money into my ministry, if you sow it into my ministry,

35:31

God will bless it, and He'll give it back to you tenfold. And, well, you're still broke? You're getting foreclosed on?

35:39

Your electric's getting shut off? Here's the problem. It's your lack of faith. You just don't trust

35:44

God enough. What you need to do is sow another seed, right? And so that you can show

35:51

God that you trust Him more. And they take, and they take, and they take, and they exhaust people, and they destroy, destroy their souls.

36:02

I was, years and years ago, I had a friend named Charlie.

36:08

He was the son of a Mormon prophet. He had over a hundred brothers and sisters.

36:16

His father had something like, what was it? Was it 20 wives? You can actually hear about them in the news today.

36:22

There's actually been a lot of talk about the Kingston clan going on. Well, this was

36:27

Charlie Kingston, my good friend. He got diagnosed one day. It just happened at his seat at work.

36:33

He was before his computer screen, and then he just dropped. I got a phone call, as I often do.

36:41

There's an emergency, Pastor Jeff, please get to the hospital. And so, dropped everything, and I ran to the hospital, not knowing what's going on.

36:48

And they discovered inside Charlie's head, 20 tumors in his brain, like that.

36:54

Never knew it was there, never had any issues, no symptoms, just 20 tumors right there in his head.

37:02

And he died, I think it was about eight months later, but was, well, was really powerful.

37:09

It was about two weeks before Charlie went to be with the Lord. We were in a place where we were preparing

37:15

Charlie for his Savior. We're preparing Charlie to meet the Lord, and he was experiencing a lot of peace.

37:21

He looked awful. He looked like a mess. He liked to joke about it. His head was bald, and he looked emaciated, and he was, he was sick looking, and tired, and, you know, we're trying to be an encouragement to him, and just really get him ready to be in the presence of his

37:35

Savior. He was in a place where he was good. He was really, he was doing all right. He was as all right as you can when you have to say goodbye to your family, and you're dying of cancer.

37:45

Well, I get a phone call on a Saturday, about two weeks before he died, and this phone call, it's his wife.

37:52

She's like, Pastor Jeff, you got to get over to the house right now. We're hurting right now. Charlie's crying.

37:58

You got to come over. And so I went over to see what was going on, and what did I discover? After all the work we had poured into Charlie to get him ready to meet his

38:07

Savior, to have him experience peace, peace in the midst of this awful trial,

38:13

I get to the house, and what had happened was, a woman had come to his house that's from one of these local

38:20

Word of Faith churches, and she comes to his door uninvited, because she knows him, and she says,

38:27

Charlie, I came over because God told me to come. God told me to come over and tell you this.

38:34

Here's what God told me to tell you. The reason you're dying of cancer, and you have tumors in your head right now, the reason you haven't been healed is because you are lacking faith, because you don't believe

38:47

God for a miracle. You're not trusting God. If you would just believe God, and you just trust God, you wouldn't have tumors in your head right now.

38:55

You'd be healed. You know what? Not only that, you'd be on your way to health and happiness and wealth.

39:02

So what's wrong right now, Charlie, is there's probably some sin in your life, and if you would just start trusting God, then you'd be healed of your brain cancer.

39:09

So I had to spend, obviously, the next week deconstructing all of that nonsense and pouring into his life the truths about God who is sovereign even in the midst of a fallen, broken world, and the fact that God causes all things to work together for good, including 20 tumors in your head.

39:35

And I had to try to undo all the damage caused by this movement of false prophets.

39:42

What's amazing is you look at their lives. Look at many of the people today that we would call wolves in sheep's clothing.

39:49

Look at men like Joel Osteen. You look at his lifestyle.

39:54

You look at his home. You look at what he receives for his ministry.

40:02

You look at the size of his home and his pools and his cars and all that he has, and you ask the question, how much does that suit cost?

40:13

How much is that home? What about these suffering people? What about the people in your church whose water is being shut off?

40:23

What about the people in your church who need an extra car for their family? What about the people in your church who are suffering and they need help with their medical bills?

40:32

What about the people in your church that don't live in houses like you? Now, I'm not saying, watch, that your pastor ought to be broke living in a box.

40:42

I am saying that you can identify what people's motivations are based upon what you see as a consistent practice of their life.

40:51

Take from the people of God. Take from the people of God. Capitalize upon their desire to know

40:56

God and please God. And how do you do it? You pay me, and God will bless you.

41:02

You look at men like Creflo Dollar today, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn. You look at a man like Benny Hinn today who's on television just wrecking

41:12

Scripture and destroying people's lives, and people say, he's a really nice guy. Yeah, he seems like a super sweet guy.

41:19

He's also a man that told people that Jesus was going to appear stage with him in Africa.

41:26

He said, I prophesy that Jesus Christ will be, and he says at this event coming up soon, he's going to appear.

41:32

He said physically he's going to appear. And then the event came and the event went.

41:40

And people go, oh well, let's move on with our lives. False prophecy, but hey, nobody's perfect, right?

41:46

Here's what we miss, right? Here's what we miss. False prophets like Benny Hinn who prophesy lies in God's name, who say he says when he didn't say.

41:56

When prophets like that actually say these things, there's collateral damage.

42:05

You know what people didn't talk about after Benny Hinn's false prophecy? He said

42:10

Jesus is going to appear with me in Africa. You know what people didn't talk about? They didn't talk about the fact that as word got out that Benny Hinn says that Jesus is going to appear on the stage with him.

42:21

As word got out, these people in Africa actually took people out of the intensive care units to go and meet

42:32

Jesus, to be touched by him and be healed. And as a result of people coming out of the intensive care units to go and meet

42:39

Jesus, which is promised by Benny Hinn on stage, some of these people died because of a false prophet's lies.

42:50

They are ravenous wolves, Jesus says.

42:56

And you can go down the line. You look at men like Joseph Smith, prophet and founder of Mormonism.

43:03

Read a book. It's called No Man Knows My History by Fawn Brody, and it gives you insight into the life and times of a false prophet in America.

43:14

Gives you insight into his arrest records. Gives you insight into his unbiblical practices.

43:22

Like in 1826 in Bainbridge, New York, he was arrested for crystal ball gazing, which is a pagan practice condemned in Deuteronomy chapter 18.

43:32

Gives you insight into the fact that he was practicing polygamy before it was actually marriage, before he had actually gotten the revelation.

43:41

He was sleeping with other women. And then after he was essentially found out, he got a revelation from God.

43:50

Polygamy is to be practiced now by everybody. And then he had an extra revelation from God to his wife, where God had a message for his wife and said, if you don't receive polygamy, then you will be damned to hell forever.

44:04

Isn't that convenient? It's amazing. But this is what false prophets do.

44:09

And what Jesus says ultimately, listen, is he says this. This is big.

44:15

He says, you will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistle?

44:24

So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a diseased tree bear good fruit.

44:32

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

44:39

And what Jesus does here is what the Bible does in a number of places. And this is where we can actually connect.

44:44

Because you might be thinking right now, and you're probably right, I'm not a false prophet. Okay, granted.

44:53

But what Jesus actually identifies here is the source. What he says is this, look, bad trees don't bear good fruit.

45:02

Good trees bear good fruit and a diseased root can't produce any good fruit.

45:09

And so here's how you know it's based upon what they produce. That's how you do it. So you don't base it, watch, this is big, don't base it upon their profession.

45:22

Do you get it? That's not how you know somebody is ultimately a Christian. That's not how you know they're a believer.

45:29

You don't know I'm a believer just because of what I say. Yes, you're supposed to take what I say and line it up with scripture and say, does it match up?

45:37

And if it doesn't, that's testimony to my error or anyone's error. But you know what God says?

45:43

Here's how you know it's based upon what you see. Listen, the cause in all of our lives of any brokenness and failure and sin, anything comes from the root.

45:58

Now watch, this is the beauty of the gospel. If you're in Jesus Christ, if you've trusted in him by faith, you come to him empty, you come to him with nothing, you're just a sinner who has nothing to offer

46:09

God. Watch, he saves you, he redeems you, he indwells you, he makes you alive.

46:17

You know what he does? He makes you into a good tree. Which means, listen, if in my life, my life is just described by nothing but rotten fruit, all you see is disgusting, diseased, rotten fruit, then watch, watch, it's testimony to the root.

46:44

And so watch, we point at the false prophets and we say ravenous wolves, they're just pretending, they're fakes, and yeah, you gotta look at their fruit, what they produce, and that's how you'll know by their fruits.

46:55

But the truth is, is look, this applies to all of us. If I'm in Christ, then watch, it's not perfection.

47:02

Jesus is the only perfect one. Amen? You're gonna blow it. And listen, you're gonna be in a war with your sin and your brokenness, and you're gonna need to heal, you're gonna be sanctified your whole life in Jesus.

47:12

So watch, this is not Jesus teaching perfectionism, it's Jesus being real with the source of our greatest problem, our sin.

47:23

So watch, here's the application for us now, for you and I. Oh, let me do it this way and then we'll go do our baptisms.

47:33

When I was at Calvary, when I was at the hospital, my heart was broken one time, pretty immensely, for a man who came in.

47:46

I'm in Calvary in the group room and I'm preaching one night to a room full of drug addicts, and this guy comes up to me after I preached the gospel 100 proof that night.

47:59

He comes up to me after and he's in tears, and he identifies himself to me and he says,

48:04

Pastor Jeff, I'm a pastor at such and such church.

48:12

I was like, okay. He says, for the first time in my life, and then he just started sobbing.

48:19

He said, for the first time in my life, I'm actually questioning whether I'm the false prophet.

48:27

I said, what do you mean? He said, my whole life has just been an absolute fake.

48:35

He said, I have engaged in this practice, and this practice, and this practice. It's all been behind closed doors, and I've been lying, and doing this, and stealing, and drinking, and doing all these things.

48:45

All the while, I have this external, I'm a believer, I'm a pastor, I'm this, and that's what

48:51

I put out. But the whole time, my whole life, I have just been pretending, and if you look at my life, he said, my whole life is expressed by this, and this, and this.

49:01

He starts listing the bad fruits. It was this one time in his life where he actually was introspective, and he said, do

49:10

I even look like that tree that Jesus describes there? Is my life just a life of bad fruit?

49:19

If someone came and plucked something, would it be diseased? What's my life identified by?

49:28

Is it a diseased tree and root, or is it a healthy tree, a good tree that produces good fruit?

49:34

So here's the thing. If we have turned to Jesus Christ, and we trust in him, and we're made alive in him, then that means, watch, because of the

49:42

Spirit of God, because of his presence, our lives will be marked by new, beautiful fruits.

49:51

If your life is, Jesus says it, watch, he says it, and this is powerful, he says, if your life is marked by the bad fruit, he says, then it's a bad tree, and he says, then every tree that's bad gets thrown into the fire.

50:10

He does that a lot, actually. People, I think, maybe don't know at times, if they're not familiar with the

50:16

Bible, that Jesus actually spoke more about hell than he ever did about heaven, because love actually does the hard work of actually telling people the truth, and not simply placating to their sensitivities or their emotions.

50:32

He actually loves people enough to say, this is the truth, that's not, come to me for life.

50:40

He does the stuff that you and I don't want to do, and I want to confess it, I'll just say it. I don't like the looking at myself and saying, what am

50:47

I doing wrong? How am I falling short? How am I failing as a husband, and as a father, as a pastor?

50:54

Nobody likes to look at themselves constantly and say, where am I falling short? But Jesus does the loving thing, and he says, look, look at your fruit.

51:05

What is your tree producing right now? What is it? Is it bad fruit, good fruit? What identifies your life?

51:12

Is it a good tree or bad tree? Because bad trees don't do the good fruit thing. They just don't.

51:19

And so, what identifies these false prophets is their fruit.

51:25

And watch, this is big, right? Jesus says, I will say to you, depart from me.

51:31

I never knew you. You never had a relationship. So those of you, watch, who have been abused by people who say you can lose your salvation, you cannot.

51:40

And they've gone to this text to say, look, Jesus says people will come to him and say, I never knew you. Well, he never knew them.

51:47

They didn't lose their salvation. They never had it. But Jesus says, I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness.

51:55

And watch, this is the big part now. This is the big finish. Then Jesus, after talking about all of this, he says, narrow path, wide path, broad path, life, death, false prophets, good tree, good fruit, bad tree, bad fruit, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

52:13

He then says, what? There are two kinds of people. A wise of fool on two foundations.

52:23

A rock and sand and two destinations. One weathers the storm and one ends in desolation.

52:31

And Jesus says, just like Deuteronomy 13, the answer as to how you'll weather the storm and make it through is whether or not you build your life upon the rock.

52:44

Jesus has the authority. You build your life upon the rock. What false prophets don't do is build their life upon the rock of God's word.

52:53

They don't look to his word. They don't rest on his word. And Jesus is calling all of us at every turn of our lives to look back to him as the source and to stand on him as a firm foundation.

53:05

You want to be protected and guarded from false teaching and false prophets, from things that are not true?

53:11

Then Jesus says, you build your life upon me, my word, my commandments.

53:18

And that is the safety of our lives. And brothers and sisters, that's where our peace will be found.

53:25

Amen? Let's pray. Father, I pray that you'd bless the message that went out today. I pray that you would use it to protect us,

53:32

Lord, to firm up our commitments to your word. God, bless your people in this room.

53:38

Give to us a love for one another. Give to us a love for your word and a commitment to it.

53:46

I pray right now, God, that as we've talked, Lord Jesus, about a good tree and good fruit and bad tree, bad fruit,

53:53

I pray that you would set that truth into the hearts and minds of your people today.

54:01

Allow us to actually take our guards down and to be honest with ourselves.

54:09

I pray for those that struggle with their sin and long to be like you and long to know you deeply.

54:22

I pray that you would comfort them with your grace, knowing that Jesus is enough, that he's accomplished salvation, that the gift is free, and that it is through faith in him.

54:33

And I pray for those who have never truly actually looked inside to actually say, is my profession real?

54:43

I pray to God you would, Lord, in this moment allow them to see.

54:49

Comfort those who trust you. Convict those who need to. In Jesus' name, amen.