Wolves in the Wool

Well, this morning we find ourselves back in Matthew 7 as we press toward the end of the

Sermon on the Mount as a whole, and of course, as we began chapter seven, we saw this larger structure of two ways, now turning toward two prophets, and we'll see two types of trees, fruits and roots next week, and then two foundations on which to build.

And so, all of chapter seven is this call to respond to what Jesus has been laying out.

From the very beginning, Jesus has been laying out this call to the righteousness of the kingdom.

This righteousness that he's described from the very beginning in chapter five through the Beatitudes, a righteousness that clarifies, and in some ways, intensifies what the law of God means.

That kingdom righteousness that is not merely external, not merely extrinsic, but internal, intrinsic.

It's an inward dimension of one's life before God and toward others. This is kingdom righteousness.

This is the righteousness that Christ has purchased for his people, and without this righteousness, we will not be able to enter the kingdom or receive eternal life, and so Jesus is calling for those who have ears to hear and to respond.

Those who respond will be those who hear and enter by the narrow gate, and go on that difficult way that so few find.

Those that hear will be those that have heard the word of righteousness. Though it's often off -putting, and to those who are perishing, it's a stench of death, but nevertheless, they abide by that word.

It's the word of truth, God's own word, and they not only hear that word, they do that word, and in doing that word, they're building their lives upon the rock.

They're building their hope upon the rock. They're putting all that they have, all their trust, all their hope, all their security, they're putting that all upon the rock who is

Christ, and building on that rock when the storms come, trials in life, snares and temptations, or even the great judgment at the end of it all, that building, that life, that commitment won't collapse.

It will endure even unto eternity, and so this is really the flow of Matthew chapter seven.

Now, as I'm looking at verses 15 through 20, which I'll read in a moment, I simply wanna highlight verse 15 this morning, but I'm wanting to read 15 through 20 because it's all together as a whole, right?

We begin in verse 15, beware of false prophets, and then verse 20, by their fruits you will know them, and so we're holding together the false prophets.

They're at issue between verses 15 and 20, but he goes into this whole discourse of two types of trees, the difference between a good root that leads to good fruit and a bad root, or a diseased root that leads to bad fruit, and we wanna spend some time elaborating on that because it goes even beyond the teaching of false prophets or false teachers and really corresponds to a way to understand our lives as a whole.

Jesus uses this language of trees and seeds and fruits and roots elsewhere throughout the gospel, so we wanna give some attention to that next week, but again, this is all in the immediate context, part of Jesus' warning against false teachers.

Matthew seven, beginning in verse 15. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down, thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.

Jesus has just left this call to enter by the narrow gate and persevere on the narrow way that is so difficult, many lose heart and turn back, if any even find it to begin with.

There are few on this narrow path. Now, we've gone from the discourse in verses 13 and 14 of these two ways to now have the contrast between those who are true prophets and false prophets.

Why is this important? How does this connect to what we've just read in weeks past? Well, false prophets, and we'll have to establish this from 2

Peter 2, verse one, but false prophets are false teachers. False prophets, of course, are a category within the

Old Testament when prophecy is active in unique ways. This is the way that God is revealing his will, making known his will to his people, but in the

New Testament, as we'll see in 2 Peter 2, 1, false prophets are false teachers and false teachers are false prophets.

Prophesying, even being in the modern period of English, a way of talking about preaching or teaching.

William Perkins, the father of the Puritans, wrote The Art of Prophesying. It's a book on homiletics, a book on preaching.

But false prophets are false teachers. False teachers are false prophets. Why is Jesus warning about false prophets?

What does that have to do with the Broadway and the narrow way? Well, this. False prophets, to the degree that their teaching is received and their example is followed, move people to abandon the narrow way and walk down the

Broadway that leads to destruction. That's the connection. Jesus is saying, enter by the narrow gate.

There's not many who find it, but you need to persevere in that narrow and difficult way. How are you gonna do that?

Well, Jesus is gonna tell us here, beware of false prophets. In other words, you will not enter the narrow gate and you will not endure, you will not persevere on that difficult way if you're giving your ear and lending your life to false teaching.

So the immediate place he goes to is beware of false prophets. Beware of false teachers.

Don't give your ear to them. Don't mimic their example. Don't order or pattern your life after them.

To the degree that you're receiving their teaching, that corrupt doctrine, that corrupt practice will put you on the broad path that leads to destruction.

So Jesus is warning us, beware. Watch out. Have an eye for this.

Don't be caught off guard. Be vigilant, be sober -minded. Beware of false prophets.

Here's the problem, as he goes on to say, they're not as obvious as you would want them to be. They sidle up right next to you.

They talk just like you talk. They seem to act just like you act. They seem to want the things that you want.

They're wearing the wool, but they're wolves in the wool. They're not sheep, they're merely wolves in the clothing of sheep.

Inwardly, they're ravenous wolves. And so that is the danger of false prophets, of false teachers.

They're a danger because they appear as genuine sheep. They often know how to talk the talk. They know how to play the part.

But the inward reality is not as things appear. Inwardly, they are ravenous wolves.

In other words, wolves that are so desperate, so starving, they're almost mad with hunger. The idea is they're willing to take risks if they can get the reward.

They're willing to put themselves out there. They're willing to risk the shepherd's staff, the biting sheep.

They'll do whatever it takes to destroy the flock. That's a ravenous wolf. It's likely, of course, that in the immediate context,

Jesus is referring to the leaders of his day. They've been in the bullseye ever since we began the Sermon on the Mount.

The scribes, the experts in the law, the Pharisees, by extension, the Sadducees. We can see that in terms of the mantle of religious leadership, the mantle of religious instruction was upon these men.

And as they're often decried as false prophets in the Old Testament language, Jesus is saying they're false prophets, beware of them.

As they seek to lead you in the Word, don't be led astray. Don't listen to their messages when they deny me in their synagogues, when they reject my kingdom righteousness in the marketplace.

And so this is by extension, not just the false prophets of Jesus' day, but it's true throughout the

New Testament period down to our own day and beyond. As we'll see in a few passages, we could spend the rest of the day looking at passages.

The New Testament is chock full of warnings and dealings with false teachers. So the application stands true to this day.

There are those who teach what is true, to receive their instruction, to pattern your life after their example is to endure on the narrow way, but there are those who teach what is false.

And to receive their teaching and to pattern your life after their example is to walk on the broad way that leads to destruction.

And Jesus says, beware of false prophets. Now notice false prophets come in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

Jesus again is returning to this theme of the inward reality. We're reminded from chapter six that others might gravitate toward the hypocrites that love the best places, the best greetings.

They love all the flash, all the show. They parade around a certain self -righteousness.

Jesus says, no, God looks at that, He despises it. He sees what's inward. That's kingdom righteousness.

That's what it means to belong to God. So He's concerned about that which is within, not that which is apparent or external.

False teachers know how to so camouflage or ordain themselves to meet what is external, to meet with the eyes or the senses.

What they lack is what is inward. That's gonna carry into next week when we look at roots and fruits.

The false prophets are like the hypocrites. What they are inside is very different from what they are outside.

This stands against everything that Jesus has warned about, a righteousness that exceeds the scribes and the

Pharisees, without which no one will see the Lord. So we're called to beware.

And this morning, I wanna just, since we're gonna be here for next week as well, I just wanna look at three characteristics that we ought to beware.

Three characteristics of false prophets, of false teachers, and what those characteristics mean for us if we would be on guard, if we would endure on the narrow path.

So here's the first characteristic of a false prophet, of a false teacher. A false prophet does not fear

God. A false prophet does not fear God.

Matthew, later on in chapter 10, says this. This is the Lord Jesus, of course, speaking.

Matthew 10, 27 and following. Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light.

What you hear in the ear, preach in the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear

Him, that is God, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin and not one of them falls to the ground apart from your

Father's will? But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, therefore. You are of more value than many sparrows.

Now, right off the bat, and we'll see this again in another moment, you have fear God and then don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid of men that reject your word when your word is the things that you're receiving from me.

If I tell it to you in the dark, you proclaim it in the light. If I whisper it in the secrecy of your room, in your ear, you go out on the housetop.

And don't be afraid of the men that reject it or threaten against it or bite or resist. Don't be afraid of them, but rather have a greater fear.

Have a fear of the one who cannot just kill or harm the body, who can chain the word of God, but who can destroy both body and soul in hell.

Fear Him, but be reminded of who He is. He's the one whose eyes on the sparrow.

He's numbered the very hairs of your head, so don't be afraid. So fear

Him, but don't be afraid. That means we have to think through what it means to actually be God -fearing. We're called not to fear the one that we call

Father who provides for us day by day, even as He provides for the sparrows, but we are to fear

Him in a certain way. Meaning that our fear for Him overrides even threats of death, because we have a greater fear.

It was the fear of Martin Luther with the mighty fortress is our God, right? The body they may kill,

God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. The body is the least of my concerns.

The truth must abide. My body's grass, I'm decaying anyway. All flesh is grass.

The word of God abides forever. That was the insight of the reformers. So do to us what you must, but here we stand, we can do no other.

It doesn't matter if men threaten. It doesn't matter if the apostles are commanded. You may go free, but you better stop preaching

Jesus. Say, hey, you can judge between you and God on that. We're not gonna stop preaching about Jesus.

You do what you have to do. That was the original first century, you do you. We're gonna do us.

We're gonna keep preaching Jesus. Notice also this connection between speaking what is true and fearing

God. What's the kind of man or woman that will hear in the dark and speak in the light, hear in secret and proclaim openly?

It's the kind of man or woman that fears God. Now the

Bible, of course, gives many descriptions about what it means to have this fear of God. As we can see, even in this passage, we're not talking about a base dread of God.

We're not talking about something that causes us to run and hide like Adam in the Garden of Eden.

It's not a terror, because again, he's our heavenly father. We know him, we find our security in him.

So the idea here is not terror, but rather reverence, the kind of fear that causes you to straighten out a little bit.

It's a holy fear. A reverential fear, a paternal fear. If you've read

Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, when he comes into the House of Interpreter and he describes seeing this portrait, almost certainly the likeness of the minister in Bedford that he was converted under, and it's just this grave, stern portrait.

And he's describing it in a way that seems he's very afraid and almost trembling under it, but he's actually talking about the reverence, the respect, the admiration he had for that man of God.

To see even the portrait of him sort of caused him to straighten up, because he remembered the impact, the efficacy of his life.

You see the same thing in Matthew 10 in a nutshell in Exodus 20. Verse 20, Moses says to the people, do not fear, don't be afraid, don't fear.

God has come to test you so that his fear may be before you, so that you won't sin. So don't be afraid, but walk in fear.

He wants his fear to be in front of you. He wants you to walk in that fear. So it's not the I'm afraid of terror, but the

I'm straightening out out of reverence. It's a holy trembling. A false prophet does not have this holy trembling.

The fear of man looms large in the conscience, in the heart of the false prophet.

That's all he lives for. It's all he works for. It's what his labors are all for. It's for that influence.

It's for that reward of gaining men's ears and piling up followers and all the things that come with that, the prestige, the influence, the platform, the reputation, the luxury.

False prophet fears losing those things, is willing to do anything to gain those things.

The one thing the false prophet is not willing to do is to fear God in a way that all of that, all of that is potentially lost.

It doesn't matter. I'll fear you whether I'm at the second part of the throne or if I'm in the dungeon.

I fear you. I revere you. Think of all the times

Jesus says to his disciples things like, do not be afraid. Why did you fear? Fear not. Those things are very obvious to us.

We're meant to take comfort. We're meant to know God as our Father in heaven. But that should fill us with a filial fear.

He's our Father in heaven who knows all things and sees all things.

If that causes you to loosen rather than straighten, I would argue you probably have not understood the fear of God rightly.

In years past, we define the fear of God in this way. The fear of God is revering God, rooted in knowing

God, resulting in obeying God. I think that's a very helpful definition.

It speaks to both the what and the how. It speaks to both what it is and how it operates.

It's the fear of reverence, but that comes from an actual knowledge, an acquaintance, an intimacy.

We know God. And the result, the fruit of that is we obey him because we know him. And we fear him because we know him.

The most basic sense, again, is reverence, a sense of his holiness, his worthiness, the awe of his majesty, the urgency to be upright in his sight, to have his face shine upon us so that we might be saved.

As the Puritans would say, Beaky is fond of always repeating this, to so live our lives that the smile of God means more to us than all the frowns of men.

And the frown of God means more to us than all the smiles of men. That is something that a false prophet cannot abide by.

He lives for the smiles of men. He tickles ears because he wants the applause. He's not ready to preach in and out of season.

Everything must be in season, must be relevant, must be so wonderful that you're cheerleading on the way that leads to destruction.

As long as they get the prestige and the reward along the way, they're very happy to see you go headlong on the

Broadway, but not the true prophet. If you read the Old Testament, you see that the true prophets were often lonely.

They didn't have great ranks. In the times of evil, especially when evil rulers were in the land, the prophets were often persecuted, hunted.

They weren't a minority. Now, of course, the Lord has 10 ,000. That won't bend the knee to Baal, but you get the idea that they were salmon swimming against a stream.

And so it always is with the truth of God's Word. So the idea is if we're growing in the knowledge of God, it's because we're receiving this

Word of Truth, this Word of righteousness. And if our growth in that Word of Truth is not a growth in reverential, paternal, filial fear, then we have to question whether that Word is actually true, living, active, abiding in us.

To grow in holiness means to grow in this fear of God. People become very small. God gets bigger and bigger.

We must decrease. He must increase. That's the heart of the true prophet. Good. Even if the cities lie in ruin.

What's a true prophet? Send me, Lord, I'll go. Yeah, you will go. And you'll go on preaching and no one's gonna hear you and every building is gonna be collapsed.

And don't stop prophesying. What could sustain a ministry like that? A fear of God.

No wonder God gives as a prelude to that prophetic calling this throne room encounter in Isaiah 6.

It's the vision of Him that now it's like I must go. Send me so I can go.

And whatever happens to me or to the nation, it doesn't matter. I've seen you and I know you and I have a fear of you.

It overrides it all. It's Jeremiah in the dungeon. You can burn the scroll. You can do what you must.

He's got a fire in his soul that can't be extinguished. He must preach the Word of God. That's born again out of this fear which is born out of a knowledge.

The result is always obedience. If we're growing in this knowledge, people become very small.

God becomes larger and larger. I've already alluded to the story of Joseph.

Far from his family in a pagan land, sold into slavery, but through a lot of tack and effort and integrity as well as God's providential blessing, he makes it all the way up under Potiphar to be, as a servant, sort of a secondary master in the house.

And when Potiphar's wife tried to snare him, he could have easily rested on his laurels and said,

I'm a self -made man. Or I can sit on the couch, but I'm only gonna let it go so far. But instead, he had a fear of God.

And so though no one else could see and no one else would ever know, I'm sure Potiphar's wife would see to that. In Genesis 39, 9, we read, how could

I do this great evil and sin against God? That's just something that doesn't exist in the false prophets' computation.

It doesn't work that way. It's all cause and effect at a horizontal level. It's why when

J .I. Packer was asked, who's the best preacher today? Packer said, we don't know him.

Because of course, we look to the flash, we look to the parade, we look to what is external. God knows inwardly.

And somewhere, surely, there is a minister who is preaching to an audience of one.

Just like Isaiah was prophesying to an audience of one. Everyone else was closing up their ears. But Isaiah was doing it out of a fear of God, out of a love for God, out of a love for the truth of God's word.

That is the one who fears God. That is the one who knows God. That is the one who pleases God. How could

I do this great evil and sin against God? How could I fail to follow through with what God has shown me?

I love God, I love His word. That is the fear of God. Psalm 36, beginning in verse one, in Oracle, David says, within my heart, concerning the transgression of the wicked, there is no fear of God in his eyes.

He flatters himself in his own eyes when he finds out his iniquity and when he hates.

He flatters himself. It's not that bad. He says, here's the transgression of the wicked.

This is David speaking. Notice what is the umbrella for everything that follows.

The umbrella is this. There is no fear of God. There's no fear of God. Now, what does that look like?

He flatters himself in his own eyes. I'm better than most people I know. What does that flattery look like?

When he finds out his iniquity, he flatters himself. It's not that bad. No, you just don't understand the context. No, no, no, no, it's nothing like what you would think.

When he hates, he flatters himself. It's not really hate. It's not really hate. No, not at all.

No, no, no, you're misunderstanding it. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit.

This is a false prophet. This is a false teacher. The words of the mouth, wickedness, deceit.

He ceased to be wise and to do good. He devises wickedness on his bed. He sets himself in a way that it's not good.

He does not abort evil. Do you see the consequences of lacking this fear of God? If we do the reverse of that, the one who fears

God despises evil, abhors it. He sets himself on the way that is good.

It's a narrow way, difficult. No one else is gonna cheerlead him on. In his bed, he meditates like a watchman in the night.

In the midnight hour, he rises to be with his God rather than being on his bed devising wickedness. I wanna be able to do this and I'm gonna go do that and I need to navigate this.

What comes out of his mouth? What's the overflow of his heart? Not wickedness, not deceit. It's a wellspring of life, a fountain that leads to life.

Words measured and balanced, sweetened with grace and charity. Kindness is the law under his tongue.

He doesn't flatter himself in his own eyes. He cries like David, be merciful to me.

I'm a sinner. I'm the chief of sinners. That was

Paul. It's one of the ways he was able to minister to the flock so faithfully.

I'm the chief of sinners. Let me remind you of my testimony. I'm not flattering myself.

In fact, because I refuse to flatter myself, I do one thing. I glorify my

Savior who saved even a wretch like me. And brothers and sisters, you may not be in a position of teacher.

You might be tempted to just sort of tune out this morning. Good thing I'm not a teacher.

I'm supposed to be aware of false teachers. I'll tune in when there's something applicable here but I don't have to understand what being a true teacher you know, all these things apply to being a true prophet.

You may not be in a position of a teacher. That does not mean you will not feel the pressure of opposition or the impact of fearing man.

You see, the fear of God is for all of God's people. And it's the pressure of opposition.

It's the pressure to fear man rather than God that is the mark of a false prophet.

Smooth words, flattering words, words easy to hear. To fear the

Lord, of course, is not the only mark of the true prophet of God.

Walking in the fear of the Lord is something for all of God's people and false prophets do not fear God. But secondly, and perhaps most significantly, most obviously, false prophets teach false knowledge.

They're false for a reason. They're wrong. They don't teach what accords with sound doctrine.

Their life doesn't match what accords with sound doctrine. False prophets teach false knowledge. Again, I wanted to start with the fear of God because if you lack the fear of God, all the false ways flow out of that, even as Psalm 36 holds out.

False prophets teach false knowledge. And that begins by not having a right understanding, a right knowledge, a right orientation to God.

Lacking that fear, that reverence, that knowing of God leads to the disobedience in doctrine, in practice.

That's why false prophets teach false knowledge. 1 Timothy 6, verse 20. Oh, Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust.

It's the same language of Jesus. Beware, be on guard, look out. Timothy, guard what was committed to you, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.

It's false knowledge. By professing it, by teaching it, by repeating it, some have strayed concerning the faith.

So just like Jesus is saying to us, Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy, beware. Don't get caught up.

Not every conversation is a worthwhile conversation. Not every academic venture is a worthwhile academic venture.

Don't get caught up with profane and idle babblings. Don't delve into the things that contradict what is true.

These things are called truth, called knowledge, but that's false truth, that's false knowledge. False teachers, false prophets teach false knowledge.

So notice that it's not the obvious error, it's not the obvious heresy.

Just like the false teacher is clothed in wool as a wolf, so the teaching may appear to be light.

It might be called knowledge. It might be called the gospel when it's everything but. And even the

Galatians can be bewitched by what appears to be the gospel or a deeper mystery of the faith.

So Paul says avoid profane and idle babbling. He would describe it in ways of those who are ever learning, ever learning.

The books and the podcasts and the blogs pile up, ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Because they're giving themselves over to idle babblings, profane contradiction. It's false knowledge.

Again, it masquerades as something true, as something profound.

But Paul says it's false. And it won't be transparent. It's not gonna be avoiding the profane babbling of some liberal commentator on NPR.

In the immediate context of Paul's concern, he's concerned about Judaizing theology. That's a through line for much of the

New Testament, of course. What is this false knowledge? It's knowledge that is false about God.

It's ungodly knowledge about God. It's not sound, it's diseased.

It might be true with respect to one point or one proof text, but it falls short of actually holding together all that God has made known.

It doesn't stand up against the whole counsel of God's will. And heretics love their proof texts.

They love having one or two verses that they can do the game of cups with. False knowledge is, of course, as we'll see more next week, false knowledge of God is knowledge that has no fruit, or at least has bad fruit.

So not knowing God rightly will lead you in one of two conditions. It will either be fruitless or bad fruit.

You could say perhaps bad fruit in due time, but it begins with lacking good fruit, fruitless. Too many

Christians read false knowledge here or hear false knowledge here and say, whew, good thing

I'm not an elder. Good thing I don't need to grow in the knowledge of God's word. Big mistake.

God's people perish for lack of knowledge. Of course, there's an import on those who he's entrusted to teach the word of righteousness.

Of course, he gives as gifts in Ephesians 4, those who will be able to preach and teach and minister the word of God.

But God's people have a responsibility to attend to that word and to study it and pursue it as Bereans did for themselves.

Even Paul goes and he preaches to the Bereans, and he's preaching the very gospel that he said if an angel comes and says something other, disregard that angel.

This is how absolutely sure I am of the gospel of God. If I come back to you and say I changed my mind, get rid of me.

Nothing will throw me off from the absolute cement surety of what the gospel is.

And when he teaches that gospel to the Bereans, what do the Bereans do? Luke says, daily they looked at the scriptures to see if what he said was true.

That's a pretty persuasive case, Apostle Paul. I'm gonna need a couple of days to look at my

Bible and see if what you're saying is true. You see, that's the kind of insight that keeps us going on this narrow path.

I don't wanna perish for lack of knowledge. I need to keep watch and guard against what is false knowledge, and I'll only know it's false knowledge if I'm attending to what is true.

You can't know the counterfeit if you don't know the truth. So if you think, isn't it nice?

I don't have to study anything. Isn't it nice to just go on Sunday and have an hour brain dump and be set on cruise control for the rest of the week?

Jesus is saying to you, beware. How do you know what I'm saying is true?

I would want you to be Bereans against everything I say too. In one of the most biting comments in his epistle,

James 2 .19, he says, you believe that there is one God, great. Even demons believe that.

And more than what you're doing, they shudder. It's not enough to have some aspects of the truth worked out.

To actually grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ means that we're attending to his word.

That's the only way we'll discern false ways from true ways, broad paths from the narrow path, you see. Satan masquerades as an angel of light.

We're gonna get there in 2 Corinthians. How are you going to know the difference? What will help you discern? If you don't know the word of God, you will be wholly ill -equipped, unequipped to do so.

Jonathan Edwards making this point in a way that perhaps only Jonathan Edwards can. He said, we can see from this.

That's James 2 .19. No amount of knowledge of God or religion can prove a person is saved from their sin.

There are Ivy League professors that know more about the manuscript traditions and syntax of the scriptures than in 19 lifetimes

I could ever learn. That does not mean that they're saved from their sin.

Has that knowledge amounted to salvation in their case? Surely not. No amount of knowledge of God or religion can prove a person has been saved from their sin.

A man can talk about the Bible, God, the intricacies of the Trinity. He could preach a sermon about Jesus and everything that Jesus has done.

Imagine, Edwards says, somebody might be able to speak about the way of salvation and the work of the

Spirit in the heart of a sinner, perhaps even enough to show one how to become a Christian. All these things might build up the church and even enlighten the world, but that is not a sure proof that that person has the saving grace of God in their heart.

He's ministering in the 18th century. They're dealing with these things all the time. Everyone's been catechized from their youth.

Who doesn't know the way that is right? Most of the people in Edwards' congregations would have known more of the scriptures and the confessions and catechisms than anyone here.

That was just the average layman. Edwards is saying, I hope you're not staking your eternal security on your knowledge.

That is no sure proof at all. It's do you actually believe? Demons understand what you understand.

They shudder. They're not able to believe and receive. So you must. I can think of no more harrowing thought than on judgment day, being received at last into the everlasting arms of the shepherd and turning to see one dragged away who had led me to Christ along the way.

But surely that will happen. I know young men that are apostates to this day that had led people to Christ about 15 years ago.

I can think of no more harrowing thought than that. You see how vital it is to attend to God's word.

If you would beware, you must study the scriptures. Now this doesn't mean you need to muster up within yourself that which you lack.

God is faithful. He gives different amounts to everyone, different gifts, different capacities.

We're all at different seasons and levels in our understanding. And certainly he gives gifts to the church to be able to aid in this holy task.

But we're all together called to be a people of the book. We're to pour over these words because these are the words of life.

We're to all in our own way, fitting that which God has given to us, the measure that we have received from him, we're to inhabit the heart of Psalm 119.

What does it look like to delight in the law in that way? What would it look like for you to fulfill Psalm 119 in your life this day?

If we would take heed, we must read. More is upon us because of the absolute availability of scripture now compared to any previous generation.

How many of you, every moment of your life outside of sleeping, have the scriptures in your pocket on your smartphone?

Something that through 18 centuries of the church could not even be imagined. And we have it so universally available to us that it's almost not even precious, it's mundane.

In the days of the reformers, when the printing press was brand new, to buy a bound printed volume would be like buying a brand new car.

That's how much it costs. Needless to say, the vast majority of people were unable to have their own copy of any book, much less

God's book. But books were printed and they were made with these really neat iron shackles and they were chained in certain halls in the cathedrals or in the parish churches.

And so the people could gather and if there was anyone literate among them or if the parish priest was there, the scriptures would be read.

And it would have been like Christmas morning to gather and actually look at the word of God and hear it and be able to turn it and see it.

And they poured into it and devoted themselves to it. And if you've read of the story of even how we get the scriptures into our own

English tongue and you read of Wycliffe in his heart that one day the boy that's carrying the plow would know more than the priest in the parish because he would have

God's own word in front of him or Tyndale, who as he's suffering and going around from dungeons as it were saying,

I know I'm going to be killed, I know I'm gonna be burnt at the stake, can you just get me a concordance so I can keep going? And then when he's being strangled right before they burn him to death, he's saying,

God, open the eyes of the King of England so that my Bible can collect dust, so that I can phone in more and more of the awesome privilege and weight of having access to the word of God.

And that won't be held against me. No, if we would heed, we must read.

The scriptures alone are able to make you wise for salvation. How can they hear unless one is sent?

Unless the word of God makes you then. The scriptures alone are able to make you wise for salvation. The scriptures alone are able to give you discernment so that you may rightly divide between truth and error.

The scriptures alone can shed light on the narrow path that will lead you not only to everlasting life, but through your life day by day.

For lack of the word, you will perish. Listen to J .C.

Ryle. What is the best safeguard against false teaching? Beyond all doubt, it is the study of God's word.

Again, as intimate as God is to us in meeting our daily needs, is how intimate he is to reveal his word to you.

You don't need to do all of these extracurricular courses and again, muster it up from within yourself.

You just need to have a heart of commitment and devotion to God. Open up your word to me. You'll be like the psalmist who said,

God, you have made me wiser than my teachers. You've revealed to me everything that I need from your word because I'm attending to it.

You may not know much. You may be unlearned, but you will learn. You will grow.

You will know more than your teachers. The man who reads it rightly will never err greatly.

Ryle says, it's the neglect of the Bible which makes so many a prey to the first false teacher whom they hear.

They would have us believe that they are not learned and so they can't weigh on these matters, but the plain truth is, they're often lazy and idle when it comes to reading

Scripture. They don't want to trouble themselves to think for themselves and nothing, nothing, nothing supplies false prophets with followers as much as this spiritual sloth which is always cloaked under humility.

Oh, I just, I'm a simple, I'm a simple man. Don't have time for that. Well, then you are prey to the wolf that wants to tear you apart.

And every wind of doctrine that comes will blow you off course. Do you see the importance of this?

Jesus says, beware. Jesus wouldn't be warning us if this wasn't a real problem, a real danger to our souls.

The prophets, of course, had the true word of God and they were disseminating that true word of God in the midst of all sorts of false prophecies, all sorts of false words, dreams and visions that did not come to pass, that dragged the people away to destruction.

And Jesus is saying, if you'll learn anything from that, hear my words, beware. Beware of false teachers.

How will you know false teaching? By knowing what is the true teaching, sound doctrine, patterning your life after that which is right and good, holy and just.

It's the faith once for all delivered. Look at 1

Peter 2. At the end of chapter one, of course, he's saying, this is how scripture came to be.

Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So here we have the inspiration of the word of God.

Holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. What's the contrast to that?

Immediately in the next verse, 2 verse one. There were also false prophets among the people even as there are false teachers among you.

Do you see how those are parallel? False prophets among them, false teachers among you. Same thing. And they secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the

Lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many follow their destructive ways.

Because of them, the way of truth is blasphemed. By covetousness, they exploit you with deceptive words.

In a long time, their judgment has not been idle. Their destruction will not sleep. So Peter is warning as Paul is warning as Jesus is warning.

Beware of false teachers. Many, he says, will follow their destructive ways just like many are on the way that leads to destruction.

Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 says false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

He calls them with a sort of cynical mockery, super apostles. Oh, you Corinthians love the super apostles.

I wish I could be a super apostle. Oh, unfortunately, I've been tortured and shipwrecked and chained.

I've been starving and naked all for this ministry of the word of God. If only I could be a super apostle.

It's this biting sarcasm. And now he's laying it out. You think you're so taken by the flash, by the parade.

You can't see the inward dimension. These are ravenous wolves. Satan himself transformed into an angel of light.

And so it's no great thing for a minister also to transform himself into a minister of righteousness, though his end will be their end.

You have to understand this is the opposition of the world, not just the flesh and not just the world, but the evil one who's the prince of the power of the air.

I am absolutely convinced Satan far prefers false teachers deceiving the flocks than people that have no regard for God or Christianity to begin with.

Far more damage, far more destruction is done by having false pulpits and false gospels, false preaching, errors and dragging and deception away.

Far more damage is done through that to the cause of truth and people who disregard the cause of truth to begin with.

Do you see how vital it is for us to understand the truth of God's word? And sadly, this is not just those churches out there.

It's not just the obvious health and wealth churches that fill soccer stadiums and say, if you give me enough money, you can get some blessing.

It's coming your way. It's not the obvious error. It's intimate, it's intimate, it's close.

We read in Ephesians 20 when Paul is about to depart from the elders at Ephesus.

And he's telling them, listen, I didn't shun or I didn't hold back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

That's really important, right? I've preached the word to you. I've led you to understand what

God's word says, the whole counsel of God. Therefore, beware, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the

Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood because I know this, after my departure, in other words, when

I leave this port and you're on your own again, savage wolves will come in among you and they won't spare this flock.

He's not saying it's likely. He's saying that with certainty. I know this. I think the Lord revealed that to him.

He says, listen, please don't forget, I pointed you to the whole counsel of God and now

I'm leaving and don't forget, the Holy Spirit made you overseers to this flock. Don't forget that. But I know that as soon as I leave, savage wolves are coming and this flock will not be spared.

And if that wasn't heavy enough to hear on these elders, he says in verse 30, even from among you, men will rise up and they'll say perverse things and draw away disciples after themselves.

It's the Judas moment of Acts chapter 20. Who could it be?

Who could it be, Lord? Who's gonna betray you? It's some from among you.

No, no, not me, not ever. And they all are weeping before Paul departs, clutching each other, weeping.

It could never be a wolf tearing apart the body. No, it could never be. Do you see?

Do you see? I don't think false teachers or false prophets are often fully conscious.

I don't think they stand in front of the mirror and say, and then I'm gonna keep saying this because pretty soon I'll be able to destroy this church.

I don't think any wolf thinks that way. I think they understand certain avenues that will get to the things they want most, the things that they prize, the idolatry of their own flesh, of their ego, of their reputation, of their platform, of their success.

So they're a ravenous wolf that really are completely convinced they're sheep.

And that's why Paul is weeping. And that's why the Ephesian elders are so confused. How could this possibly happen?

Well, let me tell you one way that it happens, one way that it could happen to us, one way that it could happen here at GRBC.

If we forget to keep the main thing the main thing. Paul Hebert puts it this way.

One generation believed the gospel, let's just say we're a singular generation and we have another generation in our midst.

I know Kenny had a birthday, we might have a third generation, but we'll leave that aside. Let's just say we're a generation established and we have a younger generation emerging in our midst.

Well, one generation believes the gospel. And in believing the gospel, we understand there's all sorts of entailments to the gospel, right?

There's economic entailments to the gospel. How are you working? How are you providing? What's your vision for life?

It's not easy in this economy. So what does your work mean in terms of your faith? What does your faith mean in terms of your work?

That's an entailment of the gospel or social relational entailments. How are we understanding our relationships both in and outside the body?

Or political entailments. What does it mean that Christ is Lord? What does it mean to have this doctrine of lesser magistrates?

These are all entailments of the gospel. One generation believes the gospel and is pursuing these entailments.

The next generation assumes the gospel. Oh yeah, yeah, we know that. And what becomes the main thing are these entailments themselves.

All right, so we hold the gospel and we're pursuing the entailments. And now the entailments are the main thing.

We just assume the gospel. We take it for granted. And what happens to that third generation? They deny the gospel.

The entailments have become everything. That is a nutshell of what theological

Protestant liberalism looks like. The entailments became everything. You actually lost the evangel.

You lost the main thing because you didn't keep it the main thing. There are a thousand churches in New England alone that in centuries past, if not in decades past, were centers, hotbeds of evangelical spirituality, of faithfulness to God's Word.

And they no longer exist. A brother spent several days purging the

NERF directory of churches that have gone MIA. Websites that don't exist, phone numbers that are disconnected, churches that just seem to vanish and disappear.

And that's happening all the time. And things change like that, very sadly. We're living in days of the famine of God's Word, but look around any common in New England.

The church buildings haven't disappeared. They just have walls in the pulpit and rainbow flags out front.

There are thousands of churches that have lost the gospel because they lost the main thing.

And the main thing is this. When a church or when a generation is clamoring for the flash or the parade, for the things that are noble and admirable, the things that puff up, the things that soothe ears and soothe egos and build platforms and reputations,

Paul comes to a church like that and says, I determined to do nothing among you but Christ and Him crucified. Is that shameful to you?

Is that detestable? Then go your way. We preach Christ and Him crucified.

That's the main thing. And when the main thing is the main thing, it becomes a test of everything.

Whatever else we have right, if we don't have that right, we don't have anything. Whatever else we have worked out, if we don't have the gospel worked out, we don't have anything.

Listen to Lloyd -Jones. We are put in places of daily defense of the gospel.

Our theme must ever be Christ and Him crucified. In other words, the message of the church and of the gospel is definite.

It's not vague. It's not some general generic exhortation to live a better life. It's not a bald appeal for morality.

It's not soothing words for a people or a nation which is experiencing difficulty.

All that may come in the future as a result of the gospel, but that is not the thing that confirms the truth. The thing that confirms the truth is this, the preaching of Christ and Him crucified.

Is Christ a center? That's a test of it all. Is Christ essential? Does everything else emanate from Him?

Does it all revolve around Him? Would there be a message if Christ had never lived? In liberal churches throughout our country today, nothing would be different about a

Sunday service even if Christ had never lived. Ravenous wolves tearing apart the people of God.

Well, I don't think we have time to fully delve into this third point, but maybe by abbreviation,

I'll simply say this. The third point is false prophets will not shepherd the flock.

False prophets, false teachers will not shepherd the flock. So they have no fear of God.

They hold and replicate what is false. And at the end of the day, they're hirelings.

When things get hard, they run. They don't actually care for the flock. If they're not wolves themselves, they're at least so afraid of wolves that they run.

In other words, whenever there's a threat or a danger or some issue that's displeasing to them in the church, they're gone. False prophets, false teachers, they won't shepherd the flock.

In 1 Peter 5, when Peter, of course, is making that the command, he's addressing a church, a church that's going through fiery trials.

And in 1 Peter 5, he's speaking to the elders, having addressed all the various groups in the church, men and women, wives, husbands, widows, slaves, free.

Now he's addressing the elders. And he says, shepherd the flock of God that is among you. Shepherd the flock.

And he gives several qualifications to what that looks like. He says, serving as overseers. In other words, a shepherd has oversight.

But he says, not out of compulsion, but willingly. Willingly. You want to do this.

You may not always want to do it, but the general tenor of your heart is, I want to do this.

I don't do it by compulsion. I don't do it when I'm dragged to it and my feet are held against the fire.

I'm overseeing because I love this flock. Because I fear

God and I know him and I want others to know and fear him. That's the idea, shepherd the flock in this way.

So an elder has spiritual oversight. That is an oversight that's not 3 ,000 yards away, shouting through a megaphone, go left, go right.

A shepherd is somewhat close, involved. Sometimes he needs to take steps back and get perspective. Other times he needs to get close and put his fingers in the wool, as Al Martin would say.

He doesn't navigate through binoculars, he leads. He shepherds the flock, that's the idea.

If he's so far away, so removed that he can't make the difference between a wolf or a sheep, what good is he as a shepherd?

If he can't tell the difference between a healthy sheep or an injured sheep, what good is he as a shepherd? And of course, the shepherds themselves are those who have a chief shepherd, an overseer of their soul.

So we do it in the way that it's done to us. We seek to be the way that the Lord is as our shepherd.

And the Lord has a desire for his flock. Secondly, we notice in 1 Peter 5, it's not for dishonest gain, but eagerly.

So it's not of compulsion willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly. It's not for gain, it's not for economic surplus.

It's the ministry. It's Francis Schaeffer, when he was asked, when Libri was starting to become international, it was growing as this whole new model of hand -to -mouth ministry.

And hippies in the 70s, Marxists, it didn't matter who you were, where you're coming from, what walk of life you were, if you wanted to understand

Christianity, come live with the Schaeffers, or come go to Libri. You're gonna have to garden, you're gonna have to pitch in for laundry, you're gonna have study that you're assigned, and we're gonna all eat together, and you're gonna learn about Christianity.

And this was seen as revolutionary. How is this gonna be funded and supported? Well, we're always gardening, and laundering, and cooking, so the scale is limitless.

You're gonna come and work. And the question was asked at a conference, well, what if the donations and the funding falls through, and you have to start closing centers?

Like, how are you gonna keep it going? You're not doing campaigns, you're not doing fundraising drives. And Schaeffer just said, oh, we'll just go back to being small.

That's wrong department. I don't control that, that's the Lord. I'll just be faithful to him, you see?

It's not for financial gain. It's out of this eager desire for people to grow.

Listen to Ezekiel 33. This was the state of Israel. They come to you, they come to the Schaeffers, they come to the teachers, they come to you as people do, they sit before you as my people, they hear your words, but they don't do them.

With their mouth, they show a lot of love, but their hearts, they pursue their own gain. That's true of Israel. Now, this is chapter 33.

And the teachers, the scribes, the preachers, they might be going, huh, you said it. That's not even a half of Ezekiel.

These people, so fleshly, all for gain, they barely hear anything I say. And Ezekiel says, oh, excuse me,

I'm not done yet. I have a word for you too. And that's Ezekiel 34.

Woe to the shepherds of Israel. They feed themselves. Should not shepherds feed the flock?

But you eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool. In other words, it's all gain to them.

It's economic surplus to them. It's not ministry. The weak you haven't strengthened. You haven't healed those who are sick.

You don't bind up the broken. You've not brought back those who were driven away. You never sought what was lost. But with force, with cruelty, you rule.

And so they scatter because there's no shepherd. No, this is woe to the shepherds. And he's saying, you're not even shepherding.

You're not even shepherds. No, they're scattered. What happens? They become food for all the beasts.

They become prey to the wolves. Do you see? No wonder that Paul, 1

Timothy 6, he says, the false teacher is one who does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our

Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrine which accords with godliness. Again, if it's for any reason less than a love for God out of a fear for God, out of a knowledge for God, this willing, this eagerness, this desire to help others see and know and grow in the grace and knowledge of the

Lord. If it's anything less than that, at best, it's hireling, at worst, it's wolf.

And then, of course, where we're going next week, and I'll sort of cut myself off here in verse three, he says, not as lords over those entrusted, but rather being examples.

And only a good tree can bear good fruit. So a false prophet has no example to offer, but that which will inevitably corrupt and ruin the hearer and the one who patterns his life after it.

This describes a true shepherd, a true prophet, a true teacher. They don't set themselves up as Lord, as Pope, as the grand puba, the be -all, end -all.

They don't parade around as the hypocrites do, as the Pharisees and the Sadducees. No, they're meek, watchmen, laboring, guiding the flock, shepherding those who are entrusted, not as Lord, but as faithful servants of the

Most High God. What does that mean? They're not gonna lay burdens that are hard to bear on men's shoulders when they themselves will carry nothing.

They will not call others to go in a way that they're not going or have not gone. They're an example, even as Christ is an example, in this way.

So much more to say on this point, but we need to close here. Jesus has called for us to beware of false teachers.

False teachers are those who have no fear of God, they teach false knowledge, and they don't wanna shepherd the flock. That's a false teacher.

If we would follow Jesus' command here and be weary of the false teaching and the dangers that present to our souls, we need to devote ourselves with all diligence to the

Word of God. I want all of us, in the capacities

God has given, to be diligent to study the Word of God, as Bereans, and hold me against that.

Don't phone it in. Don't trust me just because it's me. Ah, I'm sure Ross has looked into that.

Be a Berean, so that when that day comes and someone else is in the pulpit, they're held to the

Word of God, and the main thing is always the main thing. And no man, no name, no reputation is held up, but the

Word of God is above all. That's the goal. That's the only way to protect the truth, the only way to preserve the flock from being torn asunder by ravenous wolves.

May we all bear in mind our Lord's warning. This is J .C. Ryle. The world, the devil, and the flesh are not the only dangers the

Christian has to face. There remains another danger yet, the false prophet, the wolf in sheep's clothing.

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your

Word. It's a word we too easily take for granted. The privilege of having so much access to it,

Lord, forgive us. We're so weak compared to believers of old,

Lord. We have such ease and yet we squander it. Forgive us,

Lord, and help us. May we be warned by the thought that to whom much is given, much is required.

May that humble us. May that convict us, Lord. We've been given much and we have not been faithful with it.

But may we also be encouraged that for those who make a deposit, even more will be entrusted.

So with what little means we have, with what little abilities we have, Lord, let us pour into your

Word and know that if we gain but an inch, you will give a yard. You will ever feed us more of the things that we seek.

If we ask, we will find. If we knock, it will be open to us. Lord, help us.

Help us as a church to be faithful, to be Bereans, to be men and women of the book. Help us as parents to raise our children in the knowledge of the

Scriptures as Timothy was raised by his mother and his grandmother. Help us, Lord, to overcome the slack and the things that entangle us and distract us,

Lord. Giving our minds to worthless things that vanish if not corrupt rather than giving our minds, our hearts, our delights and affections, our resolves over to the words of life.

And I pray, Lord, if there's one here who's a stranger to your grace, that they would hear that call, they would enter by this narrow gate, they would take up the words of life, that you would bring them to yourself,

Lord, through this Word, through this gospel that is preached. We thank you for the faithfulness of our Savior whose eye is on the sparrow, who goes and leaves the flock of 99 to find the straying one, to bring them back and make it whole.

Thank you for a chief shepherd and overseer of our souls. Bless us,

Lord, even this day, make it a fruitful day for your sake. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.