Beware of False Prophets — Tim Conway

The Narrow Way and the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew chapter 7, as I pointed out two weeks ago, the Lord Jesus has basically finished with the Sermon on the Mount. Now, He is simply confronting us with whether or not we've heard what He said. And that's what you have in verses 13 through the end of the chapter.

Jesus is calling us to one group or the other, whether we're going to be hearers and doers or simply those who hear and don't do. There's a narrow way, there's a broad way. This is what we find here. Here's the sermon.

Now, enter, verse 13, enter by the narrow gate. This is the narrow way of life that He has described in this sermon. Enter by this narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, 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. Beware of false prophets. And this is the verse that I'm wanting to deal with specifically today, verses 15 through 20.

False Prophets and Their Fruit

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

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. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does, the will of my Father who is in heaven. And by the way, this is what Jesus has just laid out in this sermon, the will of His Father.

It's not everybody who just talks religious talk that is going to enter the kingdom. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, do many mighty works in Your name?

And then will I declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Very sobering view of judgment day. Everyone then who hears these words of mine, what words? Well, the words in this sermon on the mount.

Listen, this is His last statement. That if you hear what He said in this sermon and do what He said, you're like the wise man who built his house on the rock. Rain falls, flood came, winds blew, beat on that house, it didn't fall.

Why? Founded on a rock. That's what a life is that hears Christ and trusting Him, follows Him, submits to Him. That's a person built on a rock. 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.

Rain fell, floods came, winds blew, beat against that house, and it fell. And great was the fall of it. And if you've got eyes to see all the way through here, you've got two ways. The end of one way is destruction.

You've got two sorts of prophets. The end of one is to be cut down and thrown into the fire. You've got two sorts of people in verses 21 through 23. You've got the people who do the will of the Father and those who are lawless.

And the end of those lawless is depart from me. And then here in this parable, this analogy, this picture that Jesus creates of the wise man and foolish man, there's a great fall of the house. I hope you have eyes to see that that's all the same thing.

These are all pictures of destruction. These are all pictures of a way you don't want to go. There's two categories of people that are being summed up through here. Now, verses 15 through 20 is where I want to focus our attention.

Beware of false prophets. Why? Why would we want to beware of them? Well, verse 19, every tree that does not bear... You see what's happening here. I mean, let's just look at the construct here. Beware of false prophets.

And then he creates a picture of somebody wearing sheep's clothing, but inwardly ravenous wolves. So first he creates a picture of somebody who inside is a wolf. On the outside, they're dressed like a lamb.

And then he switches his metaphor here. You will recognize them by their fruits. He goes from speaking sheep and wolf talk to now fruit talk and trees and fruit. You recognize them by their fruit. You'll recognize who?

Well, the false prophet. Verse 17, every healthy tree has a certain kind of fruit. Every diseased tree has bad fruit. Obviously, the diseased tree here is the false prophet. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

You see what he's doing? He's laying down an absolute principle with regards to the different sorts of prophets. And he's saying, look, if you've got a bad prophet, it's going to show itself in bad fruit.

And it always does. And a bad prophet cannot bring forth good fruit. He may disguise it. There may be hypocrisy. But at the root, it's not good. And it never can be. There's nobody that's... Jesus is very dogmatic.

He doesn't paint any middle ground here. It's one or the other. You see the picture. Why should we beware of the false prophet? Why? Well, verse 19 says, because these guys are going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.

And if they get thrown into the fire, what do you think happens if you listen to them and you follow these guys? Where do you think you end up? You see, what you end up doing is what they did. Bad fruit.

You end up not doing the will of the Father. You end up not doing what's prescribed here in this sermon. And you end up being one of these people that hears and doesn't do. And the fall of your house will be very great.

That's why you don't want to follow these guys. These guys will lead you wrong. And now I think this. When I read this, it begs the question, are there prophets today? You see, if your automatic conclusion is, well, there's no prophets today, well, then case closed.

You don't even have to look for good prophet and bad prophet. It's just if anybody says they're a prophet, just dismiss them, right? Somebody comes along and they say they're a prophet. Well, there aren't prophets today.

So anybody that claims to be a prophet, they're a dead giveaway. You can just basically ignore what Jesus is saying about all the good fruit, bad fruit. Because if they even claim to be a prophet, they must all be bad fruit, right?

Because they don't exist anymore. Well, I don't actually think that that's the way you want to process this because of the Lord's analogy. I mean, when he says there's a healthy tree with good fruit and a diseased tree with bad fruit, and he's just got done talking about false prophets, what's he obviously indicating?

He's indicating that there are bad prophets and there are good prophets and that there were in his day and that there will be because he's giving this as a warning. This is kingdom talk, by the way. This isn't something that wears out in time.

This is something very much in principle and in power and something that's very much true right to our very day. He's talking kingdom talk. He's talking about entering the kingdom. And this goes all the way on to the end when people are told to depart from him.

I mean, you don't want to dismiss this kind of talk. Let's just think here for a second. What's a prophet? Before any of you get all upset and uncomfortable with the terminology. What is a prophet? Well, basically, we tend to have this idea about foretelling.

Somebody prophesying the future. Somebody that's predicting a future event. Now, look, that's true that many of the prophets did exactly that. They predicted the future. But the reigning characteristic of a prophet is not foretelling.

It's forth telling. F-O-R-T-H telling. Listen, prophet. Pro means before. It means in the place of. It means in front of. It means to take the place of somebody else. That's pro. And then you have the second part.

The phetase. Pro-phetase in the Greek. Phetase is a speaker. And so, basically, what you have when you put them together is somebody who speaks in the place of somebody else. That is basically what a prophet is.

A prophet is somebody who receives a message from God and speaks that message. That's basically the idea. Remember this. Deuteronomy 18, 18. I will raise up for them a prophet. You remember God said this to Moses.

And he's speaking of Christ. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth. You see, that's what a prophet is. A prophet is somebody that speaks the words.

And you see how this relates to this sermon? Jesus is looking for the person who takes his words in this sermon and says them. Does them. Says them. Teaches them. And characterizes his own life. Prophet has a range of meaning in Scripture.

Prophecy as Speaking God's Word

Listen to how Peter uses it right here. Just listen. 2 Peter 2 .1 False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. Now that's very interesting. Now listen to it again.

False prophets also arose among the people. And he's talking about in the Old Testament. False prophets arose among the people. And then he turns to his New Testament crowd. And he says, just as there will be false teachers among you.

Isn't that interesting? You know what he does? He synonymously interchanges false prophet and false teacher. So here's the thing. If you really study. And I have. I've exhaustively studied the idea of prophesying in Scripture more than once.

Just to get a feel for what is the Word. And it's used in different ways. I mean, it's got a range of meaning. All the way from basically being a synonymous term with a teacher. All the way over to a very exclusive Old Testament inspired Scripture writer like Isaiah.

Who definitely prophesied about massive future events concerning Christ. And so you kind of get that range of meaning. You know what Jesus is talking about right here. He's not talking about resurrecting Jeremiah's and Hosea's.

That's not what he's talking about when he's speaking the way he does. He is speaking about in the most basic sense of the word. Somebody who says what he says. A false prophet is somebody who says what he doesn't say.

Or doesn't emphasize what he emphasized. Or puts it entirely out of proportion to the way that he says something. You consider the nature of a prophet. Because this is the same. No matter what we're talking about when it comes to a prophet.

You know one of the things you find when you go back to the Old Testament. And you look at the prophets. Nowhere in the Bible. Nowhere do you ever find a prophet ever preface his words. Preface his words.

When he's getting ready to speak. Nowhere does he say. Well in my opinion. Or well I believe. Or it seems likely. Or any such evasive language that announces that he's about to say something. That can't really be depended on.

And brethren I'll tell you this. You get people in the pulpit. They um, um, em. You do more of an em here. People that just hem and haw in the pulpit. That's never what a prophet did. Prophets know what needs to be said.

They're going to say what Christ said. They stand and they speak very dogmatically. Very plainly. He's got something to announce. And he announces it. Preachers that try to impress audiences by talking.

You know they go on and on about original languages. Or they want to tell you about what this Puritan said. Or that Puritan said. Another Puritan said. They want to tell you what the Confession said. They want to quote all these man-made documents.

I'll tell you this. Old Testament prophets never did that. They want to tell you what God said. And you know what? Can we glean some things from what man has said? Perhaps. And yes undoubtedly we can.

But you know what? Men can be wrong. Even the best of men can be wrong. Even reformed men can be wrong. And I'll tell you. When Jesus got done speaking, you know what they recognized? He spoke as one that has authority and not as the scribes.

Anybody know how the scribes spoke? How he's quoting a rabbi. And you know what? You can find guys. You can find preachers today. They won't hardly preach the Scriptures. They've got to tell you what everybody said.

They've got to tell you what this guy said. And another guy said. And what John Owen said. And what Edward said. And what Spurgeon said. And they've got to tell you what the 1689 and Westminster Confessions say.

And they've got to go on and on. As though what? As though that stuff trumps the Scriptures and what God has said? As though that's somehow preeminent? Brethren, the prophet speaks in dogmatic terms. And that is whether he's in the Old Testament or in the New Testament.

You can look for that very thing. He's not given to opinions. He's not given to the doctoral systems. You know a lot of times you get men who they want to talk about systems. Doctrinal systems all the time.

Brethren, I know theologians love to systematize things. But when that's where we talk and that's our basis of authority, we've gone wrong. The prophet, like Jesus, he dogmatically declares what it is that God has said.

God's prophets do not stutter. They're not always looking for a word. You know, I remember when he was talking about the prophet of God, and when he speaks, it's like you can't hardly make room for the next word that's coming out of his mouth.

It's like the one word he's saying now has to get out of the way of the next word that's coming. Brethren, there's no question about it. In this context, what we're faced with, the issue is this, does that teacher say what Jesus said in this sermon?

The Teacher Must Proclaim the Whole Counsel of Christ

He just got done with this sermon on the mount. That's the issue. He set forth kingdom righteousness. He set forth those who are blessed. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those that mourn. Blessed are the meek.

He went through. This is kingdom people. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you won't enter this kingdom. This is it. Jesus says it. What he's looking for is he's looking for the teacher, the prophet who says what he said, emphasizes what he emphasizes, says it in proportion to how he says it.

Brethren, this is key. Says all of it. You know, one of the things about false prophets is they say lots of truth, but they like to leave certain things out or they like to stick certain things in. None of that.

None of that. And you know what mostly is that issue here? See, Jesus is interested in the people that know the Father's will and they actually do it. Those who hear his words and they actually do them.

You see, the issue with the false prophet is they don't like to tell you the hard things. They don't like to tell you that the way is narrow and that the gate is narrow and that the life is narrow. They don't like to say that.

But the true prophet will say that. Does the prophet teach the narrowness? Are Jesus' words truly in his mouth? That's the issue. Now, these false prophets, he says beware of false prophets. Let me tell you two things about the false prophet as we're thinking about being where?

Weary, watchful. Here's two facts about these guys. One, Jesus says there's many. You see that if you look down in verse 22. When he says, on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy?

Well, who's prophesying? Obviously prophets. There's many of them. And he's going to say to many who are prophesying, I don't know you. Depart, workers of lawlessness. Over in Matthew 24, he says this, many false prophets will arise.

John. John tells us in 1 John 4, one tests the spirits to see whether they're from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 John. 2 John 7. Many deceivers have gone out into the world.

You think about it. Think about even in the Old Testament. When Jeremiah was setting forth his truth, how many true prophets were there? Think of Elijah on Mount Carmel. There he is the true prophet of God over against 400 prophets of Baal.

Brethren, this has always been the way. There's many, many false prophets that you need to beware of. Now, here's the second thing. They're disguised to deceive. He says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're not sheep.

And we know this verse. Such men are false apostles. I know it's not false prophet, but an apostle is one who's sent. People were being sent. And you can be false apostle, false Christ, false teacher, false prophet, all these pseudo.

In the Greek, it's pseudo didaskalos. A false teacher. Pseudo apostolos. A pseudo prophetes. That's pseudo. We get our word from that. It's these fake workers. Now listen to this. Deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

And no wonder. For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it's no surprise if his servants. That's key. Because you need to recognize something about these false prophets. The Joel Osteens and, but brethren, people much closer to home.

These guys don't just come up out of nowhere. Scripture says things like this. The spirit expressly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.

Brethren, spirits, demons. What we have is fallen angels. We have cosmic powers over the present darkness. They hate you. And you know what? They don't want you going in at the narrow way. And they send their servants to hover right around that gate.

And since there's many, you know what that means? You know what that equals? There's many voices. And they're coming at you. Don't go in that way. There's other ways. Or even that's not the right way.

They've got lots of things to say. And you know what the problem is? See, we always think we know what the false prophet's going to look like. We think we have an idea, but it's always not what you expect.

Because the devil's in it. You see, but that's brother Joe over there. We all know him. We love him. He knows his Bible. Beware. They're disguised. And they look like sheep. And they're there sent on a satanic errand to damn you.

And you know what? If this was just something, oh, well, we're Christians. This can't touch us. Don't be so foolish. For Jesus to say to his 12, you guys better beware. You better watch out. Now, how can we know them?

Discerning False Prophets by Their Fruit

Well, a simple answer. Fruit. I mean, that's the answer here. Fruit. Listen to how often fruit shows up here. Verse 16. You will recognize them by their fruits. So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit. Or can a diseased tree bear good fruit? Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits.

Seven times you get that word here. So, I mean, Jesus making it very obvious about beware. This is how you beware. This is how you can tell them. But you know what? It feels like, yeah, but Lord, that's an analogy.

I mean, what does that really look like? I mean, I can tell a bad apple. I go through apples and I can pick the good ones out and I can leave the rotten ones. I know what that looks like. But Jesus isn't talking about apples here.

He's not talking about peaches and plums. He's talking about people. So, Lord, what is it? Has He just left us without an answer to that? I don't think so. You see, brethren, this is a complete sermon.

And one of the things about these three chapters is it's taken us, you know, the better part of a year to go through this thing. But you know, when it was originally given, chapter 5 would have been said just a few minutes before chapter 7.

Look at chapter 5, verse 17. Jesus actually has said something about teachers and about what fruit to look for. He's already told us. Notice what He says in verse 17. Don't think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets.

Now, see, basically what this whole sermon has been is the spiritual realities of the righteousness. You basically sum up the law and the prophets. We know what it comes down to. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

On those two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. That's what Jesus says in another place. And what He's doing in this sermon, He's basically saying, look, I'm calling for this kind of righteousness of love.

I'm calling for this kind of being light and salt in the world. This kind of radical righteousness where you love even your enemies. You're not anxious, running all over, afraid about how your needs are going to be met, even willing to take your money and store it up.

I mean, this is just entirely a radical life that He's laid out here for us. And He says, don't think that I've come to abolish this. I haven't. I've come to fulfill this thing. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away.

And you see this whole thing. This whole thing about this sermon and about the prophets and the bad prophets and the good prophets and all of this. You see the time frame here. This whole sermon is all about, this thing is going to exist until heaven and earth pass away.

Not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. This whole age from Christ's first coming to His second coming is to be characterized by Christianity that looks like this sermon.

Now watch verse 19. Therefore, whoever... Ah, you know who this whoever is? It's a teacher. How do you know? Well, you just keep reading. Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

Now this is kind of like language of your house falling down. It may not sound too bad. I'm not being least. Well, at least I'm in there. No, you want to realize what he's saying there. That's not a good thing.

Whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. You know, if we're looking for fruit here, the whoever being described as a teacher, and this is a person who either relaxes these standards of Christ and teaches others to do that, they're least.

Those who teach what Jesus teaches and actually does them, they're the greatest. That's where you want to be. So, two categories. You can tell them by their fruit. What's the fruit? Two things. Look at their teaching.

Look at their life. That's it. You know what happened? Take it in context with the Sermon on the Mount. The true prophet teaches the narrow way that Jesus has set forth in this sermon. What Jesus says, he teaches.

You know what you'll find about the true prophet? He doesn't have any problem shying away from the hardest things that Jesus says. And do you know Jesus says some hard things? He doesn't back off. And what he teaches, he lives out.

Not perfectly, but he's striving to live what he teaches. He's not the hypocrite. The false prophet relaxes. You know what relax means? You know, the actual word means to loose. It means to untie. It means to set free.

So if you're relaxing, you see what he's saying? The false prophet will seek to set you free from what Christ has laid down. That is dangerous. The false prophet is smooth and reasonable and logical and can quote lots of scripture.

But he also knows how to put a twist and a spin on things to make it really not such as it might appear. Always a way to tone it down. Always a way to make it soft. That's so narrow. That's the idea here.

The false prophet, much, much, he says, is true. But he eliminates the narrowness. And you know why? Because it's the narrowness of Christianity that makes it so offensive. And men don't like it. An easy Christianity.

And oh, they're all over the place to sell that to you. That's what we've got here. False prophet, he says much. He can talk about Christ. He can talk about God. He can quote certain passages out of scripture.

But I'll tell you, in the end, what he says is not what Christ says. It's not Christ's message. This man's teaching and lifestyle. When you boil it down, it comes down to this. When Jesus says that the wise man hears my word and does it, do you recognize what that's all about?

It's about obedience to Christ. And brethren, for freedom, Christ has set us free. But in our freedom, we are a free people in Christ. We're a free people to not be under the bondage of Moses, to not be under the bondage of any other authority.

Christ is our authority. Now, Christ would say, when it comes to the Old Testament scriptures, I did not come to abolish it. He basically upholds the righteous aspects of that law. The heart, the very heart and soul, the spirit of the law, he upholds.

That which, when you boil it down, has to do with love. Even muzzling the ox isn't got rid of in the New Testament. But we know it doesn't have to do with oxen. It has to do with people. It has to do with taking care of one another, being unequally yoked.

It doesn't have to do with yoking a donkey and an oxen together. It's got to do with human beings. We've got to interpret these things in a right way. But look, you know what happens? You know where this sermon starts?

See, it can feel very like there's a lot of things we have to do there. But you have to remember how it all starts. Blessed are the poor in spirit. And you know the thing about the false prophet? He's not big on broken, deep, deep views of sin.

Our desperate, clinging need to Christ. Showing us the poverty. The thing about the false prophet is, he doesn't attack hypocrisy because he himself is a hypocrite. He doesn't go deep into the greed and the lust and the selfishness.

Why? Because those things characterize him. Because he knows them by their fruit. And even though he tends to put on this hypocritical front, the thing that controls most of these guys is lust and greed.

And they try to not show it a lot, while some of them are just ridiculously in your face with it. But a lot of these guys, I mean, look, you get reformed guys. All of a sudden it's found out, the guy was having a 20-year affair with his church secretary.

I mean, do you think that he got up and he was able to proclaim gouging out eyes and doing it with this poverty of spirit? You see, a lot of times those who are most guilty, they'll be the biggest legalist and demanding regulations on others.

But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the true prophet is going to emphasize a brokenness, a meekness, that desperate poverty of spirit. Brethren, one of the things that you want to notice here, Matthew 7, 15 through 20.

Notice, brethren, this is not primarily to threaten the false prophet. This is given to you as a listener, as a hearer. Primarily, this is given as a warning to those who listen to the prophets, not to the prophets themselves.

You will know them by their fruit. You see who's in the second person here? It's you, it's not the preacher. You are the one he's talking to. You need to beware. Oh yeah, there's a warning here. I mean, the false prophet's going to get cut down and thrown into the fire.

There is a warning here. But you recognize what Jesus is doing in these verses is he's speaking to you. And he's telling you there is a danger here. And you'll know them by their fruit. And the fruit, you know what?

The fruit that Jesus is looking for, it's not a lot of degrees. It's not PhDs behind the name. It's not popularity. It's not financial success. It's not a big church. It's not a large internet ministry.

It's not how many books the guy has written. The fruit comes down to this. It's conformity to that standard set forth in this sermon. Brethren, if you sum up what's been said here and apply it to your life, this is the Christian life.

That's what the Sermon on the Mount is all about. It's kingdom righteousness. I mean, you think about it. It is obedience to the Lord. Hear my word and do it. It's a prayerful life. You ask. You seek.

You knock. You fast. No anxiety. You know how many verses he took himself up with about no anxiety? You're trusting your Father. Your Father knows your needs. He clothes the flowers. He takes care of the birds.

I mean, killing anxiety. How about gouging? How about when it comes to lust? Gouging out eyes and amputating hands. Loving those who persecute you. Brethren, if we sum up what's here, this is the life.

Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. This is the life He's calling us to. This is radical purity. He's calling us to sacrifice. Lay up treasure in heaven. To kindness. To humility. To genuine Christianity in the secret place.

Remember, He says when you give and when you pray and when you fast, you don't do it to be seen by others. You do this secret. You don't let one hand know what the other one's doing. It's that kind of life.

The Narrow Gate Requires Complete Surrender

You see the picture. Brethren, just imagine the picture. Enter by the narrow gate. The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few. So here you are. You've heard the sermon.

You stand confronted. And brethren, every single day of our lives, we're confronted by this narrow way. Every day. And there it is. You've heard the sermon. It's narrow like this carpet going down. And you're confronted by it.

You've heard the sermon. There it is. It's laid out. Jesus looks at you. He looks right at each of you individually. And He says, enter that way and walk that way. No other way. Don't even bother with any other way.

You've listened to my exhortation to pray, to trust your Father. You've listened. You've heard me. The exhortation to gouge out eyes. You've heard that. To lay up treasure. To love those who persecute.

Pray thy will be done. To be a surrendered people. A submissive people to God. Poor in spirit. You've heard it all. There you are. Now you consider what you should do about it all. And I'll tell you what happens.

It's right here. You're confronted by this narrow gate. The straight gate. And you know what's hovering all around? Satan sent his prophets. Don't go that way. You don't really need repentance. Holiness is not all that important in your life.

They don't like to tell you without holiness, no one sees the Lord. They don't like to tell you that unless you repent, you will likewise perish. Oh no, none of that. Repentance is works. No, it's not that hard.

They will whisper also. It's right at this place. It's right here that Jesus comes up beside you and says, beware of these voices. Beware of these false prophets. And they're always there. And they're always present.

They're always hovering around the straight gate. And there's many of them. And they're disguised. And they come looking like they're true preachers of God. And you know what happens? If you listen to the voice of these people, I'll tell you what happens.

You don't go in on the narrow way. And the end is not good. And they sound good. They look good. And they're very convincing. They have very convincing arguments. They say, oh, you know, that way is really not that narrow.