WWUTT 1976 Beware of False Prophets (Matthew 7:15-20)

False Prophets, the Narrow Gate, and the Broad Way

Just as there were many false prophets in Israel, so Jesus warns his followers to beware of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves when we understand the text.

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Hey, once again, it's Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Sermon on the Mount, we're in Matthew chapter seven, closing in on the end here. Today, we're gonna be looking at verses 15 to 23, which I'm gonna read to you from the Legacy Standard Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord. Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but every 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 and thrown into the fire.

So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, in your name, did we not prophesy?

And in your name, cast out demons. And in your name, do many miracles. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. And then from there, we only have the illustration of the wise man who built his house on the rock and the foolish man who built his house upon the sand.

And we'll bring our study of the Sermon on the Mount to a close this week, God willing. Today, we're gonna be looking at mainly this illustration of a tree and its fruit. So that's verses 15 to 20. And then tomorrow, we'll consider those who say, Lord, Lord, did we not do all these great things in your name?

And Jesus will say, depart from me, I never knew you. That's verses 21 to 23. And then lastly, on Wednesday, we'll be looking at that closing illustration between the wise man and the foolish man in verses 24 to 29.

Warning Against False Prophets and the Broad Path

So let's come back here to verse 15, where Jesus says, beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. And then saying, you will know them by their fruit.

Consider the context in which we're reading this. With Jesus saying, beware of false prophets, this is right after. We just read in verses 13 and 14, enter through the narrow gate. The gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

But the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. So we go right from that, from Jesus saying, enter through the narrow gate to beware of false prophets.

These are the guys that will direct you down the broad path to your own destruction, the way that the many are going. They'll probably say things like, look at this narrow way, this constricted path, you don't get to have any fun.

But over here, the broad way, I'm gonna send you down the path that rocks. That might sound funny, but it's really what they're doing is appealing to your flesh, if you're still carnally minded. Consider what Paul says in 2 Timothy 4 .3, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn their ears away from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.

There Paul is saying people follow after teachers that tell them what it is they want to hear. And so in their flesh, they go after those things, those worldly pleasures, those fleshly appetites, those things that are promised by those false prophets.

That's the broad path that leads to destruction. And so Jesus says, beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Having sheep's clothing means they're gonna look like us, they're gonna look like Christians, they're gonna look like they belong, they know how to talk the talk, but on the inside, they're not truly believers.

And what they end up teaching leads you to destruction rather than to life. I think that when we read this passage, because we see the ravenous wolves part, and we still have this expectation that false teachers are gonna look like movie villains, right, like a G .I. Joe villain, or a Batman villain.

There's gonna be something about them, and you're just gonna know those guys are crooked. Now, there are some false teachers that truly look like villains. Ken Copeland, that guy looks evil. I don't get how people are so easily snookered by that guy.

Well, I do, I do understand it. It's because he promises things that people in their flesh want. That's why they go after Ken Copeland, but just look at the guy. He looks like a villain, he sounds like a villain, he laughs like a villain.

You ever see those videos where he goes into crazy laughter? That sounds like the way a movie villain sounds. But they're not always gonna look that way. They're not always gonna have names that warn you like Creflo Dollar.

Most of the time, a false teacher is gonna look like a believer, he's gonna look like a Christian. But inwardly is something there that will tear you apart rather than direct you in the way that leads to life.

Inwardly is the person that's gonna send you down the broad way instead of direct you to the narrow gate. Now, another thing, another common misconception about the false teacher is that the false teacher deliberately lies to you.

Like, I think we also have this false assumption about false teachers that they're charlatans. They know the truth, but instead they intentionally direct you toward lies. And that's really not the case at all.

Most false teachers, like 99 of them, are very sincere. They really think they're doing the right thing. But the intention of their heart is not what determines what is true. God's word determines what is true.

And if they're speaking according or speaking contrary to God's word, it doesn't matter how sincere they are, they're liars. And their words will devour rather than save. Consider this word from Martin Lloyd-Jones.

This is actually in his studies in the Sermon on the Mount. So this was something that he taught when he went through the Sermon on the Mount. Lloyd-Jones said, the heretics were never dishonest men, they were mistaken men.

They should not be thought of as men who were deliberately setting out to go wrong and to teach something that is wrong. They have been some of the most sincere men that the church has ever known. What was the matter with them?

Their trouble was this, they evolved a theory and they were rather pleased with it. Then they went back with this theory to the Bible and they seemed to find it everywhere. You understand what he means by that?

So they came up with this idea that was actually extra biblical and they imposed it upon scripture. And so everywhere they look in scripture, they see this idea that they came up with and imposed upon the text.

Now, what do we call that? What do we call that exercise when you impose something on the text? Rather than draw out from the text, you put it on the text. That's called eisegesis. Drawing out of the text is exegesis.

You're finding the true meaning of the text so that God's word rules over you. You don't rule over the text. That's exegesis. But when you impose your interpretation onto the text, that's called eisegesis.

And that very thing is what the false teachers do. Men like Stephen Furtick, I don't think that Furtick is trying to deceive people. I don't think he deliberately does it. I think he does it sometimes.

He does it to try to get your money and whatever else. But I think for the most part, a guy like Stephen Furtick really thinks that he can help people. And he might even try to rationalize the kind of money that he accumulates for himself as look at how much good I can do with it.

It's better that I get it instead of that bad guy over there gets it, right? Not realizing that Furtick himself is a villain because of the way that he twists scripture and imposes meanings and interpretations onto it.

But when Furtick does come up with this idea and he imposes it on the text, it's like he sees it everywhere and everything that he teaches becomes this man-centered, imposed interpretation instead of drawing out from the text, he's just telling you what he thinks.

He's giving you his own ideas, not what God has said according to his word. And the really sad thing about this too is I've listened to Furtick for a long time. He's my age. So it was kind of like about the same time I became a pastor, I had some fellow pastors telling me, hey, you should listen to Stephen Furtick, he's your age, rising star, all this kind of stuff.

I identified the problems immediately, but all that to say, I've been listening to Furtick for some time. And one thing that Furtick will do, at least he did this a lot in the beginning, I don't know if he does this so much now, but he'll open up a text and he'll read it to his congregation and then he'll actually give them the real true, exegetical, I almost said eisegetical, the true exegetical understanding of that text, what it really means.

He'll do it. I've heard him do it. He'll spend like two to three minutes doing that, but then he'll immediately shift gears and say, but I'm not gonna talk about that today. What I really wanna talk about is this.

And then 30 minutes, the next 30 minutes is just gonna be this crazy idea that he had that he's imposing upon the text, eisegesis. And that's gonna be the stuff that gets all the hoops and hollers and applause and standups and all that, which a lot of that is staged.

He's got people planted in the front row to stand and applaud at certain points so the rest of the crowd will do it as well. And then Furtick runs around on the stage and sounds more like a hype man than a preacher.

But there's a portion of that message where he gets it, but then he derails it. And he won't actually give you the message that leads to life. He gives you the message that will appeal to a person's fleshly appetites.

But again, the false teachers tend to be well-meaning, well-intentioned persons. They're not trying to lead people astray. They might even try to rationalize to themselves that what they're teaching really is the truth.

It really is helpful. Think of Peter with Jesus. We're gonna get to this later on in Matthew chapter 16. But when Jesus tells his disciples that he is going to go away, he's gonna be persecuted, they're gonna put him to death, and he tells them, fear not, I'm coming back to life again three days later.

And when he tells them this, Peter opposes him. You know this account, right? Peter opposes Jesus and says, far be it from you, Lord, I would never let this happen to you. I'm not gonna let you go and be crucified.

Crucified is not what Jesus says, but be put to death, right? And Jesus says to him, get behind me, Satan, for you are not thinking with the mind of God, but with the mind of a man. Now, Peter in that moment was well-intentioned, don't you think?

Peter did not want his Lord to go to his death. He didn't want him to die. Peter thought he was doing the right thing, standing between Jesus and those people who were going to arrest him and put him to death.

I'm saving my master. But if Peter had got his way, no matter how well-intentioned this man may have been, no matter how much he said in that moment that he loved his Lord, if Peter had gotten his way, you and I would not be saved.

We would go to hell. And hence why Jesus responds to him, get behind me, Satan. He doesn't even give Peter credit for being affectionate for him. Because if Peter had his way, then God's will would not be done.

You are thinking with the mind of a man and not with the mind of God. So see there how even the best of intentions can still be really, really deadly. Doesn't matter how well-intentioned a person is, it matters what the truth is.

So a lot of these false prophets are probably well-intentioned. But what is inside of them is not the truth. They have not held fast to the truth. They're not speaking the truth. What they speak is lies that will lead you to your destruction.

Hence why it is said of them that inwardly they are ravenous wolves. The apostle Paul described false teachers the same way in Acts 20, when he warned the elders at Ephesus that there were gonna be fierce wolves that would arise from among them.

Even some of them, even some of the elders, there would be false teachers that would rise up attempting to devour the flock. Jesus goes on to say in verse 16, you will know them by their fruits. So he says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing.

Very similar to something that Peter says in 2 Peter 2. So Peter would eventually learn his lesson. In 2 Peter 2, he also says that false prophets will arise from among you. So Jesus warns, beware of the false prophets and says, you will know them by their fruits.

It might seem like a change in metaphor here, but really what you have is bookends. So Jesus warning about the false prophets in verse 15, and then in verse 21, he says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

So the bookends are false prophets, and then you had verses 21 to 23. In the middle, you've got this agrarian illustration, meaning that it has to do with farming, harvest, agriculture. You will know them by their fruits.

Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit and the bad tree bears bad fruit. So maybe you will not be able to identify the false prophet right away.

When they come in your midst, once again, they're wearing sheep's clothing. They look like us. They know how to talk the language. So when they come in, you're gonna think they belong there. There are even gonna be some who will be baptized among you.

You might even appoint to leadership positions in your church. And then after time, they reveal themselves to not being genuine converts. Sometimes this takes a little while. It doesn't always happen right away.

Consider the parable of the sower, which we'll get to in Matthew 13, how some will hear the word, but the birds come along and devour it. That's like the seed that falls on the path. There are others that hear the word and it sprouts up.

They receive it with joy, and it looks like they're producing fruit for a time, but it's the seed that has fallen in the rocks. They have no root in themselves, and so it withers away and dies. Then there's seed that falls in the thorns, and it also grows up, but the thorns, which represents the cares and concerns of this world, choke out the word and it proves to be unfruitful.

So with both the rocks and the thorns, you have something that sprouts up for a time. So there are going to be those that for a season will demonstrate that they might be saved. They might be believers, and as far as we can tell, that person's a Christian.

We have to use discernment before we just start labeling whether that person's a Christian or that person's not a Christian. Some people just get set off because they heard a teacher say something they didn't like, and so all of a sudden it becomes, well, that guy's not a Christian.

People do that to me. People come into my church, and I say something they don't like, and they say that I'm a false prophet. So you have to use discernment. We have to be careful with how we label these things, but Jesus is saying here that eventually they will reveal themselves.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit, however many seasons it takes. You know, it's not this season because it's fall, then winter, but then when spring rolls around, then maybe they reveal that they didn't actually have the truth within themselves.

You gotta be patient with those things, but Jesus says eventually the bad tree does reveal itself as producing nothing but bad fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, and that's a great warning against those who would be teaching falsely, as Jesus says here.

If you're producing bad fruit, you're a bad tree. You're gonna get cut down and thrown into the fire, so then you will know them by their fruits. Be discerning, be testing. As it says in 1 John 4, 1, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

We also read the following from Romans 16, beginning of verse 17. I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.

Avoid them, for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive. Get that? By smooth talk and flattery, they're gonna tell you things that sound wonderful.

They will even sound winsome and delightful and nuanced and friendly and loving. It's not that the false teacher comes in and instantly sounds abusive and berating and legalistic. Sometimes that legalism is covered up with some very flowery speech.

So you have to be very careful. We must be very discerning, but testing the spirits, because those bad trees will bear bad fruit. Recognize the bad fruit, and in a loving and patient manner with your brothers and sisters in the Lord, be able to expose to them the bad fruit so that they too will see that the false teacher is leading others astray.

As Paul says in Ephesians 5, have nothing to do with the fruitless works of darkness, but rather expose them. And so once again, a very important warning here to beware of those false prophets who are leading people to their destruction or trying to direct people down the broad path.

The Frightening Verdict on False Teachers

And so we have Jesus saying next in verses 21 to 23, many of them will say, Lord, Lord, because once again, they were sincere men. They thought what they were doing was right. But Jesus will say to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. And that's the passage that we will get to tomorrow. One of the most frightening passages that we have here in the Sermon on the Mount, but these are three verses that we must all consider.

And what an ending to the Sermon on the Mount this is. Let's conclude with prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word that we may know the truth, and by your word, we may test those who speak to see whether they are speaking the truth.

Help us to have wisdom in this. Help us to become very familiar with the word of God so that we will know how to test those who come and speak falsely. As the illustration is often given, the person who spots counterfeit knows what the real looks like.

He gets really familiar with the real. So when something comes along that is fake, he's easily able to identify it. Give us that kind of discernment that we know the truth. It is stored up in our hearts so that when something that's a fraud comes along, we know how to spot the false teacher.

Help us to be wise in how we guide our brothers and sisters in the Lord in these things, and direct us down the narrow path, through the narrow gate, that we, by listening to and following the truth, may enter into eternal life.

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com, and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study, When We Understand the Text.