THRU THE BIBLE:“BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS!” Matthew 7:15-29
Matthew 7:15 NKJV
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
“Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong; it is knowing the difference between right and almost right."
Charles Spurgeon
CONTEXT
Matthew 7:13-15
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
BEWARE!!!
A command from The Good Shepherd
1. AWARENESS (see)
2. APPEARANCE (recognize)
3. AGENDA (define)
4. ASSESSMENT (judge)
5. ACCOUNT (know)
1. AWARENESS (see)
II Timothy 4:3-5 NKJV
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
I Timothy 4:1 NKJV
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,”
I Timothy 4:16 NKJV
“Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”
Jeremiah 14:14-16
Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds. Therefore this is what the Lord says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine. And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons and their daughters. I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.”
2. APPEARANCE (recognize)
Matthew 7:15 NKJV
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
3. AGENDA (define)
“they are ravenous wolves.”
Acts 20:29 NKJV
“For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.”
John 10:10 NKJV
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
II Thessalonians 2:3 NKJV
“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,”
II Thessalonians 2:11-12 NKJV
“And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
4. ASSESSMENT (Judge)
Matthew 7:16-18 NKJV
“You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes 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.”
Throwing the word, “Grace” at a thistle will not make it a grape.
Jude 1:3-4
“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”
I Corinthians 5:12-13 NKJV
“For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”
5. ACCOUNT (Know)
Matthew 7:19-20 NKJV
“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
Matthew 21:18-19 NKJV
“Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.”
Galatians 1:8-9
“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”
Matthew 7:21 NKJV
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”
Matthew 7:22-23 NKJV
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
THE SUMMARY OF THE SERMON OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
Matthew 7:24-27 NKJV
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.””
Matthew 7:28-29 NKJV
“And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
A TRUE PROPHET
1. SPEAKS THE WHOLE TRUTH
2. POINTS TO JESUS
3. PRACTICES WHAT HE PROPHESIES
4. BEARS FRUIT THAT LASTS
Acts 20:17-19 NKJV
“From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials…”
Acts 20:27 NKJV
“For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”
Jeremiah 3:15 NKJV
I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.