Sermon On The Mount: How To Recognize False Prophets
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 and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits, you will know them.
Matthew 7:15-20 (NKJV)
False prophets remain Earth’s greatest danger. Not dictators, warmongers, traffickers, murderers, liars, slum lords, or drug kings, although their monstrous deeds are clearly wrong.
These are evils we can see and oppose, and heroes are found in these mission fields!
Victims will be freed. Wrongs will be righted. 'For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing' (Isaiah 61:8). Our Savior came 'To set the oppressed free' (Luke 4:18).
What about the unwittingly oppressed: Christians in churches that don’t follow Christ…
Those who are 'Distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd' (Matthew 9:36).
Are they in a 'Synagogue of Satan' (Revelation 3:9)?
'And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light' (2 Corinthians 11:14).
Their leaders? 'Hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves' (Matthew 23:15).
They’re false prophets whose goal is false profit.
Jesus called them 'Ravenous wolves' (Matthew 7:15), 'Blind guides' (Matthew 23:16), 'Serpents... vipers' (Matthew 23:33), 'Which on the outside appear beautiful... righteous to men' (Matthew 23:27), but inwardly are 'Full of hypocrisy and lawlessness' (Matthew 23:28).*
They’re experts in guile.
They know the Bible.
They’re charismatic.
They’re educated.
They’re charming speakers.
They edit God’s Word and entertain us. They mix solid truth with hard-to-spot lies.
But what happens when a drop of poison is released in a well of water?
Living water is contaminated.
Thirsty people suffer. (Some of them die.)
“Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather, it is telling the difference between right and almost right”
God wants us to recognize false prophets, and NOT to follow them.
How can we know them?
By their fruits and personal example. Do they model Christ or show off themselves?
‘Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher’ (Luke 6:40).
Sermon On The Mount: How To Recognize False Prophets (Part 29)
* Read Matthew 23 to see the extent of Jesus' anger toward false prophets: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2023&version=NASB
* 'False Teachers and False Prophets:' http://so4j.com/false-teachers-false-prophets-bible-scriptures.php
NOTE: This is a 2023 update of a 2013 Carey Lewis Devotion. You may see notes to 'Actors, Models & Talent for Christ.' If you think you're not in show business, think again. Shakespeare said, 'All the world's a stage and all its men and women merely players. Mostly true. But you're not merely players. You are messengers and ambassadors for the King of kings.