"My, What Big Teeth You Have!"
False prophets and false followers
Matthew 7:15-23
August 28, 2005
Introduction
Most of us are familiar with the children’s story of Little Red Riding Hood. But let me just re-cap it for everyone.
Little Red Riding Hood was a little girl who decided to pay her sick grandmother a visit.
But a big bad wolf gets there ahead of her, and gets rid of grandma so he can try and eat the little girl.
His plan is to trick Red Riding Hood by getting her close enough to pounce on. So he puts on grandma’s nightgown and cap and pretends to be the grandma.
Everything goes as planned, until Red Riding Hood makes a few astute observations. And the plan begins to unravel.
She looks at the wolf and says, "My, Grandma, what big eyes you have!" And the wolf answers, "All the better to see you with, my dear."
The she says, "My, Grandma, what big ears you have!" "All the better to hear you with, my dear!"
Then the girl says, "My, grandma, what big teeth you have!" At which the wolf replies, "All the better to eat you with, my dear," and lunges for Red Riding Hood. Thankfully, the woodsman comes to her rescue and kills the wolf.
Today, we turn our attention to some more words of warning from Jesus, as we begin to wrap up the Sermon on the Mount.
Here Jesus addresses the issue of false prophets and false followers. And let me tell you, this is just as much of a problem, if not more, today, than maybe ever before.
Why is it such a problem? Because, as we find in these verses, the end result is eternal condemnation for those involved.
This is much more than disagreeing with someone about what Bible version you should or shouldn’t use or about the "correct" way to be baptized.
You blow it here, it has eternal consequences. So you can see that this is extremely important.
So let’s read these words of Jesus from Matthew 7:15-23. If you are using the Bibles in the seats, you can find our passage today on page 685.
15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21 "Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
I’ve listed three questions that I’d like to address that need to be answered for us to get a grip on what Jesus is addressing, okay?
My hope is that when you leave here today, you’ll be better equipped to spot false prophets and false followers.
But more than that, I hope that our time today will cause you to cling even more closely to the Scriptures, so you can not only come to know Christ better, but you’ll also be able to spot error more quickly and act on it.
What makes a prophet "false?"
Prophecy in Scripture has two main functions:
* "Fore-telling" - predicting future events.
In Scripture we find a lot of this: God is going to do this or that, or something is going to happen that will convince you that God is real. Things like that.
There are many people within the Church of Jesus who feel that this type of prophecy no longer exists, since we now have the complete New Testament, which contains all we need to know about future events, God’s plans for the end of the world and the nature of the kingdom he’s establishing.
I’m not sure I’m ready to say God is done with this yet, because God has chosen to not live in my little box, or anyone else’s for that matter, but I can see their point.
The second function of prophecy is:
* "Forth-telling" - a message from God for other reasons.
Calls to repentance, reminders of God’s care, etc.
I think this is where the majority of modern-day prophecy functions. Basically, the function of the modern-day prophet is to remind people about the Word of God, and of the need to call on Jesus for forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven. Or to compel people to give up their lives of selfish sin and live for Christ.
But let’s dig into the issue of false prophets.
False prophets are sometimes very hard to spot. They look good, smell good, and talk good, at least for a while. And from a distance, they look like they’re good to go.
Jesus says that they look like sheep - in other words, they look like followers of Jesus, whom Jesus addresses as sheep at times, but on closer inspection, it’s found that they are wolves.
But remember, even the big bad wolf fooled Little Red Riding Hood for little while. It was when she started looking more closely that she found the truth.
Let’s look at three indications of a false prophet:
1. Missed predictions.
They say something’s going to happen and it doesn’t happen.
Our history is filled with people who make all sorts of predictions. And a number of people have made a lot of money by proclaiming to be modern-day prophets.
You know if you make enough predictions, you’re bound to get a few right.
But you will also get many, if not most, wrong. And, it’s tremendously important to note: doing this only once makes a person a false prophet!
One missed prediction makes a person a false prophet. Scripture is very clear about that. If they make one mistake, then it is a sign that they are not from God.
Let me give you a sampling of some famous failed predictions:
"This ’telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." - Western Union internal memo, 1876.
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." - Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
"Everything that can be invented has been invented." - Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
Let me give you a real quick test for a false prophet: they predict the date of Jesus’ return. If they say they know the date of Jesus’ return, they are a false prophet.
Jesus made it very clear that no one knows when that will be. While he was on earth, even HE didn’t know the date of his return. And as he was leaving earth to ascend to the Father, he said that your job isn’t to speculate about his return, but to be witnesses for him to the world.
Men like Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, Charles Taze Russel, founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others all have records of failed prophecies.
Yet for some reason, people still follow them. It’s because they think they see "grandma" and don’t look closely enough to see the wolf.
Here’s another sign of a false prophet.
2. They attempt to draw people away from the God of the Bible.
Here’s what I mean. They teach things that make people question the Bible and the God of the Bible.
They try to shake people’s confidence in the Word of God, and try to position themselves as being the holder of truth above all others.
And here’s the hard part about this. Many of these people have what appear to be fruitful and effective ministries.
They perform miracles, heal people, drive out demons, and all in the name of Jesus. This makes them incredibly hard to spot sometimes.
Why? Because they cloak themselves with "sheep’s clothing" - the right words, references to the Scriptures, which are almost always ripped out of their context, a nice church, a television or radio presence, or whatever.
I’m not saying that it’s wrong to be on TV or radio, by the way. What I’m saying is that false prophets often use TV and radio to bring an air of legitimacy to their efforts.
But eventually, the focus turns away from the God of the Bible onto other people or false gods.
This leads me to a third indicator of a false prophet:
3. Rejection of historical "orthodoxy."
I don’t mean the Orthodox Church. "Orthodox," in this sense, means those teachings that the church of Jesus Christ has believed and taught since the time of Jesus.
For instance, the Trinity, the physical resurrection of Jesus, the authority of Scripture, etc.
If someone comes along and denies these things, they are a false prophet.
Now let me be clear about something. Just because people have believed things historically doesn’t necessarily make them true.
For instance, many people believed for hundreds years that slavery was justified by the Scriptures. They were wrong.
But I’m talking about the foundational, essential teachings and doctrines that were formed by those who knew Christ personally and those who were directly influenced and taught by them.
When someone comes and claims to have the "real" truth that hasn’t been found in the last 2000 years, I see a huge red flag.
One person finding something that 2000 years of men and women reading and studying the Scriptures, obedient to the Bible and living lives of total submission to God haven’t found? Riiiiiiiiggghhhht. I don’t think so.
If someone claims to have found some truth that is contradictory to the Scriptures or to historical understanding of it, I reject it outright. And you must, also.
Another reason these people are so hard to spot is that they are very good at mixing just enough truth in with the error to make it look legitimate.
If you talk about Jesus, and you reference the Bible, yet teach error, many will not know the truth from the error, and they are sucked into believing the false prophet.
Can you see why it’s so important that you be able to recognize false prophets?
Let’s turn our attention now how to identify the fruit of false prophets, but before we do that, let’s review the words of Jesus about it:
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit."
What is the "fruit" of a false prophet?
Very quickly, let’s look at five fruits that will help us identify false prophets.
* Divisiveness.
When someone comes and begins driving wedges between families, churches, etc., this is a sign of a false prophet.
False prophets are not interested in unity in the Body of Christ. They are interested in unity to them and their cause, and it generally means that they are more than willing to sow the seeds of divisiveness.
A semi-recent example of this is Weigh Down Workshop, a very popular lifestyle and diet program led by Gwen Shamblin.
Many, many churches hosted and taught the program, until it was discovered that Shamblin denied the Trinity, among other things.
As more and more church leaders and participants called her on this, she began to form her own church, called Remnant Fellowship.
Soon, her employees were faced with being fired if they didn’t leave their churches to join hers, and many families were destroyed when one family member left so they could join her church.
Divorce continues to be a scourge among her followers, as they’re told to break their marriage vows for the sake of being part of her group. That is totally against Scriptural teaching about marriage.
Is this a sign of a teacher of truth? I don’t think so. There are other examples, but that is a recent one.
* Bitterness.
Many false prophets sow the seeds of bitterness among God’s people. And Scripture is very clear that bitterness has no place in the family of God.
If someone is promoting bitterness and dissension, you are seeing one of the fruits of a false prophet.
A third fruit of a false prophet is...
* Ungodliness.
Basically, promoting a lifestyle that says God doesn’t care about holy living.
The problem with that is that God is incredibly clear that he expects his followers to lead holy lives.
But influencing others to reject godly living and seeing them reap the rewards of guilt, remorse, disease, etc. is how we can spot false prophets.
Here’s a fourth fruit, and this is a very sad one:
* False followers.
False prophets are very successful at bringing other people into the error they teach. And I’m going to talk more about them in a moment.
But I want to focus for a moment on the last fruit of false prophets, and that is that ultimately, they face their own...
* Condemnation.
23 Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
False prophets will not get away with it. They may find success while on earth, but when they are face to face with Jesus, they will be punished with everlasting punishment, along with all those who reject Christ.
What about false followers?
21 "Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
The tragedy of this verse is that there are a lot of people who think they’re going to heaven, only find out the hard way that they’re not.
These people are false followers. And they’re not just people who listen to false prophets like Joseph Smith and others.
False followers are often times people who choose to believe their own understanding of who God is and what he’s all about rather than looking at what God has to say in the Bible.
The book of Proverbs says that we’re not supposed to lean on our own understanding, but rather to acknowledge God in all things, and he’ll keep our paths straight.
We acknowledge God when we read and submit to his Word, the Bible.
But whether through their own misunderstandings, or through following the teachings of a false prophet, they are still false followers.
These are people like we talked about last week who think that the road is broad and the gate to heaven is wide.
Like false prophets, false followers say the right things, and on the surface they look like they could be actual Christians.
They go to church, maybe even read their Bible and pray. They would call themselves Christians because of their church attendance and membership. They can even say the words, "I love Jesus." But that doesn’t make it true.
And when they face Jesus after they die, and they want to get into heaven, Jesus is going to say to them just what he says to the false prophets: "I never knew you. Away from me!"
Like false prophets, they give the appearance of being a true follower of God.
But they face the same end: condemnation.
And here’s the real tragedy: many, if not most of these false followers are unaware that they’re blindly following a false prophet, and they won’t figure it out until they’re in front of Jesus.
Conclusion
So here’s the bottom line: Become "known" by Jesus.
Last week we looked at what Jesus said about being the gate to heaven. In other words, if you don’t get there through Jesus, you don’t get there at all.
So then the question becomes, how do you get through the gate? How do you become "known" by Jesus? Three steps:
* Admit.
Admit you need forgiveness of your sins. Whether you want to believe it or not, you have sinned against God. The Bible says everyone has.
* Believe.
Believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and that he rose from the grave so you could be forgiven and have a home in heaven.
* Call.
Call on the Lord to forgive you and give you that home in heaven. The Bible says that all who call on the Lord will be saved.
What happens when you do this is that you’re placing your trust in Jesus alone to get you to heaven.
You don’t get to heaven by coming to church, no matter how good the church is - and there are a lot of good churches in this town.
You don’t get to heaven by praying or reading your Bible. You don’t get to heaven by being baptized.
All of those things are good things, to be sure. And I hope that you do all of them - and that you’ve been baptized if you’ve put your faith in Christ.
But the truth of the matter is that the Bible says that none of these things gets you to heaven.
All you can do is pray to Christ for forgiveness and a home in heaven, trusting that what he did on the cross was all you need.
As we close, I want to just make two challenges:
For those who have already given their lives to Christ, who are followers of Jesus and have put their trust in him, the challenge is to get more time in the word and prayer, or to not cut back on it.
Why is this important? Let me give you an example. When the government trains their people to spot counterfeit bills, they don’t give them bad bills to study. They give them real bills. They study every detail of that money, so they can spot the fake stuff better, no matter what the bad guys come up with.
The issue is that when you know the real stuff real well, you can spot the fake stuff coming from false prophets.
The second challenge is this: if you’re here today and you haven’t placed your faith in Christ, or you don’t know for sure whether or not you’ll go to heaven, then I want to invite you to pray along with me to ask Christ for that forgiveness and home in heaven.
I’m going to pray out loud, but you can pray along in your heart. And when we’re done with that prayer, I want everyone to keep their heads bowed and eyes closed for a little bit, okay?
Let’s pray.
