Sermon on the Mount
Part 8
“False Prophets and Fake Christians”
Matt 7:15-23 “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 thorn-bushes, 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.”
True and False Disciples
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one 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 in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
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Here in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount he warns about false prophets (which would include false teachers), and fake Christians.
Regarding the false prophets, the Lord repeats this warning many times throughout His ministry, all the way up to warning of false Christs, false prophets, and false teachers in his prophetic discourse on the last days.
The Message paraphrase puts it this way: “Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don’t be impressed with charisma; look for character. Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook.”
So false prophets and false teachers were around in the early church’s time, and according to Jesus they will multiply in the last days.
In Matthew 24 alone Jesus repeatedly warns against them:
Matt 24:3-5 “What sign will signal your return and the end of the world? 4 Jesus told them, ‘Don’t let anyone mislead you, 5 for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many.’”
Vs 11-12 “And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. 12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.”
Vs. 24-25 “For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. 25 See, I have warned you about this ahead of time.”
Define: A false prophet is a person who spreads false teachings or messages while claiming to speak on God’s behalf.
God spoke to Jeremiah (a real prophet) about false prophets:
Jeremiah 14:14 “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 mind.”
The primary difference between men like Jeremiah—a true prophet of God—and false prophets was their source of information.
Rather than speak the Word of the Lord, false prophets delivered messages that originated in their own hearts and minds:
Jeremiah 23:16 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD’”
In the next passage look at how God distances Himself from all false prophets:
“I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied” (Jeremiah 23:21).
So again, Jesus warns that in the last days self-appointed prophets like these will claim to speak messages on behalf of God that come from their own imaginations, or even from a demonic source.
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The Greek word for prophecy in the NT is “prof-ay-ti’-ah.” It means, “the gift of communicating and enforcing revealed truth.”
It is divinely-empowered forth-telling (declaring the mind of God on something) or foretelling (future prediction).
NT prophecy can manifest as reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things yet hidden by foretelling future events.
The gift of prophecy is mentioned in 1 Cor. 12:10, “He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy.”
And 1 Cor 14:1,3-4 “Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy. 3 But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. 4 A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.”
The kind of prophecy Paul is describing here is primarily the forth-telling kind. He says that this kind of prophecy will strengthen, encourage, and comfort the recipients.
In the Book of Acts where the church is born and in its early stages, exhortation and encouragement are the more typical forms of prophecy that you find.
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Now, if a person claims to prophesy a future event it’s very easy to tell if it was God—whether it happens or not!
And unfortunately, prophetic future predictions are everywhere on social media where self-proclaimed prophets routinely predict future events that don’t come to pass.
They also claim to utter forth-telling prophecies in the first person (in other words, God himself is purportedly speaking straight through them) that don’t agree with Scripture at all.
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When their FUTURE predictions fail to come to pass they either resort to changing the time line of their prediction, or somehow spiritualize or allegorize their predictions to prove that in one way or another it still came to pass.
For instance, Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, predicted and preached that the Second Coming of Jesus would take place in 1874, and the start of the 1000 year earthly millennial reign of Christ would begin in 1914.
When Jesus didn’t return in 1874, Russell allegorized his prophecy by saying that Jesus’ invisible presence really had come in 1874, the rapture would be 1878, and the end of the world would come in 1914.
So needless to say, the attempt to claim that his prophecy had indeed come to pass failed abysmally.
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But these kinds of false prophecies don’t just happen in the cults. There are tons of examples of this kind of false prophesying in today’s church, and everywhere on social media.
All kinds of excuses are offered for the failures of the prophecies in hopes that the church has a very short memory and a gullible heart. Yet when the prophecies fail in the eyes of a watching world, it brings great reproach on the body of Christ and makes Christianity look foolish.
Bottom line: If you feel God has given you a future prediction, Paul writes that we should run it through church leadership before bringing it.
1 Cor. 14:29 “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others (elders) judge.”
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Jesus says that another way to judge prophets is by their fruit—their lifestyle, the way they act and live.
16-20 ERV “You will know these people because of what they do. Good things (genuine spiritual fruit resulting from the Holy Spirit’s working) don’t come from people who are bad, just as grapes don’t come from thorn-bushes, and figs don’t come from prickly weeds. 17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, and bad trees produce bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 You will know these false people by what they do.”
Bottom line, does the lifestyle of the prophet or teacher line up with the teaching of the Bible?
Are they covetous? Money hungry? Do they walk in Biblical morality? Do they have a good reputation for integrity in the community? Do their teachings line up with the Bible? Do they teach Bible truth or do they come up with new, novel, unusual interpretations and teachings?
These are some of the questions all Christians should ask regarding Christian leadership.
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Then lastly, Jesus addresses true and false disciples:
7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one 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 in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
The scene depicted here is Jesus has returned to earth in the second advent. He will now judge the nations, differentiating between sheep (the saved) and goats (the lost).
A portion of those facing him are declaring their authenticity as believers, but its fake. They cry out, “Lord, Lord!” So they begin saying all the right things. We note here that false Christians are fully capable of calling him Lord, when in fact he was never THEIR lord.
Then they declare to him all the things they had done in his name—we prophesied in your name, and drove out demons in your name, and performed many miracles in your name!
So these people are claiming to have operated in what we call the gifts of the Spirit—prophecy, deliverance, and miracles.
But what we need to catch is that they don’t refer to their salvation. They make no mention of having embraced him as Savior, repented of sins, or of the day they were born again. They don’t make their appeal based on personal relationship WITH him, only of doing works IN his name.
This is very telling. I don’t know about you, but when I face the Lord my only claim to heavenly access will be His blood shed for me, NOT what I have done in his name!
So Jesus cuts right to the chase in vs 23, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
That’s the rub, the deal killer—they had never been in personal relationship with him, but had used his name for their own advantage. They were fakes and frauds and unfortunately there are a lot of them out there today!
There are people using his name to make lots of money, to gain fame, or to in some way or the other take advantage of the unsuspecting. Their judgment is coming!
LET’S PRAY