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Sermon Notes

“The Devil Wears Costumes”
10/17/26

Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really ravenous wolves.”

Matt 24:4-5 “Take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.”

Matt 24:11 “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.”

Matt 24:24-25 “For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have warned you.”
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Now in a couple of weeks, America will celebrate Halloween, where millions of children and adults will put on a costume.

Some of the costumes will be of an evil nature–devils, goblins, witches, and so on.

And some will put on the costume of something good—a fairy godmother, an angel, a superhero…
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With that in mind, Jesus predicted that in the last days there would be a flood of people wearing a costume—but a costume of a different kind.

The Apostle Paul predicted the arrival of a group of costume wearers he calls:

“Deceitful workers” that disguise themselves as servants of Christ, and will appear as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

These false ‘angels of light’ are wearing a costume—the costume of a prophet, apostle, or of Christ himself.

And beneath those costumes, says Jesus, lurks a wolf.

Jesus wasn’t referring to a rare occurrence, but to a widespread last days phenomenon.

False prophets and false Christs will rise up in massive numbers, fabricating miracles, signs, and wonders that will deceive the multitudes!

They will wear the costume of a messenger of hope,
a healer,
a servant of God,
but will in fact be an evil counterfeit.
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Furthermore, the apostle Peter wrote that:

false prophets and false teachers will appear among you,
bringing false doctrines that will lure many away from the truth into immorality,
and that they will greatly discredit the cause of Christ!–2 Pet 2:1-2

They will not appear in red suits with pitchforks, horns, and a long tail, looking like the monsters they are.

No, they will disguise themselves as something good, even as a very angel of light!

They will wear the costume of a holy angel,
a shining servant of God,
a person of hope,
of truth,
and spiritual illumination.
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Jesus also uses a vivid illustration to describe another favorite costume chosen by false prophets—the costume of a sheep.

And beneath the costume is a ravenous wolf!

The word ravenous means, “a person who seizes what is not his; an extortioner, pillager, or swindler.

It describes a predatory heart that will trample on righteousness,
justice,
and compassion
in order to satisfy its own selfish appetite.

• The sheep costume is used by the wolf to convince real sheep that they are one of them.

These false prophets dressed like sheep are not just poor, misled people, but are actively misleading and bringing their victims into bondage.

They are, in fact, a clear and present spiritual danger to the church!
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Scripture reveals that False prophets have a long and storied career throughout Israel’s history.

They distorted God’s word,
misled the people,
and opposed true revelation.

–It was false prophets disguised as servants of God that undermined Jeremiah’s warnings to Judah,
and contributed to their downfall and ultimate captivity in Babylon.

–It was false prophets within the walls of Jerusalem in 70 AD that misled the Jewish people about the coming judgment, saying all was well!
and undermined the true call of God to repent.

Their words of false hope led to the total destruction of the city,
and the death of over 1 million Jews!

Today there are thousands of self-anointed, self-appointed prophets and apostles that are not from God!

They infest churches,
whole denominations,
and social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and so on.
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Now, just for the record, what is a PROPHET?

—A prophet is a person called by God to speak divinely inspired words from God.

If the words they speak are not from God, then that person is a false prophet in a costume.

A false prophet can be false in his message or in his very person.
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In God’s eyes the sin of falsely prophesying in His name was particularly egregious.

In Deut 18:20, God says:

“But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet must die.”

This severe penalty reveals the gravity of falsely claiming to speak for God.
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Now, Toward the end of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, he describes the final judgment of all the
false prophets,
apostles,
Christs,
and false Christian representatives when he returns to the earth:

Matt 7: 21-23 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
Notice how those Jesus addresses immediately claim to have prophesied,
cast out demons,
and performed miracles, all in His name!
They preferred trafficking in the spectacular, the things that wowed onlookers.
Yet look at Jesus’s response, “I never knew you” (not at any time, never at all).
—These false Christs, apostles, and prophets were never saved—Jesus never had relationship with them,
never approved of them,
never walked with them.
They had used His name for their own gain and fame.
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Now, here’s why I chose to speak on this:
In light of the literal flood of false apostles, Christs, and prophets facing us today, the church MUST learn to practice discernment.
Why? Because Jesus said that their prime target is “even the elect,” and “take heed that no one deceives you.”
Paul was vexed in his soul that the Galatian church had been “bewitched, so that they no longer obeyed the truth!”
Satan knows that if he can capture you by the words of a false prophet, he can get you off course and sabotage your future!
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So how then can we discern a false apostle, false Christ, or false prophet?
ONE,
I. Their predictions won’t come to pass
If they make a prediction that doesn’t come to pass, they aren’t from God.
“If the prophet speaks in the LORD’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the LORD did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared” (Deut 18:22).

God never misses.

If a prophet’s predictions are from God, it WILL happen!
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And SECOND, you must:
II. Test their fruit
Speaking of false prophets, Jesus said: “By their fruits you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:16-20).
We must check out the lifestyles and actions of a person claiming to speak for God.

You say, “But Jeff, we’re not supposed to judge!”

Well, yes and no.

We’re not to judge hypocritically by criticizing someone when we are doing the very same things.

But we ARE to judge with what Jesus called “righteous judgment.”

John 7:24 “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

The Apostle John makes this plain, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

ILLUS: when you go to the fruit section in the store, you search those apples for bruises or a rotten place.

If you find one, you put that apple down.

Testing the spirit or lifestyle of someone is the same thing.

You’re looking for the bruises of hypocrisy, the rotten place of false teaching.

Good fruit will be teachings and behaviors that line up with God’s will, and that produce positive spiritual results.

While bad fruit well be that which leads people away from God into confusion, compromise, and disillusionment.
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THIRD,

III. Use your brain

We must get back to critical thinking—not being a critical person, but THINKING ABOUT what you’re hearing.

Is it biblical?

Did Jesus teach it?

Did the apostles teach it?

In the Book of Acts we find Paul speaking to a group of people called the Bereans, who set an excellent example:

“And the people of Berea…listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth” (Acts 17:11).
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So in a day of great deception, we must be discerning to recognize:

• Predictions that don’t come to pass
• Rotten fruit
• Unbiblical teaching