Imitators of God - Devotional: Beware of False Prophets Part 2

IMITATORS OF GOD

CONFORMING TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST

Mountain High Men's Ministry

Prescott, AZ

DEVOTIONAL

Beware of False Prophets

Part 2

Matthew 7:15-20 (NASB)

"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. "So then, you will know them by their fruits."

Greetings!

After giving the invitation to "enter by the narrow gate" (Matt. 7:13), to come to God by the only way He has provided, Jesus warns that not everyone who claims to belong to God and to speak for Him actually does so. When we stand at the crossroads of decision, we should remember that the true way to God is narrow and that the false way is broad; the true way is difficult and demanding, and the false way is easy and permissive; the true way has relatively few following in it, and the false way has many.

Jesus now says, in effect, "As you strive to enter that narrow gate and walk that narrow way that leads to life, beware of those who would mislead you. Just as there is a misleading gate and a misleading way, there are also misleading preachers and teachers who point to that gate and promote that way." Just like the false gate and way, they will claim to show the way to heaven and life, but they actually show the way to hell and destruction. The false gate has false prophets standing in front of it who seek to lead people into the false way and hinder them from entering the true.

In the present passage Jesus first gives a warning and then calls us to be watchful. Just as He described the true and false ways (Matt. 7:13-14), He now describes the true and false teachers of those ways.

BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS

MATTHEW 7:15-20

Part 2

THE DEFINITION OF A FALSE PROPHET

Matthew 7:15 (NASB)

"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves."

From the beginning of God's redemptive work on behalf of fallen mankind, His true representatives have been marked by two things:

They are divinely commissioned--they are called by God.
They present a divine message--they declare the message of God and only that message.

A true prophet is God's voice to men. When Moses was called he said,

Exodus 4:10 (NASB)
"Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

Exodus 4:10-12 (NLT2)
“O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

And the Lord said to him,

Exodus 4:11-12 (NASB)
"Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹²"Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say." (emphasis added)

Exodus 4:10-12 (NLT2)
“Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹² Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” (emphasis added)

The most dangerous characteristic of false prophets, however, is that they, too, claim to be from God and to speak on His behalf. God told Jeremiah,

Jeremiah 5:30-31 (NASB)
"An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: ³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?" (emphasis added)

Jeremiah 5:30-31 (AMP)
"An appalling and horrible thing [bringing desolation and destruction] has come to pass in the land: ³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests exercise rule at their own hands and by means of the prophets. And My people love to have it so! But what will you do when the end comes?" (emphasis added)

Then the Lord said again,

Jeremiah 14:14 (NASB)
"The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds." (emphasis added)

Jeremiah 14:14 (NLT2)
“These prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts." (emphasis added)

And still again God said,

Jeremiah 23:14 (NASB)
"Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; And they strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one has turned back from his wickedness." (emphasis added)

Jeremiah 23:14 (NLT2)
"But now I see that the prophets of Jerusalem are even worse! They commit adultery and love dishonesty. They encourage those who are doing evil so that no one turns away from their sins. These prophets are as wicked as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah once were.” (emphasis added)

Jeremiah 23:16 (NASB)
"Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the LORD." (emphasis added)

Jeremiah 23:16 (NLT2)
This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says to his people: “Do not listen to these prophets when they prophesy to you, filling you with futile hopes. They are making up everything they say. They do not speak for the LORD!" (emphasis added)

Jeremiah 23:21 (NASB)
"I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied." (emphasis added)

Jeremiah 23:21 (NLT2)
“I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for Me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying." (emphasis added)

In a promise of judgment the Lord told Zechariah,

Zechariah 11:16 (NASB)
"For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs." (emphasis added)

Zechariah 11:16 (NLT2)
"This illustrates how I will give this nation a shepherd who will not care for those who are dying, nor look after the young, nor heal the injured, nor feed the healthy. Instead, this shepherd will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves." (emphasis added)

Zechariah 11:16 (MSG)
"I'm going to install just such a shepherd in this land—a shepherd indifferent to victims, who ignores the lost, abandons the injured, and disdains decent citizens. He'll only be in it for what he can get out of it, using and abusing any and all." (emphasis added)

Such a shepherd is a greater danger to the flock than wild animals, because he comes among them as their protector. Under the guise of the one who is supposed to feed and care for them, he instead slaughters and eats them himself. That is a picture of the antichrist, who is the prototype of all false prophets.

One of the most frightening discoveries about the People's Temple Christian Church was that a large majority of its members had been raised in Christian homes of one sort or another. Most of those who joined that church did so in the belief that it offered a higher and more genuine experience of Christian fellowship and service. Yet the church dissolved overnight when its leader, Jim Jones, and nearly a thousand of his most loyal followers committed mass suicide at Jonestown, a remote church settlement in the jungles of Guyana, South America.

The greatest tragedy of Jonestown was that nearly a thousand people died believing they were serving God. In truth, of course, they were serving Satan, and were on their way to hell if they did not know Christ. Any believers who may have been among them incurred great loss of reward.

Jesus warned,

Matthew 24:24 (NASB)
"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." (emphasis added)

Jude declares that

Jude 1:4 (NASB)
For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (emphasis added)

The scribes and Pharisees were classic examples of false shepherds. In the name of leading and caring for God's people they instead led them further and further from His ways. Posing as God's spokesmen they used the people to feather their own ecclesiastical nests, and cared nothing for the people or for God. They were rapaciously self-seeking and self-serving. When Jesus completely unmasked their deceit and hypocrisy (see Matt. 23) it is no wonder they crucified Him.

The scribes and Pharisees, and those who followed their pernicious teachings, did not accept Jesus' teaching because they were dedicated to falsehood rather than the truth.

On one occasion Jesus said to them,

John 8:43-45 (NASB)
"Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.⁴⁴"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.⁴⁵"But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me." (emphasis added)

John 8:47 (NASB)
"He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God." (emphasis added)

Paul warns the Ephesians;

Ephesians 5:6-7 (NASB)
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not be partakers with them. (emphasis added)

Ephesians 5:6-7 (AMP)
Let no one delude and deceive you with empty excuses and groundless arguments [for these sins], for through these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of rebellion and disobedience. ⁷ So do not associate or be sharers with them. (emphasis added)

Ephesians 5:6-7 (NLT2)
Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. ⁷ Don’t participate in the things these people do. (emphasis added)

To the Colossians Paul says,

Colossians 2:8 (NASB)
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. (emphasis added)

Colossians 2:8 (AMP)
See to it that no one carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men's ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding [the teachings of] Christ (the Messiah). (emphasis added)

Colossians 2:8 (NLT2)
Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. (emphasis added)

Thus we are once again called to be discerning when listening to preachers who call us to the broad way that leads to death and hell.

Proverbs 22:19 (NASB)

So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have taught you today, even you.

Amen.

Ephesians 1:16-18 (NLT2)

I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your heart will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called—His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance.

Richard Valenzuela

Mountain High Men's Ministry

Imitators of God, Conforming to the Image of Christ

Richard@NationalAutoBodyResearch.com

Mobile: 520-971-6110

GROW UP IN ALL ASPECTS

INTO CHRIST

Ephesians 4:15 (NASB)

But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.

IMITATORS OF GOD-Conforming to the Image of Christ

Mountain High Men's Ministry - Prescott, AZ