Imitators of God - Devotional: Beware of False Prophets Part 6

IMITATORS OF GOD

CONFORMING TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST

Mountain High Men's Ministry

Prescott, AZ

DEVOTIONAL

Beware of False Prophets

Part 6

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 6

THE CHARACTER

OF FALSE PROPHETS

Matthew 7:16-20 (NASB)

"You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?¹⁷"So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.¹⁸"A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.¹⁹"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.²⁰"So then, you will know them by their fruits."

A person's basic character—his inner motives, standards, loyalties, attitudes, and ambitions—will eventually show through in what he does and how he acts. John the Baptist told the hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees who came to be baptized to first "bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance" (Luke 3:8). Their manner of living belied their claim that they loved and served God. When the multitude then asked John what good fruit was, he replied, "Let the man who has two tunics share with him who has none; and let him who has food do likewise" (Luke 3:11). To the tax-gatherers who asked what they should do, John said, "Collect no more than what you have been ordered to" (Luke 3:13). John was saying that the person who is genuinely repentant and who truly trusts and loves God will also love and help his fellow man (cf. 1 John 4:20).

James 2:15-17 (NASB)
If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? ¹⁷ Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

James 2:15-17 (NLT2)
Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶ and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? ¹⁷ So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

1 John 3:17 (NASB)
But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

1 John 3:17 (NLT2)
If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

No person is saved by good works, but every believer is saved for good works. Paul tells us,

"For we are His workmanship," Paul tells us,

Ephesians 2:10 (NASB)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Colossians 1:10 (NASB)
so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Jesus says,

John 15:8 (NASB)
"My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples."

John 15:10 (NASB)
"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love."

As with everything that is godly and righteous, true fruit-bearing begins on the inside, in the heart. Paul speaks of our "having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:11) and informs us that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal. 5:22-23).

A person who belongs to Jesus Christ and who is called by God and given God's message will give evidence of "good fruit" both in his attitudes and his actions. A person who does not belong to God, especially a false prophet who claims to be God's messenger, will sooner or later manifest the "bad fruit" that the "bad tree" that his sinful life inevitably produces.

"False prophets" can disguise and hide their "bad fruit" for a while with ecclesiastical trappings, biblical knowledge, and evangelical vocabulary. They can cover it by belonging to Christian organizations, associating with Christian leaders, and by talking about divine things. But how they talk, act, and react when not in the view of Christians will eventually expose their true loyalty and convictions. What is in the heart will emerge, and corrupt theology will result in a corrupt life. False teaching and perverted living are inseparable, and eventually will become manifest.

Peter tells us that the true and mature believer will be growing in faith and says,

2 Peter 1:5-8 (NASB)
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, ⁶ and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, ⁷ and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:5-8 (AMP)
For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence), ⁶ And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety), ⁷ And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love. ⁸ For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

Those, on the other hand, who are false and deceiving prophets, in...

2 Peter 2:18-19 (NASB)
Speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, ¹⁹ promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

2 Peter 2:18-19 (NLT2)
They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. ¹⁹ They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.

False believers may temporarily escape "the defilements of the world," but they will eventually return to their "vomit" and "to wallowing in the mire" (2 Pet. 2:20-22).

Unless those who claim to be God's spokesmen give evidence that their deepest motives and life patterns are to honor, glorify, and magnify God, and to grow in humility, holiness, and obedience, we can be sure that God has not called or sent them. If they are oriented to money, prestige, recognition, popularity, power, sexual looseness, and selfishness, they do not belong to Jesus Christ. If they are proud, arrogant, resentful, egotistical, and self-indulgent, they clearly are false prophets.

The true test, a beatitude attitude of humility, can be summed up in Jesus' words:

John 7:18 (NASB)
"He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him."

John 7:18 (AMP)
He who speaks on his own authority seeks to win honor for himself. [He whose teaching originates with himself seeks his own glory.] But He Who seeks the glory and is eager for the honor of Him Who sent Him, He is true; and there is no unrighteousness or falsehood or deception in Him.

John 7:18 (NLT2)
Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies.

One commentator wisely comments,

A Christian can generally be known by his very appearance. The man who really believes in the holiness of God, and who knows his own sinfulness and the blackness of his own heart, the man who believes in the judgment of God and the possibility of hell and torment, the man who really believes that he himself is so vile and helpless that nothing but the coming of the Son of God from heaven to earth and His going to the bitter shame and agony and cruelty of the cross could ever save him, and reconcile him to God—this man is going to show all that in his personality. He is a man who is bound to give the impression of meekness, he is bound to be humble. Our Lord reminds us here that if a man is not humble, we are to be very wary of him. He can put on a kind of sheep's clothing, but that is not true humility, that is not true meekness. And if a man's doctrine is wrong, it will generally show itself at this point. He will be affable and pleasant, he will appeal to the natural man, and to the things that are physical and carnal; but he will not give the impression of being a man who has seen himself as a hell-bound sinner, and who has been saved by the grace of God alone.

It is nearly always the case that false prophets will attract avowed unbelievers as well as nominal and carnal believers. He appeals to the natural man and carefully avoids anything that is offensive to man's proud, fallen nature. He makes a point of being attractive, likeable, and of giving no offense.

But no person, no matter how clever and deceitful, can indefinitely hide a character that is rotten and out of tune with God.

One commentator says, "Nothing is more difficult to counterfeit than virtue." It demands too much. It demands more than any person has in himself, and when God's divine provision and power are absent the charade cannot last long.

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.MountainHighMensMin@gmail.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