Some high-profile leaders who have professed to be Christians, have come under fire recently for alleged misdeeds, with their stories played out prominently in the media. Richard Roberts, son of evangelist Oral Roberts, resigned recently as president of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa amid allegations he misspent school money to support a lavish lifestyle. And six popular televangelists are under US federal investigation for financial misdeeds: Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Creflo and Taffi Dollar of World Changers Church International, Benny Hinn of Benny Hinn Ministries, Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Joyce and David Meyer of Joyce Meyer Ministries, and Randy and Paula White of the multiracial Without Walls International Church and Paula White Ministries. If you watch any of these individuals, we need to talk. From Hal Lindsey to Pat Robertson, it’s amazing how people can make predictions, have their predictions not come true, and just keep going.
Jesus was very concerned about the actions of false prophets. After warning about false prophets, Jesus tells us what to watch for in identifying them. Because they are so extremely deceptive and dangerous ravenous spiritual and moral wolves in sheep’s clothing (Mt. 23: Vipers) -the Lord would hardly have left us without means of determining who they are.
For those who fail to exercise discernment, false prophets can rob you of your money, hope and fill your mind with dangerous false teaching. As well as examine their teachings, we can see the results of their predictions and their lifestyle, their fruit.
Judging the fruit of false prophets, of course, is not nearly so easy as judging fruit in an orchard. But from Scripture we discover at least three primary tests we can apply in order to know. They are in the areas of 1) Character, 2) Creed, and 3) Converts.
1) CHARACTER Matthew 7:16-17
Matthew 7:16-17 [16]You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? [17]So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
Jesus assures us that we will recognize/know them by their fruits. A fruit tree may be beautiful, decorative, and offer pleasant shade in the summer. But its primary purpose is to bear fruit, and it is therefore judged by what it produces and not by how it looks. (That understanding is the key to interpreting John 15 properly.)
Similarly a prophet-used in this passage in the broadest sense of one who speaks for God-is judged by his life, not simply by his appearance or his words. The kind of person he really is cannot help being revealed. Some false prophets are noticeably spurious and only the most gullible person would be taken in by them.
Others conceal their true nature with remarkable skill, and only careful observation will expose them for what they are. But there is a true assurance in the statement you will recognize/know them. The word for “recognize” (other translations, “know,” epignosis) means an exact or full knowledge of. One’s fruits provide an exact, unerring knowledge of what one really is. (Hughes, R. K. (2001). The sermon on the mount : The message of the kingdom. Preaching the Word (250). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.)
There is no need to be deceived if we look closely.
• As I said last week, based on the faithful actions of the Breans in Acts 17, all prophets/teachers must be judged against scripture. That is our job.
o We must never assume any human teacher to be either infallible or beyond biblical scrutiny.
If you listen or read any non-biblical source uncritically, you sin and set yourself up to be deceived, thereby either to pass on the false teaching becoming an unwitting false teacher yourself, or in bondage to false teaching and rendered ineffective and unfruitful.
It is the cleverly a deceptive false prophet that Jesus is speaking about here. No one needs help in deciding that a tree is bad if it bears shriveled, discolored, and obviously rotten fruit-or no fruit at all. It is the tree that appears to bear good fruit, but does not, that is deceptive.
• While the production of fruit in the life of a Christian may vary, some thirtyfold, some one hundredfold, no true Christian has the option of producing no fruit at all. No fruit means no life. The absence of life is the absence of the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the fruitless life is the proof of an unregenerate heart which can only be cast into hell. Always in the New Testament the changed life is the proof of one’s profession of conversion (cf. II Cor 5:17). (KJV Bible commentary. 1997, c1994 (1903). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
It is possible for grapes to be stuck on thorn bushes and for figs to be stuck on thistles. From a distance they might appear to be growing on real fruit trees. Because the fruit is genuine, naive persons might conclude that the tree itself also has to be genuine.
• This warning of counterfeit fruit was real:
o In Jesus day everyone knew of the buckthorn had little black berries which could be mistaken for grapes, and that there was a thistle whose flower, from a distance, might be mistaken for a fig. (Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. D.A. Carson. Global Christian Publishers. 1999. p. 136)
It is possible for real Christians to be taken in by false prophets. When believers are careless about study of and obedience to the Word, lazy about prayer, and uncritical about the things of God, it is easy for them to be deceived by someone who pretends to be orthodox-especially if he is pleasant, positive, and permissive. When that happens, they are in danger of becoming grapes on thorn bushes and figs on thistles. Satan loves to use God’s own people to promote his evil work, seeking, if it were possible, even to snatch them from their heavenly Father (Matt. 24:24).
It is also possible for a tree itself to bear fruit that is colorful, well formed, and attractive, but which is bitter, distasteful, and even poisonous. That kind of diseased/bad tree with its bad fruit is much harder to judge than thorn bushes that have grapes on them or thistles that have figs on them. In the second case, both the tree and the fruit appear to be genuine. What it bears has to be examined carefully to determine if it is good fruit or bad fruit. A mature believe who has developed discernment can spot the bad tree and bad fruit (Heb. 5:14).
Hebrews 5:14 [14]But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (ESV)
Quote: As one commentator noted: You cannot always distinguish them by their bark and leaves, nor by the spreading of their boughs, but by their fruits ye shall know them. (Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Mt 7:15). Peabody: Hendrickson.)
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:
Luke 3:8 [8]Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ’We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. (ESV)
• When all your focus is on external ritual and action, cleaning the outside of the cup as we saw last week, you don’t produce an internal righteousness that results in genuine fruit, fruit in keeping with repentance.
Please turn to Colossians 1
As with everything that is godly and righteous, true fruit-bearing begins on the inside, in the heart. Paul speaks of our being:
Philippians 1:11 [11]filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (ESV)
In another place Paul notes the elders responsibility and the proper response of the congregation:
Colossians 1:9-10 [9]And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, (ESV) [10]so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (ESV)
What is the Good work that Christ speaks of?
John 15:8 [8]By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. (ESV)
• Not that there should just be some indication of being in Christ, but that there would be an abundance, or much fruit.
When the Holy Spirit works on the inside of someone it results in:
Galatians 5:22-23 [22](But) the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23]gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (ESV)
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 attitudes and 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 diseased/bad tree of his sensual life inevitably produces.
• The diseased/bad/corrupt tree does not mean rotten, because a decayed or rotten tree does not bring forth fruit at all. This is how False prophets can disguise and hide their bad fruit for a while with ecclesiastical trappings, biblical knowledge, and evangelical vocabulary. Remember, it was Satan himself who would twist scripture our of context to tempt and deceive, even Christ Himself.
Please turn to 2 Peter 1
False prophets often cover their bad fruit 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:
2 Peter 1:5-8 [5]For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, [6]and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, [7]and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. [8]For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (ESV)
• Keep your place in 2 Peter.
• Do you see tangible results to your life? Do you see effectiveness to your witness? Can you look back to yesterday, last week, month or year and see a steady increase in these qualities?
o If not, perhaps you have not made every effort to supplement your faith.
Continue down in 2 Peter to verse 18
Those, on the other hand, who are false and deceiving prophets
2 Peter 2:18-22 [18]For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. [19]They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. [20]For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. [21]For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. [22]What the true proverb says has happened to them: "The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire." (ESV)
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 [18]The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. (ESV)
• My aim when I get up here is not for you to believe something because I say so, to entertain you or tell you funny stories about myself. I do not occupy this office by my own authority but it is delegated by Christ and what I preach must be about Christ or it is not Christian ministry.
o If your favorite teachers on radio, tv or in print delight you with their funny tales about their wisdom or their experience, then they are not about Christ’s ministry but their own.
o It is nearly always the case that false prophets will attract avowed unbelievers as well as nominal and carnal professors.
o Here’s the test: In what you read, see of hear, is there any talk of sin, death, judgment or hell?
• Two of the most flourishing cults—the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses—reject the Biblical doctrine of Hell in favor of a less stringent and less offensive approach.
o The false prophet appeals to the unredeemed 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.
o Many will judge by secular criteria to assess a person’s fruit: success, style, popularity or speech patters will not give a true picture of a teacher.
o The fruit the Lord Jesus looks for is a life in growing conformity to the norms of the kingdom: righteousness, transparent humility, purity, trusting and persistent prayerfulness, obedience to Jesus’ words, truthfulness, love, generosity and a rejection of all that is hypocritical. Basically, the beatitudes that He has explained in chapter 5. (Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. D.A. Carson. Global Christian Publishers. 1999. p. 137)
But no person, no matter how clever and deceitful, can indefinitely hide a character that is rotten and out of tune with God.
Quote: John Calvin said, “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.
Illustration: Oscar Wilde
When Oscar Wilde arrived for a visit to the U.S. in 1882, he was asked by customs officials if he had anything to declare. He replied: “Only my genius.” Fifteen years later, alone and broken in prison, he reflected on his life of waste and excess. He said: “I have been a spend thrift of my genius...I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character.”
Imprimis, Vol 20, #9
You can tell a false prophet from their 1) Character and their:
2) CREED
Matthew 7:18 [18]A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.. (ESV)
A second area in which a false prophet can be judged is that of doctrine. Superficially what he teaches may seem biblical and orthodox, but careful examination will always reveal ideas that are unscriptural and the absence of a strong, clear theology. False ideas will be taught, or at least important truths will be omitted. Frequently there will be a combination of both. Eventually the fruit will show a tree for what it is, because a healthy tree cannot bear/produce bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear/produce good fruit.
On a later occasion Jesus said to the Pharisees:
Matthew 12:34-35 [34]You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. [35]The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. (ESV)
When judging whether or not a teaching is from God, Isaiah counsels:
Isaiah 8:20 [20]To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. (ESV)
The teaching of a false prophet cannot withstand scrutiny under the divine light of Scripture.
All false prophets will have an incomplete, distorted, or perverted view of Christ, If Satan can confuse and mislead people about the person and work of Christ, he has confused and misled them at the very heart of the gospel.
As we have seen in this series, Jesus has just shown that the way of salvation, the gate to God’s kingdom and life, is narrow and demanding, whereas the gate to hell and destruction is broad (Matt. 7:13-14 Lk. 13:22-30).
Quote: Arthur Pink says, “False prophets are to be found in the circles of the most orthodox, and they pretend to have a fervent love for souls, yet they fatally delude multitudes concerning the way of salvation. The pulpit, platform, and pamphlet hucksters have wantonly lowered the standard of divine holiness and so adulterated the Gospel in order to make it palatable to the carnal mind.”
The creed of false prophets never has a narrow gate or a narrow way. On the surface their message may sound difficult and demanding, but it will always rest on the foundation of man’s works and will therefore always be accomplishable by man’s own effort. They never reveal the depth or danger of sin and depravity, the need for repentance, forgiveness, and submission to the Lord, or the destiny of judgment, condemnation, and eternal destruction for those apart from God. There is no brokenness over sin and no longing after righteousness. They have easy answers for small problems.
Jeremiah 6:14 [14]They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ’Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
There is no humility, no warning of judgment, and no call for repentance and a contrite heart of obedience.
They have a ready hearing among most people, because they say only what people like to hear. Just as did ancient Israel in Jeremiah’s time, people today like it that way (Jer. 5:31). They want to hear illusions, not truth. They are enamored with pleasure and fantasy and resent being confronted with anything disquieting and condemnatory. They want encouragement but not correction, positive words but not negative truth. They will accept grace as long as it is cheap grace and does not reflect against their own sinfulness, inadequacies, and lostness.
The creed of the false prophet, if he has any at all, will be vague, indefinite, and ethereal. No demanding truth will be absolute or clear-cut, and every principle will be easy and attractive.
• Just look at the doctrinal positions stated by most churches today, if you can find one. They are so general as to not offend or exclude almost anyone.
Quote: Arthur Pink declares, “Any preacher who rejects God’s law, who denies repentance to be a condition of salvation, who assures the giddy and godless that they are loved by God, who declares that saving faith is nothing more than an act of the will which every person has the power to perform is a false prophet and should be shunned as a deadly plague” (An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, p. 362).
Quote: False prophets talk much about the love of God but nothing of His holiness, much about people who are deprived but nothing about those who are depraved, much about God’s universal fatherhood of every human being but nothing about His unique fatherhood only of those who are His children through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, much about what God will give to us but nothing about obedience to Him, much about health and happiness but nothing about holiness and sacrifice. Their message is a message of gaps, the greatest gap of which leaves out the truth that saves. (MacArthur, J. F. (1985). The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Mt 7:16). Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books.)
Words can corrupt a person, affect a nation, and leave a legacy of tyranny.
Illustration: Evil Rasputin
Gregory Rasputin, the “Mad Monk of Russia” managed to get a strong hold on the royal family of his day. Some believe the corrupting power he exerted was a contributing factor in the takeover of communism. By currying the favor of the court he was able to influence many decisions within the palace itself.
The czar of Russia and his wife had a child who was born with a dreaded blood disease. It caused much pain and often threatened to bring death to the young prince. In such times of extremity, when the doctors could do no more, Rasputin was called upon to perform his “miracles.” Although unexplainable, it appeared that remarkable healings did occur whenever he was brought in. The “Mad Monk” took advantage of these occasions to gain power for himself. He told them their son would not die if they listened to his counsel. As a result, the Russian government felt the influence of this wicked man. Sad to say, the entire world has indirectly suffered the consequences of one person using his energies for evil purposes. (Tan, P. L. (1996, c1979). Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : A treasury of illustrations, anecdotes, facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers. Garland TX: Bible Communications.)
You can tell a false prophet from their 1) Character 2) CREED and their:
3) CONVERTS Matthew 7:19-20
Matthew 7:19-20 [19]Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20]Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. (ESV)
False prophets can also be identified by their converts and followers. Every tree bears its own fruit. They will attract to themselves people who have the same superficial, self-centered, and unscriptural orientation as they do.
2 Peter 2:2 [2]And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. (ESV)
They have many followers because they teach and promote what the majority of people want to hear and believe
2 Timothy 4:1-4 [4:1]I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: [2]preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. [3]For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, [4]and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (ESV)
• Who are your favourite teachers? Do they tell you what you want to hear, or do they tell you what you need to hear?
Their followers will be like them-egotistical, proud, self-centered, self-indulgent, self-willed, and self-satisfied, while being religious. They will be both self-oriented and group-oriented, but never God-oriented or Scripture-oriented.
• The first test I have in the quality of a theological book (and this can apply to any teaching on the radio or tv): I open it to see the amount of scriptural citations. If they are few, only generally alluded to, or in so many different translations to take them out of context, the book, radio or TV program is not worth wasting my time or yours.
Since God loves His people and truth so much, why on earth would He allow false prophets?
God has not ordained false prophets, but He has ordained that they exist. Paul explains to the Corinthian church:
1 Corinthians 11:19 [19]for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. (ESV)
False factions will act as magnets to attract others who are false. In that indirect way they will help protect true believers by partly separating the chaff from the wheat.
We have this warning today, because, true believers who are carnal and worldly can also be attracted and corrupted, becoming grapes on thorn bushes and figs on thistles. Generally speaking, however, false prophets attract false professors, and in that way act as a sort of negative protection for the true church.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 [9]The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, [10]and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. [11]Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, [12]in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (ESV)
Ultimately, God makes sure that every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire
John 15:2, 6 [2]Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. [6]If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (ESV)
Our Lord closes this potent section with an affirming repetition of verse 16, so then, you will recognize/know them by their fruits. 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.
