What Big Teeth You Have
Text: Matthew 7:15-23
By: Ken L. McKinley
(Read Text)
Now the context of our text is the Sermon on the Mount. In verses 13 and 14 Jesus tells us that the road to destruction is broad, but the way of life is narrow, it is a narrow gate, and then He immediately give a warning about false prophets.
He says that these false prophets are dressed in sheep’s clothing but they are really wolves in disguise. In other words, they might look like Christians and talk like Christians; they might know all the lingo, but the reality is that they are not preaching and teaching the true gospel. You see, truth matters, what you believe can send you to hell just as easily as what you believe can send you to heaven.
Now when we think of prophecy in the Bible we think of someone who predicts a future event. I remember in the early 1980’s when television preachers were telling their viewers that these false prophets that Jesus warns about were the 1-900 psychic hotlines. But there was a problem with that, the 1-900 psychic hotlines didn’t come in sheep’s clothing. Even to the unlearned Christian it was obvious that those so called psychics were not trying to appear Christians, and to my knowledge they never claimed to be Christians. But Jesus says that these false prophets come in sheep’s clothing, that they appear (at least outwardly) to be Christians, and it isn’t until closer examination that they are discovered to be wolves. What’s interesting is that a lot of those television preachers of the 1980’s ended up going to prison for various reasons, like embezzlement, fraud, and other inappropriate behaviors.
But a prophet in the Bible was more than just a fortune teller. They were men who spoke for the Lord. They were the messengers, and their message was “Thus saith the Lord!” And so Jesus isn’t speaking about the obviously non-Christian palm readers, or psychic hot line operators, He’s speaking about men who stand up and claim that they are speaking, preaching, and teaching God’s word.
I happen to know a man who preaches at a certain charismatic church. This particular preacher had gone to particular charismatic camp meeting with his wife, where a so called prophet was to be ministering. This so called prophet began “prophesying” and he happened to tell this particular preacher that God was calling him to missionary work in Africa. The so called prophet then laid hands upon the preachers’ wife and “prophesied” over her telling her that she was to remain where she was at, and that God had the perfect mate for her. You see the pastors’ wife had washed dishes earlier and had forgotten to put her wedding ring back on, and so apparently this so called prophet assumed that she was a single woman. Before this so called prophet made these so called prophesies he had spoke long and hard about how he was moved to prophesy by the Spirit of God. But let me tell you the Holy Spirit doesn’t make those kinds of mistakes. In-fact He doesn’t make any mistakes.
Jesus is saying in our text that false prophets are dangerous. He calls them ravenous wolves. In other words, they will devour you if you are not on your guard. Not too long ago my family and I went to Sea World in San Antonio, but before we left we packed out tent as my wife wanted to save money by camping. Now I’ve probably been camping well over 100 times, but my wife and children have never been, it was going to be the first time for them. So we drove for most the day and finally found a place that allowed camping, a beautiful canyon in Texas, and the fees for campsites went from $30 to $10, and I being of pure penny pinching Scottish ancestry, decided that a campsite is a campsite and paid for the $10 area. By the time we drove down the desolate trail to this area, it was already getting dark, and by the time I got the tent set up and a fire started it was very dark. Well my girls wanted to roast weenies and marsh mellows so I pulled out my paratrooper knife and began cutting branches, but it was dark and I accidentally cut my hand. MariJo doctored me up and we ate weenies and marsh mellows and turned in for the night. Well, a few moments passed by and lo and behold our campsite was surrounded by wolves. We could hear them walking around outside the tent, and one of them even sniffed MariJo’s head through the canvas of the tent, but it wasn’t until I tried to scare them away by pushing the panic button on our SUV and we heard a menacing growl that we decided to leave the area. So I put my family in the SUV, packed up the tent with my pistol close by and we stayed in a motel. We saw a total of five wolves I believe that night, all around our campsite. They had apparently smelled the blood from my wound and the weenies and were hungry enough to come to our desolate $10 campsite and check things out.
They were ravenous wolves, they were hungry and driven by what they thought was an easy opportunity, and it made them bold, and there is no doubt in my mind that had those wolves felt that they could pounce on me, they would’ve. But I was vigilant; I had my pistol right next to me and watched them carefully as I packed the tent and our gear into the SUV.
In our text, Jesus warns us that false prophets are both dangerous and deceptive. That’s why He warns us about them, but He also tells us how we can know them. In our world today we are told over and over again that we should not judge; that we should be tolerant and not critical of others behavior and words. I believe that is Satan’s way of twisting God’s word so that we have become unable to discern his workings in the world. People use Matthew 7:1 as some sort of verbal flyswatter. “Get back you can’t judge me, Jesus said so!” But that’s not what is implied here. In our text, in verses 15-23 Jesus tells us to judge false prophets by their fruit. In 1st Corinthians chapter 5 we are told to judge lifestyle patterns, all throughout the Bible we are told to be discerning, to judge, to call sin what it is. Hebrews 5:14 tells us that mature Christians have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice in order to distinguish good from evil. And so in verse 1 of Matthew 7 Jesus isn’t focusing on the action of judging, but rather the attitude of judging. Are you judging others to make yourself seem morally superior in some way? Well then stop, because you are a sinner too. But if you are judging in a loving way, in truth, with a desire to help, then that’s ok. Jesus was re-teaching what is taught in Leviticus chapter 19:15-17 lets turn there and see what it says, (read). And so we should judge, and we definitely should judge false prophets, and we do that by examining their fruit.
Jesus says that a certain type of tree is going to result in a certain type of fruit. Grapes don’t grow on thorn bushes and figs don’t grow on thistles. So the type of the fruit is going to tell you the character of the tree.
Now in my years as a Christian I’ve seen some “fruity” people who claimed to be Christians, but that’s not exactly what the Lord is talking about. You notice that in verse 19 He says that the trees that do not bear good fruit are cut down and thrown into the fire.
So we can understand that Jesus is talking about the fruit of righteousness. These false prophets are not those who have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and because they are still in their sins, and because they are not in Christ there are several things we can examine to see whether or not they are wolves hiding under sheep skin.
Now we’ve got to keep things in context, so turn with me back a few chapters to Matt. 12:33-37 (read). Again Jesus is talking about fruit, and this time He tells us that the words of ones mouth give us a good indication about where they are spiritually. And so for these false prophets we can get a good look at where they are by listening to their doctrine. If they are saying something unbiblical or teaching something unbiblical that’s a pretty good indication… Does his preaching and teaching promote righteous living, or worldly living? Does his teaching exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, or does it exalt humanism? Does his teaching promote Christian maturity or does it promote selfish desire? All of those things can be examined.
One thing we need to remember is that Jesus didn’t say that we shall know them by how successful they appear to be. We don’t judge a false prophet by the worlds standards, but by unchanging Word.
The apostle Paul gives us more insight into false teachers in the pastoral epistles like 1st Timothy 6:3-5, or 2nd Timothy 2:16-18. Over and over again Paul warns Timothy and others about the destructive teachings of false prophets.
The point I’m trying to make is that Jesus calls His people to be zealous for the truth, and to be watchful. One of the signs of the end of the age is that there will be many who say that they come in His name, and some who even claim to be the Lord, and they draw people away from the truth. In fact Jesus says in Matthew 24 that the days will be shortened so that the elect aren’t deceived. Now I’m not going to get into all the eschatology and the meaning of the days being shortened right now, but the point Jesus was making in Matthew 24, and in our text is to be watchful and discerning.
You see, we live in an age when the truth has become relative to the secular world, again this is a trick of Satan, because without the truth you cannot be set free. The Bible tells us that when Jesus prayed in John 17:17 He asked the Father to sanctify us by His truth, and then Jesus said, “Thy Word is truth.”
False prophets are deceivers. When the Lord warns us against false prophets He’s not just warning us about these guys who want to take your money, He’s warning us about people who will manipulate you, and lead you astray. They might be sincere, and they might believe what they are doing and saying. Most of the JW’s and Mormons I have met are sincere and believe what they are saying, but they are sincerely wrong. Sincerity means nothing if it is not founded upon the truth.
That’s one of the reasons we have the Church. Because we are totally depraved. In us, that is in our flesh, is no good thing, and we can deceive even ourselves. But with the help of fellow Christians, we are held accountable. The problem is that a lot of churches today have stopped at “Judge not lest you be judged.” And have ignored the context of the passage and the Lords sermon.
Jesus says to us, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life; and there are few who find it.”
Have you done that? Have you answered His call to come?
