Matthew 7:15-20-“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Chuck Swindoll, the radio preacher on Insight for Living, tells a story about a friend of his who attended a get together in the elegant home of a physician in the area of Miami, Florida. Hors d’oeuvres were served and Swindoll’s friend thought they were delicious and kept coming back for more. The doctor’s wife was serving meat “on delicate little crackers with a wedge of imported cheese, bacon chips, and an olive, topped with a sliver of pimento. She served these morsels on a beautiful silver tray. The wife “had just graduated from a gourmet cooking course and decided she would put her skills to the ultimate test…”. She wanted to see if she could dress up something that people would not normally eat and have them eat it. Imagine the surprise of her friends when they discovered that the meat served on little crackers with a wedge of imported cheese, bacon chips, and an olive, topped with a sliver of pimento was…………….dog food!
I am afraid that some people can dress up anything and make it desirable!
False prophets will make the narrow gate, wide and the difficult road, easy!!
A false prophet will remove anything offensive in the Gospel.
He will preach about the love of God, but neglects to speak about God's holiness, righteousness, anger, and justice.
He will never talk about judgment, or hell!
He won’t talk about sin or the world’s depravity and man's inability to do good on his own; instead, he says man is basically good.
You will probably never hear him talk about the need to repent or the need of a savior.
The false prophet will only preach what people want to hear, what makes them feel good and safe and secure, that tickles the ears and doesn’t step on toes!
Canon cameras the slogan was “image is everything.”
To this day, the world’s message hasn’t changed.
In Jesus’ day the religious leaders dressed in fine robes and a lot of ceremonies, but they were far from God.
Today, on T.V. a person dressed in expensive clothes and living in a big mansion and driving a expensive car, telling the audience, that they can be as successful as he is, if they will invest in what he tells them to invest in.
But people don’t have to have nice clothes or drive a nice car.
People can be drawn to them because of their charisma and speech.
Some people know just what to say and how to say it!!!
There has been and there will be false prophets among Gods people.
God's people are responsible to identify them.
Three characteristics of a false prophet:
a. They are aggressive “come to you”
b. They are deceptive “in sheep’s clothing,”
c. They are destructive “but inwardly are ravenous wolves”
d. They are destroyed “Every tree that does not bear good fruit
is cut down and thrown into the fire
Definition of Ravenous:
1-hungry: extremely hungry
2-greedy for something: greedy for something, especially for the gratification of wants or desires
3-predatory: voracious and predatory
By their fruit you will recognize them-It may take some time, but we will eventually see whether the preacher is trying to benefit himself, or whether he is truly serving others.
False preachers look good on the outside, but their motives are selfish.
A farmer one planted two fruit trees on opposite sides of his property. The one he planted to provide a hedge hide the unsightly view of an old landfill; the other to provide shade to rest under near a cool mountain stream which ran down beside his fields. As the two trees grew, both produced began to flower and bear fruit. One day the farmer decided to gather the fruit from the tree nearest his house " the one used to provide a hedge from the landfill. As he brought the fruit inside the house, he noticed that it was a little deformed " the symmetry of the fruit was not very good, but still the fruit looked edible. Later that evening, while sitting on his porch the farmer took one of the pieces of fruit for a snack. Biting into the fruit, he found it to be extremely bitter, and completely inedible. Casting the fruit aside he looked across the field to the other tree over by the mountain stream.
After walking across the field, the farmer took a piece of the fruit from the other tree and bit into it. Find the fruit to be sweet and delicious he gathered several more pieces of fruit and took them to the house.
The fruit was greatly affected by the nutrition of the root. Just as the tree grew by the landfill to be bitter, and the tree by the stream produced sweet fruit, so the Christian has a choice. He can either put down his roots into the soil of the landfill of fleshly pursuits, or into the cool refreshing stream of the person of Jesus Christ. We must understand that the root bears the fruit. The fruit of the Christian is the outward evidence of the inward motivation.
