WOLVES IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING.
Matthew 7:15-21.
Jesus warns against false teachers (MATTHEW 7:15). They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They are like the false prophets of Old Testament days, who preached ‘peace, peace’ when there was no peace (Jeremiah 6:14).
Jesus warns us that there will be false prophets in the last days (Matthew 24:11; Matthew 24:24). These are the days in which we live. These false teachers lurk around our doors, and the doors of our churches (cf. 2 John 1:10).
The false teachers are not always obvious: they may wear clerical collars - or not; or have strings of initials after their names - or pride themselves on the fact that they do not. They may seem to subscribe to the right creeds, carry their Bibles, be civil and polite and all: but changing the analogy from wolves to trees, Jesus twice tells us that we will “know them by their fruits” (MATTHEW 7:16; MATTHEW 7:20).
But what are these fruits? Elsewhere, Jesus equates fruitfulness with Christ-likeness (cf. John 15:5). The branch is attached to Jesus, the true Vine, and brings forth much fruit in the exercise of His grace and the performance of good works. A true minister must surely possess and demonstrate ‘the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance’ (Galatians 5:22-23). A true minister, too, must be judged by his teaching. Jesus repeats the analogy in Matthew 12:33-34 and adds ‘by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned’ (Matthew 12:37).
In the end false teachers, unless they repent, will be with those who are finally rejected in MATTHEW 7:21.
May the Lord help as we walk in His way, and may He keep us ever alert to the dangers of all that is false.
