Chapter 7, I want to read beginning
in verse 15. This is where you and I have
come to in our study of the Sermon on the Mount. Beware of false
prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns,
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye
shall know them." I want to mainly limit my comments this evening
to verse 15 and verse 16, where the Lord Jesus says here in verse
15, beware of false prophets. Be aware, one writer said, be
aware of false, be cautious of false prophets. Take heed to
false prophets. You know every word in the scriptures. You and I are warned of false
teachers. false preachers and false pastors. Listen to just a few of these
places that I've jotted down. Take heed and beware of the doctrine
of the Pharisees and scribes. And the Apostle Paul, addressing
the preachers as dogs and evil workers, says beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers, beware
of the conceited. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Peter said,
There were false prophets among the people, even as there shall
be false prophets among you, who privately shall bring in
damnable heresy. Beware therefore, he said, lest
ye also be led away with the error of the wicked fall from
your steadfastness. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, for many false
prophets are gone out into the world." And we could probably
fill page after page of scripture that warns us to beware, to take
heed, to take notice of false teachers and false preachers.
Now, what seems to be the main characteristic of a false teacher,
a false prophet, is deception. As we read about these fellows
in the scripture, it often refers to their deception. Listen to
this. Take heed that no man deceive
you, for many shall come in my name and shall deceive many. Many false prophets shall arise
and shall deceive many. many false christs shall arise
and show great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible
they'd deceive the very left." Brethren, mark them which cause
divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you have
learned, and avoid them. For such serve not the Lord Jesus,
but their own bellies, and by smooth words and good deeds deceive
the hearts of the simple. Paul said that ye henceforth
be no more children, tossed to and fro, carried about with every
wind of doctrine, by the sly of men and their cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Let no man deceive you with vain
words. Let no man deceive you by any
means. Let no man deceive you. That's
just a few of the warnings and the character of these men. What
they accomplished by their preaching, by their teaching, is this. They
deceived people. They deceived people. I had a
friend one time who told me, he said he knew there had to
be several lost preachers, lost prophets, and he said he thought
that God was so merciful that he had forgiven those who were
led astray. The false prophets would have
to give account of themselves, and they know that with courage,
but he said, those who were led astray, God would be merciful
to them. But you know what the Lord said?
If the blind lead the blind, both are going to fall into the
ditch. If the blind lead the blind,
they both shall fall into the ditch. So we have false prophets
warned us every place. And the Lord warns us of them
because they deceive us. They deceive us, even the elect,
if it were possible. Why are we so often warned about
these false prophets? Because it's not always easy
to detect. You can't always detect a false
prophet. If I came here this evening, I think probably I'd
be wasting my breath if I told you of the falseness of the Islam
religion. or of Buddha, or even of some
of the cults in our country of Jehovah Witness or Mormonism. You'd say, Bruce, I know that
already. If you don't know it already, you would know it as
soon as you heard them begin to teach. It's so obvious, isn't
it? There are some false prophets
that are so obvious, they're not going to deceive anyone who
reads his Bible. But the Lord Jesus described
these false prophets here in verse 15 this way. He said, Beware
of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing. Now that's what makes it so deceptive. They're not so obvious. They
appear to be Christians. Sheep's clothing. By the way
they act. By what they do. Sometimes, in
general, what they say, even when they preach, they appear
to be Christians. They appear in sheep's clothing. What you see of them, in general,
would make you think this man may well be a believer. He may
well be a Christian. And that's why they're so deceitful.
They profess to know Jesus Christ. They talk about Jesus Christ.
They come into the pulpit, just as I have this evening, and they
open their bibles. They talk about the blessed book,
the blessed hope, and the blind. They profess Christianity. They
appear to us in sheep's clothing. That's what makes it so distracting.
They're not what they appear to be. What makes it so deceptive
they appear in sheep's clothing? What does the Lord Jesus mean
here when he says sheep's clothing? Let me give you two or three
things I think he means by this. It has other meanings, I'm sure. But not only do they appear to
be Christians because they're in sheep's clothing. But what you see of them is so
smooth, it's so delicate, it's so soft. Did you ever catch a
sheep and run your hands through his wool? It's very soft and
very delicate. And I think what the Lord could
be telling us here, not only the sheep's clothing appears
to be cheap, Christian, But these men are very solid. They're very
delicate. Let me show you a scripture and
relate what I'm talking about. Turn over here to your right,
over in the book of Romans. I quoted the scripture to you
just a minute ago, but look at it with me in Romans chapter
16 and look here in verse 17. Romans chapter 16 and look here
in verse 17. Look here one second. They're
very solid. Very delicate. Preacher, very
easy. Look here how the Apostle Paul
says it in verse 17. I beseech you brethren, mark
them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine
which you have learned. Where did you learn this doctrine?
He's just been teaching us doctrine, hasn't he, in this epistle. And
avoid them. Who are these people? Well, they're
false prophets, obviously. But they cause offenses contrary
to what you've learned in this epistle. Now, what have you and
I learned? We have studied the book of Romans.
I preached it to you. You've studied it in the privacy
of your home. We know what this book teaches,
don't we? As we begin this very book, we read in here that God
is just, that He's holy, that He's righteous, that the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men. that God has appointed a day
in which He Himself will judge even the secrets of men by Jesus
Christ. You know that's a doctrine that's
offensive to the human nature. And that's a doctrine that these
soft men, these delicate men, will not make plain. They will
not make it clear because it upsets people. It afflicts people's
conscience to tell them the wrath of God is revealed against them
and their sins. And God has appointed a day in
which He'll judge them. That's what we learn from this
epistle. And we also learn the universal depravity and helplessness
of humanity. That all men have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. And not only the universal depravity,
I mean all over the world, wherever you find man, you find him hopelessly
and helplessly dead in trespasses and sin. But all the faculties
of his soul is corrupt. He's sinful. His understanding
is darkened, blinded by the devil. He's inmatent in his mind against
God by evil works. His will is in bondage to the
devil. He's universally depraved. And
then we find out the only way, the only way that he got that
way, it wasn't that he got 12 years old or 16 years old and
became that way, but he became that way because way back young
in the garden, Adam's seed. And that sin ruined the entire
human race. Every man without exception is
born in sin. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon who? All
men. All men. We're all sinners. We're
all condemned. And then we find out in this
epistle the only way of redemption. being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. that
we've been redeemed by another's obedience. We must have the righteousness
of someone else. All our righteousness is a filthy
rag, but there's a righteousness that reaches the most ungodly,
weakest man in this world and clothes the shame of his neck
in it. That's the righteousness of the Son of God. And then in
chapter 9, we read of the discriminating grace of God. And I don't know
of anything that's more offensive It's a natural man, Larry, than
the discriminating grace of God. I'll have mercy upon whom I will
have mercy. Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. I have chosen Jacob, I put his
name in the book of life, I pass by Esau. I think that's all that
means. Is that not fair? That cannot
be fair. For God to discriminate, and
the elect one pass by another. And human nature hears of these
doctrines, and it rises up against them, don't it? Well, here's
what these soft prophets do. They have sheepskin, and they're
so soft and delicate, they will not and they cannot, even if
they know them, make these truths plain. They're afraid to set
them forth. They take the offense out of
the cross. I think one of the ways that
you'll know a false prophet is this, no matter what he says
about Jesus Christ, or you, he yet labors to take the offense
out of the cross. I was telling someone, the gentleman
that preached the funeral here yesterday, He pastors a church
out here, not far from here, and one lady, if he's the same
man, and I don't want to say he wasn't, but as far as I know
he's the same man. If I'd thought about it, I'd
have asked him. But one of the ladies that goes to church there,
we'd been talking to her about election, and she asked him,
said, do you believe in election? And he said, yes, I do. And she
said, why don't you ever preach it? And he said, it disturbs
people. It disturbs people. There's a
false prophet. He's soft. He's so soft, he doesn't
have no grace in his heart to stand and be firm and preach
the cross because it offends people. That's one of the meanings,
I think here, of the Lord Jesus. So he says here, the apostle
does, they cause visions and offenses contrary to these doctrines,
the doctrine that I've taught you in this epistle. Look at
verse 18. For they that are such serve not the Lord Jesus, but
their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches." See
that? I think discriminating grace,
that's not smooth, that's hard. This is a hard saying. Who can
hear it? But by these good words and fair
speeches, they deceive the heart of the sinner. So the Lord says
they come to you in sheep's clothing. They appear to be Christians.
And I tell you, brothers and sisters, sometimes their lifestyle,
and even in general what they're saying, appears so Christian
that you can't hardly detect it. And sometimes it comes down
to this. It's not what they're saying
so much as what they're not saying. What they're not saying. What's
that man preaching from the pulpit? Well, it's what he's not preaching.
It's what he's not preaching. And sometimes it comes down to
this. The Lord Jesus says they're soft. They're very delicate. And along this same line, thirdly,
of their being soft and delicate. Look back over here at our text
again with me. I think it comes down to this also, if we keep
this text here in the context, in verse 15 where he said, they
come to you in sheep's clothing. I think we could keep it there
in the context of verse 13 and 14, and you and I could conclude
that the message of these false prophets has no straight gate
in it. I think we could conclude that,
couldn't we? The Lord Jesus just said, enter ye in at the straight
gate. He said, straight is the gate,
that means it's compressed. And narrow is the way that leads
to lie. And then he turned it right around
and says, beware of false prophets. And I think you and I can conclude
that the message of the false prophets do not have a straight
gate in them. They made it too easy. The way
is not narrow in their message, and the gate is not compressed. They make the kingdom of God
easy to get into. And after you get into it, it's
fun to be there. There's no turning to God from
sin with all the heart. There's no brokenness. There's
no denying self and dying to self. I kill and I make a life. I wound and I heal. The Lord
Jesus has compressed gates to get into. But they don't. If any man come after me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. That's
the beginning of the way. If any man come to me, and hate
not his father, and mother, and brothers, and sisters, and houses,
and land, and own life also, he cannot be my disciple." We
must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is preached,
and men press into it. The violent take it by force.
It's not easy to get into the kingdom of God. I'll be honest
with you. The Lord Jesus was honest with
people. He looked around one day and saw a great crowd following
him. A large crowd. But you know something?
The Master's not after the crowd. He will not compromise to get
a crowd or a convert. He turned back to them and he
said, You're following me. But he said, I want you to know
this. I don't have a place to lay my head. I don't have a house
tonight to go to, and if you're going to follow me, you may be
in the same condition as I am. Therefore, if you don't deny
yourself and take up your cross, you can't leave my side." That's
a compressed way in. That's a narrow way. What's being said today, getting
saved is easy, and being saved is fun. But the
Lord began this message here with, Blessed are the poor in
spirit. Blessed are they who mourn. Blessed
are they who hunger and thirst. Blessed are those who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake. Oh, it's a joyful way. I've never
known such peace and joy and happiness in all my life. I tell
you, I've never known such pressure either. Have you? I've never
known such heartache either. I've never had a whip laid across
my back like the Lord lays across my back sometimes. Look over here with me in a place
or two, just a couple of places. Let me show you what He said
in the Old Testament concerning these false prophets. And I think
here's the danger of these false prophets, why we have to be aware
of them. Look in chapter 6 of Jeremiah,
Jeremiah chapter 6, and look here in verse 10. Beware of false
prophets because they don't have a straight gate in their preaching. Look here in Jeremiah chapter
6, look here in verse 10. Look here what he said, To whom
shall I speak, and give warning, that they may fear? Behold, their
ear is uncircumcised, they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of
the Lord is unto them a reproach, they have no delight in it. Look
in verse 13. For from the least of them, even
to the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness,
And from the prophet even to the priest, every one dealeth
falsely. And here's how they dealt with
people. Here's what the false prophets did. They have healed
also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying,
Peace, peace, when there is no peace. You know one of the most
dangerous things if you've got a disease. You know one of the
most dangerous things concerning that disease is to get high healed
of it. I got on some medication one
time. for something that was wrong with me. And I thought,
well, I feel pretty good. I'm going to get off of it. And
I about died. I almost died. I wasn't healed,
but I thought I was. I thought I was. To get healed
slightly. I saw a documentary the other
night down in Argentina. They have tuberculosis. And they were sending some kind
of a penicillin there. But they didn't have enough money
to pay for a full dose. So they were taking half doses
of penicillin. And they said it would have been
so much better if they had taken none. What they did was by taking
half a dose, they became immune to the penicillin. It wasn't
working at all. So they finally died half healed. Being healed
slightly is dangerous. And you've seen people healed
slightly by having people come up front and kneel down in the
morning's branch, having people to come up front and repeat in
the center's prayer, having them come out of the stadiums and
read to them some material. All these things that false prophets
do to deceive people, make merchandise of their soul, and then say,
peace, peace to them. when there's no peace. That's
dangerous. Slap it. Look here at another
place. Look here at this same book in chapter 23 of Jeremiah. Chapter 23. You know I don't
much like this study. I don't like studying. That would
be something more joyful, wouldn't you? But you know, this is necessary. Our Lord dealt with this. And
here's where we are in our text and we have to deal with it,
don't we? When he finished his message on the Sermon on the
Mount, and you and I have found in that message some difficult
passages. And we've seen sometimes the difficulty of the Christian
life. Sometimes you read and can't
get anything out of your Bible. Sometimes you pray and it seems
like heaven shut up against you. Sometimes you're bound up in
your spirit. You have trials and struggles
and you're persecuted. It's difficult being a Christian.
We found that out in the Sermon on the Mount. And now we're not
about to come here and skip over these false prophets that are
out to deceive us and teach us contrary to what the Master has
taught us Himself. and to heal man slightly, then
better off to let him alone. Look at what he said in Jeremiah
chapter 23. Look here in verse 13. Jeremiah 23, 13. I have seen
following in the prophets of Samaria false prophets. They
prophesy and veil the devil, and cause my people Israel to
err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem that horrible
thing. They commit adultery and walk
in lies. They strengthen also the hands
of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness."
They are all of them unto me as solemn, and as the inhabitants
thereof as the martyrs. Look at verse 16. For thus saith
the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets
that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak
a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth the
word of the Lord. For they say still unto them
that despise me. The Lord hath said, Ye shall
have peace. Well, that's deceptive. Here's
a man buried in his sins, the enemies of God. Both hands, he's
got two spears in both hands, fighting against the God of heaven.
And here's a man telling him, you've got peace. You've got
peace. God loves you. You've got peace. I tell you what, I'm tempted
to tell a lost man God loves him. If God loves him, let God
tell him that. Let him become so anxious he'll
go and find out if God loves him or not. I ain't going to
tell him that. I'm going to tell him, Bud, you've
got your foot on the neck of God's dear son. You're dead in
your trespassing sin. You're the enemy of God. You'd
better humble yourself and cast your weapons in the dirt. God's
bringing you judgment before himself. You'd better do it. There's no peace to a man dead
in his trespassing sin. But that's what they were saying.
That's what they said. You got peace with God, even
though they were still living against God in their sin. And
they say, everyone that walketh after the imagination of his
own heart, no evil is going to come on you. See how soft they
are. No straight gaze. No straight
gaze in their preaching. Okay, turn back over to our case. Look what he said in the last
portion of verse 15. Matthew 7, verse 15. But inwardly, they're pure to
be sheep, they're in sheep's clothes, pure to be Christian,
they're soft and delicate and seem to be so tender. But inwardly,
they are hungry, devouring wolves. Two things I want to say about
this, and then we'll close. There's something that's essential
if a man's going to be a good preacher. If a man's going to
be a good preacher, if he's going to be a good teacher, he first
and foremost must be made a good man. Now, brothers and sisters,
this is important. This is important. That man's
had a lot of good things to say, but what kind of man is he? What
kind of man is he? He seems to be living a good
life. Oh, that's important. That's
essential. But what kind of man is he really? You remember the Lord told us
about the seed that was sown upon the different kinds of soil.
And remember, the only one that brought forth any fruit was that
seed that was received in a good and honest heart. Remember that? A man, before he starts preaching,
he better be born again. There's one thing, if anything,
more important than being a good preacher, it's being a good man.
It's having a good heart. You take a man that hasn't got
a good heart, he hasn't got an honest heart, he hasn't got a
new heart, he may say a lot of good things, and he may look
like a sheep, but I'm telling you he's a wolf in sheep's clothing.
And he's going to err somewhere, and if you're not careful, he's
going to deceive you when he doesn't. He is. Outwardly, that's fine
and good. That's fine and good. That's
necessary. A man that's called to the ministry,
his life must be in order. But I tell you what, first and
foremost, the Lord Jesus said, cleanse the inside of the cup. And that was their problem. That's
the problem of every false prophet. It's inside. inwardly. He's a wicked man, an unbeliever. The Lord Jesus said, O you generation
of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For
out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. We must have
a new nature. We must be born again. That's
what I'm saying. That's what the Master is saying.
Look in verse 16. Ye shall know of him by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? We know better than that, don't
we? Why don't we go out here on the
thorn tree and gather grapes? That's contrary to its nature.
I don't go down to my apple trees and expect to get peaches off
of them. That's contrary to his nature. Don't expect a man who
has a wicked heart to preach to you the truth. That's contrary
to his nature. He may practice and he may learn
some good things to say, but if he's not born again, you better
not trust him. And that's what the Master said
here. The husbandman that labors The man who preaches, the man
who pastors others, he must first be partaker of the fruit himself. If we want someone to preach
to us the truth of the new birth, we better listen to that man
who's experienced it himself. If we want someone to tell us
of the sweetness of the grace of the Lord Jesus, we better
get somebody who's tasted of it himself. If we want to hear
a man who points us to the fountain open for our sin and uncleanness,
we better find a man who's been washed in his hell. If we want
somebody to preach to us about how to get to heaven, we better
find a man who's going there in his hell. Now there's what
the Lord Jesus is telling us there. They appear in sheep's
clothing, they appear to be Christian, but their problem is within.
It's within. And secondly and lastly is this,
you and I work to find out what's within. Seek to find out what's
within. Seek to find out what a man's
experience is. Is he regenerated or unregenerated? Seek to know if he knows the
Lord. Burns used to have a little plaque
on his door, on the right hand side of his door. Every time
I went to see him, I'd read it. Do you know the Lord? That's
a good question. Ask a man that. Do you know the
Lord? Have you been broken? Who broke
you? Have you been humbled? Do you
know the Lord? Has He revealed Himself to you?
If I got mad, when you ask me such questions, I don't need
to be your pastor. Beware of false prophets. I was
with a man one time, a preacher. He and I, and this lady was saying,
I never have got over this. This has been a number of years
ago. Now to this day, I'm still amazed at this. We were sitting
there talking, and she asked him to tell her how the Lord
saved him. And I just detected that she
was sort of anxious about her own condition, and she just wanted
some instructions from him. So she asked him to tell her
how the Lord saved him. And he proceeded, probably with
ten minutes' speech, telling us how the Lord had called him
to preach. And I sat there amazed at that
man, that he did not know a thing about what it was to be brought
and humbled. and made poor in spirit before
the Lord, what it was meant to know the Lord Jesus Christ. I
was amazed. And yet he seems to be a Christian. He seems to be a preacher. But
I have no confidence, because I cannot believe that he's born
with God. Beware, brothers and sisters,
of false prophets. They'll do us no good. They'll
deceive us indeed. May God grant us grace to understand
the message. Lord, we do thank you. Thank
you for bothering and for your Word. Lord, sometimes it's so
difficult to understand these things, but we thank you for
them. To think that we'd deceive our
fellow man, be deceived of our fellow man. But Lord, you've
warned us of it in your Word, and we know the great adversaries
behind it all. And we pray, our Father, for
light, we pray for understanding, we pray for grace. Lord, without you being our light
and our wisdom, we'll soon be deceived, we'll deceive ourselves.
Our Father, we thank you for this time that you've grabbed
us together together. We thank you for the day. You've
let us see the blue sky. You've let us breathe your air.
You've given us a measure of joy and confidence in our heart,
a great degree of health. We thank you for this. Thank
you for our little children. Thank you for our babies. Thank
you for your people. Thank you for hope. Thank you
for heaven. Thank you for your promises.
Thank you for the world to come that will see your face and be
like you, be free from our bodies of death. Oh, our Lord, we put
our confidence in you, our hope in you. We know you'll never
fail. We leave all in your care. We gather here now to remember
your death. Give us thoughts of you, in Christ
our Lord's name, Amen.