Beware of Wolves

Today we make our way back into the gospel of Matthew to find Jesus continuing His sermon on the mount. Last week I mentioned that He is beginning to wrap up His sermon, but before He conclude, He is going to give us a series of lessons that have to do with twos. Last week we saw the tale of two gates, next week we will see the tale of two testimonies, but this week we will find Jesus giving us a tale of two trees.

Now we live in a time where we are bombarded with information 24/7. You want to know how to cook a meal, write a paper, build a deck? YouTube it! And along with this, we can access preaching and teaching anywhere at anytime. It seems that everyone and their mother is writing a devotional book, or posting Bible studies, or starting new churches and movements. And while it can seem encouraging to see these people claiming to be lovers of truth, we must be careful. You see, in James 3:1 we read,

James 3:1 ESV

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

Apparently, there was an issue with everyone wanting to teach for prominence or popularity, or some other reason, but James warns them that this business of teaching the Word of God is a serious thing with serious consequences. But what I want us to understand today is not only is teaching the Bible a serious thing, but who we let teach us is a serious thing as well. And as we dive into Matthew 7:15-20 we will find the Lord warning us of the dangers of false teachers and as we look at this passage, I want us to walk away noticing The Deception, The Danger, The Disease, and The Damnation of False Teachers. Let’s go ahead and read Matthew 7:15-20

Matthew 7:15–20 ESV

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 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. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 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.

Illustration: Years ago, I worked as a Code Officer for the County of Spartanburg and it really wasn’t a super exciting job, but I liked it. I would have to pull up to houses that violated our ordinances and issue them a warning or a citation, no big deal. But one thing that always made my hair stand up was when they had “Beware of dog” signs out. Especially when I couldn’t see a dog anywhere. Now, I’m sure that people might sometimes put up beware of dog signs just to scare people off, but for the most part, the warning isn’t there for no reason.

And that’s the case with the warning that Jesus gives us here in Matthew 7:15 as He says, “Beware of false prophets...” The Lord isn’t making a careless guess, but He is warning us of a real danger. They are here, they are everywhere and He is warning His people to be very careful. Why? This leads us to point one.

The Dangerous Deception of False Teachers

Illustration: Have you ever been deceived before? The other day, Ella and I were at the church really early for some reason, and as we walked around the property we noticed big object laying just off the roadway in the woods at the edge of the property. It had a darker outside and a lighter, or white bottom to it and we thought that maybe it was a deer that got hit so we go walking through the field and just before we got to this thing, we noticed that it was just a big old rock that had a shadow on the top from the trees and the sun was beaming on the rest of it to look like the white belly of a deer.

Well, whether you’ve been deceived by an optical illusion or by a friend, it’s never fun to get your hopes up only to realize you’ve been duped. And what we find the Lord warning us of here in verse 15 is the deceptiveness of the false teachers. He describes them as people who come to us as wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Now image this, you are looking in a field and somehow notice that there was a wolf that was brilliant enough to kill a sheep, skin it, and wear it’s fur like a disguise. That would be one brilliant animal. And that is exactly how these people are. They are brilliantly deceptive. They know your Christian lingo, they know the words to get you to let your guard down. They have a friendly smile and they walk right into our lives.

John Stott said, “a false teacher does not announce and advertise himself as a purveyor of lies; on the contrary he claims to be a teacher of the truth. ‘Knowing that Christians are credulous people, he conceals his dark purpose beneath the cloak of Christian piety, hoping that his innocuous disguise will avert detection.’ Not only does he feign piety, but he often uses the language of historic orthodoxy, in order to win acceptance from the gullible, while meaning by it something quite different, something destructive of the very truth he pretends to hold. He also hides behind the cover of high-sounding titles and impressive academic degrees.”

Illustration: Remember how I told you about the beware of dog stories? Well, two incidents that come to mind is this one story where I was pulling a vin number off of a car. But to get to the vin, I had to walk between the car and a fence. So there was only one way in and out. Well, I was sitting there reading off my vin numbers and I look up and there is a pit bull standing right in the only way I could walk out. Guys, that thing scared me so bad I turned around and levitated over that fence. I turned and went one way and he went running another and disappeared. And you know what? That dog never barked at me or charged me. But there was another occasion where I was assigned a trailer park in town to go through. Well, here I am reading vin’s again and all of as sudden I look up and there’s a chihuahua standing on this guy’s porch and I didn’t really think anything about it. Well, I guess I must’ve offended that thing because he came off that porch with wrath and fury and started attacking my ankles. So I kicked the daylights out of that thing.

I say all of that to say this, what might seem to be harmless, might be exactly what is out to get you and Jesus describes these people as ravenous wolves. The outside might have a beautiful smile, awesome hair, they may even be the coolest youth pastor on Tik Tok, they may know all the right words, but on the inside they might possess a heart full of envy for power, hatred for truth and a desire to use you for nothing more than a stepping stone to build their own empire.

In Matthew 24:11

Matthew 24:11 ESV

11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

These people are not only dangerously deceptive, but they are diseased.

The Disease of False Teachers

Illustrations: I don’t know if any of you have ever had chickens before, but if you do and one of your chickens in the flock gets sick, you have to remove them or it will spread to the others.

Well, as we look in verse 16-19 we find that Jesus is going to describe the fruitlessness of these false teachers and how they will be dealt with. But first, notice how He begins speaking of grapes and thornbushes and figs from thistles?

D.A. Carson said, “From a distance the little black berries on the buckthorn could be mistaken for grapes, and the flowers on certain thistles might deceive one into thinking figs were growing (v. 16). But no one would be long deceived.”

What Jesus is teaching us here, is that when it comes to false teachers, we need to look not simply at the facade they’ve put on, but look at the fruit in their lives. He begins to describe that a healthy tree is the only one that can give good fruit and a sick tree can only give bad fruit. A healthy tree won’t give us bad fruit and a sick tree cannot give you good fruit.

When Jesus is mentioning grapes and thorns and figs and thistles. He’s drawing the picture for us that we never get good things from useless and painful plants. And what He is wanting us to get is that we should examine whether these teachers are fruitful believers or not. Do they show the fruits of the Spirit? Galatians 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

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.

If not, if these people aren’t fruitful, then they should not be looked to as trustworthy teachers. It may not be a quick and simple test, but it’s what we are told to do. These wolves can’t pretend to be sheep forever, eventually the wool will fall off and they will be exposed. So keep an eye out. In John 15:1-6 , Jesus said,

John 15:1–6 ESV

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 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.

But what is God going to do about it? Well, two things, which brings us to our last point

The Destruction of False Teachers

God is going to deal with false teachers in two ways.

First, in Romans 16 we find that there are false teachers teaching bad and divisive doctrines in the Church. But Paul writes in Romans 16:20

Romans 16:20 ESV

20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

So, what is God doing about false teachers? He is working through us to handle them. If there is someone who is a member of our Church family that reveals himself as a false teacher and a non-convert, it is are duty to excommunicate them from our body. Paul mentions this in 1 Timothy 1:20

1 Timothy 1:20 ESV

20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Second, and back to our text for today, He will eternally judge them. Just like a farmer will cut down a sick tree so it doesn’t infect the others, so will God cut down false teachers and throw, which is word used to depict violent handling, He will throw them into fire, or Hell.

So, what do we learn from this today?

Be careful with who we listen to, especially online.

Find a body of believers to belong to so we aren’t left open to the wolves.

Exercise discernment when listening to preaching.

In regards to fruit. I want you to notice that it is a healthy tree that makes fruit, not fruit that makes a tree healthy. If you’re a believer, it isn’t your fruit that should make you say, “Hey, I’m doing good and I’m saved because I sure have been gentle lately.” No, our assurance rests in the Christ, who we are attached to.