MATTHEW 7:15-23 - The Agony of Deceit

Introduction

A number of years ago I was participating in some training for student financial aid down at University Park. The facilitator was telling a story about a student who had come into their office with a letter from his student loan company notifying him that he owed a total of eighty thousand dollars in repayments. Turns out, four years earlier the student had gotten what looked like a check in the mail, with an offer from this company that if he signed it and sent it back he would have his college paid for. Turns out that “check” was an actual promissory note, and his signature was considered a binding legal agreement. All of the terms and interest rates and recapitalization periods were written in tiny little paragraphs all over the back of the “check”—had he taken the time to read the fine print, he may have avoided the crushing student debt that was being saddled with.

I tell that story to my students to this day to drive home the point that you have to be very careful when you are looking at signing student loan agreements (or really, any kind of loan, right?) Be very very sure that you know what you are signing up for, because these things have the power to wreck your financial future if you are not careful.

How much more then, should we heed Jesus’ words here in our text?

Matthew 7:15 (LSB)

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

If signing up with the wrong student loan lender can wreck your financial future, it is infinitely worse to commit yourself to a false teacher that can jeopardize your eternity. Jesus is laying out some practical applications of His Sermon on the Mount in these verses, and He has just finished warning his disciples that it is possible to miss the narrow way that leads to life and instead fall in with the broad road that leads to destruction:

Matthew 7:13–14 (LSB)

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

There are those who miss the narrow way to life because they are in open rebellion against God—they hate the idea of laying down their life in obedience to Christ; in their pride and passion they do not want to be told that they are sinful; they want to pursue their lusts with the blessings of the world around them as they walk down that wide open concourse that will eventually lead them to their destruction.

But the peril that Jesus is warning about in these verses is about those false prophets who will, in one way or another, cause you to miss the way to life. As one commentator writes:

Some so muddle or distort the gospel that they make it hard for seekers to find the narrow gate. Others try to make out that the narrow way is in reality much broader than Jesus implied, and that to walk it requires little if any restriction on one’s belief or behaviour. Yet others… dare to contradict Jesus and to assert that the broad road does not lead to destruction, but that as a matter of fact all roads lead to God... Stott, J. R. W., & Stott, J. R. W. (1985). The message of the Sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian counter-culture (p. 199). InterVarsity Press.

And so in these verses Jesus is warning us to beware of these false prophets; to pay attention to what they are saying lest they lure us away to destruction. The fact that He issues such a warning means that it is a real danger. It is possible to be deceived to the point that you abandon the truth of the Gospel; it is possible to be led away to a denial of the faith that results in damnation. It is possible to make shipwreck of the faith, to fail to “hold fast” as the writer of Hebrews exhorts us. And so Jesus shows us here in our text this morning that

We must DISCERN the destructive DECEPTION of false Christianity

There are two types of deception Jesus warns us against here—the deception that false teachers can put over on us, and the self-deception that we are capable of when we do not rightly discern the state of our souls before God. Both of these deceptions put our eternity at risk, and so we need to listen to what Christ tells us here about how to defend against these destructive deceptions.

In verses 15-20, Jesus warns us to discern

I. The FRUIT of a false SHEPHERD (Matthew 7:15-20)

Look again at verse 15:

Matthew 7:15 (LSB)

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

In the minds of Jesus' Jewish audience, the phrase “false prophets” would immediately bring to mind Moses’ warnings about false prophets in Deuteronomy 18--

Deuteronomy 18:20 (LSB)

‘But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’

Or they may have thought of Jeremiah’s prophetic rivals in his day, where God says of them

Jeremiah 6:13–14 (LSB)

“For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is greedy for gain, And from the prophet even to the priest Everyone practices lying. “They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

The false prophets were “greedy for gain” and “practiced lying”. They said things in God’s Name that He never commanded them to speak—the first mark of a false prophet is that

They use God's NAME for their own MOTIVES (Deut. 18:20; Jer. 6:13-14)

The Greek word translated “ravenous” here in verse 15 has the connotation of “rapacious; excessively greedy, grasping or swindling”. Like the Old Testament prophets who opposed Jeremiah, they have their own agendas, and they will say “Thus saith the LORD” in order to persuade you to cooperate with their greedy intentions.

I saw a political cartoon a few years back that depicted a campaign billboard standing in a sheep pasture. The sheep were all gathered around, gazing up at the poster that showed a wolf in a business suit with his campaign slogan that said “I Am Going To Eat You”.

Now, of course that sort of full frontal attack on the faith is not the norm—very rarely does a false teacher rise to the level of Jim Jones in the People’s Temple back in the ‘70’s, who used to throw Bibles on the floor during his speeches, shouting that “this black book has kept you prisoner for two thousand years and I am here to free you from it...”

The ravenous wolves that Jesus is warning us to be on guard for are far more likely to present themselves as harmlessly as possible—the “sheep’s clothing” in this verse according to some commentators (MacArthur) represented shepherds’ woolen robes. They dress themselves in a way to look trustworthy; to seem as though they have your best interests at heart. They tell you that they have been speaking with God, and they will share His secret messages with you. But all the while that they are claiming to speak in the Name of God, they have their own secret motives to devour you.

In verse 16, Jesus uses another image to describe these false shepherds:

Matthew 7:16 (LSB)

“You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

This is a metaphor that Jesus’ original audience would have understood better than we might. A particular species of thorn bush, what we know as buckthorn, commonly grew in that part of the world in Jesus’ day—from a distance, the berries that buckthorn grows look a lot like grapes. And there were also at that time certain species of thistle that had blossoms similar to fig blossoms.

So the image that Jesus is suggesting here is how easily someone could be fooled (from a distance) into thinking they could pick grapes from what turned out to be a thorn bush. In the same way, one of the tactics of these false shepherds is that

They CONFUSE and DIVIDE with their TEACHING (v. 16)

You think they are saying the same thing as the Bible says when they say that Jesus is “the Son of God”—until you dig a little deeper and discover that they mean that Jesus was less than God; that He was a created being, and they are in fact denying that He is God. You think they mean what the Bible means when they refer to the Holy Spirit, but when you reach out to grasp their teaching you realize that they mean that the “Holy Spirit” is some kind of impersonal force or power that you can control. They offer to teach you how to “pray”, but what they really are pushing is “prayer declarations” and “positive confessions”, in which they believe they can manipulate God into performing their wishes for miraculous works of healing or “deliverance” (another loaded word). Jesus says that these false shepherds will make it look like they are offering real fruit, but in the end will pierce you with their lies and confuse and deceive you with the way they twist what sounds like biblical language.

And out of that confusion comes division—churches are ripped apart, families stop speaking to one another, friendships wither and die because of these false shepherds who confuse and deceive with their teaching. They twist God’s Name in order to achieve their own selfish ends, and they don’t care who they confuse or what they tear apart in the process.

In verses 18-20, Jesus gives one more sign of a false shepherd--

They will always REVEAL their true COLORS (vv. 18-20; cp. 2 Peter 2:1-3)

Matthew 7:18–20 (LSB)

“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. “So then, you will know them by their fruits.

It is inevitable that an apple tree will bear apples; it is inevitable that a pear tree will produce pears. And if that apple tree is blighted and infested with fungus and insects, it will bear bad fruit. Jesus says that it is the same with these false shepherds—their true nature will always show in the end.

Listen to the way the Apostle Peter warned his readers about the false prophets that they would face:

2 Peter 2:1–3 (LSB)

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words, their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

The same greed that Jeremiah 6 describes, the same ravenous swindling Jesus warns us about. False shepherds will always eventually show their true colors, like Benny Hinn insisting that you send a thousand dollar “pledge” in order for God to bless you, or the “International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders” in the New Apostolic Reformation who will sell you the office of apostle for a $450/year subscription (discounts for married couples…) (https://pulpitandpen.org/2020/02/17/new-apostolic-reformation-selling-apostleships-for-450/ accessed 10/31/2024)

Jesus calls us to discern the destructive deception of false Christianity. He shows us how to recognize the fruit of a false shepherd, and in verses 21-23 of our text He goes on to warn us about

II. The FUTILITY of false CONFIDENCE (Matthew 7:21-23)

Look at verse 21 with me:

Matthew 7:21 (LSB)

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

One of the most insidious effects of the false shepherds’ teachings is the false sense of security it creates in those who follow them. Jesus makes a chilling warning in these verses that there will be many who will discover on the Last Day that they never possessed salvation at all. Jesus says warns that

They claim INTIMACY with Him but have never OBEYED Him (vv. 21ff; cp. Luke 6:46; 1 John 2:3-4)

The repeated “Lord, Lord...” is meant to convey that these individuals take a great deal of pride in how much they love Jesus; they claim to be so close with Him, to have such a dear relationship with Him. And yet, as Jesus says in Luke 6:46:

Luke 6:46 (LSB)

“Now why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

The Apostle John warns in the same way in his first epistle

1 John 2:3–4 (LSB)

And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

Those who make a great deal of their love for Christ, but who do not obey His call to holiness, to fight sin, to seek His kingdom and His righteousness above all things, have no ground for confidence that they know Him.

Claiming intimacy with Christ without obeying Him is a warning sign of false confidence. And in verse 22 we find another warning sign of those who have false confidence in their spiritual condition before God:

They appeal to their WORKS for CHRIST, not His WORK for them (v. 22; cp. Acts 19:13-16)

Matthew 7:22 (LSB)

“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’

Jesus says that all of the miraculous, supernatural “signs and wonders” that people experience and claim to perform in His Name do not mean that they are saved. I want you to hear this, beloved, because there are far too many people who pin all their confidence in their salvation on the fact that they have “spoken in tongues” or experienced some kind of miraculous “deliverance” or experience some remarkable “word of knowledge”. Many of you here in this room know exactly what I’m talking about because you either came out of that false teaching, or you are currently being greatly affected by it.

But hear the infallible, living and utterly authoritative Word of God here, Christian—I declare to you as one who will have to give an answer for your soul someday—speaking in tongues means nothing for your salvation. The Scripture plainly declares—and so I declare it plainly to you—there are many people who claim to perform mighty supernatural works by the Name of Jesus Christ who will someday inhabit Hell for eternity. And I plead with you, for the sake of your never-dying soul to heed the warning Christ makes in this verse: If your boast on that Day is the miracles you have done for Christ, you will be damned. Your only hope on that Day will be the miracle Christ has done for you in the New Birth.

Heed the warning issued by Jesus Christ—for the false shepherds who bear their counterfeit fruit, and for those who claim intimacy with Christ but never obey Him, for those who appeal to their mighty deeds for Christ but never appeal to His mighty deed for them in salvation, the Day is coming when

All of their RIGHTEOUSNESS will be revealed as LAWLESSNESS (v. 23)

Matthew 7:23 (LSB)

“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

Everything that in their own estimation furthered their right standing before God was in fact damning them. The false shepherds who boast about their mastery of supernatural mysteries of God’s power and how God equips them with spiritual power and authority on a scale that few others had reached—but when they appear before the Throne of Christ on the Last Day He will say to them “We’ve never met—go to Hell.”

Beloved, can you not see the urgency of Christ’s warning in these verses? The stakes could not be higher—your eternity hangs in the balance. And so look carefully at the teachers that you allow to speak influence into your life. What part does the Word of God play in their ministry? Do they cherry pick a verse here or there to lend weight to their opinions, or is their entire teaching, root and branch, found completely within the all-sufficient, finished revelation of the Word of God? A teacher who tells you “God told me” is beyond your ability to verify—he had a conversation with God that you were not privy to, so you have to take his word on it.

But a teacher who is entirely submissive to God’s Word can say to you, “This is what the Scriptures say”—and you can know whether he is speaking the truth because you can check it out for yourself:

Acts 17:11 (LSB)

Now [the Bereans] were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

A teacher who is willing to be measured by the Word of God is a teacher who submits to the Word of God.

What role does acknowledgment and repentance for sin play in their ministry? The false prophets in Jeremiah’s day would lie to the people, saying that they were at peace with God when they were in fact racing headlong into judgment:

Jeremiah 6:14 (LSB)

“They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

Jeremiah 23:17 (LSB)

“They keep saying to those who spurn Me, ‘Yahweh has said, “You will have peace” ’; And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, They say, ‘Evil will not come upon you.’

A teacher or preacher who wants to minimize the sinfulness of sin or who wants to sidestep the question of the wrath of God revealed against lawlessness in the human heart is a false shepherd. A preacher or teacher who claims that the solution to the sins that entangle you is not repentance but some kind of deliverance is a false shepherd. A preacher or teacher who does not call you to fight sin; a preacher or teacher who clearly does not fight sin in his own life is a false shepherd. And whether deliberately by deception or inadvertently by abdication will bring destruction to your soul.

Christ warns you here, beloved, to look carefully at your own heart this morning. Where are you grounding your assurance of your salvation?

Are you confident that you possess eternal life because you have had some supernatural experience of power or deliverance or miraculous gifting?

Do you comfort yourself that you belong to Christ because coming to church makes you feel so good?

Are you looking forward to the Day when you will stand in His presence because you are confident that your track record of ministry and service and Christian accomplishments will speak for themselves?

What comforts you more, beloved? That you see growing evidence of supernatural power in your life, or growing evidence of humble obedience? Are you claiming the Name of Christ for yourself in order to have Him make you feel good about yourself and give you the ability to be a good person? Or are you clinging to the Name of Jesus Christ as your only hope to escape the wrath of God on the Last Day? Does the title “Christian” mean that you identify yourself with a particular religious, social and political mindset, or does it mean that you are a slave to Christ? That you have no self-determination, no aspirations or goals, no identity of your own apart from what He reveals to you in His Word? Does the name “Christian” mean that you have utterly, completely and irrevocably died to everything except knowing and obeying Him?

We commonly make invitation to repentance and faith in Christ by asking if you “know” Him as Savior. And it’s appropriate to use that language. But see here that saying that you “know” Christ is nothing compared to Him saying that He knows you. If God’s Word has revealed to you this morning that you have been boasting about knowing Jesus all this time but are not sure that He will know you on that Day, do not wait any longer to find out for sure. You can know that you know Him, and you can know that He knows you. Come and speak to me after the service, come and speak to one of the elders, talk to one of the members here at Bethel—let us help you know today that you are known by your Savior, Jesus Christ.

BENEDICTION:

Hebrews 13:20–21 (LSB)

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION:

Reflect on a time when you realized you had been spiritually misled. What were the signs that alerted you to the deception? How does Jesus’ description of “false prophets” give you insight into those experiences?

How do false shepherds deceive by offering “thorns” that look like “grapes? or “thistles” that look like “figs”? What are some doctrinal terms that are commonly twisted by false teachers?

What are some ways you might be tempted to rely on remarkable spiritual experiences you have had as evidence that you are born again? What does Jesus say about the value of our experiences in determining our spiritual condition?

Read the account of the false prophet Hananiah in Jeremiah 28. What characteristics of a false prophet do you see in this account that Jesus identified in Matthew 7? How does Hananiah’s behavior remind you of modern day teachers who deny that God will punish sin?

What does Matthew 7:15-23 reveal about your own heart and your understanding of what it means to “know Christ”? In what ways is it more important to “be known” by Christ than to claim to “know” Him? What will He say to you on the Day you stand before Him?