Sermon Tone Analysis

Matthew 7:15-20

Someone once said “If you’re going to put poison on the shelf with healing medicines then you’d better label it clearly.”

He was talking about the presence of false teachers in the church and the need to identify them before they do harm.

The greatest danger facing the church today is the influence of false teachers who distort/oppose/mutilate the doctrine of faith that has been delivered to the saints.

False teachers prey upon those who have not learned to discern truth from error.

Particularly those susceptible to being lured astray at that hands of false teachers are spiritual babes who remain unstable in their faith and gravitate toward those who have charismatic personalities.

It is a grim reminder for us that Satan will always counterfeit God’s truth.

Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) “Whenever God erects a house of prayer, The devil always builds a chapel there.”

On-going battle b/t God & Satan—means that there has always been false teachers and always will be:

Dt 13:1-5;

Dt 18:20-22;

Why the severe penalty?

(to preserve community of Israel)

Examples in Scripture:

450 prophets of Baal (1 Ki 18:19-22)

400 prophets of Ahab (1 K 22:6-12)

Jesus (during Passion Week) Mt 24:3-5

They are called false brothers (2 Cor.

11:26), false apostles (2 Cor.

11:13), false teachers (2 Pet.

2:1), false speakers, that is, liars (1 Tim.

4:2), false witnesses (Matt.

26:60), and false Christs (Matt.

24:24).

Definition of False Prophet

2 Marks of a prophet: divinely commissioned and speak divine message.

So a false prophet falsely claims to be a prophet of God or makes false predictions.

Moses: Ex 4:10-12

Church history is filled with examples:

Gnosticism became widespread; Marcion [God of OT God of NT], Mani [Manichaesim—all religions equally valid], Arius [Arianism—denied Jesus fully God & Man], Nicolaitans & Baalamites (Rev 2:15) seduced the church with idolatry and immorality, Pelagius denied God’s grace as necessary for salvation

Each of these individuals were not some fanatic outsider who claimed to have a new religion but “among you” (2:1).

The greatest threat to the church is not false religions (Mormons, Islam, JW and the like) but those FT who rise up with in the church and promote false teachings inside.

The warning & instruction is not a test to detect heretics but rather to unmask hypocrites (esp.

unconscious hypocrites).

The threat is great and urgent…so LJC in Sermon on the Mt.

“beware”… Be in a state of alert; be concerned; pay attention to

Thus this word should immediately arrest our attention, for the word “Beware” says there is a great peril present which will bring much harm to us if we do not keep up a good watch and exercise much caution.

Therefore, when Christ says, “Beware,” we should listen attentively, respectfully, and dutifully.

We need to be very cautious about the peril addressed and do the action Christ commands regarding the peril.

You don’t put “beware of dog” on fence if all you have is a house cat.

Pseudo-Prophets: pseudo=lie—pretending to be what they aren’t.

Many are very good at this:

“come in sheep’s clothing...”

What does this mean?

They look like the right people.

No one suspects anything.

Appearance is pleasing and nice, everything that could be desired.

They are the “Trojan Horse”—with satanic intent to destroy the church of Christ.

But it’s even more sinister than this...

Shepherds would invariably wear the wool of the sheep they tended.

They would make garments out of that.

False prophets do not deceive the flock by impersonating sheep but by impersonating the shepherd.

This makes them very difficult to identify and all that more urgency to be careful to be on the alert against anyone who would claim to be commissioned by Christ to shepherd the flock.

In The Didache, one of the earliest Christian writings after New Testament times, we find a section devoted to dealing with false prophets.

The term used to describe them is Christemporos, which means “Christ merchants.”

False prophets use Jesus Christ and His gospel and church as means for serving their own ends.

They use the things of God as mere merchandise to promote and dispense to their own advantage.

The Didache gives several means for distinguishing true prophets from false.

One was that a true prophet would not remain as a house guest more than two days, because he would need to be up and about his work.

A false prophet, however, would willingly stay indefinitely, since he had no real mission to accomplish except serving his own interests.

The second test was in regard to asking for money.

The true prophet, said The Didache, would ask for bread and water, but nothing more—that is, only for necessities to keep himself going.

A false prophet, on the other hand, is not the least averse to asking for or even demanding money.

A third test was in the area of life-style.

A person who does not lead a life that corresponds to the standards he teaches is clearly not a man of God.

Still another test was in regard to willingness to work.

If a person wanted to live off others and would not work for his own keep, he was a Christ trafficker.

Ravenous wolves—speaks to the methods of asserting influence: violence and greed.

The wolf gets his way by intimidation, force or some other tactic that shames the sheep.

What is their destiny?

implied in vs 19.

While you might be able to identify them by their character…much more likely to “know them by their fruits.”

False prophets can only produce false fruit…what does this look like?

(False righteousness)—may appear beautiful but it will not last.

John the Baptist told the hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees who came to be baptized to first “bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8).

Their manner of living belied their claim that they loved and served God.

When the multitude then asked John what good fruit was, he replied, “Let the man who has two tunics share with him who has none; and let him who has food do likewise” (v.

11).

To the tax-gatherers who asked what they should do, John said, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to” (v.

13).

John was saying that the person who is genuinely repentant and who truly trusts and loves God will also love and help his fellow man (cf.

James 2:15–17; 1 John 3:17; 4:20).

What does good fruit look like then?

Lloyd-Jones:

A Christian can generally be known by his very appearance.

The man who really believes in the holiness of God, and who knows his own sinfulness and the blackness of his own heart, the man who believes in the judgment of God and the possibility of hell and torment, the man who really believes that he himself is so vile and helpless that nothing but the coming of the Son of God from heaven to earth and His going to the bitter shame and agony and cruelty of the cross could ever save him, and reconcile him to God—this man is going to show all that in his personality.

He is a man who is bound to give the impression of meekness, he is bound to be humble.

Our Lord reminds us here that if a man is not humble, we are to be very wary of him.

He can put on a kind of sheep’s clothing, but that is not true humility, that is not true meekness.

And if a man’s doctrine is wrong, it will generally show itself at this point.

He will be affable and pleasant, he will appeal to the natural man, and to the things that are physical and carnal; but he will not give the impression of being a man who has seen himself as a hell-bound sinner, and who has been saved by the grace of God alone.

(Studies in the Sermon on the Mount vol. 2 [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977], pp.

258–59)

Their creed will also reveal who they are (though on the surface it might appear sound, orthodox)

The sixteenth-century reformers, who were accused by the Church of Rome of being innovators and false teachers, defended themselves by this doctrinal test.

They appealed to Scripture and maintained that their teaching was not the introduction of something new but the recovery of something old, namely the original gospel of Christ and his apostles.

It was rather the medieval Catholics who had departed from the faith into error.

‘Cling to the pure Word of God,’ cried Luther, for then you will be able to ‘recognize the judge’ who is right.3

Calvin made the same emphasis: ‘All doctrines must be brought to the Word of God as the standard,’ for ‘in judging of false prophets the rule of faith (i.e.

Scripture) holds the chief place’.4

He also went a step further than this in drawing attention to the motives of false teachers in addition to the substance of their teaching: ‘Under the fruits the manner of teaching is itself included …, for Christ proves that he was sent by God from this consideration, that “he seeketh not his own glory, but the glory of the Father who sent him” (John 7:18)’.5

We must be cautious against 2 extremes: accepting everyone and being suspicious of everyone—and take the role of the “heresy-hunter.”