Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
10 sermons cite this verse
… be on your guard. Beware of false prophets who come to you with sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Tells me two things about false teachers. Number one, tells me they're deceptive. Their beauty is only fleece deep. They look like sheep on the outside, but underneath they are snarling wolves. They're dangerous as well. They'll send you right to hell. I have a friend who was in a liberal church for so long and finally realized the error of his way and turned to the cross of Christ and found a place that taught the Bible. And he said, as I look back, I got to tell you, Chuck, they would have loved me right into hell. That's the mark of a false teacher. They'll love you right to destruction. note carefully what he says. They're false prophets. They come to you. They look like sheep, but inwardly they are wolves. In other words, they are counterfeit shepherds. If I'm shopping down at the local Safeway and I reach in my wallet to find a bill that I just ran off at home, that will pass for a $5 bill. …
… Which have you traveled by? Let's turn to Matthew 7, verses 15 through 20. So I preached from this text a couple of weeks ago. In it, Jesus warns his disciples not to follow false prophets. And then he lays out the difference between a false prophet and a true prophet, the kind of people we want to follow and the kind we don't, and really points towards the kind of life that we're going to live. And he says this, they will be known by their fruit. They will be known by their fruit, by whether they produce good fruit that brings health to other people and life to other people, or they produce toxic fruit that makes people sick. I want to ask you this question. Are you producing good fruit or toxic fruit? Are the people around you blessed because of your presence in their lives? Do you invest in them? Do you care for them? Do you show them kindness? Or do they get only cruelty from you? …
… Jesus says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves, false believers. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes? The answer is no. Or how about figs from thistles? Nope. Even so, every good tree, or every tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. Verse 18, and 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. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. Wow, before I keep reading, there are people, listen, we need to wake up as believers and stop being so gullible. When somebody says, I'm a Christian, you don't know that. Why are we so quick to give somebody the title of Christian when we've known them for five minutes? We don't know them. They say, I'm a Christian. Hey, you hear that? He's a Christian. …
… you find it's just easier not to judge when you're clear about your own stuff. All right, so Jesus tells us not to judge. But then I want you to notice in Matthew chapter 7 verse 15, Jesus comes back and he tells us to judge. Now this is really interesting. He says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Okay, so, and he goes on to talk about beware of them, watch out for them. And, you know, Jesus kind of gets judgy sometimes, right? Jesus, you know, he goes in and he cleanses the temple and he drives out the money changers. And in Matthew chapter, I think it's chapter 16, he says, yes, chapter 16, he says, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. In Matthew chapter 23, he says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but on the inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. I mean, he's telling us not to judge. And then he says, beware of these people, beware of their teachings, beware of... So which is it? Don't judge or judge? And the answer is both, right? So our demeanor in life should be to not judge other people. It's not to be assuming the worst about them. It's to assume the best about them. It's to find ways to be an encouragement instead of tearing people down. …
… Watch out, Jesus said, for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. Again, the big picture. Hinduism, escape. Buddhism, detachment. Mormonism, becoming. Christianity, grace and mercy. So if you're on this construction plan, this man-made construction plan with your hard hat and safety goggles and red wings, trash that, park the crane, and accept the bridge God has built to you. Because the bridge God has built to you is not a bridge to nowhere, it's a bridge to somewhere, and that somewhere is someone named you. In the early 90s, we just kicked off Fellowship Church, and there was a billionaire. That was before billionaires were cool. Now everyone's a billionaire. And there was a billionaire that came to our church, and he was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And just because you're a billionaire doesn't mean you're brilliant. Did you know that? If you find a niche, it'll make you rich. Now, a lot of billionaires are brilliant. I'm just saying, you know, you find out someone's a billionaire, don't go, well, he must be, she must be so much more intelligent than me. …
… find it. Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce 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. 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. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew You. Depart from me, You who practice lawlessness. …
… this same chapter again, verses 15 and following. 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 or thorns or figs or thistles? What's he saying? You can't gather grapes from thorns and figs from thistles. You just can't do that. Now what he is saying is you have to learn that there is a difference between right and wrong. In the same context where our Lord says, judge not that you be not judged, he said, don't give that which is holy to dogs. Don't cast your pearls before swine. Sounds to me like you have to discriminate To find out where the dogs and the hogs are Who they are What they are The Bible clearly and plainly teaches discrimination Let me give you some verses outside of the context 1 Corinthians 2 verse 15 He that is spiritual Judgeth all things Are you spiritual? Then you're going to learn to judge all things. …
… STUDY THROUGH THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. AND, UH, WE TAKE UP KEPT OFF LAST WEEK WITH MATTHEW CHAPTER SEVEN AND VERSE 15. It begins with a warning. Jesus says, Beware of false prophets. That's a good word for today, isn't it? 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, Jesus says, 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. NOT EVERY ONE THAT SAITH UNTO ME, LORD, LORD, SHALL ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. BUT HE THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN. MANY WILL SAY UNTO ME IN THAT DAY, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? …
… We'll get to it later on as we preach about it. But our Lord says, beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. I can just hear someone saying, oh, now Jesus, don't judge. Jesus, you just said, judge not. Why? Well, you don't have any right to call them false prophets. Lord, you don't have any right to call them ravening wolves. And what Jesus said, he said, you better watch out. They'll get you. 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. Anybody with his eyes wide open needs to make discernments. And so our, our Lord is not saying here that it is wrong to make discerning discrimination. As a matter of fact, it is wise to do that. That's what you do every time when you go to the polls and vote. You judge. You say, should it be this man, this woman, this man, this woman. …
… JESUS HAD TO SAY ABOUT HYPOCRISY. FOR EXAMPLE, IN MATTHEW CHAPTER 7 AND VERSE 15, HE SAYS, BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS. THE WORD FALSE IS Pseudo, Pseudo-prophets, WHICH COME TO YOU IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING. EVERY ACTOR HAS HIS, UH, GARB THAT HE WEARS, BUT INWARDLY THERE ARE RAVENING WOES. JESUS SAID, NOW WATCH OUT FOR THESE Pseudo-PROPHETS. THEN HE SAID IN MATTHEW CHAPTER 23, VERSES 27 AND FOLLOWING, WOE UNTO YOU SCRIBES, PHARISEES, HYPOCRITES, HYPOCRITES, PLAY ACTORS, FOR YOU ARE LIKE UNTO WHITED SEPULCHERS, WHICH INDEED APPEAR BEAUTIFUL OUTWARD, BUT ARE WITHIN FULL OF DEAD MEN'S BONES AND OF ALL UNCLEANNESS. EVEN SO YE ALSO OUTWARDLY APPEAR RIGHTEOUS UNTO MEN, BUT YOU ARE FULL OF HYPOCRISY AND INIQUITY. JESUS RESERVED HIS MOST SEVERE LANGUAGE FOR THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF HIS TIME. THE PHARISEES, WHAT WAS A PHARISEE LIKE? WELL, HE WOULD READ THE SCRIPTURES. HE WOULD WORSHIP. HE WOULD ATTEND THE SERVICES. HE WOULD BRING A TIDE. HE WAS SEPARATED FROM THE WORLD. HE TRIED TO WIN OTHERS TO HIS RELIGION, BUT IT WAS ALL OUTWARD. HE DID NOT KNOW THE LORD. AND GOD, THE LORD JESUS HAD THE MOST EXCORIATING, VITUPERATIVE LANGUAGE FOR THESE PEOPLE. AND YET ON THE OTHER HAND, WHEN JESUS WOULD FIND A SINNER, CAUGHT IN SIN, IN THE WEB OF SIN, JESUS WAS THE MOST COMPASSIONATE, THE WOMAN TAKEN AT THE, AT AN ADULTERY. HOW COMPASSIONATE WAS THE LORD JESUS. WHEN OTHERS SAID STONER, JESUS SAID FORGIVER. THERE WAS A TAX COLLECTOR NAMED ZACHAEUS. …