Matthew 7:12ff

It is not stated here, but in context they appear as sheep, and this suggests they are not overtly wildly heretical. Throughout this sermon, it seems they keep quiet about the difficult, hard sayings of Jesus, as it were. They are the ones who say, “All is well; God loves you,” but never say, “Sin no more.”

Sometimes they are false teachers not by what they say but by what they don’t say.

Jer 6:14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

Jer 8:11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

The Prophet and priest are dealing falsely, and God says, “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace …That is, “God’s peace is upon you.

The verses (15 to 20) are not given primarily as a rebuke to false teachers. They are written for ordinary men and women to help them to discern who the false teachers are.

People don’t like you if you talk like this, and call out a false preacher. They say this is terribly intolerant. This is the day when pluralism prevails and everybody has a right to his own opinion, and with that I agree. Everybody has a right to his own opinion, but that doesn’t mean all opinions are right.

Jesus’ answer is, “Beware of false prophets.

The Danger of the False Prophet

They are very dangerous. The word Beware means, hold your mind back from. Don’t ever expose your mind to the influence of a false prophet. Don’t pay attention to, give heed to, follow, notice, devote yourself, don’t even put your mind in his vicinity, they’re dangerous, they pervert the mind, they poison the soul.

Why are they so dangerous? because they are lying, there are wolves. Anyone who lies, preacher or anyone, is dangerous.

The number one enemy of the sheep in Palestine was the wolf, a natural enemy, Now a good shepherd according to John 10 is always on the alert for the wolf, a good shepherd cares for his sheep so he watches, he’s awake, he’s alert.

False prophets Inwardly are wolves but they come to you in Sheep’s clothing.

Now, in the Old Testament and even in the New in the case of John the Baptist, a prophet was known by what he wore. John the Baptist came as one in the wilderness, he had a camel’s hair coat and he ate locusts and wild honey, again he wore the garment of a prophet, the rough, raw, hair of a camel is not anything like you think of when you think of camel hair wool type things today, very rough, very uncomfortable but again a statement of coming aside from the system, from creature comforts, the rough garment designated the prophet.

And when the prophet came he came with no worldly goods, he came with no worldly wardrobe, he came in rough, rugged fashion as if he had come out of the wilderness of communing with God.

When anybody wanted to play the part of a prophet he went out and got a prophet costume. He got a rough, rugged, burlap garment and he played the role. Zechariah 13:4 it says of the false prophets, “They wear a rough garment in order to deceive.” That was their whole approach.

There are several kinds of false prophets,

The heretic

The Heretic is the person who teaches what blatantly contradicts an essential teaching of the Christian faith. He is a gregarious figure, a natural leader teaching just enough truth to mask his deadly error. Yet in denying the faith and celebrating what is false, he leads his followers from the safety of orthodoxy to the peril of heresy.

The Charlatan

The Charlatan is the person who uses Christianity as a means of personal enrichment. Paul charged Timothy to be on guard against him. “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain” (1 Timothy 6:3-5).

The Prophet with a New Revelation

The Prophet claims to be gifted by God to speak fresh revelation outside of Scripture, new, authoritative words of prediction, teaching, rebuke, or encouragement. In reality, though, he is commissioned and empowered by Satan for the purpose of misleading and disrupting Christ’s church. John offered an urgent warning about him. (1 John 4:1).

The Abuser

The Abuser uses his position of leadership to take advantage of other people. Usually, he takes advantage of them to feed his sexual lust, though he may also desire power. Both Peter and Jude were aware of the Abuser’s way “And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed” (2 Peter 2:2).

The Apostate

The apostate denies the faith, denies Christianity, he apostatizes, departs from it. Just take your Bible and check it, it’s easy to spot apostasy because they’re denying it.

The Divider

The Divider uses false doctrine to disrupt or destroy a church. He divides brother from brother and sister from sister. Jude warned about him: “‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.’ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (Jude 18-21).

Congregations and denominations have often been splintered by the Divider as he sometimes makes a minor doctrine into the mark of Christian maturity, causing factions to arise within the body.

The Ear Tickler

The Tickler craves popularity and praise from the world. He is the false teacher who cares nothing for what God wants and everything for what men want. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

The Speculator, Open Theology

The Speculator is the one obsessed with novelty, originality, or speculation. The Speculator tosses aside the bulk of the Bible’s content and the weight of the Bible’s emphasis in order to obsess about matters that are trivial or novel. Hebrews warns the church of these “strange teachings,” while Paul told Timothy to protect the church against any “different doctrine” (Hebrews 13:9, 1 Timothy 1:3).

The Speculator obsesses about the End Times, and somehow his failed predictions dissuade neither himself nor his followers. He can be seen obscuring the clear message of Scripture to search for hidden codes in Scripture. Sometimes he plants himself in academia, where one of his recent masterpieces is a re-imagined God who is unable to see and know the future. Well did Paul label the Speculator a contradictory, irreverent babbler (1 Timothy 6:20-21).

The deceiver

The deceiver is the one Jesus is referring to here, the one you don’t see, this is the one who comes with the cloak of the shepherd.

This is the one who talks about Jesus, the cross, God, the Bible, the church, the Holy Spirit and he hangs around with people that are true Christians .

They are on the radio and television, in the pulpit, writes books and always looks like a Christian.

2 Corinthians 11:14 “Satan comes masquerading as an angel of light.” He comes hidden, among us. And don’t be surprised, he says in if his ministers are angels of light.

Jude 4 says, “They creep in unawares.” They’re all over the place.

First of all they’re pleasant and they’re nice, they smile a lot, they seem positive, they seem affirming, they seem Christian, they hang around with Christians, they appear to be thoroughly Christian, they talk Christian talk, they seem to say the right things.

It isn’t what they say, it’s what they don’t ever say.

The false prophets lead through the gate to damnation.

They say, “Have we not prophesied in your name?” We’ve been Your preachers.
We’ve been preaching in Your name, it doesn’t mean getting revelations it just means we’ve been declaring in Your name. “And Jesus said, I’ll profess unto them, I never knew you; depart.”

13, “Many there be who go with them.” Many buy the lie. And where does it all end? It all ends in destruction and damnation, false prophets are going to be judged.

2 Peter 2:1. “There were false prophets among the people, and there shall be false teachers among you, secretly bringing in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them,”

verse 4 he says, “If God didn’t spare the angels that sinned, but cast them to hell. And God didn’t spare the old world, the world of Noah, but drown them. And God didn’t spare Sodom and Gomorrah.” Then what makes you think God is going to spare the false prophets of this particular sort?

v 9 says, “They are reserved to the day of judgment to be punished.” if you look in the end of the Book of Revelation you’ll see that the primary false prophet, the false prophet of the Antichrist in the end time is taken with the Antichrist and thrown into the lake of fire which burneth forever and ever.

Matthew 7:22 “Many will say to me on that day …” The reference to that day is to the last day, the day of judgment, the day of separation.

What is it then, characterizes the true believer?

Not loud profession but true obedience.