Matthew 7, the last chapter of the Sermon on the Mount, concludes with a description of false prophets. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in Sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. Verse 15.Satan presents himself as an image that is very difficult for people to see through. He comes as an angel of light, and his ministers are transformed into ministers of righteousness ( II Corinthians 11:14-15 ) .
The devil's crowd will stand up, point their fingers, and accuse. There were more Pharisees ready to denounce Jesus Christ than any other class of Jews.
The legalists and religionists were there all with an extra nail in case the soldiers did not have enough to nail Him to the cross.
They were ready to conspire. They had a veneer of sheep, but inwardly they were ravening wolves.
First of all you must understand this about false prophets: They have one image- that of good- but their true nature is always predatory.
They are wolves; they attack.
How does the wolf attack a deer? He does not use a frontal attack; he tries to hamstring the deer first so that it will be crippled and unable to run fast.
Then the wolf bites at the deer until it tears it down. False prophets move in a similar way- underhanded, subtle work to destroy the things of God.
All the while, others may say that they are really good people, because they feel only the sheepskin and do not see the wolf nature.
By their fruits ye shall know them. do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Matthew 7:16.
This is the only way you can tell a true prophet. You cannot tell him by his appearance or even by the supernatural manifestations that are evident in his life.
The false prophet will even bring fire down from heaven. ( It will be the most impressive fireworks you have ever seen. ) If anyone is looking for God, he will surely be led astray, because every evidence of the supernatural will be present.
But remember- miracles or supernatural actions are never an indication that a person is really of God.
There is only on acid test: like begets like.
If he is a wolf, even if he is wearing a sheepskin, he will beget a wolf. If he is a sheep, he will beget a sheep. If he is a prophet, he will bring forth a prophet.
The account of Elijah in I Kings 19:8-21 gives a beautiful illustration of a prophet who realized that his day was soon to end.
He journeyed to Mount Horeb where God spoke to him. First came the wind and the earthquake and the fire. Then the still small voice, the lord finally told him what He wanted him to do.
Elijah found Elisha plowing in a field, passed by him, apparently almost indifferently, and threw his mantle over him.
Elisha pleaded, "Just a moment. I have to tell my family good-bye." He killed the oxen, built a fire with the wooden plow, and prepared a barbecue. He was leaving. He was going to minister the word of God.
Where did Elisha receive his ministerial training? He was with Elijah continually. Later he was not known as Elisha, the man who had various degrees, such as ThD, PhD, or DD. Instead, it is written of him in II Kings 3:11:
"This is Elisha, who poured water on the hands of Elijah." Keep in mind that this was before the days of modern plumbing, so when the prophet needed to have his hands washed. Elisha was the servant who poured water on the hands of Elijah.
He did not assume a place of distinction.
When John described himself in the New Testament, he did not say, "I am the apostle of love." He merely called himself "the one who leaned on Jesus' bosom" ( John 13:23 ) .
Nothing meant more to him than that.
Concerning the time when the disciples reclined at the table while eating, he said, "I was the one who leaned on His bosom."
Of Elisha, we read that he poured water on the hands of Elijah.
When the time finally came that Elijah was to be translated, he asked Elisha, "What shall I do for you?"
His servant answered, "Give me a double portion of the Spirit that rest upon you." He asked a hard thing, but he received it; and Elisha came forth as a tremendous prophet of God, able to discern the thoughts of men.
He had a free spirit and was psychic and clairvoyant. "Free spirit" is a term used by many in the field of spiritualism, but in the Bible we find a simple illustration of it.
At one time the king of Assyria asked," Who is the man who is revealing all of our secrets? Let's find him."
His servants answered, "It is not anyone on our side; it is Elisha. He knows exactly what you are thinking, even the words you speak in your bed chamber. ( II Kings 6:11-12 ) .
Another time Elisha told Naaman, the captain of the host of Syria, how he could be cleansed of his leprosy: by dipping in seven times in the Jordan River.
After he was cured, Naaman came back very excited, and said, "Elisha, take the garments, take the gold, take all of these gifts. I was prepared to buy my healing; here take it all."
Elisha said, "No. Keep all your money, keep your clothes. You have to know that there is a God in Israel."
But Gehazi, Elisha's servant, followed Naaman and said, "My master changed his mind. He will take some of that gold and silver and some of those garments."
After hiding the gifts, he came back, trying to act quite nonchalant about it. Elisha asked, "Where did you go?" and Gehazi replied, "Thy servant went nowhere."
The prophet told him, "Did not my heart go with you?" In other words, "My spirit went with you; I saw everything that happened."
Elisha discerned it because he had a free spirit. He told Gehazi, "The leprosy of Naaman will cleave to you and to your descendants."
Gehazi was the one who poured water on the hands of Elisha. He was the one who would come forth to stand as the third prophet in a great line.
Remember that during this time, the land was filled with the fruits of these predecessors ministries. This was a most amazing day when the schools of the prophets, and the sons of the prophets, went through the land in companies. Gehazi was next in line to become one of the greatest.
Atrue prophet brings forth after his own kind. If the ministry which is coming up under a true prophet of god goes astray, then God has a way of destroying it, just as a missile is destroyed if it goes off course in space.
A button is pushed that automatically triggers the blast and blows up the craft. Because Gehazi was not going to be a true prophet, the line ended with Elisha.
A false prophet also brings forth after his own kind.
It is not the miracles or the signs and wonders that are the fruit of a man's ministry. Look to see if in his wake, there are others who are learning to walk with God, who are coming forth with that same ministry.
In Genesis 1:11-12 we read that God blessed everything to bring forth after it's own kind. We still get peach trees from peach seeds, apple trees from apple seeds, and lemon trees from lemon seeds.
If you breed a horse with an ass, they will produce a mule. A mule is quite handy to have at certain times. He moves at a slow steady pace and keeps going long after a horse would have dropped dead. A mule is an amazing animal, but if you try to make two mules produce another mule, it will not work. That is the end of the line.
When ever you take anything of God and breed it with something of man's depravity, man's nature, or man's ambition, you; will come up with some perverted thing that becomes false. It may be like Ishmael, and ultimately God will say, "Cast out the child of the bondwoman. He is not to inherit the promises with the son of the free."
God wants His prophets to bring forth. The false prophet is always a spiritual mule; he can never reproduce. But the true prophet comes forth anointed of God and he reproduces.
God expresses it very plainly: By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes f thorns, or figs of thistles? What is coming out of a man's life? What is coming out of his ministry?
This is the only test. You have to study it. Revelation 2:2 begins the message to the seven churches, first with a word to the church of Ephesus. The Lord told them, "I know thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars."
It is sometimes difficult to recognize the false ministry, but sooner or later it will become evident. The false has a tenacious way of growing in the same bed where the true seed is growing.
Jesus said of His disciples, "Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" ( John 6:70 ) .
It makes one shudder to realize that it was ordained from of old that this one, up whom rested the mantle of apostleship, would finally come to that place where Satan would enter his heart, and he would go out in the night to betray the Son of God.
His ministry was false. John speaks of the antichrist that had to come into the world, even in the first century.
He said, "They were growing in the same seed bed. They went out from us because they were not of us. They went out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not of us. ( I John 2:19 ) .
This is an exposition of Matthew 7, but if you study it carefully, it will open up something to your understanding about the day in which we are living. Christ said that false prophets would arise, performing such signs and wonders that if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect.
We are in a great day of revelation. We are in a great day of deception. That is why it is extremely important the we study spiritual perception.
There are those who have a soul~winning ministry; some of them do not believe in the spiritual gifts and ministries. But how long will that ministry last with all the satanic deception and all the false prophets running loose in the earth?
You had better ask the Lord to give you the discerning of spirits, the word of wisdom, and the word of knowledge.
You will have to cope with a supernatural cunning and a knowledge that comes from the pit. You will be forced to cope with a devil that is parading as an angel of light, and with false prophets who will come and deceive the very elect, if it were possible.
We must have the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The work that God is doing now is not a luxury. He is giving something that is absolutely essential at this particular period in the history of the Church.
Blessed are the people who are versatile enough and wise enough to understand that you cannot use a horse and buggy on the freeway today. It is not only extremely dangerous; it is also illegal to take a horse on the freeway.
In this day, we are traveling on divine freeways, moving faster ten we have ever moved before. We are coming into critical hours.
We are coming into critical hours. we need true prophets in the churches, and we need to be able to discern the false prophets.
We must have the spiritual perception and discernment or we will be in very serious difficulties. Open your heart to it.
Let us read the next passage in Matthew 7 carefully.
Even so every 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. werefore by their fruits ( by the thing that is produced in their lives ) ye shall know them. Verses 17-20.
Notice that they will be hewn down and destroyed by fire. God has a way by which He constantly levels that which He has not planted. He always levels the thing that goes astray, the thing that becomes perverted from what He intended it to be.
This happens to good men too. God may suddenly bring to an end the ministry of a minister who has truly been used of God.
Remember- if we are raised up to serve God, we are raised up to do Hid will, not to fulfill some personal ambition or plan that we selfishly and individually concocted for ourselves.
God has a will and He has a purpose. When God puts His hand upon a man, it does not mean that he is to enter into a profession in which he works out his own destiny.
He enters into a calling to follow God and do the will of god.
Could you p[ray this prayer to the lord and honestly mean it? "If I get out of Your will, Lord, and I cannot fulfill Your will, then take me."
Not everyone 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.
It is not the expressions of our heart or the things we say that count; it is whether or not we are doing the will of God. This is the mark of a true prophet; he does God's will, and he brings forth the fruit of god in the earth.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? These areas of ministry- casting out demons, doing mighty works, prophesying in the name of the Lord- are tremendous and impressive. And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Verses 21-23.
Even though all of their works seemed to be good, they were still wicked, filled with iniquity and rebellion.
Let us read a passage from the gospel of John to emphasize this teaching. Jesus therefore said unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door f the sheep. All that came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture. The theif cometh not, but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.
Now verse 12 is the important part. He that is a hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, beholdeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and i know mine own, and mine own know me. John 7:14
Before this move of god began, I was pastoring a church. I remember the hunger I had for God and the unique way in which Lord met me at that time.
The Lord came to me and said, "In a few days I will meet you and yours hands will never be empty when you minister to My people."
Only a few weeks after that a man came to the church, and he sensed what I was ready for. He invited himself to our home, put in a long distance call to a man in Tacoma, Washington, and asked him if he would pray for me.
The man on the telephone began to pray, "Lord, You promised this brother that in a few days You would meet him and his hands would never again be empty."
I had goose bumps all over as I sat listening to his prayer. I knew something was happening.
I set my affairs in order, and after the next Sunday-night service, I caught a bus up to Washington. The church was not impressive at all, and I thought, "Whatever they have here of God we have more; what ever they can do, we can do it better."
However, God still met me in the service. and when He met me, the fire began to burn.
I came home with the sign and the anointing in my hands that I have had ever since. Since that hour, every one of God's people whom I have ever laid hands on has had God do something special for him.
This was the greatest gift, a treasure for which I humbly thank God. It was His grace; it was His way of ministering.
When I returned home, I thought that my congregation would surely rejoice because of what the Lord was doing.
But in six weeks, I was out of the church and out of the denomination. During those six weeks, there was a great deal of consternation among the people.
I encouraged one brother (who is now one of our pastors ) to hold steady and seek God to find out whether or this revelation that the lord had given me was true.
The following Sunday, when we came to the church, about thirty of the Sunday School teachers were absent. They had phoned the superintendent and expressed their fears that I was a false prophet, teaching false doctrine.
So they left all their little children with this "False prophet" while they fled. they were hirelings.
A person who sees something wrong in the church can easily rise up in indignation, thinking that he is justified in leaving.
Is that the time to desert the ship and leave all the little babes while he runs away from the situation? Is that being a good shepherd?
In the final analysis, such a man as the spirit of a hireling; he does not have the true spirit of a shepherd. If there is a situation in the church that is bothering you, then fight it.
Take the attitude of the evangelist Billy Sunday: "I will fight the devil 'till hell freezes over; then I will go after him on ice skates." If you have a true shepherd's heart, you will refuse to run from the problem; you will stay right there.
The true prophet, the true elder, the true shepherd, the true deacon- all have an awareness of their responsibility before God to minister to the people.
Christ said, "When the wolf comes, he tears and scatters the flock, and the hireling flees." Everyone likes to run away; it seems to be a healthy thing to do. When you are frightened, the adrenal glands secrete adrenalin into your blood, and you feel your heart begin to pound.
Now you have the choice that every creature in nature has: fight or flight. You can fight or you can run. There is no other choice.
This happens even in the jungle. When a tiger roars, challenging a lion for territory, the lion may look at him and wonder whether or not he can take the tiger.
If he feels he can take him, he fights; if he cannot, he moves to another area.
Before the shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep, something must invade his heart, changing the normal course of nature.
The true prophet is willing to suffer for the flock. The true elder stays by the people.
When the hour of need comes to the house of God, the true ministry either comes forth or turns sour and is lost forever.
There will be times that will try the souls of men. Even during what seems to be my most trying test, I look up with all gratefulness, because ten I experience the greatest advance, the greatest meeting with God, the greatest deepening of my ministry.
What causes the growth? Only one thing: The ministry is of God. It is not because the shepherd is a superman but because he trusts God to help him with the flock.
Because he is truly begotten of God, he stands there and fights.
Little David looked at the giant coming toward him and said, "You come with a sword and a spear. I have no sword or spear. You come, boasting of what you can do and how you can destroy. But I come in the name of the Lord" ( I Samuel 17:45 ) .
When opposition and persecution come against you, it can put fear in your heart. But remember what David said, "I come in the name of the Lord," . God is bringing a spiritual protection.
The presence of the Lord is sheltering you, so that you can stand steady when the wolf comes. open your heart to be a true sheep who does not flee. keep praying. The battle is not over yet.
We are facing devil power, false prophets, and many deceptive things.
The day may come when some will be so shaken that they will begin to feel tolerant and kindly towards the deception , until they find themselves thinking thoughts that are not of God.
When Korah went astray and God destroyed him and his family, the people suddenly expressed sympathy and accused Moses of destroying the Lord's people.
Then God sent a plague and killed thousands. You do not tamper with God. what God hates, you hate. When God has mercy, you show mercy. When God judges, you stand in awe and worship Him.
When the Lord is vindicated and His presence is honored, when people see that once again God is moving upon the earth in signs and wonders and judgments, then people will learn righteousness.
This move of God is going forward. We say again, "Lord, if Thou shouldest mark iniquities, who should stand?" ( Psalm 130:3 ) .
God is not interested in finding who the good boys are. That is not the issue at all.
God has a certain plan that He is bringing forth. He has a pattern; He has a will. If our hearts were suddenly weighed, we would say, "Lord, we deserve to be judged too. We have failed too."
That has nothing to do with it. There are hearts that are open to mercy. There are hearts that are standing fast in the Lord.
God moves forth to establish His Church, and everything that comes against the planting of the lord and the house of God, He will deal with in His own way. Keep your hands off of it and let God make a full end of it.
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