You will know them by their fruit

Published by Stanley Pouw in 2012 · 22 April 2012

Last week we discussed verse 15 and now let us focus on Matthew 7:16-20, “16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

Some of you may remember this incredible tragedy approx. 30 years ago, that has become known simply as the Jonestown massacre. And if anyone ever needed an illustration of a false prophet Jim Jones certainly provides that illustration for we can see in him the character, the teaching, the lifestyle and the approach of a false prophet.

The tragedy of Jonestown is not that nearly a thousand people died, that's not the tragedy, because everybody dies anyway. The tragedy is that they died thinking they were serving God and on their way to heaven, but instead are in hell. The tragedy of Jim Jones is that he duped people into thinking that he represented God and Christ.

Now according to the New Testament these false prophets fall into three categories. First are the heretics, these are the ones who openly defy the truth. Then there is a second category, an apostate is one who knows the truth, but turned his back on it and rejected it, he too is flagrant, he too is open and against the truth.

But then thirdly there's the false prophet called the deceiver, and this is the one who is the wolf in the garment of the shepherd, one who comes in unawares as Jude says it. They come in all levels of sophistication, they come in all kinds of education, in all kinds of garb and dress with all kinds of ecclesiastical trappings but they are all the same, false.

So Jesus is saying then, in your effort to enter into the narrow gate, Matthew 7:13 -14, to enter into the way to life, beware of the emissaries of Satan who will mislead you and deceive you. And they aren't saying, hey everybody, let's go to hell. They are not saying that. They will tell you this is the way to heaven.

Now there are two words in order to understand this passage that we need to focus on one we did last week and another for this week. The first one is warning. Men and women all over the world are standing at the crossroads of that decision, the false prophets are selling their particular perspective and we have to preach the truth, and we have to call people to beware of false prophets, beware of them.

Let me give you an illustration of this, 2 John 1:7, "For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.” And by that he means the deity of Christ and the work of Christ, both. In other words they do not hold a Biblical view of who Christ is and what He does.

Well first of all recognize he's a deceiver, verse 7 continues, “7Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” Take stock, examination him. "8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.” Listen, you could get sucked into that deceit and forfeit the reward that you've already earned by your service to Christ.

“9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Therefore, 10 "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house. 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” John is saying that the guy is so vile and so wretched and so antichrist and so deceitful, don't you even open your door and let him in.

Someone once asked me, "Do you think false prophets know they're false prophets?" Some do, some don't. Because deceivers are often also deceived. And so they continue in this Satanic delusion, and they draw others into it.

So how do you protect yourself? By holding your mind back from them, don't be exposed to them. 2 Timothy 3:14 says, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it.” Remember what you learned and the good and godly people you learned it from.

1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober-minded; be watchful.” False teachers are coming to you in sheep's clothing, that's a wool garment what a shepherd wore. He is not coming disguised as a sheep but as a shepherd. He comes in to be a shepherd and yet he is a wolf who will tear and shred in a ferocious and malicious manner. "Beware."

Now the second word for this evening is watching. And I feel it is an essential message for us in this day of compromise, a day when so many people are parading as Christian leaders and so many true Christians are linked up with false Christians and false prophets.

And how are we going to know them? Verse 20 says, "Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” The Jews, the Greeks, the Romans and everybody else views trees and fruit in this same way. A tree is judged by its fruit. If you want to know what the prophet is like look at what he produces.

And be very careful, you might look at a false prophet and you say, but I know so and so go there and they're strong Christians, I know they're Christians. Do you know that some Christians get sucked in by false prophets and unwittingly they'll get stuck on some false teacher who appears to be a Christian.

That's why the Bible says in 1 Samuel 16:7, "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." So sometimes when you go up there you might see a false prophet and there seems to be grapes and figs, but when you look closely at the stuff that he produces it's bad stuff no matter what.

Number one, fruit is character. What kind of character, what is his attitude and his motive and his perspective toward life? What kind of actions and what kind of lifestyle? That's the first element that manifests fruit. For example Luke 3: 8 where John the Baptist says, "Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance," to the Pharisees. In other words, all right you, you say you've repented, you say you've committed yourselves to God, let's see the fruit.

Now what is the fruit, what does he want? Luke 3: 10, "The people asked him, what shall we do, then?" I mean what kind of fruit are you looking for? Verse 11, He answered, and said to them, If you have two coats, give it to one who doesn't have any; if ye have some food, give it to one who doesn't have any. 12 And then a tax collector came to be baptized, and said, Teacher, what do you want us to do? 13 And he said, don't take any more than you're supposed to”, it's an action.

For example in John 15:8, "In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit." And what is that? "If you keep My commandments." So fruit is obedience, it is action in response to God. But fruit is not only the action you do, it's also the attitude behind it, right? "The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control." Fruit is both work and attitude.

False teachers don't always look that way on the outside, but can they can cover that. They use religious robes, they can cover it by having a Christian organization that they belong to, they can cover it by hanging around other Christian leaders, they can cover it by talking about the Bible and Jesus Christ and salvation, and many other ways. And they can try to make sure nobody finds out the truth about their real moral life.

But maybe you can't find out from their looks that they are false teachers, where do you go to find out? We go to attitude and we start looking for how they think and what do they do? Because very often they can suppress the outward visibility of their vile and evil insides. Their lifestyle may not manifest their heart right away.

Let us look at an illustration from 2 Peter 1:4, I just want you to notice down about in the middle of the verse, "that we are partakers of the divine nature." True Christians have received the very nature of God. "We are partakers of the divine nature," watch this, “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

Now go to 2 Peter 2:19 and here are the false prophets, now listen to this, "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption." They have not escaped corruption. Peter is differentiating between internal corruption and external pollution. He is saying they've never been changed on the inside but they've had the ashes of the world washed off the outside.

And do you know what to look for in a false prophet? Look for a Beatitude attitude, that's the evidence of an internal transformation. Do they cover poor in spirit, deep humility, mourning over sin, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, longing for mercy, peacemakers, willing to be persecuted and reviled and despised and hated for the sake of Christ. Not on your life.

False prophets are guided by pride, power, prestige, personality, promotion, they want to be famous, loved, they're not interested in anybody persecuting them, they want to be popular. They're in it, Second Peter 2:3, "for money.” And for that says Peter, "They make merchandise of you."

They do it for prestige, they are presumptuous, self-willed, not even afraid to speak evil of angels, they speak words of vanity, they are self-centered, fashion centered and promotion centered. They are jealous of others, they are impure, self-indulgent and without a shred of humility.

False prophets attract the unbelievers just as much as the believers, they appeal to carnality and the natural man, they look good, but if you look long enough and if you can’t see anything wrong from the outside, look for humility. John Calvin said, "Nothing is more difficult to counterfeit than virtue." You'll find the truth if you look.

Secondly, the area of the fruit of the false prophet is their teaching. And this refers to all their teaching, look at it closely, not only will their teaching go wrong at some points, but they also leave out important things, because it's what they don't say that's really the issue.

In Matthew 12:33-34, 37 it says, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.... 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Do they give the whole counsel of God from the beginning to the end? Paul said in Acts 20:26-27, "Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” Isaiah 8:20 says, here's the test, "Look to the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

Now what sound doctrine does our Lord particularly have in mind? You can always tell a false prophet because they have a twisted view of Christ, that is His person and His work. And what is His work? Salvation. So when you get into dealing with a false prophet you want to look at their doctrine of salvation. This is where it all gets mixed up.

Now the Lord has just said this, to be saved is not easy, right? You go through a narrow gate to a narrow way and few find it. And you must strive, agonize, to enter in. The doctrine of salvation of a false prophet is quite different. It's going to be a great big wide broad doctrine that includes everybody, and they may say, all you have to do is believe in Jesus. And they may give you what sounds like the Gospel but when it comes to who gets in it's everybody.

Their message is a message of easy salvation, come down the aisle, get baptized, whatever. Their message is the message of health, happiness, positive thinking and easy salvation. They are the compromisers.

Thirdly, you can tell them by who is following. You want to know about a leader, look at his followers lives. Their fruit is their converts. Do you see humility in their lives, do you see a striving after holiness, do you see a hungering and thirsting for righteousness? Do you see real virtue, real godliness?

Fourthly, you can tell them by how they're going to end too, verse 19, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Ultimately you can tell a false prophet by his condemnation, his consummation.

Let us close with the truth I want you to get. Listen, God has ordained that false prophets exist among us. Have you ever thought about why? 1 Corinthians 11:19 says, "for there must be factions among you.” Why? “in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.”

You see God says if you have a heresy then that heresy becomes a magnet that pulls away the false disciples and leaves manifest the genuine ones. It's like the wind that blows the chaff away, you see? In other words He is saying they will have converts who will identify with them. Error separates the chaff and the wheat. By means of true and false prophets God reveals who's genuine.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 it says, "Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false." God actually allows the delusion to happen, why? "12 In order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth." God uses that delusion because it separates them from the wheat. And so they're ordained for judgment.

Paul warned the Ephesian elders in Acts 20: 29-31, "29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.” Let us pray.