How to Spot a False Teacher
- Scriptures: Matthew 7:15-20; II Peter 2:1-22; Jeremiah 14; Jeremiah 23; I Kings 18
- “The Faith Under Fire”
Transcript
Kerry Duke: Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My God and My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. Join us in a study of the inspired word to strengthen your faith and to share what you’ve learned with others.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives promises. He gives hope, but He also gives warnings. And as you come toward the close of the Sermon on the Mount, you find that He gives even more warnings about certain things, one of which is false prophets.
Let’s read Matthew chapter 7, beginning in verse 15. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 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.”
The topic here then is false prophets. A true prophet of God in Bible times was a man who spoke from God. He delivered the message of God to the people. A false prophet is one who claims to speak from God. He claims to be a messenger from God, but he’s a false prophet.
And what we’re going to do right now is what we almost always do in this kind of lesson. And that is we’re going to use the Bible as its own best commentary. So let’s begin in second Peter chapter two, verse one with this statement. In second Peter chapter two, verse one, the Bible says, “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you.”
Now, think about what he just said. He said there have been false teachers in the past and there will be false teachers among you. He’s talking to Christian people here. This is Peter’s last epistle. These are some of Peter’s last words while he was on the earth. And so Peter says this is a warning that you need to listen to.
It’s interesting, if you go back to chapter one in the book of second Peter, that he says in second Peter, chapter one, verse 16, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the excellent glory, ‘This is my beloved son in whom I’m well pleased.’ And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”
Now that story that he’s talking about is in Matthew chapter 17. That’s where Jesus went up to what we call the Mount of Transfiguration. And he took Peter, James, and John. And so Peter tells us here that he heard that voice—we heard that voice from heaven. They saw Jesus transfigured, they had heard and seen many things from Jesus Christ, and this is only one.
But Peter refers to that event. So he says we didn’t make this up. These are not, as he says in verse 16, cunningly devised fables. Now, there are a lot of those in the world today. They’re religious doctrines. They are religious groups led by false prophets who have invented by their own creativity cunningly devised fables.
They’re intelligent in one way. They’re creative in a sense. And they create these cunningly devised fables. And the sad thing is a lot of people follow those fables. But the Bible says this is nothing new. That’s in chapter 2 verse 1. He says but there were also false prophets among the people. It happened back in the Old Testament.
And he says there will be false teachers among you. Now we’re going to 2 Peter chapter 2 in just a few minutes. But let’s go back first of all to the Old Testament, and let’s look at some of those passages, just a few of those verses in the Old Testament that talk about false prophets in Deuteronomy chapter 18. Deuteronomy chapter 18.
The Bible talks about God raising up a special prophet in the future. That’s verses 15 through 18. And that prophet, according to Acts chapter three, verse 22 through 24, is Jesus Christ. Moses is prophesying of Jesus Christ here in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 15 through 18, where he says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your midst, from among your brethren, him shall you hear.”
Now again, that is confirmed in Acts chapter three. Now this is not a prophecy of Muhammad. Muslims make the claim that Muhammad is the one that is the prophet being spoken of here in Deuteronomy chapter 18. Muhammad was a false prophet. He did not fulfill this passage or any other verse in the Old Testament.
So that’s an example of a false prophet that is still listened to today, though he’s been dead for hundreds of years. Now, what Moses says after this is that in verse 19 “and it shall be that whoever will not hear his words or my words, which he speaks in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, which I’ve not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.”
So this is a very strong warning against false prophets. Let’s go next to the book of first Kings, and we’re going to go to chapter 18 in the book of first Kings. And here we find that a true prophet of God named Elijah is confronting false prophets of Baal. And there were 450 of those false prophets. One true prophet of God said that he was going to confront them and he did on Mount Carmel.
It’s interesting here that these false prophets were in the majority. The true prophet of God was greatly outnumbered, and this is what we find consistently in the Old Testament. This is what we find today. Don’t expect the true preachers of God and the true preachers of God’s word to be in the majority.
That has never happened. And so what we find is that this is a very old problem. In first Kings chapter 18, the Bible talks about the 450 false prophets of Baal. Not only were these false prophets in the majority, but they had the backing of the king. They had the government behind them. They had the popular sway.
And you may remember this verse in first Kings chapter 18, the Bible says in verse 20, “So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. And Elijah came to all the people and said, how long will you falter between two opinions or halt between two opinions?” How long are you going to jump from one thing to another and really just straddle the fence and not make up your mind? He’s talking to the people here. He’s not talking to the false prophets at this point. The Bible says he came to all the people and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions. If the Lord is God follow him, but if Baal, follow him, but the people answered him not a word.”
So what they should have done was to say, “Elijah, you’re the true man of God. You’re the person that we ought to be listening to.” But instead they were silent. But after they saw the miracle of God that confirmed that Elijah was the prophet of God, then they said, “The Lord, He is God, the Lord, He is God.”
Isn’t that interesting? That’s what they should have said to begin with. But it took that kind of miracle, and it took the fact that these false prophets were exposed and eventually put to death to convince these Jews that they should have been listening to God and to God’s messengers all along. In 1 Kings chapter 22, we have a similar story because in 1 Kings chapter 22 now we have 400 false prophets of the groves and one true man of God named Micaiah.
So he’s in the minority just like Elijah was. Now let’s turn over to the book of Isaiah. And then we’ll look at the book of Jeremiah. These are the prophets. This is the section in the Old Testament that we often refer to as the prophets. These were prophets of God sent to God’s people and sometimes to other nations as well.
But I want you to notice some of the things that are said about these false prophets in Isaiah and Jeremiah. In the first place, in the book of Isaiah, you’ll read that these false prophets were smooth talkers. They were eloquent. They knew what to say. They knew how to say it. So, in Isaiah chapter 30, the Bible says in verse 8, “Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and note it on a scroll, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord.”
Now I want to remind you that these are God’s chosen people. He said I want this written down. I want this recorded. They’re rebellious, they’re lying, and they will not hear the law of the Lord. They won’t listen to the word of God, but I tell you who they would listen to.
They would listen to false teachers. Because in verse 10 He says that they say to the seers, that is to these false prophets, “Do not see,” and to the prophets “do not prophesy unto us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.” And that’s who many of these Jews were listening to. They were listening to these false teachers.
Why? Because these false teachers told them what they wanted to hear. These false teachers spoke smooth things. They didn’t tell the truth, because the truth sometimes hurts. The truth steps on our toes. The truth pierces our hearts. The truth causes us to feel bad on the inside when we’re guilty of sin.
And that’s exactly what we need if we’re guilty of sin. But these false prophets made everybody feel good. Notice again what verse 10 says. The people themselves, the Jews themselves, were telling these false prophets don’t see, that is, don’t see the right thing, don’t prophesy about right things, and they were saying to the prophets, do not speak to us the right things, don’t tell us the truth, “speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.”
And there were many of those false prophets who were just willing and anxious to do that very thing because false prophets back in those days, just like false preachers today, made a lot of money. Now, that might remind you of something said in the New Testament in Romans chapter 16. In Romans chapter 16, verse 17, the Bible says, “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.” So nothing had really changed from the day of Isaiah the prophet to the day of the apostle Paul. You have these false teachers who were speaking smooth things, and a lot of people loved it that way.
Let’s go next to the book of Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah chapter five. Now in this book you have a similar situation. And that is that Jeremiah the prophet is sent to the people to warn them. The people were in sin. Those people were the Jewish people, the people of Judah, and Jeremiah has some bad news for them.
The bad news is if you don’t repent, if this nation does not turn from its evil ways, then this nation will be overthrown. The Babylonians are coming. These Chaldeans will destroy you. And they’re going to be used by God Almighty because God’s own people were not listening to Him. God’s own people had departed from his ways.
So Jeremiah is telling the people the truth, but they don’t want to hear that. So what did they do? They turned to false prophets because those false prophets made them feel good. Listen to Jeremiah chapter five, beginning in verse 30: “An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule by their own power; and my people love to have it so: but what will you do in the end?” This passage says that the prophets got away with it. The priests got away with it. They were dealing falsely They were not true men of God. But how did the people look at that? They didn’t protest. They didn’t disagree.
The Bible says they loved it that way. In Jeremiah chapter 6 you find something similar. Jeremiah 6 verse 13 says, “Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness, and from the prophet, even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of my people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ where there is no peace.”
Do you see the message they were preaching? You see, Jeremiah said war is coming. And that was not a popular topic, because these people didn’t want to hear that. They didn’t want the truth that made them nervous, that made them afraid, that shook up their comfortable life. And so they turned to these false teachers who said there’s going to be peace. You don’t have to worry about that. Don’t listen to Jeremiah.
Notice Jeremiah chapter 14. Here’s where God responds to these false prophets. In Jeremiah chapter 14, verse 11, the Bible says, “Then the Lord said to me, Do not pray for these people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear, and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them, but I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by pestilence.”
Then in verse 13, Jeremiah said, “Then I said, Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.” Do you see the contrast there? Jeremiah himself said Lord, I know that’s true, and that’s what I’m telling these people. But you’ve got all these false prophets out there assuring these people that that’s not going to happen.
Then the Bible says that God said to Jeremiah in verse 14, “The Lord said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesied to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, whom I did not send, and who say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land. By sword and famine, those prophets shall be consumed, and the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them, them, nor their wives, their sons, nor their daughters, for I will pour out their wickedness on them.”
Here’s what God said in Jeremiah chapter 23. God said, “I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed. I have dreamed.’” Now, how many times does that happen today?
How often do you hear some preacher or someone saying, “I had this dream and I know that God told me such and such in that dream.” And if you listen very carefully, you’ll find out that they’ll contradict the Bible. They believe in things and they do things that are contrary to God’s word. And yet they say that God’s talking to them, that God is delivering these special messages to them.
But this has been going on for thousands of years because we’re reading about it here in Jeremiah chapter 23. So let’s read again. Jeremiah 23, beginning in verse 25, God said, “I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name saying, ‘I have dreamed, I’ve dreamed.’ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, who try to make my people forget my name by their dreams, which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal. The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream, and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat, says the Lord? Is not my word like a fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, says the Lord, and tell them and cause my people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them, therefore they shall not profit this people at all, says the Lord.”
Now this is what we find time and again in the Old Testament, and there are many, many examples of this. Now, let’s talk a little bit about what Jesus says in Matthew chapter seven, verse 15 through 20.
He says, first of all, “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” When he says to beware, that means to be careful. It means to be alert. It means to be on guard. I’m not sure that people take that seriously at all anymore. If you ask people if there are false prophets, one of the first things that will come to the mind of a lot of people is some kind of wild, far out cult leader that they’ve heard about, but they don’t realize that oftentimes these false teachers are smooth-talking, very charismatic and very likable preachers who are telling them lies in the pulpits.
Jesus said beware of these people because they don’t come out as the devil themselves. They don’t appear to be false teachers. They’re not going to announce to an audience of people, “I’m a false teacher and I’m here to lead you away from the truth.” They claim to be men of God. They make you feel like, if you listen to them, that you’re coming closer to God just by doing what they say.
And Jesus says these false teachers come to you in sheep’s clothing. Now, if there’s an animal on earth that appears to be harmless and innocent, that won’t hurt you, it would be a sheep. And that’s exactly what these false teachers pretend to be. They appear to be very gentle, very easygoing, very kind, always positive, always complimentary, compassionate, interested in your welfare, and seeking your own good.
They love you, they’re very lovable people, and so they appear to be very sincere, that there’s no danger at all in these people, but that is a pretense. That is a front. Jesus says beware of that. Now the Lord is not issuing some kind of idle threat here. He’s not talking about something that happens only to a small pocket of people in some remote part of the earth.
This is very, very common. So Jesus said they appear to be very kind and gracious and loving people. But inwardly, He says, they are ravenous wolves. Now, if there’s one animal on earth that would have that kind of reputation, it would be a wolf. These are dangerous people. These are bad people. You remember that Jesus sent the disciples out and He said, “I’m sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” That’s Matthew 10 verse 16.
Paul said in Acts chapter 20 verse 29 that grievous wolves would enter into the church at Ephesus. Now, how did they do that? Well, they put on the sheep’s clothing. They are ravenous. They’re out to take advantage of you. They’re out to use you. They’re out to manipulate you, they’re out to defraud you, but all the while they’re telling you that they love you and they promise you all kinds of earthly and heavenly rewards, but they actually want to control you for their purposes.
In 2 Peter 2, verse 19, the Bible says that they are enslaved themselves, but they want to control you. They want money. Now, this is as old as the Old Testament. Micah chapter 3 verse 11 talks about false teachers teaching for money. The Pharisees in the New Testament loved money (Luke 16 verse 14) and 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 3 talks about them being covetous.
They also want attention. These false teachers look for popularity. The Bible says in Luke 16, verse 15, that Jesus told them, “You are they which justify yourselves among men. But God knows your heart, for that which is highly esteemed in the sight of men is an abomination in the sight of God.
So Jesus said, Beware. Have your eyes open. There are many different ways to spot a false teacher. Jesus talks about one of them here. For instance, when the Bible says to prove or to test all things and hold fast that which is good, that means to put to the test anything that you hear or read from anybody that claims to be a man of God, a teacher of God, or a preacher.
Listen to what that person says, perhaps, but compare it to the Bible. And if that person says something contrary to the Bible, then reject it. In Acts 17 verse 11, the Bible says that the people of Berea searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so. Those things were taught by Paul and Silas, men of God, true men of God. And still those people of Berea looked at the Bible to see if what they were saying was the truth. Now how many people do that today? How many people fail to do that today? There are people that go to all kinds of churches today and never even take their Bible and hardly ever even open their Bible when they get home.
So how do they know if a man’s telling them the truth? They just take his word for it. He says he’s a man of God. He says he’s speaking from God, that God laid something on his heart. And they don’t have any confirmation of that whatsoever. And they’re not even looking at the times when that man has contradicted the Bible in what he says.
Now let’s look at the idea of fruit here though. This is another way that you can tell that a man is a false teacher. Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits.” And he contrasts this by saying, you don’t go to a thorn bush expecting to get grapes out of it. You don’t go to some kind of thistle and expect to get figs.
Even so, He says, every good tree bears good fruit. A bad tree bears bad fruit. That’s just the way that it works. Therefore, he says in verse 20, “By their fruits you will know them.” And I do want to connect that back to Matthew chapter seven, verse one, “Judge, not that you be not judged.” You have to do some judging here. You have to inspect the fruits. You have to look at the results of what that man is teaching. So let’s talk about the fruits for just a minute. What does this mean when Jesus says you will know them by their fruits? What are these fruits?
Here are a few examples from the Bible of the fruits or the results of these false teachers and their teaching. And that’s what He means when He talks about the fruits. He’s talking about what they produce. He’s talking about what their lives and their doctrine leads to in the first place.Their fruits are seen in their lives, in their actions, by what they do. If they have a false doctrine, they’re lying about that.
And that will show in what they do. It will show in their behavior. So let’s go to 2 Peter chapter 2 and look at this again. I want you to notice some of the marks of these false teachers in 2 Peter chapter 2. “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who secretly will bring in destructive heresies.” Notice here that they sneak these false doctrines in. They pull the wool over everybody’s eyes and they bring these doctrines in the back door. That’s how they work. They’re very deceptive. They’re very divisive about this. He says they secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
Notice what the Bible says in verse 2. “And many will follow their destructive ways.” Look at how that’s said. It doesn’t say that some will follow their destructive ways. These are false teachers. Now again, it doesn’t say that a few will follow their destructive ways. It says that many will follow their destructive ways.
That’s exactly how Jesus followed up his discussion of false teachers in Matthew chapter seven. He said, “Many will say to 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.” You find the same kind of pattern here in 2 Peter chapter 2.
Many will follow their destructive ways “because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.” The way of truth is the true Christians. The way of truth is the gospel truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ. What will happen at the same time that these people are following the false teachers? They’re going to blaspheme.
They’re going to talk bad. They’re going to speak evil of the truth and true people of God and true preachers of God. So they will follow and they will adore these false teachers, and they will resent and persecute true preachers of God. Notice in verse three “by covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words.”
Look at every word that we just read. He says here in second Peter, chapter two, verse three, that they are covetous. We just read about that in several other verses of Scripture. And here we see that same pattern again. He says by covetousness they will do what? They will exploit you. They will take advantage of you.
They will use you. They will manipulate you. They will control you with deceptive words. Remember what we saw in Isaiah chapter 30. Those false prophets were using what smooth words. Remember what Paul said in Romans chapter 16, verse 18. They used good words and fair speeches. The King James says smooth words and all these flattering speeches.
They’re doing the same thing here in second Peter chapter two, verse three. And Peter also assures us just as he assured the people back in his day that God will punish these false teachers. The last part of verse three says for a long time, their judgment has not been idle and their destruction does not slumber.
And then in verses four through six, he gives three examples of how that God did not overlook the sin of the ones he’s talking about there. And if He didn’t overlook their sin, He’s not going to overlook what these false teachers have done. That’s why he brings up these examples. He doesn’t just pull them out of the air.
These are examples of God’s justice. He talks about the angels that sinnedin verse four. He talks about the people who wouldn’t listen to Noah in verse five. He talks about the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in verse six. What’s he doing? He is saying if God did not spare them because of their sins, he’s not going to spare these false teachers.
Now, as you continue to read in 2 Peter chapter two, you see even more about the life of these people called false teachers. That’s what this whole chapter is about. Verse 10: “And especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.” Did you notice those words?
What is the character? What kind of life, what kind of heart do these people called false teachers have? Well, he says they walk according to the flesh. They’re not spiritually minded. They talk like they are, but they’re really not. They live according to the lust of uncleanness and they despise authority.
They don’t want to be told what to do. Now they’ll get up before hundreds or maybe even thousands of people and tell them what to do. But if you ever confront them, you’ll see a different side of these false teachers. They despise authority. They don’t respect authority. They despise authority. They are presumptuous.
The word presumptuous there comes from a word which means to be brazen. It means to be bold faced. And this indicates the kind of character that these false teachers have in a special way because they’re able to stand up before people and to look people in their face and in their eyes and lie to them.
And they seem to have the greatest of confidence. They seem to be able to convince people by their overpowering personality, by their charisma. And it just seems like they’re so confident that they couldn’t possibly be wrong. How could someone have that kind of boldness and self-image and self-confidence and be lying about it?
And so a lot of people are deceived by that. That’s what the word presumptuous here means. It means they’re brazen. Now that is only a start. That’s just the beginning of this description of the character of these false teachers. This is one of the things meant when Jesus says by their fruits, you will know them.
You know them by their character. You know them by their actions and their behavior. But there’s one more thing I want to mention. It’s in Matthew 23 verse 15. And here we find that one of the fruits of false teachers is their converts. The people that they teach. What are they like? What do they do?
Matthew 23, 15 says this, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte”—that’s a convert to their cause and their teaching. So you go all over land and sea to make one proselyte, and “when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
That’s strong language, but that is one of the fruits of false teaching. Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, because inwardly they are ravenous wolves” and “you will know them by their fruits.”
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