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Discussion Forum : Scriptures and Doctrine : FALSE PROPHETS EXPOSED -- MATTHEW 7:15-27

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 FALSE PROPHETS EXPOSED -- MATTHEW 7:15-27

FALSE PROPHETS EXPOSED -- MATTHEW 7:15-27

Christ commands us to "BEWARE" of false prophets. This means we are to be careful to judge those who claim to speak for God. We are to judge based on God's testimony alone. Do they preach the Gospel (Gal. 1:8)? Do they abide in the doctrine of Christ (2 John 9)? There are all kinds of false prophets. Some openly deny the doctrine of Christ, and others do not deny it openly but deny it by compromise and speaking peace where there is no peace. Many will come claiming to speak for Christ, disguised as sheep, but "inwardly they are ravening wolves." For this reason we must do two things: (1) We must stop making our judgments based on Satan's lies (outward appearance, reputation, self-love), and we must judge by God's testimony alone; and (2) We, therefore, must become skillful in the word of righteousness to discern (rightly judge) good and evil, false prophets and true prophets.

Christ said here, "Ye shall know them by their fruits." There are many different ideas given among religious people as to what these fruits are and are not. One person said that here, "Jesus Christ taught that we should judge the inner nature of a person by the outward works he performs, not by his outward appearance." But judging this by a person's outward works, such as religion and morality, is the same thing as judging by the outward appearance. This person went on to say that in Matthew 7:21-23 Christ taught further that even these outward works may be deceiving. Well, which is it? This kind of preaching only causes confusion. We must understand these things in their context and as they stand in light of other Scriptures.


I. WHAT IS A FALSE PROPHET? -- Christ had declared salvation as the narrow way which leads to life eternal. He had exposed the way of eternal death as the broad way (7:13-14). The narrow way is the Gospel, God's promise to save sinners, entitle them, and give them the whole inheritance of eternal life and glory based solely upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel, the narrow way, shows us that Christ's righteousness alone entitles us to salvation and everything that comes with salvation, including the work of the Holy Spirit in us. This is the way of salvation and the only way wherein God is glorified in every attribute of His redemptive character, Christ is exalted in His mediatorial glory and all ground of boasting for sinners is excluded.


The broad way is any other way men devise of salvation and final glory based on anything other than the imputed righteousness of Christ. As long as we seek any part of salvation based on anything other than the merits of Christ's obedience and death, we are on the broad way that leads to destruction. A false prophet, then, is any preacher who entices, allures and promotes sinners to enter the wide gate and walk upon that broad way. So any preacher who promotes salvation or any part of it based on anything other than the imputed righteousness of Christ without the deeds of the law is a false prophet. He may outwardly appear righteous. Most do!


HOW CAN WE KNOW FALSE PROPHETS? (7:16) - Christ sets forth a principle here that the natural man does not know (7:17-20; John 15:4-5). We need to see how this principle applies not only to preachers but also to everyone. A "good tree," which here represents a true preacher of the Gospel, also represents any true believer, a justified sinner. A "corrupt tree," which here represents a false preacher, also represents any unbeliever, a lost sinner. The principle would apply in this sense as follows: "Every believer, every justified sinner, brings forth good fruit. But every unbeliever, every lost sinner, brings forth evil fruit." We can only know the difference by the fruits that are produced in each one. What are these fruits? We must first exclude everything that a corrupt tree can produce.


A corrupt tree can be moral, religious, sincere, and zealous. Christ speaks of those who outwardly appear righteous. It is not an issue of morality vs. immorality. Both true and false preachers promote morality, obedience, reformation of life, religious sincerity and zeal. The Pharisees were encouraging sinners to establish a righteousness by efforts at obedience! The false preachers who sought to deceive the Galatian and the Colossian believers were seeking to promote what they called "holy living" and obedience to the law of God.


What are these fruits? We need to see that these fruits are something beyond what man in a state of nature, a state of condemnation, can attain. Whatever these are, it takes a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit of God to attain. Christ speaks of false preachers who desire to deceive sinners by their disguises. But He also says we can KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS. In other words, these fruits of a good tree cannot be counterfeited, or else we could not KNOW them by these. A corrupt tree CANNOT bring forth good fruit! A good tree CANNOT bring forth evil fruit! Someone may say that this refers to the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, and this is true. But does not Satan counterfeit each of these? He tries to, but when we see God's definitions of these, we see that they cannot be counterfeited. Again, we cannot judge this by outward appearance.


The fruits of which He speaks are those things which are the product of the grace of God, by the Holy Spirit of God, which the natural man cannot have. Satan may attempt to counterfeit them, but when we know God's definitions for these, we see that Satan cannot counterfeit them. Here are some of them:


1. Saving, justifying faith -- which trusts in the God who justifies the ungodly based on the righteousness of Christ. Saving faith sees and believes that Christ's righteousness alone entitles us to the whole inheritance of eternal life and glory.


2. True repentance -- Godly repentance flows from justifying faith. It is a RADICAL CHANGE OF MIND AND SORROW CONCERNING FORMER IDOLATRY AND DEAD WORKS. A justified sinner is truly ashamed that all his thoughts concerning salvation dishonored every attribute of God's redemptive character, cast shame and reproach upon the true Christ and His whole work of redemption, and actually opposed God's promise. We know NOW that formerly there was no fear of God before our eyes and that we worshipped a god who could not save. We know NOW that we supported a counterfeit christ and that while we were in that state all our efforts at religion and morality were no more than self-righteous attempts to deny God's grace. It was all dead works and fruit unto death (Rom. 7:4-5).


3. True Godly love - The main issue in Godly love is a true love, loyalty and regard for the honor of God's redemptive character and the Person and work of Christ in salvation. God has revealed that He is glorified only in the salvation of sinners conditioned on Christ alone, that He is both a just God and a Savior based on the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. God has revealed that He will not justify any sinner based on any other ground as it is impossible for Him to be glorified and for Christ to be exalted based on any other ground.


False preachers and the world, inspired by Satan, will knowingly cry peace to themselves and others while ignorant of or not submitted to the righteousness of Christ, revealing that there is no fear of God before their eyes, no real love for God's redemptive character. But God's people are convinced that God will justify no sinner who is either ignorant of or not submitted to the imputed righteousness of Christ as the only ground of salvation. This is what keeps us from crying peace apart from the only ground of peace, and this is true love and compassion. True brotherly love demandsthat we promote and defend true Christians in this specific matter. And true brotherly love forbidsus to defend or promote false Christians, especially false preachers who come in the name of Christ.


4. Godly humility - True humility springs from justifying faith, and it cannot be judged by outward appearance. It is the character and the conduct of a true believer who has been slain by the law, who sees no hope of salvation or any part of it conditioned on anything but the righteousness of Christ imputed and received by faith. This is true Holy Spirit conviction. True humility confesses that if God were to judge us based on our best efforts at morality and obedience at any time, we would be condemned. No sinner is truly humbled until he sees the true nature of God's holiness revealed in His righteous judgments, when all his refuges of lies are exposed and swept away, when he sees that Christ's righteousness imputed is the only ground of peace, reconciliation and salvation and that nothing will remove God's wrath and gain His favor but the blood of Christ.


True humility admits of our shortcomings, the sinfulness of our very best efforts, while at the same time, is dogmatic concerning our security in Christ and that we are certain for heaven based on His righteousness alone. True humility sees that while I am a sinner, I am also a saint, a justified sinner, because I am one with Christ. Satan tries to counterfeit this humility, but all he can produce is legal doubts and fears that appear to the natural man as humility.


5. Good works - Remember, Christ is speaking of two states of existence here: one tree is evil and cannot produce good fruit, the other tree is good and cannot produce evil fruit. Again, we know that lost sinners, in a state of condemnation, can be moral and religious, but they cannot perform good works. Saved sinners, in a state of justification, can be immoral and they can commit acts of sin, but they cannot perform dead works. We need to see God's definitions of each in order to understand this. Dead works are any acts of obedience performed by one in a state of condemnation, because these works are aimed at the ground of justification, opposed to God's promise. Good works are the works of justified sinners motivated by the absolute certainty of eternal salvation and final glory conditioned on Christ alone.


A false prophet then is any preacher who believes and promotes that anything other than the righteousness of Christ entitles a sinner to any part of salvation and/or final glory. Consider the next verses --


II. AN EXAMPLE OF FALSE PROPHETS (7:21-23) -- Here Christ shows us that we cannot judge salvation or whether a person is a true preacher or a false preacher by outward appearance or outward works. He shows us here that the fruits of which He spoke that springs from the good tree and by which we can know the difference between false and true preachers are not acts of religion, sincerity, or morality. These preachers were religious, dedicated, sincere, moral, and zealous. They claimed to be preaching in the name of Christ. They called Him "Lord." But He told them to depart. He said He never knew them, meaning He never knew them in a saving way. What was their problem? All of their works and efforts sprang from a corrupt tree. They were still condemned, guilty and defiled before God. They still owed a debt to God's law and justice. They did not have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and justice.


This was evidenced by their plea at the judgment. They plead what they thought the Holy Spirit had enabled them to do. They plead what they thought were certain evidences of their salvation. They reasoned that a person could not do such things except they be blessed and sent of God. Like people today, they thought that salvation was mainly a matter of character and conduct, not a matter of law and justice.


This shows us that anyone, no matter who they are or how they appear, anyone who pleads anything other than the imputed righteousness of Christ as the ground of their salvation is lost. It shows us that anyone who believes that anything other than Christ's righteousness entitles them to any part of the inheritance of eternal life is lost and their deeds are evil. This was their problem.


III. THE ROOT OF THEIR PROBLEM (7:24-27) -- Here Christ shows us that the root of the whole problem is building on the wrong foundation. He shows this in a short parable of a wise man and a foolish man. The wise man builds his house on a solid rock. The foolish man builds his house on sinking sand. And when the rain and storm and wind came, the wise man's house stood firm. Why? Because it was built on the right foundation. The foolish man's house fell. Why? Because it was built on the wrong foundation.


Everyone at some stage is in the process of building their house. This house is being built in preparation for the judgment and eternity. The false preachers of 7:21-23 spent their lives building their house. What was wrong? They were building on the wrong foundation. The only right foundation is revealed in the Gospel as Christ's righteousness alone, which entitles sinners to the whole inheritance of salvation and glory, including the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Any other foundation is wrong, no matter how noble or how it may appear.


How can we know the foundation we or any other person is building upon? It is only by their doctrine. What Gospel do they believe? What is their ground of salvation? They may be busy and dedicated in religion and morality, but if they think that anything other than Christ's righteousness alone entitles them to any part of the inheritance of eternal life and glory, they are building upon the wrong foundation. They are lost and their deeds are evil. Their fruit is evil (cf. John 3:19-20). Remember this evil fruit is something that men and women by nature highly esteem. Only those who believe the Gospel, who are submitted to Christ's righteousness, are in a state of blessedness and can bring forth good fruit and build upon the right foundation (Matt. 5:16; Rom. 6:17-18).

by Bill Parker

 2008/10/6 22:55
sonofthunder
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Joined: 2005/3/31
Posts: 419
Son Of Thunder i come from a land down under, due south at the bottom of your work globes

 Re: FALSE PROPHETS EXPOSED -- MATTHEW 7:15-27

Interesting comments by bill parker...whoever bill parker might be i know not, but one thing i do know, is, some have no knowledge of this 2 john 9 "abiding in the doctrine of christ requirement" bill parker alludes to...

As modern translations state no such requirements
of abiding, trangressing ( transgressing ) is a very very strong word. Its a violation, an offence, something that has a - punitive penalty attached to them that violate. Hence 2john 10-11 says further on down in the text you are not to let such people even into your house, nor give them Gods speed and in fact if you do, then you are a partaker of his EVIL deeds (also)

This is why those who have chosen to stay with the authorized version are on a "different page" many times than to them who HOLD to other VERSIONS.

FOR EXAMPLE: ( THESE ARE FACTS ) AND PRESENTED AS EASY TO SEE DOCUMENTATION FOR ANYONE WHO CAN READ PLAIN ENGLISH AND POSSESESS PERIREPHAL VISION

The authorized version reads this way: 2 John 9
"Whosoever transgresseth and abidteth not in the docrine of , hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of christ, he hath both the father and the son"

Another well known version reads this way: Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the father and the son.

Now wither of the two has the stronger language and terminology (employed)??

One says: whosoever TRANSGRESSETH, and ABIDETH not
The other reads: Anyone who RUNS ahead and does not CONTINUE.

Transgesseth and Abideth VS Runs ands Continues

The One is emphatic in its selection of the word "doctrine" the other chooses "teaching"

Biblical doctrine is something we give attendance upon - as it came by christ and his holy apostles as spoken oracles and given as divinely inspired words which are to be followed - in all the churches.

Teaching can be handed down but if its not doctrine delivered by a divine messenger - who is sent - then it is not considered a divine message upon which we all lay foundations upon. For example paul told timothy to give attendance to doctrine...

Not teaching: Which is the exposition of what you hold to as truth...big difference!!!

For instance a science teacher at school teaches FROM the science books from which he holds to and expounds from...and thus all that he knows and passes on to the students comes from the science books he himself (has learned from) those books are the doctrine of the science to which he holds to....the teaching is the exposition of what he himself has learned from the books. The doctrine is FROM the books ... the science teacher himself has learned from and communicates to his pupils!!

A man might say im splitting hairs - i disagree if you change or alter the wording significantly then the context itself is altered and changed significantly - also!!!


_________________
Bro Stephen

 2008/10/7 8:26Profile





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