Known By Fruit

Matthew 7:15-20

January 26, 2003

 

Yesterday's Commercial Appeal told of popular radio speaker Harold Camping that has predicted the return of Christ on several occasions and now claims that the Bible teaches that Satan controls every church. His message is to get out of church, stay at home, and do not participate in baptism or the Lord's Supper. Camping came out of a conservative, evangelical background. But what do you call him now, misinformed or false prophet? To deny the church of Jesus Christ, and to deny the two ordinances that Christ told His people to observe identifies Mr. Camping as a false prophet. That seems pretty obvious, and yet hundreds, perhaps thousands are under Camping's influence.

 

When Paul had his last talk with the Ephesian elders he warned them, "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them" (Acts 20:29-30). It is a similar danger of which he warned Timothy, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths" (II Tim 4:3-4). Here is precisely what Jesus warns will happen until all the Church is gathered forever in His presence.

 

These two passages demonstrate the tension that the church faces in every age, and why Christ gives such an austere warning. On one hand there are those that will intentionally try to "draw away" believers by shrewd, clever teaching. They typically have great ambition or they seek control over others or attempt to find wealth through their teaching. Their interest is not holiness and the glory of God but some type of self-aggrandizement. But on the other hand is the natural tendency to have one's ears tickled and to turn away from truth. The human heart recoils at the pure and penetrating truth of God's Word, so it will gladly give up the purity of the Word for ease of hearing. This type of subtlety falls into the lap of false prophets and false teachers. One is the aggressor while the other is the more than willing recipient. 

 

We wonder how so many people false teachers can dupe, and yet it is no wonder at all when we consider our own tendency to run from truth. Our ease with sin, our repulsion by the biblical teaching of man's helplessness before God, and our battle against trusting in Christ alone paves the way for false preachers and teachers to snare us. 

 

It is really in the context of the Sermon on the Mount that we can best understand this passage. Our Lord sets forth four vignettes that contrast God's way and man's way, and the judgment in the end for those that rebel against God's way. It is right after an explanation of the focused, narrow way that alone leads to life that Jesus explains the problem of false prophets. They labor to keep people from the narrow way that leads to life. But most people do not even realize that this is happening. We are taught to think well of others, not to be judgmental, to be accepting of other's beliefs, and to not take our religion too seriously. It seems to be okay if we straddle the fence of true spirituality lest we offend others by our narrowness. But Jesus Christ warns against such a path.

 

Yet this is a difficult issue for us to consider. It is an easy thing to recognize outright heresy such as denying Christ's deity or denying the Trinity. But the problem comes when false prophets clothe their deceitful message in truth and pious platitudes and appealing language. For this Christ warns us to "beware of the false prophets." Our text is no call for "heresy-hunting" but rather a call to vigilance in the doctrines adorning the gospel. Christ's disciples must discern the true and the false. How can we practice discernment in this regard?

 

I. A call to action

 

There are two actions that Jesus calls for on the part of his followers in this regard. First, we are to practice vigilance - "beware of the false prophets." Second, we are to sharpen our minds and maintain sensitivity in our hearts to recognize false teachers - "you will know them by their fruits." Christ does not make suggestions to us that might help our lives. He gives demands, and on our part, we must follow.

 

1. Vigilance

 

Without first explaining precisely who the false prophets might be, Jesus commands, "Beware of the false prophets." The word implies vigilance or constancy in being on spiritual guard. It suggests a life-focus or attentiveness that causes the Christian to be sensitive to false teaching. The same word is used in Matthew 16:11, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees," i.e., be vigilant to guard yourselves against the influence of the religious charlatans. It is similar to the warning our Lord gave to the disciples in the Garden, "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt 26:41). Because of inward weakness and proneness to sin, we must be vigilant to guard against falling prey to temptation. The same term is used in I Timothy 4: 13, "give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching." In other words, we must discipline our minds, sharpen our intensity, and strengthen our hearts to be attentive to the Word of God and the preaching of the Word. That same idea is conveyed in the translation of the word as "beware." Lazy minds and dull hearts lack what is needed to "beware of the false prophets."

 

But is this an overreaction by Jesus Christ? Or is this a First Century problem that we have been able to tame by our multiplied resources? The present tense command shows that vigilance must be used in every generation lest we fall at the devices of false prophets. It took only a generation, after the Church had endured three centuries of intense persecution, for Christianity to be softened by popularity and ceremony so that the narrow way of the cross was laid aside by most of the Christian world. Vigilance slacked and the Church crept into the dark ages of superstition and carnal living. When the Church quit her vigilance the whole world suffered. Deaf ears fail to hear the barreling train's horn, blind eyes fail to read the medication's warnings, and dull hearts, lacking vigilance, fail to recognize false teaching that creeps into the Church. And the entire world about us suffers when the Church blithely accepts what God has condemned.

 

Vigilance - the ability to be on guard or to give heed to - takes place only when we lay groundwork for vigilance. It is really a vigilant lifestyle that is called for by our Lord. We are not simply poking around trying to find false prophets. We certainly are not to be on a heresy-hunt. Instead, we are to be vigilant in the Scriptures, vigilant in our repentance and obedience, vigilant in prayer, and vigilant in our spiritual disciplines if we are going to have the heart and mind to discern false teaching. But this should not surprise us since Jesus has already called for us to "enter through the narrow gate" and walk the narrow way leading to life. That is the life of vigilance.

 

2. Recognition

 

But notice Christ repeats Himself in explaining how believers can recognize false prophets: "You will know them by their fruits... So then [i.e., drawing a conclusion], you will know them by their fruits." The word used for "will know" implies an exact knowledge or full knowledge. In other words, instead of feeling this to be a complicated process of trying to recognize false teachers, Jesus assures us that we will be able to make positive identification of false prophets. They are recognizable by their lives and their doctrine.

 

We hesitate to label someone as a false prophet or false teacher, and rightly so. This certainly is no proof-text for castigating as a false prophet anyone that disagrees with our own position in a given area of biblical doctrine. That is not the intention of Christ. We must not get away from the context, that of two ways to live, two kinds of fruit, two foundations for life. The false prophet skirts along the banks of God's way but refuses the narrow gate and narrow way of the cross. He is recognizable by the fruits produced in his life and teaching. The false foundation of his life eventually begins to erode with the intense demands brought on by the true gospel of Christ.

 

But perhaps in our concern for avoiding controversy and judgmentalism we have disobeyed the words of Jesus Christ. To our own harm and the detriment of the Church, we have ignored far too often the false teaching that is so common and failed to grieve over it, stand against it, and firmly proclaim truth. The Church almost succumbed to the smooth, convincing teaching of Arius, bishop of Alexandria, in the 4th C. except for the vigilance by Athanasius. Arius was a popular preacher, capable and winsome in his teaching, and evidently quite convincing in his position that denied the deity of Christ. We've had 20 centuries of Christian history and theology to reaffirm that bedrock truth for us, but without readily available resources and a dependence upon the teachers for all biblical instruction, the 4th century Church almost swallowed this heresy. As people were jumping aboard this runaway train, Athanasius, a lesser-known preacher, spoke up against Arius' teaching. Because Arius was so popular and respected, people began to speak against Athanasius. He was almost the proverbial "goat" among the Christian masses until finally his voice was heard, Arius' teaching was put to the test of Scripture, and the Church was saved from a crushing heresy. Athanasius was able to test the fruits of Arius' life and doctrine by the revelation of Scripture so that he was willing to lay his life down for the sake of truth. We learn an important lesson from Athanasius. He observed the fruits of false teaching - he saw the end result of where Arius was going with his denial of Christ's deity, and that ultimately, the whole gospel was at stake. This was no personality clash or ranting about non-essentials. He recognized with certainty the high cost of embracing Arianism. Consequently, he gave himself no rest until this false prophet was silenced. We are challenged by our text to be no less vigilant and active for the sake of the gospel in our own day.

 

II. A sobering description

 

Consider how Jesus Christ describes the false prophet: "who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." What he says about them outwardly ought to be shocking no less than his description of them inwardly.

 

1. Outward appearance

 

To begin with, false prophets are scarcely noticeable by mere outward appearance. They approach the Church, "who come to you," looking like sheep not wolves. They give every appearance of wanting to be part of the Church and wanting to be helpful to the Church. How could we question their motives or intentions since they have come to us? But Jesus warns that they are "in sheep's clothing." We have often employed this metaphor to describe the person that blends into a certain setting but who has his own agenda that results in destruction. If a wolf announces himself to a flock of sheep then the sheep have a chance to flee. But if it is in sheep's garb, giving outward appearance of being a sheep, then the wolf subtly makes his way into the flock to carry out his evil deeds.

 

What is the sheep's clothing described by Christ? I would suggest to you that it is using the language of Christianity, participating in Christian activities, and pretentious acts of helping Christianity progress in a community. This wolf in sheep's clothing may be a very nice person and have a strong sense of morality. He may speak out on subjects of social justice. He may appear to be an expert in the growth of the church. He may talk about God, Christ, and even the cross of Christ. He may be a very motivating speaker that makes you feel good every time you hear him speak. He may speak of the Church as the Bride of Christ. Outwardly, there may be very little that will catch the attention of true believers that a wolf is in their midst. Lloyd-Jones remarks, "So you do not suspect that there is anything wrong at all; there is nothing that at once attracts your attention or arouses your suspicion, nothing glaringly wrong" [The Sermon on the Mount, II, 243]. This is precisely why our Lord's warning is so pertinent. False prophets did not cease in the 1st century but continue to labor at destroying the flock of God.

 

2. Inward reality

 

But it is the inward reality that shows up in the fruits of his life, exposing the wolf in sheep's clothing. Jesus declares that while the false prophets parade in sheep's clothing, they "inwardly are ravenous wolves." There are ulterior motives in all that the false prophets do. They seek to captivate the weak, and use them for their purposes. Sometimes it is to build a power base or to get attention or garner fame or to pursue immoral purposes or to gather wealth or even to destroy the work of the gospel. They are "ravenous," out to rob Jesus Christ of followers. They are bent on destroying as much as they can that concerns the pure gospel in the process. I think that "ravenous" differentiates the false prophet from a preacher or teacher that is ignorant of truth or has yet to understand the Scriptures as he ought, and thus speaks wrongly or leads astray the church. There is no malicious intent on their part, and their fruits vindicate them. But not so with "ravenous wolves." "Ravenous" implies ill intentions, wrong motives, destructive behavior, and teaching that intentionally moves away from the centrality of the propitiatory death of Christ and other essential doctrines.

 

The question that we must consider is whether or not "ravenous wolves" can slip into evangelical, and even Baptist circles, to deceive the Church. This is where the great danger comes. It is easy to spot a Benny Hinn or a Kenneth Copeland with their heretical teaching. But it is much more difficult when a person agrees on much, if not most, of what we believe, and yet is really a wolf in sheep's clothing. This is why our Lord's description is so sobering. Evangelicals, quite often, are naive when it comes to recognizing false teaching. We tend to accept anyone that is willing to be identified with us and use our vocabulary and sing our songs and join in our protests. But we are warned by none other than the Lord of the Church to "beware of the false prophets, who come to you - yes, even to evangelicals - in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." After studying this text and pondering this issue, I'm convinced that the problem of wolves among the sheep is much larger than we can imagine. The wolves are not just in pulpits. They teach in Sunday School classes, they lead youth groups, they serve as elders and deacons, they sing solos in the worship, they write for Christian publications, they work with children, and they lead mission trips. I am not trying to be an alarmist - I think you know me better than that - but I do hope that the Lord will sober our thinking in this area.

 

Quite a few years ago I participated on a couple of mission trips with a fellow that was a delight to be around. He spoke well, and seemed to show great concern for all that we were doing. He worked hard alongside others in the group. But there were dark issues arising in his soul that I never detected. As a matter of fact, I was shocked to learn that he later was involved in bilking millions of dollars out of Christian organizations and ministers while carrying on an immoral lifestyle. All the while he portrayed himself as having great concern for global missions and for the church and for biblical preaching. He was active in his church and appeared to be greatly concerned for others. He wore the clothes of a sheep but did not possess the heart of a sheep, but rather a wolf. He used Christians and his position to aggrandize himself. I fear that there are more wolves trying to devour flocks than we realize. We must not become slack in discerning the lifestyle and teaching of wolves among the flock.

 

III. A conscious discernment

 

Just how do we recognize or discern the false teachers? The simple images that Jesus gives help us to discern what the eye cannot grasp.

 

1. Its fruit

 

After declaring, "You will know them by their fruits," Jesus gives us some illustrations of what he means. "Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?" Don Carson gives a helpful explanation.

In Jesus' day, everyone knew that the buckthorn had little black berries which could be mistaken for grapes, and that there was a thistle whose flower, from a distance, might be mistaken for a fig. But no one would confuse the buckthorn and the grape once he started to use the fruit to make some wine. No one would be taken in by thistle flowers when it came to eating figs for supper.

 

In other words, from a certain perspective, false prophets can look like real prophets, and even their fruit may appear to be genuine. But the nature of the false prophet cannot be hidden forever; sooner or later he will be seen for what he is [The Sermon on the Mount, 128].


The fruit from thorn bushes and thistles is not the real thing. It looks good perhaps, at least for a while, but it does not have the satisfaction for the soul under trial or in the face of death.

 

The fruits - plural - of which Jesus speaks refers to both life and doctrine. It is not an either-or but both of these operate together since "the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart." One's teaching and lifestyle ultimately correspond. So there are some false teachers that are very moral, strict in every way, and it shows up in their perversion of the gospel, adding rules and regulations - like the Judaizers - to the gospel of grace.

 

Some false teachers may teach truth, at least part of it. Their falseness is detected by what they do not say rather than by what they say [MLJ 244]. They might speak of God, the love of God, the death of Jesus, and other things of which we would heartily agree. But they neglect to look at the whole nature of God; they emphasize the love of God but fail to teach the wrath and judgment of God. They may totally leave out the subject of judgment. They may refuse to preach about man's depravity, the fact that he is fallen and totally incapable of pulling himself out of the mire of sin and damnation. They may speak of the cross but not as the solitary sacrifice needed to propitiate God and atone for man's sins. Instead, the cross is a great act of inspiration, an encouragement for us to do sacrificial things for others. Lloyd-Jones adds, "We have somehow got hold of the idea that error is only that which is outrageously wrong; and we do not seem to understand that the most dangerous person of all is the one who does not emphasize the right things" [244].

 

Kent Hughes suggests four doctrinal tests that the Christian must discern when coming under anyone's teaching. First, "the false prophet avoids preaching on such things as the holiness, righteousness, justice, and wrath of God." He does not want to be accountable to God himself, so he instructs others in a concept of God that is like a giant marshmallow in the sky. It's not that he admits disbelieving these things; he just will not teach them. Yet these attributes of God are found throughout Scripture. The false teacher has a truncated, weak view of God.

 

Second, "he avoids preaching on the doctrine of the final judgment." He does not want to offend by such a subject so he can talk about heaven and leave his hearers with the idea that all will eventually make it. Much of this has crept into the evangelical world.

 

Third, "false prophets fail to emphasize the fallenness and depravity of mankind." This is quite popular in our day, especially in the church growth movement, as many have followed the lead of Robert Schuller and others who avoids preaching on sin. They don't want people to feel badly of themselves, and they certainly don't want people to realize their helplessness so that they cry to God alone for mercy. They seek to make people feel good about themselves so that they attract more followers.

 

Fourth, "false prophets de-emphasize the substitutionary death and atonement of Christ." They may talk about the cross but not as the place where God's wrath was poured out upon His own Son to atone for our sins [The Sermon on the Mount, 250-251].

 

God's nature, final judgment, man's depravity, and Christ's atoning work are subjects noticeably absent from the wolves that seek to devour the flock. Look at the fruit of anyone involved in teaching. Where does it lead? How does it affect one's standing with God? Thorn bushes do not produce grapes!

 

2. Its nature

 

False teachers cannot help producing bad fruit. "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit." There is never middle ground or a place for straddling the fence in the teaching of Christ. The nature of a person eventually shows up through his fruit. Even men at their best are still men, and still sinners. But the consistent product of the bad tree is bad fruit. How do you recognize "good fruit" and "bad fruit"? First, look at what is evident in the person's life. Is there a love of holiness, humility, godliness, and faithfulness? Does he play loosely with God's law?

 

Second, look at the aim and result of his teaching. "Bad fruit" leads men away from the narrow gate and narrow way of Christianity. "Good fruit" leads men into conformity to the norms of the kingdom that Christ has described in the Sermon.

 

3. Its end

 

The warning for false teachers is clear: "every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." The very judgment that the false teacher tries to avoid in his teaching is the judgment that he will face. "In the last resort," writes Leon Morris, "it is not the tree that actively bears bad fruit that is condemned, but one that fails to produce good fruit.... Jesus is making it clear that discipleship means a great deal more than religious activity" [The Gospel of Matthew, 178].

 

Conclusion

 

This warning of Christ demands that we so guard our lives and doctrine that we might be vigilant for the gospel. We do this best when we so love the truth of God's Word, and so love obeying Him, that our senses are sharpened to recognize good fruit and bad fruit, true teachers and wolves. Let us stand for truth and purity in our lives, our doctrine, and our church.

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