Trinity 8
Beloved. Our text comes from the very end of our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. Whereas earlier in this sermon we heard the Beatitudes; we heard His comforting teaching to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness and let God look after and provide for what we need for our earthly life; we heard Jesus give a right and proper teaching on the holy Ten Commandments; we heard that God will give the good things to those that ask Him. All of this is very beautiful and comforting. But now we hear in our text, at the end of this sermon, something unpleasant—that there are false prophets who try to lead us away from faith in Jesus: Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves; and that we can lead ourselves away from our Lord with a false faith—that is, that we can deceive ourselves into thinking that we are Christians, but in reality we are not—our faith is not built upon Jesus, His work and His word: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
In the verses right before our text, Jesus gives us notice, prepares us for the warnings against false teachers and a false faith when He says: Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it. The point is this: there are many ways to get to hell—the gate and road are wide to accommodate all of them; but there is only one way to heaven—faith in Jesus as your Savior from sin. And not only is the gate narrow because there aren’t all that many on it, but the way/ path is difficult—not because God would have it so —He [1 Ti. 2.4] wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth—but because the devil and his allies the world and our own sinful nature have it that way. They are all working together to destroy that Spirit worked faith God has given us; they are all working together to knock us off that narrow path leading ultimately to heaven. That’s why Jesus gives us the warning in today’s text as He tells us: Christian, guard yourself!
Our text: Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. To “Watch out” is vital because it is not only a one-time thing; it’s not something that is done only now and then, like watching when you cross the road—you only do that when you are about to cross it, not while watching TV. If we value our faith and salvation, “watching out” is part and parcel of our lives as Christians.
Our lives as Christians are marked by always/ constantly examining what we hear, what the world around us is saying—its thoughts and attitudes by which it wants to influence us. We hold it all up to the light and mirror of God’s word, Holy Scripture and examine it. Is it in agreement with God’s word? Is God’s word telling me one thing and the world around me telling me something else? If so, here we must guard ourselves and reject any/ everything contrary to God’s word and will, lest we be pulled off that narrow path of faith in Jesus that leads to heaven.
But to watch out also goes further. It goes to our very own thoughts and feelings. Our own thoughts and feelings can easily lead us astray as they work with the devil and try to rationalize our sin so we think our sin is no big deal, or even not sin. Our thoughts arising from our sin corrupted hearts also can lead us to despair of God and rejection of Him. That’s why we don’t listen to our heart but take what it tells us and hold it up to God’s holy word. Is it in accord with God’s word? With the full word of God? –or maybe a thought or verse from God’s word was ripped out of context in an attempt of the devil using his ally, our sinful heart/ nature, to lead us off that narrow path of faith in Jesus.
To judge the messages of right and wrong, what is true and what is false, that the world around us is giving us can be difficult because that’s all we hear. But in general, it’s easy because it’s best to be skeptical of the world and its way since, after all, will the world do the Church and the Christian any favors? Hardly!
To judge what our “heart” is telling is may be a bit more difficult because it is harder to be objective since we are “feeling” it. Every cell of our body may be telling us something and then, in the light of God’s word, to reject it and what we are feeling as being wrong is most difficult. But it is not impossible, for as Christians we have the Holy Spirit who renews our mind. By His power and the strength of our renewed mind, we don’t have to be guided by our feelings; we don’t have to listen to our heart when it tells us what is contrary to God’s word.
But in our text, Jesus tells us the most difficult of all: Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. What makes false prophets most dangerous and why it is vital that we keep watching out for them is the very fact that they come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. They come to lead astray those who are on that narrow path. And they come in disguise! They are really one thing, ravenous wolves, but they look like sheep; they look like one of our Lord’s dear Christians. And precisely because they are false prophets, they will use God’s word and twist and contort it so that it seems like God’s word but isn’t. The vital point to remember is that every error is dangerous. To be sure, not every error, not every false belief will destroy faith and the foundation of faith but it weakens it. Maybe you can take a brick or two out of a wall and it won’t fall down right away, but the wall is weakened and stressed.
The thing to remember about the false prophets is that they really are ravenous wolves. Is that “nice” to say in our overly sensitive world today? No. But when it comes to doctrine and faith, there is no room for “niceness.” Aren’t many false teachers “nice”? Don’t many “mean well”/ have “good intentions”? Aren’t many “sincere”? Don’t many live godly and virtuous lives? Aren’t many “successful”? Absolutely! But Jesus doesn’t mince any words here. False prophets are still ravenous wolves. The goal of a wolf is to get its dinner, to devour the sheep; and regardless of their sincerity and intentions, the result of every false prophet’s teaching is the harm and destruction of people’s souls.
What this means is that false prophets will often have a good, godly appearance. They will use Scripture and their teaching will look/ seem on the surface to be in accord with Scripture. Their false teaching will “make sense.” But remember Jesus’ word of our text: They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Because this theme of judging what we hear, of watching out for false prophets, is so vital, not only does our Lord sound the warning but so do His apostles. For example, St John writes [1 Jn 4.1]: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. The false teachers are so dangerous/ so destructive to faith and the soul because they do not give/ teach the true doctrine of our Lord. The purpose of doctrine is to create and preserve faith. But false doctrine can’t/ won’t because the Holy Spirit isn’t there. True teaching teaches that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus alone. This is the Gospel and this creates and strengthens faith. Where this is added to or taken away from, it is no longer God’s true word. Jesus says in our text: By their fruit you will recognize them. You do not gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, do you? So then, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. A true teacher produces doctrines that nourish us in true faith; a false teacher produces doctrines harmful to faith.
What do Jesus’ words of warning here, Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves, assume? They assume two things. First, that we can be certain of divine truth. God’s word/ teaching can be known and is certain. And because it is certain, we can/want to act accordingly. Because it is God’s word we will treasure it and reject any/everything that is contrary to it. We cannot and will not be indifferent to it. God’s Word, the Holy Scripture, is the Judge in any controversy. The second thing Jesus’ warning here assumes is that we know God’s word; we know the true teaching. That’s why it is vital for us to be faithfully here in church hearing God’s word; to study our Bible; to read daily devotions that are in accord with the faith; to daily ponder and meditate on a passage. The psalmist [Psalm 1] notes: Blessed is the man who… [delights] in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. As we guard ourselves with the word of the Lord, the Holy Spirit is mightily at work warning and protecting us from wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Not only does Jesus warn us in our text to watch out for false teachers, but He also tells us to guard ourselves from a false faith—a faith that doesn’t trust in Him alone for salvation, a false faith that comes from listening to false teachers. Jesus gives this warning as He describes the scene on Judgment Day: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and drive out demons in your name and perform many miracles in your name?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’”
A wrong faith—even if it looks/ sounds holy and right—will still knock us off the narrow path leading to heaven and put us on the wide path leading to damnation. Notice first, Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. There is lip service; the worship of the lips. But those are just empty words. And these empty words reveal an empty heart. And then: ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and drive out demons in your name and perform many miracles in your name?’ Notice, there are even works—prophecy, casting out demons, miracles. The heart had faith. But the faith was not in Jesus and His saving work. Instead the heart put the trust in the works, not Jesus, and now, on the Last Day, acts as if Jesus owed them. But those on the narrow path of faith in Jesus, they, on the Last Day will be saved through faith in Jesus—a faith that recognizes and sorrows over sin but which looks to Jesus and His work for the forgiveness of sin and which receives His perfect holiness. That faith will be alive and busy all during our earthly life doing good works, doing the will of God. St. Paul writes in today’s epistle: For if you live in harmony with the sinful flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the actions of the body, you will live. Indeed, those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. The point? We do the good works because we love the Lord and want to do His will. We don’t put our trust in the works but in Jesus and His work for us. That Holy Spirit worked faith in Jesus in us is the cause of our love and good works—not works that we rely on and point to on the Last Day, but which Jesus points to as evidence that we are His. Our good works are the fruit of faith. So then, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit…So then, by their fruit you will recognize them. To do truly good works, first there must be the true faith in Jesus as Savior. That’s why Jesus here warns us to stay on that narrow path by guarding ourselves from a false faith and from false teachers. INJ Amen.