Beware of False Prophets

Encountering Jesus

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

August 30, 2026

Beware of False Prophets

Let’s turn together to Matt. 7:15. As Jesus nears the end of the sermon on the mount he lays out a series of choices that have lasting consequences on our souls.Everyone must choose between the narrow gate which leads to life or the broad gate which leads to destruction and Jesus urges us to choose the narrow gate. Jesus will go on to draw the contrast between those who choose to do the will of God and those who choose not to. Jesus will conclude with a choice of what we build our lives on: the rock of hearing God’s word and building on it or the sand of hearing God’s word and not building on it.

In Matt. 7:15 Jesus gives us yet another choice: what do we allow to influence our lives? And he warns us that there are people who seem to be very good but in reality are very, very bad.

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, 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. Matt 7:15-20

Jesus says beware of false prophets. The word "prophet" makes us think of someone who predicts the future, but foretelling the future was just one function of biblical prophets. A prophet’s primary responsibility wasn't to foretell, it was to forthtell. To bring the word of the Lord, the “thus saith the Lord” to God’s people. A false prophet is anyone who teaches, leads, or influences in the name of the Lord but with a message that doesn’t come from the Lord, it comes from their own hearts.

These false prophets come in sheep’s clothing. They are masters of deception. Outwardly they look like harmless sheep but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. When a wolf comes upon a flock of sheep something strange happens. That wolf won’t just kill one sheep to eat. It will go on a killing spree killing far more sheep than it can eat. Part of it might be that sheep don’t behave like a wolf’s normal prey. Rather than scattering in different directions like most prey do, sheep will often run frantically in circles which triggers the wolf’s predatory instincts, causing it to kill and keep killing.

There are spiritual predators who come looking like fellow believers but inwardly they have a ravenous appetite for devouring God's people. They prey on the spiritually vulnerable. Put them in a church of vulnerable, biblically uninformed believers and their predatory instincts take over. As the Apostle Paul was saying goodbye to the elder of Ephesus, he warns them about the inevitability of wolves creeping into the flock – some of those wolves will even rise from among the leaders.

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert…Acts 20:29-31

They twist the Bible to make it say what they want it to say. And what they want isn’t to point people to Christ, what they want is to draw people to themselves. Their predatory instincts want to feast on the souls of helpless sheep.

All the while, they look like sheep. So how can we tell a wolf from a sheep? Not by their appearance. Their sheep suit is tailor-made and fits them well. They don’t look like wolves, they look like wonderful believers, great teachers, charismatic leaders. So how can we tell the difference? How can we beware false prophets if they don’t look like false prophets?

Jesus says we will recognize them by their fruits. Years ago our neighbors planted a tree near our property line. I don’t know trees. I couldn’t have told you what kind of tree it was…until it began to produce peaches. Every now and then they give us a bag of its fruit and I know it’s a peach tree. I’ve tasted its fruit! Jesus says don’t just listen to their words or look at their appearance. Inspect their fruit.

1. Inspect the fruit of their teaching

By teaching, I mean how people try to influence what we believe. Never underestimate the power that what you believe has on your life. What we believe is like the steering wheel of our lives - it has the power to steer us in any direction! Every day we make choices based on what we believe. Where we end up in life is determined much more by our beliefs than by our circumstances. Let me say that again: where we end up in life is determined much more by our beliefs than by our circumstances. The difference between a wise person and a foolish person isn't how old they are or how long they've lived; it's what they’ve chosen to believe. Proverbs was written by a father trying to teach his son wisdom by instructing him what to believe. What to believe about God, about life, about work, about morality, about honesty, about wickedness, about planning, about laziness, and so on.

Heaven or hell literally hangs on what we believe. When the prison guard asked Paul what he needed to do to be saved, Paul answered, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household."

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Rom. 10:9-10

The Christian must always make the Bible the final word on what we believe.The most important question as we inspect the fruit of any teaching is: is it biblical? Does it line up to God's word? Or does it contradict God's word at any point? Does it take God’s word and twist it to say something different than the plain meaning of His word? Is their teaching helping us to know Jesus and his saving work as taught in the Bible!

Last Sunday, Janice and I “attended” church with my mom and step-father. They’re in their 80’s and physically frail so they aren’t able to physically go to church anymore so they attend online. As the service began, you could tell it was very well-produced technically and the staging and lighting and everything was top-notch. None of that matters that much to me, what I cared about is how they taught the Bible.

The pastor opened to Eph. 1 and as he taught about salvation and redemption and adoption all being in Christ, not in the pastor, not in what we do, but in Christ, it was music to my ears! He influenced us to believe in Jesus, trust in Jesus, and find the assurance of our salvation in Christ. He spoke about the importance of theology – the study of God – and asked the question do we really need theology? Isn’t believing in Jesus enough? Yes, but what do we believe about Jesus? Do we believe right things about Jesus or wrong things? For that we need to know our Bible!

Inspect their teaching. Does it align with scripture or does it stray? Is it speaking truth boldly or is it scratching itching ears? Is their teaching promoting sexual immorality? Are they telling you it’s ok to sin? Or is the fruit of their teaching is to sow seeds of doubt in your mind? Is their teaching focused on money and riches? Check the fruit of their teaching out.

We should all be like the Bereans, who searched the scriptures daily to make sure what Paul and others were teaching was true. They weren’t being critical, they weren’t being cynical, they were being careful to guard the gate and make sure what came through into their belief system was true according to God’s word. Please do that! When you hear teaching – from me or anyone – don’t assume it’s biblical. Search for yourselves to make sure it lines up with God’s word.

2. Inspect the fruit of their character

The Bible often speaks of fruit in reference to character. The fruit of the Spirit are all about character: love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - the character of Christ being worked in us by the Holy Spirit. When a person genuinely comes to Christ in faith and believes that Jesus died on the cross to pay the debt for their sins, the Lord forgives and cleanses them of their sin, but God's gracious work doesn't stop there. The Lord also adopts us as His son or daughter, so that God doesn't just become our God, He also becomes our heavenly Father. And our Father, through the work of the Holy Spirit begins to work on our character so that we begin to look more and more like our heavenly Father. Inside of every true believer there is a growing family resemblance to Jesus Christ.

False prophets don’t have the Holy Spirit working on their inner character so instead they wrap themselves in a sheepskin in order to disguise themselves as true believers. But you can’t fake fruit. Not for long anyway. Fruit flows from the root and the root is what they are deep inside, their nature, who and what they truly are. If their root is bad, their fruit will be bad. Thorn bushes don't produce grapes, and evil men don't produce godly fruit. Jesus says examine their fruit before you allow them to have an influence in your life.

Even if their teaching aligns pretty closely with scripture, we need to examine the fruit of their lives, of their character. No one is perfect, we’re not talking about being flawless people. The gospel is for the sick not the healthy. We are all sinners, flawed, needy. So we’re not talking perfect.

But Jesus is warning us not to fall for the sheepskin. Remember, the nature of a wolf is to ravage the flock in order to satisfy his/her own appetite. They have no appetite to point to Christ, they want to draw (as Acts 20 says) disciples to themselves.

Often false prophets are manipulative. Controlling. They claim a special relationship and closeness to God that makes it necessary that you listen to them and only them. John in his third epistle writes about a self-seeking dude named Diotrephes who loved to be first and who tried to isolate the church from anyone other than himself. He spread malicious lies and slander about other leaders, including John so that they’d listen only to him. That’s about character – he loved to be first! He loved position! Power! He wanted to be the only voice they listened to. He was a narcissistic megalomaniac.

Inspect the fruit! When we were in San Diego my mom mentioned someone who was working on their 8^th marriage and I jokingly said, he’s been married so many times he must be an expert on marriage. Look at the fruit. Look at how their teaching and lives influences people.

Are people left feeling abused, deceived, taken advantage of, not cared about? Do they leave a wake of damaged and hurting churches behind them? Disillusioned people behind them? What is their fruit? What is their influence?

Jesus as the Good Shepherd warns us about wolves in sheep’s clothing. As we learn to listen for his voice, grow in our knowledge of God’s word, and try to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we will not only be able to recognize false prophets by their bad fruit, but by the grace of God we will also grow in producing good fruit for the glory of God.