In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sometimes as a parent you have to use a different tone of voice with your kids depending upon the seriousness of the situation. For example, if my kid is about to bump over his drink cup, and spill juice all over the kitchen table, then, sure, I might have to raise my voice a little bit: “Watch your elbow there, son, you’re going to knock over your drink cup.” But if the kid is about to ride his bike into the road, and there’s a car barreling down the street at 50 miles an hour, you better believe I’m going to yell pretty much as loudly as I can: “Watch out, there’s a car coming! Stop!”

Today, in our Gospel lesson from Matthew chapter 7, Jesus speaks to us in that second kind of way. He warns us about something in the most serious possible tone that He can take. With a word that He only uses a couple of times in the New Testament, our Lord tells us to “beware.” Just like a parent, who sits down their little one to talk with them about why you don’t get into a car with strangers, Jesus sits down His disciples, and gives them a speech about who to stay away from. And what exactly does our Lord warn us about? False prophets, He says, those “who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

So, in this morning’s sermon, based off this text, I’d like to do two things. First, we’re going to think about why false prophets are so dangerous, and what makes them worse than anything else, and second, we’re going to talk about how you recognize them, so that you can stay away from them.

We live in a world that is filled with all kinds of dangers. There are poisonous snakes, diseases, con-artists, earthquakes, and tornados. But the most dangerous thing by far, according to God’s Word, is a false teacher. Even though they might not seem that bad to begin with, which, of course, is one of the things that makes them such a threat, they’re at the very top of the list, and it not even close. And that’s because they alone have the ability to do something to us that nothing else can. Yes, snakes can bite you, and scammers can steal all of your money, but a false prophet has the ability to destroy your faith. Through their lies and false teaching, they can lead you away from Christ, so that you lose out on your salvation. Remember what Jesus tells us elsewhere, such as in Matthew chapter 10. He says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

There are some things in this life that you should be more afraid of. There are certain things, that you should to pay extra special attention to, so that you don’t go anywhere near them, and get away from them as far as possible. And Jesus says that its false teachers. It’s one thing to get sick and die, but falling away from the faith, so that when you die, you go to hell, is infinitely worse. Those two things aren’t even comparable. And that’s what false teachers can do to you, if you follow after their false teaching. 

It's very common, even within the church, for people to act as if what a church teaches doesn’t really matter, as long as you have some of the basics. But that is not what the Bible actually says. Listen to what Saint Paul tells us in Galatians chapter 5. He says, “a little bit of leaven, leavens the whole lump.” Just like a small amount of yeast will spread through all of the dough, and eventually cause the whole thing to rise, even the smallest amount of false doctrine can spread through the whole body of doctrine and contaminate it. Since everything in God’s Word hold together, and all of it serves the purpose of pointing us to Christ, and the total and free forgivness that we have in Him, any divergence from God’s Word, will ultimately lead us away from Jesus too. It might not do that right away, but over time it can, and it will.

I could use a lot of different examples here, to explain how this works, but let me just give a couple. What about the very popular false teaching that coming to faith in Christ is an act of our own free will, and not something that God does for us apart from our own help and assistance. Well, not only does that false doctrine undermine clear passages from the Bible, such as 1 Corinthians 2, which tells us that the natural man cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God, but it also paves the way for other spiritual problems in the future. When you teach people that coming to faith in Christ is something that you do, and that you need to make a decision for Jesus if you want to be saved, then later on, when they’re carrying their cross and struggling with the failures of their sinful nature, lots of times those people start to wonder whether or not they really did make that decision. Why do I keep falling into sin? How come I’m not getting any better at it? Did I really give my heart to Jesus? Maybe I didn’t. Maybe I’m not even a Christian. Maybe my sins really aren’t forgiven yet at all.

So, you see, by pointing people inward at the very beginning of their walk with Christ, now they can never get them looking outward later on. But when we look inside ourselves, we’re never going to find any certainty there. If we focus on the things that we do, we’re never going to have confidence in our salvation. Our faith will always be unsure, because in that instance it isn’t being built upon the sure foundation of Jesus, and His work for us. It’s being built upon our work for God, which can never be enough.

Or, here’s another false doctrine that we sometimes have to deal with. What about the teaching that it’s okay for women to be pastors and that we should let them serve in that role in the Church if they want to. Just this last week, at our Synodical convention in Arizona, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod voted once again to affirm the Bible’s clear position that only men can be pastors. I wish it would have been a unanimous vote, which is a conversation for another day, but we’ll keep working on that. Because this isn’t just a small teaching. Again, it has the ability to infect every other teaching of God’s Word too. 

What happens when you open the door to dismissing certain parts of the Bible that you don’t like? Eventually, that leads you to getting rid of all of parts of the Bible that you don’t like, even the parts that teach that Jesus is the only way to salvation. Just look at what has happened in every single liberal church body in America that has also punted the ball on male only pastors. The ELCA, the Episcopalians, the United Methodists, and the United Church of Christ, all have serious problems. They got rid of that one teaching, and now what other things won’t they teach either? Most of them wont even say that homosexuality is sinful, even though God calls it an abomination. They argue that it’s okay to for women to end the lives of their children in the womb, if that’s their choice, and some of them refuse to define what a woman even is. Did you know that a few years ago an ELCA lady “pastor” had her congregation say something called the “sparkle creed” which argued that Jesus was non-binary and that He had two dads? I’m not going to quote it out loud in church, but if you want to look it up later on the internet you can. It’s insane. But that’s what happens when you get rid of one part of God’s Word. That’s what can happen through any false teaching, no matter how small it may seem. It can lead you away from Christ, trap you in your sin, and deprive you of eternal life.

Jesus tells us in our text today that the way that you’re supposed to recognize false teachers, so that you can stay away from them, is always by their fruits. That’s means that you need to look beyond what you see in them initially, and instead focus on the outcome of what they say. I’ve never met a false teacher before, who taught one of those things that we just talked about earlier, that I didn’t think was a nice guy. They’re all nice! But that doesn’t mean that what they say is true. That’s why Jesus tells us that lots of times they’ll come to us in sheep’s clothing, even though inwardly they’re ravenous wolves. He means that you can’t trust someone just because of how they look, or how they act, what matters is the content of their preaching and teaching.

The easy false prophets to spot are the ones who won’t even give lip service to the truth and don’t even try to conform what they say to the Bible at all. This the like the Atheists and the Agnostics that openly tell you that Jesus isn’t God or that there’s no way to be sure that He is. Those guys aren’t hard to point out. But then there’s the ones who will talk about Jesus, and even call Him the Lord, but their doctrine doesn’t line up with the truth. They use religious sounding words like “sin, justice, and love,” but then then hollow those terms out and give them completely unbiblical definitions. As Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in you name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

Just as there will be individuals, who did not have true faith, but gave the impression that they did to others, that are still kept out of heaven on judgment day, the same thing applies to the false teachers. They might have done some things that the world calls miraculous. They may have even invoked the name of Jesus at times and given the impression that they were on His side. But they did not preach and teach the true faith. They did not hold to the full doctrine of God’s Word, which is also to hold to Christ Himself. And so, when Christ comes back, He won’t acknowledge them, even though they we’re convinced that they were on the same team.

The way that you always recognize a false teacher is first and foremost through their attitude toward God’s Word. What does the guy say about the Bible? Will he admit that the Scriptures are the inspired and inerrant Word of God and that every part of them is faithful and true? Does He say that the Bible is man’s word, mingled with God’s Word, or does He say that all of it is God’s Word together? If it isn’t the second one, then you need to run away from that person or that church immediately. Don’t even stick around to hear the rest of the argument. Get out of there, and go to a place where God’s Word is actually respected. And then when you get there, evaluate whether or not it is respected in reality, or just in theory. Does this church actually teach what the Bible says, or does it only say that it does. There’s a big difference in that too. Lots of churches will tell you that they get their teachings from the Bible, but in order to know that, you’re going to have to know the Bible for yourself. You’re going to need to be like the Bereans from the book of Acts, who examined the Scriptures daily to see whether or not the things that Paul told them were true.

I made this speech to you the first time I preached in this pulpit, and I’ll say it again. Do not listen to me. At least, don’t listen just to what I say, but listen for whether or not what comes out of my mouth comes from the Bible. Because if any teaching or preaching does not agree with God’s Word, and it isn’t the product of the Scriptures interpreting the Scriptures, and clear passages being used to understand those that seem difficult, then it doesn’t matter how shiny or nice the fruit looks, inside, it’s full of worms and maggots. It will not be able to feed your faith, and if you eat too much of it, your faith is going to die.

Jesus does not want your faith to die. That’s why He warns you to beware of false prophets. The way that you recognize a false prophet isn’t necessarily by how they dress or how they act. It’s by what they teach. All teachings in the church must be derived from God’s clear Word. They don’t come from a pope. They don’t come just from Church councils or voters’ meetings. They don’t come from your feeling. And they don’t come from your reason. They come from the Bible. God has given us a great treasure in the gift of the Old and New Testament. From Genesis to Revelation, we have a perfect account of the whole council of God. Everything that we need to know to be saved is in there. And those books have the ability to guard us from every error. 

You might have to give some things up if you want to be in a church that preaches and teachings the full truth of God’s Word. I’m convinced that in this church, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, so far, by God’s grace, we still have it. We could lose it, so we shouldn’t become complacent, but right now, it’s still there. No, we might not have everything that people want. We might not have as many youth or young families in our congregation. Our worship services might not always give you the chills, or leave you feeling the way that you do when you leave a rock concert. We might not have all the programs and amenities of one of those mega churches. But we do have the Word of God. If you read our Catechism, and study our Book of Concord alongside the Scriptures, I’m convinced that you will find 100% agreement between them. You will hear the voice of your Good Shepherd, and He will protect from all of the wolves.

So, keep on listening to Jesus. Be on your guard against false prophets, and cling instead to the pure Word of Christ. Put your faith not in what is most popular or what is most profound, but in what the Bible clearly teaches. Trust in Jesus alone for your salvation, and hold to all of the doctrines of the Scriptures that back that up. Whether that’s male only pastors, or the regenerative power of Baptism, or the true presence of Christ in the Sacrament, dig your heels in on that, and you will be standing on the sure foundation that saves. Then, when Christ comes back, you won’t be told, “I never knew you,” instead Jesus will say, “Come inherit the kingdom, you who are blessed by my Father.” In Jesus’ Name. Amen.