Jesus the Light 28 Judging the Prophets
Test the spirits to see if they are from God, For many false prophets have gone out into the world – 1 Jn.4:1
Our Lord Jesus warned us in Mk.4:24: “Take care what you listen to.” In Phil.1:9,10 Paul prayed that the believers might have “knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve the things that are excellent to be blameless until the day of Christ.”
Foolish people believe everything they are told without judging whether it is true of false. Prov.14:15: “The simple believe every word, but the prudent considers well his steps.”
But we have not considered well our steps. Like so many silly children we accept without question all that we are told from the mouth of men.
Not only is this stupidity, it is disobedience to the Word of God. If we do not judge, we are deceiving ourselves, leading others astray, and sinning against the God of heaven.
Christ commanded in Jn.7:24: “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” The undiscerning who evaluate by whatever meets their eye assume that any message spoken by a minister is a word from God.
The Lord Jesus condemns such folly. This is not righteous judgment; it is disobedient presumption leading to bondage and ruin.
Paul expected that even the least among the brethren would judge his message. 1 Cor.10:15: “I speak as to wise men, you judge what I say.” Dear Listener, if we will be obedient Christians, we must judge.
The Lord Jesus rebukes any who do not judge: Lk.12:56,57: “Hypocrites! You know how to judge the appearance of the earth and sky, but how is it you do not discern this time? Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?”
How will we answer Christ’s question? What will we say? If we do not judge what is right, then we agree with error and come under the condemnation of Christ.
Loving truth also requires hating falsehood. Ps.119:127,128: “I love Your commandments more than gold, therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right; I hate every false way.”
Yes all believers must judge: Acts 17:11: “Now the Bereans received the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true.”
If the Lord speaks well of these believers for judging even Paul’s message, how much more then should we be judging the preachers in our pulpits today!
1 Thess.5:21 puts it this way: “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” If we fail to examine everything carefully then we will be holding onto error and evil as well.
Deceivers do not want you to judge them; they welcome no questioning of their words. Any Christian who dares to ask for a biblical explanation of their messages is angrily and arrogantly rebuked by these supposed men of God.
But if they were truly men of God as was Paul, they would rejoice and encourage the brethren to inquire about the truth of their pronouncements. But as it is, they are not.
Dear Listener, let no one deceive you. You are commanded by God to judge the prophets. And the Scriptures do not leave us in the dark as to how we can know the true prophet of God from self-appointed deceivers.
The Word of God gives us two very clear ways to discern who is truly speaking from God and who is not: [1] You will know them by their fruit and [2] by their teaching.
Jesus Himself warns us in Mt.7:15-21: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”
False prophets are deceivers, pretending to be true followers of Christ. Outwardly they appear to be sheep, but inwardly they are actually wolves. Wolves feed upon sheep; they kill and devour to fill their own bellies.
That is what ravenous means: grasping extortionists. This is how you can know a false prophet; he is not concerned about the sheep but rather in the money that he can gain from them.
The fruit that Jesus is speaking of is summarized by doing the will of the Father in heaven. Obedience leads to fruit. Coveting after money and prosperity is not the fruit of doing the will of God; neither is pride.
No one who is proud receives anything from God. 1 Pet.5:5: “God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.” A proud man receives no grace from Christ, and apart from grace, no fruit can be produced.
Harshness and anger only show that such men do not possess the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Dear Listener, if you meet a proud minister who loves money, who does not want anyone questioning him, and who speaks with annoyance to others, you have met a false prophet. You will know them by their fruits and you must judge.
You will also know them by their teaching. True prophets of God speak the Word of God to the convicting of sinners and the building up of the brethren as in Isa.8:20: “To the law and the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.”
Neither allow yourself to be deceived by men who claim to perform signs and wonders by the power of God. If their teaching is not according to the Word of the Lord, they are false prophets.
Listen to Deut.13:1-4: “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after others gods and let us serve them,’
“You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Even if his so-called prophecy comes true, and even if a miracle is performed, he is not of God if his teaching is wrong. If he is not leading the believers to understand and obey the commandments of God, he is a deceiving prophet and the Lord is testing us to see if we truly love Him with all our hearts.
O, how we have failed this test time and time again! We have been willingly deceived by false prophets who bring their own doctrines and not the true Word of the Lord!
And we have listened to them, they have led us astray, and we even bring our tithes and offerings to fund their deceptions! Woe unto us!
Jer.23:16-22 exposes these deceivers. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord.
“They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You shall have peace’”; and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’
“I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, and caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.”
Copyright Steve Phillips 2020