Beware of False Prophets, Part 1

Driving home: One eminent servant of God said that unapplied truth is in some instances worse than no truth.

Martin quotes an eminent servant of God who said unapplied truth is worse than no truth, emphasizing the necessity of applying biblical instruction.

In the main bulk of the Sermon on the Mount, as we have been studying it now for, this is the third year, we have seen that our Lord Jesus lays out the basic characteristics of the kingdom of God. He lays out the standards by which those who are in the kingdom are to conduct themselves both with reference to God, to the world, and to one another. And as he's drawing this Sermon to a close, he comes into an area of very intense application concerning what he has been teaching by way of instruction. And that's always the pattern of God's Word and must always be the pattern of our teaching and of...

0:05 - 1:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Beware of false prophets, understanding that sincerity and peace are not enough to deliver from danger.

An analogy of a 'Beware Vicious Dog' sign and a sweet-looking pup illustrates that sincerity and conviction do not negate real danger, applying this to the spiritual danger of false prophets.

You may come up to a house outside of which there is a sign, Beware Vicious Dog. And you see this sweet-looking pup, inside the gate, who wags his tail and looks so sweet. And you say, Well, that can't mean him. So you disregard the sign.

9:34 - 9:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Know how to identify a false prophet; don't just assume your pastor is true.

Martin uses the 'Beware of the dog' sign to explain that one must know what a 'dog' (false prophet) is to effectively beware of it, highlighting the need for a clear definition.

With that as our backdrop and introduction, let us consider then, first of all this morning, the definition of a false prophet. Jesus said, Beware of false prophets. Well, before I can beware of them, I've got to know what they are. When the sign says, Beware of the dog, why, I've got to know what a dog is to know what I'm supposed to beware of.

12:39 - 13:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be naive about the presence of false prophets; take Jesus' word 'Beware!' seriously.

Martin cites these founders of Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Christian Science as examples of widely recognized false prophets, contrasting them with the less obvious false prophets many encounter daily.

that outside of labeling people like Joseph Smith who started the heretical movement of the Mormon church,

22:14 - 22:22 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But Jesus said if you associate with them they will devour your soul

Martin elaborates on the metaphor of a wolf in sheep's clothing, describing how a cunning wolf would infiltrate a flock to devour sheep one by one, illustrating the deceptive and destructive nature of false prophets.

That he appears as one of us harmless, actually existing and ministering with a view to helping us. But in reality he said that false prophet is a divine beast not upon flesh but upon the immortal never dying souls of men. Now if you were a wolf and you saw up yonder a flock of sheep and you just wanted their flesh how would you get it? Well you could come as a wolf and bear your fangs with your drooping tail and your sinister looking eyes and come up upon the sheep but for the most part they would scatter and you might get one or two.

26:33 - 27:16 Read in full sermon