WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.480 Four hundred men spoke in the name of God on 2 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:07.160 the same day. All of them lied except one. Picture 3 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:10.160 the scene. The gates of the city of Samaria are 4 00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:13.720 flung wide open. There is a threshing floor of packed 5 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:17.039 earth right at the entrance, and there, on two thrones, 6 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:20.719 raised side by side, sit two kings dressed in their 7 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:25.000 royal robes. The sun catches the gold embroidery on their garments, 8 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:28.640 and in front of them, in a semicircle, stand four 9 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:31.920 hundred prophets, four hundred men who claim to hear the 10 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:34.880 voice of Heaven, and they all say the same thing. 11 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:38.920 They all promise victory. One of them has made with 12 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:42.399 his own hands a pair of iron horns, and he 13 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:45.399 lifts them over his head, and he shouts that with 14 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:49.280 those horns the king will gore his enemies until they 15 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:53.359 are finished. The crowd roars back. The air smells of 16 00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:57.359 sweat and certainty. Four hundred voices pushing in one direction, 17 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:01.200 and then they bring in, almost by force, one more man, 18 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:04.200 a prophet who had been locked away, a man the 19 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:07.599 king hates, because in his own words, that man never 20 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:12.359 announces anything good to him, only disasters. They set him 21 00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:17.359 before the thrones and this man alone, facing the four hundred, 22 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:21.359 says exactly the opposite. He says, he sees the army 23 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:26.439 scattered across the hills like sheep without a shepherd. He says, 24 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:29.799 the king will not come back alive. The prophet with 25 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:33.000 the iron horns steps up and slaps him across the 26 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:35.840 face in front of every one, and the King orders 27 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:38.879 that he be taken back to prison and fed bread 28 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:42.760 of affliction and water of affliction until he the king, 29 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:47.560 returns safe and sound from the war. Hold this scene 30 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:50.200 in your hand for the next few minutes, because we 31 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:52.879 are going to come back to this gate, to these 32 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:56.480 two thrones, and to a single man locked in a cell. 33 00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:59.560 And I want to leave a question driven into you. 34 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:02.840 If you had been standing there that day among the crowd, 35 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:07.000 listening to four hundred confident men shout victory, and to 36 00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:11.560 a single one, beaten and hated announce death, whom would 37 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:14.560 you have believed? How do you tell apart the one 38 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:17.360 who speaks for God from the one who only says 39 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:20.280 what you want to hear. Because this is not an 40 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:24.360 ancient problem. The Bible warns about false prophets more often 41 00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:28.080 than most people imagine. It is in the law of Moses, 42 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:30.800 it is in the prophets, it is on the lips 43 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:33.960 of Jesus, it is in the letters of the Apostles. 44 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:38.000 And against what many believe, Scripture does not ask us 45 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.159 to place blind faith in any one who says, thus 46 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:44.840 says the Lord. On the contrary, it gives us tools 47 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:49.439 to test it. It gives us concrete criteria. To day. 48 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:52.520 We are going to look at five of those criteria, 49 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:54.479 and I want to be honest with you from the 50 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:58.280 very first minute, because that is part of doing this right. 51 00:02:58.840 --> 00:03:02.319 The Bible does not can a chapter titled the Five 52 00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:06.439 Signs of the False Prophet like a numbered list. That 53 00:03:06.680 --> 00:03:10.520 arrangement into five points is mine a way of ordering 54 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:13.599 for you what is scattered throughout the text. But each 55 00:03:13.639 --> 00:03:17.439 of the five signs, taken separately, comes straight from the 56 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:20.879 pages of Scripture, with chapter and verse, and you will 57 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:23.479 be able to check it for yourself. What we are 58 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:26.599 about to do is honest. We are going to look 59 00:03:26.680 --> 00:03:29.080 the text in the eye, and let me give you 60 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:32.919 three things in advance so you don't leave. The first 61 00:03:33.479 --> 00:03:37.759 one of these criteria completely contradicts what you probably believe 62 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:41.319 about miracles. The second, we are going to meet a 63 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.800 prophet whose prophecy did not come true, and who even 64 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:48.520 so was not false, and understand why this is one 65 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:52.439 of the finest and most overlooked points in the whole subject. 66 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:55.639 And the third. At the end, we will return to 67 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:59.680 that gate of Samaria, where a single arrow fired at random, 68 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:04.240 without aim, without intention, will decide which of the prophets 69 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:07.439 was right. Before we go on one thing. If this 70 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:10.840 channel helps you read the Bible honestly, leave your like 71 00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:14.240 it tells YouTube to show this to more people who 72 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:17.800 are looking for the truth. If this is your first time, welcome. 73 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.040 If you keep coming back, thank you for trusting. And 74 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:23.879 if in the end it wasn't worth it, you take 75 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:27.839 it back, and that's that. Let's continue. The first sign 76 00:04:27.959 --> 00:04:30.680 is the most obvious, and for that very reason, the 77 00:04:30.680 --> 00:04:35.279 most misunderstood. The first sign is fulfillment. In the Book 78 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:39.360 of Deuteronomy, in chapter eighteen, Moses faces a question the 79 00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:42.480 people were going to ask sooner or later. The question 80 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:45.839 appears almost in these words, how will we know the 81 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:49.079 word that the Lord has not spoken? How do we 82 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.279 tell the true from the false? When someone stands before 83 00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:55.720 us and claims to speak for God? And the answer 84 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:59.240 the text gives in verses twenty one and twenty two 85 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:02.560 is brutally simple. If the prophet speaks in the name 86 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:05.120 of the Lord, and what he said does not happen, 87 00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:08.839 does not come true, then that word did not come 88 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:12.759 from God. The prophet spoke it out of arrogance. Stop 89 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:15.560 on that last word, because it is the first of 90 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:19.240 our words in the original language, and we are going 91 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:23.040 to use several today, since the text in Hebrew and 92 00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:28.160 in Greek says things that translations sometimes soften. The Hebrew 93 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:34.040 word behind arrogance or presumption is zaydon. Zaydan is not 94 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:37.560 an innocent mistake. It is not someone who got it 95 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:42.639 wrong in good faith. Zadan is arrogance, boldness, the nerve 96 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:45.120 to place the name of God on top of your 97 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:49.199 own words to give them weight. The impostor Deuteronomy speaks of, 98 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:51.879 is not the one who is mistaken. He is the 99 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:54.160 one who uses the name of God as a tool. 100 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:57.959 And we have the perfect example because the Bible doesn't 101 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:00.680 only give us the rule, it also so tells us 102 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:04.560 the story where the rule is applied with chilling precision. 103 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:08.319 Let's go to the Book of Jeremiah, chapter twenty eight. 104 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:11.759 The people of Judah are under the shadow of Babylon. 105 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:15.759 The Empire has already carried off captives, has already carried 106 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:19.120 off treasures from the temple, and the threat of total 107 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:23.879 destruction hangs in the air. In the middle of this, Jeremiah, 108 00:06:23.879 --> 00:06:28.240 the prophet, walks through Jerusalem with something strange on his shoulders, 109 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:32.759 a wooden yoke, the kind put on oxen. He wears 110 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:37.360 it as a living sign. The message is harsh. Submit 111 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:42.399 to Babylon because God has decided this as judgment, and 112 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:46.839 resisting will only make everything worse. It is a message 113 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:50.480 no one wants to hear. And then another prophet appears 114 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:54.839 named Hannaniah. Hannaniah also speaks in the name of the Lord, 115 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:59.519 and his message is the exact opposite the message everyone wants. 116 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:03.439 Within two years, he says, God will break the yoke 117 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:07.480 of Babylon. The treasures will return, the captives will return, 118 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:10.720 everything will be set right. And to make it clear, 119 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:15.160 Hannanaiah grabs the wooden yoke off Jeremiah's neck and breaks 120 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:17.839 it to pieces in front of all the people, and 121 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:21.920 he says, this is how God will break the yoke 122 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:26.720 of Babylon. Picture the moment the popular prophet has just 123 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:31.399 broken with his own hands, the symbol of the uncomfortable message. 124 00:07:31.879 --> 00:07:36.319 The crowd must have roared. And notice what Jeremiah does. 125 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:40.839 He does not shout, he does not defend himself. The 126 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:45.879 text says that Jeremiah the prophet went his way, he left, 127 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:49.759 he let time do the talking. Only later does he return. 128 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:53.680 And then he pronounces the sentence you broke a wooden yoke, 129 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:56.759 but God will put an iron one in its place. 130 00:07:57.319 --> 00:08:00.920 And he says to Hannanaiah, a sentence that pleases the blood. 131 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:04.319 The Lord has not sent you, and you have made 132 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:07.879 this people trust in a lie for that this very 133 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.480 year you will die. And the text closes with a 134 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:16.519 single line without ornament. And Hannanaiah the Prophet died that 135 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:20.519 same year, in the seventh month, two months later. The 136 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:24.040 word that does not come true exposes the liar. The 137 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:26.879 word that comes true, even when it is a word 138 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:31.279 of death, confirms the true one. But fulfillment on its 139 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.360 own is a more complicated criterion than it seems. And 140 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:38.879 here comes the first twist. I promised you, because there 141 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:41.720 is a case that breaks the simple rule. What do 142 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:43.879 we do with a prophet who announces something in the 143 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:46.840 name of God and it does not happen, and yet 144 00:08:46.840 --> 00:08:51.320 he is not an impostor. Think of Jonah God sends 145 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:54.399 him to the city of Nineveh with a one line message, 146 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:59.679 in forty days, Nineveh will be destroyed, no conditions, no 147 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:04.120 unless a sentence. And Nineveh was not destroyed. So, by 148 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:07.720 the simple rule of Deuteronomy, was Jonah a false prophet? 149 00:09:08.519 --> 00:09:11.600 His word did not come true, And yet the Bible 150 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:16.159 presents him as a true prophet, and Jesus himself cites 151 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:20.159 him as a sign. The answer is a few chapters earlier, 152 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:23.440 in Jeremiah chapter eighteen, in the image of the potter, 153 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:26.840 God says he is like a potter with clay in 154 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:31.519 his hands. If he announces disaster against a nation and 155 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:34.559 that nation repents, he turns back from the harm he 156 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:37.960 meant to do it. And if he announces good over 157 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:41.759 a nation and that nation does evil, he also turns 158 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:45.360 back from the good. In other words, most prophecies of 159 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:49.600 judgment carry a silent condition inside them. They are not 160 00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:54.720 mechanical predictions of the future. They are warnings. They are 161 00:09:54.919 --> 00:09:59.840 an open door to repentance. Nineveh repented and the s 162 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:03.559 entence was suspended, and that does not make Joanah false. 163 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:07.440 It means the warning worked. And this is not an 164 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:10.639 idea that came from outside the Bible. It is planted 165 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:15.120 in Jeremiah's own text. In that very confrontation with Hannanaiah. 166 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:19.840 A few verses earlier, Jeremiah had said something precise. The 167 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:24.000 prophets of old, the ones who came before him, almost 168 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:30.440 always announced war, calamity, judgment. But the prophet who announces peace, 169 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:34.480 that one is recognized as truly sent only when his 170 00:10:34.600 --> 00:10:38.240 word of peace comes true. In other words, the promise 171 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:40.720 of good is the one that is really put to 172 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:45.120 the test. Hannaniah announced peace, and his peace never came. 173 00:10:45.559 --> 00:10:49.600 Centuries later, a Jewish sage named my Monodes put this 174 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:53.240 into very clear words, and it is worth knowing because 175 00:10:53.279 --> 00:10:57.480 it sharpens the whole first criterion. He said, in short, 176 00:10:57.720 --> 00:11:01.559 that there is an asymmetry. When the prophet announces disaster 177 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:05.559 and the disaster does not come, that does not disprove him, 178 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:08.879 because God may have shown mercy on account of repentance. 179 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:13.600 But when a prophet announces blessing, prosperity, peace and it 180 00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:17.440 does not come, then he is exposed. Because the promises 181 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:20.080 of good that come from God are not canceled. On 182 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:23.200 a whim. Look at the trap Hannaniah falls into. In 183 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:28.600 this light, Hannanaiah promised good, promised liberation, promised peace, and 184 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:32.120 it did not come by the stricter rule he stood 185 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:35.399 stripped bare. That is why the first criterion is not 186 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:39.559 everything he said happened to the letter. It is sutler. 187 00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:43.360 His promises of blessing from God hold up, and his 188 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:47.240 warnings always leave open the door of repentance. Keep this 189 00:11:47.639 --> 00:11:52.159 because we have just discovered something important. Fulfillment helps, but 190 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:55.960 it is not enough, and sometimes it is slow. What 191 00:11:56.039 --> 00:11:59.200 do we do in the meantime? We need a criterion 192 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:02.600 that works, to do without waiting to see what happens. 193 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:07.039 And that is the second and it is, without a doubt, 194 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:12.120 the most uncomfortable of the five. The second sign is 195 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:16.559 faithfulness to God, and the discomfort is this, According to 196 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:20.720 the Bible, a fulfilled miracle, a sign that really happens, 197 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:24.519 does not prove the prophet is true. Read it again, 198 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:28.000 because I know it clashes with everything we tend to think. 199 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:32.240 We are trained to believe that if someone does something supernatural, 200 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:35.960 if they predict something and it comes true, if something 201 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:40.840 inexplicable happens, then it comes from God, the Bible says, 202 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:44.799 not necessarily, and it says so in a text few 203 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:49.480 people know, the very chapter before the one about fulfillment, Deuteronomy, 204 00:12:49.559 --> 00:12:54.159 chapter thirteen. The text deliberately lays out an extreme case. 205 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:58.000 It says, if a prophet rises up among you and 206 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:01.120 announces a sign or a wonder to you, and the 207 00:13:01.159 --> 00:13:05.399 sign or the wonder comes true, really happens exactly as 208 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:08.240 he said. But then he tells you, let us go 209 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:11.480 after other gods to serve them. Do not listen to 210 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:14.480 the words of that prophet. Do you realize what the 211 00:13:14.519 --> 00:13:17.279 text has just done. It has just said that the 212 00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:20.639 miracle may be real, that the prediction may be right, 213 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:23.559 and that even so, if it pulls you away from 214 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:28.159 the true God, he is false. The criterion is not power. 215 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:32.600 The criterion is direction. Where is it taking you? And 216 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:35.919 the text goes further and explains why God would allow 217 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:39.480 such a thing. It says, it is a test to 218 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:42.600 know whether you love the Lord your God with all 219 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:45.919 your heart and with all your soul. The wonder that 220 00:13:46.039 --> 00:13:48.759 pulls you away from God is not a glitch in 221 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:52.320 the system. It is part of the test. The dazzle 222 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:56.919 of the supernatural is sometimes the bate. This, which in 223 00:13:56.960 --> 00:13:59.639 the Old Testament is a rule, becomes in the New 224 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:04.559 Testant something even more concrete and more sharply edged. Because 225 00:14:04.600 --> 00:14:08.600 after Christ, faithfulness to God has a face and a name. 226 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:12.639 Here comes our second word in the original language. In Greek, 227 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:16.200 the term the New Testament uses for false prophet is 228 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:21.240 pseudo prophets. The part prophets means the one who speaks 229 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:27.440 for another, the spokesman, and pseudo means false lying. The 230 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:31.799 false prophet is literally a lying spokesman, someone who claims 231 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:35.120 to speak for God and speaks for himself or for 232 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:38.759 another spirit. And how is that spokesman tested? In the 233 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:41.840 New Testament. The apostle John says it in the most 234 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:45.720 direct way in his First Letter, Chapter four. He begins 235 00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:48.559 with an order that ought to be engraved in the 236 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:53.120 mind of every believer. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, 237 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:56.320 but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, 238 00:14:56.759 --> 00:14:59.679 because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 239 00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:03.799 Do not believe everyone test, and then he gives the 240 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:08.320 concrete exam. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has 241 00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:11.480 come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit 242 00:15:11.799 --> 00:15:15.240 that does not confess Jesus is not from God, that 243 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:18.799 is the spirit of the Antichrist. The test is no 244 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:23.399 longer only did it come true? The test is what 245 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:26.960 does it say about Christ? Toward whom does it lead you? 246 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:31.200 The apostle Paul takes it to the extreme in his 247 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:34.799 Letter to the Galatians chapter one, with one of the 248 00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:39.200 strongest sentences in the whole New Testament. He says, even 249 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:42.399 if we or an angel from heaven should preach to 250 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:45.320 you any other gospel than the one we preach to you, 251 00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:50.039 let him be accursed. Let him be damned. Read it carefully, 252 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:54.639 Even an angel from heaven. Even if a luminous, glorious, 253 00:15:54.679 --> 00:15:58.960 supernatural apparition comes from Heaven itself and preaches a different gospel, 254 00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:03.360 Paul's an is, do not believe it. Let it be cursed, 255 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:08.039 because the apparent origin does not validate the message. The 256 00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:13.120 message validates the messenger. This completely destroys the argument that 257 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:17.879 he had a vision, a being of light appeared to him, 258 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:23.240 he did things that can't be explained. The Bible already 259 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:26.639 answered that not even an angel from heaven has the 260 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:31.000 authority to change your gospel, and the danger, according to 261 00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:35.200 the New Testament, almost never comes head on the apostle. 262 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:39.600 Peter warns in his second letter that false teachers introduce 263 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:43.159 their errors in a covert way, slipping them in little 264 00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:47.759 by little, mixed with truth, until the poison is already inside. 265 00:16:48.519 --> 00:16:51.879 No one announces I have come to pull you away 266 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:56.720 from God. No one would buy that, so they disguise it. 267 00:16:57.080 --> 00:16:59.879 And that is why doctrine has to be examined careful, 268 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:05.079 sentence by sentence, and not swallowed whole just because it 269 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:09.759 comes wrapped in spiritual language. Hold on to this twist 270 00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:12.319 because we are going to come back to it at 271 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:15.119 the end with a story that will give you chills. 272 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:19.839 In the Bible, false prophets can perform real signs. We 273 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:22.880 leave it planted. But if the miracle is not enough 274 00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:26.279 and doctrine has to be examined, is there any mark 275 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:29.759 you can see simply by looking at how the person lives? Yes, 276 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:33.279 it is the third criterion, and Jesus said it with 277 00:17:33.319 --> 00:17:36.640 an image no one forgets. The third sign is the fruit, 278 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:41.039 that is the character, the life, what the person actually 279 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:44.559 produces when no one is applauding. We are in the 280 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:48.000 Gospel of Matthew, chapter seven, within the Sermon on the 281 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:52.519 Mount Jesus is finishing, and suddenly he drops a warning 282 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:57.559 that breaks the tone. He says, beware of false prophets 283 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:00.839 who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are 284 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:05.079 ravenous wolves. Stop on the image because it is perfect. 285 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:09.640 The impostor does not arrive with horns or with obvious evil. 286 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:15.000 He arrives disguised as a sheep, gentle, harmless, spiritual. On 287 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:18.759 the outside, the skin is a lamb's. The inside is 288 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:22.759 a predator's, and that means something terrible. At first glance, 289 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:26.799 it doesn't show the disguise works, So how do you 290 00:18:26.880 --> 00:18:30.920 see what the disguise covers? Jesus gives the answer immediately, 291 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:34.319 and our next word in the original appears. He says, 292 00:18:34.599 --> 00:18:37.640 by their fruits, you will know them. The Greek word 293 00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:42.039 is carpos, which means fruit what a tree produces, and 294 00:18:42.200 --> 00:18:46.079 Jesus develops the image are grapes gathered from thorns or 295 00:18:46.119 --> 00:18:49.559 figs from thistles. Every good tree bears good fruit, but 296 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:53.319 the bad tree bears bad fruit. And he closes a 297 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:56.640 good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree 298 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:59.559 good fruit. Don't look at the leaves, which are the 299 00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:02.400 pretty words. Don't look at the height of the tree, 300 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:07.039 which is the fame. Look at the fruit, what actually 301 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.359 grows around this person. And the Bible is very concrete 302 00:19:11.400 --> 00:19:14.559 about what the rotten fruit is. Go back to Jeremiah 303 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:18.000 chapter twenty three, which is practically a composite portrait of 304 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:21.319 the false prophet, and which we will return to several times. 305 00:19:21.799 --> 00:19:25.359 In verse fourteen, God describes the prophets of Jerusalem with 306 00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:29.599 very harsh words. He says, they commit adultery, They walk 307 00:19:29.640 --> 00:19:32.839 in lies. They strengthen the hands of evil doers, so 308 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:36.319 that no one turns from his wickedness. Rid that last 309 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.880 part again, because it is the key. They strengthen the 310 00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:43.039 hands of those who do evil. The impostor does not 311 00:19:43.160 --> 00:19:47.200 make the sinner uncomfortable. He calms him, He gives him permission. 312 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:51.559 He tells him everything is fine, keep going. God understands, 313 00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:56.640 don't change anything, and so no one repents. The fruit 314 00:19:56.680 --> 00:19:59.519 of the false prophet is a community that feels holly 315 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:03.119 while it rots inside. And a note of honesty is 316 00:20:03.160 --> 00:20:05.559 in order, because I don't want to sell you a 317 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:09.440 mechanical rule. Fruit is not measured in a single day, 318 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:13.799 nor by judging an isolated fall. The true prophets also 319 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:18.319 had crises. They also doubted Elijah wanted to die under 320 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:22.319 a tree. Jeremiah cursed the day of his birth. The 321 00:20:22.359 --> 00:20:25.039 mark of the fruit is not this person is perfect. 322 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:28.720 It is the sustained pattern of a life. Where does 323 00:20:28.759 --> 00:20:31.839 it point, what does it build? Does it leave people 324 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:35.480 closer to God and more repentant or more comfortable in sin? 325 00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:39.400 That is what time reveals. And this leads us almost 326 00:20:39.400 --> 00:20:43.160 by the hand to the fourth criterion. Because there is 327 00:20:43.240 --> 00:20:47.599 one particular fruit, one mark, that appears again and again 328 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:51.200 when the Bible speaks of false prophets, and it is 329 00:20:51.319 --> 00:20:55.119 perhaps the one that hurts most to recognize. I ask 330 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:58.759 you to pay special attention. The fourth sign is the 331 00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:01.839 content of the message, and it boils down to a 332 00:21:01.880 --> 00:21:06.079 single tension. The false prophet says what people want to hear. 333 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:09.640 The true one says what people need to hear. Let's 334 00:21:09.640 --> 00:21:13.640 go back to Jeremiah twenty three to verses sixteen and seventeen. 335 00:21:14.039 --> 00:21:17.480 God warns the people do not listen to the words 336 00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:20.319 of the prophets who prophesy to you. They fill you 337 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:23.640 with empty hopes. They speak a vision from their own heart, 338 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:26.640 not from the mouth of the Lord. And then he 339 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:30.400 describes exactly what those prophets keep saying. To those who 340 00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:34.079 despise God, they say, you will have peace. And to 341 00:21:34.119 --> 00:21:37.440 everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, they say 342 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:40.759 no harm will come upon you. Do you see the pattern. 343 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:45.839 The impostor is the professional of cheap comfort. He says 344 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:50.319 peace to the one walking toward disaster. He says relaxed 345 00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:53.359 to the one who ought to be trembling. Not because 346 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:56.880 it is true, but because that is what sells, That 347 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:00.119 is what keeps the crowd happy, that is what fills 348 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:03.640 the threshing floor with people who applaud. And we come 349 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:07.039 to one of the best known and most devastating sentences 350 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:11.200 in all of Scripture, which appears twice in Jeremiah, in 351 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:15.519 chapter six and in chapter eight. Speaking of these prophets 352 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:18.119 and priests, God says, they heal the wound of his 353 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:23.880 people lightly, saying peace, peace, And there is no peace, peace, peace, 354 00:22:24.359 --> 00:22:26.960 when there is no peace. It is the image of 355 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:29.839 a doctor who sees a tumor and tells the patient 356 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:35.200 it's nothing, go home. It is the cruelest betrayal disguised 357 00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:40.000 as the kindest news. Here comes another word in the original, 358 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.880 because there is a bitter irony hidden inside. The Hebrew 359 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:47.359 word for peace is shalom, and shalam does not mean 360 00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:51.440 only the absence of war. It means fullness, wholeness, that 361 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:55.920 everything is healthy, complete in its place, right with God. 362 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:00.240 The false prophet shouts shalom, fullness, all is well over 363 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:03.480 a people that is falling apart inside. He uses the 364 00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:06.200 most beautiful word in the language to cover the worst 365 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:09.119 of realities. And it is worth seeing the price of 366 00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:14.440 telling the opposite truth. Jeremiah, for insisting on his uncomfortable message, 367 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:17.720 was not given applause. They lowered him with ropes into 368 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:21.319 an empty cistern, a well with no water, only mud 369 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:24.480 at the bottom, and there they left him sinking so 370 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:27.519 he would shut up. The man who said there will 371 00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:30.240 be no peace ended up in the mud of a pit. 372 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:33.880 The ones who shouted peace piece had the favor of 373 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:36.519 the king and the affection of the crowd. It is 374 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:40.880 almost always like this. The comfortable lie pays better and 375 00:23:41.079 --> 00:23:45.920 faster than the difficult truth. The prophet Ezekiel, in his 376 00:23:46.039 --> 00:23:51.480 chapter thirteen gives this an image you never forget. Picture 377 00:23:51.799 --> 00:23:56.559 a threatened city and its people hurriedly building a defensive wall. 378 00:23:57.079 --> 00:24:01.279 But the wall is badly made the stones poorly. It 379 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:05.079 is going to fall at the first serious push, And 380 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:08.519 instead of warning, some men show up with buckets of 381 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:12.640 whitewash and paint it white on the outside. They leave 382 00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:15.960 it beautiful, gleaming, and they tell the people, look, what 383 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:20.319 a firm wall protects us. That, says Ezekiel, is what 384 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:25.319 the false prophets do. They coat a condemned wall with whitewash. 385 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:29.119 The text calls it daubing with loose mud, with worthless 386 00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:34.039 mortar on the outside, A flawless wall, white, beautiful on 387 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:38.279 the inside, about to collapse. And God says, the rain 388 00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:41.880 will come, the hail will come, the wind will come, 389 00:24:42.440 --> 00:24:45.279 and the wall will fall, and then it will be 390 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.759 known who whitewashed it. The false prophet is the one 391 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:51.839 who paints white the walls that are going to fall. 392 00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:55.799 I want you to stop here with me for a second, 393 00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:59.960 because this touches something very human. Almost all of us, 394 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:03.039 at some point in life have had some one tell 395 00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:07.519 us everything is fine, when deep down we knew it wasn't. 396 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:11.240 And almost all of us have at some point preferred 397 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:14.119 the one who lied to us gently over the one 398 00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:17.440 who told us the hard truth. If this resonates with you. 399 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:21.440 If you ever confused comfort with truth, write the word 400 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:25.160 shaloam for me down in the comments, just that word. 401 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:28.240