The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
DMLJ: In verse 15 and 16, and to the end of this chapter, our Lord is concerned with just one great principle, one great message. He is emphasizing but one thing, the importance of entering at the straight gate. … He shows us some of the dangers, hindrances and obstacles that meet all who attempt to do that.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, Vol.2 - The Sermon on the Mount, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev
Our battle is on the way to the narrow gate, when we enter the narrow gate, and the entire time while we are traveling the narrow way….
Matthew 7: 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
One of the dangers, keeping us from the narrow gate, is the danger of false prophets. How will we know them, recognize them? Some say we will know them by their teaching; others say we will know them by the type of life they lead. Lloyd-Jones concludes that the choice between the two really doesn’t matter – in fact, it can be either or both.
MHA: The Problem of false prophets was very significant in the early Church.
When it comes to false teaching, it isn’t terribly difficult to see false doctrine: doubts about the being of God, denying the deity of Christ, denying the miracles. Such things are easy to see, and we hardly need a warning of this from Jesus.
MHA: The expression “wolf in sheep’s clothing” has become an idiom.
Such teaching is not from a wolf in sheep’s clothing; it is from one who, on the surface, appears to be a sheep.
DMLJ: [Jesus] suggests that the real difficulty about this kind of false prophet is that at first you never imagine that he is such. … It is his subtlety that really constitutes the danger.
He seems to be and to have everything we might look for in a teacher, a leader. He says and does all the right things. What he says and teaches is all sound, doctrinally and theologically.
DMLJ: It is a teaching, the falseness of which is to be detected by what it does not say rather than by what it does say.
MHA: …the term “false prophets” has a generalized meaning: it refers to all who distort the teachings of Jesus.
The teachings aren’t necessarily false; they are just distorted, lacking in real substance. There is no straight gate or narrow way in his teaching. This is too offensive. He never causes offense with his preaching; he is not persecuted because of what he teaches. The liberals and modernists all praise it.
So, what is it that is excluded? Lloyd-Jones offers a few examples: he doesn’t get into the details of doctrine at all, remaining vague, especially on difficult topics; he rarely speaks of true holiness and righteousness; he speaks of the love of God without speaking of God’s justice – let alone wrath.
He doesn’t speak of final judgment and the eternal destiny of the lost; there is little on hell and everlasting destruction. He avoids the topic of sin and of man’s total reliance on Christ for salvation; he may speak of individual, specific sins, but not on the consuming nature of sin.
There is little or no talk of repentance, no need to feel the heavy weight of sin and its cost – you just “decide” for Christ. Summing it up: there is no recognition of entering the narrow gate and walking along the narrow way.
Such false prophets are to be known by these fruits:
Matthew 7: 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Yet, even here: on the surface, it isn’t clear as to a good tree or a corrupt tree. One cannot tell from the surface. Both look healthy, the fruit from each seems, on the surface, quite good. Two trees that look perfectly alright, yet do not produce the same kind of fruit.
The issue is one of appearances, and, as we have seen throughout this Sermon, the truth is to be found, not in appearances, but in a change of the heart. There are lifestyles that, on the surface, appear quite Christian. Many state just this: acting “as if” the gospel is true.
DMLJ: But, to put it positively, what we look for in anybody who claims to be Christian is evidence of the Beatitudes. The test of fruit is never negative, it is positive. … A man who has the divine nature within himself must produce this good fruit, the good fruit which is described in the Beatitudes.
The ultimate test of this is humility, just as we have seen through the work of Andrew Murray. A new nature, one that proves itself even when caught off guard.
Matthew 7: 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
This is a continuation on the warning against false prophets. But it isn’t only this. It is a warning for all Christians: first, that belief isn’t complete evidence (to call “Lord, Lord”); second, nor are works complete evidence (“doeth the will of my Father”). Nor are the two together.
DMLJ: These, surely, are in many ways the most solemn and solemnizing words ever uttered in this world… How often, I wonder, have we considered them, or heard a sermon on them?
The warning is one of avoiding self-deception and self-delusion. It isn’t a warning simply of and for our teachers, but for ourselves. It is emphasizing that nothing avails but true righteousness and true holiness.
MHA: …a person’s ability to do great miracles does not make him an heir of the kingdom of heaven…the emphasis is on a person’s inner self-perfection.
True belief isn’t a sufficient sign; holding to right doctrine isn’t sufficient. The devils also believe, says the apostle James. This does not demonstrate that they are in the kingdom; they remain devils. Knowing the truth isn’t the key.
DMLJ: A man who is unregenerate and not born again may accept the scriptural teaching as a kind of philosophy, as abstract truth. … A man may do that and still not be a Christian.
MHA: Those who work iniquity are all those who draw near to God with their lips and honor him with their tongues, but whose hearts are far from him.
Such men may even be fervent and zealous. Jesus says, Lord, Lord, as if to demonstrate such a fervor due to the repetition. This may be nothing but the flesh, not the heart; it may be raw emotion, without a changed nature. It may be the heat of a revival, without any lasting impact.
Jesus continues, dealing with works. Good works, absent a changed heart, offer no sure sign. This demonstrates the difficulty: we might see correct (albeit, incomplete) doctrine; we might see good works. But do we see the humility that is presented in, among other places, the Beatitudes:
DMLJ: Is he poor in spirit; is he meek; is he humble; does he groan in his spirit as he sees the world; is he a holy man of God; is he grave; is he sober…. These are the tests, the tests of the Beatitudes, the tests of the Sermon on the Mount – the man’s character, the man’s nature.
Not merely his outward appearance.
MHA: Jesus’ warning against false prophets has retained its relevance in all times.
In our time.
Conclusion
MHA: The New Testament paints a picture of the struggle between good and evil, between God and the devil. At the same time…we encounter many warnings against false prophets and other wolves in sheep’s clothing….
Yes, we should be cautious of these in our leaders – our pastors, our priests, our bishops, our internet favorites.
But, most importantly, we must also look at ourselves, to avoid being caught in any self-deception. At the bottom of it, at the heart: are we living the Beatitudes? Do we embrace that humility?