Sunday, February 14, 2021

PT-3 Descritpion of a False Prophet (Matt. 7:15)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/14/2021 3:42 PM

 

My Worship Time                                               Focus: PT-2 “The Definition of a False Prophet?

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 7:15

 

            Message of the verse:  15 "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

 

            I want to begin this last SD under this particular topic of describing what a false prophet is by looking at Matthew 24:24 “"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”  These are the words of Jesus as He is talking in what is called the “Olivet Discourse” and we have stated that chapters 24-25 are Lord is actually talking about what will happen during the tribulation period where the “greatest” of the false prophets will reign in the person of the Antichrist.  Let us now look at Jude 4 “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

 

            In the days when Jesus was on the earth the classic examples of false prophets were the scribes and the Pharisees as they truly were false shepherds.  MacArthur writes “In the name of leading and caring for God’s people they instead led them further and further from His ways.  Poising as God’s spokesmen they used the people to feather their own ecclesiastical nets, and cared nothing for the people or for God.  They were rapaciously self-seeking and self-serving.  When Jesus completely unmasked their deceit and hypocrisy (Matt. 23) it is no wonder they crucified Him.”

 

            There was a reason that the scribes and the Pharisees desired to have Jesus crucified and that is because He was speaking the truth and while doing that He was showing that what they were doing was totally against the Word of God.  The following is what Jesus said to them found in John 8:43-47 “43 “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. 44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.’”

 

            We have a few more verses to look at and then we will be done.  “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 5:6).  “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”In these two verses Paul is warning those churches to keep alert and understand the truth so that you don’t fall prey to the false prophets or shepherds.  2/14/2021 4:01 PM 

 

 

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