This warning from the Lord Jesus regarding false prophets provides confirmation of their existence and a cau-tion of their potential harm to believers. The Lord cancels all confusion and doubts regarding their presence. They do exist; they are not the invention of fear or imagination. He commands us to watch out for them and to guard against them.

Christ's warning provides four declarations to His followers for their protection. First, His warning emphasizes the duty of examination. Second, He identifies the deceit of the false prophets. Third, His caution enables the discernment or the discovery of the false prophets. Finally, He outlines the destiny of the false prophets.

First, the Lord's warning emphasizes the duty of examination. Since the Lord Jesus said, "Beware of false prophets," we dare not set aside that command. As followers of Christ, we have a responsibility to heed His caution.

However, many avoid such examination of others, because they think that the Bible forbids it. They mistakenly apply Christ's teaching at the beginning of Matthew 7 on judging others as prohibiting it. However, a careful reading of Matthew 7.1-5 will show that Jesus did not forbid judging but instead gave direction on the manner of judging. In fact, the Bible frequently gives guidance in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Paul's advice to Timothy and Revelation on how to examine others and ourselves. We must approach it carefully, knowing that He will judge us in the same manner that we judge others.

Believers have a duty to examine those who come to them as teachers and assume positions of leadership in the church. We must scrutinize them and their fruits to insure their authenticity, so that we do not follow false prophets. The devil and the pressure of the world has cleverly blinded our eyes and pulled us away from that responsibility. We must examine our leaders thoroughly, because Jesus warned us that false prophets would come. To ignore this duty opens the door to our following false prophets.

Second, Jesus cautioned believers on the deceit of the false prophets. Notice that in His warning, the Lord Jesus did not refer to a blatantly wicked, evil person. He did not caution us and give direction on how to discern the diabolical man or woman who would stand and deny God and say, "There is no God." Instead, He talked about someone who purports to follow Christ.

These false prophets would say they are Christians. They would claim to follow the truths of Scripture. They would declare, "I want to tell you and teach you what the Bible says." We must examine our leaders carefully because false prophets can come disguised as sheep. They will look like sheep, but that is just their façade. Un-derneath they are wolves.

I do not raise sheep. But, I know that no shepherd would want a wolf in his flock. As soon as a shepherd locates a wolf mixed in with his flock, he does everything that he can do to destroy that wolf, to protect his sheep. That describes the warning of Jesus. He cautions us about wolves coming into the church deceptively. They do not come marching into the congregation in a fashion that clearly identifies them as wolves. Instead, they come dis-guised as sheep, professing to follow Christ.

Paul identified these kinds of false prophets in his day. He warned his friends in Corinth in a fashion similar to Christ's warning.

"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."

When satan comes to tempt you, to draw you aside, he does not always come in a blustering fashion, like the picture of the red devil with the pitchfork in his hand. Sometimes he disguises himself as good, even an angel of light, a wolf in sheep's clothing.

We need to evaluate those that come to us as teachers and pastors, who present themselves in churches, on tele-vision and radio, and in books. We have a duty to examine them because of the deceitfulness of false prophets lest we follow them to our spiritual harm.

Third, Jesus enabled discernment of false prophets by providing a means of their discovery. Notice the picture that the Lord Jesus gave as the basis to show us how to make this identification. He used trees. In His explana-tion He says, "You don't find grapes on a thorn bush" and "And you don't find figs on a thistle bush."

It sounds too obvious. Well, why is that so obvious? Fig trees produce figs. Thorn bushes produce thorns. Then, Jesus went on to say, "Listen to me," He says. "Good trees bring forth good fruit, not bad. Bad trees bring forth bad fruit, not good." "You will know them by their fruits," He said.

To evaluate whether a prophet, pastor, or leader comes from God, we must examine their fruit. The fruit will tell us the nature of the tree. If the fruit is not good, he did not come from God, no matter the extent of his skills and abilities. Good trees do not bring forth bad fruit. Bad trees bring forth bad fruit.