Poor Jeremiah. He was called by the Lord to preach the Word to the people of Judah and they didn't want to hear it. The Lord had had enough of the idolatry of Israel. He had prepared the Babylonians to come and punish His people and take them into captivity. Among other things, the Lord told Jeremiah to preach this. Jeremiah was to preach that God's people would be sent into exile and they would be better off if they cooperated with the enemies and went willingly! Can you imagine! No wonder the king wanted Jeremiah dead! But that was the Lord's Word. On the other hand, Judah was filled with prophets who went around saying, “Peace! There's going to be peace! Everything will be fine!” They were NOT sent by God. They did NOT preach faithfully. That is one of the difference between the false prophets and the true: the false prophets preach what people want to hear and they will change their message so that their hearers will always like what they hear. The true prophets, on the other hand, preach what the Lord tells them to preach whether people like it or not, whether they listen or pay no attention at all. So it is today. Those who preach faithfully deliver the Word that the Lord has called them to preach. Those who are false prophets, those who are dressed like the sheep but are really wolves, they preach what is false and wrong.
Jesus warns us about such false prophets. He says they come as wolves in sheep's clothing. That is, they don't come looking like false prophets. They come looking like they belong in the church. But we tell the difference between the faithful and the true by their fruits; what they are preaching, what people are hearing and believing. The reason Jesus warns us about the false prophets is because He is saving us from them. The Lord knows that many will come in His name and throw around the name “Jesus” like they belong to Him and yet their preaching will lead people to hell. False preachers teach people to cling to and believe in something other than Jesus who died for their sins. Perhaps they are to put their trust in themselves. The false preacher tells people they have the power within them to be godly and to live a right life. Or maybe the false preacher wants them to believe in him. If they send him money or follow his program, they'll have success and happiness in their life. Sure, he or she will throw in the name of “Jesus” as if that's whom they're really preaching about. But really they want people to believe in something else. Why? Such false preachers and prophets are the devil's instruments to drag people away from the faith. The devil uses a false prophet and preacher to confuse people, cause them to doubt, and otherwise leads them to trust in something other than Jesus so that in the end, he can drag them down to hell with himself! That's why Jesus says, “Watch out!”
Can you get good fruit from a bad tree? Bad fruit from a good tree? No. Good fruit comes from a good tree. The good tree is the cross and that fruit is the forgiveness of sins, plucked from the tree upon which our Lord gave His life for sinners. The taste of that tree's fruit is in the sweet sap of blood and water by which we are baptized and nourished and saved. Jesus gave Himself into death to save you. Not so you can save yourself. He saves you. His death saves you from the devil who wants you to believe God's doesn't love you. The cross is the demonstration of God's love for you, the sending of His Son to take away your sins. Jesus' death saves you from the world which hates Him and you, and wants you to fall into the trap of living for yourself instead of for others. The death of Jesus saves you even from yourself, your own sinful flesh which wants to trust in nothing but itself. Jesus' death on the cursed tree makes that tree, that cross, the good tree with good fruit. That fruit is the forgiveness won there by which God doesn't count your sins against you. He rescues you from you! He grafts you into that true Vine which is Christ in whom you have life and eternal life.
Now a false preacher brings evil fruit from a rotten tree. Good tree is Jesus and His death for you. Good fruit from good tree is the forgiveness of sins from Jesus. A rotten tree is a preacher who points you to something other than Jesus. Yourself. Himself. Whatever. Not Jesus. And the evil fruit of that sort of a preacher is faith and hope and trust in yourself. How do you know a rotten tree? Bad fruit. And it's hollow inside. False preachers are hollow. They talk and sound preachy but they've got nothing inside. Just emptiness and death. The fruit of a rotten tree is withered and dying. Tasteless and rancid. So is the faith that is the fruit of false preachers. A false faith which trusts in something other than Christ is a rotten fruit that is no good. It doesn't hold up in trials and difficulties. It doesn't overcome the guilt and weight of sin. You will recognize this sort of preaching in those sermons and speeches which talk about what YOU can do to get right with Jesus. What YOU have to do to become and remain a Christian. This preaching will point to you and flatter you and tell you what good intentions and good effort and a sincere faith will get you. But all of that sort of talk and preaching leads to death. For by it the evil one lures people away from Christ who is the Lamb of God to themselves, thinking they are good enough to please God or else causing them to despair because they can't measure up!
This is why Jesus warns us so strongly! Watch out! Watch out for such false preaching! Learn this, brothers and sisters, that it matters what comes out of the mouth of the man in the pulpit. It matters because what is preached will either save you from your sins and give you eternal life or it will tear you away from Christ and drag you down to hell. This is why I say, and I'll say it again now: NEVER trust your pastor. Don't ever take his word for something. Rather, learn God's Word and TEST your pastor to see whether what He says is what the Lord's Word says. Our Synod last week voted on all sorts of things in convention. Did they follow God's Word? Don't take THEIR word for it. Check and see if it's so. True preaching is always preaching that delivers Christ crucified for your sins and raised from the dead for your eternal life. True preaching is preaching that points you to the gifts given in Baptism, Absolution and the Supper of Christ's body and blood. Jesus teaches us the difference so that we will not be taken in by the wolves in sheep's clothing but rather protected and preserved in the holy faith of Christ by which our sins are forgiven and we are saved.
St. Paul writes that the Holy Spirit has been given to us and testifies that we are God's children. How does He do that? The false preachers will tell you to look to your feelings. Do you FEEL like a Christian? You must be! Are you sinning less and less? You must be doing OK! No! Wrong! The testimony of the Spirit is water and blood. The water of Baptism by which He covers you with Christ and the blood of Jesus given to you in His Supper. You have those things and that means you are His. The false prophets are out there, barking and howling like wolves, wanting nothing else than to snap their jaws shut around you. But Jesus has warned us. We know what to look for. And more than that, we have His promise, by the Holy Spirit, that we are the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. That means sheep who have a Good Shepherd who saves them, not destroys them. Thanks be to Jesus for this gift of His warning and for the promise of His preserving us forever in the flock of His church. That is the good fruit of His good tree. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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