Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

How to Spot a False Teacher

We're wrapping up our series on the Sermon on the Mount with a section I don't love preaching — it's harsher than the kind of message I typically like to give. But it's part of what many consider Jesus's greatest sermon, and if He thought it was important enough to include, we shouldn't skip past it just because it's uncomfortable.

Two Roads

Jesus opens with a warning about two paths (Matthew 7:13-14):

The broad road is the default — we're all born on it, and it's easy to stay there. The narrow road is the one Jesus offers, and it isn't promised to be easy; it comes with trials and difficulty. But Jesus isn't just drawing a line between Christians and non-Christians here. He's warning people who already think they're on the narrow road, because there's teaching inside the church that quietly leads back to the broad path — teaching that looks a lot like Christ without actually being Christ.

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15).

False teachers are a running theme in Scripture, from the start of Jesus's ministry to the end. The word false doesn't mean obviously fake — it means something that looks real but isn't. And prophet — a category I'd put teachers and preachers in as well — means claiming, implicitly or explicitly, to speak for God. Anyone who stands up and teaches the Bible is making that claim whether they say it aloud or not, which is exactly why James warns, “let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment” (James 3:1).

These wolves don't usually come from outside. Paul warned the Ephesian elders that “savage wolves will come in among you... also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things” (Acts 20:29-30). The threat is people raised up inside the church, not just attacks from without.

You'll Know Them by Their Fruit

Jesus tells us how to spot them:

“You will know them by their fruits... a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:16-18).

That takes light to see clearly, and that light is the truth of God. A lot of people inside the church are biblically illiterate — people who've attended for decades and still don't know the basics of the gospel. If you don't know the Bible, you can't recognize when someone's teaching contradicts it.

Bad fruit shows up in two places: bad teaching and bad living.

Bad teaching claims revelation beyond what Scripture says. We don't need fresh revelation — Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us that what God once spoke through the prophets, He has now spoken fully through His Son. Every teaching gets measured against that finished Word.

Bad living is the second mark. Paul warned Timothy that in the last days people would be “lovers of themselves, lovers of money... having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Galatians 5 draws the same line: the works of the flesh describe a life headed for destruction, while the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control — describes a life actually surrendered to God. If someone's teaching but their life doesn't show that fruit, Scripture's instruction is simple: turn away.

A Hard Word About Discernment

Somewhere along the way, the church developed a distaste for calling things out. We're told not to judge, but that command in Matthew 7 isn't a blanket ban — it's a warning against judging hypocritically, by a standard we wouldn't want applied to ourselves. Paul told Titus that an elder should “hold fast the faithful word... that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict” (Titus 1:9). In Berea, Paul praised believers not for blind acceptance but for searching the Scriptures daily to test what they'd been taught (Acts 17:10-11). That's the model — hear the message, then check it against the Word.

To be clear, disagreeing with someone doesn't make them a heretic. Not every issue carries the same weight, and plenty of debates among faithful believers are genuinely secondary. But there are non-negotiables — truths that define whether someone is teaching the actual gospel or something wearing its clothes: the inerrancy of Scripture, the Trinity, God as Creator, the sinfulness of man, the eternal deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection, salvation by grace through faith alone, the return of Christ, and salvation through Jesus alone. Deny these, and someone has stepped outside orthodox Christian faith, however sincere or well-spoken they may be.

Building on the Rock

Jesus closes this sermon with a warning that should stop us cold:

“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name... and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me’” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Ministry activity — even good, sincere-looking activity — isn't a substitute for actually knowing Him.

But the sermon doesn't end on a warning. It ends with an invitation:

“Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24).

The storms come for everyone. The question is what you built on. Test every voice — including mine — against Scripture. Build your life on the words of Christ, and when the storm hits, you'll be the one left standing.