Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. – Matthew 7:15
With the advent of Artificial Intelligence not only can we access information at our fingertips, but it is possible to make up information that is false but is nearly indistinguishable from truth. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish reels that are real from reels that are unreliable. Politicians, celebrities, and people in the public square are being depicted as saying or doing things they never did. Truth and reality are not always in the reel. Today is a day when it is becoming harder and harder to, “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Online predators who are always seeking new ways to scam, rob, misuse, and abuse people now have a new tool for their deceptive ways.
In addition to this are those “old school” manipulators and abusers who have mastered the crime of lying whether it is in social media, by phone, or face to face encounters. Whether it be some advertisement for weight loss or signing over personal information that is then used to steal from you, stealthy snakes who steal are in the bush all around us.
In addition to technological and social media agents of deception and abuse there is the rise of Islam. Because Islam is a political religion of conquest it sees no problem with using taqiyya tactics to mislead and obfuscate when faced with evidence that contradicts or disproves their Koranic teachings. If you’ve ever tried to share the gospel with someone of the Muslim faith it won’t be long before you experience such tactics firsthand. This is not to say that there aren’t Muslims who are open to honestly discuss evidence for truth. But often when such discussions are attempted a Muslim cleric or person of authority will interrupt to quench the discussion. Islam is a religion that uses fear to control.
Knowledge is not the friend of Islam. In the eighteenth-century educational institutions began to critique the Christian scriptures via Historical Criticism. Though critics sought to tear down the scriptural foundations of Christianity, what happened instead is that putting the text of scripture under the microscope and searching for past supporting evidence through archeology proved to validate and verify the reliability of the Bible.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, providentially discovered in 1947, were manuscripts discovered that were nearly one thousand years older than the manuscripts the text of scripture had been based on up to that time. Critics of the Bible had theorized that the Bible was filled with copyist mistakes and was therefore unreliable. But when the older manuscripts were compared with the ones Bible translations had been made from to that point, the two groups of manuscripts were virtually identical disproving the accusations of the enemies of scripture.
The Koran would not fare so well under the scrutiny of Historical and Textual Criticism. Islamic scholars might claim the Koran holds up under scrutiny but look closer and you will find claims of the superiority and reliability of the Koran are hollow and on very shaky ground. There is no book, “holy” or otherwise, that can compare with the Bible, the Word of God.
Deceivers, scam artists, and abusers are nothing new. They have been around since the beginning of time. The serpent in the Garden of Eden was the first to manipulate someone out of their health and holiness (Genesis 3). That shin y serpent in the Garden spoke with slithery disarming words and invited Even to question God’s love, His trustworthiness, and the genuineness of His love for her. The serpent used mere words and deceived Eve and Adam and sin infected the world. Today the devil uses people who give themselves over to him and a host of tools at their disposal. Today he uses wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Jesus warned us against wolves in sheep’s clothing. A wolf is a predator who sees us sheep as food. How can we keep the wolves away and be protected? I suggest the following.
The first thing we must do is run into the arms of Jesus. I have a picture hanging in my home office of Jesus holding back ravenous wolves while protectively cradling a sheep. The first thing for us to do is run into the arms of Jesus; get as close to Him as possible. Since sin distances us from Him, we need to repent of our sins, trust Jesus as Savior, receive His forgiveness, and live with Him as our Shepherd. When we do that, by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit indwells us to give us spiritual life, and the power needed to discern and resist the predators in life.
Let Jesus’ rod and staff comfort us. Psalm 23 describes the Lord as our Shepherd. It says in a very personal and protective way, “Your rod and your staff they comfort me.” The rod of the Shepherd was used to ward off predators. His staff was used to guide sheep to safety. In Matthew 7 are words from our Shepherd Jesus on how to identify wolves in life and how to be protected from them.
Identifying the wolves. According to Jesus these wolves of life disguise themselves as sheep. They aren’t easy to identify. If we live as a dumb unsuspecting sheep, the wolf can use their disguise to get close enough to us to pounce and devour us as prey. Therefore, it’s important we heed Jesus’ instructions about how to identify wolves in sheep’s clothing. The following are signs that someone is a wolf. As we note these signs you may find that you have a little wolf in you. Don’t worry at the end of Matthew 7 Jesus tells us how to protect against wolves around us, as well as in us.
7 Wolf Signs from Matthew 7
Here are seven signs from Matthew 7 that will help us identify the wolves in life.
- Taking Authority That Isn’t Theirs.
Matthew 7:1-5 – “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Jesus warned against judging in a way that puts yourself in the place of God. A wolf will assume the place of God, JUST LIKE THE DEVIL DID. Instead judgment should be done in humility with a motive of helping others not belittling them to subjugate them. A wolf plays God with others.
The Bible is the God given authority that every person must submit to. Every Pope, every pastor, every church, every politician, every online pundit, every proclaimer of anything and everything must bow to the authority of scripture if they want to be right with God. The Bible is not the friend of wolves in sheep’s clothing, because the Bible exposes them for what they truly are. “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intent of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but al things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13). If in doubt, go to the word of God. Scrutinize people through the lens of God’s word to see whether they are a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
- Trashing God’s Pearls of Holiness.
Matthew 7:6 – “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
A wolf will minimize the holiness God prefers (cf., 1 Peter 1:15-16) in order to drag you in the mud with them to devour you. Forgive me for mixing my metaphors, but the predator wolf will not only drag you into their swamp, but they will also drag you under and devour you like a crocodile would. They will encourage a lack of restraint or boundaries. They will emphasize or exercise indulging the flesh or sinful nature.
- Prayerlessness.
Matthew 7:7-11 -“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Rather than praying to seek God’s guidance a wolf will prayerlessly seek to give you a serpent instead of the Savior in prayer. A wolf will urge you to act on impulse rather than prayerfully seeking God’s will in prayer. A wolf wants people operating in the realm of feeling and impulse rather than prayerfully seeking God’s will. While God does direct us, “The Lord told me. . .” or “I feel the Lord told me. . . “is a tack well suited to the manipulation and abuse of wolves in sheep’s clothing.
- Lovelessness.
Matthew 7:12 – 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus gave us the positive Golden Rule of actively doing to others what we would have them do to us. The Jewish Talmud taught negatively – “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.” (Rabbi Hillel in Tractate Shabbat 31a). Other historical figures taught this negative restraint, but Jesus is the only One to teach this Golden Rule in an active positive way. A wolf isn’t honestly looking to benefit others as much as they are trying to influence and use them for their own personal gain. Jesus said His disciples would be known for the love they showed to each other (John 13:35). He said the greatest love was to lay down your life for a friend (John 15:13). He said to love your enemies (Matthew 5:44-46; Luke 6:35). Such love is the product of the Holy Spirit within a person (Romans 5:5). And such love fulfills the Law (Romans 13:10). The love of Jesus teaches us to love God supremely and love others sacrificially. The wolf teaches love of self and that is often at the expense of others.
- The Broad Way.
Matthew 7:13-14 -“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
The wolf will always invite you to take the easy broad way that everyone else is taking even though Jesus calls us to the extraordinary exceptional narrow way in life. The wolf will say things like, “Why are you so strict, rigid, legalistic, everybody else is doing it.” Always remember, any dead fish can go with the flow, it takes a live fish to swim against the current. The way of the wolf leads to death. The way of Jesus leads to life, abundant life. “The thief does not com except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
- Bad Fruit.
Matthew 7:15-20 – “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
The wolf will always produce bad fruit. They are a predator-consumer not a fruitful-producer. They may present or point to a basket of seemingly good fruit but mixed in is a rotten fruit that will eventually ruin and make rotten the rest of the fruit. They will point out to you something good, but it will require some compromise or sin in the process of getting it. A basket of rotten fruit cannot be made fresh and good by throwing in a piece of good fruit. Beware of rotten fruit, it contaminates what it touches. The end result is rotten.
- They Abuse the Name of Jesus.
Matthew 7:21-23 – 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
A wolf uses the name of Jesus as they do a lot of things, but they don’t have a saving relationship with Jesus, AND THEY ARE NOT KNOWN BY Jesus. A wolf may dress themselves in “Jesus” dress and paraphernalia, but beneath the surface, in their heart, they are an antichrist spirit.
1 John 4:1–3 (NKJV) – Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
A lot of sinful things have been done in the name of Jesus, e.g., inquisitions, sexual abuses, monetary manipulations, fake miracles. But that truly done in the name of Jesus is done in the truth of God’s word (cf., John 17:17; 18:37; Ephesians 4:15; 1 Timothy 3:15). Beware the spirit of Antichrist.
Wolves come with “another Jesus. . . A different spirit. . . A different gospel. . .” The Bible warns:
2 Corinthians 11:2-4 (NKJV) – 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
Muslims claim to love Jesus. But to them Jesus is just one of many prophets, not God in the flesh. Jehovah’s Witnesses say Jesus is an angel. Mormons say Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer. Leftists define Jesus as an activist revolutionary. If you don’t have the right Jesus, the Jesus revealed in scripture, you don’t have the truth that will save you. Only the Jesus revealed in scripture is the Savior of the world. Who you say Jesus is, makes all the difference in the world. Wolves misrepresent and misdefine Jesus, and they certainly do not know Jesus. Jesus knows all about them, not because they are His sheep, but because if they persist in their deceiving ways as wolves in sheep’s clothing, their destiny is the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20).
How can we protect ourselves from the storms and turbulence caused by the wolves in life?
Wolves in sheep’s clothing create a lot of turbulence and if we aren’t careful we can be blown off course from the narrow way of Jesus. How can we tether ourselves to Jesus? How can we be protected from the serpent’s storms in life? Jesus concluding words provide us with a two-part protective covering.
First, build solidly with the words of Jesus by obediently living them out. Jesus said:
Matthew 7:24–27 (NKJV) 24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Wolves in sheep clothing can cause a lot of problems. A wolf is destined to be swept away in a great eternal doom. That is because they don’t do the word of Jesus. The best way to resist wolves in sheep’s clothing is to put into practice and do what Jesus says to do. Go back and study the Sermon on the Mount which is Jesus’ Disciple’s Manifesto. But don’t stop at living Jesus’ words, start in Genesis, and go through to the end of Revelation living out the word of God. Do that and no storm Satan or the wolves bring can blow you down. Remember the Three Little Pigs children’s story. Don’t build with straw or even wood but build with the solid bricks of God’s word and you will be perfectly protected from the huffs and puffs of Satan the wolf.
Second, submit to the authority of Jesus’ words. Matthew 7 ends with the statement:
Matthew 7:28–29 (NKJV) 28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
The teaching of Jesus is like no other teaching; it is authoritative. The words fo Jesus are authoritative because Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man, The Christ, The Savior, The King of kings and Lord of lords, seated at the right hand of God the Father, He has and is Authority. Listen to Him. Obey Him. Run to Him. Stay close to Him. He is our protective Shepherd. Let His rod and staff comfort you and protect you from the wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Father in heaven we come to You in Jesus’ name. Shepherd us. Help us to be comforted by Your rod and Your staff. Though we walk through valleys having shadows of death, help us to fear no evil. Empower us Holy Spirit. Give us the spiritual gifts we need to live as more than conquerors. Please keep the wolves away from Your sheep. Lord, make us what we need to be, to do what You call us to do, for Your glory, until Jesus’ returns. In Jesus’ name. Amen.