Repentance
The test of a prophet is the repentance his or her word produces. Repentance simply means "agree with God." Vision gives incentive to actually make the hard choices to agree with God. The Bible calls this "putting on restraint."
Proverbs 29:18Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he who keeps the law.
Repentance is the fruit of the Word of the Lord, since all of God's words are designed to call us back from the fall...from rebellion against His role as Father in our lives. Jesus paid the price, but we must apply the payment...choice by choice. Prophecy gives us vision to stay in those choices...when we get glimpses of where obedience is taking us, we get excited about obedience....we put on restraint.
False prophecy is a counterfeit...it is vision for why we don't need to make any changes, or to make LAWLESS changes...usually impatiently running ahead of God into the promises without the necessary repentance.
False prophecy is very subtle. Often times, Satan corrupts real promises to get bad fruit: strife, impatience, arrogance, fear of loss, and increased lust for material gain are a few examples. The fruit of true prophecy is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control.
The Word "works" ( causes change) in the prophet and in those who listen. If you abide in a person, you begin to bear their fruit. For this reason, you want to receive not from those who excite you with great promises, but from those who abide in a laid-down lifestyle in Jesus. You want to eat the fruit of those who you can see eat the fruit of Jesus...those who manifest the same fruit...love, joy, peace, patience, self control, faithfulness, gentleness... Is the source of the word the source of good fruit? This means, you want to receive from those who get out of the way of Jesus working in your life... Friends of the groom, like John the Baptist, who want to decrease as Jesus increases in your life.
The good fruit is what you need to sustain you in "keeping" the prophetic word. All prophecy is an INVITATION. Jesus doesn't violate free will, because that would violate love. For that reason, Jesus invites us into futures we normally wouldn't choose ourselves. He does this by casting vision of what could be...and His word carries provision in it...it puts on restraint that produces fruit and we become people who are growing into the ability to actually live out the promise given by bearing the fruit carried in the the word itself. This often times involves repentance...letting go of our way to put on more and more of Jesus' way.
His word is alive...active...sharper...it divides out our way from God's way...it produces repentance:
Hebrews 4:2For 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 intents of the heart.
So, the point is, many false prophets give great promises, but the false word produces no good fruit to carry the promise over time...the very promise itself often crushes the person who believes the word without discerning: is there fruit on that word and in that prophet to grow me into the promise? Is there vision for restraint, or am I just excited to accelerate further into my same heart attitudes...running harder for the same cliff I was already about to run off?
If you don't look for repentance and restraint...which means to love changing into being more like Jesus...growing in obedience, holiness, and repentance... Then unfortunately, the truth of the Bible is that false prophets get revealed in YOUR own loss.
In Jeremiah's day, the people generally hated his prophecy because it was calling for radical repentance. There were lots of prophets promising peace, and increase, and safety, and prosperity...but these were all lies...they weighed down and burdened the people.. these false prophecies removed restraint and fueled a running right toward the cliff...
Lamentations is a word written after prophecy bore it's fruit:
Lamentations 2:11My eyes fail with tears,
My heart is troubled;
My bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.
12They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers’ bosom.
13How shall I console you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?
14Your prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.
15All who pass by clap their hands at you;
They hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”
16All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the day we have waited for;
We have found it, we have seen it!”
17The LORD has done what He purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you;
He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.
Jesus promised in the end time one of main realities would be false prophets. In Jeremiah's day God's people listened to the false prophets ... Because the crowd always loves what the false prophet has to say...the false message is crafted to appeal to the masses...it is designed to lead the masses away...it souns profitable, it increases the wealth of the prophet and it weighs down the hearer in dullness...it becomes harder and harder for the hearer to get vision from the truth until they break ties with the false.
It will never get easier to sift out false prophecy than it is right now...lest the Church waits to pay the price for the false...there is always a steep price for the false that comes later...when it bears it's own fruit.
Look for fruit now... Does the speaker live laid down, like Jesus...a servant....growing in humility and repentance? Is the prophet trying to convince me that I can really live like Jesus?
Or
Is the prophet boastful, arrogant, trying to convince me that I can live like him...and have what he haves? Is he casting vision with himself and what he wants as the prize?
If you abide in Jesus, you'll bear Jesus' fruit and your life will change for the better. If you abide in the arrogant, proud, and boastful...those who sell worldly dreams to increase their own following...the very weight of that burden will crush all who partake in it.
Now is the time to understand...grow in clarity now, while there is time:
Matthew 24:11“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
12“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
13“But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Matthew 7:14“Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
15“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.
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!’
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.”
28And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,
29for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Proverbs 29:18Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he who keeps the law.
Repentance is the fruit of the Word of the Lord, since all of God's words are designed to call us back from the fall...from rebellion against His role as Father in our lives. Jesus paid the price, but we must apply the payment...choice by choice. Prophecy gives us vision to stay in those choices...when we get glimpses of where obedience is taking us, we get excited about obedience....we put on restraint.
False prophecy is a counterfeit...it is vision for why we don't need to make any changes, or to make LAWLESS changes...usually impatiently running ahead of God into the promises without the necessary repentance.
False prophecy is very subtle. Often times, Satan corrupts real promises to get bad fruit: strife, impatience, arrogance, fear of loss, and increased lust for material gain are a few examples. The fruit of true prophecy is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control.
The Word "works" ( causes change) in the prophet and in those who listen. If you abide in a person, you begin to bear their fruit. For this reason, you want to receive not from those who excite you with great promises, but from those who abide in a laid-down lifestyle in Jesus. You want to eat the fruit of those who you can see eat the fruit of Jesus...those who manifest the same fruit...love, joy, peace, patience, self control, faithfulness, gentleness... Is the source of the word the source of good fruit? This means, you want to receive from those who get out of the way of Jesus working in your life... Friends of the groom, like John the Baptist, who want to decrease as Jesus increases in your life.
The good fruit is what you need to sustain you in "keeping" the prophetic word. All prophecy is an INVITATION. Jesus doesn't violate free will, because that would violate love. For that reason, Jesus invites us into futures we normally wouldn't choose ourselves. He does this by casting vision of what could be...and His word carries provision in it...it puts on restraint that produces fruit and we become people who are growing into the ability to actually live out the promise given by bearing the fruit carried in the the word itself. This often times involves repentance...letting go of our way to put on more and more of Jesus' way.
His word is alive...active...sharper...it divides out our way from God's way...it produces repentance:
Hebrews 4:2For 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 intents of the heart.
So, the point is, many false prophets give great promises, but the false word produces no good fruit to carry the promise over time...the very promise itself often crushes the person who believes the word without discerning: is there fruit on that word and in that prophet to grow me into the promise? Is there vision for restraint, or am I just excited to accelerate further into my same heart attitudes...running harder for the same cliff I was already about to run off?
If you don't look for repentance and restraint...which means to love changing into being more like Jesus...growing in obedience, holiness, and repentance... Then unfortunately, the truth of the Bible is that false prophets get revealed in YOUR own loss.
In Jeremiah's day, the people generally hated his prophecy because it was calling for radical repentance. There were lots of prophets promising peace, and increase, and safety, and prosperity...but these were all lies...they weighed down and burdened the people.. these false prophecies removed restraint and fueled a running right toward the cliff...
Lamentations is a word written after prophecy bore it's fruit:
Lamentations 2:11My eyes fail with tears,
My heart is troubled;
My bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.
12They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers’ bosom.
13How shall I console you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?
14Your prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.
15All who pass by clap their hands at you;
They hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”
16All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the day we have waited for;
We have found it, we have seen it!”
17The LORD has done what He purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you;
He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.
Jesus promised in the end time one of main realities would be false prophets. In Jeremiah's day God's people listened to the false prophets ... Because the crowd always loves what the false prophet has to say...the false message is crafted to appeal to the masses...it is designed to lead the masses away...it souns profitable, it increases the wealth of the prophet and it weighs down the hearer in dullness...it becomes harder and harder for the hearer to get vision from the truth until they break ties with the false.
It will never get easier to sift out false prophecy than it is right now...lest the Church waits to pay the price for the false...there is always a steep price for the false that comes later...when it bears it's own fruit.
Look for fruit now... Does the speaker live laid down, like Jesus...a servant....growing in humility and repentance? Is the prophet trying to convince me that I can really live like Jesus?
Or
Is the prophet boastful, arrogant, trying to convince me that I can live like him...and have what he haves? Is he casting vision with himself and what he wants as the prize?
If you abide in Jesus, you'll bear Jesus' fruit and your life will change for the better. If you abide in the arrogant, proud, and boastful...those who sell worldly dreams to increase their own following...the very weight of that burden will crush all who partake in it.
Now is the time to understand...grow in clarity now, while there is time:
Matthew 24:11“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
12“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
13“But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Matthew 7:14“Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
15“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.
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!’
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.”
28And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,
29for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
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