Christ said here, "Ye shall know them by their fruits." There are many different ideas given among religious people as to what these fruits are and are not. One person said that here, "Jesus Christ taught that we should judge the inner nature of a person by the outward works he performs, not by his outward appearance." But judging this by a person's outward works, such as religion and morality, is the same thing as judging by the outward appearance. This person went on to say that in Matthew 7:21-23 Christ taught further that even these outward works may be deceiving. Well, which is it? This kind of preaching only causes confusion. We must understand these things in their context and as they stand in light of other Scriptures.
 

I. WHAT IS A FALSE PROPHET? -- Christ had declared salvation as the narrow way which leads to life eternal. He had exposed the way of eternal death as the broad way (7:13-14). The narrow way is the Gospel, God's promise to save sinners, entitle them, and give them the whole inheritance of eternal life and glory based solely upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel, the narrow way, shows us that Christ's righteousness alone entitles us to salvation and everything that comes with salvation, including the work of the Holy Spirit in us. This is the way of salvation and the only way wherein God is glorified in every attribute of His redemptive character, Christ is exalted in His mediatorial glory and all ground of boasting for sinners is excluded.
 

The broad way is any other way men devise of salvation and final glory based on anything other than the imputed righteousness of Christ. As long as we seek any part of salvation based on anything other than the merits of Christ's obedience and death, we are on the broad way that leads to destruction. A false prophet, then, is any preacher who entices, allures and promotes sinners to enter the wide gate and walk upon that broad way. So any preacher who promotes salvation or any part of it based on anything other than the imputed righteousness of Christ without the deeds of the law is a false prophet. He may outwardly appear righteous. Most do!
 

HOW CAN WE KNOW FALSE PROPHETS? (7:16) - Christ sets forth a principle here that the natural man does not know (7:17-20; John 15:4-5). We need to see how this principle applies not only to preachers but also to everyone. A "good tree," which here represents a true preacher of the Gospel, also represents any true believer, a justified sinner. A "corrupt tree," which here represents a false preacher, also represents any unbeliever, a lost sinner. The principle would apply in this sense as follows: "Every believer, every justified sinner, brings forth good fruit. But every unbeliever, every lost sinner, brings forth evil fruit." We can only know the difference by the fruits that are produced in each one. What are these fruits? We must first exclude everything that a corrupt tree can produce.
 

A corrupt tree can be moral, religious, sincere, and zealous. Christ speaks of those who outwardly appear righteous. It is not an issue of morality vs. immorality. Both true and false preachers promote morality, obedience, reformation of life, religious sincerity and zeal. The Pharisees were encouraging sinners to establish a righteousness by efforts at obedience! The false preachers who sought to deceive the Galatian and the Colossian believers were seeking to promote what they called "holy living" and obedience to the law of God.
 

What are these fruits? We need to see that these fruits are something beyond what man in a state of nature, a state of condemnation, can attain. Whatever these are, it takes a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit of God to attain. Christ speaks of false preachers who desire to deceive sinners by their disguises. But He also says we can KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS. In other words, these fruits of a good tree cannot be counterfeited, or else we could not KNOW them by these. A corrupt tree CANNOT bring forth good fruit! A good tree CANNOT bring forth evil fruit! Someone may say that this refers to the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, and this is true. But does not Satan counterfeit each of these? He tries to, but when we see God's definitions of these, we see that they cannot be counterfeited. Again, we cannot judge this by outward appearance.
 

The fruits of which He speaks are those things which are the product of the grace of God, by the Holy Spirit of God, which the natural man cannot have. Satan may attempt to counterfeit them, but when we know God's definitions for these, we see that Satan cannot counterfeit them. Here are some of them:
 

1. Saving, justifying faith -- which trusts in the God who justifies the ungodly based on the righteousness of Christ. Saving faith sees and believes that Christ's righteousness alone entitles us to the whole inheritance of eternal life and glory.
 

2. True repentance -- Godly repentance flows from justifying faith. It is a RADICAL CHANGE OF MIND AND SORROW CONCERNING FORMER IDOLATRY AND DEAD WORKS. A justified sinner is truly ashamed that all his thoughts concerning salvation dishonored every attribute of God's redemptive character, cast shame and reproach upon the true Christ and His whole work of redemption, and actually opposed God's promise. We know NOW that formerly there was no fear of God before our eyes and that we worshipped a god who could not save. We know NOW that we supported a counterfeit christ and that while we were in that state all our efforts at religion and morality were no more than self-righteous attempts to deny God's grace. It was all dead works and fruit unto death (Rom. 7:4-5).
 

3. True Godly love - The main issue in Godly love is a true love, loyalty and regard for the honor of God's redemptive character and the Person and work of Christ in salvation. God has revealed that He is glorified only in the salvation of sinners conditioned on Christ alone, that He is both a just God and a Savior based on the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. God has revealed that He will not justify any sinner based on any other ground as it is impossible for Him to be glorified and for Christ to be exalted based on any other ground.
 

False preachers and the world, inspired by Satan, will knowingly cry peace to themselves and others while ignorant of or not submitted to the righteousness of Christ, revealing that there is no fear of God before their eyes, no real love for God's redemptive character. But God's people are convinced that God will justify no sinner who is either ignorant of or not submitted to the imputed righteousness of Christ as the only ground of salvation. This is what keeps us from crying peace apart from the only ground of peace, and this is true love and compassion. True brotherly love demandsthat we promote and defend true Christians in this specific matter. And true brotherly love forbidsus to defend or promote false Christians, especially false preachers who come in the name of Christ.
 

4. Godly humility - True humility springs from justifying faith, and it cannot be judged by outward appearance. It is the character and the conduct of a true believer who has been slain by the law, who sees no hope of salvation or any part of it conditioned on anything but the righteousness of Christ imputed and received by faith. This is true Holy Spirit conviction. True humility confesses that if God were to judge us based on our best efforts at morality and obedience at any time, we would be condemned. No sinner is truly humbled until he sees the true nature of God's holiness revealed in His righteous judgments, when all his refuges of lies are exposed and swept away, when he sees that Christ's righteousness imputed is the only ground of peace, reconciliation and salvation and that nothing will remove God's wrath and gain His favor but the blood of Christ.
 

True humility admits of our shortcomings, the sinfulness of our very best efforts, while at the same time, is dogmatic concerning our security in Christ and that we are certain for heaven based on His righteousness alone. True humility sees that while I am a sinner, I am also a saint, a justified sinner, because I am one with Christ. Satan tries to counterfeit this humility, but all he can produce is legal doubts and fears that appear to the natural man as humility.
 

5. Good works - Remember, Christ is speaking of two states of existence here: one tree is evil and cannot produce good fruit, the other tree is good and cannot produce evil fruit. Again, we know that lost sinners, in a state of condemnation, can be moral and religious, but they cannot perform good works. Saved sinners, in a state of justification, can be immoral and they can commit acts of sin, but they cannot perform dead works. We need to see God's definitions of each in order to understand this. Dead works are any acts of obedience performed by one in a state of condemnation, because these works are aimed at the ground of justification, opposed to God's promise. Good works are the works of justified sinners motivated by the absolute certainty of eternal salvation and final glory conditioned on Christ alone.
 

A false prophet then is any preacher who believes and promotes that anything other than the righteousness of Christ entitles a sinner to any part of salvation and/or final glory. Consider the next verses --
 

II. AN EXAMPLE OF FALSE PROPHETS (7:21-23) -- Here Christ shows us that we cannot judge salvation or whether a person is a true preacher or a false preacher by outward appearance or outward works. He shows us here that the fruits of which He spoke that springs from the good tree and by which we can know the difference between false and true preachers are not acts of religion, sincerity, or morality. These preachers were religious, dedicated, sincere, moral, and zealous. They claimed to be preaching in the name of Christ. They called Him "Lord." But He told them to depart. He said He never knew them, meaning He never knew them in a saving way. What was their problem? All of their works and efforts sprang from a corrupt tree. They were still condemned, guilty and defiled before God. They still owed a debt to God's law and justice. They did not have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and justice.
 

This was evidenced by their plea at the judgment. They plead what they thought the Holy Spirit had enabled them to do. They plead what they thought were certain evidences of their salvation. They reasoned that a person could not do such things except they be blessed and sent of God. Like people today, they thought that salvation was mainly a matter of character and conduct, not a matter of law and justice.
 

This shows us that anyone, no matter who they are or how they appear, anyone who pleads anything other than the imputed righteousness of Christ as the ground of their salvation is lost. It shows us that anyone who believes that anything other than Christ's righteousness entitles them to any part of the inheritance of eternal life is lost and their deeds are evil. This was their problem.
 

III. THE ROOT OF THEIR PROBLEM (7:24-27) -- Here Christ shows us that the root of the whole problem is building on the wrong foundation. He shows this in a short parable of a wise man and a foolish man. The wise man builds his house on a solid rock. The foolish man builds his house on sinking sand. And when the rain and storm and wind came, the wise man's house stood firm. Why? Because it was built on the right foundation. The foolish man's house fell. Why? Because it was built on the wrong foundation.
 

Everyone at some stage is in the process of building their house. This house is being built in preparation for the judgment and eternity. The false preachers of 7:21-23 spent their lives building their house. What was wrong? They were building on the wrong foundation. The only right foundation is revealed in the Gospel as Christ's righteousness alone, which entitles sinners to the whole inheritance of salvation and glory, including the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Any other foundation is wrong, no matter how noble or how it may appear.
 

How can we know the foundation we or any other person is building upon? It is only by their doctrine. What Gospel do they believe? What is their ground of salvation? They may be busy and dedicated in religion and morality, but if they think that anything other than Christ's righteousness alone entitles them to any part of the inheritance of eternal life and glory, they are building upon the wrong foundation. They are lost and their deeds are evil. Their fruit is evil (cf. John 3:19-20). Remember this evil fruit is something that men and women by nature highly esteem. Only those who believe the Gospel, who are submitted to Christ's righteousness, are in a state of blessedness and can bring forth good fruit and build upon the right foundation (Matt. 5:16; Rom. 6:17-18).