 You know, I think true prophets don't make many misses, but any of us are capable because we are in flesh. We are new creatures in Christ, but we still have emotions sometimes that are wounded. Are there really false prophets in the Bible? Well, yes, there are. Hey, smart Christians, one of the things that I don't know if you all have paid attention or noticed that as people throw this word around false prophet, false teacher and so forth, when we talk about a false prophet, that is someone who gives a false prophecy. That's one of the definitions. To be a prophet or to prophesy or a prophet, the word simply means to inform, to tell, to utter, to give a revelation, a revelation of God. Now, the generic term can be used of anyone, whether they are a prophet of God or they could even be prophets of Baal. It doesn't matter. You are giving revelation or information, you're informing, you're telling about someone. Now, can you be a false prophet? Sure. The Bible even notes false prophets. What's happening though is that we are having people now who because today we have modern day false prophets who give these errant prophecies. There are those who will defend them or defend the supposed gift by impugning true authentic prophets of the Bible. They'll say things like these prophets gave words that weren't either true, they weren't sure of it, or they were false. The problem is though, that's not the case. There is no prophet of God, not one in the Bible that gave a prophecy that was not of God. But there are some false prophets who did give prophecies that were not of God and they were to be condemned. And we are still to refuse them. The Bible says that there's a person who claims to speak in my name and what he prophesies. That didn't come to be. Well, then that person has presumptuously spoken in my name. And because it didn't come to be, that person is not true. He's not a true prophet. As a matter of fact, he's even said that he needs to be killed. Now, we're not going that far. But the Bible says that do not fear him, do not listen to him. He does not speak for me. God has not changed that. God is not saying now, yes, it's okay to give a word, claim that it's from me. And if it doesn't come to be, then it's okay. That's not how that works. There are even some that will make the absurd claim that just because a person is called a false prophet, hey, there's still a prophet. Is a wrong prophet a false prophet? Deuteronomy 1822, if the prophet speaks in the Lord's name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared. A, the Bible still calls him a prophet. But the key is they are false prophets. And what does God want you to know? The old prophet in 1 Kings 13 serves as an example for those who want to listen. Remember in Ezekiel 14, God gives a warning to those that will listen to these false prophets and say that he is testing you, testing you to see if you're going to listen to that person. That person will be judged, the false prophet, but so too will you, heeding his word. And then the lesson that we see in 1 Kings 13 is that the man of God listened to the false prophet. What was the result? Well, the man of God died. That's the point. The point is following them is going to get you in a world of trouble according to God. So don't do it. Do not turn around and defend the false prophet by saying such things as though a person can give a false prophecy and not be a false prophet. That person needs to be quiet. He is not a prophet. He is not a prophet of God. He has spoken falsely and you cannot come back and say, well, God is infallible in his revelation, but the prophet can misunderstand it or give it falsely. The point is we're not impugning God's word. We're impugning you for giving the false prophecy in the first place. The point is you are not a false prophet. And what's happened is we've got people now going to the scriptures and picking out supposed false prophecies by men of God. For example, Nathan. The Bible tells us that Nathan is a prophet and David in 2 Samuel wants to build a house for the Lord. What happens? Nathan makes a statement and then some are going to say that this is a false prophecy. Remember, a prophecy is simply a declaration or utterance or revelation from, in this case, from God. Did Nathan give a revelation from God? In 2 Kings chapter 7, verse 2, David says, See, now I dwell in the house of Cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains. Nathan said to the king, Go do all that is in your mind for the Lord is with you. There are going to be those that will say that, see, this is a false prophecy. The question is, was this a revelation from God? Did God say, tell him that the Lord said to do this? No. All he simply says, the Bible recounts that David says, Go do all that is in your mind. Why? For the Lord is with you. The problem is though, this phrase, the Lord is with you, is not meant to be taken as a prophecy as those will say that because David makes a statement that the Lord is with you. Well, then he's simply saying the Lord has said this. That's not what it's saying. It's poor exegesis, it's isegesis, and it's trying to literally defend a false prophet for the sake of impugning a true prophet. First of all, we see this phrase in Genesis when Abimelech says the same thing to David, the Lord is with you. Is that Abimelech being a prophet or a given prophecy? No, he's making a statement. The same thing happens. David makes a statement. As a matter of fact, it's recounted a few times in 1st and 2nd Chronicles. Now, to prove this point of this phrase not being a prophetic phrase, just a statement, David says the same thing as recounting in 1 Chronicles 22. It says, Now my son, the Lord be with you that you may be successful and build the house of the Lord your God. Now, I want you to notice something, this phrase that I have highlighted to the right, which is, you see the tetragrammaton for the Lord. But then right here, it says, let me even highlight it in the blue so you can see it. It is Imach, this is with you, that same phrase. If we go back to 2nd Samuel 7, 2, it's the exact same phrase that's used here. Let me also remove this so I can highlight that point so you guys can see that as well. It's the exact same phrase, the Lord be with you. This is not a prophecy. David didn't give a prophecy to Samuel. He's just making a statement. The Lord is with you. It's a declaration. God is with you. You know who else that made that statement? Rahab the harlot. The Lord is with you, speaking in Israel. You see this statement recounted over and over again throughout scripture. So to say that this is Nathan when he makes a statement that do all that's in your mind for the Lord is with you, he's simply stating, go ahead and do it. The Lord is with you. The Bible does not recount every statement that Nathan says to be a prophecy when Nathan is speaking to his father. Is that a prophecy? No, Nathan's words all the time are not prophetic. Nathan has the ability to ask for food, to ask for water, to speak about his feelings, to talk about whether he can speak about whatever he wants to without it being regarded as prophecy. However, when he does prophesy, when the Lord does speak to him, notice what happens because in the very next passage, verse four, he says, but the same night the word of the Lord came to David saying, go and say to my servant, David, thus says the Lord, are you the one who should build from your house? And so what does they so what does Nathan do? He then gives the prophecy. This is a word of the Lord that Nathan gives. Do not listen to people when they tell you or they want to impugn Nathan for giving a false prophecy when he did not. Either they are being intellectual, dishonest, or they simply aren't understanding, maybe not even want to understand because they want to prove a point. This is not Nathan giving a false prophecy. Another example is in Acts 21-4. Remember what a prophecy is. In Acts 21-4, you've got these people who are disciples. And in verse 4-21, it says, after looking at the disciples, we stayed there seven days and they kept telling Paul through the spirit not to set forth in Jerusalem. They are saying through the spirit, obviously they understand some dangers are going to happen and they're telling him because of that not to go. Is there a false prophecy? Did God reveal something to them that was incorrect? Did they come to him and say, thus saith the Lord, you will not go there or you will not? Or if they said the Lord said you should not. They didn't even say you should not, which would not be a false prophecy. But they didn't say the Lord said you must not. You will not go. This is going to happen. They didn't say that. What they did state was their concern for him for the Lord. Paul goes anyway. Why? Well, remember when Paul is introduced to Christ, Paul is told that he's going to suffer things for that sake. And as a matter of fact, we have that. We have a recount of the Lord saying the same thing to Ananias in Acts 9, 16. He says, Well, I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. And then we see Paul even giving a recounting of the sufferings that he has in 2 Corinthians 11, 20, 23. He says, Are they servants of Christ? What Paul says, I speak of as if insane, I more so in far more labors in far more imprisonments, beaten times without numbers often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews, 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. So Paul goes through a litany of things that he has to suffer. Even here in this case in Acts, he goes to a place and he is in trouble. He is, he is bound. He's beaten. He goes through all these things that he must suffer. They just simply warned him of that. They didn't want him to go. Were they wrong? No, they were not wrong. And they did not invoke the Lord. The Lord said, don't do this or the Lord said this. They didn't do that. And so the problem that we have guys is that we've got people now wanting to do the unthinkable to impugn legitimate prophets, people who actually heard the word of the Lord and delivered it correctly. And we're equating them, we're looking for a flaw, a chink in their armor to say that these other known false prophets of today are okay. They're on par because if these true prophets of God can make a mistake, well, then so too can these modern day prophets. The problem is the prophets in the Bible, the true prophets of God, not one of them made a mistake. Not one of them got it wrong. Here's what a prophet must do. There's only two steps. Hear what God said and say what he says. That's it, regardless of how confidently you say it, regardless of even if you believe it yourself. If you hear what he says and you say it, that's prophecy. And we'll know it's true because it comes about or it's backed up by the Scripture. That's it. And so be careful of people who are saying these things. And if you are one of those who are doing so yourself, be careful that you don't find yourself impugning the prophet of God, which by extension you're impugning God in his word by equating these known false prophets or liars with the true men of God. So are there false prophets in the Bible? Sure, they're called false prophets. They're called lying prophets. They're called prophets of them and they will have their reward. Do not be found occurring favor with them. Do not be found accepting them because it could be that the Lord is testing you as well as testing them. Amen.