The Warnings of Jesus

 What does Jesus tell His Church to beware of?

What are the warnings of Jesus Christ?

There are many things in the gospels that Jesus tells us to “Watch out for” or “Beware of”. What is He warning us about and how is it relevant in today’s Church? In this article I will highlight a few of these warnings, they are prevalent in today’s Church and many of us are being led astray by our lack of knowledge of the Word and a desire to be entertained and have our ears tickled by false teaching, to hear a user friendly gospel that is void of God’s truth and an unwillingness to face the consequences of our sin!

Warnings about false teachers and prophets.

1. Beware of False Teachers and Prophets and their Teachings

Matthew 16:6 (NLT)

“Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

In the above verse, Jesus tells us to watch out for the ‘yeast’ Pharisees.

Now, what was the yeast of these people? We are told what this ‘yeast’ is in the gospel of Luke.

Luke 12:1 (NIV)

Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

So here we have it, the ‘yeast’ was their hypocrisy! They didn’t practice what they preached, and they also added error to their preaching. The Amplified Bible gives the verse a more expanded explanation.

Luke 12:1 (AMP)

In the meantime, after so many thousands of the people had gathered that they were stepping on one another, Jesus began speaking first of all to His disciples, “Be continually on your guard against the leaven (yeast) of the Pharisees [that is, their pervasive, corrupting influence and teaching], which is hypocrisy [producing self-righteousness].

King Solomon says that there is nothing new under heaven. We still have Church leaders doing the same things today. Leading people astray by presenting a watered down gospel and trying to merge worldly activities into Christianity.

We have prosperity preachers and seeker sensitive pastors who present worldly programmes to draw the unsaved to Church. We have false prophets and teachers galore leading millions astray across the world. It is the Holy Spirit that draws man to salvation, not the worldly programmes of false prophets and pastors!

We have big name pastors making alliances with the leaders of false religions. They run their mega Churches like businesses using the marketing methods of ungodly marketing systems and taking counsel from ungodly leaders of the business world. What does light have to do with darkness?

2 Corinthians 6:14-15 (AMP)

14 Do not be unequally bound together with unbelievers [do not make mismatched alliances with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial (Satan)? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

In today’s Church there are thousands of these false teachers and prophets leading millions of people down the path to hell.

Wake up Church! Follow Jesus and comply with the Word of God in every way. God will not be mocked in the way that many mega churches are doing today!

Galatians 6:7-8 (AMP)

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap. 8 For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

2 Peter 2:1-4 (NIV)

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

Jesus likens false teachers and prophets to ravening wolves. They appear to be lambs gushing with false praise on their honeyed lips and lead many people astray by their false teachings and by twisting the Bible to tickle peoples’ ears – they do not preach the truth. They are like their father, the Devil, they are liars.

Matthew 7:15-20 (NIV)

15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

John 8:44 (NIV)

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

2. Beware of leaders who are full of themselves – proud, arrogant, greedy and self-serving.

Mark 12:38-40 (NIV)

38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law (the scribes). They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

Jesus tells us to beware of those Church leaders that are proud, arrogant, greedy, and self-serving. They prey on peoples’ ignorance of the Word and teach false doctrines and introduce their own man-made rules and regulations instead of preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

They are still alive and well to this very day and are still doing the same things, feathering their own nests off their congregations, and living luxurious lives that contradict the teachings of the Bible. They are robbers and thieves, and they lead their followers to destruction. The Word says that they “will be punished most severely”.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (NIV)

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

Warnings to us as individual believers.

1. Warnings about Greed

Luke 12:15 (AMP)

Then He said to them, “Watch out and guard yourselves against every form of greed; for not even when one has an overflowing abundance does his life consist of nor is it derived from his possessions.”

This verse warns us as individuals not to be obsessed with having more than we need, whether it is money or material possessions. Our lives should not consist of an abundance of things but should consist of the fulness of Jesus Christ and putting His Word into action in everything we do and speak! We shouldn’t love the things of the world but the things of God and living our lives in the Spirit! Above all we should not love money because it leads to all kinds of evil.

1 Timothy 6:10 (AMP)

For the love of money [that is, the greedy desire for it and the willingness to gain it unethically] is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves [through and through] with many sorrows.

The love of money will cause us many sorrows and will lead us away from our faith in Jesus. Just look at the lifestyles of those that never have enough money or possessions, they perform all kinds of ungodly deeds to get more and are never satisfied. Prosperity preachers are a prime example of this! They are on the highway to hell and will take many others with them.

Nothing should be more valuable to you us a Christian than to love the Lord with every fibre of your being. If you love money and material possessions, they will become your master. Your master is the one whom you will serve. You cannot love both God and money!

Matthew 6:24 (AMP)

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord].

Greed and the love of money and material possessions should have no place in the life of a born-again Christian.

However, it does depend on the heart. If someone makes a new purchase because they need to replace an old item or an item that is broken, there may be no greed involved. But when someone is regularly buying things they do not "need," and they are never satisfied with what they have, or they want something just for the sake of having it to impress others, then they have greed and pride in their heart. It's alright for Christians to have money and nice things but don't let these things overrule your worship and love of God!

2. Warnings of Jesus Christ about Pride

We all struggle with pride in life! Sadly, many of us do not realize the potential that waits for us if we just let go of our pride and move forward in God's plan. In fact, the Bible goes so far as to warn us that God hates the sin of pride and will discipline the proud! Let us not see ourselves as "wise in our own eyes" but let us become humble and willing to learn from God and others! Pride is often accompanied by its close relative, greed!

Pride is when you do and say  things to be acclaimed by others!

Matthew 6:1 (AMP)

“Be [very] careful not to do your good deeds publicly, to be seen by men; otherwise you will have no reward [prepared and awaiting you] with your Father who is in heaven.

2 “So whenever you give to the poor and do acts of kindness, do not blow a trumpet before you [to advertise it], as the hypocrites do [like actors acting out a role] in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored and recognized and praised by men. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, they [already] have their reward in full.

Everything we do as born-again Christians should be done in the power of the Holy Spirit and to the glory of Jesus!

John 16:12-15 (NIV)

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

Doing right things in order to receive honour and glory from people for yourself is for the sake of pride. Saying elaborate prayers to seem spiritual or claiming to attend church every week when you don’t or telling people you will pray for them and then you don’t, are all ways people try to elevate themselves in the eyes of others. And if you tell someone you will pray for them and you don’t then you are lying as well. Do everything in humility and God will lift you up in due time.

1 Peter 5:6 (NIV)

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Luke 18:11-14 (NIV)

11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

When you hear your Church leaders or anybody else saying from the pulpit or in the presence of others, “I did this and I did that” or “We did this and we did that”, then you know that the sin of pride has entered into them, and pride comes before a downfall! Apart from Christ we can do NOTHING! He is the vine, and we are the branches. When we do everything as unto the Lord and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we will bear much fruit to His glory!

John 15:5-8 (NIV)

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

God blesses the humble not the proud!

Matthew 5:5 (NIV)

Blessed are the meek (the humble),

for they will inherit the earth.

God has a place of reckoning for the proud!

Isaiah 2:12 (AMP)

For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning

Against all who are proud and arrogant

And against all who are lifted up,

That they may be degraded.

3. Warnings to Listen to the Words of God, to know the Word of God and to be doers of the Word and not just readers!

Be careful how you listen and understand the Word of God and always have a teachable heart..

Luke 8:18 (AMP)

So be careful how you listen; for whoever has [a teachable heart], to him more [understanding] will be given; and whoever does not have [a longing for truth], even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”

Make sure you know the Word of God so that you don’t fall into sin.

Psalm 119:11-12 (NIV)

I have hidden your word in my heart

that I might not sin against you.

12 Praise be to you, Lord;

teach me your decrees.

Hebrews 4:12-13

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Be doers of the Word, not just readers.

James 1:22 (NIV)

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Luke 11:28 (NIV)

He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

Simply to hear and understand the word of God has no value. We must obey it and do it.

Prayer:

Dear Father in Heaven

I pray that you would give me a discerning heart that I may not follow false teachers and prophets and their false teachings. Teach me your ways, Lord, that I may not sin against you or be led astray in ignorance. Give me a hunger and a thirst to study your Word daily and fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may follow the path of righteousness that you have set for me. I repent of all and every wrong doctrine I have followed or listened to, and I ask for forgiveness in the name of Jesus. Let your word be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path and let me glorify the name of Jesus. Amen.

To Jesus belongs all glory, honour and praise!

Jesus the Name above all names!