Sermon for The Eighth Sunday after Trinity, 2026

A false preacher or teacher never professes to be a deceiver; they claim to come in the Lord’s name, to preach and teach the Lord’s words. They do not appear as a manifest wolf; they come as a wolf in sheep’s clothing: they will look and act like a sheep.

How, then, do you know a false prophet, a false teacher? Not by their works, their success, or their charisma; rather, by their fruit. A prophet’s fruit, a teacher’s fruit, is their preaching and teaching: what they say about God, about you, and, most importantly, about Christ. “Do men gather grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” No tree bears what is foreign to its root; a thornbush cannot decide to grow a fig, any more than a bad tree can produce good fruit. Grapes, for the cup; figs, for the mouth.

“You will know them by their fruits,” says Jesus. Therefore, test the fruit; test their preaching, their teaching, and so beware false prophets.

Readings:

• Old Testament: Jeremiah 23:16-29

• Epistle: Romans 8:12-17

• Holy Gospel: Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon:

https://youtu.be/claNijDg5Ew