I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 25.
Proverbs 25. We've gone through this blessed book
now. This is 11 years that we've been in Proverbs,
verse by verse. I'd like to look at verse 14. Proverbs 25, 14. Whoso boasteth
himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain. Now, we know from the Scriptures
that the Lord is pleased to call His sheep out of the darkness
of sin and unbelief through the preaching of the gospel. That's the only way God calls
His people. No other way but through the
preaching of the gospel. 2 Thessalonians 2 verses 13 and
14 declares that His people from the beginning were chosen to
salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. That is through
the sanctifying, setting apart work of the Spirit of God, called
and regenerated by the Spirit of God, through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. That is, by faith given
them from above, to believe the gospel of God's free and sovereign
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Where unto, or it was to this
end, He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. So it's through the preaching
of the gospel, God Almighty sends His men preach the gospel, and
the gospel that is preached and blessed of God is through only
those men that God calls. God calls and God blesses that
which He does. I heard Brother Henry say, and
I've said it here before, The words that we preach are
true words, but unless they're blessed by the Spirit of God
to the obtaining of that which God has purposed, the salvation
of His people, then it's just words. It's words that fall on
deaf ears. The Lord said, Jeremiah 315,
and I will give you pastors according to mine heart which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding. So there are men called of God
for the gathering of God's sheep. Men that are taught the truth
and sent into all the world to preach Christ and Him crucified. So men declare the message of
salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
there are many, the scripture reveals, who claim to preach
the truth but are truly false prophets. Now the Lord dealt
with this himself many, many times in the Gospels. But throughout
all of the rest of the New Testament, It's, we're warned and warned
and warned. First John 4.1 says, Beloved,
believe not every spirit, and that is every preacher. You know
that. But try the spirits, whether
they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into
the world. We're admonished. Don't believe every man who claims
to be endowed with the gift of the spirit to perform the office
of a prophet or a preacher or a teacher. Don't just arbitrarily. Well, I'm a preacher. Well, I
had someone call me up on the phone. and told me that he was
a preacher, he was going to be in this area. I never met the
guy. He told me he was going to be
in this area, wanting to know if he was in the ministry, and
he wanted to know if he could come preach. I said no. And he
said, no? No. I said, I don't even know
you. I don't even know what you preach.
No, I mean, they claim, the Lord said, Matthew 24, 5, for many
shall come in my name, claiming that they're in my name, saying,
I am Christ. Many shall come in my name, saying,
I am Christ. What does that mean, I am Christ?
Are they saying that they are the Lord Jesus Christ? No, that's
not what he's saying, What he's saying is, I'm preaching the
gospel of Christ. I'm preaching what the Lord blesses. I'm preaching the way to Christ.
I'm preaching what the Lord told us to preach. That's what they're
saying. Many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ, and
shall deceive many. Many will come saying that, and
many will be deceived. So these that are preaching this,
how did they get here? Well, they're sent of the devil. That's in Matthew 13, 39. The Lord, the parable about the
homeowner that sent his servants and they sowed wheat, and the
enemy came and sowed the tares. And the Lord then explained the
parable and said it's the devil. The devil did it. So they're
preachers, false preachers. And they're sent of Satan to
be deceivers. They're deceivers. And they're
sent to disturb the church, the true church. And there's always
been deceivers in the midst of God's people. And so therefore,
the scripture says we're to try the spirits those who claim to
be sin of God, whether they are of God, because of the surety
of charlatans being in the midst. They're here. Now John, the apostle
John, said in 1 John 4, 2, listen to this, if there's ever a passage
that we need to understand concerning preachers, it's this one right
here. It doesn't matter I don't care
how sincere they sound, how sweet they sound, how this, that, and
the other they sound, how many good works they do, it doesn't
matter. Listen to this scripture. Hereby
know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Now somebody would say, well
that's an easy one then, because everybody, everybody confesses
that. Everybody believes that Jesus
Christ came into flesh. Yeah, but what does that mean?
What did John mean? Here's what he meant. Every spirit,
every preacher that confesseth that Jesus Christ, that the eternal
Son of God, Jesus Christ, and when you say Jesus Christ, You're
talking about man, Messiah. God made flesh who is the scent
of God, the Messiah. Every man that preaches that
the eternal son who has ever stood according to God's eternal
covenant of grace as the surety. God has a people. that he has
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and according to
the covenant of grace, the contract between the three persons of
the Godhead, one God, three persons. Everyone that preaches that Jesus
Christ, the one who has commited to stand as the surety that he
came from heaven made flesh that he would, as the God-man mediator,
the federal head of the bride, that he would live for, thereby
establishing righteousness that will be imputed to the sheep,
that he lived for and died for, that is laid down his life for
the sheep, called his name Jesus, for he shall save his people,
his people, from their sins that he lived for and died for, being
made sin for them. He hath made him to be sin for
us. The scripture says 2 Corinthians
5.21. Who knew, notice again, that he might answer, he died
for us, that he might answer every demand for righteousness
and justice before God for a people that God everlastingly loved
and will not let perish. Now that's what it is to say
every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh. That's what it means. I told you this, demons believe
that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, the fact of the matter. But that what he came to do,
that's the issue right there. So every spirit that confesses
that salvation is by grace, through faith, not of yourself, gift
of God, every man that confesses that is of God, is sin of God. And every spirit that confesses
not that is not of God. They're liars. They're deceivers. So every spirit, every preacher
acknowledges himself to be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what Paul said in Romans 1.1. That's what James said in James
1.1. That's what Peter said in 2 Peter
1.1. Paul, James, Peter, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
God's preachers set apart to the ministry. They have this
confession. of themselves as being instructed
by the Lord, Luke 7, 10, when ye shall have done all these
things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants,
we have done that which was our duty to do. Now, with that backdrop,
and I'm just going to look at this verse of scripture right
here, and it's not going to take me but just a second. I'll be done in just
a minute. Proverbs 25, 14. Whoso boasteth himself of a false
gift is like clouds and wind without rain. The boast of God's men, God's
people, all God's people, in the Lord is this. In God, this
is Psalm 44a, in God we boast all the day long and praise thy
name forever. We boast in God alone. God has chosen us. God has redeemed
us. God has called us. God has sealed
us. God has taught us. God has led
us. God has kept us. Unto Him alone
we give all the honor and glory and praise and we have no confidence
in our flesh. We boast in Him. But whoso boasteth in himself,
here's the key, of a false gift In the margin right here, whoso
boasts of himself of a false gift, my margin says, in a gift
of falsehood. Falsehood. It's like clouds and
wind without rain. Whoso falsely boasts of gifts
that he says he received from God. Gifts that aren't consistent
with the scriptures. gifts that don't give all the
honor and the glory and the praise unto the Lord, but rather give
glory and honor and praise unto men because of their free will,
their free will decision, their self-righteous works. It's like
clouds and wind that appear to promise rain, but there is no
rain. Jude, under the inspiration of
God's Spirit in Jude 1 verse 12 said, these are spots in your
feast of charity. Spots. I never knew this. I'm sure many
did, but I just, you know how I am about looking up words.
They are spots in your feast of charity. The feast of charity
is the assembling of God's people that feast on the bread of heaven,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the feast. But what are
these spots? They are spots in your feast.
Looking that word up, it means a hidden reef, R-E-E-F-S, like
a rock. under the water, like a boat
going through, coming up to the shore, and you just don't realize
there's a reef there. And it's going to wreak havoc
on a boat. It means a hidden reef. It means a point of danger. You
can't detect it by looking at the top of the water, just like
there's water there. But there's a rock. Under that,
they're like spots in your feast of charity. And when they feast
with you, feeding themselves without fear. They're in the
midst. They're providing only for themselves. Without fear of God or respect
for the gospel. Clouds they are without water. What is that? setting forth the water of life
himself, carried about with winds of false doctrine, trees whose fruit withereth without
fruit, that is, claiming to be trees planted by the Spirit of
God without the fruit of the Spirit, twice dead, plucked up
by the roots, dead spiritually and preaching a dead message.
A message that is fit only for destruction. They themselves
and the message is going to perish. Twice dead. Saying they're preaching
a message that can give life and it won't give life. The Spirit
of God doesn't bless it. It doesn't bless the message. Whoso boasted himself of a false
gift, that gift spoken of, that false gift is that gift of salvation. You know the scripture says in
Ephesians 2.8, For by grace are you saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. But whoso boasted
himself of a false gift. Someone that stands up and tells
men, this is how you can be saved. This is how you can have the
gift of God. And it's a false gift. It's a
lie. It's deception. Whoso boasts
himself of a false gift, that gift that promises salvation,
but it's not by grace through faith, but rather boasting of
one that's through the deeds of the law. And the scripture
says 4th Romans 3.20, therefore by the deeds of the law, by something
you do. Let me just sum it up like that.
Anything that you think you did in order to be saved. I was converted
because I, the scripture says sinners are saved by the grace
of God. And then God tells him what he
did. Brother Henry said, you know,
how do you separate regeneration and faith? He said, you just
can't even separate them. What comes first? Henry said,
they're together. God calls a woman out of darkness
and they believe. But we're not converted because
we believed. We believe because we're converted.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified
in his sight. Now you might think you're justified
in your sight or in the sight of others, but by the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. And he's the only
one that matters. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. The law condemns. The Lord reveals sin. But the
law shows no mercy. The law is unwavering. Sinners
are not saved through the proclamation of a false gospel, but are regenerated
according to the word of God, by God's good pleasure, through
the proclamation of a message that declares salvation to be
all of grace. Salvation is of the Lord. Men and women are the recipients
of the grace of God and we proclaim the unsearchable riches of God's
grace in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach the gospel
and then we wait upon the Lord to do that which only the Lord
can do and shall do. He shall save his people from
their sins. Whoso boasts himself of a false
gift is like clouds and wind with no rain. But when God is
pleased to bless his word, he does so. but it'll only do it
through the message of the gospel of God's free grace. I pray God
bless this to His glory and our good. Amen. All right.