Second Timothy chapter three. The Holy Spirit of God, not the
apostle Paul, but the Holy Spirit of God inspired
Paul to pin a whole letter to Timothy warning against false
religion. 2 Peter 1 verses 20 and 21 say
that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. No man came up with this on his
own. It says, the prophecy came not
in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So the Apostle Paul is not the
one hounding this to Timothy and hounding this to us, God
Almighty is. And That ought to bring a greater
sense of urgency to what we're reading here. This must be some
very important information for God Almighty to devote a whole
letter in his book to it. A whole letter. And this was
the last letter that the Apostle Paul wrote. These were his last
words. So very, very important. We're
over halfway finished with this letter and our Lord is still
warning us against the dangers of false religion. And there's
a danger that we're going to see today that I believe is very
common with people. I believe this is very, very
common with people and we need to be warned against it. Our
text this morning will be verses eight and nine. Well, let's begin
reading in verse one. We'll get the context back in
our mind here. 2 Timothy 3 verse one says, this
know also that in the last days, perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce
breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the
power thereof from such turn away. For of this sort are they
which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with
sins, led away with divers lusts ever learning and never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth. Verse 8 says now as Janice
and Jim breeze withstood Moses. So do these also resist the truth
men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. But they
shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest
unto all men, as theirs was also." He's saying these false preachers,
false prophets today, they are just like they were in Moses'
day. No different. He said they resist the truth. They're against the truth of
God's Word. And he said the reason for that
is because they are corrupt. That means depraved. It means
ruined. And therefore, they're completely
void of judgment. Reprobate. That's what reprobate
means. Void of judgment. And he said
in the end, they're going to be stopped. They're going to
be exposed. just like Jannes and Jambres
were in Moses' day. But until that time comes, they're
gonna be deceivers of many people, and we need to be warned of it,
and we need to be watchful of it. Now, these two names, Jannes
and Jambres, are only mentioned in the scripture right here.
If you look up their names, they're only mentioned one time, right
here. Their names are not given in
the book of Exodus, but the Spirit of God is telling us here that
this is who Moses was dealing with. And there's something we
can see concerning these men that we need to be warned of.
I really, really would like to bring our attention to this,
okay? I really, I am hoping, I've been, ever since I looked
at this, I have been hoping that somebody would see this. I hope
somebody will see this. If somebody does, it's gonna
be the Lord that causes them to see it. So my prayer is that
the Lord will move. I hope somebody sees this. Go
with me over to Exodus 7. Exodus 7, the Lord told Moses and Aaron
to go into Pharaoh demanding that he let God's people go. And he said, I'm going to give
you a sign to prove the authority of your word to Pharaoh. Verse
8, Exodus 7, verse 8. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you,
saying, Show a miracle for you, then thou shalt say unto Aaron,
Moses, you say to Aaron, Take thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh,
and it shall become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto
Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded. And Aaron
cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and
it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the
wise men and the sorcerers. And I don't know if Jannes was,
you know, the head of the wise men and Jambres was the head
of the sorcerers and they're all called the magicians or if
Pharaoh called the wise men and the sorcerers and then those
two men are just the magicians, but those two men are right here. Verse 11, then Pharaoh also called
the wise men and the sorcerers. Now the magicians of Egypt. They
also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they
cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents. What
Aaron did, they did it too. Aaron had a rod, they had a rod. Aaron threw his down, they threw
theirs down. Aaron's became a snake. Theirs
all became snakes. But there was something they
were missing. They were missing strength. They were missing power. They were missing authority.
They were missing victory because the end of verse 12 says Aaron's
rod swallowed up their rods. Verse 13, and the Lord hardened
Pharaoh's heart that he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had
said. Pharaoh didn't let the people
go. So the Lord started sending plagues just like he said he
was going to do. Look at verse 20. And Moses and Aaron did so as
the Lord commanded. And he lifted up his rod and
smote the waters that were in the river in the sight of Pharaoh
and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were
in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the
river died and the river stank. And the Egyptians could not drink
of the water of the river. And there was blood throughout
all the land of Egypt. Verse 22 says, and the magicians
of Egypt did so with their enchantments. And Pharaoh's heart was hardened,
neither did he hearken unto them. As the Lord had said, Aaron did
it. They did it. Aaron turned water
into blood. God said, here's the sign I'm
going to give you. I'm going to turn the water into blood.
So Aaron turned the water in the blood. They turned water
into blood. Look at chapter eight, verse
five. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
say unto Aaron, stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over
the streams, over the rivers and over the ponds and cause
frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched
out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came
up and covered the land of Egypt. Verse seven says, and the magicians
did so with their enchantments and brought up frogs upon the
land of Egypt. Aaron brought up frogs, Janice
and Jambres brought up frogs. Verse 16. And the Lord said unto Moses,
say unto Aaron, stretch out thy rod and smite the dust of the
land that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
And they did so for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and
smote the dust of the earth and it became lice in man and in
beast. All the dust of the land became
lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did
so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could
not. So there were lice upon man and
upon beast. Then the magicians said unto
Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. And Pharaoh's heart was
hardened and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said. They could put on a good outward
show with things, snakes, rivers, frogs, but they couldn't produce
anything that touched or affected the person of man. They could produce something
that was weak and failing. Their snakes all got eaten up
by Aaron's snake. They could produce something
that left men and women thirsty. They could do that. Something that men and women
truly could not drink from. They could do that. They could
produce a lot of noise. Loud, annoying noise, frogs. But they couldn't produce anything
that actually affected the person of man. In the end, they were
forced to admit, it takes the finger of God to do that. Look at chapter nine, verse eight. And the Lord said unto Moses
and unto Aaron, take to you handfuls of ashes, of the furnace, and
let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven and the sight of Pharaoh.
And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and
shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon
beast throughout all the land of Egypt. And they took ashes
of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses sprinkled
it up toward heaven. And it became a boil breaking
forth with blains upon man and upon beast. And the magicians
could not stand before Moses because of the boils. For the
boil was upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. In the end, everything that they
did, it came to nothing. In the end, it came to nothing
and they were consumed with all the other enemies of God. But
until God exposed them for a while, and this is the point that I
want to get to here, until in the end, they're all going to
be exposed. It's going to be so clear in the end. But Until that time comes, for
a while, if it were possible, even the very elect would be
deceived. I'm speaking to the elect right
now. If it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived
because it appeared that everything Aaron was doing, they were doing. Same thing. Oh yeah, same thing. Alright, now here's the warning
that I want us to take from this. A message that is close. A message that is close to the
gospel. Close to the truth. Close to
Christ. Listen for Christ. Don't listen
for total depravity. Now he's talking about election.
Don't listen for election. Don't listen for limited atonement.
Don't listen for irresistible grace. Listen for Christ. I mean, yeah, he's getting all
the stuff in there, you know. Listen, a message that is close
to Christ is not close enough. When you hear a message and you
say, And really, I'm talking to the elect right now. When
you hear a message and you say, well, it's similar. A lot of it is the same. Yeah,
you know, he's saying a lot of good things. He talks about the
serpent. He talks about the blood. He's loud. He's putting it all
out there. Yeah, but is there any power
in it? Is there any power in it? Is there any finished accomplishment
in it? Is there any finished glorified
victory in it? Well, no, it's still a weak Jesus
who needs for you to finish the work. You're going to listen
to people preach election and you still have to finish
the work. You're going to hear that. No, it still has to be your accomplishment
or the victory won't be won. There's danger in that. There's
danger in that. If we're under a message that
is close, it's similar, but it doesn't quench our thirsty souls. There's danger in that. And it's
all just noise in the ears. If that's all it is, it's just
noise in the ears, but it never reaches the heart. There's danger
in that. God is not in that. The hand
of God, the finger of God is not in that. He's going to destroy
it all in the end. And we don't want to be a part
of it when he does. We do not want to be a part of it. Now,
I cannot tell you how many times I've heard this statement. And
if you've been around a while, you've heard it too. And before
I tell you what this statement is, I want to tell you, this
could be one of the most dangerous statements I've ever heard in
my life. Every time I hear it, I think that's about one of the
most dangerous things I've ever heard in my life. No, he's not
fully preaching the truth, but I have enough discernment to
just take the good and throw out the bad. It's okay, it's
all right, I'll just keep the good parts and I'll throw out
the bad parts. When it comes to the work of salvation, and
who gets the glory for it? Who is doing it? And who gets
the glory for it? If all of it does not go to Christ,
There are no good parts in it. I'll just keep the good parts.
If all of the glory and all of the work is not ascribed to Christ,
meaning, and I cannot tell you how many thousands and thousands
of pulpits there are out there of men standing here saying it's
somehow on you. Oh now, yeah, Jesus died on the
cross and he, oh, he saved his people from their sins. But if
you throw it out, throw it out. And some people do that, you
know, you better straighten up and fly right and obey the law
and do good so you can be saved. And some people say, okay, now
he saved you, but if you don't straighten up and fly right and
do good and obey the law, then it didn't apply to you. That's
all the same. That's all the same. If all is
not ascribed to Christ, everything, if it's not Christ alone, Christ
is all, there are no good parts in it. Throw it away. If any
leaven is added, meaning any component or credit is given
to man, man is leaven, sin is leaven. If any leaven is added, throw
the whole thing out. None of it is good. None of it
is good. God Almighty said, through his
apostle, he said, a little leaven will leaven the whole lump. He didn't say, you know, you
just cut that bad part out. The rest is good. No, he said
a little leaven will leaven the whole lump. Throw it out. It
doesn't matter how similar it is. It doesn't matter how close
it sounds. If all the strength and all the
power and all the victory and all the nourishment and all the
sustainment is not given to Christ. If all the declaration, all the
message, all the noise is not concerning Christ, it's
not glorifying to Christ. God is not in it. God is not
in it. And in the end, he's going to
do away with it. He's going to do away with every soul that's
deceived by it. Let's be warned. Let's hear the
word of warning from our God concerning false religion. Even false religion that's so
close, if it were possible, the very elect would be saved. Well,
that's close enough. No, it's not. It's not. Turn with me to Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23, verse one. Our Lord said, woe be unto the
pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith
the Lord. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, against the pastors that feed my people. You have
scattered my flock, and driven them away and have not visited
them. Behold, I will visit upon you
the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. Look at verse 13. I have seen folly in the prophets
of Samaria. They prophesied in Baal and caused
my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets
of Jerusalem an horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk
in lies. That's spiritual adultery, spiritual
fornication, leaving Christ for another. They strengthen also
the hands of evildoers. What are evildoers? Man doing
anything. Evil is man, man just thinking
he has to do, go do. That none doth return from his
wickedness, they are all of them unto me a Sodom and the inhabitants
thereof as Gomorrah. Therefore thus saith the Lord
of hosts concerning the prophets, behold, I will feed them with
wormwood and make them drink the water of Gaul. What he's
saying is everything that I took for my people and bore for my
people on the cross of Calvary, they're going to have to bear
that themselves. I took the wormwood. I took the Gaul for my people. But outside of Christ, a man
or woman is going to have to bear that himself or herself.
Verse 15, the middle of 15 goes on to say, for from the prophets
of Jerusalem is profaneness, that's hypocrisy, acting, gone
forth into all the land. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto
you. They make you vain. This is how
you can know them. They will make you consumed with
you. It's what vanity is. They'll turn that mirror to you
and say, now you need to be looking to you. You need to make yourself
look prettier before God. They'll make you vain. It'll
all be about you. Verse 16 goes on to say, they
speak a vision. of their own heart and not out
of the mouth of the Lord. They're not preaching my word,
he's saying. They're preaching their own thoughts,
their own opinions on God, not God's declaration of himself.
Verse 17, they say still unto them that despise me, the Lord
hath said, well, now you know God said, Bible says when it
doesn't say that. The Lord hath said, you shall
have peace. There is only one place of peace. You know, the scripture says,
you shall have peace, but only in one place, in Christ. In Him,
in me, you shall have peace. Outside of Christ, there is no
peace. Verse 17, they say, still unto
them that despise me, the Lord has said, you shall have peace.
And they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination
of his own heart, no evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in the counsel
of the Lord and hath perceived the heart of his word? Who hath
marked his word and heard it? Meaning, if I didn't write it
here, how do you know I said that? Verse 19, behold, a whirlwind
of the Lord has gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind. It shall fall grievously upon
the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord shall not
return until he have executed, until he have performed the thoughts
of his heart. In the latter days, you shall
consider it perfectly that he said, vengeance is going to go
out and it's going to stay out until my vengeance has finished
its work. Verse 22, I have not sent these
prophets, yet they ran. You hear people talk about, you
know, well, when the Lord called me to the ministry and God called
me and God didn't call them. He said, verse 22, I've not sent
these prophets. If they're not preaching his
word, God didn't call them. I've not spoken to them, yet
they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council
and had caused my people to hear my words, Meaning, if they would
have gotten into Jeremiah 23 and said, this is what God has
said about these matters. Verse 22, if they'd stood in
my counsel and caused my people to hear my words, then they should
have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their
doings. I am a God at hand, saith the
Lord, and not a God afar off. Can any hide himself in secret
places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill
heaven and earth, saith the Lord? I have heard what the prophets
said that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed,
I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the
heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets
of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people
to forget my name. By their dreams, which they tell
every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten
my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream,
let him tell a dream. And he that hath my word, let
him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat,
saith the Lord. is not my word like as a fire,
saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. Therefore, behold, I am against
the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one
from his neighbor. They're not, they're stealing
his words by not telling his words. Verse 31, behold, I am
against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues
and say, he saith, Behold, I'm against them that
prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them and
cause my people to err by their lies and by their lightness.
Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them. Therefore, now watch this.
Here's the whole reason we turned here. Therefore, They shall not
profit this people at all, saith the Lord. Well, now there has
to be, you know, a little something good we can get out of it. No. God said preachers who lie on
me and lie on my word are not going to profit my people at
all. I don't care how close it is.
One lie on God. And this is why any man who stands
in this position, and I'll confess, I'm a sinful man. I'm not a holy,
perfect man. I'm a sinful man. That's what
Peter said, and that's what I say. Lord, I'm a sinful man. So please
don't let me speak my word. Please let me only deliver your
word. This is the only thing that's
safe, not only for you, but for me. Otherwise, I'm one of these
pastors. One lie on God's glory. One lie
on His purpose. One lie on His accomplishment.
One lie on His finished work of salvation through the blood
of His cross alone without the deeds of His people at all. It'll
ruin the whole thing. He said, get rid of it. Come
out from among it. If anybody hears this and they
say, you know, I think I'm in that position. Come out from
among it. Hold to, cling to the truth,
the truth of God, the truth of Christ, the truth of his word.
Stay on Christ. That's the point. That's the
point. Stay on Christ. Don't compromise
the message of Christ. Don't settle for a compromised
message of the truth at all. Stay on Christ. May God enable
us to do that.