Dispense with the last hymn. We're creatures of habit, aren't
we? It's good to break these habits that we get into. The only habit we need to get
into is worship. All right, go back to 1 John
4. 1 John 4, verse 1 says, Beloved, and this is a term that
John uses. Well, I like to get out of the
habit of saying that. John said, or Paul said, Peter
said, you know, they didn't say that, God did. They just wrote
down what God told them to say. God said, through John, beloved. He says this over and over again
throughout this epistle, says it many times, many times. Beloved,
beloved, this is written to God's people who are who are beloved
of God, loved by God, beloved, beloved, loved by someone, beloved
of God. This is not just a preacher term. So-called preachers like to use
that, don't they? Dearly beloved, we gather here
today. Go with me to 1 Thessalonians. Real quickly, turn to a couple
of places in 1 Thessalonians. You know, we always labor this
point, don't we? Talking about who God's Word
is written to. You'll always hear me labor this
point. Why? Because today, and this is the
whole subject we're dealing with this morning, false preachers,
spirits, but not God's Spirit. They speak, they apply the Word
of God to everybody without exception, don't they? They pull things
totally out of context. Like what God said to Jeremiah,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and I'll use that
for anti-abortion slogan. That's not written to everybody. If God be for us, truckers will
have this on the back of their 18-wheeler, Romans 8, 31, if
God be for us, who can be against us? What did he say before all
that? For whom he did foreknow, he
did predestinate. Whom he predestinated, he justified. Whom he justified, he glorified.
What shall we say to these things? Who? We. Both predestinate. If God be for us, who shall be against us? That
wasn't written to everybody. You see why I keep laboring this
point? You know this, don't you? Why do you know it? Because it keeps being repeated.
That's how we are convinced and learned of something. 1 Thessalonians
1, beloved, he said, verse 4, knowing brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Who's this written to? The elect. And I don't give a big flip if
the world likes election or not. I really don't. I'm past that
point. I'm going to quit apologizing for it. I know they think that
that's all we've got to talk about. Well, I don't care. I
don't care anymore. I'm going to say it until they
get sick of it. This is the language of Scripture.
This is the language of the Lord Jesus Christ. He called his people
the elect. He says, Beloved, knowing your
election. Go to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians
2. This is a very intimate term. Intimate term. You have intimate
terms for those that you love. Call them whatever you call them. Well, you smile at that, John.
What do you call Irene now? I know you don't say goodnight,
Irene, every night. You say something. Her face is
red, so I know he says something. Shuggy Puggy or something. Every
one of you got an intimate. You don't call everybody that.
I know some of you southern women do. Honey, sweetie pie. Like that means bless your heart.
That could mean. You poor ignorant honey. But this is. That lightened you
up, didn't it? Beloved is an intimate term of
love and affection by God almighty for his people. It's reserved
for his people. Beloved, his children and God's
through his prophets and preachers and throughout the word of God
calls God's people beloved, beloved, beloved. It doesn't say that
to everybody. You won't find this preacher,
or any true preacher for that matter, standing up before a
crowd of unknown people saying, Beloved. Standing up in the church before
a group of believers, Beloved. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2 verse
13, We're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
Beloved of the Lord. Why? Why are you beloved of the
Lord? Because God has from the beginning
chosen you. See that? That's the language
of Scripture. And this term is for God's people.
Beloved, all right? And God uses this term in this
book through John to get their attention as little children.
As if I was going to say to my wife, honey, That would get her attention.
She knows I'm going to say something that I really want her to hear.
Honey. Beloved. Getting their attention. Something you need to hear out
of concern for you. You say that to your child. Honey.
Beloved. Listen now. Listen. Beloved.
Verse one. Believe not every spirit. But try the spirits, whether
they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into
the world. What's he talking about spirits? He's talking about preachers.
Why doesn't he say preachers? Because they're not preachers. Kelly, God's word is very exact. They're a spirit, and they're
either an evil one or a good one. They're led by a holy spirit
or an evil spirit. It can't be both. You see that? He calls them spirit. They're
under the influence of these whatever you call them. I don't
call them preachers. You always hear me say so-called. Don't you always hear me say
that when I talk about these so-called preachers? They're
not preachers. If they don't preach the truth,
they're not preachers. If they don't preach Christ,
they're not preachers. If they're not ministers of the
gospel, they're not ministers. Very jealous of that term. Why? Because I'm one. Christ,
the Son of God, was a preacher. God's glory. God's honor. The true good of the people in
mind. That's a preacher. And he preached the truth. They
don't preach the truth. They're not preachers. But they're
of some kind of spirit. Some kind of spirit. Either good
or evil isn't that what the Lord said to the people one time about
John remember when the Lord said about John what you got to say. Talking about John he said now
the ministry of John the preaching of John. Is it of God or is it
of me? It's got to be one or the other doesn't
it can't be both. Is that right? Is that right,
somebody? Can't be both. Can't be both. Evil or good. How do you know? John's going to tell us how.
How you may know. And the reason he says to try
them, the word try means to test them, put them to the test, judge
them. Judge not. Now, who would say
that out of contact but a false preacher? Because he doesn't
want you to judge him. Don't put him to the test. Paul
said, who was a true preacher sent by God, he said, we commend
ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Go home, he said. Get the word
out and put us to the test. Test them, try them. And the
reason he said, believe not every spirit, because there's so many.
There's so many. It would be easier if it was
just a few, wouldn't it? But he said there's so many.
Now, if this was written 2,000 years ago, and he said back then,
many are gone out there. Our Lord said that many. shall
arrive. And John, some 20 or 30 years
later, said many false prophets are out in the world. Now, that's
2,000 years ago, and he said many. What about now? How many
does that mean there are now? Well, they can't build a building
fast enough out here for some jake-legged fella to get up,
get in, and tell you his stuff. That's why they build all these
buildings, because every Tom, Dick and Harry fancies himself
a preacher, and he doesn't like this fella, and he starts him
a little congregation with his mother and his stepson, and they
come hear him and think he's a wonderful fella, and let's
start us a church. There's one on every corner.
It's called 40 West. Why? Because there's 40 buildings
on it, 40 religious buildings. Forty-eight? One-twenty-two? That's every triumph, he said. Put them to the test, whether
of God, because many. How do you test them? What is
the litmus test? What do you judge them by? Well, the Word of God is the
yardstick, is the ruler. That's how they're measured.
See, if they measure up the Word of God, that's how you measure
them. Isaiah 20, we quoted it this morning, didn't we, John?
To the law, that is, if it's not in keeping with all of God's
Word, the whole Council, and the testimony, that's the gospel.
If they're unclear on the law, God didn't send them. Right? If they're mixing law and grace,
God didn't send them. They belong to the testimony.
They speak not according to my word, rightly dividing the word
of truth. There's no light in them. There's
no light in the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God. No light.
He tests them by their message. That's the message, but the message
He's Christ and Him crucified. Isn't that what Paul said? Woe
is unto me. He said, though I preach the
gospel, I have nothing to glory in. Yea, woe is unto me if I
do not do not what? Preach not the gospel. If I stand
up and preach not the gospel, woe is on me. If I do it, I have
nothing to glory in. God sent me, God called me, God
commanded me. It's my reasonable servant. Nothing
to glory in. It's my job. Oh, but woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel." Try them by their message. He
said some good things. Did he preach Christ? Did he
point you to Christ? Well, no. And many of you have
been to places and heard fellows, so-called preachers, stand up
and never mention the name of Jesus Christ in the course of
their message, have you? God didn't send them. That's a fact. Try them by their message, try
them by their methods. And you know the message will
determine the methods. The message will determine the
methods. If they know that the gospel
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes it,
they'll preach that gospel and nothing else. If they themselves
have felt the power of God in their own soul and heart and
mind, if that is what's opened their blind eyes and opened their
deaf ears and loosened their tongues and quickened their lame
feet and put away their leprous sin, if that's what If that was
the power of God to them, that's what they'll go around telling.
What the Lord has done for them. That will determine their methods. Their message determines the
methods. If they don't know that the gospel
is the power of God, if they haven't experienced it themselves,
then they resort to everything else. Tricks, gimmicks. If they felt, Brother Dan, the
power of one word from God Almighty, if they felt that themselves,
they'd know this is the power of God. There's nothing I can
say, nothing I can come up with, no clever cliché I can come up
with from a book that will influence anybody but one word from God
Almighty will prick the hearts, convict the conscience, bring
them to Christ. And so what do they do? Shoot
an arrow. Shoot an arrow. shooting arrows,
using a sword. This is what struck me. This
is what God uses. This is what works. That's the method. That's THE
method. That's how you know them. That's how you know them. If they have to use money and
tricks and so forth to get people in, they're not from God. Try them by their fruit. Christ said, You shall know them
by their fruit. You can't gather grapes from
thorns. You can't get the glory of God
and the glory of Christ and the message of the gospel out of
a mess, entanglement of stuff. Confusion? You can't hear the
gospel in a mess of confusion. You do away with all that stuff.
Like Nehemiah said, we can't build a wall here. It's too much
rubble. Remember that? You've got to clear away the
rubble, the trash. Do away with all the stuff and
the mess. Why? Well, we're here to see
one thing. We're here to hear one thing. The gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You know them by their fruit.
And that means the hearers, what is produced by their... I say
this with absolute, utmost confidence. I do. I say this. Every believer in this congregation
is a theologian, knows the truth, and can tell the truth. I know
you don't feel like you can, and you stumble and fumble when
you try to, and I do too. I don't have the liberty of standing
in front of people one-on-one that I do with you. Why is that,
I wonder? And you stumble, but you know
the truth. You've been taught it. You've
known the Scriptures from a child. You know the truth. Our children
can tell you from an early age what these things represent,
who they represent, truth. They've been taught. They've
cut their teeth on the truth. And they've been nurtured in
the fear and the admonition of the Lord, line upon line, precept
upon precept, God's Word, here a little, there a little. And
it all takes up a lot. A little here and a little there
makes up a lot. You could tell them. Somebody
asked you what sum up God, man, and salvation in a word. You
could do it, couldn't you? Sure you could. Give me one phrase that tells
me what hope of eternal life is. You could do it, couldn't you? Sure you could. You could
give every man a reason for the hope that lies within you. You know them by their name.
Christ said that. Christ said, what are you saying? What are
you saying? He said, ask them that heard it. I love to hear the stories of
our young people in school being challenged and challenging others
with the truth, don't you? Yeah, I know you've heard this,
but somebody hadn't, I bet. That little girl, it's a true
story, a little girl in about the second grade, first grade,
that's what it was, first grade. A little girl from a church in
Ashlam in the first grade, and the teacher got up and said,
I'm going to talk today about the three R's. Anybody know what
the three R's are? And that little girl, a child
of one of our Brethren, raised her hand, said, OK, Sally, what
is it? She said, ruined, redeemed and
regenerated. I love that. Oh, I love that. Ask them that
heard me. What do you preach down there?
Ask them to hear it. What goes on down there? Ask
them. Out of the mouth of every one of them, babes, thou hast
ordained strength because of the enemy. They'll tell you.
The smallest child. What's the basics of all knowledge? The three R's. Ruined by the
fall, redeemed by the blood, regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
That's everything. That's the whole counsel of God. That's the whole Bible. Ruined
in Genesis 3, redeemed in Matthew 1, regenerated completely, finally
in Revelation. That's the whole concept. Test them by the hearers. And
I run into people all the time. Look down at verse 5. It says,
They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and
the world hears them. I run into all kind of so-called
church members all the time. And you do too. And what do you
hear out of their mouths? Most of you think they'd never
even heard the Bible. That's how you know, try them,
test them, put them to the test. He says, test the spirits. Now,
there's no profession on earth with more frauds and fakes in
it. than this thing of being a preacher. None. There's no
profession on earth with more frauds or fakes in it than this
one. And yet it has less restrictions,
less qualifications, and less requirements. You can get you
a doctor of divinity through the mail. You've got enough money to take
a little correspondence to court. Yes, you can. You can be ordained
through the mail. I saw it on the Internet, you
can get it, you can marry, bury, whatever you need, whatever you
need that, or money. That's why, money. Yeah, you can. There's more frauds,
more fakes, yet less restrictions, qualification guidelines, and
no profession more dangerous than this one. More quacks. and nothing more
dangerous. This, we're talking about eternal
danger here. Merchandise of men's souls. It's one thing to pull a scam
on you and get your bank account. It's another to lose your soul
by following one of these folks. That's serious. We don't let
doctors practice it, just say they're doctors, do we? Would
you go to any position that, because he says he, wait a minute,
where'd you go to school? How long have you been practicing?
When I was about to have my eyes operated on, I went to this fellow,
and he's supposed to be an ophthalmologist. He had me look the part. He sounded
the part. He had certificates all over
his walls. I'm going to operate on my eyes. I've only got two of them. I
said, how many of these have you done? How many of these operations
have you done? I want to know your experience. Are you really
an ophthalmologist? He said, I've done 978. I said,
well, I'll be 979. That's good enough for me. Good
enough for me. There's more quacks, though,
in this, and billions of people. Billions that follow him. Billions. He says, Brethren, beloved, believe
not every. There are so many. Don't believe
them. Verse 2, Hereby know ye the Spirit
of God, that is, the Holy Spirit of God, who leads, guides, directs,
teaches, equips. The Holy Spirit of God is the
one who teaches, equips, leads, speaks to and through his preacher
through the Word. Back then, all the way back then,
it was already there. Fellas going out, and he went,
he said back there, they went out from us. They went out from
us. False brethren. Creeped in. Sent by tares among you, and
so forth. Hereby you know. All right, now
listen to me. What is meant by this? What does this mean, coming
to flesh? Jesus Christ is coming to flesh.
Sent by God, he says, he. He said, Jesus Christ has come
into flesh. If he's not, he doesn't preach
that. She doesn't preach that. What's that mean? Every single
so-called Christian, so-called preacher says that Jesus was
born in Bethlehem. He even says the Son of God.
Don't they? Every one of them. You know any
of them that deny him is? No. Well, first of all, back then,
keep it in context, back then, for a man to stand up and say,
Jesus of Nazareth, the one whom you thought was
Joseph's son, Mary's son, that's none other than the Christ of
God. Back then. for somebody to say
Jesus of Nazareth is none other than the Christ. That meant something
like that. Go with me to Isaiah 25. You see, every good Jew, that
is, devoted Jew, who went to these synagogue on the Sabbath and
heard the law preach mostly Isaiah they heard a lot of Isaiah preached. Every Jew believe this is what
every Jew believed about the Christ. Every Jew. Every Jew
believed that the Christ was actually the Christ who was to
come is actually God. The Holy One of God, God our
Savior, Jehovah. Every Jew believed that, that
the Christ is God. Are you with me? Look at it here in Isaiah 25,
verse 9. It shall be said in that day,
Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him. said
he was coming, and he came. We've waited for him. We will
be glad and rejoice. He'll save us. He'll save us. He will save us. And we've waited
for him. We will be glad and rejoice in
his salvation. Are you listening? Look at chapter thirty five of
Isaiah. Look over there real quick. Chapter
thirty five. Verses four and five. Look at
this. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear
not, behold your God will come with vengeance. Even God with
a recompense. He will come and save you. Not try. Then the eyes of the
blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped."
Why? It's God that's here. That's
why. He can't fail. Every Jew believes
when the Christ comes, it'll be God manifest in the flesh. God will come. He said He would.
He'll save us. That's what His name means. Every spirit that says, that
that One named Jesus is none other than, no less than, but
equal to God Almighty that created this planet. That's God's, that's the income
from God. If they don't say that, now their whole denominations
People, I'm not splitting hairs here. We're judging spirits.
Whole denomination. There are people that run around
calling themselves Jehovah's Witness. I hate that term. Don't
call them that. They're Russellites, aren't they,
Ed? Followers of a fellow named Charles Russell. He's the one
who started that mess. God didn't send them. They're
not witnesses of Jehovah. Why? God manifest in the flesh. They deny it from hands down. They deny the deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They say He's the Son of God
and they'll hymn-hall around and try to make it sound like
they believe Him, but they don't. Ask them. As you said, this is our time. What does he say? He will save
us. He, not we. He, not them. He will, not time, will do what?
Save who? Us. His people. How plain can you get? The Southern
Baptists don't believe that. They believe He tried to save
you if you'll let Him. They believe He and you will
save you. They say He's God with the lips. They draw near with
their lips. They say, Lord, Lord. They don't believe He's Lord
because you have to make Him that. Am I splitting hairs here
or judging preachers? Spirits. Everyone sent by God is sent
to declare the glory of God's Son, and he's not sharing it
with anybody. He's just like God. Jealous of
God's name. Jealous of God's name. His name
means just that. His Son's name means just that.
Salvation means just that. Who gets the glory? One person. The man sent by God to declare
His glory does just that. Every time and every place to
everyone without exception, one message to God be the glory.
Great things He hath done. They don't believe He was God. They don't believe He is God.
They don't believe He ever was God. He's Jesus, the healer,
the helper, the teacher, the humanitarian, the miracle worker,
the attempter, not the atoner. I heard that despicable woman say
this morning, Well, I don't want to repeat
it. I don't want to repeat it. You've heard it all before. They're
all saying the same thing, man or woman. It doesn't matter.
If they don't say, now this is what it means to come. When you
go somewhere and you get there, you have come from somewhere.
Do you ever go somewhere? Well, most of the time you don't
go somewhere unless you've got a reason for going. Do you? Especially the older you get.
You don't leave the house, Brother Henry, unless it's absolutely
necessary. Do you? Do I have to leave something
comfortable back home? The point I'm trying to make is,
when you come, to say that he's come means that he was before
he, he was somewhere before he came. And the fact that he came
means he had a reason for coming, had a job to do, had a work to
perform. I asked a brother to come help
me. Okay? If he comes over, he's got a
job to do. That's why he came. That's why
I asked him to come. And that's exactly what this
means to preach that he's come in the flesh. that he was God,
and he left heaven with a reason, a purpose, a work to be done.
What's the work? To save God's people, to give
unto eternal life to as many as God gave him. And you don't preach that he
came unless you preach that he did what he came to do. Am I going too far? And remember
now, I said to Jews back then, they said, this is our God. He
will save us. He will save us. He came to save
us. And that's what he did. Anything
less? Sharing Christ's work with man
or making it dependent on anybody or anything? God didn't say no. Says he shall say not attempt
to say but a tone not make a partial payment. People this is exactly what false
ones are saying. He's done all he can do. He made
a partial payment. You make the last payment on
the installment of your salvation. I've heard him say that. No, no, no, no. He shall put
away sin. How? By the sacrifice of himself. Read my lips. By himself he purged
our sins. Now, whoever is saying that,
God sent him. See, the only one that would
say that is the one that is not interested in man's money, man's
praise, man's glory, big buildings, because you won't have a big
hearing. But they're of the world. Therefore speak they of the world,
and the world hears them. They beat a path to the door,
and they can't build a building big enough to hold the world
in to hear them. Why? They tell them what the
world wants to hear. Tell them how much God needs
you, how much God loves you. And it has a wonderful plan for
your life. I like that. It'll make you rich. I like that. This is better than the lottery. Just give me 10%. Christ didn't come to be an example,
but to be a substitute. Christ didn't come to knock on
hearts. He came to give new ones. He didn't come to try to get
the world to believe him, but he came to seek, find, save,
pick up, carry all the way home his sheep. Anybody that says anything less
than that is not from God. Is everything I said biblical? Sure is. Well, he says in closing,
now we're of God, verse 6. We are of God. He that knoweth
God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. We are of God, for God, by God,
through God, to God, for his glory, the work of God, and dwelt
by the Spirit of God, equipped by God, kept by God, and we are
of God. Given ears by God, eyes by God,
life by God, And we hear those sent by God.
We hear his voice. They're not. They're anti-Christ. Anything that's against Christ,
God's people who love Christ and love the sound of his honor
and his glory, whose ear is tuned to middle C, they hear anything
that diminishes, any minor, any flat, Any diminished, what's
that term, diminished? C diminished? There's a C diminished?
No? Help me, Sherry. There's a diminished
something in music. If it's not middle C. They recognize it. God's people
recognize it. Something's wrong here. I don't
hear that. That sound true to you sure it
is you're of God under his influence God's spirit under his power
and have overcome them. I love what our Lord said he
said a stranger's voice they're not going to hear it. My dog you know is about as obedient
a dog as there is and you get tired of hearing about him I
don't. I like to talk about him but. You could call him all you wanted
to. My wife, he won't mind my wife, Willie Mendee. He will
not mind her. And he's the most obedient dog
I know of. He will not mind her. He says, come and he won't come
unless there's food involved. She said, get out of the house.
He won't get out of the house. He knows one boy. He's got one
master, he can't serve two, he's got one. A stranger's boy, he
won't hear. I like that, don't you like that,
Tammy? That God's people, none of his
sheep are going, they're not going to fall for these fellas.
They're not going to fall, you've overcome. That's good news, isn't
it? I don't have to worry, that's
the reason I don't have to worry about you going out and hearing whatever
you hear. Turn on your radio, turn on your TV, go wherever
you will. I'm not even worried about it. I'm a bit worried,
read what you will. I want to police God's Word.
Don't be reading that. Whose sheep are you? Not mine.
God's sheep. Go on. They'll go out. Scripture
says they'll go in now. They won't leave. They won't
leave. We are of God. He that heareth
us, he that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God heareth You know John's not bragging
on himself. You know that. You know that. And you know every
person that hears the truth as opposed to what they believe.
Every person. They come away with a conclusion.
They always do. There's always a conclusion.
You think you're right. Without exception. You think
your church is the only church there is. Well, I'm here to tell you, without
apology, if they don't preach the gospel I'm preaching right
here this morning, they're false preachers. Yes, they are. Yes, they are. Hereby we know the spirit of
truth. That's how we know who's getting
the glory. Who's being preached? Who are
you pointing men to? Is the so-called preacher pointing
men to himself or pointing men to Christ? Trying
to build a big building or build you up on Christ by faith? Is there wood, hay, and stubble
everywhere? Or just gold, silver, and precious stones? What's the methods? Preaching,
that's it? You mean you do everything the
old-fashioned way? You know, contemporary. You know
what the word for, like the world, present world is? Contemporary. We've got contemporary worship.
Not us, buddy. No, sir. What's the word? We've got ancient worship. Would that bring a crowd? We've
got ancient worship. Old, old worship. We do everything old-fashioned. Old paths. Come, that's a good
way. They said, no, we won't walk
in that. We like contemporary. there of
the world, speak of the world, and the world hear him. He is
of God, hear and listen. This is how you know. Stand with
me. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word, the word of truth. We are set free by it, we are
sanctified by it, we are born again by it, we are kept by it,
and that word was made flesh and speaks of Christ. So we are kept by his power,
by him, Christ our life. Lord, thank you. We give you
all the honor and the glory for this So great salvation is thy
work. We declare, people in this room
declare, and believe from the heart that the one who came was
none other than God Almighty, came and he saved us. And we
give him all honor and glory. And thank you, our God, for sending
him. that we have met today to worship
and give thanks. Amen. You're dismissed. All right. I don't know. I don't know. Thank you very much. I don't know what I'm talking about. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You're welcome. you I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I
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don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know. I don't know. I don't know I don't know. I don't know. Okay. Okay. you